After class, Daisy went over to Paige’s desk to talk about a cheerleading fundraiser they were planning. I headed for P.E. As I walked down the hall, Marco fell into step beside me.

“So, do you run at the Reservoir a lot?” he said.

My body stiffened. I looked around. No Paige or Daisy. “Uh, yeah. It’s my favorite place to run. That is, it was.”

“Hi, Marco!” said a couple of pretty girls walking by. They smiled and waved at him.

“Hey,” he said and smiled at them, but didn’t slow down. He turned back to me. “That explains why you guys kicked our asses in the relay race.”

I chuckled. “I had a good team.”

He smiled and looked down. “I heard Iversen came to help you when you were attacked.”

“Yeah.”

“Were you running with him?”

“No. I was alone.”

“And he just…happened to be there?”

“Yes.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why?”

He shook his head and shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s just weird.”

“He was running behind me. I didn’t even know he was there.”

“Hmm. Lucky him,” he muttered. “I mean, lucky for you he was there.”

“Well, he does run almost every day like I do and he lives across the street. We’re bound to cross paths sometime.”

He frowned. “Really? He lives across the street from you?”

“Yeah. We don’t talk much, but I see him out running sometimes.”

“Huh.”

We approached the gym.

“I’ll see you in class,” I said and headed in.

When I walked out of the locker room in my gym clothes, I made a beeline for Andreas and sat down next to him. He stopped talking to Tak and looked at me.

“I’m sorry I forgot to thank you yesterday,” I said.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“No, seriously. I don’t even want to think about what would’ve happened if you weren’t there.” I looked into his eyes. “Thank you.”

He smiled, looking embarrassed. “You’re welcome. I’m glad you’re okay.”

“You’re boxing practice paid off, I guess.” I smiled at him and he chuckled.

“I guess so.”

“I saw someone on the trail behind me, but I didn’t know it was you. Did you know it was me?”

He looked away. “Ah, well…yeah, I did.” He looked back at me sheepishly. “To be honest, I was following you.”

“Following me?”

“Not stalker-like following you, but I wanted to know what route you took when you ran.”

“Huh?”

“The route I was taking got boring as hell,” he continued. I never saw you on the same path, so I decided to follow you to see where you went.”

“Why didn’t you just ask me?”

He shrugged. “I thought it was easier to follow you.”

“Lucky for me that you did.”

I noticed that his right hand was bandaged. I gently took it and held it. It was warm and heavy. His fingers were exposed, but the knuckles were covered. I ran my fingers lightly over his bandaged knuckles.

“Is this from punching that guy?”

“Yeah.” He watched my fingers move over the bandages.

“Does it hurt?”

“Not when you touch it like that.”

I touched his exposed fingers. He drew in a breath and pulled his hand away.

My heart sped up. “I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”

“N-No.” He looked away.

The coach started to call roll. I blinked several times and looked around. I tried to slow down my breathing and looked around to see if anyone was watching. Jamie had come in late and was running laps. Everyone else was looking at the coach or mouthing words to each other without talking. Everyone except Marco. He was staring at me and Andreas. When I stared back at him, he looked down.

Coach Castellano separated the boys from the girls and had us play basketball. Paige and I were on the same team. She was taller than me and good at the sport. I rolled my eyes. Was there anything she wasn’t good at? Height did not make a difference in my case. Flora was shorter than me but much faster and more agile. Her tiny body zipped around the court. Between her and Paige, they won most of the points for our team.

We all stopped when we heard shouting coming from the boys’ court. Coach Castellano ran over and I saw Marco and Andreas being held away from each other. They were red-faced and yelling at each other. I walked toward them to hear better.

“Do that again, Ambrosetti, and I’m kicking your ass!” yelled Andreas.

“Yeah, I’d like to see you try!” said Marco.

“Oh, I can, believe me!”

“Break it up!” said the coach, running over. “Off the court! Now! And don’t start up again unless you want to see Principal Cartwright!”

