Hell, MI

by MidnightInkx93

A girl's journey through her first two years at a new school. This story entails seventh and eighth grades, and the friendships and relationships she makes.

Hell, Mi

Chapter 1

The first thing I saw when we arrived in Hell was a bunch of bare, empty land. Hell was nothing like Seattle. Mom had lied.

"You'll like it better in Hell than in Seattle, I promise you," she'd said.

Hello. I'm Cassandra Michelle Stone. I'm five feet and one inch tall. I have dirty blonde hair that never seems to look good. I have hazel eyes, and I'm about as skinny as a piece of paper. Well, my stomach and legs are.

I shifted in my seat and said, "Hey Mom, you were wrong. I'm pretty sure that even if we stayed in Seattle it would have been better than this place. I mean, look at it! It's empty! Where's the Starbucks or the Seattle's Best?"

"Come on, Cassandra. Give Hell a fair shot. You've been here for all of two minutes. You haven't even seen the house yet! It's beautiful!" Mom said.

Yeah, I'll bet it's some small "cozy" little place that looks like a trailer. Oh, wait. I bet it is a trailer. This is going to be great. I honestly would have rather suffered the punishment I would have faced in Seattle than live in a trailer. Whose idea was Hell? I can't remember if it was Mom's, Dad's or Powerless'. You know, I believe it was a mix of the three. Well, at least Powerless was nice enough to let me finish out the school year. It would have been much worse to show up at Hell Middle School in April of sixth grade. By then, the school year's mostly over. Oh, great. I'm head rambling again. I think Dad just asked me something…

"Cassandra!" Dad said again.

"Yeah Dad?" I asked.

"I was going to run into this deli and grab a sandwich. What do you want?" Dad asked.

Then I realized the car wasn't moving, and we were parked in front of a few run-down stores.

"Um, scrambled and bacon on a roll, please," I said.

Dad got out of the car and walked into the little store with the faded sign saying, "Deli". He came back quickly, and handed us each our sandwich. We sat there and quietly consumed our sandwiches. Mine was kind of gross. The eggs were sort of runny. I should have known that they wouldn't be able to make a decent egg sandwich in Hell. Dad finished his sandwich and we went back onto the road.

I stared out the window watching trees and trees and oh wait, is that a cow? Yes! Finally a break from the trees! Suddenly, we turned, and I whipped my head in the direction we were turning. Oh. It was just a side road. I was expecting it to be our house. Or trailer, whatever it is. I'm secretly hoping for a big house, even though I know that's impossible. I loved our house in Seattle, but it was sort of small. I guess that's what you get for living in a popular city, especially the city where Starbucks and Seattle's Best first started. People come from all over the US just to see the original shops. It's kind of pathetic.

Dad stopped in what seemed to be the middle of the road. Then I looked in front of him and saw a big gate and a little thing sticking up out of the ground with a keypad that looked like the keypad on a pay phone. Dad sifted through a bunch of papers between him and Mom and picked one up, then rolled down his window and started punching I guess a code into the keypad. The gate made a noise and started to open glacially. I had no idea where the house was. I didn't see anything but my favorite: bare land and some scattered trees. Not even a cow. I was kind of sad I wasn't getting a pet cow. Dad drove along the little pathway until he got to this enormous building. Ah. It's a strangely shaped apartment complex. What did I expect? I knew we wouldn't be living in a palace.

Dad pulled the car up next to the only other car parked there. Where were all the other residents? Was there some sort of parking garage I didn't see where all the other cars were?

Dad turned off the engine, then turned to me and said, "What do you think, Cassie?"

"Well, I'm not judging. Let me see the little apartment first. Then I'll tell you what I think of the place," I said.

Mom smiled. Dad smiled. I looked between the two of them.

"What? Why are you smiling at me?" I asked, annoyed.

"Cassandra, we own the whole place. You can have your own floor," Dad said.

"Let's go inside!" Mom said excitedly.

Dad and Mom got out of the car. After about ten seconds, I rolled my eyes and got out. This house didn't make Hell any better. I followed Mom and Dad through the front door. The entranceway was grand and beautiful. This had to be a mistake. There's no way Dad could afford this place.

"What level do you want, Cass?" Mom asked me.

"I think I want to tour the levels before I decide," I said.

I hunted around for the steps to go downstairs, found them and headed to the floor below. It had a bathroom, and a large space where I would be able to put my bed and other things I needed. It wasn't bad.

I climbed up the steps and ended up in the entryway. I climbed up the steps to the, I guess you could say third floor, and hunted around. There were a few separate rooms that could be used as a bedroom, and a few closets and bathrooms. I liked the basement room better. I climbed up to the fourth and final floor; at least I think I did. It wasn't any better than the floor below it. I walked back down to the second floor, where Mom and Dad were standing, waiting for me to tell them where I wanted to live.

"I can really have any of the floors?" I asked.

"Except this one, because this is the entire family living area. Which one do you want?" Dad said.

"I'll take the basement level," I said.

"That's what I figured you'd want," Dad said.

A knock came on the door. Dad went to go answer it. It was the movers. Dad opened the door widely and they carried in furniture and boxes for over an hour. I didn't think we had this much stuff. Dad directed them where to take things, like my bed. Finally, they had moved everything from their truck into our house. Dad tipped them, and they left.

Chapter 2

That was July, when we first moved here. I spent a month and a half cooped up in the house, while Mom tried to go out and meet people. Maybe the people had kids my age. Why didn't she think of that? As much as I hated school, I was glad when it started a month and a half after we got to Hell. Mom dropped me off at Hell Middle School, where I had to go to school.

I walked in the front door and the lady at the desk stopped me and said, "Hi, what's your name please?"

"Um, Cassandra Michelle Stone. I'm in seventh grade here," I said.

She rifled through a stack of papers and pulled one out.

"Here you go. It's your schedule," she said.

"Thanks. Where do I go now?" I asked.

"You go to the gym, it's down the hall at the end. The principal gives a welcome speech," the lady said.

Fun. A welcome speech. How boring would that be? Turns out, very boring. The principal was a fat, bald man with a shiny head. He droned on and on about the rules of the school and how happy he was that we were back and how grand it is that we have our new sixth graders. I tuned him out.

Finally, he said, "Now go off to your first period class!"

I would have rather gone to first period than sit there and listen to him talk all day. I checked the piece of paper clutched in my hand. Ew. I had art first. Why on earth am I taking art? I trudged around the school, and asked a girl who had to be an eighth grader where room A421 was.

"Oh, it's down the hall, top floor," the girl said.

"Thanks," I said, heading down the hall.

I got to the classroom marked A421 and walked in the door. I took a seat at an empty table.

This guy walks over to me and says, "Hey, I'm Andrew. What's your name?"

"Sandra," I said, holding out my hand to shake Andrew's.

He took it, and told me to come sit with him. He pulled out a chair at a nearby table where another boy was sitting. He had dark hair with a few little locks that fell in his eyes. He was actually pretty cute.

"Hi, I'm Sandra," I said.

The guy smiled at me and said, "Hello. I'm Jorge." I smiled.

"Where are you from?" Andrew asked.

"Seattle," I said.

"Where's that?" Andrew asked.

"Washington. It's a state on the west coast," I said.

"Oh, cool. I've never been on the west coast. Just the east coast," Andrew said.

"That's cool. I've never been there," I said.

More people filed in and Andrew waved over a girl.

"Hey, Anna," Andrew said, smiling.

The girl, who I found out was named Anna, took a seat at the table I was sitting at.

The teacher finally showed up and said, "Hello. Welcome to Intro to Art. In a few moments I will be distributing supplies, which you will bring to class every time you have class. First, I'll start with attendance."

She took out a packet of paper and started calling out names. She got to my name and I told her I was here, and people across the room started whispering. I guess the fact that I was here now was exciting, because who in their right mind would move to Hell? They probably figured I must have been involved in something scandalous or something. Which is partially true. I haven't done anything scandalous, but I was basically kicked out of Seattle Middle School. They don't need to know that. No one does. The nameless art teacher handed out paper and a few boxes of art supplies: markers, colored pencils, crayons, and watercolors.

What, are we going to draw little pictures of suns and boring things like that, then bring them home to our mommies? Yeah, that was going to happen. I'd stuff the stupid artwork I made in the trash on the way out of the classroom.

Oh wait, then nameless art teacher would pull it up out of the trash and say, "Cassandra, that's a detention. You're supposed to give this beautiful thunderstorm picture to your mommy so she can hang it on your fridge at home. Didn't you know that's what art is for? To hang up everywhere?" and I'd just be like, "Whatever. Give me a detention, suspend me, expel me, I don't care. I hate this place."

Some obnoxious sound broke me out of my little head rambling segment.

"What was that?" I asked Andrew.

"That's the bell. It's second period now. I have English. What do you have?" Andrew said.

I picked up the piece of paper with the schedule on it and scanned it. It was all out of order. It had 6th period first, and 4th period last. I finally found the number 2 and it said next to it, "English 7."

"Me too. Do you mind walking me there? I never got a tour of the school, so I don't know where anything is."

"Sure. Jorge, Anna, are you coming?" Andrew asked.

"No, sorry, Andy, I have Spanish," Anna said, heading off to the Spanish classroom, wherever that was.

"What about you, Jorge?" Andrew asked.

"Yeah, I'm coming," he said, and Jorge and Andrew lead the way and I followed them, trying to look for things that would help me remember where I was.

Suddenly, I looked in front of me and Andrew and Jorge were gone. I realized there was a door in front of me, so I opened the door and saw them sitting in the middle of the classroom.

"Hello," someone said, and I jumped.

I looked around to see who had said that and I saw a woman about my height with red glasses standing near the desk in the front of the room.

"Hi," I said.

"Are you Cassandra Stone?" the woman asked.

"Um, yeah, why?" I asked.

"I was just curious. You look a bit lost. I'm Mrs. Hudson, and I'll be your English teacher. Why don't you take a seat?" Mrs. Hudson said.

I took the first empty seat I saw, a seat in the middle of the second row. Mrs. Hudson ran through attendance, and passed out a sheet telling us what materials we would need for class. That obnoxious bell rang again and one of the guys I'd met first period poked me. I think it was Jorge.

"What do you have third?" he asked me.

"I have Science," I said.

"Oh, okay. I'll see you later, I hope," Jorge said, and left the room.

"Do you want me to walk you to Science?" Andrew asked.

"I don't want to make you late to your class," I said, even though I really wanted him to walk me.

Not because he was cute or anything, which he kind of was, but because I had no idea where anything was in this school.

"Oh, I have science, too. So let's go," Andrew said, and we headed off through the halls of Hell Junior High, walked up some steps, and ended up at a room marked 304.

Andrew held open the door. I walked in and hesitated.

Andrew walked in behind me and said, "Come sit in the third row with me," and we took seats next to each other in the third row.

The teacher walked in, handed out the textbooks, took attendance, and started on the first lesson. The second the teacher started in about plants, I knew this wouldn't be a good class. Finally, that obnoxious bell sound rang and I jumped up, pulled the now crumpled piece of paper out of my pocket and scanned it for period four. Spanish 7A.

"What does 'A' mean?" I wondered aloud.

"What, like a language is 7A?" Andrew asked me.

"Yeah. I'm in Spanish 7A. What does that mean?" I asked.

"It means advanced. You must be good at Spanish," Andrew said.

"No, I suck at it. Why am I in advanced Spanish?" I asked.

Andrew shrugged. "It's in that classroom down the hall, 39. I have Spanish 7, so I can't walk you to your class. See you later," Andrew said, and left the room.

I followed him and started looking for Room 39. I found it easily. It was two doors down from the Science classroom. Why 39 and 304 were so close to each other, I didn't know. They were, and I opened the door to 39 and caught sight of that guy from first period whose name already escaped me.

"Hey," he said, waving at me.

There was an empty seat next to him, so I took it.

"Have you made any more friends yet?" the guy asked me.

"Um, no, I haven't made any friends yet," I said.

"I'll be your friend. When do you have lunch?"

"Um it says fifth, and I don't even know your name. How can I be your friend?" I said.

"Easy. My name is Jorge Espinoza. I told you earlier, but I guess you forgot."

Oh right. His name was Jorge. Like that baseball player I liked…Jorge Posada.

A woman who must be the teacher walked in and said, "Hola clase!"

There was a murmuring of "hola's" and the teacher said, "Me llamo Señora Slade. Bienvenidas a la clase de Español siete avanzado."

I saw people get stupid looks on their faces as if they had no clue what she just said. I understood perfectly.

She'd said, "My name is Mrs. Slade. Welcome to Spanish 7 advanced."

I guess that's why I was in the advanced class…

Jorge poked me. "Do you know what she said?"

"Yeah, do you?" I asked, then felt stupid, because he was Hispanic. He would know Spanish.

"Yeah, I just wanted to make sure you did, because if you didn't I would have translated," Jorge said.

Huh. People weren't usually this friendly to me.

"Thanks for the offer," I said.

Jorge nodded.

Spanish went by, with lots of amusing things, such as people not understanding what the homework was, so as the bell rang, I heard the girl in front of me say to her friend, "What do we have to do? I don't understand Spanish!"

Jorge said, "If I heard you right earlier, you have lunch now. Is that true?"

"Yeah. Would you like to help me find the cafeteria?" I asked.

"Sure. I forgot to ask Andy and Anna if they have lunch now but hopefully they do," Jorge said.

We walked along the corridors until we got to a room with glass walls. Inside the room were a bunch of square tables.

Jorge and I walked into the room and heard someone call out, "Jorge!"

I whipped around, and saw that guy Andrew. He was sitting next to the girl from art. He had his arm draped across her shoulder. Was he dating her?

I asked Jorge and he said, "Yeah, last week we were hanging out and he finally asked her."

"Oh. Sounds cool," I said.

We weaved our way through the tables to get to the one Andrew was sitting at.

"Hey, Sandra," Andrew said.

"Hello," I said.

"How was Spanish?"

"It was funny," I said, pulling out my lunch.

"How was it funny?" Anna asked.

"Well, people didn't understand what Senora Slade was saying. I think Sandra and I were the only ones who did," Jorge said.

"Yikes. Well, it beats having everyone but you understand it," Anna said. "So where are you from, Sandra?"

"Oh, I'm from Seattle," I said.

"Seattle, Washington?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said, taking a bite of my sandwich…Peanut butter& fluff.

"You must be bummed, moving from a big city like that to a small town in the middle of nowhere in a mostly useless state. Were you a Mariners fan?" Anna asked.

"Actually, no. I'm a Yankee fan, even though I've never stepped foot in New York. Is there a baseball team in Michigan?" I asked.

"Yeah, the Detroit Tigers," Jorge said. "I'm a Yankee fan too. But I grew up in the Bronx, so I have an excuse. The Bronx is where the Yankees play."

He'd seen the look on my face that said, "What does the Bronx have to do with the Yankees?"

"Oh, the Tigers. I didn't know Detroit was in Michigan. I saw the Mariners play the Tigers once. The Mariners won," I said.

"What other sports do you like?" Jorge asked me.

"None. I only like baseball. I'll tolerate Hockey, but it's not that great. Baseball's the best." I said.

"I like football, but I'd have to agree with you. Baseball is the best," Jorge said.

"So why don't we compare schedules? You know, for the rest of the day," Anna said.

"Sure," I said, glad that these people already seemed to like me. I pulled out my wrinkled piece of paper and scanned it.

"OK, we'll go around the table and compare what we have. Why don't you start, Sandra?" Anna asked.

"Sure. Sixth period I have Intro to Algebra IIA, seventh period I have U.S. History I, and eighth I have gym," I said.

"I have Algebra and gym with you," Jorge said.

"I have history and gym," Andrew said.

"Gym," Anna said. "We all have the same gym class! Maybe it will be fun this year!"

"Let's hope so. Gym at my old school was a nightmare," I said.

"It is here too, but I think if I'm with friends it can be tolerable," Anna said.

"Sounds cool," I said.

So she thought of me as a friend already? Wow. I might actually like Hell. No, no, no. You can't like Hell. It's impossible to like somewhere you were forced to move beyond any control of yours. Well, maybe it will be tolerable. No. Probably not. Hell isn't tolerable. No, wait maybe it can be. I already have three people who at least seem to like talking to me, and on the first day of school. It's a start I guess. We'll see how it works out in the end. Come on, brain. Can you stop going off on random tangents that have little to do with what you were originally thinking about?

I was awakened from my thoughts by that obnoxious bell. I was surprised you could hear the bell over all the talking in the Cafeteria.

"Come on, Sandra. Let's go to algebra," Jorge said, and we walked along together.

"So explain to me what this Intro to Algebra IIA is," I said.

"Well, last year, we took Intro to Algebra I. this year it's Intro to Algebra II, and we're in advanced because we're good at math. Just like Spanish. If we were in high school, these would be honors courses," Jorge said.

"Oh. Right. Math is my absolute best subject. I got an A+ last year." I said.

"Which quarter?" Jorge asked. "I got an A+ third quarter."

"All four quarters. I got a ninety-nine on the mid-year test, and a ninety-eight on the final test. I was pissed about the ninety-eight. I think my teacher just took off two points so she could prove that no one could get a hundred on the test. She hated me," I said.

"Wow. I got an eighty nine on both," Jorge said. "You should take eighth grade math. You'll probably kill at this class, advanced included."

"I wish. But it looks good if I have A+'s rather than B+'s," I said.

He pushed open a door and I walked inside. We took two seats together. A lady that looked a bit like Rachael Ray from the cooking channel walked in. I poked Jorge.

"Is that Rachael Ray?" I asked.

"No, that's Ms. Cooks. She just looks like Rachael Ray," Jorge whispered back.

Ms. Cooks took attendance. Then she told us to talk quietly among ourselves so she could check something to make sure we were in the right class.

A boy named Kevin Butler was called up. Ms. Cooks wrote out a slip and handed it to Kevin Butler. He took that and his bag and left the class.

"What was that?" I asked.

"He probably didn't meet the requirement to be in Advanced. Ms. Cooks is really strict about who she has in her advanced classes. She told us last year. I was in her class. It wasn't advanced because there's no advanced sixth grade math, but still," Jorge said.

"I get it," I said, nervous as to what she'd say about me.

I didn't want to be in a class full of people I didn't know. Well, technically, I already was, but I sort of knew this rather cute guy, Jorge, and that made it better.

She called another name or two, then I thought I heard, "Cassandra Stone?"

I didn't move. I thought I'd imagined it.

"Is there an Cassandra Stone in this class? When I took attendance, she said she was here," Ms. Cooks said.

I hazarded a glance at Jorge and got up.

I walked over to her desk and she said, "Hello, Cassandra."

"Hi. I'm sorry for whatever I did wrong," I said.

Ms. Cooks laughed. "You didn't do anything wrong. I'm questioning the school's placement of students. I'm curious as to why they placed you in my class. You should be in Intro to Algebra III or IIIA! Your grades are outstanding!" Ms. Cooks said.

"Math is my best subject," I said.

"It sure looks that way. Now, I'm going to write you a note, which you need to bring to the principal's office so they can correct your schedule. I'm putting you in IIIA," Ms. Cooks said.

"Please don't," I said.

Ms. Cooks looked taken aback.

"It's just I'm new here, I don't want my schedule to be all screwed up. I have a friend in every class so far. I really don't want to lose that," I said, explaining.

"You won't lose those classes, Cassandra. There's a IIIA class meeting right now. Ordinarily, I would have put you in III, but the IIIA meets now and I figured you could handle it. It will be one class without a friend, and then you can make some eighth grade friends. Okay?"

"Um, all right," I said.

Ms. Cooks signed the note and handed it to me.

"Have a good day, Cassandra," she said.

I walked back to my seat silently, picked up my books and backpack and walked out of the classroom without looking at anyone or anything.

Thank goodness for the signs pointing the way to the principal's office. I knocked on the door and the secretary motioned for me to come in.

"Hi, how may I help you?" she asked.

"Um, Ms. Cooks sent me," I said.

"Another wrong placement?" the secretary said, looking bummed.

I guess she made the placements.

"Yeah," I said, handing her the slip.

The secretary read it and said, "Oh! I knew we'd put you in the wrong class. Do you have your schedule?"

I handed it to her. She played around on the computer for a minute or two, then printed me a new schedule.

"Take this and the note from Ms. Cooks to room 310. It's down the hall from your old classroom. Hand them to the teacher in the classroom, which is…Miss Mignonette. Okay?" she said.

"Yeah, I guess," I said, turning out of the office and heading back to the classroom. I found it pretty easily.

I knocked, because the door was closed. A young woman who looked like she should still be in high school opened the door.

"Hi, can I help you?" she said.

"Are you Miss Mignonette?" I asked.

"Yes. Why?" she said.

I held out the papers in my hand. She took them and read them.

"Oh, okay. Welcome, Cassandra. There's a seat in the second row," she said, opening the door the rest of the way. I saw the empty seat and sat down in it.

"I was just handing out the textbooks," Miss Mignonette said, handing me one.

"What's your name again? So I can write it on my list," Miss Mignonette said.

"Um, it's Cassandra Stone," I said.

"Okay, well, I'm not allowed to let you out early, but you can talk amongst yourselves until the bell rings. We'll start the first lesson tomorrow," Miss Mignonette said.

The girl in front of me turned around and said, "Hi, you must be new here. I'm Kristy. We don't usually get new people in eighth grade. You said your name was Cassandra?"

"Yeah, but I go by Sandra. Hi, Kristy. Well, to be honest, I'm not in eighth grade, I'm in seventh," I said.

"Oh, wow! You must be really good at math!" the guy in front of me to the left said.

"Supposedly. I got an A+ for the year last year," I said.

"Wow! That's cool. I'm Dan Iodine," the guy said. "But everyone calls me Dan I. We have two other Dan's in the grade. It's nice to meet you, Sandra. Where are you from?"

"Seattle," I said.

"Ooh. Are you a Mariners fan? If you are I may have no choice but to hate you," Dan I. said.

"Actually, no. I'm a Yankee fan, even though I've never stepped foot in New York," I said.

"Oh. Tigers. Cool. So why'd you move here?" Dan said.

"I'm still trying to figure that out," I said.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I moved here from Florida two years ago," Kristy said.

"Cool. I've never been there. Isn't that where Disney World is?" I asked.

"Yeah. I lived right outside of Orlando, where Disney world is," Kristy said.

"Have you made any friends yet?" Dan I. asked me.

"Yeah, I think so," I said.

"Who? My cousin's a seventh grader and he goes here, so I know some of them," Dan I. asked.

"I'm not sure of last names, but there's Jorge, Anna and Andrew," I said.

"Andy? That's my cousin," Dan I. said. "They're a good group of kids. Tell him I say hi, if you see him again."

"Um, sure." I said.

Dan I. was very cute. He had a freckle on the top of his left ear, and he had dazzling blue eyes.

The bell rang and Kristy said, "Adios, Sandra. See you tomorrow in math."

She got up and bolted out of there. I was taken aback.

Dan I. must have seen the look on my face and said, "She's not running away from you. Trust me. She's running to her next class because she thinks the guy she likes will be in it. But you should probably get going. What's your next class?"

"U.S. History I," I said.

"Ah, most boring class ever. Well, see you," Dan I. said.

I headed off into the halls hunting down room 22. I found it with some difficulty, but I wasn't late. I walked in and saw Andrew waving at me from a seat near the back. I walked over and he took his bag off the seat next to him.

"Hey, I met your cousin," I said.

"Danny? How on earth did you do that?" Andrew asked.

"He's in my math class," I said.

"Danny wouldn't be in IIA. I thought he was in IIIA. Unless you're telling me you got moved and are now in IIIA?" Andrew said.

"Yup. That's it," I said.

"Wow. You must be a genius at math. I've heard about seventh graders being put in III, but never IIIA. You must be pretty freaking smart," Andrew said.

"I got an A+ for the year?" I said.

"Wow. What was the number average, or do you not know?" Andrew asked.

"It was a ninety-eight," I said.

"Wow. I've never even gotten a ninety-eight on a math test, let alone for the year!" Andrew said.

The teacher showed up, a large man with a short sleeve shirt and a tie. He took out a sheet and proceeded to take attendance. Then he passed out these enormous textbooks. Someone asked why the textbooks were so large; because there was no way we'd be able to get through the entire thing in a year.

"Because you use the same book next year," the teacher said, simply.

"Cool! So we keep these over the summer?" the dude asked.

"No. You return them and get a new one next year. It's the same book both years, just not the same copy," the teacher said, and he seemed annoyed.

He started the lesson, and by the time the bell rang, three people in front of me had their heads on the desk, one or two of them snoring. Then the bell rang, and I wondered if the people who were sleeping would hear it. They did.

"Gym time," Andrew said.

"Yeah," I said.

Then I realized I didn't bring any gym clothes.

"Do we need a change of clothes?" I asked.

"No, the first day all they do is talk about the rules of gym and what happens if you break a bone and can't participate, and getting off gym for sports," Andrew said as we headed to the gym.

"You get off gym for sports? Girls too? Are there any girls sports?" I asked.

"Yes to all three questions. Do you play a sport? I've been trying to learn baseball," Andrew said.

"No, but I've always wanted to play softball!" I said.

"We have a girls' softball team," Andrew said.

"Cool!" I said.

We walked through the gym doors and there were some seats set up. Anna and Jorge were already sitting there in the third row. Andrew went around the long way so he could sit next to Anna and I slid in next to Jorge.

"What happened with math?" he asked.

"Ms. Cooks put me in IIIA," I said.

"Oh. Sucks. Now I don't have any friends in math," Jorge said.

"I met some eighth graders, Dan I. and Kristy," I said.

"Dan I.? That's Andy's cousin," Jorge said.

"Yeah, I know. Dan I. told me," I said.

"This is going to be a great gym class," someone was saying. "You, me, and the guy I like. Hold on a second. Is that your cousin?"

We all turned to see who was talking.

"Hey, Andy!" Dan I. said. "You're in this gym class?"

"Yeah, are you?" Andrew said.

"We have gym with eighth graders?" I asked.

"Yeah. They segregate the sixth grade, so sixth grade gym is sixth graders only, but seventh grade gym has eighth graders, and eighth has seventh," Kristy said, taking the seat next to me.

"Oh. Interesting," I said.

A man in short shorts came into the gym.

"Yes! Mr. Ken!" Kristy said. I looked at her blankly.

"Mr. Ken is one of the two good gym teachers," she explained.

"How many gym teachers are there?" I asked.

"Six," Dan I. said.

"Oh. Okay." I said.

"All right, class, listen up. I'm looking forward to gym this year. We've got some new games to test out on you guys. All right, Attendance. Andrew Baker?"

"Here," Andrew said.

He called out some name then, "Jon Costner?"

"Here!" a guy sitting in the front row said.

Kristy nudged me. "I like him," she mouthed.

I tried to get a good look to see if he was cute. He was okay. I thought Dan was cuter. Even Jorge was cuter. I almost told Kristy that, but thought better of that. He went through the rest of the attendance.

"All right. I know this is a review for 99% of you, but if you play a sport provided by the school, you get off certain quarters. Like baseball and softball. You get off fourth quarter. I know, because those have something to do with me. Anyone play soccer?"

Some guy sitting next to Jon Costner raised his hand.

"Cool, Jimmy, you get off this quarter," Mr. Ken said, handing Jimmy a sheet and giving him instructions for it.

Jimmy picked up his bag and left, waving to Jon.

Mr. Ken went through all the rules of gym class, then said, "All right, my work here is done. Stay here till the bell rings, but do whatever you want as long as it's not illegal or will get me in trouble. Have fun."

He turned and walked out of the gym. The guy Jon Costner turned around and looked at us. He broke out into a smile. He got up and walked over towards Dan I.

"Kristy! Hey! Did you have a good summer?" Jon asked.

"Yeah, I went to New York City. What about you?"

"I was in New York City too! So maybe it was you I saw!" Jon said.

"What do you mean?" Kristy asked.

