The Enemy Hypothesis: A Brazos High Novella

such a gentleman,” she says, giving me a cute grin. “But my parents aren’t watching us through the window or anything.”
“I don’t care if anyone is watching,” I say, reaching up and sweeping a few strands of hair across her forehead. “You’re my girl and I’ll always open the door for you.”
With the sun setting in the distance, it’s hard to tell if she’s blushing or if it’s just the sun making her face glow. I grin as I walk over to my side of the car.
“So where are we going?” she asks as I drive out of her neighborhood.
“It’s a secret.” I give her a wry smile. “You look beautiful, by the way.”
This time I know for sure that she’s blushing when she smiles and looks out the window.
“So I’m guessing when you had to get off the phone earlier, it was because your parents got home?”
“Yep,” she says, looking back at me with wide eyes. “It was unexpected. They weren’t supposed to come home until Thanksgiving, but they got a last minute flight for cheap and decided to come see my new car.”
We’ve only talked a little bit about how her parents have been in Mexico, so I don’t know many details about it. “Now I feel bad for taking you out. Should we go back?”
She shakes her head. “They’re cool. They mostly just want to rest and hang out. They’re staying all week because my mom’s sister had a week off work so she went down to Mexico to help out while my parents are home.”
“That’s good.”
“It’s only been a few months since I’ve seen them but my parents look so different. My dad’s hair is going gray and—” She stops suddenly, looking back out the window. “Sorry, that’s boring.”
“No it isn’t,” I say, sneaking a glance at her while I’m driving. “I like hearing about your life.”
“It’s just dumb family stuff,” she says.
“So? I want to hear it. I want to know everything that’s on your mind.”
I can feel her looking at me. I glance over and she’s smiling up at me. I wish I could lean over and kiss her. Or run my hand through her hair. Or pull her close to me. But I’m currently driving so that’ll have to wait until we get to the ice skating rink. The owner is friends with my dad and he’s letting me have access to the rink all night. If all goes according to my plan, it’ll be pretty romantic.
We talk about her family and how she and her siblings are living apart from their parents for the foreseeable future. It’s easy to see that Abby loves her sisters, and it’s also easy to see that she’s exhausted of taking care of them. Hopefully hanging out with me is a welcome distraction. I know I sure enjoy the time we spend together. When I’m with Abby, I don’t stress about my parent’s problems. I don’t think about Julian and his immature antics. I’m just happy. Every single second I spend around Abby, I’m happy.
“That app has buried itself into my soul,” I say with a snort of laughter. “Every time you do something cute I get this weird urge to take out my phone and give you a kudos.”
She laughs, a long genuine sound that lights up my insides. “It’s too bad you didn’t feel that way during the competition.”
“Psh. I did. That’s why I gave you kudos.”
Her head tilts to the side, her soft eyes studying me as if she’ll find the answer in my expression. “You really gave me a kudos?”
I nod. “Just once…A day.”
She balks. “You gave me kudos every day?”
“Yep.”
“Why? Ours scores were pretty close for a few days. You were just sabotaging yourself.”
I shrug. “I guess I always knew you deserved to win. I couldn’t help myself. I liked seeing your score go up, especially after Annabel got kicked off the app.”
I turn into the parking lot of Brazos City’s Ice World. Abby’s eyes light up. “We’re going skating? I love skating!”
“You’ll love it even more tonight,” I say as I park right at the front.
“How so?” she asks. I get out of the car and walk over to open her door. Just to be silly, I hold out my hand like I’m a butler or something and she grins and takes it, letting me help her out of my car.
I slide my hands around her waist, pulling her forehead to mine. “We have the place all to ourselves.”
“No way!” she says, bouncing on her toes.
I grin. “Yes way.”
Abby’s hair smells like apple shampoo. I breathe her in and close my eyes, enjoying this moment.
“You are not at all what I expected,” she says softly, her head pressed to my chest.
“Better, I hope?”
She looks up at me, her dark eyes glittering under the neon lighted sign above us. “Much better.”
* * *
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Don’t miss Book 3, The Theory of the Boy Next Door. Coming soon!

Also by Amy Sparling
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About the Author
Amy Sparling is the bestselling author of books for teens and the teens at heart. She lives on the coast of Texas with her family, her spoiled rotten pets, and a huge pile of books. She graduated with a degree in English and has worked at a bookstore, coffee shop, and a fashion boutique. Her fashion skills