Pointing to a bench, he yelled at Marco. “Ambrosetti! Sit there!” He pointed to another bench. “Iversen, over there!”

The coach walked with Marco to his bench and they started talking.

I went up to Andreas, but before I could say anything the coach yelled at me.

“Westerfeld!” He threatened. “Get away from him!”

I stopped and turned around. “Yes, Coach.”

Marco glared in our direction, his mouth in a thin line.

Coach Castellano started walking back to the basketball courts. “Everyone get back to your game!” He waved his arms to prompt them, then turned back to Andreas. “Iversen! Start running! Five laps!”

Andreas shot Marco a dirty look and headed for the track. Marco smirked at him.

“Ambrosetti!” said Coach Castellano. “Once he gets to the other side, you can start running. Five laps!”

Marco fumed. He glanced at me, unsmiling, but didn’t hold my gaze.

I walked back to the others.

“What happened?” I said to Jamie.

“Andreas says Marco tripped him. Andreas fell and went after Marco. He pushed Marco and they were about to get into it when everyone jumped in to break them up.”

“Did Marco really trip him?”

Jamie shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t see it.” He walked back to his game and I went back to mine.

At lunch, Daisy and I sat with Andreas and Pete on my suggestion. Daisy didn’t protest. Pete’s face lit up when Daisy sat down next to him. There was an obvious connection between them that I’m not sure even Daisy realized.

Jamie, who was sitting with Millie and Thomas Vincent, kept glancing over at us as Millie chattered away.

I turned to Andreas. “So, what happened between you and Marco in P.E.?”

He frowned and looked down at his lunch. “The dude’s an ass. He was giving me attitude from the beginning of the game. I don’t know what his problem is.”

“I heard he tripped you. Is that true?”

“Yes! He denies it, but I know he did it on purpose.” He shook his head in disgust and poked at his food. “Anyway, I don’t want to talk about it. How are you doing?”

“I’m okay, but I’m kind of afraid to go running now, you know?”

He nodded. “Yeah, but you can’t let fear control your life. If you stop running now, you may never start up again.” I contemplated what he just said. He looked off in the distance and seemed to be thinking. “I could run with you if you want.”

“Really? But…won’t your girlfriend get mad?”

His brow wrinkled. “I think she’ll understand.”

“You think? Well, ask her and let me know if you can go after school today. I would feel a lot better if you ran with me.”

“Sure. Let’s just plan to go running and if I can’t I’ll let you know.”

“Great! Thanks!”

When Daisy and I finished our lunch, we looked at each other. It was time for us to scope out the guys, but I didn’t want to. She was having so much fun talking to Pete that I didn’t think she was going to want to go to the Wall. We got up together to throw our trash away and discuss it away from the guys.

“I think I’m gonna stay with Andreas and Pete today,” I said.

“I figured you’d say that,” she said. “I know it’s weird for you to be around Trey now.”

Like it wasn’t weird before? “You still want to go to the Wall?” I said.

“Of course I do!”

“But you seem to be having so much fun with Pete.”

“Pete’s a nice guy,” she said, “but I still like Marco. I can’t help it, I have to be there. You understand, right?”

“I guess so. What are you going to tell Pete?”

“I don’t know. Can you make up something for me?”

I groaned. “Are you kidding me?”

“Please? I’ll love you forever!” She made a pleading face.

I rolled my eyes. “Oh, okay.”

“You are the best friend ever!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“See you tomorrow.” She started to walk off.

“Okay, good luck.”

I went back to the table.

“Where’s Daisy going?” said Pete.

“Uh, she had to talk to Paige about the cheerleading fundraiser they’re having. I guess they have to work out the details.” I rubbed my lips together and averted my gaze. Andreas gave me a doubtful look, but said nothing.

“Oh.” Pete looked disappointed. “She didn’t mention it to me.”

I felt bad for him, but I realized something else. She not only ditched Pete for Marco, but she ditched me, too.