"I saw this girl and I thought it was you. I was going to say hi, but I figured it wouldn't be a good idea, you know, in case it wasn't you," Jon said.

"Oh, okay, yeah, I understand," Kristy said.

"So what are you doing after school tomorrow?" Jon asked.
"Going home and practicing guitar," Kristy said.

"That sounds mighty boring. How about you come to Pizza World and grab a slice with me?" Jon said.

"Sure," Kristy said. "That would be great!"

"There's pizza in this town?" I asked, annoyed.

"Yeah, Pizza World," Jorge said.

"Ugh. My dad lied to me. He said there was no pizza within a twenty mile radius," I said.

"Well, that's plausible. Pizza world is two miles from the school. How far from here are you?" Jorge asked.

"Oh. Dad said nineteen miles. That's just cruel. He won't go one extra mile to get pizza for his daughter. Someone better remind me to yell at him for that," I said.

"I haven't seen you before. What's your name? I'm Jon," Jon Costner said.

"I'm Sandra Stone, and you haven't seen me because I just moved here and I've been craving pizza from the second we left Seattle, and my dad doesn't care enough to go twenty one miles to get me some. And I thought he cared," I said, getting angry and not realizing I was sounding like an annoying bitch.

"Anyways," Jon said. "Kristy, the bell's about to ring in like five minutes. What do you say we just get out of here?"

"Yeah, sure," she said, and I got the feeling that if he'd asked her to do something illegal, she would have.

She got up and followed him out of the gym.

Dan I. said to me, "You know, her crush on him is unhealthy. I think if he asked her to do something illegal, she probably would."

"You know, I don't know either of you that well, but I kind of got the same vibe. I would watch out for her, but I don't think she likes me very much," I said.

"She likes you! She just doesn't really know you yet. She told me that you seem like you have the potential to be a great friend," Dan said.

"Oh. Cool. That's nice of her," I said.

"I think you do too," he said.

"Sandra's definitely going to be a good friend someday," Jorge butted in.

He gave me the feeling that he had a crush on me, which was weird, because it was day one.

The obnoxious bell rang and Dan I. said, "See you tomorrow in Math."

"Bye," I said, hoping I didn't give away that I thought he was cute.

"Andy, I'll see you in a few hours," Dan I. said, waving to Andrew, who was having a conversation with Anna, his arm wrapped around her shoulder.

"Bye, Danny," Andrew said, using the arm not around Anna to wave.

Dan left the gym and I followed suit.

"Bye, guys. I'll see you tomorrow," I said.

"Bye, Sandra, it was nice meeting you," Andrew said, and Anna waved.

As I walked out, I heard Anna call after me.

I turned around and she said, "What's your number? I'll call you tonight."

I took a scrap of paper out of my bag and a pencil and wrote my number down, handing it to her.

"Share it with those two, if they want it. You'll never get my parents on that number. That's my cell number," I said.

"Cool. I'll see you tomorrow. It was really nice to meet you," Anna said, and she gave me a hug.

"Bye," I said, and headed out of the school.

I found my mom's car parked outside the school.

I climbed in the front seat and she said, "Hello, Cass, how was school?"

"It was fine. They moved me into an eighth grade math class," I said.

"Wow. That's good. Did you make any friends?" Mom asked.

"In that class? Yeah, I sort of did. There's these two eighth graders who were sort of nice," I said.

"I meant in the whole day, but that's nice. What are their names?" Mom asked as we drove home.

"The girl's name was Kristy and the guy was Dan I," I said.

"Dan I? You met other Dan's?" Mom asked.

"No, he told me everyone calls him that. There's two other Dan's in eighth grade," I said.

"Oh. Well, did you make any other friends? In your own grade?" Mom asked.

"Yeah, three," I said.

"Oh?" Mom asked, telling me she wanted to know more.

"One girl and two guys," I said.

"Names?" Mom asked.

"Anna, Andrew and Jorge. Like Jorge Posada, that Yankee I like," I said.

"That's good. What classes are they in?" Mom asked.

"Well, all four of us have art, lunch and gym together. Anna's only in my art, lunch and gym classes, Jorge's in my English and Spanish classes as well, and Andrew's in every class with me but Spanish and math," I said.

"Oh, that's wonderful. So one of your new friends in every class you have," Mom said.

"Yeah, except math. Jorge was in my math class, but I got switched, so we weren't in the same class anymore," I said.

"But you said you talked to those two eighth graders," Mom said.

"True," I said.

Dad came home with a pizza that night.

"Dad! Finally! You decided to drive the extra mile to get your daughter some pizza! That's really offensive, Dad. You wouldn't drive an extra mile…"

"Cassandra Michelle!" Dad said. "I was saving the pizza for your first day of school. I knew it was only a mile further."

"You're a horrible father!" I said.

"I'm sorry Cassandra. I thought it could be like a treat," Dad said.

"I've been craving pizza since we left Seattle over a month ago. It hurt to hear that there was a pizza place two miles from the school. Yeah, someone told me, this guy was telling this girl Kristy I met that they should go for pizza. I questioned them, because you'd told me there was no pizza within a twenty-mile radius, which is true, but you would think a dad would go the extra mile for his daughter. His ONLY daughter!" I shrieked.

"Cassandra Michelle, did you take your medicine this morning?" Mom asked.

"Yes, mom I did. Dad just fucking pissed me off. Lying to me, and thinking that torturing his daughter with a month without pizza for NO GOOD REASON AT ALL! YOU ARE HORRIBLE PARENTS! I HATE YOU! I HAAAAAAATTTTTEEEEE YOU!"

I was hysterical and I couldn't stop.

"That's enough, Cassandra. Sit down and eat the pizza," Dad said.

I stood there fuming for a minute or two, then threw myself into the chair and started eating the pizza which was, of course, cold and gross by now. I think it would have been a good pizza, had it not been cold. For the record, my screaming fit was not why the pizza was cold. It was too cold for that to be the reason.

"This better not have been sitting in the fridge for a few hours," I threatened.

"It wasn't. Why? Is it cold? Well, you know where the oven is. Go heat it up," Dad said.

I got up, took my plate and stormed over to the microwave. I checked to make sure the plate was microwave safe and shoved it in the microwave, slammed the door closed, and pounded the buttons.

"You better not be breaking that, Cassandra Michelle," Mom called from the dining room.

"I'M NOT!" I shrieked.

The timer beeped and I took my pizza out. Of course, now it was too hot.

"Dammit!" I said, as I burned my mouth on the pizza.

This pizza was causing problem after problem, and I was making them much worse than they should have been. A simple "Ow" would have sufficed for the pizza burning my mouth. But no, I had to curse. You stupid mental condition, I hate you more than I hate my father for not bringing me pizza earlier. I HATE MY FREAKING LIFE! WHY DOES EVERYTHING HAVE TO BE SO FUCKING CRAPPY? I WISH MY LIFE WAS NORMAL, AND I DIDN'T HAVE THIS DUMB MENTAL THING SCREWING UP EVERYTHING I DO!

I finished my pizza and stormed off to my room before my parents could say anything or rope me into doing any dumb chores. I didn't have anything to do, so I just sat on my bed and stared out the window. Somehow that calmed me down. Then I heard a ringing noise coming from my desk and I wondered if there was a bomb there. I carefully walked over and realized it was just my phone. I checked to make sure it wasn't the home number and picked it up.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hey, Sandra, it's Anna. How are you?" a girl's voice said.

"Oh, hello Anna. I'm okay. How are you?" I asked.

"I'm good, my parents got me a cell phone for my birthday," Anna said.

"Oh, that's cool. When's your birthday?" I asked.

"Oh, it's today. I'm twelve," she said.

"Wow, that's cool. Sorry, I didn't know. Happy birthday. What kind of cake did you have?" I said.

"Thanks. Mom made me a homemade cake. It was really good," Anna said.

"That's good," I said.

I heard the distant knocking of someone knocking on my door up the steps.

"Can you hold on a second? I think my mom's at my door," I said.

"Sure," Anna said.

I set the phone down on the desk and climbed up the steps.

"Yes?" I asked, opening the door.

"I just wanted to make sure you're all right. Your father thought he heard you talking, and he wanted me to make sure you were okay," Mom said.

"I'm fine. Someone from school called me. I was talking to her," I said.

"Oh, wonderful! All right, I'll leave you alone," Mom said.

I headed back down to the phone and said, "Sorry about that. So what else did you get for your birthday?"

"Some clothes, a CD, oh, no, I have to go. I'm sorry, Sandra. I'll see you in Art tomorrow," Anna said.

"OK. Have a good rest of your birthday," I said.

"Bye," she said, and hung up.

I copied her number from recent calls and put it in a new contact. I went back onto my bed thinking about music, so then I got up and hunted down my iPod, so I could play some music. I thought I heard Livin' on a Prayer in multiple places, then I realized that was my ringtone. I was really bad about realizing my phone was ringing. I picked it up.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hey, um, it's Jorge. Anna gave me your number because she was under the impression you said she could," a boy's voice said this time.

"Yeah, it's fine. What's up?" I said.

"Nothing. I just thought I'd call you, and see what you really thought of the school," Jorge said, rather nervously.

"It's not bad. It's a school. I'd probably hate it if it were really fancy and pretty. What happened in math after I left?" I asked.

"Well, Brittani was like, 'they put the new girl in too smart a math class? That's pathetic.' So I told her, 'Actually she's probably in too dumb a math class. Ms. Cooks is probably putting her in III.' So Brittani tossed her hair and rolled her eyes," Jorge said.

"If you don't mind me asking, who is this Brittani?" I asked.

"Oh, she's a bully. I'm not exactly on her good side, and I don't think you are either. I think she's sort of friends with Anna though," Jorge said.

"Good. First day in and someone already hates me. Score," I said.

"She hates everybody, even her friends. She just tolerates them more than she tolerates people like you and me," Jorge said.

"Oh, well, still. Everyone hates me. Life hates me," I said.

"That's not true. I don't hate you. I'm pretty sure Andy and Anna don't hate you. Would Anna have asked you for your number if she didn't want to talk to you? I don't collect numbers of people I don't want to talk to. Like last year, this girl gave me her number on a piece of paper. I mean, she was nice, but I didn't really want to call her, so when she turned around, I crumpled the paper and chucked it into the garbage. It sounds mean, but I didn't think having her number clogging my phone would help either of us. I wasn't going to call her," Jorge said.

"Wow. That's a bit cruel," I said.

"I know…oh wait, can I call you back? I have another call," Jorge said.

"Yeah, sure. Oh, wait don't call me back, I'm going to sleep. Good night. See you tomorrow," I said.

"OK. See you," he said.

I plugged the phone into the charger, put on my pajamas and climbed into bed.

Chapter 3

I awoke to bright, blinding sunlight. Why was there bright, blinding sunlight coming through my window? I thought I had blinds!

"Get up, Cassandra," someone said.

I squinted through the light and saw Mom pulling back all my blinds.

"That's a great way to wake someone up! Why not try shaking me next time?" I asked, getting up and closing the blinds.

Mom actually looked like she hadn't thought of that. Lovely.

"Now can you get out of here so I can change?" I asked.

She sighed and left. I headed to my makeshift closet and picked out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. I brushed my hair and teeth (I don't eat breakfast in the morning), grabbed my jacket, and headed upstairs. Dad was sitting at the kitchen table sipping coffee and reading the boring news.

"Oh, Cassandra, I forgot to remind you. The school called last night during your hissy fit, and reminded its students that it's field day today. Oh, and something about clothes, what was it, Chris?" Mom said.

"You're supposed to dress comfortably," Dad said without looking up from his newspaper.

"Jeans are comfortable!" I said, defending my wardrobe.

I was secretly cursing Anna and Jorge for not telling me it was field day today. The first Friday of the school year was field day? Field day was later in the year at Seattle Middle. I gave up defending my jeans and went back to put on my rattiest sweats. I could tell Mom was annoyed, but she wasn't going to say anything. The only holes in these were by the feet because they were too long.

"Take your meds, Cassandra, then we'll go," Mom said, washing some dish in the sink.

I strolled over to the fridge, grabbed some sparkling water and attempted to swallow the two pills I took. Of course, like usual, I gagged and almost threw up on each one.

"It's so gross!" I said.

"Stop being such a drama queen, Cassandra. You're making it worse than it really is," Dad said.

I think he was pissed at me for the pizza snap last night. I wasn't up to apologizing then, so I didn't.

"Come on, let's get you to school," Mom said.

We got in the car and drove to school. When we got there we saw posters in the front windows, some saying "Go Purple!" and others, "Go Gold!"

"Ugh, this looks like a really awful day," I said, as Mom parked in front to drop me off.

I grabbed my backpack and got out. As soon as I walked through the doors, people wearing purple and yellow ambushed me. The girl in yellow had a crown on her head.

"Hi, what's your name?" she asked, holding out a sheaf of paper.

"Um, Sandra," I said, taken aback.

"Sandra what?" the purple girl said.

"Oh, um Cassandra Stone. Um, seventh grade?" I said, trying to make this less torturously long.

"You're on Gold. Go to room 22 to meet your captains and to get a shirt," the yellow girl said.

Thank goodness I knew where room 22 was so I didn't have to ask these people. I stopped outside room 22, anxious as to what torture would be awaiting me inside. I rolled my eyes and pushed open the door. I was greeted by all sorts of gold ribbon being passed around and put in people's hair. There were people with yellow face paint, painting things on their legs. Someone wrote "Field Day! '07!" I tried to remember what year it was, because I didn't think it was 2007.

"Um, I don't mean to be rude, but it's 2005," I said to the girl.

"Oh, no! I knew that! It's my graduating year. You know, from the middle school? You must be new here. I'm Claire. Are you a sixth grader?" the girl, Claire, said.

"No, I'm not a sixth grader. I'm a seventh grader. I'm Sandra," I said.

"Oh, hi! Me too, I'm a seventh grader. Field day is so much fun. You'll see," Claire said.

"Oh. Field day at my old school consisted of little relay races and stuff," I said.

"Where are you from?" Claire asked.

"Seattle," I said.

"Where's that? Is that in Europe?" Claire asked.

"No, it's in the state of Washington, which is north of California," I said.

"Oh! I think my dad's been there. That's cool. Why did you move?" Claire asked.

I wasn't about to tell her the truth, because I didn't know her yet, so I lied, saying, "Dad got transferred to a smaller division of the company. He has a better position than before, but I miss Seattle city life."

It was partially true. Dad did get a better position. It just wasn't the full truth, including my part of why we were practically forced out of Seattle.

"Oh, cool. Oh my goodness, come meet the captains, they're like the coolest people ever," Claire said, taking my hand and dragging me.

"Captains?" I said.

"Yeah, there are two eighth graders for every Gold division team and Purple division team. One's usually a girl, the other a boy, but it doesn't always work out. There's an imbalance of males or females. It happens every year. Come on!"

Claire dragged me over to a girl with a gold garland with stars wrapped around her head. Her hair was a dark red-orange, and she was facing away from us.

Claire poked her and said, "Kristy, this is Sandra, she's on our team. She's from Seattle."

I immediately thought it was the girl I'd met in math yesterday.

Kristy turned around and said, "Hey! Good, I'm glad I like more than two people on the team."

She smiled at Claire and me said, "You know Sandra?"

"Yeah, Sandra's in my math and gym classes. Sandra, I see you've met my little sister. Claire, have you seen Dan? He's supposed to be my co-captain," Kristy said.

"Which Dan?" Claire asked.

I guess she knew a few of them.

"My best friend Dan, that one. Dan Iodine," Kristy said.

"Oh, no, I haven't seen him. Maybe he's sick," Claire said.

"He seemed fine yesterday. Do you really think he could have gotten sick overnight?" Kristy asked.

"Maybe," I said.

"You met him yesterday, didn't he look fine? Like, didn't look sick at all?" Kristy said, turning to me.

"No, he looked fine from what I could tell. I tried not to look too closely," I said.

Claire looked out at the room then started excitedly poking Kristy.

"What, Claire?" she asked, turning around.

Dan had showed up, wearing a bright yellow shirt and khaki shorts. He was so cute.

"Hey, you made it," Kristy said.

"Yeah, sorry I'm late, Miss Mignonette sidetracked me. She was right behind me, but I don't know where she went. She's our moderator," Dan said.

He turned and saw Claire.

"Hey, Claire, you're on our team?" he said.

"Yeah, oh, and this is Sandra," she said, pointing to me.

Dan turned around and smiled.

"Hey, Sandra. I'm glad you're on our team. We could use some cool people," he said.

Then Miss Mignonette showed up and told Kristy and Dan to gather the troops; it was time for the water race.

"What's the water race?" I asked Claire.

"Oh, they give you these cups, some have holes in them, and you pass water from cup to cup and dump it in the bucket at the end of the line. I hope you don't mind getting wet!" Claire said, grabbing my wrist and getting behind Kristy and Dan.

We wandered out to the soccer field and lined up. Kristy determined how we would line up, and she put me at the end, with Dan to my left. The teacher in charge explained the rules, then she blew her whistle and we were off. I just stood there at first, and then after a little bit,

Dan turned his cup into mine and said, "Go put that in the bucket."

Our team beat the other team we were against.

"Good job, Sandra," Dan said, holding up his hand for a high five.

I slapped my hand against his.

"Where are we off to next, Kristy?" he asked.

"Gum Race," she called.

"What's that?" I asked.

"It's a relay race. You run down to this bag, pick up the gloves inside the bag, put them on, pick up a piece of gum and unwrap it, putting the wrapper back in the bag, then you run back and tag the next person. It's simple. I'll make sure you're not in the front, so you can see how to do it," Dan said.

"Oh, okay. That sounds easy," I said, as we followed our group to the gym, where six bags and six teachers were lined up at the far end.

Dan and Kristy lined us up. I was behind a rather large girl. She wasn't very tall. She just had a rather large width.

She turned around and said, "Hi I'm Sally from Green Bay. I'm in sixth grade. What's your name?"

"Um, it's Sandra," I said.

"Sandra from where?" Sally from Green Bay asked.

It took all my self-control not to punch her. She was annoying me. Why did it matter where I was from?

"Seattle," I said.

"Packers are better than the Seahawks, so I'm better than you! Yippee!" Sally said.

"Great," I said, turning away from her, annoyed.

Could football teams really decide who was better? I think not. But no, Sally from Green Bay couldn't leave me alone.

She poked my arm saying, "What grade are you in, Seattle Sandra?"

"Seventh. And can you stop talking to me and pay attention to the line moving? There's a gap between you and the person in front of you," I said, aggravated.

Sally from Green Bay moved up, but then turned right back around and said, "You're too small to be a seventh grader. You're lying."

"I'm not lying, that's the grade I'm in. please stop bothering me," I said, getting very aggravated with Sally from Green Bay.

Size did not determine what grade you were in. My cousin Kristen was tall when she was in third grade, which was the last time I saw her.

"You're a nasty girl. I'm just trying to be friendly," Sally said.

Sure you are. If this is what you call friendly, I'd hate to see what you call rude! Sally turned back around and didn't bother me any more. Finally, it was her turn. I started willing her to trip or something, but then realized I shouldn't be mean to her, no matter how annoying she was. She came back chomping like a cow on her stick of gum. She had a pouty face on when she tagged me. I ran, and one second I was running, the next second, I was on the ground with a crunch. The teacher in charge of the event started blowing her whistle frantically, and told everyone to stop moving.

I was still lying on the ground, and something in my brain told me I should get up. There was a nasty pain in my right arm, a pain like the one I'd felt when I was in kindergarten and I'd fallen backwards off the chair I'd been sitting on at Christmas eve dinner. Dang. That had been broken. I really didn't want to deal with the hassle of a broken arm.

The lady with the whistle came over and said, "Hon, you okay?"

"What do you mean by okay?" I asked.

"Well, you're lying on the ground and not getting up. What's your home phone number?" the lady asked.

I told her and she said, "OK. I need a couple of strong young men to carry…"

"No, no I don't need to be carried," I said. "I can walk wherever you want me to."

The lady said, "All right. Follow me," and she headed off into the rest of the school.

I used the un-painful arm to get up and walked out of the gym.

I heard someone say, "That's what you get, Seattle loser," and I assumed it was Sally.

I gave her the finger in my head and kept walking. I followed gym-lady into the front office.

"Sit there," she said, pointing at a chair outside.

I sat down and after a few minutes, Gym-lady said, "Your mom's on her way. Sit here until she comes, okay?"

"Fine," I said.

"I have to go back and run the event, but if you need someone, the secretary's in the office. Just knock before you go in," Gym-lady said.

"Cool, thanks," I said.

Gym-lady left and I sat there, staring into space. Mom is going to kill me. I didn't do it on purpose. I tripped. Oh. Of course. My shoelace was untied. I tripped over my shoelace. Wow, I feel like a loser. Wow… mom was going to yell at me for tripping over my shoelace. She will probably say 'Cassandra, you should have made sure your shoelaces were tied. Didn't I teach you that?' and Dad will be all, "Great. I have to pay this hospital bill so some doctors could x-ray your arm and tell you it's just a slight fracture you don't have to worry about it. They didn't even bother to cast your arm up!" Oh, well, that might not happen, because I don't know if my arm is broken or not. Well, maybe I'll find out. That is, if mom is taking me to get it x-rayed. Personally, if it is broken, I'm glad it's my right arm. I wouldn't want to deal with what I'd have to do if I'd broken my left arm. That would have sucked.

Mom broke me out of my thoughts. "Cass?" she said.

"Hi, Mom," I said.

"Can I see your arm? Ms. Bough said it didn't look very pretty," Mom said.

I held it out.

"Oh, ouch," she said.

She knocked on the office door and they admitted her.

I heard her say, "Do I need to sign her out?" the secretary I guess said yes, because Mom took some time in there.

Then she came back out and took me to the hospital.

We checked in, then had to wait some time in a lobby, until a lady called out, "Cassandra Stone?"

"That's me," I said.

"Come with me, and we'll get that arm of yours looked at," the nurse said.

Mom followed me following the nurse. She took us to a room and examined the arm with her eyes.

Then she said, "OK, we'll x-ray this one. Follow me, Cassandra. Mom, you'll have to stay here."

I followed her to another room, this one with a closed door. The nurse opened the door and helped me set up the arm on the slate thing properly. She took a picture or whatever x-ray machines do, and then came back out to where I was sitting to move my arm into another position.

She positioned my arm three times, then said, "OK, I'll have the doctors look at these and we'll let you know in a little bit."

She brought me back to the room where Mom was sitting. Mom and I waited there in silence.

The nurse came back a little while later, and said, "You have no fractures or breaks in your wrist, and so we're just going to wrap your arm in a splint instead of the cast."

I followed the nurse to another room and she put a cloth cast with metal bars inside on my arm.

"You should keep this on for seven to twelve days," she said.

Then she sent us out and told Mom the bill would come in the mail.

"Thanks," Mom said, and she took me back out to the parking lot and said, "What do you say we go out for lunch?"

"Sounds good," I said.

Mom took me to Pizza World and we had a slice of pizza for lunch. It was hard to bend my wrist with the stupid metal things in the splint, so it was hard to eat my pizza.

"It's hard to bend my wrist, Mom," I said.

"Well, then the metal bars are doing their job, Cass. They're inside the splint to keep your arm in one place, because if they weren't there, you could easily re-injure your arm," Mom said.

"Oh. Okay," I said.

We got home, and Mom called Dad at work to tell him about my fall during field day. I sat in my room listening to music. I heard my phone at a distance and assumed it was Dad.

"Hello?" I picked up.

"Hello, Cassandra. I hear you fell at field day?" Dad said.

"Yeah, I forgot to tie my shoelace. It was stupid," I said.

"Oh, very nice. Well, I just wanted to call and make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine, Dad, thanks," I said.

"Have a good afternoon," Daddy said.

"Bye Daddy. Love you," I said.

"Love you too," he said, and hung up.

I went back to my music, and my phone rang again a little while later.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hey, where were you today?" Anna asked.

"I was there, then I left," I said, not saying anything about my arm.

"Oh, okay. You probably didn't hear about the girl who tripped during the gum race, did you?"

Damn. I hadn't seen her there. I guess gossip spread. Thanks, Sally from Green Bay.

"I didn't hear about her, no. But I did see her," I said.

"Oh, you saw her? Who was it?" Anna asked.

"Um, it was me," I said.

"What? No way. That's why you weren't there! That's what Andy thought, but I didn't believe that. Oh my gosh, are you okay?" Anna said.

"Yeah, my wrist got a banging, but it's not broken or fractured, according to the hospital," I said.

"Oh my goodness! You had to go to the hospital?" Anna said, now flipping out. Eh, fast-forwarding…Anna flips out a lot…at the most random things.

"Well, I didn't have to, but my mom took me there. She said someone told her she should take me there, so she did," I said.

"Oh, wow. I hope you're okay. What team were you on? They didn't say," Anna said.

"I was on Gold," I said.

"Oh, wow, me too. We won!" Anna said.

"That's good. Sorry I wasn't there to help win it," I said.

"Oh, it's no problem. Oh, but I have to go, Andy and I were going to go get some ice cream," Anna said.

"Oh, okay. I'll see you tomorrow," I said, forgetting it was Friday.

"Um, don't you mean Monday?" Anna asked, and I was actually a little hurt she didn't want to go somewhere with me this weekend.

"Yeah, I guess I did," I said, and hung up.

Cool. So Anna wasn't my friend? Or was she just busy? Or did she not mean it that way, since we didn't have any plans? Ugh, I was so confused. I took a power nap, and was woken up by Mom at dinnertime. Dad hadn't come in to bother me? I was surprised. Occasionally, he'd come into my room when he got home from work. Maybe he was still mad at me for last night. I made my way upstairs and sat down at the table.

"Hey, Dad," I said. "I'm sorry about last night, and I'm sorry if you're mad at me."

"It's okay, Cassie," Dad said. "I forgive you."

I went over to him to give him a hug. Mom came into the room with pizza on a tray, as if she'd just heated it up. She put a slice on my plate and one on Dad's.

"We're reinstating pizza Fridays," Dad said.

"Oh, okay. Good. Those were my favorite," I said.

Chapter 4

Monday rolled around after a short weekend. I woke up to my alarm and got dressed. I tightened my splint and brushed my hair and teeth. I climbed upstairs to the kitchen and Mom handed me my lunch so I could put it in my bag. I said goodbye to my father and got in the car with my mom. She drove me to school, humming along to all the boring songs on the radio. She dropped me off in front of the school, and I headed to art. Jorge and Anna were already there.

"Hi, Sandra," Anna said.

"Hi Anna," I said, sliding into the seat across from her.

Andrew strolls in just before the morning bell.

"Hey, what happened to your arm?" he asks me.

"I fell on it," I said.

"Is it broken?" Andrew asked.

"No, it's not, they just gave me this splint thing to protect it," I said.

"Oh, okay. You're okay, right?" Andrew said.

"Yeah. I'm fine," I said.

The teacher walked in and handed out paper.

"Draw your heart's innermost desire!" she said, and I grimaced.

My heart's innermost desire was to die. How could I possibly draw that? I decided to draw a person on the ground, with X's for eyes to show that they were dead.

The teacher, whose name I still didn't know, walked by and said, "Um, what is that?"

"It's a dead person," I said.

"Why did you draw a dead person?" she asked.

"Because you said draw our heart's innermost desire," I said.

"Oh, no, honey, why would you want to die? I'm sure your life is okay," the teacher said.

"You don't know anything about my life," I said, angry.

The teacher raised her eyebrows and left.

"You know she's going to call the guidance counselor and you're going to have to talk to her," Andrew said.

"Whatever. I hate this school," I said.

"Are you okay?" Jorge asked.

I glanced over at his drawing, just to see what his heart's innermost desire was. Interesting. A girl…, who was probably supposed to be me, judging by the hair color and eye color. Jorge saw me looking at it and covered it with his arm.

"I'm fine. Please just leave me alone," I said.

