“What’s so funny?” my mom asked.
“Oh, nothing.”
“You ready for a lunch break?”
“Sure.”
She handed me a ten. “I want one of those big veggie burritos.”
“Okay, I’ll be back.”
I weaved my way through the crowd as I headed toward the food trucks at the end of the street. I had been standing in line for a few minutes when I saw Cade sitting off to the right at a long plastic table with one of his friends, Mike, from school. They were a stone’s throw away and even though I wasn’t trying to listen, I could hear their voices perfectly.
“Do you think Coach expects us to be at every club practice plus the games?” Mike was saying.
“Yeah,” Cade answered. “At least you don’t have mornings here and afternoons there.”
“True. How many more of these do you have to work?” Mike asked.
“As many as the company decides to do,” Cade answered.
“It’s not too bad. This is a good place to meet new girls. Unlike club baseball.”
“Really? Have you noticed the average age of the buyers here? Not really my age bracket.”
“I noticed that one chick from school in the booth next to yours … you know … what’s her name … Lily. That could be interesting. She’s weird, but cute.”
I tensed up.
“Lily Abbott?” Cade said. “You think Lily Abbott is cute?”
“You don’t?”
“No.”
“Then maybe I’ll go talk to her.”
“Believe me. Avoid her at all costs. She’s not worth your time at all. She’s a—”
Before I could hear how Cade ended that delightful sentence, the person standing in line behind me snapped: “Are you going to order or are you just looking?”
“Oh, I’m ordering.” Flustered, I stepped up to the window, glancing once at Cade to see if he’d seen me. He raised one eyebrow at me, then took a drink of his soda. I hurriedly placed my order and waited on the opposite side, far away from Cade.
My thoughts were swirling. That Mike guy thought I was weird, but cute? I wouldn’t have expected that. I didn’t think boys thought of me at all. But I wasn’t really surprised by Cade’s response.
I could see why Cade hated me. I really could. In his mind, I had broken up him and Isabel. And I might’ve been able to deal with his hatred if that was the only reason for it. But his attitude toward me wasn’t new. It wasn’t post-Isabel. It had started when he and Isabel started. His jerkiness all along was what made me want him out of Isabel’s life. His attitude was the precursor to mine. He’d created my loathing with his. And I couldn’t for the life of me understand why.
Chemistry used to be the class I had to get through. Now it was the class I couldn’t wait to get to. Monday morning seemed to drag on forever. Math was nothing short of torture. Composition, my favorite class ever, was slow, and in English, Ms. Logan decided we should read Romeo and Juliet out loud, the entire period, with English accents. A few drama students were the only ones who made it halfway entertaining. Everyone else butchered it. Two more classes until I would get to read today’s new note.
Fourth period I was an office aide—the much-coveted position that usually only seniors got. It was basically busy-work and no homework, not the noblest elective, but a free period was a free period. And helping out Mrs. Clark wasn’t so bad.
I was making my way through the crowded halls to the office when I saw Lucas ahead of me. He was several inches taller than everyone around him. He turned at the end of the hall. I turned, too. It was time to say something … anything to him.
The second I made that decision my heart kicked up a notch.
It’s okay, I said to myself, Just say hi, make sure he knows you exist.
That wouldn’t be hard. Hi was a harmless word.
Lucas pushed open a door on his right and I nearly followed him right through it until it swung shut and I saw the blue symbol of a man on the outside of it. I had almost walked right into the boy’s bathroom. Apparently I was a stalker now.
I doubled back around and bumped into Isabel. Which was a relief. I needed an intervention or, at the very least, a lecture about why silently following boys was creepy.
Only Isabel wasn’t alone. A boy was beside her. David. Isabel smiled eagerly at me.
I sighed. Were we really going to do a take two? Isabel didn’t know how to give up.
“Lily!” Isabel said in a fake innocent tone. “Look who I ran into.”
“Hi,” I said.
“Hey,” David replied, hands in his pockets. “How are you?”
“Pretty good. Did you get all the pee out of your sock?”
“I threw it away.”
“Oh. That was another solution.” A bit of an overreaction in my opinion, but maybe it smelled worse than I imagined it might.
I looked at Isabel. She had a smile on her face like she was witnessing the cutest thing she’d ever seen. Isabel made a horrible matchmaker. I hoped she didn’t have her heart set on this as a career.
“I didn’t mean to kick it, by the way,” David added, looking at the ground. “The rabbit. I just … it just surprised me.”
I smiled. “My brother will be relieved to know this. Although you should probably avoid him for a while. My brother, that is. Oh, and the rabbit, I guess.” Not that David would ever want to go to my mad house again.
“She’s just kidding,” Isabel clarified.
“Yes. I am.” I had probably sounded rude. I was glad Isabel got my sense of humor so she could translate for me.
“So … anyway, about that Chemistry assignment,” David said, turning to Isabel, and I realized this was how their conversation had probably started, how she had gotten him to follow her over here.
“I can help you with it. Lily and I meet in the library on Wednesdays after school to work on Chemistry,” Isabel said.
We most certainly did not.
“Why don’t you join us this week?” Isabel went on.
“Okay, sure.” David smiled a little at me and I softened. Maybe he was just shy and uncomfortable. I could understand that and have some sympathy for the poor guy. We could be friends. Maybe a few more conversations would bring out his real personality. “Mr. Ortega is going to be the death of me.”
“Me too,” I said. “Do you guys have Chemistry together?” I glanced from David to Isabel.
“No,” Isabel said. “I have it fourth period, and David has it second.”
“And I have it sixth,” I said, almost to myself. We were each in one of the three junior Chemistry classes. The only three that existed. So my mystery pen pal was in one of their periods. One of them knew exactly who sat in my seat. All I had to do was open my mouth and ask … and forever ruin Chemistry. This was the one thing I’d been looking forward to for the past week and a half. I was not going to ruin that with my curiosity. I’d already told Isabel I didn’t want to know who my pen pal was. And I really didn’t.
The late bell rang then. David, Isabel, and I all went our separate ways. I smiled as I hurried toward the main office. I was one step closer to Chemistry class.