Chapter 2

Caleb Fox and I had been at each other's throats since we were kids.

Fighting. Mouthing off. That was just the default.

His parents were always out, busy expanding the business, so he basically lived at our place—ate our food, slept in our spare room, the whole thing.

Little Caleb had that little-kid-cute face. Way cuter than he is now.

My mom adored him. She spoiled him rotten.

In front of me, though, he was sharp-tongued and petty. We threw down more times than I could count.

One time we were at the desk, doing homework.

He leaned in out of nowhere, stared at my face for a long second, then said, mean as hell, "Shannon Lin, you're ugly."

"Good thing I don't mind."

I saw red. I had a few pimples. That was it. Puberty. Growing up, people called me pretty.

Next second we were on the floor, fighting.

I talked trash the whole time. "Fine. Be disgusted all you want."

"This pretty girl doesn't have a shortage of people who like her. A hot guy asked me out yesterday."

Caleb froze. His face went dark.

"Who?"

"Who asked you out?"

I used the opening and pinned him.

He turned his head away and muttered, "No matter how hot he is, is he hotter than me? You get to hang out with the hottest guy in school every day. You should be counting your blessings."

He wasn't wrong about the capital. Girls had been after him for years.

He shut every single one of them down. No exceptions.

I didn't get it. I watched the girl he'd just rejected walk off, looking wrecked. "She's pretty, though. Soft. Chubby. She'd feel nice."

"You don't like this type either. What do you even like?"

Caleb looked me over, head to toe, like he was thinking about it. Then he didn't say a word. He just grabbed my hand and started dragging me around the track.

After I hit puberty, I got taller. I also put on weight.

Completely normal. Caleb still acted like I was fat, and it pissed me off.

"Caleb… let go… I'm not going on a diet…"

I was gasping, trying to shake his hand off.

He held on. I couldn't get free.

I looked at that cold profile and the thought snagged:

He turned down all those pretty girls. He got that weird about the hot guy who asked me out. Was he actually…

Was he really gay, like my best friend Chloe Lane said?