The class went by slowly, until that obnoxious bell finally rang.

I got up and the teacher called out, "Cassandra Stone, I need to see you after class."

I rolled my eyes and asked Andrew what the teacher's name was.

"Miss Valid," he said.

"Thanks," I said.

"I'll see you later, I hope," he said, then turned and left the classroom.

I stood where I was and Miss Valid approached me.

"Cassandra, what's wrong? Why would your innermost desire be to be dead? I'm sure you have friends," Miss Valid said.

"I have friends, but they're back home in Seattle. Oh wait, they ditched me, so never mind that." I said.

"I think you have friends here too. The boys sitting at your table, and Anna are surely your friends," Miss Valid said.

"I wouldn't know," I said.

"Are you okay, though?" Miss Valid said.

"I'm fine!" I said, getting annoyed.

"Well, if you need someone to talk to, I'm always available to listen. Okay?" Miss Valid said.

"Whatever," I said.

She wrote a note on a piece of paper and said, "Give this to your second period teacher."

I took the note and headed to English. I opened the door and handed the note to Mrs. Hudson.

"Hello," she said.

"Hi," I replied, walking to my seat.

Mrs. Hudson continued explaining about the book we were going to read. Someone guy raised his hand.

"Yes?" Mrs. Hudson said.

"When are we going to get the books?" the guy asked.

"What do you care, Chris? You don't read," the guy next to him said.

"Well, we haven't received our shipment from the book company yet, but when we get them, I'll hand them out," Mrs. Hudson said.

I actually liked her. I think she might be the only teacher I liked. No, I didn't mind my new math teacher, Miss Mignonette. The bell rang and I lagged behind.

I walked up by Mrs. Hudson's desk and she said, "Are you feeling okay, Cassandra?"

I turned and said, "I'm fine now, but I woke up feeling lonely this morning."

"Oh, I'm sorry. If you need someone to talk to, I'm free fifth period and eighth period. I'm usually in my office, which is down the hall," Mrs. Hudson said.

"OK. Thanks," I said, heading to Science.

Andrew said, when I took my seat, "Hi, I just wanted to make sure you're feeling better."

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just woke up feeling lonely this morning," I said.

"Why didn't you tell me? If I had known I would have talked to you more, made you feel less lonely," Andrew said.

"Yeah, I know, I'm stupid for not telling you," I said.

"Did you have to talk to Ms. Tiete?" Andrew asked.

"Who's that?" I asked.

"Never mind, she's a guidance counselor. I heard she's getting transferred to the high school next year," Andrew said.

"Oh. No I didn't have to talk to her. The art teacher wanted to make sure I was okay," I said.

"All right. Are you okay?" Andrew asked.

"I guess, more or less," I said.

"That's good," Andrew said.

Then our teacher came in, late I guess. Spanish came, and Jorge asked me if I was okay. I was getting tired of people asking me if I was okay.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said.

"Ok, just wanted to make sure," Jorge said.

Señora Slade came around and handed a sheet of paper to each of us.

I asked, "Que es el papel?"

"Es un examen," Señora Slade said.

Oh. Wonderful. I didn't study. She didn't tell us about any quiz. I sighed and took out a pen. I answered all the questions, and handed it in.

"Gracias. You may leave," Señora Slade said, and I was taken aback, that was the first time I'd ever heard her speak English.

I went back to my seat, slung my bag over my shoulder and headed to lunch. Anna and Andrew were already there. I wondered what class they had in order to be here now. I think I was early, because I hadn't heard the obnoxious bell.

"Hi," I said, taking a seat at the table and putting my bag on the floor.

"Hey," Andrew said.

"Hey, Sandra. You're okay, right? Because you didn't seem all right this morning in art," Anna asked.

"I'm fine, thanks. What class do you guys have fourth?" I asked.

"Oh, Spanish, but our Spanish teacher wasn't here today, so we signed in and got a free. Where's Jorge?" Andrew asked.

"He's taking the quiz," I said. "Quiz?" "Yeah, it's like a pop quiz in Spanish."

"It's probably so that the teacher can see what she needs to work on. It probably won't count," Anna said.

"I hope not. I think I failed that," I said.

The bell rang and people got up and moved around, some pouring into the cafeteria, others pouring out.

"What's for lunch today?" I asked.

"Oh, I think its sloppy Joes. They're disgusting. I had one once," Andrew said.

"Oh, good. I brought my lunch, I was just curious," I said.

Jorge threw his bag onto the floor and sat down. "That quiz is going to bring down my average," he said, now digging through his bag for his lunch.

"I don't think she'll count it, Jorge," Anna said.

"How would you know?" he asked, pausing his attempt to find food and looking at her.

"I don't, It's just a guess," Anna said.

"But, dude, not to sound racist or anything but you're Hispanic. Why would you fail a Spanish test?" Andy said.

"Did you guys have a good weekend?" I asked, changing the subject.

Jorge finally found his food, because he pulled a brown paper bag out of his backpack and put it on the table.

"I went to my cousin's house," Anna said.

"Oh, that sounds like fun," I said.

"I have a twelve year old cousin who won't leave me alone," Jorge said.

"Do you like the company of that cousin?" Andrew asked.

"Eh, sort of. I think she has a crush on me, and she wants to talk to me. I'd never go out with her, because she's my cousin. She's older than me, so I don't know why she doesn't realize that cousins don't date," Jorge said.

"Maybe she does, and she just really wants to be your friend?" Anna suggested.

"Eh. Possible. Andy, what was your weekend adventure?" Jorge said.

"Oh, I didn't do anything. I was forced to clean my room. It took the entire weekend to clean," Andrew said, laughing a little.

"Wow. It must have been pretty dirty and messy," I said.

"It was, trust me. I went over last week and it was impossible to walk across his floor. I was afraid I'd step on something and break it," Anna said.

"Yeah, I guess I should have cleaned it earlier," Andrew said, taking a swig of his water bottle.

"So, I know it's like forever from now, but not this weekend, but next, I'm having a party to celebrate my birthday. It's belated, but it was when my mom was available to help. I was going to have a little day of playing games and stuff, then maybe have a sleepover with the girls I'm inviting, you included," Anna said, motioning to me.

"So we're invited?" Andrew asked.

"Of course you are! You're my best friends!" Anna said.
"What's the exact date so I can ask my mom?" I asked.

"October first will be the party, but you can sleep over on the Friday, the 30th of September," Anna said, smiling.

"Oh, okay. I don't see a problem, just let me ask my mom," I said.

The bell rang and we all groaned. "See you in history," I said to Andrew.

"OK, see you then," he said, and we all went our separate ways.

Jorge and I walked towards our math classes together, because the classrooms are right next door to each other.

He stopped at his door and said "See you for our free."

"What? What free? Don't we have gym?" I asked.

Jorge smiled. "Gym is only every other day. We have a free on days we don't have gym. I think if this were a private religious school, we'd probably have religion instead of a free," he said.

"Oh, all right. I'll see you later," I said, wrenching the door to my math classroom open.

The doors liked to stick, so you had to pull them open. It was even harder to pull them open when you had a sprained wrist that you didn't want to injure further. Of course, I'd forgotten the splint was on my arm until I wrenched open the door and the dull pain that was there got worse. I walked into the classroom wincing.

When I got to my seat, Kristy turned around and said, "You all right? You took quite a fall at field day."

I held out my splinted arm.

"It is bruised or sprained or something. I just hurt it opening the stupid door, though," I said.

"Ouch, yeah, I hurt my wrist that's not injured all the time, yanking these doors open," Kristy said.

Dan slipped into his seat, looking bummed about something.

I said, "What's wrong, Dan?" I asked.

"Hi, Sandra. Nothing important. Just got rejected by this girl I've liked for a while," Dan said.

It seemed as if Kristy already knew this, but I think they're good friends, so he probably would have told her this already.

"Aw, that sucks. I'm sorry," I said.

"It's not your fault. She said she liked me, but she didn't want to start anything with me because there was this cute guy in her Spanish class. She's in high school, a freshman," Dan said

"That's dumb," I said, and Kristy said, "That's one of the stupidest reasons not to date someone. She said she liked you, too. If I knew her better, I'd kick her ass for you."

Dan cracked a mini smile, then said, "Hey, do you see Andrew before gym?" I assumed he meant me, because Andrew was in my grade.

"Yeah, I have history with him next period. But I thought gym was only every other day?" I said.

"It is. It's just I wanted you to tell him what I just told you. Her name is Emily. You don't need to know that, but it would probably help Andy understand," Dan said.

Miss Mignonette walked in with a stack of papers in her arm. "I'm really sorry about being late. I had to pick up these copies for today's class," she said, dropping the papers on her desk.

"So, today, I wanted to see what your background of pre-algebra is. I'm going to give you a quiz to do in class, but I will only count the grade if ninety-five percent of you get a seventy-five or above. I'll explain the directions once I hand it out, so you can read along with what I'm saying. Do not start until I've been over the directions. You'll have plenty of time to finish, and I'm free eighth, if you need more time and are free. If you're not free and you need more time, speak to me at the end of class. Yes, Brandon?"

"Do we get to work in groups?" a guy in the back of the room asked.

"No, Brandon, I want to see what each of you remembers, not what three or four of you collectively remember. Any other questions?" Miss Mignonette said, scanning the room for hands.

She picked up the papers and distributed them. I read the directions.

It said, "Omit any question you don't know."

"OK, everyone has a paper now? Good. The directions are simple. Compute each problem, and put the answer on the line. Now, since this isn't an important test worth anything, if you don't remember how to do something, just write Omit on the answer line. Please at least attempt the problem, even if you think you don't know it. Don't just take one look and say 'Oh, how do I do this? I'll just omit it'. Give it a shot. Okay, you have the whole class to do this. Ask me if you have any questions."

I got out a pencil and a calculator, because I saw other people with calculators on their desks. I almost snorted when I looked at the first question. What is seven times six? Question number one asked. Forty-two, I scribbled. I breezed through the rest of the quiz thing, but when I was done, I decided to check it over and make sure I didn't just read half the question. I checked the questions over, and I checked them again. No one was handing in his or her quiz! I checked it over once more, then gave in and got up to hand the quiz in.

"Are you sure you're done, Cassandra?" Miss Mignonette asked.

"Yeah, I checked it over a bunch of times," I said.

"All right. Well, I can't let you go, so you can go back to your seat and take out a book to read or something, okay? There's about fifteen minutes left of class," she said.

I headed back to my seat. I pulled out my story notebook and worked on the autobiography I started, with Mom and Dad's help. I started it over the summer. I liked to write, but all my stories are cheesy and either everyone dies or they all live happily ever after. It's one extreme or the other. I can't wait until I can learn how to be a proper writer and write good stories. Maybe not stories like Harry Potter, because that's a bit too hard to have as a goal. Just a successful author, that's what I want to be. I don't need to be famous. I just wouldn't want to write a book, have it published and then no one buys it. Or, possibly worse, my book only be used in schools. I wouldn't want people forced to read my stories. I want people to want to read them, and at least like them a bit.

I was up to my childhood, which I only very vaguely remembered, but when I told Mom I wanted to write an autobiography, she started telling me all sorts of what she thought were cute stories about my childhood. Some were cute, others were embarrassing, and still others were completely pointless.

Before I knew it, the bell rang and Miss Mignonette said, "All right, I need all papers. Please let me know if you're coming by eighth, or if you need another day. I'll also accept any finished papers. Have a nice afternoon."

I got up and headed to history. I ran into Andrew in the hallway and we walked the rest of the way to history. I told him about Dan's mishap with the girl Emily.

"Oh, no!" Andrew said. "That's horrible! He really liked her, and she says no because of someone in her Spanish class? Ugh, maybe it's better she said no, rather than hurt Dan later. Don't get me wrong, rejection hurts, but when someone breaks up with you for a dumb reason, it's worse."

"You sound like you know the feeling. Did someone do that to you?" I asked, then immediately said, "Never mind, I didn't mean to butt into your business."

Andrew wrenched open the history door and we went to our seats, and he said, "No, it's fine. I'll tell you. It's not like it's a secret. There was this girl last year. Her name was Karen, and I thought she was pretty. I asked her out sometime in November, I think. She said yes. We seemed to be getting along fine, then all of a sudden, one day, I walk into first period, and she's standing by my desk, waiting for me. She says, 'Andy, I don't think this is working. All you ever talk about is dumb things like music and your poems. I thought they were cute at first, but then they got annoying. So I'm going to break up with you'. I was horrified, and I said, 'I'm really sorry, Karen. I can change, just give me time!' She shook her head and walked to her seat. She moved to Oregon, I think."

"Oh, wow. I'm sorry, Andrew," I said.

"Don't worry about it. I was scared to ask Anna out, but she'd been my best friend and she helped me through the breakup, and I realized that she wouldn't do that to me. If she had a reason for us to break up, it would be a valid reason, not just 'you talk about your poems too much'," Andrew said.

"Curious, but you write poems?" I asked.

"Yeah, they're more like songs, in a way. I put some of them to music. I play the guitar. Jorge does too," Andrew said.

"Oh, wow, that's cool," I said, then turned to face the front, because I saw Mr. Law enter the classroom through my peripheral vision.

"All right, take out your textbooks and turn to page twenty three," Mr. Law said, and as soon as he started talking, heads drooped.

I hazarded a glance at Andrew. He was as wide awake as I was, which was indeed awake. I saw the last person whose head had been propped up slide their arm away and put their head on the desk. Andrew and I were the only ones not asleep. I wondered how Mr. Law couldn't see it. Maybe he did, and was just slowly taking points off the nonexistent average of every student who slept, half a point per class slept in, but if it's only half a class, then you lose a quarter of a point off your average. That's made up, but maybe it's possible.

The bell rang and some people got up, but others were conked out as if it was midnight and they were home in their bed. Friends poked dead asleep friends, and I turned to Andrew.

"Why are they all asleep?" I asked.

"I'll tell you in a minute," Andrew said, and we walked towards the cafeteria.

"So, they're asleep because they're so bored of what Mr. Law is saying. He teaches history to all middle school grades, and you're on his good side if you only sleep once or twice in his class all year. He gives one free pass, if you come in the room looking tired or you didn't get enough sleep. He takes half a point off every average for every class after one you sleep in, and if you only sleep in half the class he takes off a quarter of a point. I think he adds two points if you don't sleep at all," Andrew said.

Hah. So I was right. "Oh, okay. How many points did you lose last year?" I asked.

"None. I didn't gain any, because I slept in one class. But that was the class on the day Karen dumped me," Andrew said.

"Aw, I still feel bad about that. You're so nice, I don't know why anyone would want to break up with you," I said.

Andrew sat at the table we used for lunch and said, "Thanks. You're pretty nice yourself."

"Me? No way. I'm not nice. Well, at times I am, but other times I can be a real bitch. And what you saw this morning was nothing. I've screamed at the top of my lungs, I've punched things, I might have broken something once, and I hate everything when I get in those moods," I said.

"I'm sure you're exaggerating. You're really sweet, but you're occasionally not in such a good mood. Everyone's like that, even the nicest person in the world," Andrew said.

"You're nice for accepting me," I said.

"Why? Has no one ever accepted you before?" Andrew asked.

"No, people have, but, ah, something happened back in Seattle that caused people to regret being my friend," I said.

"What did you do?" Andrew asked.

"I really don't want to talk about it right now. I'm sorry, it just hurts to remember it," I said.

"Oh, okay. I don't want to pry. If you ever feel like sharing, I'll listen," Andrew said.

"What is Sandra sharing?" Anna asked, taking the seat next to Andrew.

Jorge sat down next to me.

"Nothing. I was just telling Andrew what a bitch I can be," I said.

"I'm sure you're not that bad," Anna said. I just shut up.

"Anna, I don't think she wants to talk about it anymore," Jorge said quietly.

Why was he defending me? I was probably closest to Andrew here, only because I'd had the most time with him.

"Hey, Andy," someone called.

It sounded like Dan.

"Hey, Dan," Andrew said, because he could see who was calling to him.

Dan took a seat on my other side and said, "That quiz was annoying. I knew most of it, but why does she need to give us a quiz? Watch, ninety-five percent of the class will get a seventy-five, and she'll count it. There will be one really annoying person who gets a hundred so that Miss Mignonette will have to count it, because she'll feel bad not being able to count that person's hundred."

I winced. That would probably be me.

"I'm sure you did well. How many did you omit?" I asked.

"Three," he said. "What about you? I'd have to guess more like five or six, because you're a seventh grader."

"Um, not exactly. I didn't omit any," I said, sinking low in my seat.

"Then you must be a math goddess," Dan said.

"Not really. Where's Kristy?" I asked.

"She and Jon are somewhere else. I don't know where, so don't ask," Dan said.

"So you guys had a math quiz today?" Anna asked.

"Yeah, but it'll only count if ninety-five percent of the class gets a seventy-five or above. Of course, that'll happen and I'll have like a sixty-seven on my average to start the year," Dan said.

"I'm sure you didn't do that badly," Andrew said.

The bell rang and everyone jumped.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow," I said, and went to find my mom's car.

"Hi, Mom," I said, sliding into the back seat.

"Hello Cassandra. You have Dr. Bryan today, I hope you didn't forget," she said.

Fuck. I had forgotten. Dr. Bryan was this obnoxious middle-aged "doctor" who Mom took me to every Monday since we moved here. His office is in Detroit, so we had a bit of a drive before we got there. I just stared out the window and tuned out the world and tuned into my head. I had a nice session with my head of things I would refuse to tell Dr. Bryan.

So why don't you tell Dan you like him? Because, idiot, he just got rejected by a girl and that would be odd. Oh hi Dan, I like you. I'm so much better than Emily or whatever the girl's name was. I can be a lot bitchier too! Oh, but what's up with Jorge? I think he might like me. He was defensive during that free today. He barely knows me, though, so it's kind of weird. Maybe he just thinks he likes me but won't when he finds out more about me. Eh, forget him. He may be cute, but Dan is like the hottest thing I've ever seen. I wonder why on earth he lives in Hell, Michigan. That's dumb. You would think that all the guys in a town like Hell would be either butt ugly, cute but stupid, or oh. That's it. Dan's gay. He has to be. It's the same with all the girls. I guess Anna's pretty, and I don't think she's stupid, but I don't know her well enough to actually know if she's stupid. I think I'm smarter than her. Oh. Right. She's way prettier than me. Her hair is gorgeous. Mine is all messed up and it doesn't look very nice. I'll bet guys go for girls with nicer hair. I wouldn't know. No guy has ever been interested in me. Dude, why would that matter? You're in SEVENTH GRADE. That's not the time to be dating guys. It's the time to…uh, what is it the time to do? I guess it's the time to focus on school with no distractions. No, that's elementary school. Middle school is the time to start sleeping in all your classes, not do your homework, have distractions with the semi-cute but stupid boys, I don't know, stuff like that. You know, Jorge must be an exception to the cute but stupid. If he was stupid would he be in advanced Spanish and would he understand what Mrs. Slade is saying? He may have worked his way into the class, but if he were stupid he wouldn't be able to understand what Mrs. Slade says. Wow, are you an idiot, Sandra? He's Hispanic! Of course he speaks Spanish! He also wouldn't be in advanced math. Although, I am smarter than him in math, because he's only in IIA, and I'm in IIIA. Who cares, honestly? Why do I always go off on these dumb rants about nothing? Maybe it's because I forgot to bring my iPod. Wow, I'm so weird.

Then I saw Dr. Bryan's ugly house, which is where all our sessions take place.

I groaned and Mom said, "You have to trust him. He's not trying to torture you. He just wants to see how you've been doing, see how the meds are working, nothing crazy."

"Mom, he's so annoying! And he's like really ugly, too. I hate having to look at him for forty-five minutes," I said.

Mom parked the car at the end of the street and we walked down to Dr. Bryan's house. Mom opened the door for me and I sighed and walked inside. We sat in the little waiting room area for about ten minutes. I complained to Mom about being so early.

"Mom why are we always so early? I hate sitting in this room. It smells like poop," I said.

"Cassandra, I don't know about you, but I'd much rather be too early than too late," Mom replied.

"Exactly. I would rather us be super late," I said, and the door swung open.

Dr. Bryan stuck his head out the crack in the door and said, "Hi Cassandra, why don't you come in?"

I glared at him, hoping he got the message that I despised him. I don't think he did. I followed him back into the room he conducted these torture sessions in.

He closed the door behind me and said, "What happened to your arm?"

"I fell on it. Why do you care?" I asked.

"I just want to make sure you're all right. So did you start school yet?" Dr. Bryan asked.

"Yup," I said, because I liked giving him really annoying one-word answers, and if I decided to give him a longer answer, I always made it sound like it was painful.

"How's school then?" he asked.

"Sucks," I said.

It was actually all right, with the few people that talked to me, but I wasn't going to tell him something was even okay. Dr. Bryan said, giving me one of his looks.

"Because it does. Do I need a reason for everything? I have no reason to live," I said, playing with the hem of my sweatshirt.

"No, you don't need a reason, but you have a reason to live, I'm sure. Your parents want to see you live, and I'm sure your friends back in Seattle want you to live, and of course, any new friends you make this year want to see you live," Dr. Bryan said, sniffling.

He did that year round, pretty much every time I was there. Did he have a permanent cold or something?

"I have no friends in Seattle. They all hate me," I said, now playing with a hole in the sleeve of my sweatshirt.

"I'm sure they don't hate you. What makes you think they hate you?" Dr. Bryan asked.

"Because. I just do," I said.

"So why does school suck? I'd like to know what happened that it already sucks after about a week," Dr. Bryan said, adjusting his glasses.

I gave in, because I figured he was going to annoy me until I told him. I told you he tortures me.

"It doesn't really suck. Just nothing good has happened yet," I said.

"Did you make any friends?" Dr. Bryan bugged me.

I shrugged.

"Come on, Cassandra, it wouldn't kill you to tell me," he said, giving me one of his looks.

I wish it did.

"I met some people," I said.

"Good. Where do you sit at lunch?" Dr. Bryan said.

"Um, the cafeteria. I didn't know you could eat other places," I said.

DB laughed. "I meant who do you sit with? Do you sit with people or do you sit by yourself somewhere?" he said.

"I guess I sit with people," I said.

"Wonderful! So you met some people and you sit with people at lunch. Now are these the same people?" Dr. Bryan pried.

"Um, yeah, minus two people. Two people have a different lunch than me," I said.

"Oh, well, that's good. You're going to get to know these people and you'll become their friend," DB said, shifting in his chair.

He was good at shifting in his chair as if he were uncomfortable. Or maybe he was just restless.

"Um, they already consider me a friend. I'm supposed to ask Mom if I can go to this girl's house in two weeks," I said, giving him a bit more information because I felt like being nice.

"That's awesome. I'm sure she'll let you go. If you want, I can talk her into it. I think it would be good for you to spend time with a classmate outside of school," DB said.

"Yeah, I guess so. But don't talk to Mom. I don't really care what she says," I lied.

I just didn't want DB to talk to Mom about me going to Anna's.

DB shifted and said, "I'm going to bring your mother in so we can talk about the medication. Okay?"

"Whatever," I said, pulling at the hole.

DB gave me a long stare, then got up and went to get my mom from the waiting room. He came back with her a few seconds later.

"Hi, Cassie," Mom said, taking a seat.

DB closed the door and took his seat.

"Well, she seems all right. She said she's made some friends, and that one of them invited her over," DB said.

"What? Someone invited you over?" Mom said, turning to look at me.

"Yeah, I'll talk to you about it in the car," I said.

"Well, all right," mom said.

"So I wanted to talk about the medication. How do you feel it is affecting Cassandra?" Dr. Bryan asked.

"I think she's been fine. She had a snap or two last week, and she's been sort of moody, but I think she's fine," Mom said, nodding.

"Good, good. So we'll keep the medication the way it is, not change anything for a while. Just reminding you, but if you notice her on extended periods of being angry or something happens and you want to see me earlier than our next scheduled meeting, let me know. All right, have a good day. Bye, Cassandra," DB said.

"Bye," I muttered, jumping up and following my mom out of the room.

We walked back down the street to the car, and when we were a few minutes away from DB's "office", Mom said, "So what's this about someone inviting you over?"

"Oh, well, Anna's birthday was last week, and she's having a birthday party on October first. She wants me to come, but she also wants me to sleep over the night before," I said.

"Anna. Well, sure, I'd love for you to go. Just get me her address, and get her home phone number so I can speak to her mother," Mom said.

Mom turned up the radio and I actually fell asleep.

I woke up to my mom saying, "Cassie, we're home."

I stirred, and got up.

"Do you have any homework?" Mom asked, as we walked from the car to the house. "No, we didn't really do much in school today," I said.

I headed down to my room, and called Anna.

"Hi, it's Sandra," I said, when she answered.

"Hey, how are you?" Anna asked.

"I'm all right. Mom said I can go, she just needs your address and phone number so she can talk to your mom," I said.

"Oh, my mom wanted to call your mom, so just give me your number, and Mom will call your house," Anna said.

I gave her my home number, and she said, "She said yes, though?"

"Yeah, it's cool. I haven't been to a sleepover since fifth grade," I said.

"Oh, I have one just about every year for my birthday. Oh, hi mom, I got Sandra's number. It's on this. Yeah. OK, yeah, I'm talking to Sandra now. OK, let me know when it's dinnertime. Sorry about that. My mom came in trying to see if I got your number," Anna said.

"It's fine," I said.

"So, I was going to tell you that there will be other girls there, but none of them are really super close to me. Neither are you, really, but I feel closer to you than I do to some of them."

"Oh, okay," I said. "I just hope they're nice to me."

"I'm sure they will be. They're nice girls," Anna said.

"Oh okay," I said.

"Yeah, mom? Oh, okay. I have to go, Sandra. I'll see you in school tomorrow," Anna said.

"Okay, bye," I said and we hung up.

I plugged my phone back in and walked over to my desk. Something shiny gleamed. I picked it up and saw it was a pair of scissors. I glanced towards my door, and carried the scissors over to a far corner of my room, away from the door. I opened the scissors and ran them over my ankle. A small scratch mark appeared on my ankle. Huh. That felt surprisingly good. I scratched it again, then continued to scratch at my ankle with the scissors until it turned bright pink and started hurting more. I just continued scratching until I couldn't bring myself to scratch anymore. I took the scissors away from my ankle and saw a gash, but it wasn't bleeding. That felt really good. I couldn't explain why, but it did. I heard a distant knock, so I panicked, and threw the scissors under my bed.

I pulled my pants over my scratch, and called out, "It's open!" but I headed to the door to open it in case Mom or Dad didn't hear.

I opened the door as Mom started opening it herself.

"Hi, it's dinner time, Cassie," she said, and I went to eat dinner.

Chapter 5

Two weeks passed, and it was September thirtieth, the day of Anna's party. I had been sick the past few days, and I was hoping I was better. When I woke up to my alarm, I felt well enough to go to school. I got out of bed, grabbed some jeans and a long sleeve shirt, pulled them on, and headed into my bathroom to brush my hair.

"Cassie? Are you feeling okay today?" Mom called, as she walked down my steps.

"Hi, mom," I said, walking out of my bathroom, brush in hand.

"Oh, hi. I brought down the temperature gauge, just to make sure your fever's gone," Mom said, holding it out.

She stuck it in my ear and made it produce that click noise. I felt her pull it out of my ear and read it.

"Ninety-nine. That's good enough," Mom said. "But do you feel well enough to go to school? I know you want to go to school so you can go to Anna's, but I want to make sure you feel okay."

"I feel fine, Mom. I can handle school," I said.

"All right," Mom said, and she left.

I brushed my hair and teeth, and grabbed my phone and bag and headed upstairs. Mom drove me to school, and said she'd pick me up at the end of the day, like always, unless I didn't feel well, then I should call her and have her pick me up. I headed to Art, where Anna and Andrew were sitting, with some girl standing next to Anna.

"Oh, Sandra, hi, how are you feeling?" Andrew said.

