Rebel with a Boyfriend

Are there rules for having a boyfriend? Because I’m bound to break them all.
My summer fling with Tyler has turned into a senior year romance. I was fine being a loner, but now I have a boyfriend who is somebody. And I have no idea how popular Tyler is.

When Tyler and I attend the same school for our senior year, I’m throw headfirst into social chaos. I’d much rather hide in the library over entering the cafeteria. It only gets worse when the secret Tyler is keeping is exposed. I’m not ready for Tyler’s world when I can’t tell fiction from reality. It’ll take the other senior kids and the senior citizens of the Donut Club to show us what’s real.

Rebel with a Boyfriend follows Emma and Tyler after their summer fling in Rebel with a Donut. Grab your favorite donut and get ready for the distractions (and squirrels) thrown in their path. The grandmas from The Villages, plus Ravi, Hannah, and Cole make meddling appearances.

My backpack is full and hangs from my shoulders. It’s packed with all the usual supplies for the first day of my senior year, but what’s unusual is who I have with me. I’m a self-proclaimed loner and prefer to be unnoticed. I’m a nobody, but now I have somebody with me, and his hand is wrapped around mine.
I turn my head and smile at Tyler while we stand near his locker. A dusting of powdered sugar covers his lips from the donut he devoured. I’m tempted to kiss it off, but we already kissed in the hall this morning and it felt like I was breaking a rule.
“Nice t-shirt,” I comment. Tyler wears a bright red shirt with a white stick figure raising their arms above their head. In white letters the shirt says, “I pooped today.”
Tyler slams the locker and tugs the shirt out with his free hand. “You think? I’m trying something different. My mom wasn’t sure it was the best shirt to wear on the first day. She thought it’d make a bad impression. I almost changed.”
Tyler’s a people pleaser, and for him to not change is a big deal. The shirt is his favorite color and fits the class clown reputation he once had here. “It’s definitely you,” I say with a smile.
Tyler grins. “It’s the truth.”
I roll my eyes and shake my head. “I did not need to know that.”
“Don’t you want to know everything about me?” Tyler gives me his cute smirk where the tiny dimple in his left cheek emerges.
“Is it necessary to know every detail?” I ask.
“I want to know everything about you.”
I bite my bottom lip. This is what scares me. Tyler thinks he’s figuring me out, but he hasn’t attended school with me since ninth grade. In July, we spent three weeks with our grandmothers who live next door to each other in The Villages, a retirement community in Florida. Tyler had no clue we were once classmates in Minnesota. He was popular in school, and I wasn’t. When our summer fling began, I was afraid to admit I remembered him, and we had a dating rule.
No expectations.
After two weeks, we could break it off with no hard feelings. My secret was eventually blown, and Tyler found out where I’m from. He followed me here for two more summer weeks and stayed with his mom. Then he returned to his dad in Connecticut to finish school. Tyler left with no expectations and no course to our relationship. And now he’s here. Tyler holds my hand and walks with me down the wide hallway. He’s an unexpected addition to my unexpected senior year.
“Yo…Barnes. Good to see you back.” Trey, the starting quarterback of the football team, fist bumps Tyler as he walks by at a brisk pace.
My mouth falls open, and a donut sprinkle lodged in my teeth tumbles out. “He knows you?” I swallow the offending sprinkle.
“Sure,” Tyler replies. “Doesn’t he know you?”
No. Trey has no idea who I am, even though this will be our fourth year in the same school.
“Come here.” I pull Tyler out of the buzzing first day traffic and into an alcove out of view.
Tyler gives me his boyish grin, wraps an arm around my waist, and pulls me into him. The tiny dimple in his left cheek looks like a pinprick in his skin. “I missed you.” Tyler’s face brushes against mine, and his breath is scented with chocolate from the donut.
I should be soaking this up, but instead I bite my lower lip and place a hand on Tyler’s chest. “I missed you too, but…” I take a deep breath while Tyler gazes at me with murky blue eyes. He’s adorable and his sandy blonde hair is cut short again, with a little length left on top.
“But…” Tyler waits for me to continue.
“But…” I twist his t-shirt in my fingers. “No expectations.”
“Are we still doing your rules?” Tyler gazes down at me and licks his lips. “Because I’m pretty good at getting you to break rules.”
“You know the me in Florida,” I remind Tyler. “Not the me here. No hard feelings if you decide this doesn’t work.”
“What if you decide this isn’t working?” Tyler asks.
A slow smile spreads on my face as my fingers brush against his tight stomach. “You’re impossible.” It’s unlikely I’ll be the one who decides this isn’t working. I’m the nobody. Tyler’s the somebody.
Tyler leans in and plants a quick, sweet kiss on my lips. He leaves the taste of chocolate on me. “Come on,” he says, and pulls me back into the fray of students.
I flinch when I realize where Tyler leads me. The cafeteria. It’s where the somebodies of our school hang out before class starts. I rarely step foot in there.
“You know,” I say, and pull from Tyler. “I need to get to my first class early. Why don’t you go without me? I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Emma, you won’t be late if we go to the cafeteria until the bell rings.” Tyler counters my pull. He knows I hate to break rules, but I’m more concerned about his social status and my lack of one.
I unwedge my hand from Tyler’s. “I’ll see you fourth period. Go catch up with people.”
The two weeks Tyler spent here during the summer, he spent with only me. He has lots of catching up to do with classmates who will be happy to see he’s returned. A two-year absence hasn’t diminished Tyler’s popularity.
“Are you sure?” Tyler’s face is passive.
I like to play it safe and hide. I’m rather good at running, especially from things which make me uncomfortable, like a cafeteria full of people.
“Go.” I smile at Tyler and swish my hand in the direction he should go. Then I turn and head off, before either of us can change our mind.
A few months ago, I wanted to sign up for independent study and skip the hoopla of being in a large suburban school my senior year. After spending three weeks in Florida with Tyler and three other teenagers, I decided to return. I enjoyed who I was in Florida, a girl who had friends for the first time in her life, but I’m not sure how to bring the same girl here. It’s easy to be someone different in a new place, but not quite as easy in a place I’ve always been.
I double check my schedule and make sure I’m in the correct classroom for first period. I grab an inconspicuous spot in the back corner and check my phone. There’s a private text from Hannah. We became friends while our grandmothers forced us to break habits. After Tyler made his last-minute decision to attend school here, I expressed my concern to Hannah. She’s of the same popular status as Tyler.
Hannah: How’s it going?
Me: ok
Hannah: Liar
Me: It was supposed to be a summer fling. I’m not sure what I’m doing
Hannah: It’s going to be fine
Hannah has this weird sixth sense about couples. She knew Tyler and I would get together, even before we started dating in Florida. I type a quick question weighing on my mind.
Me: Boyfriend rules? Are there any?
I take a deep breath and watch the moving dots on my phone, which means Hannah is texting me back. Rules make me feel comfortable, and I could use some in this situation. Tyler is my first boyfriend and my lack of any kind of relationship makes it difficult for me to judge if I’m playing by the rules.
Hannah: Don’t change for a boy
I frown at the phone. I was a different me, a changed person, when Tyler and I started dating. I’m already breaking the boyfriend rules.