On Tuesday, the news that Marco and Paige had broken up was all over school. I could hear Daisy sympathizing with Paige as I took my seat in Art class. A twinge of jealousy spread through me as I looked at their blond heads huddled together. One would think that Daisy was her best friend instead of mine. From what I could hear, Paige was telling her that the breakup was old news and that she was over it, but even from where I was sitting I could tell she still had feelings for him.

Jamie interrupted my eavesdropping to show me some of the drawings he had done over the summer. They were copies from comic books and graphic novels.

“Wow, Jamie,” I said. “I’m impressed!” It was the truth, even though I thought he was much better at drawing comics than what we did in class.

My compliment seemed to give him the green light to critique my drawings. I was offended at first, but his unwanted criticism was somewhat helpful. The more we talked, the more comfortable he seemed to be with me. He began to crack rude jokes. I didn’t know if he was always like that or if he just wanted to make me laugh. Whatever it was, he was getting on my nerves.

Mr. Belford encouraged us to move around the class to draw the still life from different angles. When no one moved, he made it a requirement. He forced us to draw faster. Every ten minutes, we had to get up and take another seat to draw from.

It could’ve been my imagination, but Jamie seemed to follow me around the room. I looked around. Daisy giggled at something Pete said. Andreas sat diagonally from me. I watched him draw. His eyelashes were long, his cheekbones angular, and his jaw square. Could his profile be any more perfect? I watched as his eyes moved from the still life to his drawing. He had a steady hand and his line was strong and confident. Try as I might, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from him. I spent so much time watching him that I didn’t finish my drawing. What an idiot! I was supposed to be ignoring him.

“So, what’s up with you and Pete?” I said to Daisy when I saw her again in Biology.

“What do you mean?”

“I saw him talking to you in Art class.”

“Oh, it was nothing. We’re just friends. He’s nice.”

“And cute.”

She giggled. “He’s cute, but no, we’re friends. You know I still like…” She lifted her eyes to the door as Marco walked in.

“Speak of the devil,” I muttered under my breath.

She gave me a hard look, but smiled. “Oh, come on. Don’t be like that.”

Marco walked down the aisle and I looked down at my notebook. I heard him pause before putting his books on his desk.

“Hey, Lilah. Daisy.”

“Hey, Marco,” said Daisy. She smiled at him, sounding more enthusiastic than usual.

“Hi,” I said. I glanced in his direction without looking into his eyes, then began writing in my notebook as if there was something important I needed to jot down when it was just my name and details of the class.

He sat down at his desk and I didn’t look at him for the rest of the period. Being friendly to him would only mean trouble for me.

In P.E. we sat outside while the coach talked to us about volleyball. Andreas walked in late and, true to his word, the coach made him run two laps. I watched him as he ran onto the field.

Jamie took to collecting small metal shavings off the ground. I wondered where they came from, but didn’t really care. He shoved a handful of them in my face, threatening me with them. I thought he was going to throw them down my shirt, so I reflexively slapped his hand away. The metal shavings flew into his face and down his shirt. He howled in pain and surprise. Grabbing his shirt, he looked down the neck hole. His face was fine, but the shavings had fallen in the elastic of his shorts. He yelped his discomfort. I started to laugh hysterically. I couldn’t help it.

The coach looked at us with annoyance and pointed to the track. “Two laps!” he said.

“Oh, you idiot!” I said to Jamie. Running on the track was not like running at the Reservoir or near the park where the scenery was nice. It was painful and boring. Angry, I took off without waiting for him. He was still trying to pick the shavings out of his shirt and shorts as he ran.

Andreas had almost completed a full lap and was coming up behind Jamie. I couldn’t let him pass me, so I ran faster. Two laps was only a half mile and I did way more than that on a daily basis. The day was warm, but I hadn’t even broken a sweat yet. I was feeling pretty good and looked past the chain linked fence at whatever I could find that was interesting to take my mind off of the boring track. A bug buzzed loudly in my ear and got caught in my hair. I screamed and swatted at my hair to get it out. I tripped over my own feet and came crashing down. A cloud of dirt flew up around me. There was a stinging pain on my hands and knees. Embarrassed, I struggled to get up as quickly as I could before anyone could see me on the ground. In my haste, I stumbled again unable to regain my balance. A pair of strong arms grabbed me around the waist and lifted me up. I turned around expecting to see Jamie, but it was Andreas. My heart jumped.

“Are you okay?” he said after placing me back on my feet. There was concern in his green eyes. They were amazing up close. He kept a hand on my shoulder to steady me.

