Celebrities Don’t Date Bookworms (Texting the Boyband #1)

Chapter 8

eight

Group name: I promise this isn’t a group chat, Dad

Members: Ni-Ni, Bay, Sharky, Tis Moi Luca, Not Zesty, Eggo

6:02 A.M.

Tis Moi, Luca

It should be illegal to wake up this early

Bay

Yes

Sharky

Don’t be so dramatic

Tis Moi, Luca

Sorry we can’t all be like you mr rises with the sun

Bay

Is there no raisin bread left?

Sharky

Ni ate it all

Bay

@ni-ni I’m coming for you

sleep with one eye open

Ni-Ni

You’re really going to believe him over me??

Bay

Did you do it or not

Ni-Ni

Ok

Well

It’s complicated

Bay

It’s a yes or no question

Ni-Ni

There was only the end pieces left

I didn’t think you would care

Bay

Those are my favourite parts

Ni-Ni

Well… I didn’t know that

Bay

And I repeat

I’m coming for you

Ni-Ni

PROTECT ME FI

Sharky

Why’s it always me?

7:20 A.M.

Not Zesty

Rob says be outside in five minutes or die

Tis Moi, Luca

Wait I thought we were meeting at 7:30??

Not Zesty

No it was supposed to be 7:20

Sharky

I thought he just said that to get us outside by 7:30

Because we’re always late

Not Zesty

I don’t know man

Take it up with him

Bay

Wait Luca don’t actually do that

He will kill you

He’s not a morning person either

Eggo

Who’s Rob?

Tis Moi, Luca

NO ONE

YOU ARE

Sharky

Could you be any more suspicious Luca?

Tis Moi, Luca

I was just…

joking

Eggo

It’s a good thing you’re cute

Tis Moi, Luca

Aww you think I’m cute?

Sharky

She doesn’t know what you look like Luca

Tis Moi, Luca

It’s the thought that counts

Sharky

Is it?

Because I’m pretty sure it was an insult

Tis Moi, Luca

How dare you

Not Zesty

Everybody please get in the car now before Rob actually kills us

We’re supposed to be at the school in fifteen

Eggo

Why are you going so early?

Tis Moi, Luca

Uhhhh

No reason

Sharky

Ignore him

We have to fill out some paperwork since we’re new

Eggo

OMG is today your first day??

You picked an awful one

Tis Moi, Luca

Wait why??

I don’t want to start school on an awful day

Eggo

Ok it’s not actually that bad

It’s just that we have a lot of new students starting

Aka the people you were pretending to be

Tis Moi, Luca

HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT

ARE YOU WATCHING US

DO YOU KNOW WHERE WE LIVE

STALKER

Sharky

She was talking about Take Five Luca

Remember when we pretended to be them on Friday

As a joke

Tis Moi, Luca

Ohhhh

Um

Right

Of course

That’s what I meant too

Eggo

Guess I’ll see you at school then

Not that I’ll know who you are

And you won’t know who I am

But that’s the fun of it right

Tis Moi, Luca

Omg imagine if we became friends in real life

And didn’t know

Eggo

That would be so fun

Sharky

Luca if you don’t get down here in the next ten seconds, we’re leaving without you

You can walk

Tis Moi, Luca

COMING

See you soon mystery girl

“Do I really have to go to school today?” I asked. I moved my fork around my plate without any intentions of actually picking up any food. I had no appetite this morning—my attention was entirely focused on how awful my day was going to be.

“I don’t see why you’re making such a big deal of this,” Mom said. She came back from the kitchen to sit down at the table with the rest of us again. In an ideal world, I would just sleep in until ten minutes before I had to leave for school, but my parents insisted that we eat every meal we could together, and that included breakfast. “I’m sure the boys will be nice.”

“Yeah,” my brother Dylan said snidely. “They probably won’t even talk to you.”

“It’s not them I’m worried about,” I muttered. That wasn’t totally true, but I didn’t need to get into that with them right now. I was sure my mom was wrong about the boys being perfectly nice because wouldn’t anyone who got famous as fast as them let it go to their head? Two years ago, they were all nobodies. Then they all got cast for some show called The Next Great Boy Band, where they got grouped together, and they won. Now, they were adored by fans all over the world, and were practically a household name. There was no way someone could become that famous and not be a total jerk. But even that wasn’t as bad as everything else that was going to happen at school today. It didn’t matter what Principal Roman said about respecting them, and all that—a bunch of insane fans weren’t going to be tamed by one simple announcement like that. I was just grateful that today wasn’t a non-uniform day because I was sure everyone would show up in their stupid Take Five merch. Every single girl in my class probably thought they were Take Five’s biggest fan (although honestly, that might have been true in Grace’s case… all I could say was good luck to whichever one of the boys was a sophomore because he was going to need it).

