Solving for Ex Read Online Free

come in third.
    “Wasn’t my fault,” she said, flicking a tissue-thin piece of paper out of the brand-new planner she carried. “Just brought these to the office for my records. See for yourself.”
    “That’s awesome,” Brendan said, finally finding some words. This was almost too painful. I glanced over his shoulder at the transcript. Straight As. Sofia had straight As, in honors classes. A better than 4.0 GPA.
    “Yeah, awesome,” I said. It looked like I’d have to jolt Brendan back to reality. “Speaking of Mathletes, we’re still meeting after, right?”
    “Um, yeah.” Brendan finally looked at me. “And we’re gonna need you.”
    “Well, I couldn’t leave if I wanted to. You’re giving me a ride home, right?” He’d given me a ride home every school day for the last half a year. Granted, we’d had the summer, but still. Had he really forgotten?
    “Brendan, you’re not going straight home after school, are you?” Sofia looked at him with huge eyes and a slight smile. I hated the way she said his name, like the n’s were too hum-my. “You’re coming with us to Custard’s First Stand?”
    “Custard’s First Stand?” I asked, my voice going up a pitch. Most of the kids who hung out there were in middle school. Brendan nodded, looking at her like she’d asked if he wanted a million dollars.
    I took a deep breath, fumbling in my bag for nothing and trying not to watch Brendan watching Sofia. “Okay, good,” I lied. “I’m craving some soft-serve anyway. So, I’ll meet you at the car, okay?”
    “See ya, Ash,” Brendan said, not even bothering to look at me. I rolled my eyes and tried to explain the twisting in my gut as anger instead of the top of an inevitable downward spiral.

of a cautious temper
    Custard’s First Stand wasn’t a half-bad idea. It was crazy hot outside and something made me want a big bowl of vanilla piled high with M&M’s. I hopped out of Brendan’s car and met him on his side, and we walked silently together up to the ordering window.
    The breeze blew hot and lazy, swirling around my calves and where my hair touched my shoulders and back beneath the tank top I’d been wearing under my uniform shirt all day. I closed my eyes and stood there, feeling Brendan’s presence beside me. For a moment, I could imagine that today had gone just like any other day, that my best friend hadn’t been so gaga over the new girl that he had almost completely ignored me.
    That I wasn’t in danger of being completely alone all over again.
    “Hey.” A solid, round shoulder nudged into mine, almost knocking me off my feet. I opened my eyes and caught myself.
    “Hey yourself. Watch what you do with that thing. You could hurt someone.”
    “You’re right. Wouldn’t want any unfortunate accidents.”
    “Ha ha.”
    “What’re you thinking about?” Brendan asked in his teasing voice. “Pretty intense daydream to close your eyes and get yourself knocked over for.”
    I’m thinking about how I wish you’d look at me like you looked at her all damn day. “Oh, I don’t know. That it’s good to be back at school.”
    The gravel in the parking lot crunched under rolling tires. I looked up just in time to see the shiniest red Porsche possible pull in, and Sofia’s ridiculously long legs stretch out. Vincent drove, and seeing his baseball cap dip just enough to cover his eyes made me wince. What a tool. Until he turned and looked right at me.
    His eyes sparked, and tugged right at something else inside me. And the way one corner of his lips pulled up in a smile…okay. Now I got why Julia was all obsessed-at-first-sight. This guy was absolutely gorgeous.
    It wasn’t long before half the lacrosse team joined us. Apparently Vincent had just introduced himself to all of them, and they were already fast friends. Most of them brought their girlfriends, and some of those girls brought their unattached friends. So, basically, we were going to have a little replay of lunchtime,