Katie Tanner peered through the open passenger window of my car. “Did I make you wait long?” she asked me from outside.

“It’s all right. I was reading.”

She opened the back and threw her gym bag in before hopping into the front seat. She had just showered and she smelled nice. She reached over, plucked my book out of my hands, and threw it on top of her bag. “Thanks for agreeing to this.”

I sighed. “It’s not like I’m doing this out of the goodness of my heart. I just want to shut you up and make you leave me alone. What are you thanking me for?”

“You’re still doing it. It doesn’t matter why.” She leaned over, brushing her lips against mine. She pulled back a little, smiled faintly, and leaned forward again.

I turned my face away and cleared my throat. “Shouldn’t we get going?”

Katie sighed and sat back down. “Had enough with Denise Campbell?”

I said nothing and started the car.

“I sent her inside to fix her pompoms and she came back without them, all red in the face. Now why would she do that?” she asked no one in particular. She gave me a sidelong glance. “And Jamie was there. Did she catch you red-handed? Is that why you’re suddenly in a foul mood?”

“I can still change my mind,” I warned.

“No. I know you well enough to know you’re not that kind of guy. You already gave me your word.”

“Please shut up.”

“I really don’t understand you,” she sighed, but said nothing more.

I didn’t understand myself, either. I don’t know what had possessed me to just start flirting with Denise when she had come in. Although she had started it, I could have simply ignored her, like I usually did other girls. And from flirting and joking, one thing had led to another until I had her up against that wall. All without even knowing her name.

It’s by stupid antics like this that people judge you, you idiot, I told myself.

I sighed softly. But the harm was already done. I’d have to wait until tomorrow to do something about it. Right now, I had more important things to worry about.

“So tell me again. Are we really supposed to eat this?”

Tonie laughed, making me look up from the soggy beige mess that was supposed to be my lunch. “Mike, everyone’s eating it. No one’s ever died from cafeteria food. No matter how much they may have wanted to.”

I experimentally lifted a spoonful. Gobs of it plopped back down on the tray, making an awful, goopy sound. I shuddered. “I’m hungry, but I’m not that hungry,” I said, pushing it away.

“Here, take my apple – but remember that I’m still very cross with you for making out with Denise Campbell, of all people! How could you do something so stupid? Even all the jocks avoid her as much as possible.”

“I didn’t know I was supposed to avoid her! She’s pretty. And she has red hair. And she’s a really good kisser,” I said defensively, my voice getting smaller and smaller.

“She should be. She’s made out with half the school. She’s not going to leave you alone, you know.”

“I can run away. Have you seen me run away? I’m pretty fast.”

She seemed amused by this. “You’re too fast, that’s the problem. Most people usually go out on a few dates with each other before they get all hot and heavy.”

“I was in a weird mood yesterday! Oh, never mind. Just leave me alone,” I moaned miserably, wanting to sink out of sight.

Tonie looked up then. “Oh, hi, JJ... Ah, your face is kind of scaring people. Maybe you can smile a little? Come on now, I know you can do it.”

I looked up and met Jamie’s flinty glare and sighed. “Forget it, Melman. She’s only here to yell at me.”

Jamie Jenkins sat down next to me with her tray. She didn’t have beige goop. She had a perfectly normal-looking burrito.

“Hey! How come you have a recognizable lunch? Where did that come from?”

She brushed her hair from her eyes absently. “They brought it out after the pasta ran out.”

“Pasta,” I mouthed, looking down at my untouched food. This is supposed to be pasta?

“Anyway, I want to talk to you about yesterday,” she said, dismissing my food issues as if it meant nothing. As if the fact that I was going to die from hunger wasn’t important at all.

“Him and Denise?” Tonie asked.

“Him and Katie.”

Tonie snapped her fingers. “Oh, that’s right! I remember Katie finally talked you into doing her that favor.”

Jamie turned slowly to me. “What favor?”

“Her sister’s wedding,” I replied calmly. “I played the cello and her possessive boyfriend. It was not fun.”

Tonie chuckled. “But what about that private academy snob that was pressuring her to go out with him? The groom’s cousin or something? Did he buy it?”

“Katie kept kissing me. Everybody bought it. Her parents looked like they would have killed me on the spot, if not for the one hundred or so witnesses.” I raised a finger. “I did, however, get handsomely paid. And tipped by the bride and groom.”

Tonie laughed out loud. “I can believe that. I’ve heard you play. You could melt rocks into water, the way you do it. And only idiots would trust you so easily with their daughters.”

“That guy was a jerk, though. I see why she had to resort to something so drastic. I mean, I wanted to take him out and drown him as soon as he started talking to her. I’ve never met a guy with a mouth so foul and offensive.”

Jamie raised her eyebrows at me incredulously.

“Oh, come on, Jamie. Did I ever say something that made you want to stab me?”

“Several times.”

“Something crude and chauvinistic, not arrogant and annoying? Something that’s lawsuit material?”

