I’ll just have to get her alone.

He concedes that approaching her at lunch was a bad idea. He knew people would be curious, but he thought the attention would die down after it was apparent they were just talking. He never dreamed that before the conversation ever really started he’d be wearing his lunch and drowning in Carly’s milk.

She has a right to be angry, and so he can’t fault her for her reaction. Sure, it surprised the hell out of him, and even embarrassed him a little, which doesn’t happen often. And then there was the inconvenience of having to shower in the locker room and change into his phys ed clothes for the rest of the day—and they aren’t exactly fresh either. Plus the questions his friends had asked about the ordeal. “Dude, she turned you down?” and “Did you give her the Prince Charming smile?” and “Have you ever been rejected before?” and “Why are you interested in her anyway?”

That last one got under his skin. But who is he to judge? A week ago, she didn’t even register on his own radar. He can’t imagine he ever would have looked twice, let alone spoken to her, which is a shame, because look what he’s been missing out on. Look what the world’s been missing out on.

This county will never know what hit it. Which is why he’s got to try again. And he knows just exactly how to do it.

The bell rings and he follows her out of the classroom, keeping a safe distance—no telling what she’d do if she discovered him stalking her. But stalking her he is.

And what a weird—bordering on creepy—concept it is to stalk a girl. He’d never had to worry about things like this. He could have his pick here at Roaring Brooke High and he knew it. But none of the girls here offered anything that interested him—at least, not for more than a night.

And along came Carly Vega. The girl who pointed a shotgun at his head, dumped his lunch in his lap, then publicly shunned him all in the space of forty-eight hours. Arden grins, watching as she pulls her thick black hair into submission with a rubber band, wadding it into a sloppy bun on the top of her head. And he’s not the only one watching. From across the hall Chad Brisbane pretends to be busy with his own locker, but his eyes are trained on Carly too.

Arden scowls as he watches Chad’s gaze drizzle down the length of her, lingering on what Arden has to admit is a shapely rear, even though she tries to hide it with those off-brand jeans. He recognizes that too-familiar interest flickering in Chad’s eyes. Chad is one of Arden’s good friends. And up until now, Arden never minded that Chad was Roaring Brooke’s most infamous man-whore.

But that was pre-Carly.

Arden makes his way to his friend and shoulder-checks him into the locker. The impact slams the door shut. Chad smirks up at his friend. “You’re lucky I was done here anyway, Moss.”

“Is that right?”

Chad winds the dial on his lock and takes up stride next to Arden as they walk down the hall. “Haven’t seen you in weight lifting lately, Moss. You sure you want to go a round with me? I can throw up two thirty all day long.”

Arden laughs. “Two thirty? I reckon that’ll be handy when your mom needs help getting out of her truck.”

Chad nods at Carly, who has made her way ahead of them already, and follows her with his eyes. “What’s with you and her? Any drama I should know about?”

Arden shrugs. He’s sure Chad either witnessed or at least heard about what happened at lunch today. Otherwise he wouldn’t be looking twice at Carly. “Just that she’s not your type, Brisbane.”

Brisbane cocks his head. “From what I’ve heard, she’s feisty. That’s definitely my type.”

“Incorrect.”

“So you’re going after her, huh? Even after what she did to you today?”

Arden is torn. He doesn’t want to give the wrong impression about his intentions toward Carly, but at the same time, he doesn’t want to have to deal with these kinds of issues either. Now that he’s shown her some attention, others will too, he’s sure. And if she’s constantly getting distracted by potential love interests, how will he train her to be the ultimate sidekick? He doesn’t have much of a choice here. “Yeah, I’m going to try again. She’ll warm up to me after a while.”

“Those grabber green eyes not working for you anymore?”

Arden shrugs.

“But you’re officially asking me to step down.”

“Yep.” Only, he’s not asking. And he doesn’t have time for this back-and-forth with Chad. Carly is about to walk out the double doors at the end of the hall and he needs to get to his truck before she disappears altogether.

“Afraid of a little competition?”

Arden purses his lips. “You owe me, Brisbane.” After Arden had quit the football team, he’d talked Coach Nelson into letting Chad replace him as starting quarterback—and that was after the coach had promised the position to someone else. But Chad’s future rides on getting a football scholarship. He needed that kind of attention from the college scouts. And without Arden’s help, he’d still be a second-string running back, nothing too impressive.

Chad grimaces. “Whatever. Alright, little buddy. I’ll stay away from the missus.”

“You’re a tramp, you know that?” Arden calls over his shoulder as he breaks into a run to get to the parking lot. Squinting in the sun, he sees Carly walking out the front entrance of the parking lot and onto the sidewalk in front of the school. Thankfully she’s heading west, away from downtown and into the less busy part of Roaring Brooke.