“Did you gals want anything?”

Ashley looked at me before confirming.

Misty walked behind the counter, ready to take our orders.

“Can I have a strawberry banana avocado smoothie?” she asked without hesitating.

I looked at her, stunned.

“Do you usually?..” Misty trailed.

“Yeah. It’s my ‘regular’.”

“Mine too,” I say. Misty gives me a look before ringing up our drinks.

I pull out my wallet but Misty stops me.

“Oh no. It’s on the house,” she says, looking from me to Ashley.

I give her a quizzical look as she follows us to our table with the smoothies.

“Ashley, if you don’t mind, I’d like to steal Spencer for a minute.”

“Sure. Go ahead.”

Misty nods for me to follow her to the back. When I get there, she’s sitting on the counter swinging her legs back and forth.

“Before you say anything, I know you like her, so don’t try to deny it. I know how you are. Secondly, she likes you, too,” she said, getting straight to the point.

This caught me off guard. Usually Misty would wait for me to talk to her, not the other way around.

“What? How?”

“Trust me, Spencer. I know these things.”

For one of the first times, I was speechless. How did everybody know I liked her? Isn’t anything sacred anymore? Sheesh.

“Where did you meet her?” Misty asks from curiosity.

“Gym,” I answer truthfully.

“You’re leaving something out, aren’t you?”

“Well… she’s the gym teacher,” I confess.

Her eyes widen, but she doesn’t say anything. “How old is she? She doesn’t look much older than you.”

“Ashley never actually told me, but I’m guessing she’s in the range of twenty to twenty-two. Before you have a chance to say anything, technically there aren’t any laws in California about student-teacher relationships.”

She looks at me uncertainly.

“I’m legal!” I exclaim a little bit loudly. Hopefully, no one heard.

“Just as long as you know what you’re getting into, kiddo,” she said, walking off. Then I heard her chuckle ‘legal’.

“I am!” I call after her to let her know I heard her.