Spring Fling

by Sabrina James

  “How much time?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “And then? Once you’ve had that time?”

  “There might be a chance for us,” Ava said. “But I don’t know when that will be and I don’t want you waiting for me. It wouldn’t be right. Can’t we just be friends? Or have I broken the Smooth Operator’s heart?”

  Cooper stared at Ava in shock. “Where did you hear that nickname?”

  “Smooth Operator?”

  “Yeah.”

  “From my cousin Amelia,” Ava said. “She goes to South Ridge High. She’s a junior. The last time I was over at her house, I was flipping through a copy of the South Ridge High Gazette and I saw your photo. You had won some sort of academic award. Anyway, when Amelia saw me looking at your photo, she told me all about you. She says all the girls at South Ridge High are crayzeee about you.”

  Crazy about me or crazy about my family’s money? Cooper wondered.

  “You’re quite the catch,” Ava teased. “Every girl at South Ridge High wants to go out with you.”

  “Except you,” Cooper said, trying not to feel rejected, and failing. It hurt that Ava didn’t want to go out with him. That she didn’t want to take a chance on them. Wasn’t that what life was all about? Taking chances? Risks?

  “I don’t go to South Ridge High,” Ava pointed out. “So you didn’t answer my question.” She touched Cooper on the arm. “I know what I’ve said isn’t what you wanted to hear, but right now, it’s the best I can do. And I really do mean it. I want to be friends with you, but if you can’t handle it, I understand.”

  Cooper thought about what he wanted to say. He was still reeling over the fact that Ava knew all about him. That she knew he was rich. He wasn’t upset, because it hadn’t made a difference with her. Ava liked him for who he was. And if it was possible with Ava, maybe it was possible with another girl. A girl who was just as nice as Ava. The thing was, he didn’t want another girl. He wanted Ava. But just because he was rich, it didn’t mean he could always get what he wanted. It was like they said. Money couldn’t buy happiness.

  And then he realized something else. There had been no reason for the bet. It had been pointless because all along, Ava had known who he really was. He started laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” Ava asked.

  Cooper decided he would tell Ava about the bet later tonight. He didn’t think she would be upset. She’d probably even understand. But right now, they had something more important to discuss.

  “I’d love to be friends,” he said, watching as Ava smiled. He could see from the relief on her face that she’d been hoping he’d say those words.

  “Friends hug,” she said. “Can I give you a hug?”

  “I’d love one.”

  As Ava gave him a hug, Cooper held her close. She felt so good in his arms. He didn’t want to let go, but knew he’d eventually have to.

  Holding Ava, Cooper made a decision. If she needed time for herself, then he was going to give her all the time she needed.

  Like they said, some things were worth the wait.

  And when it came to Ava, he was willing to wait.

  “Do you think anyone noticed we were gone?” Mindy asked Damian when they returned to the party.

  “Nah. Lots of couples have been sneaking off, trying to have their last bit of fun before spring break ends.”

  Damian had taken her next door because he’d wanted them to be alone so they could talk and maybe even kiss a little bit more, but the house hadn’t been empty. First they’d walked in on Danielle and Ethan; then Steve had shown up with a bunch of girls, followed by Howie and a bunch of guys. In the end, they decided to come back to the party.

  “I’m glad Danielle and Ethan patched things up,” Mindy said. “They make a cute couple. Although you nearly ruined things with your big mouth!”

  “It just slipped out! Besides, all’s well that ends well.”

  “Don’t say anything to Cooper!” Mindy warned. “Let him tell Ava in his own way.”

  “My lips are sealed,” Damian vowed.

  Mindy laughed. “Yeah, right! You’re worse than me when it comes to keeping a secret! I’ll bet you’re the biggest gossip at South Ridge High.”

  “Speaking of gossip, what do you think the grapevine’s going to say once we get back home?”

  Mindy sighed. “Everyone’s going to love dishing the dirt about Wanda and me.”

  “Actually, I think they’re going to be talking about something else.”

  “What could top our catfight?”

  “How about Wanda getting caught cheating on her boyfriend?”

  “What?!” Mindy exclaimed in shock.

  “Take a look,” Damian said, pointing with a finger. “Or rather, take a listen!”

  Mindy stared across the room at the staircase leading from the second floor. Rick was racing down the stairs, followed by a pleading Wanda, who was begging him to let her explain why she was with another guy. She’d never seen Wanda so upset before. She was practically on the verge of tears. She reached an arm out to Rick, but he shoved her away, telling her not to touch him. A motionless Wanda stared at him, almost as if she was expecting him to come back to her. When he didn’t, Wanda turned around and ran out of the house.

  “I wonder what happened,” Mindy murmured.

  Ava raced over to Mindy. “Where have you been? You missed all the excitement!”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Rick caught Wanda making out with a guy in one of the spare bedrooms! He was looking for the upstairs bathroom and opened the wrong door!”

  “Who told him which door to open?” a suspicious Mindy asked.

  “I saw him talking to Lacey before heading upstairs,” Ava said knowingly. “I think you can connect the dots.”

  “She set Wanda up!” Damian exclaimed.

