Chapter 5

He finally appeared from the kitchen with a tiny bowl of gelato. Chocolate?

“Yum,” she commented.

“It’s on me. Hope you like it.”

Cutie was serving her free gelato? It couldn’t get any better than this.

She ate a spoonful and nearly squealed at the sudden coldness, but it was pretty good. It had a different kind of chocolate flavor, though. Maybe gelato tasted different? She never tried until now since it was so expensive.

“Why don’t I get free gelato?” Andrew pouted.

“Maybe he’ll get you one too.”

“Pretty sure it’s only for you. And he’s looking at you.”

On reflex, she turned around, and sure enough, he was leading a family into the restaurant while he stole a glance at her. She felt as though her cheeks were gonna hurt for the rest of the night.

“Are you sure you don’t know him?” Andrew asked.

“No. Well, not until now. And F.Y.I., he’s new to the school, so be nice to him.”

“Oh, really?” He put down his fork and studied Mark. “He actually looks familiar.”

“Or maybe he looks like any other Hispanic kid you know.”

“Hey, hey. I only said that once, okay? I just thought Diego looked like my gardener’s son. I don’t get how everyone recognizes me ‘cause of that one racist thing I said.”

Paige smirked as she scratched her left inner elbow. “Okay, well, I’m pretty sure Mark is new.”

“Okay, fine. He’s new.”

Paige took another spoonful of gelato, but her inner elbow got so itchy she put her spoon down just to scratch it some more. Oh, shit. Was she having an allergic reaction?

She checked her tiny purse if she had her allergy medicine. Crap, she might’ve left it at home. She forgot it sometimes, but did it have to be today of all days?

“What’s wrong?” Andrew asked.

“I think I’m getting an allergic reaction.” But the last half of her sentence was less audible.

“Huh?”

Her tongue had a numbing sensation and grew bigger in her mouth, and her other arm started getting itchy. But she didn’t eat any nuts, did she?

Then she looked at the gelato, her eyes widening.

“Can you try that?” she asked Andrew.

“Can I what?”

“Eat it!” she almost yelled. “What flavor?”

He ate a spoonful, seemed to think for a moment, and said, “Chocolate and...something nutty. I think.”

“Hey, something wrong?” Mark asked, giving her a mini heart attack.

She glared at him. “What flavor?”

“Chocolate hazelnut.”

Oh my God, this was so embarrassing. She could feel tears forming in the back of her eyes. “I’m allergic to nuts.”

“Allergic to what?”

“Nuts!”

“Oh!” He slapped his mouth with his hand. “Crap, I’m so sorry! What should I do?”

“No, no. It’s fine.” Her face grew hot as the people around them started to notice.

“I’m so sorry,” Mark repeated. “My sister said she knew you and that you liked chocolate and hazelnut together.”

She stared at him. “Your sister?”

And right before Paige could come to the conclusion, Christy appeared from behind him with a smug look.

Just like a rollercoaster, this night just got to the biggest drop that made her heart pump faster and Earth’s gravity suck her to the ground. Then she’d land in the middle of a street and get run over by cars until turning into a pulp. And even if that couldn’t happen, she knew exactly how it would feel like.

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