We slip into silence again. I suspect this will be the last lunch he asks me to join him, now that he knows I'm not interested in anything else. Inside, I can't understand why this bothers me so much. I barely know him. 

When I look up from taking another bite of my sandwich, Will watches me with serious, unwavering coffee-brown eyes.

"I have a confession," he says.

"What?" I lower my sandwich to the plate, mentally sighing as I prepare myself to hear him talk about how he likes me and thinks I should give us a chance. My gaze falls to the table, and I shut my eyes, my lips pressing together as I wait for it to come.

"I saw the drawing you threw in the backseat. The one we found on your windshield."

"What?" I ask, sitting straight up. "How?"

"When I grabbed my bag, I picked it up and took it with me." He doesn't wait for me to ask why. "You were upset, and I had to know if some asshole at school was bothering you." He gauges my reaction, but when I keep quiet, he adds. "Do you have any idea who left it?"

I shake my head. If Dad is right, and Paul is nowhere near Ludford, I don't know who it could be. "I only moved here in September. I've barely spoken to anyone other than the delivery guy, Ron."

"Have you found any others?"

"No other drawings." I hesitate for only a moment. "But someone sent flowers to my house. I'm not sure if they were for me or Cassie."

"No note?"

"No." I cross my arms and lean forward. "Has anything like this happened before in Ludford?"

He takes a bite as he considers my words. "Not that I know of. Can you call the flower shop to see who sent it?"

"It didn't have a label." I let him take a few more bites of his sandwich before continuing. "What do you think it means?" Inside, a knot of tension dissolves because it's just so good to talk to someone who doesn't instantly dismiss it the way Cassie does.

"You're sitting on a balcony... is that in Ludford or somewhere else?"

"The house we're renting has a balcony that overlooks the back." I swallow. "Someone stood in the woods. It's the only way to see us from there." I shiver. "It's so creepy."

He lowers his sandwich halfway and says, "I think probably some guy is into you." He must see the horror on my face because he gives me an encouraging smile. "And he doesn't have the guts to talk to you. Don't get me wrong, it's creepy, especially the way he's spying on you, but maybe he'll come forward now that he has your attention."

I stare down at the table, closing my eyes. "I don't want him to," I say in a small voice. He leans in to hear me. "Someone who does something like that isn't interested in me, just in what I look like."

"I have an idea," Will says suddenly, drawing my gaze back. He pushes his plate away. His shoulders tense as he sits up and focuses on me with his dark eyes, his muscles straining across his chest. "What if we hang out? You and me."

"Isn't that what we're doing now?"

"Except we let people think otherwise. Like we're together."

My brow furrows. He sees it and cuts in, not taking a chance that I'll refuse before he's laid out the whole plan. "Look, if you're seeing me," he says, "the guys at school will back off. Especially the creep watching you and giving you things."

When my lips part to speak, he cuts in again. "If we're a couple, you can figure out which guys want to be your friend, and which ones had more in mind. If that is what you want," he adds as he lifts his brow and looks at me from under thick lashes. He shrugs, as if one way or the other, whatever I choose, has little to do with him.

I bite my lip as I stare across the table at him. The idea appeals to me strongly. Someone to eat with. Someone to hide behind. Between him and Christine, I'd have a wall to keep others away. Just as long as he knows it's pretend.

"How will this work?"

The rigidity in his wide shoulders eases away as he smiles and picks up his sandwich. "I drive you to school. We eat together at lunch. We get seen together a lot."

"And everyone will assume we're a couple."

He laughs. "That is the point, Leila. We want them to assume it."

[Author's Note:

What do you think of Will's plan? Will they convince anyone?]