  “Big-time!” Ava agreed.

  “What are you all whispering about?” Cooper asked as he joined them. Damian quickly filled him in.

  Mindy stared across the living room and saw Lacey “consoling” an upset Rick, giving him a hug and whispering in his ear. Mindy noticed that Lacey’s hug lasted a bit longer than necessary. It was definitely more than friendly.

  Mindy couldn’t believe it. Lacey and Wanda were supposed to be best friends, yet Lacey was making a move on her best friend’s boyfriend. She wasn’t trying to patch things up. She was making a move on Rick!

  It was then that Mindy realized Lacey had been scheming against Wanda the entire week. She might have expressed an interest in Damian, but the guy she’d really been after had been Rick! Wanda had avoided the first trap that Lacey had set for her, but she’d fallen into the second.

  Now Wanda had lost Rick.

  Tonight, Mindy had seen how awful both Wanda and Lacey could be. She’d experienced it firsthand. And she didn’t want to be friends with them. Not anymore. They were mean and selfish, caring only about themselves. Vivienne wasn’t so bad. At times, she was even kind of nice. Maybe they could be friends.

  But Wanda and Lacey?

  Forget it!

  She would much rather be friends with someone like Ava.

  Hopefully, once they were back in North Ridge, they would be. Mindy felt like the beginning of a friendship with Ava had been started this week.

  Ava pulled Mindy off to the side. “So I see that you and Damian disappeared for a little bit. I want the dirt!”

  Mindy pretended to be shocked. “I thought I was North Ridge High’s Queen of Gossip.”

  Ava gave Mindy a smile. “You are! That’s why I came straight to the source! So spill! I want all the details. Don’t leave anything out!”

  Mindy spilled!

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The airport was a madhouse.

  “I can’t believe spring break is already over!” Danielle exclaimed as she hurried through the crowd of travelers with Ava and Lindsey. They’d already said good-bye to Jade and Crystal, who had gone off to their g
ate. “Doesn’t it seem like we just got here?”

  “I don’t know about you two,” Lindsey said, “but I can’t wait to get back home. I’m all partied out!”

  “Don’t mention the word party to me,” Ava groaned. “Not after the one we just had!”

  “We’re lucky Sharla was too tired to drive back and called to tell us she was staying at a hotel,” Danielle said. “Can you imagine if she’d come home that night?”

  Ava shuddered. “Our party definitely got out of control.”

  After getting everyone to leave at two A.M., it had taken the girls the rest of the night to clean the house and get it back in order before they’d crawled into bed at six A.M. They’d slept late yesterday and then gone to the beach, barely moving from their spots in the sand before heading back to the house for a final barbecue. Like their first night, they’d invited the guys next door, as well as Mindy, who came only with Vivienne since Wanda had changed her plane reservation and flown home a day earlier, while Lacey had gone out with Rick.

  “What do you think’s going to happen at school next week with the Princess Posse?” Lindsey asked as they arrived at their gate and found seats.

  “Lacey’s definitely out,” Ava said.

  “After stealing Wanda’s boyfriend, I would think so!” Danielle stated.

  “Does that mean Mindy’s in?” Lacey asked.

  Ava shook her head. “Wanda’s mad at her, too, but I don’t think Mindy cares. She’s over wanting to hang out with Wanda.”

  “It looks like she’s going be hanging out with Damian,” Danielle said. “They were joined at the hip last night.”

  “Damian already asked her to the South Ridge High junior prom,” Ava said. “She and I are going to go to the mall and look at prom dresses one day after school next week.”

  “Mindy’s not so bad once you get to know her,” Danielle said. “Is it okay if I come?”

  “Mindy would love it!”

  “Count me in, too,” Lindsey said as her cell phone buzzed and she checked a text message. Seconds later, she sent a text back, then raised an eyebrow when she saw Danielle reach into her shoulder bag and pull out a copy of People. “What are you doing reading that?”

  “I got addicted to it, all right?” Danielle grumbled. “And it’s all your fault!”

  “That’s not the only thing you got addicted to!” Lindsey teased. “I thought we were going to have to tear you out of Ethan’s arms this morning.”

  Ethan, Cooper, and Damian had stopped by the house early that morning to say good-bye before beginning their drive back home to North Ridge. “Can I help it if I was already starting to miss him? I didn’t want him to go!”

  “Hopefully, Damian won’t get Cooper and Ethan to agree to any more bets on the drive home!” Lindsey exclaimed.

  “If it hadn’t been for that bet, we might never have met Cooper and Ethan,” Ava pointed out.

  “And they did confess to what they did,” Danielle added. “In a way, it was kind of romantic.”

  “So when are you going to see Ethan again?” Ava asked.

  “We’re getting together on Tuesday night,” Danielle said. “It’s going to be our first date on home turf. How about you and Cooper? Are you guys going to hang out together?”

  “We talked about catching a movie next weekend.”

  “Is he okay with just being friends?” Lindsey asked as her phone buzzed again.

  “He’s cool with it,” Ava said. “And who knows? Maybe down the road we’ll be more than friends.”