"I'm better," I said, sliding into my seat.

"Hi, I'm Brooke," the girl said, smiling at me.

"Hi, Brooke, I'm Sandra," I said.

"Hello. You're new here, right?" Brooke asked.

"Yeah, I moved here from Seattle," I said.

"Oh, cool, I love Seattle," Brooke said.

Jorge snuck into the seat next to me and Miss Valid appeared in the classroom.

"Brooke, honey, can you sit down, please?" Miss Valid asked.

Brooke waved, and sat in her seat. Miss Valid came around with a bucket and some slips of paper in it.

"Each table is going to pick one slip of paper, and you're all going to draw that object however you want. You may use watercolors, pastels, paint, colored pencils, markers, or make it a black and white picture. Okay, Anna, why don't you pick for your table?"

I hope she picks something easy.

Anna reached her hand into the jar and took out a slip.

She opened it and said, "Hearts."

"So your table will draw hearts. Any medium," Miss Valid said.

She went on to another table. Anna handed out the paper in the middle of the table and I thought about what I wanted to draw. I drew a black-and-white middle, with a box around it, then I drew the rest in color, with different shadings. I was working on the shading now, having done all the outlines. I didn't realize Miss Valid was standing over my shoulder until Jorge nudged me.

I turned around and said, "Oh, hi, Miss Valid."

"This is spectacular, Cassandra. Where did you come up with this idea? And is there a meaning behind it?" Miss Valid asked.

"There's no meaning, and the idea just popped in my head. I just thought it was cool," I said.

"Can I present this to the class?" Miss Valid asked.

"Sure, I guess," I said.

Miss Valid picked up my drawing and said, "Everyone, look at this for a second. This is spectacular." She handed it back to me and said, "Very good work."

It came time for lunch. Anna was talking about the party.

"You can still make it tonight, right Sandra?" Anna asked, sounding a bit worried.

"Of course, why wouldn't I?" I said.

"Because you've been sick?" Andrew said.

"Oh, right, well, I feel much better now, and I think I can go," I said.

"OK. I hope you can come. Oh, but even if you can't sleep over, maybe you could still come by tomorrow for the party," Anna said.

"Oh, and Brooke will be there. I think she likes you," Anna said.

"Oh, okay. That's good. I'm glad people like me," I said.

"Why wouldn't people like you? You're really cool," Andrew said, smiling.

The bell rang and we all groaned.

"I'll walk you to math again?" Jorge asked.

"Yeah, sure, thanks," I said.

We headed off to math, and Jorge said, "I'm still surprised you got a hundred on that test your teacher gave to see what you knew."

"Me too. I thought I did well, but not a hundred," I said.

We separated, and I walked into math. We were having a quiz today on graphing.

I took my seat and Dan turned around and said, "Hey, what are you doing this weekend?"

"Oh, I'm going to my friend's party. Why?" I said.

"Oh. I was hoping we could go see a movie or something," Dan said.

"Oh, I can't do it Saturday, but Sunday works," I said.

"Can't. I have to go to my brother's game," Dan said. "Oh well. Maybe next week."

"Oh, okay, yeah," I said, then it hit me.

Did Dan just ask me out? No way. There's no freaking way he just asked me out. No, no, he definitely did. Why am I thinking about this? Tell him I'm free next weekend!

"Oh, um I'm free next weekend as far as I know," I said.

"Good, I'll check movies next week and we'll pick one, unless you'd rather go somewhere else," Dan said, smiling.

"No, the movies are fine," I said.

"What's your cell phone number? You know, so I can call you?" Dan asked, smiling.

I tore a piece of paper out of my notebook and wrote down my number. I handed him the piece of paper, he looked at it, then folded it and put it in his pocket.

Kristy came in then, and said, "Hey, guys, how was your evening?"

"It was good," Dan said, and I said, "I stayed in bed and slept all day. That was a good time."

"Sounds it," Kristy smiled.

Miss Mignonette came in with our graphs quiz and handed it out. We could omit one of the five graphs, which meant do four, and if you want to attempt the fifth, circle it and write attempt, it will count as bonus points. I looked at the graphs and figured I could do them all. I completed them all pretty easily, and just picked one at random for bonus points. Kristy handed in her quiz, and I handed mine in after. Miss Mignonette finally let us out after quizzes, so Kristy and I walked out together.

"Did I tell you Jon asked me to be his girlfriend last week?" Kristy asked.

"No, I don't remember hearing that, but congrats! I'm happy for you," I said.

"I know a guy who likes you, if you want me to hook you up," Kristy said, and I said, "No, thank you. I'm okay. I'm still sort of adjusting to this town."

"Well, all right, but if you change your mind, let me know," Kristy said.

"Thanks, but no thanks. It's sweet of you to want to help though," I said.

"Sure, anything for a friend," Kristy said, smiling.

I headed to History after checking my watch. Andrew was waiting outside history.

"Hey, you got out early too," I said.

"Yup. Math quiz," he said.

"Same," I said.

"I'll bet you got a hundred. I think I only got an eighty-five," Andrew said.

"Hey, eighty-five is better than sixty-five," I said.

He smiled. "I guess that's true," he said.

"You guess?" I said.

"Fine, I know that's true," Andrew said.

We heard the bell ring and the students of Mod Six History left the classroom in trickles. I guess Mr. Law taught this class too, and people were waking up. Andrew and I walked into the classroom.

"Hi, Mr. Law," I said, as I headed to my seat.

"Cassandra, are you feeling better? You were absent both Wednesday and Thursday of this week," Mr. Law said.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks. I just had a fever and a bit of a cold," I said.

"I'm glad you're feeling better, but I'm sorry you were ill. Hello, Andrew," Mr. Law said.

I gathered we were his favorites, because we had yet to sleep in his class.

"Hello, Mr. Law. What's today's topic?" Andrew asked.

"It's the Revolutionary War. Oh, and remember you have a test Monday, on chapter one," Mr. Law said.

"Yeah, I remember," Andrew said.

Other people trickled in and I asked, "What's the format of the test?"

"Same as last year," Mr. Law said, then said, "Oh, right, you weren't here last year. Well, there's multiple choice, true/false and some short answers."

"Thank you," I said, writing the format in my notebook.

"All right! The Revolutionary War!" Mr. Law started, and as if a switch was flipped, people's heads appeared on their desks, some rested on their arms, others, not so much.

Mr. Law re-taught us about the Revolutionary War and the Boston tea Party and the Boston Massacre.

The bell rang and he said, "Test Monday, chapter one!" some people were still asleep when he said that. I wondered if they could hear.

As Andrew and I left the classroom and headed to Gym, I asked, "Did everyone hear that there's a test tomorrow?"

"No, probably not. It's sort of a trick of his. You can usually do well on his tests if you paid attention in class and remembered that there was a test that day so you could have studied over the weekend or week or whatever," Andrew said.

"Oh. Is that why he reminded us? Because he wanted us to do well, seeing as we haven't slept in his class yet?" I said.

"Probably. I think we're his favorites in that class," Andrew said, holding open the gym door.

I headed to the girls' locker room and he headed to the boys'. Inside, Kristy and Anna were already there, with Claire and Brooke. I pulled on my gym uniform and all five of us walked out together.

"All right, today, I'm being lazy, and it's Friday, so we're just going to walk around the gym, and I'll play you some music from the radio," the gym teacher said when everyone was out of the locker rooms.

Jorge, Anna, Andrew and I walked together. The gym teacher had a rock station on, so when Bon Jovi came on, we all started singing along.

"You like Bon Jovi?" I asked them.

"Yeah, they're cool," Anna said, to which Andrew nodded, and Jorge said, "They're my favorite band!"

"They're my favorite band!" I said.

Jorge smiled.

Finally, the gym teacher turned off the music and told us to get changed and go.

"Have a good weekend, everyone!" he said.

Anna and I headed back to the girls' locker room and got changed.

"Just remind me, what time do you want me at your house?" I asked.

"Oh, like five, five thirty, sometime around then. Just not too much before five," Anna said.

"Sounds good. Thanks again for inviting me," I said.

"Oh, it's no problem! I really like you, so why wouldn't I invite you? You're a good friend. Good friends invite other good friends to their sleepovers," Anna said, smiling.

We walked out of the gym together, and I said goodbye to Jorge and Andrew.

Jorge said, "We'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, of course. Have a good evening," I said, and I headed to my mom's car.

She drove me home, I showered, got re-dressed in the same clothes, towel dried my hair, and packed my stuff. Anna had said I wouldn't need a sleeping bag, but I decided to bring a pillow just in case. Mom wrote my name on the pillow and in all my clothes so that other girls didn't mistake my stuff as theirs. Just before I was about to leave, Daddy showed up.

"Hi, angel!" he said, giving me a hug.

"Hi, Daddy, we were just about to go to Anna's house," I said.

"Oh, yes, your sleepover. Well, have fun, but if you need to come home, just call us and we'll pick you up, even if it's three am. OK? But I think you'll have a good time," Daddy said.

"OK, Daddy, I'll see you tomorrow. Have fun without me," I said.

"That's hard to do, but I'll do my best," Daddy said, smiling.

Mom handed me my Ziploc bag of meds. I took the night ones before I left, just so that I could be spared from having to leave the party twice to take meds. Mom got in the car and drove me to Anna's house, which was a few blocks away. Mom dulled the engine when we got there and went to talk to Anna's mom.

Chapter 6

"Hi!" Anna said, when I rang the doorbell.

"Hi, Anna, happy birthday," I said, handing her the gift I'd gotten her.

It was a bracelet.

"Thanks! You're the first one here," Anna said, ushering me inside.

I waved goodbye to my mother and followed Anna to the den.

Girls trickled in. Brooke and Claire were there, but I met a Vicki, a Charlotte, and a girl named Brittani. I thought of the first day and Jorge telling me Brittani had mocked me for being taken out of their math class. I didn't think I'd like her much. When Brittani arrived, Anna announced that everyone was here.

"So what are we going to do first?" Brittani asked.

"We could get to know Sandra," Vicki said. "Seeing as we don't know her yet."

"I think she's in my Spanish class," Charlotte said.

"So, Sandra, how about it?" Vicki asked.

"Well, I don't mind, but it has to be organized. You can all take turns, asking me one question, I can answer it, and then the next girl gets to ask. I vote Anna starts, even though she knows me, only because it's her party," I said.

"OK, that sounds reasonable. I'll start with how old are you, a simple question," Anna said.

"I'm eleven," I said.

"When's your birthday?" Charlotte asked, I guess assuming she should go next because she was next to Anna.

"October thirteenth," I said.

"Your friend Jorge's birthday is the fourteenth, right Anna?" Charlotte asked.

"Oh, yeah, that's right!" Anna said.

"You're almost twins!" Vicki said.

"OK, my turn to ask. Do you like anyone in the school? You can be honest, we won't tell anyone," Claire asked.

I tried not to fidget as I said, "No, not really."

Anna didn't believe me. "Come on, Sandra, you can tell us. These are some really trustworthy girls," she said.

"I'm afraid, because he's older than me," I said.

"He's an eighth grader? Which one? I know a bunch of them thanks to Kristy," Claire said.

"Yeah, he's an eighth grader," I said, giving in.

I wasn't going to tell them that I think he asked me out. That didn't sound like a good thing to say. I decided to be tricky; after remembering Dan telling me there were three Dan's in eighth grade the first day of math.

"Which one?" Claire asked.

"I'm not quite sure of his name, but I think it might be Dan," I half- lied.

I was completely sure that was his name. "Oh my gosh, Dan what?" Claire asked, jumping out of her chair. I decided to play dumb.

"There's multiple Dan's?" I asked.

"Yeah, there's Dan Hyatt, there's Dan Jones, and there's Kristy's best friend, Dan Iodine," Claire said.

"Oh. He's in my math class," I said, because I knew there was another Dan in that class.

"Wait, you're in Kristy's class, right?" Anna said, and Claire said, "Oh, no. There's two Dan's in her class. I think it is Dan Jones and Dan Iodine."

My phone rang. I hoped no one would notice it, because there was a good chance it was Dan.

"Whose phone is that?" Brittani asked.

Everyone checked her phone. Anna checked first, because she had a legit boyfriend to call her.

"Not Andy calling me," Anna said.

Everyone else checked and Brittani said, "It must be Sandra's phone. She's the only one who hasn't looked."

So I was forced to pull the phone out of my pocket. I hoped it would get to voicemail before I could answer it, because it was Dan. I answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Sandra, it's Dan. How are you?" Dan said.

"Who is it?" Vicki mouthed.

"Oh, I'm actually at a friend's party right now," I said.

"Oh, all right. I don't want to disturb your party. But if you get a chance to be free, call me. I want to talk to you about something," he said, I said goodbye and we hung up.

"Who was it?" Claire asked, excited.

"Well, it obviously wasn't her mom," Brittani said.

"True, her mom would know she's here," Anna said.

"Anna! Do you want to come get the snacks?" Anna's mom called.

"Sure, Mom," Anna called back.

"Sandra, why don't you come with me?" she said to me, and I got up, following her to her kitchen.

"Hi, you must be Sandra," Anna's mom said.

"Yes, hi, it's nice to meet you," I said.

"Your mother is lovely. She and I are going out for lunch on Sunday when this whole party craze is over," Anna's mom said.

"Awesome. Thanks for letting Anna invite me," I said.

"Sure, Annabelle really likes you," Anna's mom said.

"I do, mom's right. Now, mom can I ask you a favor? Can you leave? I need to talk to Sandra about something," Anna said.

"Sure. Let me know if you need anything." Anna's mom left.

"Your name is really Annabelle?" I asked.

"Yeah, and yours is really Cassandra," Anna said.

"That's a pretty name," I said.

"Thanks. Now, do you want to tell me the whole guy thing? I'll keep it from them if you want," Anna said.

"Um, all right. It's the Dan in our gym class, Dan I.," I said.

"Ohmygosh, you guys would look so cute together. Out of curiosity, it was him that called you right?" Anna said.

"Yeah," I said.

"What did he want? Anything?" Anna said.

"He wanted to talk, but he didn't want to take me away from the party," I said.

"Wow. Maybe he's going to ask you out," Anna said.

"Maybe," I said, hiding the fact that he sort of already had.

"Well, the girls are going to bother you until you tell them who it was. You can lie and say it was Andy, Jorge or someone. Maybe Kristy. Or, you can stretch the truth and tell them it was one of the Dan's in your math class, asking you for help on a math problem for homework. They might buy that," Anna said.

"I'll stretch the truth," I said.

"Oh, and p.s., if it doesn't work with Dan, I know someone who really likes you," Anna said.

"Who?" I asked, curious. Eh, wait, it was probably Jorge.

"I'll tell you later, if it doesn't work out. Now help me carry these snacks in the other room please," Anna said, and I picked up the bowls she pointed at and carried them into the other room, setting them down on the table.

"What took you so long?" Claire asked.

"My mom was in the kitchen and she wanted to talk to Sandra," Anna said.

"Oh, all right," Claire said.

"So who was it? You know, on the phone?" Vicki asked.

"Oh, it was one of the Dan's in my math class. He wanted help with the homework we have for the weekend, because I have the best grades in the class," I said. "Which one? The one you like?" Vicki asked.

"I don't know, I have both their numbers, but I think it was the one I don't like," I said.

"Oh, okay. That sounds kind of boring," Brittani said, and Brooke asked, "I'm curious. Does your name stand for something? Like, is Sandra a nickname?"

"Oh, it's a nickname. My real name is Cassandra," I said.

"Oh wow, that's such a pretty name!" Charlotte said.

"Thanks. Charlotte is pretty too," I said.

"So I have an idea, to take the pressure off Sandra, we can go around the room and tell who we like," Charlotte said.

"Oh, all right. Well, Sandra already went, I guess, so I'll start. I have a crush on Andrew's brother, Jason," Vicki said.

"Isn't he in sixth grade?" Brittani asked.

"Well, yeah, but it's only a year difference. It's not that bad," Vicki said.

"Well, obviously I have a crush on Andy," Anna said, and Vicki said, "You better, you're dating him!" "

I'm kind of bad," Brooke said. "I like two guys, Jorge and Vincent."

"Aw, you'd look adorable with Vincent. Do you ever speak to him?" Claire said.

"Yeah, we sit at the same lunch table, but there's like seven people at that table," Brooke said.

"Aw, well, do you have any classes together? Maybe you could pretend you need help and ask him if he can help you!" Anna said.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Brooke said.

"I actually don't like anyone. The guys are all too immature. Well, the good ones are taken. Then again, Jake's a hottie," Brittani said.

"Oh, like Andrew?" Anna said.

"Yeah. But don't worry, I won't try and steal your man," Brittani said, laughing.

"I have a crush on that eighth grader Bryan," Claire said. "He's worked on projects with my sister, so he comes over and I developed a crush on him."

"Oh, yeah, I think I know who that is. He's cute," Charlotte said. "But I usually try and avoid looking at guys. I have a feeling if I started liking one guy, I'd like about eight more within the next week. I'm waiting until high school."

"So Sandra, are you ready to stop lying and tell us which Dan it is? You have to know which one it is," Claire said.

"You can't ridicule, and you can't tell anyone. Okay?" I said.

"Promise," Claire said, and I determined she's my biggest threat, because she could tell Kristy and she could tell Dan and then maybe Dan wouldn't like me.

"Um, it's Dan I.," I said.

"No way! Oh wow, you guys are like perfect together! I was hoping it was him. Oh my gosh which one called you?" Claire said.

I decided to lie, so Claire wouldn't continue to discuss it.

"Dan Jones. He needed help with the homework," I said.

"Oh, all right. Oh, darn, give me a second while I take this," Claire said, pulling her phone out of her pocket.

"Helloooo? Oh, hey, Kristy. I thought I told you; I'm at Anna's party. Oh, what did you want to tell me? What about him? Oh, who? Come on Kristy, you have to tell me. Oh, um, Anna obviously, Brittani, Brooke, Vicki, Charlotte and Sandra. WHAT? You have to be joking."

"What's she saying?" Brooke asked.

Claire waved Brooke off, got up and headed into the other room where we couldn't hear her.

"I know what she's talking to her sister about. It's obvious," Brittani said.

"What, then?" Brooke asked.

"I know what Kristy said in between Claire's comments. It was 'Hey, it's Kristy. Where are you? Oh, okay, I wanted to tell you something. It's about Dan. My best friend Dan. He likes someone. I'm not telling you who! Who's at your party? Oh my goodness, Sandra? No way, he likes her. Don't tell her though,'" Brittani said.

"Wow, you're a good guesser," I said.

"No, I heard what her sister was saying. Kristy speaks loudly on the phone," Brittani said, laughing.

"Oh. Wait, so Dan likes her?" Charlotte asked.

"Apparently. You're lucky, Sandra," Brittani said.

"Thanks I guess. What am I supposed to do now?" I said.

"You wait for him to come to you," Anna said. "I liked Andy back when he was dating Karen. We were friends then, Karen, Jorge, Andy and I. But Karen got him first. Honestly, I hoped they'd break up so I could have my shot with him. They did. Andy was devastated. I tried to help him through the breakup so I could get closer to him and maybe he'd start liking me. Of course, here we are, several months later, and Andy and I celebrated our one month yesterday."

"That's a really awesome story. So I assume he started liking you sometime during those days of helping him," I said.

"Yeah, he told me recently that about a month and a half after I started helping him, he wanted desperately to ask me out, but he told me he waited because he wanted more time to recover," Anna said.

"Aw, he's really sweet," I said.

Claire came back in the room, closing her phone.

"Hi," she said, "What are we talking about?"

"We're talking about how Anna got Andy to like her," Brooke said.

"Oh, so you can help Sandra?" Claire said, even though we already knew he liked me.

Anna's mom came in with several boxes of pizza and some sodas. I grabbed a slice after everyone else did.

"Ugh, how many boys are you inviting tomorrow?" Vicki asked, her mouth full of pizza.

"Um, Andy, Jorge, Vincent, Jake, Walter and Jason are coming," Anna said, swallowing her pizza and washing it down with a swig of soda.

"You're inviting Jason?" Vicki asked excitedly, almost knocking over her soda.

"Well, yeah, he's pretty cool, and he's mature for a sixth grader," Anna said.

"Did you invite any eighth graders?" Claire asked.

"No, sorry, I don't really know any well enough," Anna said.

"Wait, so I have an idea," Brittani said.

"What's your idea?" I asked, taking another slice.

"Well, since we should have about an even number of girls and boys, we can play spin-the-bottle or something!" Brittani said. "Save one of these soda bottles when they're empty and we can use that as the bottle we spin!"

"Yeah, that sounds cool," Claire said, and Vicki agreed with a nod of her head.

"Could be fun. But we'd have to set certain limits," Brooke said, and Charlotte agreed with Brooke.

"Sandra?" Brittani asked.

"Well, all right. Or maybe I can just sit that out," I said.

"Why would you want to sit out? Because Dan's not coming?" Claire asked.

"No, I just don't really like that game," I said.

"Well, we'll decide tomorrow," Anna said. "Who wants to watch a movie?"

So we watched a movie, The Lizzie McGuire Movie, and Claire said, "You look like Hilary Duff, Sandra."

"Really?" I said.

"Yeah, except she has blonde hair and you have light brown hair," Brittani said.

We decided to play Monopoly in teams of two. I worked with Anna, Charlotte worked with Brooke, and Vicki worked with Brittany and Claire, a team of three for the uneven amount of girls. Anna and I had eliminated Vicki, Brittani and Claire, and now it was a game between the teams of two. Anna and I ended up winning.

"Yawn! I'm tired," Brittani said, and we all looked at the clock. It was one am.

"We'll go to bed. We have to be up by eleven tomorrow, because everyone else is coming around one, but Andy and Jason can't come until one thirty," Anna said.

She stretched out a blanket and I grabbed my pillow. I got to lie next to Anna, with Brooke on my other side. I woke up the next morning at around ten. I saw that Brooke, Charlotte, Claire and Anna were already awake, and they were in a corner of the room, playing the game of Life.

I crept over to them and they said, "Hey, did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, I think so. Did you?" I replied.

"Yeah," they said.

I watched them play the game, and then Brittani and Vicki simultaneously woke up.

"So who wants to get dressed?" Anna said.

We all took turns in Anna's bathroom changing. I took my meds with tap water while I was in there. It was gross, but I didn't want to risk having to tell Anna or anyone at the party that I took meds, even though it probably wasn't really a big deal. Then we had some late breakfast, and I helped Anna clear up the sheet on the floor we'd slept on, because that was where we were holding the rest of the party.

Anna plugged her iPod into some speakers and we danced and sang along to the songs. There was a knock on the door we almost didn't hear.

"Annabelle, someone's here," Anna's mom said.

Anna left, but let us stay there dancing. In a few minutes, Anna came back with two guys I didn't know.

"Jake!" Brittani said, running over to give him a hug.

"Sandra, this is Jake and Walter. They're in our art class," Anna said.

"Hi," I said, to the one she'd pointed out as Jake.

He pulled me into a hug. "Hey, Sandra," he said.

Walter held up his hand for a high five. I gave him one.

"You must be that new girl Anna was talking about," Jake said, and I said, "Yeah, I guess so."

"Where are you from?" Walter asked.

"Seattle," I said.

"Oh, awesome! My cousins live there. One of them is in our grade. Maybe you know her? Sara Collins?" Jake said.

"Oh, yeah, Sara was one of my better friends," I said, and the first to stop talking to me after she found out what happened to me.

"Oh, okay. I'll ask her about you. Sandra, right?" Jake said.

"Yeah, but she'd probably know me as Cassandra. Sandra's my nickname," I said.

"Cool. It's nice to meet you, Sandra," Jake said.

"You have Mr. Law, right?" Walter asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"What period do you have him?" Walter said.

"Seventh," I said.

"Me too! I thought you looked familiar. Ugh, it's so hard to stay awake in that class," Walter said.

Then the two of them joined the rest of the girls. A guy named Vincent was next to come, and Brooke immediately went to talk to him. Someone lowered the music, and no one was dancing or singing along anymore. Everyone except me was socializing. I headed to Anna's bathroom, and took out my phone to call Dan when I heard Anna talking to someone with a familiar voice.

"Where's Sandra?" the voice asked.

"I don't know. She's definitely here. It's a matter of where in the house she is," Anna said.

I wanted to see who the voice belonged to. It was Jorge. I left the bathroom and headed back to the room where the party was. Jorge turned around and saw me.

"Hey, Sandra," he said, walking over to give me a hug.

"Hey," I said.

We just talked with music in the background for a little while, then Andrew and a guy who looked like him, only shorter, appeared. "Hey, babe," Andrew said, walking over to Anna and kissing her. I was sort of sitting in the corner, unnoticed. I considered going home, but decided against it.

"Hey, can we play spin the bottle now?" Brittani asked.

"Who is in favor?" Anna asked.

Everyone but me raised their hands.

"Everyone! Good!" Anna said, running out to get the bottle.

Good. She didn't notice me. So much for us being friends.

Anna came back and said, "I'm setting the rules, since it's my party. When you spin and it lands between two people, you spin again. If it happens twice in one turn, you forfeit your turn. Cheek-kissing only, or hugs are acceptable. If you spin the same person twice in a row, you must spin again. The person who receives the hug or kiss gets to go next. The girls will sit on one side of the circle, boys on the other. Where's Sandra?"

I decided to keep quiet and see what they'd say about me.

"Oh, no, did she leave?" Brooke asked. "I hope she didn't."

"No, she didn't leave, her stuff's still here in the corner over there," Vicki said, pointing to the corner where I was not hiding.

"Do you want me to find her?" Jorge asked.

"Sure. But in the meantime, we'll start," Anna said.

I glanced over at her circle. She was next to Andrew and Brooke, with Charlotte, then Claire, then Vicki then Brittani, then Walter, then Jake, then Vincent, then Andrew's brother, then Jorge was getting up from the spot next to Andrew. I tried to burrow deeper into the corner and I willed myself to blend in. Jorge started in the complete opposite direction of where I was, then left the room, I guess to see if I was in the bathroom. I wonder what he would have done if I was in the bathroom…

Meanwhile, Anna gave the ability to go first to Andrew, who spun Vicki. He gave her a hug. Vicki spun Andrew's brother. She kissed his cheek, then sort of blushed. Meanwhile, Jorge appeared in the room again, and walked straight towards me.

"Why are you hiding?" he whispered.

"Because no one here likes me," I said.

"That's not true. Anna wouldn't have invited you if she didn't like you," Jorge said. "And besides, I like you. Come join the circle. At least sit there if you don't want to play."

I gave in and Anna scooted to let me sit next to her. Vincent spun and landed on Brooke. He kissed her, but so close to her mouth it looked like it was supposed to be on her mouth, only he was abiding by the rules. I saw Brooke blush. She spun and got Jorge. She kissed his cheek. Jorge spun and got…me.

He got up and kissed my cheek almost how Vincent had kissed Brooke's. Huh. Did Jorge like me? Wow, of course he did. I'd been noticing for weeks that he liked me. I don't know why he would though. I'm so ugly and I'm not very nice. I spun and got Andrew. I just gave him a hug. I wasn't kissing anyone's cheek. He spun and got his lovely girlfriend, whom he broke the rules with and kissed her lips.

"Hey, didn't you say cheek kissing?" Claire accused.

"We don't count," Andrew said, kissing her again.

Then, of course, Vincent started kissing Brooke, and when they broke apart, he said, "Go out with me?" she just nodded, at a loss for words.

Vicki turned to Andrew's brother and said, "I know you're younger than me, Jason, but I really like you. Just thought I'd say that."

Andrew's brother smiled and kissed her cheek.

Shit, this was turning into a love fest I didn't want to be part of. I slowly backed out of the circle and saw Charlotte and Claire do it as well. Brittani stayed there, though, but didn't say anything.

"Who wants to have a dance party?" I asked, trying to break this up.

Anna and Andrew were full-out making out now, and Vincent was stroking Brooke's hair. Vicki and Jason were just talking, semi-harmlessly.