She had to think about it. “Okay, fine. Never.”

“I mean, I was supposed to be her boyfriend and I was standing right there and he was saying all those nasty jokes about her...”

“What did you do to him?” Tonie asked suddenly, a worried frown on her face.

“What?”

“What did you do to him?”

“Nothing,” I said quickly.

“Liar. What did you do?”

“Nothing! Believe me, I wanted to drag him outside and beat the crap out of him. But Katie wouldn’t let me. She did make a point to tell him that I’m a Harding, though. It shut him up fast. Then he started sucking up to me.”

Jamie sighed. “Mike... Why didn’t you just tell me where you were going?”

I smiled at her. “Because the look on your face was priceless.”

She stared at me.

“I’m sorry I made you jealous over nothing.”

“Jealous?” she echoed slowly, turning away from me. “You think I was jealous?” she asked, taking hold of a bottle of mineral water.

“It's all right,” I told her grandly. “I only really have eyes for you.”

“Oh, no,” Tonie groaned. “Mike—”

The warning and my own understanding of the situation came a split second too late. Jamie had already emptied the ice-cold bottle right on top of my head.

By the time I’d wiped my face dry and the hoots in the cafeteria had subsided, she had already gone.

“What just happened?”

“Uh, you were stupid,” Tonie explained. “But look on the bright side.”

I sighed, looking down at my drenched t-shirt. “What bright side?”

“She left her burrito behind.”

She was late again. I looked away from my watch and put my arm back down. But then, considering the cafeteria incident, I didn’t really expect her to show up.

I stared up at the gym ceiling from where I lay flat on my back on the floor next to my wall. Now, what would Brian say? What was wrong with me, again? I might actually agree with him this time.

I sighed and closed my eyes. I didn’t really feel like painting anymore.

“Hey, sleeping beauty. Are you waiting for Denise to come back and kiss you?”

I sat up at once. “Jamie!” Did I just sound really happy?

She wrinkled her nose at me. “Are we going to paint today, or are you going to space out?”

“I don’t know. I don’t really feel like painting.”

She sat down on the floor before me, her legs crossed. “If I were you, and I didn’t want to paint or work, I’d be fleeing for the hills right about now.”

“Why?”

“Because if I overheard her right, Denise is skipping cheerleading practice and coming straight here.”

“You’re pulling my leg.”

“Nope.”

I sighed. “Is she really that bad?”

“Well, if all the rumors about you are true, she’s your girl version!” she said brightly.

I groaned.

She gave me a sidelong glance. “But are all the rumors about you true?”

“I haven’t heard all the rumors.”

“But the ones that you have?”

I looked at her seriously. “Do you think they’re true?”

“I don’t know. You confuse me.”

She sounded sincerely perplexed, and that made me laugh. “How do I confuse you?”

“One minute, you’re this really nice guy and the next...you’re this annoying and arrogant jerk. You tried to kiss me, you’re a big flirt, but then sometimes it’s like you don’t care about girls at all.”

“Girls are too much trouble.”

“Then why do you flirt with us at all?” she asked in exasperation.

“I have the soul of a troublemaker,” I said dryly, getting to my feet and pulling her up. “Don’t bother figuring me out, JJ. I can’t figure myself out sometimes, and I’m only nice when it suits me.”

“It’s impossible to have a serious conversation with you,” she sighed, pulling her hand away from mine.

“So I’ve been told.” I turned my back on her. “Anyway, you can go home now. And I have orchestra tomorrow so we’re not working then, either. Come back next Tuesday. And maybe you can wear a nice, short skirt instead of those boring jeans—”

That remark made her shove me hard in the back and I grinned.

She walked beside me out of the gym. “You’re probably just as bad as that guy Katie made you scare off.”

“I’m probably worse,” I said cheerfully, pushing the doors open for her.

Aaron Jenkins was outside, apparently about to come in.

Jamie blinked at her cousin. “What are you doing here?”

“I, uh, thought maybe I could help you two today.”

My eyebrows shot up. “You? Paint?”

Aaron shrugged. “I was going to wait for JJ, anyway. I mean, I have to drive her home and stuff...”

“You’re the worst liar in the word, Jenkins,” I told him.

He looked me right in the face. “Do I have to tell you the real reason?”

“No. I’m not an idiot. Here she is. Safe, sound, and unmolested,” I said sarcastically. “I’ll see you on Tuesday,” I muttered and marched off.

I sighed as I walked out of the school. Seeing Aaron Jenkins outside the gym ready to save Jamie from me annoyed the hell out of me. For some reason, people just couldn’t bring themselves to trust me, no matter how well I behaved most of the time.

I didn’t get it. Aaron had trusted me enough to take care of Jamie so he could have quality time with Tonie. But I guess he had just been really desperate then.

I walked out of the school, lost in thought. I didn’t see the guy standing at the bottom of the school steps waiting for me until I’d nearly walked into him.

“Hey, Harding.”

I looked up and my brain instantly went into kill mode. “Pratt.”