Rory blurts out, "I kissed Shara." Smith [Shara's boyfriend] freezes. Rory freezes. Untipped cows on the edge of town freeze. When Smith speaks again, his voice is low. "What?" "I mean, uh," Rory says. It's almost funny, the way all his class-cutting, shoe-gazing edginess shrinks into nothing. Boys are so embarrassing. "She, uh - before she left, we, um -" "He kissed Shara. And so did I," Chloe says, stepping up like the Spartacus of people who kissed Smith Parker's girlfriend. "I mean, she kissed me, if we're being specific. But I kissed her back." Smith stares at her face, then at Rory's, then Chloe's again. "Y'all think this is funny?" he asks. "Because it's not." "It's a little funny," Chloe notes.

— I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston (Page 19)