Jorge said, "Yeah, dance party!"

I turned to Anna's iPod and put on a good dance song. We all got up and started dancing with each other, and for the most part it was girls on one side of the room, boys on the other.

We danced through a bunch of songs, then a song with a slow beat came on. Andrew pretended to be a DJ and said, "Guys, grab a girl, it's slow time!"

He slid his arms around Anna's waist and they swayed. I sort of walked away, watching the pairings. Brooke and Vincent latched on to each other, Jason was talking to Vicki, and then all of a sudden his arms were around her waist. Brittani went up to Jake and they started dancing. That left me, Claire and Charlotte, and Jorge and Walter. I didn't see Jorge coming, at all.

I just heard, "Come dance with me. I don't want you sitting by yourself."

I whipped around in the direction of the voice. Jorge. He was standing there with his hands in his pockets, looking at me, and I knew there was hidden meaning behind his words.

"Well, all right," I said, and got up.

Jorge slipped his arms around my waist and I placed my arms on his shoulders. He and I swayed to the depressing beat. I tried not to look at him. He was cute, but I think I was close to getting Dan. I even sort of had him.

"Ow," I said, speak of the devil.

My phone was vibrating.

"Did I step on your foot?" Jorge asked.

"No, my phone's ringing," I said.

Claire, who was next to me, looked over at me. She had a strange look on her face, like she was torn between amusement and horror.

"Do you want to answer it?" Jorge said.

"Nah, it's probably a wrong number. I get a lot of those," I said, which was true.

I did think it was Dan, though.

Jorge just kept looking at me. I think he had tears in his eyes. His eyes also had a sort of shiny, sparkly light in them. I don't know why. The song FINALLY ended, and I broke away from Jorge.

Anna's mom came in just then and said, "Who wants lunch?"

So everyone went rushing to get food. I held Claire back.

"What was with that look you had on your face when I said someone was calling me?"

"Well, I'm going to guess it was Dan, so I was amused that he was calling you, but I was sort of I don't know, confused I guess, as to why you would go after Dan when there's someone else who really likes you? I mean, you don't even know if Dan likes you," Claire said.

"Who likes me?" I asked, as we headed to get food.

"No offense but are you blind? I'm surprised the tears in his eyes weren't falling down his cheeks! Of course, they were happy tears."

"Jorge?" I whispered.

"Yeah," Claire said.

"Oh. I don't know about that. I mean he's cute, but I really just think of him as a friend," I said, and as Claire and I entered the room, Andrew said, "Whom are we talking about?"

"Oh, no one, just this random guy in her math class," Claire said, covering for me.

"Yeah, I always seem to forget his name. It might be Fred," I said, thinking of the first name that popped into my head from my class.

The funny thing was, I think the real Fred thought I was cute. Awesome, right?

"Oh, I don't know any Fred's," Andrew said, but I could tell he wasn't sure if we were making that up or not.

As far as he knew, I had six friends in the school, half of them were guys, one was him, one of the others was Jorge and the third was the guy I had a crush on.

I sat down next to Anna because she'd saved me a seat next to her. I was starting to think that I was Anna's best female friend, even though she knew the other girls better. I mean, she didn't even know my deepest secret! Then again, she may just be putting me close to her to get to know me. I think I'd seen Vicki at our lunch period. She and Andrew could sit with her, and Jorge, too, and I could sit alone. I don't know. Don't ask me. People are confusing.

So I took a slice of pizza (I was going to be very fat by the end of this weekend) and Andrew's brother said, "So your name is Sandra, right?"

I looked over at him and said, "Well, it's really Cassandra, but yeah. You're…what's your name? Sorry, no one told me," I said.

"I'm Jason. Why would you shorten the name Cassandra? That's such a pretty name! I can understand Cassie, but why Sandra?" Jason said.

"That's what I thought when she told me her name was Cassandra!" Jorge said.

"I shorten it because, one, Cassandra's a mouthful, two, since I wanted a nickname I figured I'd go with the less popular one. Everyone else named Cassandra goes by Cassie," I said.

"Well, I think you should go by your full name," Jason said.

Andrew nudged him.

"So what's Seattle like? That's where you're from, right?" Walter asked.

"Um there is a lot of coffee places. Starbuck's and Seattle's Best both started there. Before I was born, of course!" I said.

"No way, I love Starbucks!" Charlotte said. "Those milkshake-like drinks are the best!"

"Yeah, I know. But I like the ones without coffee," Vicki said.

"Oh, good, so now we're talking about a girly drink?" Jake said, shaking his head.

"Do you like Starbucks?" I asked him.

"It's coffee. I can't function in the morning without it," Jake said.

"So I'm changing the subject now, but I'm curious. How many people got together at my party?" Anna asked, laughing, as my phone vibrated.

"Well, me and Brooke," Vincent said, putting his arm around Brooke.

"I'll be right back," I whispered to Anna, and headed to the bathroom so I could answer my phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, you haven't forgotten me, right? I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, but I needed to talk to you," Dan said.

"Oh, it's fine. Anna just asked how many people hooked up at her party. I was glad to leave that. So good timing. Thanks," I said.

"Oh, do you have a problem with people hooking up?" he asked, his voice considerably less happy.

"No, it's just it's embarrassing, because I think someone here likes me and I don't think of him like that. He's a good friend," I said.

"Jorge?" Dan said.

"Hey, how do you people know this shit?" I said.

"Because Jorge's my friend, and he told me he liked you. Now, this isn't why I called, so do you mind if I change the subject?" Dan said.

"Please do," I said.

"Well, I called because I wasn't sure if you understood me yesterday in math, and I wanted to ask you something," Dan said.

"What was I not understanding in math?" I asked, confused.

"Um, I wasn't asking you to hang out for my health," Dan said, laughing nervously.

"Oh, yeah, I got that. But I don't know what it means," I said.

"Well, I like you, I think you like me, I want you to be my girl. I understand if you don't want to, but, um, yeah," Dan said.

Shit. Dan I. just asked me out!

"Yeah, definitely. I'll be your girl," I said.

"Good. You don't mind if I call Kristy and tell her?" Dan said.

"Nope. You don't mind if I add us to Anna's total of hookups if they're still talking about that?" I said.

"Go right ahead. I'm not ashamed. Now get back to the party, or they'll think awful things," Dan said.

"OK. Bye, Dan," I said.

"Bye, beautiful," he said, and hung up.

I headed back to the table, a newfound sense of confidence. I had a boyfriend!

"So let me get this straight," Anna was saying, and I had a feeling they were still talking about hookups.

"Andy and I were already together, so we don't count. Then there was Brooke and Vincent. Then there was Vicki and Jason," Anna said, and as I plopped down in my chair, my heart pounding I said, "And now Cassandra and Dan."

I took a swig of soda and waited for the eruption that would come from the girls.

It was silent for a minute then Andrew said, "There's no one named Dan here, and you've been here the whole time!"

"Sweetie, she just left," Anna said.

"So Dan called you and asked you out over the phone?" Claire said.

"Yeah. Well…yeah. He did," I said, almost telling them about math yesterday, but changing my mind.

"Congrats, then," Claire said.

"Thanks," I said.

"So what do you guys want to do now? It looks like everyone's done eating," Anna said.

Vicki suggested spin the bottle again, but most people shot it down.

"It will turn into a make out session, which will be awkward for you people who aren't together or whose 'friend' is somewhere else," Vincent said, looking at me.

I felt bad now. Why did this feel so bad? I think it's because you hurt one of your better friends. Lunch is going to be REALLY awkward on Monday. Joy. Jorge, I know you can't read minds, but if somehow you get this, I'm really, really sorry. I just don't think of you that way. We're friends. You, Anna, and Andrew are the closest friends I've ever had, even though I barely know you. Please don't let this hurt our friendship.

We decided to have a sing off. We all scrolled through Anna's iPod, and found a song to sing. I admired Anna's taste in music. It was really good. It was almost like this was my iPod.

"Oh, wait, any guy who has a song by a girl, find a new one. Girls, no singing guy songs either," Anna said.

So the girls would go second, judged by the guys. Anna would have one less judge: Andrew was biased. Anna got pieces of paper and wrote everyone's name on them. Then she wrote the names of the girls or guys, depending on whose name was at the top of the paper. She set up seats, and Andrew decided he was up first, so Anna stood on the side as an audience. Then a young girl of about seven came in the room.

"Hi, Annabelle," she said. "What are you guys doing?"

"We're having a sing off. I'm sorry you can't participate in the singing, but if you want to watch you can. You can be the audience," Anna said.

The girl, obviously Anna's little sister, pointed at me and said, "Who is that?"

"That's my new friend Cassandra," Anna said, and the girl walked over to me and said, "That's my name too!" and gave me a hug.

I smiled. Cassandra went and sat next to Anna. Andrew put on his song. He was singing Enter Sandman by Metallica. He actually had a good voice. When he was done, we went down the line and commented.

"I didn't hear anything wrong," I said.

Everyone else gave their critique, I put an 8.5 for Andrew, and it was time for Vincent.

"Howdy y'all. I'll be singing Devil Goes Down to Georgia! Yippee!" he sang with a country or southern accent.

I couldn't stop laughing, even when it was my turn to comment.

"I'm sorry but that accent was hilarious!" I said. 7

Walter came up and didn't announce his song. I'm not even sure I knew that song. But his voice was good.

"You have a good voice, but I just didn't really know the song," I said. 6

Jason came up on stage and said, "I'm going to sing you a Journey song. Here we go!" he pressed play on the song and I immediately recognized it as Don't Stop Believing.

He was just like a younger version of his brother! Wow, duh. He technically was.

"Are you Steve Perry's son?" I asked, deciding to be more like the other girls and make funny comments. 8.5

Jake came on and sang a rap song.

"You're disqualified," Anna said at the end. "The rules were to sing a song from my iPod. I have zero rap songs on there. It was good; you just didn't follow the rules. Bye!"

My body went numb when I realized who was up next.

Jorge walked on stage, hands in his pockets and said, "Hey, I'm Jorge, and I'll be singing the song that became my favorite the second I first heard it, and the song that remains my favorite today."

He pressed play and from the first three seconds, I already knew what song he was going to sing. He was going to sing my favorite song, Livin' on a Prayer. And he was almost as good as Jon Bon Jovi himself! What could I say? I'll say something about his song choice. Yeah. He finished singing and Cassandra applauded. She applauded after everyone.

"That was really good, Jorge," Anna said, and I said, "I'm a bit biased because of the song, but it was good," I said.

No, it was amazing. I just can't tell you that so you get your hopes up and then I hurt you again when I stay with Dan and don't choose you. I'm still sorry. I wrote down 10, then scratched it out and wrote 9.

"Boys, please leave the room so we can discuss," Anna said.

Cassie got up to leave, but she just stayed with Andrew.

"OK, we disqualified Jake, so it's a ranking of 1-5. What was your order, Brittani?" Anna said.

"Andrew, Jason, Jorge, Vincent, Walter," Brittani said.

"OK, Vicki?" Anna said.

"Um, Jorge, Jason, Andrew, Vincent, Walter," Vicki said.

"OK, Claire?" Anna said.

"Jorge, Andrew, Vincent, Jason, Walter," Claire said.

"OK, Charlotte?" Anna said.

"Jason, Andrew, Vincent, Jorge, Walter," Charlotte said.

"OK, Brooke?"

"Jorge, Vincent, Andrew, Jason, Walter," Brooke said.

"Sandra?" Anna said, looking at me.

"Um, Jorge, Andrew, Jason, Vincent, Walter," I said.

"OK. So we pretty much all agree Walter is last. Fourth place is between everyone else, so we'll pick other places. First place is basically between Andrew and Jorge, but two of you put Andrew as second place, and Jorge was more in the second half. Third place? I think Jason. And going back to fourth, I think Vincent. Which leaves first and second place. What we'll do is take all our numbers for Jorge, add them up and divide by 7, and divide Andy's by six."

We did that, and called the boys back in and told them all to stand on the 'stage'.

"Disqualified, is Jake. Good effort, next time play by the rules," Anna said, standing in front of the table with the certificates we made. They just say 1st place and name, date and Anna's 12th Birthday party.

"In fifth place, with an almost unanimous vote: Walter Marist!"

We all applauded as Anna handed him his certificate. He stepped back.

"In fourth place, Vincent Valor! In third place, Jason Baker! And in first, but not by much, Andrew Baker! Which leaves Jorge Espinoza for second!" Anna kissed Andrew as she gave him his certificate.

"OK, girls, it's your turn! Go pick songs!" Andrew said, because he'd been elected chairman of the boys committee.

I already knew what song I was going to do. I decided to go last. Surprisingly, I had no competition. They all wanted to go first. So Anna went first. She was singing Rush, by Aly and AJ. She was spectacular! I wanted to call out, Go try out for a musical! But I didn't. Brooke went second. She sang I Am, by Hilary Duff, I think. I could hear the background voice and it sounded like Hilary Duff. She was pretty good too! Charlotte had a quiet but good voice, and she sang Heartbreaker, by Pat Benetar. Claire sang Everytime We Touch by Cascada. Vicki sang I Love Rock and Roll by Joan Jett. She was good at the growly voice. They all had some really awesome thing about them. I didn't. I was nervous, even though I knew I shouldn't care because it wasn't real, and it didn't mean anything. Brittani came on with Straight Up, by Paula Abdul. She even had a few dance moves going while she sang! Finally, it was my turn.

I stepped up to the spot everyone else had and said, "Hi, I'm Cassandra Michelle, and I'm nervous. I've been watching these other girls and they all have something special about them. I don't. So please judge me fairly. Thanks," I said, and scrolled through the iPod to find my song.

Miracle, Cascada popped on and I sang, as loudly, clearly and precisely as I could. The boys weren't like us and gave us an idea of how we did. They didn't comment after every performance. So we all left, and Anna took Cassie to her room while the rest of us waited outside.

"Your dancing was great, as was your voice," I told Brittani.

"Thanks. How many lessons have you taken?" Brittani asked me.

"None," I said.

"Wow. You're really good. You should go out for our school's spring musical," Brittani said.

I hadn't really liked Brittani too much, but now I was starting to warm up to her.

"We're ready for you, ladies," Andrew said, opening the door.

We walked back inside, my heart pounding.

We all lined up, and Andrew said, "This was tough. Well, we'll start with seventh place. In seventh place is Charlotte Con. In sixth place is Brooke Alexandra Samuels. In fifth place is Victoria Evans. In fourth place is Brittani Nether. In third place we have Claire Estrella. I'm really sorry, but I cannot award first or second place at this time. It seems we have a tie, even without my bias. In order to determine first and second place, we need Annabelle Powell and Cassandra Stone to perform another number."

"Just give it to Anna, it's her party," I said, being brave.

"No, guys don't listen to her. I want this to be fair. Do we have to sing a certain song?" Anna said.

"The only rules of the sing off between you two is it must be a song by a girl and… you must both agree on a song," Andrew said.

He'd already thought of this. Interesting.

So the other girls started to head off to the sides, but Andrew said, "No, no, you girls need to help determine the winner!"

So they crowded around the boys.

Anna scrolled through her songs, and I said, "Pick one you do well on, as long as I know the song and the words."

"Do you know any Kelly Clarkson?" Anna asked.

"Yes, I know Since U Been Gone, Behind these Hazel Eyes, Because of You, I Hate Myself for Losing You, and Hear Me," I said.

"Oh my goodness, let's do Hear Me," Anna said.

"Sure," I said. "You can go first. I really hate being first," I said.

We walked on together and Anna said, "Hi, I'm Annabelle Danielle Powell," and I said, "And I'm Cassandra Michelle Stone."

Together we said, "And we'll be singing Hear Me, by Kelly Clarkson."

I stepped off and when Anna gave the sign I hit play. I watched the 'judges' our friends. They were all good at keeping blank looks on their faces. I wasn't. I thought she was amazing. Anna finished, and switched places with me. I gave her the sign and she pressed play. I sang, and tried not to look at the people judging me. When I finished, I stepped off "stage", which was just a piece of cardboard.

"We'll call you girls back in when we're ready," Andrew said, and as she was leaving, Anna said, "Be fair. Don't just let me win because it's my party. I probably shouldn't even be in second place. Oh well."

We stood outside and I said, "You definitely deserve first. I think I didn't hit a note right." "No, trust me, you did. I messed up," Anna said.

"No, you were amazing. You should try out for a musical!" I said.

"So should you! If we both try out, only one of us can get the lead. It would be you, not me," Anna said.

"I'm sure you'd get the lead. I don't know how to act!" I said.

"Well I don't know how to dance like that. I can dance at school dances, but not on a stage," Anna said.

"I feel like we're fighting and I don't like it. You're my best friend, and the best friend I've ever had. Honestly, though, you should win. End of discussion," I said.

Anna was silent for a second then said, "You think of me as a best friend?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry, if you don't want me to I won't," I said.

"No, it's just you're a better friend to me than anyone here except maybe Andy and Jorge. I wanted a large party, so I invited friends rather than only best friends. Because what fun is a birthday party with four people when you include the birthday girl?" Anna said.

"Well, it's fun if you're doing something simple. But if you wanted to do stuff like this, it wouldn't be so good," I said.

"Exactly. So you're my best female friend. Before I met you, I had only two best friends, both guys. I like having a girl as a best friend, because then I really feel like I can talk about anything. Andy and Jorge say I can talk about anything with them, but I just feel like I can't. I know you're probably miserable in this small town, but I'm really glad you came. You're awesome," Anna said.

Tears had sprung in my eyes. Anna reached into her pocket, grabbed a tissue and dabbed at my eyes. I smiled and gave her a hug. I heard the door creak open, but Anna and I didn't let go.

"Well, we're ready for you," Jake said.

We walked inside and stood in the middle of the room.

"Welcome back ladies. This was a seriously tough decision. There was actual fighting involved in the decision process," Andrew said, glancing at some of the girls and Jorge.

My throat tightened. What did Jorge fight? Did he fight that I should lose? Yeah, makes sense.

"The winner of the female sing-off is…Drum roll please…Cassandra Michelle Stone! That means Annabelle Danielle Powell takes second place. Congratulations, ladies!" Andrew said, then he went over to Anna and kissed her.

"Congrats, best friend," Anna said, coming over to hug me.

"So I want to know," I said. "What was with the comment about fighting? Why were you guys fighting?"

"They thought I was biased," Jorge said, not looking at me.

"Were you?" Anna asked.

"No, I really wasn't. I honestly thought Sandra has a better voice, sorry Anna," Jorge said, still not looking at me.

"I agree, Jorge. Don't worry about it," Anna said.

"Sandra, you really should try out for the musical. You can sing really well," Andrew said.

"We'll see," I said.

Chapter 7

Well, it's now Monday. I'll see everyone who was at the party, given they're not sick. Oh darn. I forgot to ask Mom about that again. Remind me after school, brain. Thanks. I'm walking into the lunchroom alone, because I think Jorge's still mad at me, or what have you.

Someone calls out, "Sandra!" it came from behind me.

I turn around and see Kristy sitting at a table in the back.

"Hey, I didn't know you had this lunch!" I said, walking over to her.

"I'm not the only one who has this lunch. Speaking of the person who has this lunch, have you guys spoken since you hooked up?" Kristy asked.

"Yeah, he called me yesterday," I said.

"Oh, good. You know, I had no idea he liked you until the day before he asked you out. It made me nervous. Best friends don't keep secrets of who they like," Kristy said.

"They don't? Then why didn't Jorge tell me who he liked? I consider him a best friend," I said.

"Um, hate to break it to you, but maybe he didn't tell you because he was afraid of your reaction. Wait, Jorge Espinoza, right?" Kristy said.

"Yeah," I said.

"Yeah, he didn't tell you because he was afraid of your reaction. So, while he's not here, how long have you liked Dan?" Kristy said.

"Um honestly, since like the first time he spoke to me. It's a bit creepy," I said, and he came and sat down and said, "What's a bit creepy? That I asked you out over the phone? Sorry, babe, I couldn't wait until today," he said. "I wanted to make sure you didn't get snapped up by one of those seventh graders at your party. Did you not say it was full of hookups?"

"Well, yeah, but that's not what I'm talking about," I said, and Kristy said, "She thinks it's creepy that she's liked you since the first time you spoke to her. I was going to tell her it's cute, but no, you had to come and make it about you!" Kristy said, picked up her trash and left.

"What's her problem?" I asked, as if he knew.

"Oh, Jon dumped her for this girl Lucy. She's a tenth grader. Don't tell her I told you this, but Jon's been hooking up with Lucy since about three days after he got with Kristy. I couldn't bring myself to hurt her," Dan said.

"Aw, I feel bad. Is she mad that you like me?" I asked.

"No, she's just mad I didn't tell her sooner. By the way, it's cute that you liked me since the first time we spoke. I started liking you about a week later, in case you cared," Dan said.

"There you are! I was scared you were cutting lunch!" Anna said from behind me. "Oh. Sorry. Um, if you guys want, you can sit with us today. Um, Jorge went home sick," she said, and it felt like someone had just dropped a rock in my stomach.

I felt bad for him. We obviously couldn't sit with him, because he'd be jealous.

"I leave it up to you," Dan said, and I said, "Can we sit with them? Sorry."

"It's no problem. Ps. I need help on the homework," he said, getting up and bringing his food over to where Andy was sitting, playing with a spoon.

"Hey, Andrew," Dan said, and I wondered how he knew Andy, but then I remembered they were cousins. Good stuff.

"Hey, I didn't know you had this lunch period," Andy said, finally starting to eat the cereal he had.

"Well, I do. I don't think Sandra knew either," Dan said.

"Where's Kristy?" Anna asked.

"She's pissed because Claire was right. Jon was cheating on her with Lucy," Dan said.

"Who is Lucy?" Anna asked.

"She goes to the high school. She's a sophomore. Two year difference is too big a difference," Dan said.

"I see. And apparently one year is fine," Andy said.

"Well, yeah, it is. You're lucky because you found someone your own age. No offense, Sandra, I'm just saying," Dan said.

"No, that's fine. I understand. It's ideal to have someone your own age, but it's not bad if you have someone a year different," I said.

He reached into his bag and pulled out the homework.

"I assume you got number fifteen?" Dan said.

"Don't assume, Dan. Just because I'm good at math does not mean I always know the answer," I said.

"Well, you're good enough to be taking high school math. I mean; you have a hundred average. And you're already advanced a year. That has to say something," Dan said.

"It says that her tests are too easy. Now the answer is seventy-eight," I said.

He stared at me for a moment, then said, "Seventy-eight. Oh! I see what I was doing wrong. I need you."

I looked at Anna, whose eyes were wide.

Dan must have realized what he just said, and immediately said, "No, I don't mean it like that. I really meant I'm really glad you're good at math so you can help me. Of course, I wouldn't mind if you weren't good at math, it's just better that you are."

The seventh graders were all confused and before Dan could say anything, the bell rang. I got up, followed by Anna. Andy was looking at his cousin like; I thought you were better than that.

Dan said, "I'll see you two in gym. Are we walking to math together?"

"Um, yeah, sure," I said.

As we walked out of the cafeteria, Dan said, "Please explain to my cousin that I like you for you and not for your genius math skills. That's the truth. It just adds to your beauty that you're a genius math girl. Ugh, now I feel bad. What can I do to make it up?"

"Please stop trying to explain it to me. I get it, and I see your side. You misspoke. I do that all the time," I said.

He stopped in the middle of the hall and hugged me.

"You're amazing, and you're beautiful. I'm lucky to have you," he said, and we walked on to Math.

Miss Mignonette was handing back our quiz from Friday.

"Make corrections, and hand the corrections in to me by the end of the period," she said to us. She handed mine back. 100. Oh. Oh! Damn, what did I lose two points for? That stupid bonus question. I looked all through my quiz and saw that I'd forgotten to put the arrows on the ends of the graphs and I'd forgotten to put x and y on the graphs. What a great way to lose two points, Cassandra.

"Can we work together?" Kristy asked.

"Sure, just keep the noise to a minimum," Miss Mignonette said.

Kristy turned around and saw my 98+2.

"What did you lose credit for?" she asked.

"Um, forgetting stupid things on the graph," I said.

"Oh, yeah I lost points for that too. But I didn't get number four," she said, putting her paper on my desk. It said the same thing mine did.

"Can I ask a personal question?" Kristy said.

"Um, sure," I said.

"Do you have a girl best friend? Because if you don't, get one. It sucks not having one," Kristy said.

"Um, I have one, but I can have another, if you'd like," I said. "As in I will be your best friend if you wish."

"Really? Thanks. It's just Dan's great," she whispered, though I think he could still hear us, "but I really don't feel like I can tell him absolutely everything. So I've been in the market for a female best friend but a majority of my grade is obnoxious and all they care about is guys, which I don't mind, but they spend hours agonizing over why some hideous dude doesn't like them. Whatever. What I'm trying to say is I need someone who will listen to me and help me and give me advice or whatever. I don't mind some talk about guys, but like…"

"It's fine. You don't need to explain it to me. That's how my other female best friend is. Before I moved here she had two guys for best friends. Now she has me as well," I said.

"Who is it?" Kristy asked.

"Anna," I said.

"Oh, she's sweet. We should go out shopping this weekend, the three of us," Kristy said. I bit my lip.

"Oh, right. I'm sorry. Maybe next weekend," Kristy said.

"I feel horrible. Last week I postponed him for Anna's party. Now I'm postponing you guys for him. Great life I have, right?" I said.

"Yeah, but we'll understand. I mean, Anna's dating Andrew, she'll probably put him before you sometimes. Besides," Kristy said, lowering her voice even more so that I almost didn't hear her, so I assumed Dan couldn't either. "He'll get pissed if you tell him to postpone it another week. Trust me. Becca, sixth grade. Postponed a date with Dan so many times they never even went out. He dumped her because he figured she just wanted to say she had a boyfriend but not spend time with him. Truth: he was right. She told me. I told him. It's what best friends do," Kristy said.

"I will do my best not to do that," I said.

"Good. Because now that I know he likes you, I see just how much. Let me just say, more than Emily, and he wanted to marry that bitch. So if you hurt him, it just might kill him," Kristy said.

"Jeez!" I said.

Dan pushed back his chair and said, "Hi girls. Would you like to do Dan a favor and help him figure out number 2?"

He placed his test on my desk. I stifled a laugh. Why even bother pretending you needed help? I'm sure Miss Mignonette wouldn't notice whether or not we were working. Kristy and I sure weren't.

"Oh, lovely. You girls got the same grade I did," Dan said.

"What did you lose your two points on?" Kristy asked.

"The graphs. Not the problem, but the basic graph itself. No arrows and no x or y," Dan said.

"Good. Us too. What would you like to talk about?" Kristy asked.

"Fred's glaring at us," Dan muttered.

"Who is Fred?" I said, remembering the fact that I'd made up a guy named Fred.

"That guy over there. I honestly can't read minds, but I pretty much can read his. He's like please tell me he doesn't like her! She's the most beautiful seventh grader I've ever seen. Isn't she new here? Oh my goodness! She must have come from heaven!"

Kristy and I tried not to laugh.

"No, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. I heard we're playing dodge ball in gym. Mr. Ken will most likely make me captain. I've already picked you two for my team. We'll dominate," Dan said.

"Oh awesome! I always win at dodge ball. I'm always the last one left and I usually get the person out," I said.

"Good. So I'm picking people with talent and beauty," he said.

"I guess so," I said. "Kristy is very pretty."

"He didn't mean me you dolt!" Kristy whispered loudly, giving me a little shove.

"Kristy is right. I meant you. So, this weekend, we're going to find something to do together, and we'll do it," Dan said.

"Ooh, go bowling!" Kristy said.

Honestly, I'd never gone bowling in my life.

"I don't know how to bowl," I said.

Kristy started snickering. Dan gave her a little shove and she shut up.

