“That’s not a reason,” Maylin said with that same, cautious tone. She knew it was a nonanswer, so she wasn’t going to let up.

“It’s reason enough for me,” Kyle said, which finalized the manner, even if Maylin didn’t want to budge. Still, she was outvoted this time, so she let up, for now. She’d pounce later, as she wasn’t going to just let Katherine off the hook that easily.

Katherine always appreciated this about Kyle. He was usually smooth, chill, and easy-going, but when he got serious people took it seriously, especially Maylin, and so she had backed off.

Katherine had a sinking feeling from the sly little smile Maylin held when she had devious thoughts that she would ask again later.

Still, this is why Katherine liked—No, she couldn’t have those thoughts about Kyle, so she cut them off before admitting them. But she also had an additional sinking feeling that they wouldn’t just go away. If anything, they would increase, so she’d have to do something about that as well. Sigh.

Maylin continued to stare, though, with arms folded, and Katherine knew she would not let this go, so she’d have to come up with an answer that sufficed or suffer her wrath. Perhaps she’d provide Maylin with an offering and sweet distraction in the form of some goodies from her father’s café to help distract her.

Yeah, that would work. She hoped.

When William returned, he had sat down with a black stare, one that reminded Katherine of a person that was frightened of roller coasters or at least claimed they were. And after persuasive powers led to said person going on said roller coaster, the person enjoyed themselves, and then sat there with that same look William now had. Add onto that the growing pains of young teenagers and their raging hormones and increased sense of tension toward the opposite sex and dating. William’s look of cluelessness with a mixture of awe made sense.

And Katherine knew that the outcome was good.

“So, how’d it go?” Kyle asked, giving him a playful nudge.

“Yes, please tell us the goodies,” Maylin said, tapping her fingertips together while bouncing excitedly

Katherine already knew the outcome. She knew that look, and she knew her instincts, so when William smiled and said, “I asked her to go hang out sometime, and… she gave me her number,” she simply smiled. He even lifted his phone showing Samantha Ashe’s number saved in it, incredulous and dumbfounded, but smirking.

“Way to go, bro,” Kyle said, clasping his shoulder, the movement making William almost drop his phone that he frantically grabbed at as if it is was his lifeline. And those very moments, especially for adolescent boys, feel like life and death, even if they really aren’t.

“Our young, little bashful warrior has flown the nest,” Maylin said.

Katherine couldn’t help it at this point, and decided to tease him. “That’s too bad,” she said with a feigned frown. “Abigail was really looking forward to spending time with you.”

William’s jaw dropped, and he almost lost hold of his phone. “R-really? Well, tell Abigail I-I’m just going to hang out with her, it’s not anything more than that, I—”

Kyle gripped his shoulder, shaking him out of his sudden stupor. “She’s teasing you, bro.” He let out a little chuckle, giving Katherine a look.

“Sure,” Maylin said, puffing her cheeks out in a pouting motion and crossing her arms in an angry huff. “When Katherine does it, it’s totally fine. But when I do? Nope.”  

“My little bro’s becoming a man,” Kyle said, squeezing his shoulders as William just smiled awkwardly.

Maylin glanced from the table that Samantha Ashe sat at, noticing how she was smiling, and… glowing? Even the young ones were connecting and falling in love. What about her, though? She clenched her hands into fists as she grabbed her backpack and chomped on it. “Why, oh cruel world, can’t I find love?”

“Probably because you’re like that,” Katherine said.

“I’m sure there’s someone out there that matches your… particularities,” Kyle said with a chuckle.

She glowered. “At least I have particularities, unlike you who will fall into bed with anyone.”

Katherine and even William gave a start at her forwardness.  

“That’s not quite true as I wouldn’t fall for you, whether a bed or otherwise was involved.” He popped open a can of soda and slurped away. “Besides, I don’t fall for anyone, they fall for me.”

“Cocky much?” Maylin leaned back as if disgusted. Then, her eyes moved to Katherine, her smile turning sinister. “What about you, Katherine?”

As all their eyes fell on Katherine, she couldn’t help but hiccup. Why did Maylin have to suddenly shine the light on her? Cursed Maylin and her prying. Katherine did her best to not react, minus the hiccup. She simply took a cracker from her bag and munched away at it while covering her mouth. “What does it matter?”

“We just want to know,” Maylin said while pressing her fingertips together and nodding while they all looked at her expectantly.

Katherine scoffed. “If you want to find love, Maylin, then you should go do it and stop projecting your desires onto me.” That was good, right? It seemed to have sufficed for William and Kyle. Yet why was she being so defensive?

Maylin pouted, her lip quivering as if she was going to cry. “I’m still working on it, okay. And I do not project.” She laid her chin on the table and frowned as a sadness glittered in her eyes.

Katherine continued going on the offensive. “Well, you better get on it.” There was a little delight in her voice, and was that a pinch of sarcasm? “You only have the rest of the semester to find someone.”

“You’re right,” Maylin said, sitting up and clenching her fists as if she was going to jump into battle. “I need to put together a strategy.” She then clamped her hands together, her eyes big and glossy as she looked up in a praying motion. “I mean, I need to find Mr. Right. So, I can’t be messing around? Or perhaps my dreams of having a reverse harem will crumble like Rome.” She looked sinister as she pondered the possibilities, chuckling like a demon.

They all just stared blankly at her. Katherine was satisfied, though, as the attention had moved away from her, which was often the case when Maylin went on her little random rants.