“Y-yeah. Thanks.” I dusted myself off and inspected my hands and knees. They were a little scraped from the gravel, but felt worse than they looked. The scab on my stomach felt like it had ripped open, too. I grimaced in pain.

Andreas grabbed my hands to inspect them. “You should wash the dirt off these scrapes as soon as you can.”

“Yeah. I will.” I looked him in the eye and didn’t pull away.

He squinted at me. “Didn’t you fall yesterday, too and get a cut on your stomach?”

“I didn’t fall.” My face flushed with embarrassment. “Someone fell on me.”

Jamie ran up to us. “What happened? Are you all right?”

Andreas let go of my hands.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m all right,” I said glancing at the coach who was staring at us with his hands on his hips. “The coach is getting mad. We have to keep running.”

I started to run again and they followed suit. My stinging knees slowed me down and I let Andreas pass me, but I stayed on his tail the whole time. Jamie couldn’t keep up. Andreas finished his last lap and slowed to a stop. He turned to look at me as I ran past him to do my second lap. The stinging didn’t bother me as much anymore and I finished my last lap before Jamie did.

When I got back, everyone was playing volleyball, but the coach said I could go to the restroom to wash the dirt off my cuts and scrapes. I passed Marco who was about to serve the ball. He stopped and looked at me.

“Are you okay?” he said.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks.” I kept walking.

I was surprised to see Paige in the restroom when I got there. She was washing her hands at the sink. Her expression was neutral. I forced a smile and began to wash the scrapes on my hands with soap and water.

“That was pretty hot the way Andreas swooped in and picked you up,” she said looking down her nose at me. She didn’t ask if I was okay.

“Oh…yeah.”

“Marco must’ve been jealous.”

My body tensed. “Why?”

“Because he seems to like you.” She took a couple of steps toward me and leaned against the sink casually.

“I don’t think...”

“I heard he saved you at the beach.” There was a hint of anger in her voice.

“Uh…he told you that?”

“Trey told me. Is it true?”

“Yes.” I looked away, embarrassed.

“How convenient.”

“What do you mean?”

“Marco likes playing the hero. You must’ve put on a good show.”

“It wasn’t a show. I was about to drown. I got caught in a rip tide and borrowed his board to get back in. That was it.” I grabbed a paper towel and wet it. “It wasn’t something I planned. I didn’t even know he was going to be there.” I stopped to glare at her. “Look, I’m not even interested in him, okay? So don’t get bent out of shape and start accusing me of dumb things.”

“Sure,” she said sarcastically, but I could see her start to relax. “Every girl here likes him and you’re saying you don’t?”

“I don’t. I like someone else.”

Her expression changed from anger to curiosity. “Who?”

“Well, I’m not telling you that.” I gave her a dirty look and started to dab my knees with the wet paper towel. It stung.

“You have to wash it with soap, dummy.”

“Well, duh, I’m getting to that. It hurts, you know.” I put my leg up on the sink and splashed some water on it, then lathered up some soap and washed the cuts. “Ooowww!”

She sighed. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

“What, are you gonna get something to club me with now?”

“Just shut up and wait.” She ran off and a couple of minutes later she came back with ointment and band-aids.

I eyed her warily.

“Here, use these.”

I took them out of her hand and inspected them. “Thanks.”

She watched as I applied the ointment.

“So, I guess you want to get back together with Marco, huh?” I said.

“Maybe.” She folded her arms across her chest.

“Okay, whatever. You don’t have to tell me. I don’t really care.” I handed the ointment back to her. “But if he doesn’t want to get back together, you should just forget him and move on. That’s what I would do if I were you. Don’t waste your time on him. You can get anybody you want.”

Her eyes softened, but she was silent.

“Why did you break up, anyway?” I said.

She hesitated. “He broke up with me because he thought I was selfish and only cared about myself.”

I laughed. She glared at me.

“Sorry,” I said.

She looked absently at the ointment. “He might be right.”

“Really? You admit it?”

“I don’t know.” Anger flared up in her eyes again. “It’s not like I want to be like that! And if you ever tell anyone I’ll kill you!”

“What part? The part about him breaking up with you or..?”

“Any of it!” She turned and stormed out of the restroom.

“God, I was just joking.”

When I walked out to the volleyball courts, I saw her waiting to jump into a game. She gave me an angry look and turned away. Marco eyed me as I approached her.

“Your secret’s safe with me,” I said to her low enough that no one could hear. “Thanks for helping me out.”

She gave me a half smile. “You’re welcome.” I turned to walk away, but she grabbed my arm. “Hey. Cheerleading tryouts are coming up. You should try out. I’ll put in a good word for you.”

“Uh, thanks. I’ll think about it.” Like, never!