"I don't know what's so funny about not knowing how to bowl. My parents supposedly had better things to do than take me bowling," I said.

Kristy rolled her eyes. "Please stop lying. Everyone knows how to bowl."

There must be some hidden meaning behind me saying that, but I didn't know it.

"Can you go work on your test with Fred for a sec?" Kristy asked Dan.

"Sure why not," he said.

Kristy said, "You know he'll want to hold your hand while you bowl, so you don't need to fake it."

"No, you don't get it. I'm serious. I honestly don't know how to bowl," I said.

"Wow. Interesting. I thought you were just saying it so Dan would help you bowl," Kristy said.

"Well someone better help me bowl. Otherwise I'll suck," I said.

Kristy laughed and Dan came back saying, "Fred doesn't want help on his test. He got a fifty-seven and is proud of it."

"Stop, no one is proud of a fifty-seven unless it's out of fifty-seven," Kristy said.

"I swear, Fred is!" Dan said.

"Why is he even in this class? It's advanced. Fifty-seven does not sound advanced," I said.

The bell rang and we all groaned.

"Party time is over," I said.

"Yeah. Gym, though, will be a party. Oh, tell my cousin and Anna that they're on our team. I will make sure that Jonathan is not on our team," Dan said.

"Sure, I'll do that," I said, turning to leave. Kristy pulled me back and Dan gave me a hug and kissed my cheek.

"See you in gym. Tell Andrew what I told you to tell him, okay?" Dan said.

"Sure," I said, and left the room.

I ran into Andy in the hall.

"I have a message from Dan. Well, two actually," I said.

"Oh, gosh. What are they?" Andy said.

"Well, first, he really does like me for me, and I believe him, and two we're on his team in gym, he's already called it," I said.

"What are we doing in gym? Did he say?" Andy asked.

"Yeah, dodge ball," I said.

Andy held open the door to Mr. Law's class. Walter waved to us from the middle of the room. Andy waved back. We took our seats in the back, and I remembered the test I'd studied for on Sunday.

"Okay, everyone's here, so we'll start," Mr. Law said.

Heads drooped, as if 'let's start' was a cue to fall asleep.

"Andrew, Cassandra, can you do me a favor?" Mr. Law said, motioning for us to come down to where he was.

We looked at each other, and got up.

"What can we do for you Mr. Law?" Andy asked.

"I need you two to take this test, and I'll hand out the test to anyone awake. At the end of the class period I want you to make note of who stayed asleep throughout the test, and for the people who woke up, approximately how much time it took them to wake up. Got it?" Mr. Law said.

"Yes, sir," I said.

He handed us a two-page test. On closer look the first page was an answer sheet. I glanced at his desk and saw a four-page-or-so version. Cool. I'd have to continue staying awake. I went through the test, answered to the best of my ability, and checked it over. Then I put all my answers on the answer sheet. I got up around when Andy did, and we handed in the test.

Mr. Law handed Andy a sheet of notebook paper and said, "Work together. Point out people sleeping to each other. Oh, and give this to Walter," he said, handing me the longer test.

I walked over to Walter's desk, where Walter was just taking his head off the desk.

"Here," I said.

"What is it? A review packet?" he asked.

"Nope. Test," I said, then went back to my desk, where Andy had pulled up his chair and put the paper on it.

He wrote everyone's name, and next to Walter's name he wrote ten minutes. Someone else woke up around five minutes later. Andy found her name and wrote fifteen min. Four other people woke up for the entire class period, twenty-one, twenty-five, thirty and thirty-nine minutes. The periods are forty minutes long. How do you take a test in one minute? Well, I took it in about five or six minutes, but my test was two whole pages shorter. I think he did that on purpose.

I have to admit, Mr. Law may be a boring teacher, but he's a pretty cool human. Most other teachers wouldn't have assistants in the class that get semi-special treatment and get to help him keep track of who sleeps in his class. I didn't think I'd like him when I walked in the room on September seventh. But he's actually one of my favorite teachers. I just hope he'd grade my test fairly. The bell rang and people jumped up, and others turned the pages of their tests, just circling multiple-choice answers. Walter actually finished, I think, but I assumed he'd lose some points.

"Cassandra, Andrew, do you have my report?" Mr. Law asked.

"Report on what?" someone in the front row asked, yawning.

"The special extra credit report they asked if they could work on," Mr. Law said, winking at us. We smiled.

"We have it, sir," Andrew said, and we handed him the sheet.

"Huh. Looks good right now, but let me give it a closer look. Anyone who still has a test, please hand it in," Mr. Law said.

The front row person said, "Test? There was a test today? Why didn't you tell us?"

"Oh, I told you. You just didn't hear me," Mr. Law said.

Andy and I exchanged a smile and headed to gym. I headed to the girls' locker room where Kristy and Anna were changing.

"How was Mr. Law's test?" Anna asked.

"Um it wasn't bad. You should hear what he had me and Andy do," I said.

"Oh no, what did he make you guys do?" Kristy asked.

"Nothing bad. It was actually sort of amusing. Well, a lot of people sleep through that class, so he had us make a note of who slept through the entire test, and who woke up with some time to take it," I said.

"No he didn't," Anna said.

"Ask Andy," I said.

"I would believe her. Danny and me were the ones who did that last year. Seventh mod?" Kristy asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"Yeah, that's the sleepy class," Kristy said.

"Why doesn't he have some of us do that third mod? People sleep there," Anna said.

"How many?" Kristy asked.

"Oh, like three or four," Anna said.

"That's why. I assume you and Andy are the only ones who don't sleep in that class, which would be why you guys write things like that," Kristy said.

"Yeah," I said.

We all walked out of the changing room together.

"I hear you're special," Dan said, giving me a hug.

"I haven't heard that, but why'd you say that?" I asked.

"You and my cousin, rather. You take notes on who sleeps during tests. Test days were my favorite in Law's class. Kristy and I used to do that," Dan said.

"Did you guys get the condensed test?" Kristy asked.

"Well, I think so. Everyone else had a four page test and we had a two-page one," Andy said.

"Awesome! That was really the fun part," Kristy said.

"Does he grade it fairly?" I asked.

"Yeah, he does. I once got an eighty-five on one of those. So that's probably what I deserved," she said.

Mr. Ken showed up and said, "Iodine, Costner, you're our captains. Iodine, pick first."

"Cassandra," he said.

I looked at Kristy, making sure she wasn't upset he'd picked me first. She wasn't.

"Picking your little girlfriend? That's a good strategy. I pick the good people. Pat," Jon said.

"Kristy," Dan said.

"Ben," Jon said.

"Andrew," Dan said.

"Mikey," Jon said.

"Anna," Dan said.

"Where's Espinoza?" Mr. Ken asked.

"He went home sick, sir," Andrew said.

"Ah. Well, that means we'll have an uneven team. Well, Costner, pick," Mr. Ken said.

"Brooke," he said.

I felt bad for her. She was the only girl on his team.

"That means you get Claire, Iodine," Mr. Ken said.

"That's fine, sir," Dan said.

We got on our side of the gym. On Mr. Ken's whistle I grabbed a ball from the center and hit Jon Costner on the chest.

"Costner's out!" Mr. Ken yelled, blowing his whistle.

One of Jon's cronies threw one at me, which I caught.

"You're out, Patrick!" Mr. Ken yelled, whistle blowing again.

Claire eliminated Brooke, and someone eliminated Claire. I caught the one that guy threw at me, so he was out, and Claire was back in. She got knocked out of the game again, as did Anna and Kristy. Then someone caught a ball Andy threw, bringing back Jon.

"It's just you and your ugly little girl," Jon said.

I couldn't believe Kristy ever liked him! He was a jerk!

"We can take you!" I yelled.

Dan, of course, didn't help. He got knocked out. So it was me versus Jon Costner and the one I think was named Ben. They both threw at me the same time. I caught one and blocked the other, but when it bounced off, it hit Jon square in the chest.

"Iodine, your team wins!" Mr. Ken yelled, blowing the whistle multiple times and my team came out to congratulate me.

"You really are a dodge ball champ!" Kristy said, giving me a hug.

Claire gave me a high five, Andy hugged me and Anna squished her body against mine while jumping up and down. Dan was sort of hanging back, maybe waiting for everyone to move. When Anna finally let go, Dan started walking towards me then suddenly, Dan's lips hit mine. He kissed me.

He pulled back and looked at me. Then he threw his arms around me and said, "You really are amazing."

I didn't tell my mom Dan had kissed me. She knew I was dating him, because I'd told her on Sunday.

"Hey mom," I said, in the car ride to DB.

"Yes?" Mom asked.

"You know it's my birthday next Thursday, right?" I said.

"Yes, how could I forget?" Mom asked.

"Um, I wanted to talk to you about having a party," I said. "Sort of like the one at Anna's…a sleepover with some girls and the next day having a party with my guy friends added."

"I'll think about it. I have to ask your father," Mom said.

"I'm sure Mrs. Powell would love to give you hints on how to handle it. Oh, and Mom, can you please like really consider it? Because as much as I hate Hell, the people are much nicer than the ones in Seattle," I said.

"Honey, if it were up to me, I'd let you have the party. We have to ask your father. Oh, and I'm coming in to Dr. Bryan's. I have some things to talk to him about, and I'll ask him if he thinks it's a good idea to let you have a bunch of friends over," Mom said.

As much as I hate DB, I have a feeling he'll want me to have a bunch of friends over. Maybe not as many as Anna's, definitely not the whole school or even grade, but a few friends. Now, who to invite? To the sleepover: Anna, Kristy, Claire, Brooke and Charlotte. I have nothing wrong with Vicki or Brittani, I just wouldn't want them at my party. To the party: Above girls, Dan, Andy, maybe Jorge, no, I have to invite Jorge. It would prove I still want to be his friend. I'll probably invite Jason. He was pretty cool, as was Vincent. I'll think about inviting Walter. We'll see which girls can come, and which ones can't. there's the possibility someone can't come. What I'll do is run the date by Anna and Kristy, because they're who I really want in the sleepover. Without one or both of them it won't be as fun. And if Mom lets me do what Anna did and invite the boys, well then, I'll have to invite my amazing boyfriend, and my two best guy friends, but I'll have to match up the number of girls and guys, or at least mostly match it up. Cassandra?

"Cassandra?" Mom asked.

"Yes, mother?" I replied.

"Where would you be looking to have this party? In your room?" Mom asked.

"Yeah, probably. But we'd eat upstairs, maybe," I said.

"OK, I'm just trying to see what you'd do so I can give your father as much information as I can about what you plan to do with this party," Mom said.

"All right," I said.

DB agreed to my party. Now Daddy has to. Daddy said he needed a day to think about it. So I'll ask him again tomorrow. Just kidding. I won't pester him. I'll wait a few days and if he doesn't give me any answer, I'll make sure he hasn't forgot about it. He's done that, you know, forgotten about something he said he'd think about.

Chapter 8

Thursday. One week until my birthday.

I come out of my room dressed for school and Daddy says, "You can have a sleepover with five girls and yourself, but you cannot have boys over. Okay?" "Fair compromise. Thanks, Daddy," I said.

"When did you want to have this party?" Dad asked.

"Um, next weekend, possibly," I said.

"Well, run it by a few of your girls, see who can come. I mean, you don't want to plan your party completely around them, but you don't want to have a party without Anna, for instance," Daddy said.

"OK, Daddy. I'll do that. But the A plan is next weekend," I said.

"Good," Daddy said.

I got to lunch and walked to the table we'd been using since Tuesday. Kristy was already there, talking to Anna and Andy. Dan always seemed to come late to lunch, and Jorge and I had sort of patched our friendship and were walking to the cafeteria together. But silently, because we still weren't speaking. So I guess our friendship isn't patched up…

When Kristy saw Jorge, she came over to us, and said, "Jorge, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure," he said, and they went off somewhere.

I don't know where, because I'm not a creep and I don't follow people.

I sat down at my table where only Anna and Andy were sitting, and I said to Anna, "What are you doing next Friday night?"

"Ummm. Let me think," she said.

"Wait, isn't it your birthday next Thursday?" Andy asked.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" I said.

"Because Jorge's is next Friday. You're almost twins. Except for the fact that you're not related," Andy said.

"Oh, okay," I said.

"Well, I don't know if I'm doing anything. We have to see if Jorge's doing anything," Anna said.

"That would make sense. I just forgot about his birthday, probably because he hasn't spoken to me since your party," I said, and Dan sat down next to me, wrapping his arm around my back.

"Whose birthday are we forgetting? Mine's not until February," he said.

"No, she forgot it's Jorge's birthday next Friday. She was going to ask me to do something, but we've decided to wait to plan anything until we're sure Jorge's not celebrating with us," Anna said.

"Oh, gotcha. When's your birthday, beautiful? I don't believe I know that," Dan said.

"Next Thursday," I said.

"Oh, twelve?" Dan asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"Speaking of Jorge, where on earth is he?" Andy asked. "Doesn't he have class with you before this?"

"Yeah, we came in here together, then Kristy went to talk to him," I said.

"Oh, I was wondering where Kristy went," Anna said.

"Well, speak of the devils, they're here now," Andy said. I turned around.

Jorge just offered Kristy his hand. Did he ask her out? Did she ask him out?

"And where were you two?" Dan asked as they sat down next to him.

"None of your business. Why does it take you so damn long to get to lunch every day?" Kristy said.

"Seriously, where were you guys?" Andy asked.

"Andy, don't bother them," I said suddenly, and I don't know why.

I had a feeling they were together now.

"So, I wanted to talk to you guys," Jorge said.

"Who is included in this 'you guys'?" Anna asked.

"All five of you. I know it's my birthday next week, and you're all probably hoping for another party like Anna's, well, Andy and Sandra are, anyways, but I'm not having any party. I'm not going to celebrate turning twelve. It's not that special."

"Any age you turn is special," Kristy said, confirming my suspicion.

She didn't say anything like that to him yesterday. I'll ask her about it in math, if she cares to tell me.

"Yeah, but I can't have a party every year, because then people would get bored of parties, especially if Anna had one every year. Our birthdays are close, so our parties would be within a month of each other, and even I can't attend two parties in a month," Jorge said.

"You forgot to factor if Cassie has a party every year as well. Granted, they'd probably overlap or one of you would have to schedule for a later date," Andy said.

I'd become Cassie lately. I didn't mind it so much anymore.

"How could our parties overlap? We're friends, we wouldn't schedule parties on the same day as each other!" Jorge said.

"Yeah, true. Like I said, one of you would have to schedule for a later date. If you can't handle two parties in a month, try two parties in a weekend!" Andy said.

"Wait, I'm so confused. Cassie, when's your birthday?" Jorge said.

"A week," I said.

"Oh, I see. Because our birthdays are so close…got it," Jorge said.

The bell rang and we all groaned. I hated that bell, because of its sound and because it cut any time I had with Dan. Fine. I had next period with him. But I didn't really feel like learning math today. But we got up and Dan held my hand as we walked to class. He let go of my hand outside the door because we didn't want to be too open with our relationship. I took my seat and noticed Miss Mignonette wasn't here. She was always in the room when we got here. Maybe she was in a meeting. Kristy plopped into her seat, then scooted the chair back.

"Hi," Kristy said.

"Hi, Kristy," I replied.

"So, I asked Jorge to be my boyfriend," she said.

"Really? It looks like he said yes," I said.

"He did indeed," she said, and started to scoot her chair forward, but I pulled it back.

"Are you busy two weekends from now?" I asked.

"As far as I know, I'm not. Why?" Kristy said.

"I was going to have a sleepover with a few girls, but I'm thinking it will be better to wait another week," I said.

"Oh. Okay. I'm free that weekend," she said.

"OK. Cool," I said.

When I got home that day, I told my parents I'd have it the weekend after my birthday weekend.

"Sounds like a plan," Mom said.

Wednesday night, I was up until eleven p.m. on the phone with Dan. The next morning, when I woke up, I didn't realize it was my birthday until I looked at the calendar. I decided to wear something really awesome that day, so I picked out my favorite skirt and a top that went with it. I wet my comb with sink water and brushed it through my hair.

I walked up the stairs and Mom said, "Happy birthday!"

Daddy looked up from his paper when I came in and he gave me a hug.

"Happy birthday, Angel," he said.

"Thanks Daddy," I said.

"So we'll drive to Detroit this evening and grab some dinner, okay?" Mom asked. "Sounds good," I said.

When I got to art, the first person to wish me happy birthday was Anna. She was the only one at our table when I got there. When Andy came in he said happy birthday. Jorge just sort of ignored the fact that I was there. Damn. He wouldn't even wish me a happy birthday? I was really sorry…and honestly I was starting to wonder if I'd made the right choice between him and Dan. In art, we drew Halloween things. I wanted to tell Ms. Valid that Halloween was weeks away. I decided not to. The day went by slowly, or at least the time until I saw Dan went by slowly.

Finally, the bell rang at the end of Spanish and as Jorge and I walked to lunch, I said, "How's Kristy?"

He smiled and said, "We broke up. It was mutual."

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said.

"Don't worry about it. We just thought we liked each other, but we're really just friends," Jorge said, smiling. He seemed okay with it. Yes! He spoke to me!

We got to the cafeteria, and Andy and Anna were already there, and just as Jorge and I sat down, Kristy appeared.

"Hey, happy birthday," she said, taking one of the seats next to me.

"Thanks. Where's Dan?" I asked.

"I don't know, wherever he always is for the beginning of lunch. I still don't know what takes him so long to get here," Kristy said.

"Maybe he drags his feet because he doesn't want to see me," I said.

"No, he did it before I knew he liked you. It's not you," she said.

"Maybe it wasn't before, but it is now," I said.

"Why would you think that? Dan likes you!" Anna said.

I shrugged. I was almost regretting my choice as I looked up and saw Jorge's face. "Well, anyway, Mr. Law finally gave back the tests today! I got a ninety," Anna said. "Wow, good job," I said. "I wonder what takes him so long to grade them."

"Who's taking a long time to grade things?" Dan asked, sliding in next to me and kissing my cheek.

"Mr. Law. We took the test last Monday, and he just gave us the grades back today," Anna said.

"Oh, he always does. Well, I think he grades them like the same day, but just doesn't give them back for a while. Oh, by the way, happy birthday, beautiful," Dan said, kissing my cheek again.

"Thanks," I said.

"What are you doing this weekend?" he asked me.

"No idea. My parents will probably want to do something with me," I said.

"Then let's go out," he said, reaching to kiss my lips.

"I'll have to ask, but we'll see," I said, smiling.

I still didn't know what Dan saw in me. I don't even know why I have friends! Oh, no I do. It's because they don't know my big secret, the real reason I left Seattle. Once they find out, they'll ditch me. Goodbye Cassandra, you're weird. You're a complete psychopath, and we can't be friends with psychopaths. Then I'll be back to square one, alone. But I have to tell them, because what if they find out some other way? They'd probably rather hear it from me…

"Are you doing anything special with your parents tonight?" Anna asked me.

"Yeah, we're going out to dinner in Detroit," I said.

"Ooh, fun. There's a lot of good restaurants there," Anna said.

"Yeah, there's a lot of good little Irish pubs and stuff. I think there's some good Italian places too," Kristy said.

"Yeah, there are," Andy said.

The bell rang, and we all sighed.

"Come, let's walk to math together," Dan said, taking my hand and bringing me to Math. Only then did I remember that we had a free today, no gym. Yes. Dan opened the door to the classroom and we saw some strange teacher sitting there.

"Hello," she said.

"Where's Miss Mignonette?" Dan asked.

"She's home sick today. I'm her substitute. Why don't you sit down and I'll take attendance?" she said, so Dan and I took our seats.

The sub took attendance then pulled a packet off the desk and said, "Miss Mignonette has left me this packet. You may work in groups of one, two or three. This will be collected at the start of class tomorrow."

She handed out the packet and Dan scooted his chair back so he could work with me. Kristy did the same. We only did about half the packet, because we were talking about other stuff. I could feel Fred's gaze burning a hole in my head, and once, I even felt the back of my head to make sure there were no holes in it. There weren't.

The bell rang and I said, "Oh, no we have to finish this at home!"

"Yeah, it sucks. But I'd rather talk to my angel about life than math," Dan said, smiling.

I smiled back. We got up and Dan gave me a hug, then we went our separate ways to our different classes.

I wrenched open the door to my history classroom. Andy was sitting in the back, holding a stack of tests.

"Hey," he said to me as I took my seat.

"Mr. Law was here, and he gave me these and said when everyone got here, we could hand them out. He'll be back soon, I think," Andy said, taking half the tests and giving them to me. "It looks like everyone's here, so let's hand them out," he said.

I got up and looked at the first test. Bethany Walnut- five percent. I hunted down Bethany Walnut and handed her the test.

"What's this?" she asked.

"Oh, it's your test," I said.

"What test?" she asked, and I turned to give Walter his test. He got a sixty-nine.

"Here," I said, handing it to him.

"Fudge," he said.

I handed out the rest of the tests and gave Andy his. He got a ninety-seven.

"Good job!" I said to him as I handed it to him.

"You too. You did better than I did," he said, pointing at my desk as Mr. Law walked in. "Everybody happy with their grades?" he asked, taking his seat.

"No! I don't even remember taking a test!" Bethany Walnut said.

"Well, that's because you were asleep. U.S. History is not equivalent to naptime. Get that through your heads," Mr. Law said.

"Did anyone get above a seven?" someone asked.

"Yeah, I got a sixty-nine," Walter said.

I didn't say anything, because I knew the class would get pissed that I got a ninety-something. I finally looked at my grade. Ninety-nine. Wow. What did I lose a point for? It looked like my test had no red marks on it other than that number.

"Why didn't you tell us there was a test?" someone asked.

"I did tell you. Am I right, Andrew?" Mr. Law asked.

"Yes, sir, you did tell us there was a test. I believe people didn't hear you, though, seeing as they were conked out with their heads on the desk," Andy said.

"What? That's rude, Andrew," someone said.

"He has the authority to tell me that. I could see it for myself. What, you think I'm so absorbed in my topic that I can't see that students are sleeping? Look closer through that test. They all say somewhere why you got a five or a seven, or a sixty-nine. I'm nice enough not to give you a zero, but I'm not going to just put a sixty-five in for you if you didn't even take the test. Now, your homework tonight is, ARE YOU LISTENING, MR. BOULDER? THIS CONCERNS YOU! Your homework tonight, is to bring your tests home and get it signed by your parents. And let me warn you, I am very good at figuring out if you forged a signature. Forged signatures equal detention. Understand? If anyone has any questions, please ask me on your way out of class. I do believe the bell is about to ring," Mr. Law said.

As he said that, the bell did indeed ring.

I got up and asked Andy, "Do we need to get our tests signed?"

"I don't know. Let's ask," he said, so we made our way up to Mr. Law's desk and said, "Excuse me sir, but we were curious as to whether we had to get our tests signed or not."

"Oh, well, yes. I figured you wouldn't mind. You can just say it's my policy to get every test signed, no matter what grade you got," Mr. Law said.

"Sir, I'm curious. Why did I lose a point? There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with my test," I said.

He smiled, "Well, Cassandra, because you didn't put the date on the paper. That's very important to me."

"Oh, wow. I feel stupid now," I said.

"Don't worry about it. You won't need the point," Mr. Law said, smiling.

"Thanks, sir," I said, and Andy and I headed to the cafeteria for our free.

Dan was already there, with Kristy and Anna.

"Where's Jorge?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," Anna said.

Dan kissed me when I took my seat next to him.

Jorge appeared late, and said, "Sorry it took so long, guys, I had to meet Mr. Law because he hadn't given me my test back. I took it," he said.

"Did you sleep through it?" I asked.

"No. How do you sleep through a test?" he asked, looking at me funny.

"I don't know, ask our class," Andy said.

"We're required to get our tests signed tonight," I said.

"Oh, that's just part of his policy. I assume you guys did too, and I assume you didn't fail," Dan said.

"Yeah, that's true. All right, so it's just his policy. At least I won't be ashamed of asking my parents to sign it," I said.

"Just a tip… when you're about to ask them to sign it don't start with 'I need to get this test signed', because then your parents will think you failed," Dan said.

"Yeah, say something like, 'I got a, for example, ninety on this test I took a few days ago, but I need to get it signed. It's the teacher's policy to get every test signed.'" Kristy suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," I said, as the bell rang.

"Have a good evening everybody. Happy birthday, Cassie," Kristy said, and headed off to find where her sister was sitting in the cafeteria.

I said, "I should probably go now, because we're going to Detroit to get dinner. Bye everyone."

"Bye beautiful," Dan said, and kissed me.

I headed out to where my mom usually waited for me. I found the family car waiting for me, so I assumed we were going right to Detroit.

"How was your day at school, Cass?" Mom asked as I got in the car and Dad started driving.

"It was fine. I got a ninety-nine on my history test from last week," I said.

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Mom said.

"Yeah. I need you guys to sign it, though. It's part of Mr. Law's policy, to get every test signed," I said.

"Well, all right, remind me when we get home," Mom said.

"What do you want for dinner, Cass?" Dad asked. "I have a few restaurants I looked up, but I wanted to see what you were in the mood for."

"Um, I don't know. I hadn't really thought about it," I said.

"Well, just let me know when you decide. You have some time, but you don't have forever," he said.

I thought about what I wanted, and I realized I wanted a nice Italian dinner, maybe some pizza or some pasta.

"Hey, dad, how about Italian? Did you look up an Italian place?" I asked.

"Yes, I looked up two. They're right down the street from each other, so we'll see which one looks more appetizing," he said.

"Can you turn the radio on?" I asked.

Dad obliged and turned the radio on. We got to Detroit and looked at the restaurants. We decided on the first one we saw. It was actually very good. They offered personal pizzas, so I got one of those, and the bread they gave us before our dinner came out was very fresh and delicious. We got home, had some cake, and I opened presents. I got some clothes, some jewelry, and some books. Nothing special. The next day in school, I was the first to wish Jorge a happy birthday and I gave him a hug. He looked rather happy about that, but still didn't talk to me during the day.

Chapter 9

Next Friday came around, and when I got home from school I got a phone call.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hey, Cassie, I'm really sorry, but I can't come tonight," Charlotte said.

"Oh no! Why not?" I said.

"I was sick today. I wasn't in school, so Mom won't let me come to your party, especially because she doesn't want me to make anyone sick," she said.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Feel better. We'll miss you," I said.

"I'm sad I can't come, but whatever. I'm sick. I'll hopefully see you in school on Monday. Have a good time without me," she said.

"OK. We'll do the best we can. Bye," I said, and hung up.

Anna was the first to arrive.

"Hey, you didn't tell me your house was huge! Or that you have a gate!" she said as I greeted her at the front door with a hug.

"Sorry," I said.

"Don't worry about it. I'm just picking on you," she said, smiling.

Kristy and Claire were the next ones to get there… I'd invited them both because I liked both of them. Brooke came last.

"Where's Charlotte?" Claire asked.

"Um, she's sick. She can't come," I said.

"Oh no! I guess that makes sense. I didn't see her in school today," Brooke said.

"Oh well," Anna said. "So I have a bunch of movies that I rented today, so we can watch those, or we can play board games," I said.

"What movies?" Kristy asked.

"A Cinderella Story, Finding Neverland, and I have some DVDs that I own," I said.

"Do you have The Perfect Man?" Anna asked.

"No, I looked for that, but I don't think it's out on DVD yet," I said.

"Oh, okay. I vote A Cinderella Story," Anna said.

"Anyone else want to vote?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's fine," Claire said, and Kristy said, "Yeah, let's watch it."

"Brooke, how about you?" I asked.

"What's it about?" she asked.

"Oh, it's a modern version of Cinderella, the Disney cartoon. Hilary Duff's character lost her dad and now lives with her bitchy stepmom and stepsisters. She has a crush on this e-mail guy who turns out to be really popular and…" Claire said.

"Don't spoil it, Claire," Anna said.

"Oh, that sounds pretty cool. We can watch that," Brooke said.

