At lunch, Jamie didn’t sit with us. He must’ve been embarrassed about the Paige incident. He sat with Millie and Thomas Vincent.

I looked to where Andreas was sitting and caught him staring at me. He smiled and looked away. My heart did flip flops. I struggled to understand what was going on and wondered why he chose me to draw in Art.

“You know he has a girlfriend, right?”

Surprised, I looked at Daisy. “Who?”

She raised her eyebrows. “You know who. Andreas.”

“Yeah, I know.” I looked at my sandwich and took a bite to avoid her gaze.

She sighed. “I know what it’s like to want someone you can’t have. Do yourself a favor and forget about him. You’ll save yourself a ton of heartache.”

“I’m trying to! I don’t want to be a boyfriend stealer. Are you telling me you forgot about Marco?”

“Marco’s not taken anymore.”

“But when he was, you didn’t seem to be able to forget about him.”

“I didn’t say it was going to be easy. It was a suggestion. You’re just going to have to settle being friends with him. Then if he ever breaks up with his gorgeous girlfriend, you’ll be there, waiting in the wings.”

I threw a piece of bread at her.

When we finished our food we made our usual rounds through the courtyard. As we approached the Wall, Paige saw Daisy and waved us over. Daisy beamed. I cringed inside, but followed Daisy to where Paige was sitting. Trisha was chattering about something with Marco who was staring at me. Feeling uncomfortable and not knowing what else to do, I smiled and waved to him. He waved back and I could tell he wanted to talk to me, but Trisha grabbed his arm and turned his attention back on her. I breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to Daisy. She and Paige were talking about Cheer. Kayla who was sitting nearby chimed in. I glanced around trying to think of a way to escape when I spotted Trey standing next to us. Before I could turn away, he saw me.

“Hey!” he said. “How come you didn’t bring your boyfriend over today?” The usual smirk was back on his face.

“He’s not my boyfriend and you know it. Even if he was, it’s none of your business.” I turned my back to him.

“Damn, you don’t have to be rude. I’m just trying to talk to you. How’s your hot sister?”

“She’s fine,” I said over my shoulder.

“Does she ever talk about me?”

“Why would she talk about you? She doesn’t even know you.”

“You’re looking pretty hot yourself lately,” he said in my ear. “If you don’t have a boyfriend, you could go out with me.”

I whipped around and gaped at him. “What is wrong with you? I would never go out with you!”

Everyone stopped talking and looked at us.

My face burned.

He laughed, but I could tell he was embarrassed.

“Trey, leave her alone,” said Marco. “Why do you keep messing with her?”

Trey lifted his shoulders and opened his arms. “What? I was just playing around. You guys gotta learn how to take a joke.”

The bell rang. I grabbed Daisy by the arm and turned to go. When I looked back, I saw Marco talking to Trey. It looked like they were arguing.

“What happened?” said Daisy. “What did he say to you?”

“It doesn’t matter. He’s just being his usual self. Ever since we got to high school he’s gotten worse. I thought he would’ve grown up by now. It’s almost like he singled me out. He doesn’t even pick on the geeks as much as he picks on me.” I stopped and looked at her. “Do you think he’s still pissed off about the Veronica thing a few years ago?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. That was a long time ago. He probably forgot about it already.”

“I can’t believe he made me look like a fool in front of everyone.”

“You didn’t look like a fool, Lilah. Trust me. That’s just the way he is, always trying to be funny. He likes making people laugh. He’s harmless.”

I hurried to my locker to get my backpack. Andreas was walking past it as I approached. He paused when he saw the look on my face, but seemed to catch himself and kept going.

In Algebra 2, Trey snatched an eraser off my desk without asking. Before I got the chance to yell at him, Marco grabbed Trey’s arm and twisted it so that his fingers loosened around the eraser.

“Ow, hey!” said Trey. “What the…?”

Marco plucked the eraser out of Trey’s hand and let him go.

“Dude!” said Trey. “That hurt! You’re not supposed to be using your ninja moves on your best friend. So not cool!”

“What’s not cool is you stealing Lilah’s stuff,” said Marco handing the eraser back to me.

“Thanks,” I said. I was beginning to think that maybe Marco was a good guy after all.

“Anytime,” said Marco smiling at me.

“Oh, I see what this is,” said Trey nodding his head. “Always trying to impress the girls.”

Marco shot Trey a dirty look. “Give it a rest.”

“Yes Mr. Jacobs,” said Ms. Yoshida. “Give it a rest and please take your seat.”

The class laughed and Trey sat down.

Ms. Yoshida gave us our graded homework assignments. Marco got a 100%. No one else had a score like that in the class. I got a 64% and quickly tucked it away in a folder before anyone could see it. Millie didn’t do much better. She received a 71%. We had compared our homework together before we had turned it in, but it didn’t seem to help because we didn’t know whose equations were actually right. My parents were going to kill me when they found out how I was doing in this class.

The next day in Art, the boys sat in a row and the girls had to choose who to draw. Daisy immediately chose Pete. I wanted to choose Andreas, but I was afraid. What if my drawing of him was hideous? I hesitated, looking around the room. Get over it Lilah! It’s just a drawing! You know you want to be near him. I made my way toward Andreas, but Paige pushed me aside and took the desk facing him. Wow, that girl is competitive! I stood there gaping in surprise and embarrassment. When I regained my composure, I ended up choosing Jamie. He beamed when I sat down.

Andreas looked at me as if he was hurt and offended. Could it be that he wanted to be my partner as much as I wanted to be his?

I tried my best to make Jamie look better than he did. I made his nose smaller, his eyes bigger and his chin more pronounced. He seemed pleased by my drawing, but I couldn’t be sure if it was an act to make me feel better or if he really liked it.

I heard Pete joking with Daisy. “Can you make me look like a superhero? I want a strong jaw and nice hair.” She giggled a lot and he seemed to enjoy making her laugh.

Paige did a good job with Andreas’s portrait. He seemed to be embarrassed, but flattered. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he was smiling at her and I felt a pang of jealousy tear through my heart. That was supposed to be me!