Chapter 31 Smitten
Crescent Bay.
Luna finished her fruit, but her homework was still nowhere near done. She wanted to die.
Remembering what her math teacher had assigned, she wanted to die even more.
Luna hesitated for a long time.
She sent X a message.
SadSweetie: [Let me be honest. I didn't understand any of it.]
X: [What part?]
Luna hesitated, then sent the parts she didn't understand to Jax.
Thirty seconds later, she got a long voice message.
She pressed play. His cool, clean voice filled the quiet bedroom.
Luna thought his voice could do those ASMR sleep streams online. If it were any deeper, honestly, no woman could say no to that.
It wasn't until the voice message ended that Luna realized she'd zoned out.
"..."
She rubbed her face. Her ears were burning red. She cursed herself internally for being such a lovesick fool.
She pulled herself together and listened again.
Somehow, this time she actually understood.
Mr. Huang and the class rep had been way too brief. Jax actually explained things in detail.
X: [Got it?]
SadSweetie: [Got it.]
SadSweetie: [Can you walk me through the other problems too?]
X: [Sure.]
SadSweetie: [Let's add each other on WhatsApp.]
X: [Okay.]
SadSweetie: [I'll add you.]
X: [Okay.]
Jax sent over a QR code. Luna scanned it, and her eyebrow ticked up before she could stop it.
Her WhatsApp and GroupMe names were the same. She was going for a moody internet goddess vibe.
Jax's WhatsApp name was: Misty.
He accepted right away.
SadSweetie: [.]
Misty: [?]
SadSweetie: [Your WhatsApp name...]
Misty: [Didn't know what name to use when I signed up. It was foggy that day.]
SadSweetie: [Oh, oh, okay.]
SadSweetie: [Can you walk me through tonight's test too?]
Misty: [Sure.]
-
Chloe got home, kicked off her shoes, and went straight to her room.
The door slammed hard enough to shake the walls.
Her mom had been on the couch watching TV. She scrambled for the remote and paused it.
She hesitated, then crept to her daughter's door and knocked gently. "Clo, sweetheart, what's wrong?"
"Leave me alone!"
A second later, the thud of a backpack hitting the door.
Her mom sighed. "I'll be in my room. Call me if you need anything."
Chloe burrowed under the covers, tearing up just thinking about what happened at the pool hall.
Leo had actually ditched her right in front of Mia. Humiliated her.
Chloe cried for a while, then opened her phone. She'd been about to go confront Leo, but when she scrolled to Top Donor in her contacts, she stopped.
She tapped in and glanced at their old messages.
After a moment's hesitation, she started pouring her heart out.
SleepyCeCe: [Hey, what are you up to?]
Top Donor: [Haha, I'm at a jewelry store with some friends. They're picking out stuff for their girlfriends.]
A jewelry store?
Chloe bit her lip.
SleepyCeCe: [What about you? Aren't you buying something for your girlfriend?]
Top Donor: [I'm pretty picky. Don't have a girlfriend right now.]
He sent another photo.
The display case was full of stylish gold necklaces. In the corner of the photo, a hand.
Long fingers, a strong-looking hand. Above it, a black shirt with distinctive buttons.
A mature, refined, handsome man popped into her head.
Chloe's cheeks went pink.
SleepyCeCe: [That's okay. You'll meet a girl you like eventually.]
Top Donor: [Not necessarily 'eventually.' Maybe I already have.]
Was he... was he dropping hints?
Chloe bit her lip.
Leo's image flashed through her mind.
Leo's face was flawless. And he was young.
But remembering how he'd ditched her tonight, she was furious.
Leo, you're going to regret this.
With that in mind, Chloe started typing.
SleepyCeCe: [Huh?]
SleepyCeCe: [So you've already met a girl you like?]
SleepyCeCe: [Then I probably shouldn't keep talking to you. Wouldn't want the girl you like to get the wrong idea.]
SleepyCeCe: [QAQ]
Top Donor: [You little brat. Being naughty, huh?]
Top Donor: [Do I have to spell it out?]
Chloe covered her eyes, shy.
Until the phone buzzed softly.
She braced herself, then lowered her hands and peeked at the screen.
Top Donor: [Kid, I thought my intentions were pretty obvious.]
Top Donor: [Seeing you makes me happy. The only reason I didn't spell it out is I was afraid you didn't feel the same, and it would make things weird.]
Top Donor: [I like you. First time I've ever felt this way about a girl.]
Was this the pull of a mature man?
Chloe practically drowned in that tenderness.
She bit her lip and typed carefully.
SleepyCeCe: [I like you too.]
...
Late into the night.
Leo finished his game and was about to crash.
Several WhatsApp messages from Ryder lit up his phone.
Ryder: [Leo!!!!!!!]
Ryder: [Are you asleep? Big problem!]
Ryder: [Wake up! Wake up!]
Leo frowned as he typed.
Leo: [?]
Leo: [I thought you were sad?]
Ryder (meaningfully): [It's your turn to be sad.]
Ryder: [Don't worry, Leo. My shoulder's always here for you to lean on.]
Leo: [?]
Ryder: [Go check Chloe's Instagram. You'll see.]
Leo had no clue what Ryder was getting at. He tapped Chloe's profile and went to her Instagram.
Ten minutes ago, Chloe had posted.
The caption read: Meeting you made me realize what it feels like to be loved.
The photo was a screenshot of a chat.
The contact saved as 'Brother' had sent Chloe two transfers.
$520.
$1,314.
The comments below were all from their classmates.
[Ooh, Clo, are you dating someone?]
[Whoa, our It Girl got snatched right under our noses by some other guy. So annoying.]
[Ahhhh! Clo, your boyfriend is so sweet to you.]
Leo's brow creased slowly.
He went back to his chat with Chloe, started to type something, then deleted it all.
After all, he and Chloe had no real relationship. He was the one who liked her. He had no right to question her.
-
Luna woke up feeling refreshed.
After the top student's patient guidance last night, she felt like math wasn't so bad after all.
She changed into her school uniform, grabbed her backpack, and headed downstairs. And there was Leo, looking like death.
He was wearing Lincoln High's blue and white uniform, sleeves rolled up. Dark circles bruised the skin under his eyes, like he hadn't slept a wink.