So I put the DVD in and we lay on the floor, watching it. When that movie was over, we decided to play a monster game of monopoly, in the middle of which my phone rang.

"I'm just going to guess who that is," Kristy said. "But I thought you told him you were busy this weekend?"

"I did. Anna, you can roll for me, I'll pick the phone up," I said, picking up my phone and answering it.

"Hello?"

"Hey, beautiful. You know, you didn't have to answer. I didn't mean to take you away from your party," Dan said.

"Then why did you call if you didn't expect me to answer?" I asked.

"Because there was a chance you'd pick up, and I just wanted to hear your voice. Honestly, I believe your voicemail would have worked, but it's better to hear your voice live," Dan said.

"Oh. Yeah, I guess I don't often let my phone go to voicemail, if I can hear it ringing. You know I wanted to have a bunch of guys over tomorrow, but my dad said I couldn't," I said.

"Would I have been invited?" Dan said.

"Of course! What kind of girl doesn't invite her boyfriend? But it got shot down. Daddy said no," I said.

"Well, thanks for the thought. I should probably let you get back to your party. I hope you have a good time, and I'll see you Monday," Dan said.

"Bye," I said.

I walked back over to the Monopoly board and Anna said, "You landed on my property, so I made you pay. Sorry."

"It's fine. Whose turn is it?" I asked.

We went on and Anna and I were identified as the board's tycoons. I had Boardwalk and Park Place, three houses each, and Anna had Pacific, North Carolina and Pennsylvania with three houses each. Brooke was the first to go. She landed on Pacific and fizzled out; giving everything she had to Anna. She got up to call Vincent, and came back just as Claire landed on Park Place, paid me her money, and threw in the towel. She could have lived, but the next time she landed on a property she'd be forced to use the last of the money she'd gotten from mortgaging her properties. Kristy made it interesting. She had the yellows: Marvin Gardens, Atlantic and that V one, a house on Marvin and Atlantic. She landed on North Carolina, easily paid off her debt to Anna, and on her next turn, landed on Boardwalk. "Come on!" she said to the dice after she'd figured out her fate. She sold her houses, gave me all her cash and handed me the properties she had.

Mom knocked and said, "Pizza's here!"

"OK, we'll be right up!" I called to her, then turned to Anna and said, "Count your money, cash in your houses and mortgage all your property. We'll decide who won that way."

I did the same and came up with $6,127. Anna had $6,126.

"Oh, wow. You win, by a dollar," she said.

We all got up and had pizza. We watched Finding Neverland, then went back downstairs to talk boys. Claire's crush Bryan had gotten a girlfriend, so she'd moved on, and she now liked Walter. I didn't think she should.

"Oh, but why would you like him? He sleeps in Law's class, like every day, and he even slept through ten minutes of the first test!" I said.

"Oh, he can't help that. Law's just really boring," Claire said, defending him.

"He's not even that cute," I said.

"Yeah he is," Claire shot back.

"Um, why don't you two stop, Cassie, Claire's entitled to her opinions. She can like who ever she wants. The only reason you should be discouraging her from liking him is if he's a criminal or a drug addict or a sex addict, but why would he be, he's twelve," Anna said.

"Yeah, you're right. Sorry, Claire," I said.

"So maybe you should ask him out," Brooke said.

"But when would I do that?" Claire asked.

I sensed that she was a bit scared to ask him out, which was weird because she always seemed to be confident.

"Maybe at lunch," Kristy said. "Don't you have the same lunch? I think I remember you telling me you sat at the table next to his. Try and sit next to him, like have your chairs back to back, then turn around and ask him out."

I added, "Or you could ask him if he wants to go for a walk and ask him out on the walk. Like, in case you're afraid to do it with his friends there."

"Yeah, okay. I like that suggestion, Cass," Claire said.

"So, I've finally gotten over Jon," Kristy said.

"Have you? I'm glad. He seemed to make you sad. I don't like to see people sad," I said. "Yeah, I like someone else now. That's how I got over Jon. I developed a crush on someone else," Kristy said.

"Who? You didn't tell me about this!" Claire said.

"That's because I wasn't really sure I liked him until today. You know Dan's friend that sits next to you in math? The one with the glasses?" Kristy said, and I knew she was talking to me because they weren't in her math class.

"Umm, yeah, I think so. He's got the brown hair and always seems to wear polo's to school? I don't know his name," I said.

"Yeah, that's him. His name is Steven Boll," Kristy said.

"I think you two would look good together!" I said.

"Really? Thanks!" Kristy said.

Claire glared at us, I think mad that I approved of her sister's crush, but not hers.

"OK, now we have to talk about couples. Who do we think is the cutest couple in seventh grade?" Claire said.

"I'd have to say Anna and Andy," Brooke said. "Vinny and I are cute, but I think you guys are perfect."

"Wait, are we saying couples that both the girl and the boy are in seventh grade?" Kristy asked.

"Yeah, then we'll go on to mixed grades," Claire said.

"Oh. Well, honestly I have to pass, but only because I don't really know your grade too well," Kristy said, and I said, "Sorry, Brooke, but I have to say Andy and Anna."

"Me three!" Claire said.

"Do you agree, Anna?" Kristy asked.

"I don't want to sound cocky, but I really think we were made for each other, so by definition we're the cutest couple," Anna said.

"So, now we'll do couples that go between grades. I vote Vicki and Jason," Claire said.

"I disagree. Dan and Cassie are adorable," Kristy said.

"I second that," Anna said.

"Um, I can't decide. They're both cute in different ways," Brooke said.

"Kristy, why don't you and Jorge hook up? You'd be cute together. Then your table would be, arguably, the table with the cutest couples," Claire said.

Anna, Kristy and I all burst out laughing after looking between each other.

"Um, what's so funny? What joke did I miss?" Claire said.

"I already tried that. We both thought we liked each other, then realized we're really just better as friends. Steven's cuter anyway," Kristy said.

I started to tell her I disagreed, but thought better of it. All of a sudden, after Brooke had stretched out on the floor, we heard the breathing you only hear when people are asleep. Brooke had just conked out.

"Maybe we should hit the sheets," Kristy said.

"Good idea," I said, and I laid out the pillows and blankets.

I threw a blanket over Brooke, hoping I didn't wake her. I checked, and she was still fast asleep. The next morning, I woke up second. Kristy was sitting up, looking around.

"Good morning," she said.

"Morning. How much longer do you think they'll be?" I whispered.

"A few minutes, half an hour max," Kristy said, as Brooke stirred.

"Hi," she said. "Did I fall asleep randomly last night?"

"Yeah, but it's fine. We went to bed after you did," Kristy said.

"I'm sorry!" Brooke said.

"It's fine," I said. "I'll be right back. I'll tell my mom to start mixing the pancake batter." And to shove revolting capsules down my throat. I climbed up the stairs to the kitchen, where Mom was sitting, and drinking coffee.

"Hi, honey, did you sleep well?" she asked.

"More or less. Um, the girls are starting to get up, so I was thinking maybe you could start on the pancakes, so they'll be mostly ready by the time everyone's up," I said.

"Sure. Please take your medicine."

Chapter 10

So October finished well, Dan, Kristy, Steven and I went trick-or-treating together. Steven had asked Kristy if she'd wanted to go trick-or-treating with him, but she told him to come with us. I think they're together now. Dan dressed up as Harry Potter, Steven dressed up as Ron Weasley, and Kristy was Hermione. I was completely off their theme, as I was a princess. Funny. I'm really not a princess, in case you cared. We all headed back to Kristy's house to swap candy. Claire and Walter joined in our candy swap. I ended up with all the milky ways, my favorite candy bar. I had a smattering of other things, too.

Report card: Art: 90, English: 97, Science: 98, Spanish: 95, Math: 99, History: 99, Gym: A-. And I thought it was impossible to get all A's. I guess not. That gave me a 96 average. Wow. That made Hell Middle School either really easy, or I was just really smart. I vote it's because Hell Middle is easy.

Chapter 11

November, cool. Dan and I went to see the new Harry Potter movie on opening day. Mom let me ride the train with him all the way to Detroit. Alone. She trusted me. Goblet of Fire was by far the best movie made so far, and I had a feeling it was going to be at of the top of all seven. I think there'll be seven movies. I mean, there are only six books so far, but there's seven years at Hogwarts. Why wouldn't she tell us what adventure Harry has in the seventh year at Hogwarts? It was PG-13, so I wouldn't have been able to get in by myself. It's lucky my boyfriend's thirteen, or else we would have had to go with one of our parents! Parents on a date with you? Yuck! Well, Dan held my hand throughout the movie. It was cute.

And every time I jumped, he would turn to me and say, "Are you okay?" and I'd say, "I'm fine. I just don't like loud noises."

My parents wanted to see Harry Potter, so we went as a family the next weekend. I went with my friends (Anna, Andy, Jorge, Claire, Walter, Brooke, Vincent and Charlotte) and Anna's mom to see it a third time, the second weekend in December. By then I didn't jump as much, because I knew about when to expect the scary parts. There was a winter dance scheduled for the last day of school before break, but it was cancelled because it snowed, and we had a snow day. One extra day for break! Yes!

Chapter 12

Over break, Dan went to Florida with his family, so we didn't hang out. Instead, I went to the mall with Anna, Andy and Jorge just to hang out. I sort of missed hanging out with just them. I was always with the group of eighth graders, where it was Dan, Kristy, Steven and I, or I was with a whole bunch of people. It was nice to go with just my original friends, the friends I'd made and had before I started dating Dan. It seemed that Anna was my best friend, as I always was with her, except of course, when I was with the eighth graders.

I had a funny thought the other day. I call Dan, Kristy and her boyfriend the 'eighth graders'. What's going to happen when I'm the eighth grader? Will I be extra cool because I hang out with high schoolers? Will it not make a difference, other than the fact that I won't see them in school? Here's the big question: Will Dan dump me over the summer so he can keep his options open in high school? Will we stay together? I mean it's not like we can't see each other. We can go places together. Why do I always worry about stupid things? It shouldn't matter. Dan can do what he wants. No, I didn't mean that. I meant, he can dump me or he can stay with me. Either way, I'll live.

Chapter 13

January. School started up again. Right now, I had a one hundred average in Law's class. He'd warned Andy and me that there might be a quiz on the first day back. I prepared, and when I got to his class, I wasn't surprised to see him holding a stack of paper. He gave Andy and me a test that actually looked the same as the other test. It was really easy though. Thanks for the tip, Mr. Law. We made notes again. Same old. Sixteen out of twenty-three people slept through the entire test. I determined that was because they were used to being able to sleep all day. School hit them hard. Looked like another seven percent for those people.

It actually made me sad to do this to people. I mean, what would happen if I was sleeping and they were marking me as sleeping? That would hurt. But I did it anyways, because I didn't want to risk Mr. Law demoting me to a normal student. I sort of liked being his favorite.

Chapter 14

February. Oh, February. Why did you torture me so, again? Two years in a row, February tortured me. Why did February torture me this year? Because. I'll tell you. Give me a second. Well, it's February thirteenth, and Dan's even later to lunch than usual.

"Kristy, do you know where he could be? Because he's never this late to lunch," I said.

"Oh, he went to the gym to speak to Mr. Ken," Kristy said.

I scrambled out of my seat. Why, I don't know. I had a bad feeling in my gut. I headed to the gym. The doors that lead outside were open. I ran outside it, and looked for Dan. I saw the high school in the distance. Did he go to the high school?

Then I heard, "It's valentine's day tomorrow. Be my valentine, handsome."

It was a girl's voice. I didn't hear any response, but I whipped my head in the direction of the girl's voice. I was just in time to see my boyfriend kiss some girl. My mouth opened in horror. I'd never seen this girl before in my life. Who was she? I just stood there for a second, then turned and headed back inside the gym. Dan had just kissed this random girl. Why? Why, why, why?

Then I heard someone call, "Cassie!"

I didn't turn.

"Cassie! Look, that's not what you think!" Dan called.

I whipped around and shouted, "Yeah, sure it wasn't. You kissed her. That's it. We're done."

Then I turned around, and he called after me, "She kissed me!"

Without turning I said, "Yeah, but you let her. You have the power to stop people from kissing you. I guess you just didn't care. Go tell that girl you'd love to be her boyfriend, because you're not mine any more!"

I ran out of the gym. When I was halfway to the cafeteria, I looked to see if he'd followed. Ha. He hadn't. Very convincing, Daniel Iodine. You definitely want to be my boyfriend. You definitely want me to forgive you. No, you don't give a shit. You want to be in the arms of whoever girl that is. I'm going to guess she's in high school and ran over during her lunch. I went back to lunch and sat down. Only Kristy and Jorge were there. Andy and Anna must have gone to the library or something.

"Did you find him?" Kristy asked.

"Find who?" I snarled.

"Dan? That's who you were looking for," Kristy said.

"Why on earth would I go looking for him?" I snarled.

"What happened?" Jorge said, the first real words he'd said directly to me since October.

Oh, he'd spoken to me, but it was always questions like "What do you guys want to do?" I was starting to think he'd given up on being my friend and was only pretending. This didn't really reassure me, though.

"I don't want to talk about it," I said.

"Shit, no, you have to talk about it. Something happened between you and Dan," Kristy said.

I just nodded.

"Did he dump you?" Kristy asked.

"Nope. I had to do it," I said.

"What on earth do you mean by that?" Jorge asked.

"He's cheating on me!" I said. "Well, I don't know how many times it's happened, but I saw him kiss her!"

"Dan? No, he really likes you. He'd never kiss anyone other than you while you're dating!" Kristy said.

"Who did he kiss?" Jorge asked.

"I don't know. I'd never seen her before. She's blonde, kind of short," I said.

Jorge shrugged. "Don't know. That's not very helpful," he said.

"Sorry. I only saw her from the side. It's not like I was face to face with her," I said.

"No, it's fine. I know who it is. Oh, shit," Kristy said.

"What?" Jorge and I said at the same time.

"It's Emily. She must have given up on the hottie from Spanish class. Oh, shit, that could go either way…" Kristy said.

That rang a bell, and it wasn't until the end-of-class bell rang that I remembered where I'd heard it. Dan had asked her out before he'd asked me out. She was a high school freshman.

Chapter 15

I skipped school the next day. It was Valentine's Day, and I really didn't want to see new couples forming when I'd just been forced to break up with my boyfriend. I mean, even if she kissed him, he still could have stopped her, couldn't he? I don't want to be with him if he did that once. Because who knows, maybe he'll do it again. I'd told Mom about Dan as soon as I'd stepped in the car, and I hadn't even told her I wanted to stay home today. She just hadn't woken me up. When I did wake up at 10, I headed upstairs to take my meds and saw Mom sitting at the table.

"Is there a delayed opening at school?" I asked.

"No, I just figured you could use to miss a day after what happened, especially if the next day is Valentine's Day. And I was really starting to like Daniel," Mom said.

"I wouldn't have broken up with him except I saw him kiss another girl. What did you want me to do? Go on like I hadn't seen what happened? That might hurt more than ending it," I said.

"I know, honey, I know. Um, Daddy and I are going out tonight, so if you're careful, you can cook your own dinner. Don't try anything fancy, and don't leave the room while the stove is on," Mom said.

"OK. Thanks for being reasonable and letting me stay home," I said. "

You're welcome," Mom said.

About half an hour after school was scheduled to be over, I received a call. I figured it was Anna. I hadn't told her what happened yesterday.

I looked at the name for once and saw Jorge.

"Hello?"

"I missed you in school today. I mean, I understand why you didn't come, but I still missed you," Jorge said.

"Oh, yeah. I couldn't handle people hooking up and getting flowers all over the place. How was it for you, being single?" I asked.

"It was fine. It's not like I was pining after someone who had a boyfriend. But it would have been worse for you, seeing as you broke up with him yesterday."

There was hidden meaning in his second sentence. He wasn't pining for me because he didn't have to worry about Dan anymore.

"Yeah. Hey, why haven't we talked in three months?" I asked.

"Oh, well, at first it was because I was mad you were with him but then it was just because I was so used to not talking to you, that I didn't know what to say," Jorge said.

"Oh okay. Do you still like me? Not that anything will happen, just curious," I asked.

"Honest answer?" Jorge said.

"Um, yeah, honesty's always good," I said.

"Yeah, I still like you, but I'm not an idiot. I'm not going to try and make you my girlfriend right after you've dumped someone. I want to help you through your troubles, like Anna did with Andy, only I'm not going for that outcome," Jorge said.

Oh. Right. Andy had a bad breakup, then Anna made him feel better, and he slowly developed a crush on her, then asked her out in the summer. Yeah. Jorge is cute. Don't get me wrong. I just didn't want to date again for a while. But of course, I'd made the wrong choice in October.

"Yeah, I don't think I'll be dating again until high school. Is it as painful to break up even if you don't catch the guy cheating?" I asked.

"Well, I've only had one girlfriend, and it was really a mistake, so we've agreed that when someone in the future asks how many girlfriends I've had I'll just not count the one with Kristy. So I can't tell you what it feels like to break up for another reason. That was a mistake, so it didn't hurt. I assume it hurts, but probably not as bad as watching your boyfriend kiss another girl," Jorge said.

"Thanks. It's just my luck that something happens. And here I was, having fantasies of marrying him. My life is utter crap," I said.

"No, it's not. It's just something bad happened to you. Bad things happen to everyone. That doesn't mean your life is crap," Jorge said.

"What good do I have in my life?" I asked.

"Well, you have friends. Andy, Anna and I are your friends, at the bare minimum. I'm pretty sure Kristy's your friend, only I'm not entirely sure how that will work now. As far as I could tell, Dan is Kristy's best friend. So you may lose her. But that's okay. You still have Brooke and Charlotte, and maybe Claire," Jorge said.

"Yeah, I guess," I said.

"Your life is not crap," Jorge said.

"Did he kiss Emily because she's prettier than I am, or because she's blonde?" I asked, that thought bugging me.

"Um, sorry, but I don't know the answer to that. But if this is the Emily I'm thinking of, you're prettier. She may be blonde, but the color of your hair doesn't define your beauty. Although, honestly, I've never seen a pretty redhead. Like those girls with hair that's like orange?" Jorge said.

"I know what you're talking about. But I'm glad I'm prettier than her. Thanks, Jorge," I said.

"For telling you you're prettier than Emily?" he laughed.

Wow, his laugh was beautiful. It was almost like music. He must have laughed before…why didn't I hear that before?

"No, for trying to help. It's not working yet, but I have a feeling it might," I said.

Chapter 16

Well, it's a week and a half later. Kristy's actually still my friend. Um, she doesn't sit with us at lunch anymore, but that's okay. I understand that he was her friend first. So, Friday. Math. Setting the scene. Steven and Kristy are working on the packet together. I'm working alone. I'm finally mad I'm in an eighth grade math class. I wondered if Jorge was working on a packet alone right now. Kristy turns to me and asks for help on number sixteen.

"Hey, I need help too," he says.

He's spoken for the first time since I caught him cheating.

"Um, ok," and I explained it, looking only at Kristy.

"OH, okay. You cross multiply. Got it. I hate proportions," she said, turning back to Steven.

He's still there. "How else do you want me to explain it?" I asked, through gritted teeth, "I'm not a teacher. I don't know how to explain things. If you still don't get it ask Miss Mignonette!"

"Um, I actually get it now, I just wanted to say, it wasn't my fault. I swear. It was all Emily. You must have heard what she said," Dan whispered.

"I heard, but that doesn't mean anything," I said, working out the problem I was on. "Please, Cassie, she kissed me. I tried to push her away, and I'm embarrassed to admit this, but she was stronger than me and did it anyway," Dan said.

"I don't want to talk to you anymore. Please turn around," I said.

I said all this while refusing to look into his eyes, because somehow, I knew that if I did that, I would fall for his spell again and give in and say something stupid like, "OK, I forgive you, let's get back together."

Chapter 17

March. Anna and I are having a sleepover. I'm more or less over Dan, but I still don't trust myself to look at him when he attempts to get me to forgive him. It's a month later, and he's still trying to convince me. Part of me believes him now, because he would have given up after a few weeks when I refused to forgive him, unless he really liked me. I brought up this point at my sleepover.

"Oh, sweetie, even if he does still like you, do not get back together with him. I mean, I've never had someone cheat on me, but if someone had, I think that's how I would handle it. You don't want to show him you're weak and give in, even if it's months or years later," Anna said.

"OK. Thanks. You're a great friend," I said.

"I just want to look out for people I care about, and you're number one on the list of females I care about. I know I haven't known you as long as I've known most of my other friends, but I feel like I can tell you anything, and that's a quality I like about you. But I'm jealous of you. You're way prettier than I am," Anna said.

"No, I'm not. You're gorgeous. And for the record, you're number one on people I care about in general," I said, and we hugged.

Chapter 18

May. It's math class. We're working on yet another packet. Miss Mignonette is bugging me with the packets. It gives Daniel a chance to bug me. Which he still does, and it's May fourteenth. Three months. Give up, Daniel. I'm not changing my mind. So, he just turned around to ask for help, which he always does, even when he understands the whole packet. I still refuse to look into his eyes, because while my mind knows not to get back together with him, my heart probably doesn't, and I don't want to risk looking at him to blurt out something like "I forgive you, kiss me."

So he asked his dumb math question, which he actually didn't get (shocker, the last two packets he just put the wrong sign on the number, probably on purpose) then said, "Cassie, I know I'm probably making you less likely to change your mind, but please. I love you."

I looked up and into his eyes (big mistake, you think) and I actually don't feel that warmth in my heart, and my heart doesn't beat faster. I'm totally over him by now! Finally! Well, of course, it's possible I was over him before, but this is the first time I tested that fact. And I won!

"Dan, look. You were really nice and treated me well when we were together, but I just don't have feelings for you anymore. It's not a good idea to date someone when one person doesn't have feelings for the other. We are officially over, forever," I said.

The bell rang and I headed off to History. Walter had actually stayed awake for two whole months to this point, and had been able to score an eighty-seven on the most recent test. Andy and I both got hundreds.

The bell rang for the end of History and I asked Andy, "Where are you and Anna going this period? I have to talk to you guys and Jorge."

"What happened?" Andrew said. "Nothing really. Remember earlier in the year how I told you something happened in Seattle? Well, I'm ready to tell you guys," I said.

"Oh, well we were going to the cafeteria," Andy said.

"OK. I'm coming," I said.

I had decided to tell them about my problem.

We sat down in the cafeteria and Andy said, "Cassie has something to tell us."

"What did you do?" Anna asked accusingly.

"I looked into his eyes and told him I genuinely don't have feelings for him. But that's not why I wanted to talk to you," I said.

"Oh, good job!" Anna said, hugging me.

"Yeah. So you guys can't hate me for what I'm about to say. It's personal, but I've been keeping it from you, and I need to tell you. You're my best friends, so you deserve to know," I said.

"Go on," Andy said.

I took a deep breath, and said, "You know how I told you in the beginning of the year that I moved because my dad got transferred? Well, that's true, but that's not the real reason. He did, but because of what happened."

"What happened?" Jorge asked.

"I uh, got expelled from Seattle Middle School, for what I did," I said.

"What did you do?" Anna asked.

"Well, it was at lunch. I had a plastic knife from the cafeteria. There was this kid I hated. Despised him. We were actually friends in first grade. Anyways, a bunch of friends and I pushed him into a corner and I took out the knife. My friends cheered me on; oh I'm so ashamed of this story. Well, they cheered me on, and I actually cut the boy's arm, like blood gushed out. He broke free of us and ran to the principal, grabbing a napkin from the table on the way. I was sent to the principal's office, denied it of course. She called my parents and they took me to a hospital, where they evaluated me and determined I was bipolar. You know, manic-depressive. So anyways, my daddy stayed with me until they brought an ambulance to transfer me to a mental hospital, where I stayed for two and a half weeks. The ambulance came at like one am. They took blood samples, and gave me medicine which I'm still forced to take, and my payback was I threw up on their couch one day, because they hadn't fed me before giving me the meds."

They all just looked at me for a second, then Anna wiped the tears in her eyes, and said, "I'm sorry that you had to stay in a mental hospital for two weeks."

She came around and gave me a hug. Andy asked, "Why have we not seen that side of you?"

"Because I'm better able to control it, a year later. February 18, 2005, the worst day of my life so far. I still lash out at my parents, but I haven't done it since September," I said. "Well, I still like you. I just hope I'm not like that boy. Also that sounds really damn scary and painful…blood samples. And throwing up on their couch sounds like a nice form of payback," Jorge said.

"Don't worry. I know better than to do that now. But yeah, blood samples are painful. They stick a needle in your arm and withdraw blood. I still have to do that, every three months," I said.

Ps. I like you. I wouldn't want to miss a chance to be your girlfriend by acting like a fool.

"Group hug!" Jorge called out, and threw his arms around me.

Anna was next, then Andy.

"So you all forgive me for that?" I said.

"Of course! That's the past! We have to live in the present!" Anna said, and Jorge said, "Why dwell on the past? The present and future's what matters!"

Andy said, "Just try not to take out the psychotic side on me, please."

Then he laughed and the group hugs sort of ended. Jorge stayed there. I hope he couldn't feel the pounding of my heart.

Chapter 19

June. School just ended. Finally, it was the long-awaited summer. In the last week of June, Anna's family went to an amusement park, and they took Andy, Jorge and me with them. We had a blast. Anna rode with me on some things, Andy rode with me on some things and Jorge rode with me on some things. It was mostly Jorge and Anna that I rode with, though.

July. My family went to Disneyland in California. Jorge called me two out of five nights. We still chat about my breakup, which I now could care less about, but it's mostly just social stuff. We were in Disney for July fourth, so we saw fireworks. I saw a few couples holding hands and kissing. For some reason, it only bugged me a little. When Dad said we should watch the fireworks, I told him no, but we went anyways. I was scared that when I saw all the couples holding hands and kissing, I would be jealous and start pining for Dan, even though I'd determined I was over him in May. Instead, the little part of me that was bugged by this firework love fest was because of Jorge. I was waiting for his helping me through my break up to turn into Anna's helping Andy through his breakup. I decided not to say anything to Jorge, though. I'd just let it happen when it would happen.

August. Anna and Andy went away, different places, same time. Jorge and I hung out twice in the two weeks they were gone, once with Brooke, Vincent, Claire and Walter and once by ourselves. We determined it was not a date, just friends hanging out. By the end of it, when our parents came to pick us up, I think we both regretted that we hadn't counted it as a date. For some reason, it had been sort of awkward. Oh, but when his dad came to pick him up, he brought Jorge's brother with him! His brother is entering sixth grade. His name is Esteban.

Chapter 20

Well, it's the end of August and I'm preparing for school to start up again. Fun stuff, right? Well, eighth grade. From what I could tell by having friends in eighth grade, it was cooler than being in seventh grade. You're the oldest in the school, and you get certain privileges. Like what, I forget, because I haven't had an inside link into an eighth grader's mind since February. Mom and I just bought all the notebooks and pens and pencils I need, and we're out getting pizza. My phone rings, and I figure it's Anna telling me about her trip to Spain, but it's Jorge. I didn't answer it.

"Why don't you answer that, honey?" Mom asked me.

"It's fine. If he gets a message he'll just call back in an hour or two," I said.

"Who was it?" Mom asked.

"Jorge," I said.

"Oh, Jorge's so sweet," Mom said.

"He's probably calling to check schedules," I half-lied.

He might be, he might not be.

"We didn't get your schedule yet, did we?" Mom asked.

"No, but there's probably mail in the mailbox. We'll check when we get home. Plus, there's about five days in September it can come," I said.

"No, three. No mail on Sundays or labor day," Mom said.

"It was a guess," I said.

We went home and in the mailbox was indeed my eighth grade schedule. When Mom handed it to me, I ripped it open and scanned it. First period art again, fun. Second period Spanish 101, which I assumed was a high school course because of the numbering. Third period gym, fourth period English, fifth period lunch, sixth period U.S. History II, seventh period science, and eighth period Algebra 101H. There was an additional sheet that had fallen on the floor. Mom had picked it up and started reading it.