“And I’m in this for the long haul, unlike playboy over here,” she said, jabbing a thumb at Kyle. “He just wants a piece here, a piece there, a piece everywhere.”

“Do you… listen to yourself?” The other two looked like they wanted him to stop as if it might make Maylin blow a gasket, but he kept at it. “Like record some of the stuff you say, put it on playback and repeat, and like really listen?”

“I speak the truth.”

“Well,” he said, leaning back in a lounging fashion, a little nod of his head. “I do enjoy a piece here and there, but not as much as the whole thing.” He gave her a wolfish grin. “But don’t worry, I want none of what you got, cause you’re a little bit too top heavy, and I ain’t talking bout intelligence.”

She clenched her fists in front of her and growled but had nothing to say. “You wish you could taste a piece of this, or at least grab it.” She grabbed one of her breasts and squeezed, and Kyle just shook his head.

“You really need to think before you speak, or do… anything, May.”

Kyle knew he had gone too far as both Katherine and his little brother glowered at him as well.

“Okay,” he said with a shrug and raise of his hands. “I submit. Cuff me, lock me up and throw away the key.” He chuckled. “Y’all need to lighten up. What’s wrong with wanting to have a little fun? Besides, what I do and who I do it with is up to me. My choices, whether you agree with them or not, don’t have to be yours.” And with that, he flicked a little toothpick into his mouth.

“You are quite the guy, Kyle,” Maylin said.

“Thank you,” he said, then leaned forward, his eyes falling on Katherine.

Oh no.

“All jokes aside, do you have someone in mind in the dating department, Katherine? Someone that sets your heart ablaze. I mean to tell my little bro to do something so brazen and brave like that, you must have some experience in this area, or someone in mind?”

Maylin looked ecstatic at this turn of events, completely forgetting that Kyle was just making fun of her chest size. Katherine, on the other hand, did not expect that, not from Kyle.

Gulp. Granted, the logic was sound, so how was she to get out of this one? She thought she had deflected Maylin’s annoying probing for today, but now the heat was on her. Stupid crisscrossing curse.  

Katherine pushed her tray toward Kyle, lifting her nose as she let out a little snort, then pulled out one of her textbooks, plopping it on the table. “When I find someone of interest, or decide to fall in love,” she said, opening the book in a frustrated movement as if to let them know to back off or else. “I’ll be sure to shoot you a text.” There was no smile, no tell on her face, yet the sarcasm was heavy. And even though she wasn’t smiling physically, she felt an inner smirk at this turn of events because she certainly was not going to give into Maylin’s nor Kyle’s little games.  

“Can you be serious for once,” Maylin said with a frown, tapping her fingers against the table as if knowing that they were so close to making Katherine crack and admit that she liked Kyle. She practically looked like a giddy school girl, well… she was a school girl, but—gah, Katherine was so frustrated by it all.

“Come on,” Maylin said, bouncing her bottom against her seat in excited anticipation like a kid wanting candy. “Just tell us who you like.” Maylin knew exactly who she liked, and she wanted her to say it. This was one piece of gossip she couldn’t tell anyone, and she was dying for Kyle to know. Yet trust was an important thing to her, especially when it came to Katherine. Still, it was so pathetic that Katherine wouldn’t just come out and say it. She was a hypocrite as she had just gotten William to face his fear as if it was nothing, but then had turned away from her own fear, her own truth.

“I am always serious,” Katherine said, turning the page in her book with a swift motion. She was totally taken away by the content, scribbling notes on her notepad like a diligent student. She would not get caught up in this dramatic romance stuff. Certainly not. Even if her heart was beating as fast her scribbling on the page. She slid a folder from her backpack, pulled out the syllabus and flipped through it. “Just not about the things you want me to be, Maylin.”

“Well, she has a point,” Kyle said, shrugging and glancing at the clock as lunch was almost over. “Katherine is serious about school and getting good grades and all that. We best not disturb her. Just let her bring about those results like she did with my little bro.” He leaned in and lightly laid the ends of his fingers against Katherine’s hand, his voice low. Katherine did everything she could to not implode and blush like a blooming rose. At the same time, part of her wanted to scream and berate Kyle for doing it, but she held steady. “If you’re ever game, though, I’d love to learn from you sometime.”

Crap, why’d he speak like that, touch her hand like that, look at her like that?

She broke, at least her pencil did as the tension from her grip split it at the end, her cheeks crimson. Still, she wouldn’t say it, she wouldn’t admit it. But, did he know? He couldn’t. “W-would you stop doing that?”

“Doing what?” he said with an innocent smile, that boyish charm oozing through as if he knew exactly what he was doing, and that perhaps he knew exactly what Maylin knew. He pulled his hand away, and Katherine felt a tingling sensation move through her hand and up her forearm and over her body and… No!

She tensed and fought the sensation, letting it lift. Once it had faded, she let out a sigh and slammed her book shut for emphasis as she was able to break away from his spell, especially in front of prying Maylin that was watching her like a hawk. She shoved her book and things back into her backpack and lifted her eyes to Kyle, then to Maylin, keeping her face as straight as possible as she snatched up her lunch tray with a jerking motion. “If I did have someone in mind, do you really think I’d tell either of you? I think not.”

She zipped her backup shut and stood in a swift motion, shrugging it over her shoulders before pointing to the clock. “Lunch is over, best not be late.”

Then she stepped to the trash and emptied her tray and turned and made her leave as the bell rang.