  “I hope so,” Lindsey said as her phone buzzed a third and then a fourth time.

  “Who is that?” Danielle asked, trying not to sound annoyed.

  “No one,” Lindsey answered a little too quickly.

  “No one has been texting you most of the morning,” Ava said, snatching Lindsey’s phone out of her hands and checking the text on the screen. When she saw the name of the sender, she gasped. “I don’t believe it!”

  “Who’s been texting her?” Danielle asked. “Don’t keep me in suspense! Tell me!”

  “Howie!” Ava announced.

  “I knew it!” Danielle exclaimed. “I knew you liked him!”

  Lindsey snatched her phone back from Ava. “Did you ever stop to think that maybe he had a thing for me and that’s why he kept crashing our kitchen?”

  Danielle laughed. “He crashed our kitchen because he was always hungry!”

  “When did this romance begin?” Ava asked.

  “It’s not a romance!” Lindsey insisted. “We hung out a little bit during the party. That’s all.”

  “Did you kiss him?” Danielle asked.

  Lindsey blushed, causing Ava and Danielle to screech.

  “You’ve been holding back!” Danielle accused.

  “I can’t believe you didn’t tell us!” Ava declared.

  “It was only a kiss good night. Hardly worth mentioning!”

  “A kiss is still a kiss!” Danielle pointed out, giving Lindsey a hug. “And kisses sometimes lead to love! Don’t be mad, Linds! We’re happy for you! After all, it wouldn’t be spring break without a spring fling. And now we’ve all had one!”

  Acknowledgments

  Most authors usually have one editor. This book was lucky enough to have three. First, special thanks to Abby McAden, who asked me to write the first North Ridge High novel, Secret Santa, and allows me to keep going back.

  Thanks also to Morgan Matson, who worked with me on Secret Santa, Be Mine, and the outline for Spring Fling. And thanks to my new editor, Amanda Maciel, who helped make Spring Fling the best that it could be with her insightful comments.

  Thanks also to my agent, Evan Marshall, and to all my family and friends.

  Also by Sabrina James

  Be Mine

  Secret Santa

  For more North Ridge High romance, don’t miss

  Be Mine

  By Sabrina James

  Jennifer couldn’t believe how smug Claudia was being. What made her think she was going to win? There were lots of other couples at North Ridge High. Maybe one of them would be voted Most Romantic. There was no guarantee that Claudia and Chase were going to win.

  Listening to Claudia go on and on, Jennifer wanted nothing more than to knock her down a few pegs. She couldn’t stand listening to her anymore!

  Before Jennifer could stop herself, the words came tumbling out of her mouth.

  “I wouldn’t be too sure about winning,” she said.

  Take another trip to North Ridge High in

  Secret Santa

  By Sabrina James

  Noelle focused her attention on the red velvet bag Mindy was holding. Then she dipped her hand inside, swirling it around the many slips of paper.

  Somewhere inside was Charlie’s name.

  Unless it had already been picked.

  Think positive! Noelle scolded herself. Positive. Positive. Positive. Charlie’s name is in this bag. It is! It is! It is! And I will pull it out. I will! I will! I will!

  Holding her breath, Noelle closed her eyes and reached into the very bottom of the bag, wrapped her fingers around a slip of paper, and pulled it out.

  To Do List: Read all the Point books!

  Airhead

  Being Nikki

  By Meg Cabot

  Wish

  By Alexandra Bullen

  Suite Scarlett

  Scarlett Fever

  By Maureen Johnson

  Sea Change

  The Year My Sister Got Lucky

  South Beach

  French Kiss

  Hollywood Hills

  By Aimee Friedman

  Ruined

  By Paula Morris

  Top 8

  By Katie Finn

  This Book Isn’t Fat, It’s Fabulous

  This Girl Isn’t Shy, She’s Spectacular

  By Nina Beck

  The Heartbreakers

  The Crushes

  By Pamela Wells

  And Then Everything
Unraveled

  By Jennifer Sturman

  Wherever Nina Lies

  By Lynn Weingarten

  Summer Girls

  Summer Boys

  Next Summer

  After Summer

  Last Summer

  By Hailey Abbott

  Hotlanta

  By Denene Millner and Mitzi Miller

  Hotlanta

  If Only You Knew

  What Goes Around

  In or Out

  By Claudia Gabel

  In or Out

  Loves Me, Loves Me Not

  Sweet and Vicious

  Friends Close, Enemies Closer

  Love in the Corner Pocket

  The Comeback

  By Marlene Perez

  Kissing Booth

  By Lexie Hill

  Pool Boys

  Meet Me at the Boardwalk

  By Erin Haft

  Popular Vote

  By Micol Ostow

  Kissing Snowflakes

  By Abby Sher

  Breakfast at Bloomingdale’s

  By Kristin Kemp

  Once Upon a Prom

  By Jeanine Le Ny

  Dream

  Dress

  Date

  Secret Santa

  Be Mine

  Spring Fling

  By Sabrina James

  21 Proms

  Edited by Daniel Ehrenhaft and David Levithan

  Copyright