“Then there’s no reason for you to worry, is there?” Mom asked with a pointed look. “Don’t worry. Your teachers will have a good handle on the situation, and it will barely even be like they’re there.”

Like Mr. Barton had a handle on the class on Friday? I dropped my face on the table and groaned. It was going to be a long, long day.

My phone started buzzing in my pocket, and I pulled it out. I was happy that I had put it on vibrate instead of ringer because my mom always got mad when my phone properly went off in the morning. It didn’t happen often, so I didn’t usually worry about it. I sighed as I turned the phone over, not really in the mood to talk to anybody right now. But that feeling immediately disappeared when I saw the name on the screen: Bay .

“Um, I need to answer this,” I stuttered out.

“We have to leave soon,” Mom reminded me.

“I know, I’ll be quick,” I said. I rushed out of the room, and answered the call. “Hey, you.”

“Hey,” Bay said warmly. The happiness in his voice made my knees weak. Was he really that excited to speak to me?

“I thought you were at school already,” I said.

“Yeah, the principal wants to talk to each of us individually, so I’m just waiting for my turn,” Bay said. “And I thought that I could sit here bored out of my mind, and just go on TikTok or something… or I could call you, and actually have some fun.”

I bit my lip and smiled, completely unable to keep the giddiness off my face. I was glad I came to another part of the house to answer the call or my mom would have started grilling me about who I was talking to, and why they were making me smile so much.

“You should be careful,” I said. “The other boys might get jealous that you’re talking to me so much.”

Bay huffed a laugh. “Guess I’ll have to keep it a secret then.”

“If it’s a secret, then who do they think you’re talking to?” I asked. I tilted my head. “Or do you talk on the phone with a lot of girls?”

“Just you,” he said. “You’re the only one I’ve ever wanted to talk to so much.”

“You’re a sweet talker.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Only when it means you don’t answer my questions.”

“They think I’m talking to a buddy back home,” he said. “And I stepped into another hallway, so they won’t realize that the way I’m talking to you might not really be the way I like to talk to my other friends.”

I didn’t need a mirror to know that I was blushing bright red. Every time that we talked, I questioned whether I was imagining what was happening between us. Sure, Luca had called Bay out for flirting in the group chat, and he called me love the last time we talked, but both of those could exist without him actually being into me. But the way he was speaking to me today made me feel like that wasn’t the case.

“Back home?” I asked. “As in wherever you lived before this?”

“As in London,” he said. “Since I moved when I was twelve, I managed to keep in contact with a lot of old friends.”

“Does that mean if one of the guys walks in while I’m on the phone with you, I have to pretend to have a British accent?”

“Depends,” Bay said. “How good is your accent?”

“Um…” I twisted my face in concentration and sp oke with my best fake British accent as I said, “I’m not sure. What do you think?”

If his snort was anything to go by, I wasn’t very good.

“I’m sorry,” Bay said through fits of laughter. “I promise I’m not laughing at you.”

“You sure?” I asked, still sticking with the accent. “Because it sounds like you are.”

His soft laughing quickly turned into him howling. I grinned to myself, happy that I was able to make him laugh so much.

“Megan!” Mom called. I ripped my phone away from my ear and put it on mute, but I knew it was too late. If she said my name loud enough for Bay to hear, then he already heard it. Muting it now wasn’t going to solve anything. “We need to go.”

“Coming!” I called back. I unmuted the phone and carefully put it back to my ear. Bay was still laughing a little bit, which made me feel a little better. He probably hadn’t heard anything. And even if he had, Megan wasn’t an uncommon name. He wouldn’t immediately know it was me. Of course, my name mixed with my hair, and the fact that were in the same grade at school might tip him off… but I wasn’t going to let myself spiral about that. If he figured out who I was, I would just have to live with it. The damage was done now. “I have to go.”

“Really?” Bay asked. His laughter tapered off. “Can’t even stay for another two minutes?”

“Not unless I want my mom to kill me,” I said.

Bay sighed deeply. “I guess that’s a good reason. Can I call you again soon?”

“Of course,” I said. “Soon. I promise.”

“Oh, before you go,” Bay said quickly. “You have to tell me a secret.”

Crap. He was right, but I could hear my mom walking around with her shoes on downstairs, which meant she wanted to leave literally any second, and if I didn’t come down right away, she would come up here, which would not end well. I needed to think of something fast.

“I want to meet you,” I blurted out without thinking. I didn’t know where that came from—I guess my fear of him possibly knowing my name led to that. “I mean, I?—”

“I want to meet you too,” he responded. I froze. What did this mean? If we both wanted to meet each other in person, where did we go from here? I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that. “But… I think we should wait.”

“You do?” I asked hopefully.

“Just a little longer,” he murmured. “Is that okay?”

“Yes,” I said. Just a little longer. Would we actually go through it one day? “Yeah, that’s okay.”