I sat with Andreas in P.E. We were comfortable with each other now. He looked taken aback when Jamie came to sit next to me and jumped in on our conversation. I prayed that Jamie wouldn’t ask me out again in front of Andreas. After roll, the coach brought us over to the tennis courts where he made us do drills and taught us how to play. Jamie stuck close to me the whole time. My patience was waning.

“You have a shadow,” said Andreas quietly as we gathered the tennis balls and put them in a wire box.

“I know, right? He’s following me around like a stray puppy. What am I going to do?”

He chuckled. “Well, what do people do with strays? Either throw him a bone, take him home, or put him out of his misery.”

“Are you trying to be funny? Because I’m about to go crazy here.”

“I’m completely serious.” He gave me a smile that made me want to melt. “Maybe I could pretend to be your boyfriend.”

My heart jumped and the offer was tempting, but I said, “That won’t work. He knows you have a girlfriend.”

He shook his head and shrugged. “Then I got nothin’. Here comes your stray now. Woof woof.” He walked away. I stared after him wishing his plan could’ve worked. Someone standing to the left of my field of vision caught my eye. It was Marco. He was watching me stare at Andreas. Embarrassed, I forced a tiny smile and moved on with Jamie right behind me.

Daisy and I were standing in line for food when Jamie fell in line behind us. I sighed quietly and pretended I didn’t see him. The look on Daisy’s face told me she had seen him, too. We got our food and headed for the tables with him close behind.

The soccer boys, Ellis, Akira, Logan, and Tak were sitting with Andreas and Pete. Daisy and I looked at each other, unsure if we should sit with them. Jamie sat down at our usual table looking at us expectantly. It would’ve been mean to leave him hanging, so I walked over and sat down next to him. Daisy let out a sound of protest, but followed me.

“How come you’re not sitting with Millie and Thomas Vincent anymore?” said Daisy, not even attempting to hide her annoyance. “Did you get into a fight with them or something?” I shot her a warning look, but she ignored me.

Jamie looked sheepishly at us. “No, I just like to hang out with different people sometimes. Especially you guys.”

“Why is that?” said Daisy.

“Well…you two are the only pretty girls that will talk to me.”

Pretty girls? Us?

Daisy softened up after that comment, but I was uncomfortable. She babbled on about how she was going to the movies this weekend with Paige and her friends, but when she finished her lunch, she grew quiet. I knew she wanted to go to the Wall, but didn’t want to leave me alone with Jamie. There was hope for her yet. Feeling guilty, I told her to go on over there without me.
 Jamie and I sat together for the rest of the lunch period. I thought he might try to ask me out again, but to my relief, he didn’t.

Without being pushy, I mentioned Millie as much as I could to find out how he felt about her, but he didn’t give me anything. He was a master at changing the subject.

In Algebra 2, Trey seemed withdrawn. Something was up with him, but I couldn’t figure out what. I quickly forgot about it when Ms. Yoshida started her lesson. Numbers were not my strong point, so I had to pay extra attention.

We got our quiz results back from the day before and mine weren’t good. I got a C, but just barely. This would bring my straight A score way down. My parents would be furious.

Marco turned around. “How did you do?” He looked down and saw my score before I could hide it.

“Not so good as you can see. How did you do?”

He looked reluctant to say. “I got a 100%.”

“An A! Wow, that’s great!”

“Let’s see what you got wrong. Maybe I can help you with it.”

I handed him my paper and he started to go over it. He explained the first problem and put it in an easier way for me to understand, but he didn’t have enough time to go over the rest.

When class was over, he turned around again. “Do you want me to keep going over the quiz with you?”

“I do, but I have to go.” I was going to try to walk home with Andreas, but I thought of how angry my parents would be.

“Do you want to meet at Heaven’s Cup later?” he asked.

I couldn’t have Daisy or anyone see us there together. “I’m sorry, I can’t.”

“Oh. Okay. No problem.” He looked hurt and dropped his gaze.

“But I really would love your help,” I blurted, not wanting to refuse help when I desperately needed it. “It’s just that I’m busy after school.”

His eyes lit up. “Well, I could come over to your house after dinner. Around 7:00? If that’s okay with your parents.”

That actually could work. Daisy and Paige didn’t have to know. I would tell my parents about my score, then they would be glad to have someone over helping me, even if it was a boy. The fact that he got a 100% score was even better. “Okay. I’ll ask my parents about it and call you tonight.”

“Alright. It’s a date.”

I froze. It wasn’t a date, but I didn’t have time to argue. Andreas might have left already. Marco was probably using the word as an expression anyway.

“Marco! Are you coming?” called Trisha.

I rushed out the door past Trisha and Trey. They stepped out of my way without a comment.

My locker wouldn’t open and it took me several tries before I was successful. I was turning the dial so fast I was skipping the numbers, then I had completely forgotten the combination for a few tries. I cussed at the locker and at myself.

“Are you okay?” said a voice behind me. I whipped my head around to see Andreas. He was standing there with his backpack slung over his shoulder and a slight smile on his face.

“Oh! Uh, yeah. Just having problems with my stupid locker.”

“I thought you might not want to walk home alone. Do you want me to walk with you?”

I blinked at him in amazement. “That would be great!” I smiled and tried my locker again. It opened easily. I got my stuff and walked with him out of the school.

Walking home with Andreas felt comfortable. I remembered a time before school started when I would daydream about us walking home together. Now that dream was a reality. It was unbelievable! Things like this never happened to me.

“What are you thinking about?” he said.

Not knowing what to say, I decided to stick close to the truth. “I was thinking that it’s nice to be walking home with someone for a change. Someone…like you.” Oh my god, did I really say that?

He didn’t seem bothered by my statement. “Yeah. It can be a lonely walk if you don’t have someone to share it with.” He smiled with ease and warmth.

I could get used to this.

The walk home seemed short. We changed into our running clothes and Andreas hung out while I watered the front lawn for my mom. It was a beautiful day and was even better with Andreas around. We ran past the pond and even though he already knew this route he didn’t complain.

I was having such a good time that I almost forgot Marco was coming over to help me with Algebra 2.