Hate to Love You novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: Car Wash

Shay said nothing about the parking lot.

He sat next to me in chemistry on Friday, handed me my pencil case when I dropped it, and asked if I wanted to split the pretzels from his bag.

If he had heard anything, he was too kind to say so.

That was somehow worse.

I spent the whole period waiting for him to ask.

He never did.

On Saturday, the Garnet Falls booster club held its yearly car wash in the parking lot of the Dairy Barn.

Jess had volunteered us both, because she wanted photos for the paper.

"Wear something you don't mind getting wet," she said.

"I don't own anything like that."

"Everything you own is gray."

"It's practical."

"It's tragic." She tossed me a bright yellow T-shirt that said BADGER BOOSTERS across the chest. "Wear this. It's mandatory."

By noon, the lot was full of wet pavement and soap suds and kids running with hoses.

Cars lined up all the way to the road.

I stood at a bucket station with a sponge, scrubbing the hood of a minivan, and trying not to look at the other side of the lot.

Mason was there, too.

He was washing a pickup with three of his friends, laughing too loudly.

He hadn't spoken to me since the parking lot, except to pass the salt at dinner.

I kept my back to him.

"Hey, new girl."

I turned.

A senior from the track team stood behind me, a tall boy with a sunburned nose and a bucket in each hand.

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