Ask Me Anything by
Molly E. Lee
I should’ve kept my mouth shut.
But Wilmont Academy’s been living in the Dark Ages when it comes to sex ed, and someone had to take matters into her own hands. Well, I’m a kickass coder, so I created a totally anonymous, totally untraceable blog where teens can come to get real, honest, nothing-is-off-limits sex advice.
And holy hell, the site went viral overnight. Who knew this school was so hard up.
Except now the school administration is trying to shut me down, and they’ve forced Dean—my coding crush, aka the hottest guy in school—to try to uncover who I am. If he discovers my secret, I’ll lose him forever. And thousands of teens who need real advice won’t have anyone to turn to.
Ask me anything…except how to make things right.
But Wilmont Academy’s been living in the Dark Ages when it comes to sex ed, and someone had to take matters into her own hands. Well, I’m a kickass coder, so I created a totally anonymous, totally untraceable blog where teens can come to get real, honest, nothing-is-off-limits sex advice.
And holy hell, the site went viral overnight. Who knew this school was so hard up.
Except now the school administration is trying to shut me down, and they’ve forced Dean—my coding crush, aka the hottest guy in school—to try to uncover who I am. If he discovers my secret, I’ll lose him forever. And thousands of teens who need real advice won’t have anyone to turn to.
Ask me anything…except how to make things right.
Excerpt
NightLocker: Crash before 2am?
PixieBurn: Does it look like it?
NightLocker: Didn’t mean it like
that
PixieBurn: Sure
NightLocker: I didn’t stop coding
until 4
PixieBurn: Overachiever
NightLocker: Have to be to beat
you
PixieBurn: Flattery won’t help
you win
NightLocker: DC!
I frantically
typed our standard code word for killing an illegal chat—DC, aka don’t chat,
don’t code—when a teacher was too close to walking by one of our screens.
Amber quickly
clicked off-screen, allowing the Spanish assignment to fill the space. Mrs.
Francesca wasn’t the strictest teacher at Wilmont, but she’d be pissed if we
were caught.
After she’d
taken an unexpected walk around our quiet classroom, I flashed Amber a smile.
She was six rows away from me, and we’d adapted this way of chatting a couple
years ago when we’d gotten bored during Computer Science class. It was a good,
solid class. It simply was teaching us things we’d known for years—it wasn’t until
we’d accelerated to the more exclusive coding courses that we were actually
challenged. The one saving grace of this school were those higher-level
computer classes. And though Amber and I had always been in competition with
each other, we’d come up with the code word to let each other know when push
came to shove, we hackers had each other’s backs.
Or, at least,
Amber and I did.
The word had
saved me plenty of times—even when I hadn’t been actively chatting with her. A
few times she’d thrown it in a chat box on my screen when I’d been coding or
locked into another hack.
Amber yawned as
she tried to return my gesture.
I chuckled under
my breath, giving her a too-knowing look.
She’d been up as
late as I was last night. Working on our challenge. Not that she looked like
she was tired, like she’d implied, but I could see it in her eyes. The heavy
way they gazed at the assignment on the screen—seeing it but not computing. The
same way I was, because I’d stayed up entirely too late and gotten up way too
damn early.
A tremor of
nerves rolled through me. I didn’t have a clue what she was preparing, but I
was sure it’d be incredible. The girl knew her shit. Born with a gift. And I’d
have to up my game in order to fully beat her.
Once Mrs.
Francesca returned to her position behind her desk, I opened another chat box,
completely unable to resist.
NightLocker: Will I see you
tomorrow?
PixieBurn: Why wouldn’t you?
NightLocker: Didn’t know if you
were going to come again
PixieBurn: Wouldn’t leave you to
host an empty room
NightLocker: Ha. Ha.
PixieBurn: Think you can beat me
in a round of CTF?
NightLocker: Name the time
PixieBurn: Code Club. Tomorrow
NightLocker: God, we have to come
up with a better name
She snorted
quietly and shook her head.
PixieBurn: You do. I’m just a
dutiful member
NightLocker: Not fair
NightLocker: I thought we were in
this together?
PixieBurn: I thought we were
always competing to see who would wind up on top?
The last line
made a deep ache wrench in my stomach. Flashes of her on top of me, smiling
with those perfect lips, her short hair falling gently across her forehead as I
held her.
Barely able to
escape the involuntary fantasy, I was typing a response before I could get the
feel of her phantom- self out of my head.
NightLocker: I think it would be
fun with either of us on top
The sentence
repeated in my mind the second I hit enter, and I jolted. Fuck, that sounded so
wrong.
Or completely
right.
I hushed my
inner voice and risked a glance at her.
She stared at
the screen, her once-tired eyes wide and alert, a beautiful rosy color flooding
her cheeks.
NightLocker: Calm down, Pixie
NightLocker: You’re blushing
PixieBurn: It’s hot in here
PixieBurn: Don’t flatter yourself
NightLocker: I rarely do. You’re
the one clearly dreaming of me in all sorts of naughty ways
NightLocker: Cause you know I
didn’t mean it like that.
I tried to make
light of my blunder, but I was equally surprised that was where her mind went
first.
Did that mean
she was thinking about me, too?
Damn.
Why did that
make my heart race?
A sweet smirk
shaped her lips as she reached for the keyboard.
Well, as long as
we were playing…
Review by Gia:
Ask Me Anything is good read. It's told in the dual POVs of Amber and Dean. They are both high schoolers that are really good at computer coding and hacking. I liked the computer hacking elements throughout the story. Amber has gotten out of an relationship with a jerky football player and she's not looking for a new boyfriend. Her and Dean have a lot of interests in common and they become friends. They are perfect together and I was so hoping that they would be more than friends. Amber has very open and supportive parents but some of the other kids at school don't. She starts this super secret blog to answer questions about sex. I liked that some of the blog posts were included in the book. At first glance of the blurb, I thought that the blog would be the only focus of the story but there are a lot of other interesting things going on too. I thought this was was nicely written and I truly enjoyed reading this one.
4 Amazeballs Stars!!
About Molly E. Lee:
Molly E. Lee is an author best known for her romance novels, the Grad
Night series and the Love on the Edge series. She is a 1001 Dark Nights
Discovery Author for 2017. Molly writes Adult and Young Adult
contemporary featuring strong female heroines who are unafraid to
challenge their male counterparts, yet still vulnerable enough to have
love sneak up on them. In addition to being a military spouse and mother
of two + one stubborn English Bulldog, Molly loves watching storms from
her back porch at her Midwest home, and digging for treasures in
antique stores.
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