"Cass, this asks for permission to be bused to the high school for your eighth period math class. They put you in a math class in the actual high school?" Mom said.

"Apparently. Hey, does it just say math, or Spanish too?" I asked.

"Just math. Why?" Mom asked.

"Oh, because Spanish is 101, and so is algebra," I said.

"Oh, they must offer the Spanish class at the middle school," Mom said.

"Oh okay. Can I take this into my room?" I asked, holding up the schedule.

"Do what you want with it. It's yours. Do you want me to sign off for the math?" Mom asked.

"Yeah, sure," I said.

As I descended to my basement room, my phone rang. I flipped it open.

"Hello?"

"Hey, did you get your schedule?" Jorge asked.

"Yeah, did you?" I asked.

Please tell me we have every class but math together…I thought.

"Yeah. I have first period art again, second period Spanish 101, which is I think a high school class so it gives me high school credit, third period gym, fourth period English, fifth lunch, U.S. history II, science, and eighth period Intro to Algebra IIIA, which you can't possibly be in because you finished the year with a 99. What do you have?" Jorge asked.

"The exact same thing, but a different math class, obviously," I said.

"We have all but one class together! Hell yeah! Oh, what math class are you taking though?" Jorge asked, I think as excited as me.

"Algebra 101H," I said.

"Whoa, someone's taking high school math. Wait, is that actually at the high school?" Jorge said.

"Yeah," I said.

"Wow. That's kind of cool. Okay, so that's really not why I called, but I figured I'd start the conversation on a normal note. I'm hoping to move to an awkward note," Jorge said.

"Why would you purposely make something awkward?" I asked, confused.

"It's not on purpose it's just an awkward topic in general," Jorge said.

"Hmm. Okay, shoot," I said.

"Um, don't get mad, or blame me for stealing a friend's idea. That's the only thing I steal. It just worked so perfectly…right. Rambling. Um, Would you, Cassandra Michelle Stone, like to accompany me, Jorge Miguel Espinoza out this Saturday to the mini-golf center?" Jorge said.

"How did you know my middle name, and your middle name is Miguel? That's really cool," I said.

"Easy, I knew it from Anna's party, when you were named the top singer of our American idol type thing. But that didn't answer my so-nicely-put question," Jorge said.

Uh-oh. I hadn't heard the question. I was focusing on the middle names. It was the same name. Miguel is Michael, and Michelle is the feminine form of Michael. I think.

"Would you like to repeat the question? I was distracted by the fact that our middle names both come from the root of Michael," I said.

"Do they? Wow, cool. So would you like to accompany me to the mini golf place this Saturday? I can bring Esteban. He thinks you're cooler than Anna, don't tell her I said that," he said, laughing.

"Don't bring Esteban! Who brings their brother on a date? If that is what you're implying by asking me to hang out. Otherwise, sorry, I didn't mean it," I said.

"That is what I meant. That's why I was going on about stealing Andy and Anna's hook up ideas. That last time we hung out should have been a date. I regret telling you it wasn't," Jorge said.

"I regret agreeing to it being a non date. So Saturday. Four. Do not bring Esteban, unless he only comes to drop you off or pick you up," I said.

"How did you know that was the time I was going to say?" Jorge said.

"I didn't, I guessed," I said.

"Ah! Sorry, I have another call," I said, checking to see who it was. Anna. "It's Anna."

"Andy is calling me. Four-way!" Jorge said.

"Yay! I said, accepting Anna's call.

"Hey," Andy and Anna said the same time.

"Were you just talking to Jorge?" Anna accused.

"Do you have a problem with that?" I asked.

"No, it's just weird. I called you, you were talking to Jorge, Andy obviously called Jorge, and so you made it a four-way. I approve," Anna said.

"Michael, do you want to tell them?" Jorge said.

I burst out laughing.

"Michael?" Andy asked.

"I don't know anyone named Michael," Anna said.

"You tell them, Michael," I said, playing along with his joke.

"You two have an inside joke. I want in," Anna said.

"It's our middle names. His is Miguel, mine is Michelle. Both are forms of Michael," I said. "So we're both Michael now," Jorge said. "But that's not what I was talking about. I must confess, Andy, I have stolen something from you."

"Um…" Andy said.

I guess he wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"No, no, I meant an idea, or I repeated something you did, I believe a complete year later. Happy one year, by the way," Jorge said.

"You didn't!" Anna said.

"I'm sorry, Anna. I had to. The opportunity was right in front of me. Oh, and Michael, remember to tell Daniel I said thanks when you see him again, thanks," Jorge said.

"Of course, Michael," I said.

"You two are bugging me, and Jorge, you're confusing me. Who are you dating, Cassandra?" Anna said.

"What? That's what he was talking about?" Andy said. "That was a genius idea. I approve of your use of it. And I love the timing. Yes, indeed, happy one year, Annabelle."

"Now all three of you are driving me crazy! One of you needs to tell me what you are talking about, and I need to be reassured that Cassandra did not get back together with Daniel," Anna said.

"She didn't. I'm telling her to thank him for giving me the opportunity to use Andy's Hook Up Plan," Jorge said.

"What's your hook up plan?" Anna asked.

"Do you not remember Karen? When she dumped me you nursed me back to health, then I fell in love with you? Jorge did it to Cassie. She was hurting from Daniel's cheating, and I'll have to assume Jorge did for Cassie what you did for me. The only difference is he's liked her the whole time. She's the one who fell for him," Andy said.

"Oh, that's what you meant? Next time, come right out and say it," Anna said. "Now, I called Cassie to hear her schedule."

"And I called Jorge to hear his schedule," Andy said.

"Anna, why don't you tell me your schedule?" I said.

"OK. Art, Spanish 101, gym, English, lunch, U.S. History II, Science, Intro to Algebra IIIA, which I know you can't have because you took that last year and got a 99," Anna said.

"Who designed the schedules?" I asked.

"Don't speak yet, Michael. We haven't heard from Andrew," Jorge said.

"Yeah, but why would I read out my list of courses when it's the same as Anna's? It's exactly the same," Andy said.

"As is mine," Jorge said.

"Well, let's hear yours, Cassie," Anna said.

"1-7 are the same, 8 is Algebra 101H," I said.

"Whoa, you have to go to the high school to take that class!" Andy said.

"Yeah, they mailed a separate sheet that asked for parents permission for them to bus me to the high school," I said.

"Wow. That's weird. But it's kind of cool," Anna said.

Chapter 21

Jorge and I went out that Saturday.

He kissed my cheek and said, "I've been waiting to do that for almost a year."

"But you missed!" I said.

"How did I miss?" Jorge asked, leaning on his golf club.

I kissed his lips and said, "That's how!"

"Oh, I see. Using logic from Elf. Clever, Michael," Jorge said, lining up his ball and swinging the club, and completely missing the ball.

I tried not to laugh, but couldn't help it.

"I meant to do that," he said.

"Why would you purposely miss that too?" I asked.

"So I could do this," he said, and kissed me.

"OK, fine. But I think you should take your turn so that guy doesn't get mad at us," I said.

He hit the ball and got a hole in one. We finished the course, and I knew Jorge was better than Daniel, hands down. Jorge was sweet, funny, and gentlemanly. He had been my best friend, and while I hadn't really paid attention until recently, he was a thousand times better looking than Daniel. I think it was Daniel's blue eyes that really had me. I mean he was nice, but not as nice as Jorge. He wasn't really that funny, but I guess he was gentlemanly. We waited by the entrance for our parents, and Esteban came over just as Jorge kissed me.

"That's disgusting, Jorge," Esteban said.

"It's not disgusting. Watch, when you meet a girl you like you'll do the same thing," Jorge said.

"No, I won't," Esteban said stubbornly.

"Then you won't have a girlfriend very long," Jorge said.

"What do you think, Cassie? Is that disgusting?"

"Um, no, not really," I said.

"What lunch do you have?" Esteban asked me.

"Oh, fifth," I said.

"We can have a party then!" Esteban said.

Jorge was trying not to laugh.

"Do you really want to sit with eighth graders? I think you'd be better off sitting with people your own age," he said.

"How about once a week?" Esteban asked.

"Once a month," Jorge said.

"You don't like me, Jorge," Esteban said.

"I do, but you need to make friends your own age. You can't be like Andy's brother and all your friends are older. You need friends of your own, because next year, what are you going to do? We'll be in high school. You can't come until you graduate middle school," Jorge said.

Chapter 22

School started a week later. I handed my permission to the front office.

"At the end of seventh, meet right here. Come into this office, and just remind us of who you are, and we'll send you to the high school. Okay?" the lady said.

"OK. Sounds good," I said.

I headed up to the art classroom next door to the one I'd been in last year.

Andy was saying to some girl, "You can't sit there. Jorge's girlfriend is going to sit there."

I didn't know he was that mean…I took the seat the girl had just tried to take.

The girl said, "He said you can't sit there. Jorge's girlfriend's going to sit there."

"Oh. Okay," I said. "What was that for, Andy?"

"Kicks. Plus I didn't want you stranded at some random table," Andy said.

"Oh, all right," I said.

"I hope the teachers don't do alphabetical seating," Jorge said.

"They didn't last year," I said.

"Yeah, but I hope they don't enforce that rule this year," Jorge said.

"True, we all need to sit together," I said.

"Let's determine the order for all classes except math," Andy said. "These seats work. You two stay on that side of the table, Anna and I will stay on this side. Then for periods 2-4 and 6-7, we shall have Jorge on the far right, then Cassie, then Anna, then me on the left."

"Sounds like a plan," I said, as Ms. Valid walked in the room.

"I thought she taught seventh grade!" I whispered.

"It changes every year. Except Mr. Law always teaches all the seventh and eighth grade history classes here," Andy said.

"Oh, all right," I said.

Art went by quickly, then it was Spanish time.

"Hola. Welcome to Spanish 101. If you successfully complete this course, you will receive high school credit, and when you enter high school next year, you will have the opportunity to be placed in Spanish 202 or 202H. Me llamo Señor Ramirez. I will now take attendance," Señor Ramirez said.

He did just that, and handed out textbooks. Then he let us talk until the bell rang. Gym was eventful. It consisted of Vicki, Jason, Brooke, Vincent, Claire, Walter and Charlotte, along with some people I didn't know. Mr. Ken was our teacher again. English was fun. The teacher was Ms. Carter, and she seemed strict, but I think she was really a nice person. Brooke and Claire had that class with us.

We headed to lunch, and snagged a good table. I noticed Brooke, Claire, Walter, Charlotte and Vincent a few tables over. I waved, and Brooke waved back.

I must have missed something Anna said, because Andy said, "And that is why I love you. You're amazing."

"What just happened?" I asked.

"Oh, Anna was telling us that she was going to try out for the musical this year," Jorge said. "You should try out too."

"I will if you do," I said.

"We'll see. Tryouts are not until January," Jorge said, draping his arm around my shoulders.

"so I'm having a party for my birthday again, next Saturday, but it won't be as crazy as last year's party. It will just be you three," Anna said.

"Oh, I want to come!" I said.

"I can definitely come," Andy said, and Jorge said, "I have to ask, but I think I'm free."

Mr. Law's class was next.

We all arrived together, and Mr. Law said, "Wow, all four of my favorite students in one class? Looks like I'll have four people to help figure out who's sleeping."

He smiled and we smiled back. We took seats in the second to last row. People filed in and I recognized people I'd written up for sleeping last year. When some people walked in, they groaned.

I heard others whispering to their friends, "I got a sixty-nine in his class last year. Why does he teach eighth grade too?"

Science had the same people as gym, minus a few people who must have been seventh graders and Jason. Plus, it had Brittani and Jake, who were the only ones in the classroom when we got there, and they were all over each other, making out. We just walked past them and took seats in the back. We liked the back row.

The bell rang for the end of science, and Jorge said, "Good luck in the high school."

"Thanks," I said.

I walked the opposite direction they did, heading towards the front office.

I walked in and said, "Hi, I'm Cassandra Stone."

"Oh, yes, Harold, she's here," the secretary said, and a guy of about forty walked over and said, "I'll be your driver. I drive you to the high school now and drive you back here at the end of class. You ready?"

"I think so," I said.

I followed him out to the parking lot and he unlocked a car that was probably his own. I got into the passenger seat, and he started driving.

"Oh, let me tell you how to get to your classroom. When you walk in the front doors, go to the first staircase you see and go up to the third floor. It's room 311, so you can find it. There's large numbers on the door," Harold said.

"OK. Thanks," I said.

He parked in front of the school and I left, following his directions, and ending up at 311. It wasn't hard to find. It was the second from the end on the side I was facing when I got off the steps.

I walked in the classroom, and the teacher said, "Hello. Are you Cassandra?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Welcome. I was impressed with your grades in Intro to Algebra IIIA. I figured you could handle honors. I'm Mrs. Stall," the teacher said.

"Hi," I said.

"Take a seat anywhere, but I'll have to rearrange you. I'm enforcing the alphabetical seats," Mrs. Stall said.

"OK," I said, and took a seat in the back. Kristy walked in with Steven. I hid my face so she wouldn't see me.

"OK, well, I'm going to start. Welcome to Algebra 101 Honors. I'm Mrs. Stall. Now, I would like to put you in alphabetical order. Can I have Barbara Abed in this seat here?" she said, reading off a list.

A girl got up and sat in the seat directed to her. Steven was put behind Barbara, and Kristy behind him. Some freshman was behind Kristy, then someone else in row 2, seat 1, someone else in 2 and 2, Daniel Iodine in row 2, seat three, and Daniel Jones in the seat behind my ex-boyfriend. To me, it looked like last year's math class, with a few others.

"Can I have Cassandra Stone in row three, seat three, please?" Mrs. Stall said.

Fudge. I was next to Daniel.

I took my seat and he said, "How'd you get in this class? I mean; you're in eighth grade."

"Um, don't ask me. Oh, but Jorge says thanks for forcing me to break up with you all those months ago," I said.

"Why is Jorge thanking me for that?" Dan asked.

"Because he's my boyfriend now," I said.

"Oh. Congrats," Daniel said, with a hint of jealousy in his voice.

Mrs. Stall handed out the textbooks and handed us a packet.

"That's due Monday. It's a review of last year, and you can use last year's notes or anything you want except your friend. You can use your friend to help, but you cannot copy a friend's answers. You can start it now," she said.

"Can we work together?" someone asked.

"As long as one person doesn't do all the work," Mrs. Stall said, and Kristy got up and walked over to my desk.

"Hey. It's nice to see you again. Are you going to show up in all my math classes in high school?" Kristy asked.

"I have no idea. But it's nice to see you too," I said.

Kristy lowered her voice and said, "Emily told me it was all her fault."

"Yeah, I don't care whose fault it was. I'm over him and I've moved on," I said.

"Moved on as in you're dating someone else?" Kristy asked, raising her eyebrows. "Yeah," I said.

"As of when?" Kristy asked.

"A week ago," I said.

"Wow, who?" Kristy asked.

"Jorge," I said.

"Oh, I so could have seen that! Aw, you guys are cute together. You and Andy and Anna have the cutest couples," Kristy said.

"Thanks I guess," I said. "How's Steven?"

"Oh, he's good. We're still together if that's what you were asking," Kristy said.

"Oh, okay," I said.

"You two aren't doing work. I want in," Daniel said, turning his chair to my desk.

"Um," I said.

"Hey, I know you won't get back together with me, but can't we at least be friends? I couldn't stand losing you altogether," Dan said.

"I guess," I said.

Chapter 23

The next day was Anna's thirteenth birthday. I made cookies the night before to have at lunch as a sort of celebration.

When we got to lunch, I unveiled the cookies and said, "They're to celebrate Anna's birthday," I said.

"Aw, thanks, Cassie. You're the best," Anna said, opening the bag and taking a cookie.

"These are really good," she said with a mouthful of cookie.

"They're homemade. I refuse to make cookies from a package," I said.

"Oh, I always make cookies from packages. Is it hard to make them homemade?" Anna asked.

"No, it just takes a little longer. Why don't you come over sometime and we'll make cookies?" I said.

"Sounds like a plan. Ask your mom if this weekend works, Sunday's good for me," Anna said.

Jorge and Andy took a cookie and Andy said, "Wow, yeah, these are really good. They're way better than those Toll House cookies. Why are homemade so much better?"

"I think it's because homemade are made right before, but the store bought dough has been sitting in the store for a few weeks," Jorge said.

"I have an idea. Why don't we all go to Cassie's house to make cookies?" Andy said.

"Sure, I'll ask my mom tonight and let you guys know. I'll call you," I said.

So I got home and asked mom if I could have friends over to make cookies.

"Which friends?" Mom asked.

"Anna, Andy and Jorge. They've never made homemade cookies, and they really enjoyed the ones I made for Anna's birthday today," I said.

"Oh, sure. Just a few friends is fine. When did you want this to happen?" Mom asked.

"Sunday," I said. "They can come over around noon and we can make cookies."

"Sure. That sounds like fun," Mom said.

So I went and called my friends. "We're making cookies Sunday at noon," I said.

"What's your address?" Jorge said.

"You've never been to my house?" I asked.

"Nope, and neither has Andy," Jorge said.

"Oh, right," I said, and told him my address.

Chapter 24

Sunday rolled around and Anna was the first to arrive. Then Jorge and Andy came at the same time.

"Your house is huge!" Jorge said.

"I'll take that as a compliment," I said, and showed them to the kitchen. I preheated the oven, then got out the bag of chocolate chips. We sampled a few, and made the dough. There was a bit of a flour fight. We all ended up with some flour in our hair or on our shirts. But we got the mix made, and ate some raw dough as we spooned the dough out onto the cookie sheets. I put the timer on ten minutes and told my friends we'd check on them when the timer went off.

"This is the part I know how to do. Figure out when they're baked and when they're not," Anna said.

Mom came down a little later, and said, "They smell good. How are they coming?"

"Well, the first two trays are in the oven, and they should be done soon," I said, as the timer beeped.

I grabbed an oven mitt and pulled out the cookies to inspect them.

"No, they need time," Andy said, glancing over my shoulder.

"I know, but my oven cooks unevenly so I needed to make sure one side wasn't cooked and the other wasn't. Otherwise if I put them back in, they'd burn," I said.

"Oh, all right. Makes sense," Andy said, and I turned the tray around and put it back in.

Then I decided to turn the other tray around. I set the timer for 3 more minutes, and when that timer went off, I pulled the cookies out. They were golden brown and beautiful.

I pried them off the tray with a spatula and said, "Have one while they're hot. They're definitely the best when they're hot. I'll be right back, I need to offer a few to my parents."

I grabbed two napkins off the table and grabbed four cookies, putting two on each napkin. I hunted down my mother, who was in her room, and I handed her one of the napkins.

"Thanks, Cassandra. They smell delicious," Mom said.

"You're welcome," I said, and went to find Dad.

I found him sitting in his chair in the "library", reading a book.

"I brought you some cookies," I said, handing them to him.

"Oh, thanks," Dad said.

"Welcome," I said, and headed back to the kitchen.

Anna was prying the second batch of cookies off the tray, and there was the third tray in the oven. Jorge and Andy were putting more dough on the first tray, which was on top of a hot pad.

"Wow, good job guys," I said.

"Well, we didn't want you to think we were slackers," Jorge said, laughing, and tossed his head to get the piece of hair that often hung in front of his eyes to move.

That piece of hair was really cute, but that isn't my favorite part of him, in case you were curious. In case you care, my favorite part about him is a tie between his smile, his laugh and his eyes. His eyes are a rich chocolate brown, and they seem to sparkle whenever he's looking at me. His smile is a sort of crooked smile, and I don't know why it's so appealing, but it is. And his laugh, it just sounds like music. Sometimes I wait for him to say something funny, or I try to say something funny just to hear that beautiful sound.

"I wouldn't think you were slackers. If you guys had just been standing around, I would have figured you wouldn't know what to do next and you needed my guidance," I said, laughing.

"We're not that dependent on you with the cookies. It was more the making the dough that was the problem," Anna said, smiling.

Then she picked up the cookie she'd just put on the foil and handed it to me. "If I remember correctly, you didn't have a hot cookie yet. They're definitely the best when they're hot," Anna said, and Jorge laughed.

"Are you quoting me?" I said, taking the cookie.

"Well, yes and no. I purposely used the exact wording you did, but I believe it's true. The hot cookies are amazing. They're extra moist and the chocolate chips seem to melt in your mouth," Anna said.

"Have you really never had a hot cookie?" I asked.

"Nope. Mom always says we should let them cool before we eat them," Andy said, and Anna nodded.

"Well you should tell your moms that she's wrong. Maybe she's just been taught to let them cool. Maybe she's never tried a hot cookie," I said, as the timer went off.

I grabbed the oven mitt from Anna and took the cookies out of the oven. Anna was putting dough on the tray she'd just taken cookies off of, and the tray Jorge and Andy had been preparing had already been put in the oven. Andy set the timer for seven minutes.

I pried the third tray's cookies off the tray, and Anna said, "There's no more space on the tray, but there's still some dough left. What do I do?"

"Well, we have two choices. Three, really. One. You can add more dough to the cookie piles on the tray. Two, you can use this tray to put the remaining dough. Or three, we can eat the dough," I said.

"I'm going to go with three," Andy said, and Jorge laughed.

"OK, three it is!" I said. I grabbed Anna's tray and put it into the oven. I turned the ones in there while I was in the oven. Jorge, Anna and Andy were eating the dough, and I grabbed some for myself. The trays in the oven finished at their various times, and Jorge took the cookies off the trays. Then I went into the cabinet for plastic bags. I pulled out three gallon sized bags. Then I counted the cookies. There were fifty-six cookies.

I did the math in my head, and said, "OK, there's approximately eighteen for each of you."

"Wait a second, that leaves you with two cookies," Jorge said, after doing the math himself.

"It's fine. I can make more," I said.

"No, we'll take fourteen each, then you'll have fourteen as well," Anna said.

"Oh, it's fine. Take up to eighteen," I said.

They all picked a few cookies and I was left with approximately fourteen. The doorbell rang, and I went to answer it.

"Hey, Cassandra," Mrs. Baker said.

"Hi. Wait here, I'll go get him," I said.

Then I went into the kitchen to find Andy.

"Andy, your mom is here," I said.

"Oh, okay. I'll see you in school tomorrow. Come on, Jorge," Andy said, kissing Anna.

Jorge kissed me and said, "I'll see you in school tomorrow. Thanks for having me over to make cookies. I had a blast."

"Oh, it's no problem. See you tomorrow," I said.

They left and Anna said, "You know, I think you and Jorge make a much cuter couple than you and Dan, no offense."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" I asked.

"Yeah! I mean, I'd always tell you the truth, because best friends don't lie. I didn't lie when I said you and Dan were cute, because you were, it's just you and Jorge is cuter. I don't know what makes it cuter, because they're both really cute, though not as cute as Andrew, though," Anna said.

"Oh, did I tell you, Daniel and Kristy are in my math class again. The teacher put us in alphabetical order, and somehow I ended up next to him. She gave us a packet that we've been working on, and Dan, Kristy and I are all working on it together. Kristy told me she talked to Emily and she admits that she kissed Dan, but even with that, I'm over him. Jorge is better, I don't know why I didn't see it earlier," I said.

"Oh, wonderful. Just don't let yourself fall for him again, because I think sometimes even when you think you're over someone, you might really not be," Anna said.

The doorbell rang and Anna's mom came to pick her up.

Anna said, "I'll see you in school tomorrow. Thanks for teaching me to make cookies."

"Anytime. Just remember, tell your mom that eating the cookies while they're hot is the best," I said.

Anna smiled. "I will do that. Bye!"

Chapter 25

The school has decided to have its first annual Halloween Dance. You're supposed to dress up in a costume, which makes sense, because it's a Halloween dance. It's October thirteenth, and we're at lunch. The dance is two weeks from today. They announced the dance yesterday, and we're finally starting to shell out ideas. Oh, and it also happens to be my thirteenth birthday. Fun, right? Friday the thirteenth, thirteenth birthday? Genius.

"How about Harry Potter characters?" Andy said.

I immediately shot that down.

"No way. Dan, Kristy and Steven were Harry Potter characters last year. Besides, there are more important boys than girls. There's only one girl that's really important. So either Anna or I would have to dress like a guy," I said.

"I wouldn't mind that, but if Dan, Kristy and Steven did it last year, I don't think we should do it this year. How about we be Disney people, like Cinderella and Snow White? You guys can be the princes and Cassie and I can be the princesses," Anna said.

"Yeah, hate to shoot that idea down too, but I was a princess last year," I said.

"Why would a princess hang out with wizards?" Andy asked.

"I don't know. I didn't know their costume theme until it was too late," I said.

"Oh all right. Ummm how about aliens?" Andy said.

"No! Ew! I'm not putting green paint on my face," Anna said.

"What about pirates?" Jorge suggested.

"I like that!" I said.

"Yeah, like Pirates of the Caribbean!" Anna said.

"What do you say, Andy?" I asked.

"Pirates works. I actually love that idea. I'm jealous that you had the winning idea, Jorge," Andy said. "I'll be Will Turner."

"Can I be Jack Sparrow?" Jorge asked.

"Yeah, but who should be Elizabeth?" Anna asked.

"You should be. I can just be a random pirate wench," I said.

"You sure?" Anna asked.

"Yeah, besides, I think Will Turner and Elizabeth are sort of dating, only not really," I said.

"All right, it's settled. I'll be Captain Jack Sparrow, Andy will be Will Turner, Anna will be Elizabeth, and Cassie will just be a pirate wench who belongs to Jack Sparrow. It works," Jorge said.

"I don't belong to you. I'm just your girlfriend," I said.

"I was exaggerating, sorry Cassie. You'll be a pirate wench who hangs around Jack Sparrow, then," Jorge said, putting his arm across my shoulders.

Anna handed me a cookie.

"Eat this. I might have to be offended if you don't eat the cookies I made you on your birthday. Plus, they're homemade. I promise," she said.

I took the cookie, and bit into it.

"Wow, these are good!" I said.

"I added an extra ingredient!" Anna said.

Jorge stopped moving his cookie midway to his mouth.

"And what would that be?" Andy asked.

Anna laughed. "Oh, come on. Do you guys really think I'd poison you? It wasn't a physical ingredient, it was a mental ingredient," she said.

"How do you add a mental ingredient to a cookie?" Andy asked, as Jorge decided it was safe to eat the cookie and took a bite.

I finished my cookie and Anna said, "I added love to the cookies. My mom always tells me she added love to anything I tell her is good, so I figured I'd add some love to my cookies."

"Oh, that's sweet," I said, hugging her.

"Happy birthday, Cassie. I'm sorry your birthday landed on a Friday the thirteenth," Anna said.

"It was inevitable. It would have happened eventually. It's just a coincidence that it's my thirteenth birthday," I said.

"The Friday the thirteenth stuff is fake," Andy said.

"Is it?" Jorge asked, a mouthful of cookie.

"Yeah. It's just superstition. I don't believe in superstition, like the mirror thing. You may think you have seven years of bad luck, but you really just make it that way without realizing it," Andy said.

"That sounds plausible," Jorge said.

"Yeah, I guess it does," I said.

Math came, and I got to class on time.

"Hey, happy birthday," Kristy said as I walked in the room.

"Thanks," I said.

When Dan walked in and saw me, he said, "Happy birthday, Cassie."

"Thanks," I said.

Mrs. Stall came in and handed out a quiz.

"Take out a sheet or two of loose-leaf, there is a quiz today. All answers and work must be on the loose-leaf," Mrs. Stall said.

"Come on, pop quiz on Friday the thirteenth?" someone called out.

"Friday the thirteenth is just superstition. It is no different than any other day, and it being October does not impact anything. Just take the quiz. It's based on the homework from last night, so it may look familiar," Mrs. Stall said.

I did the homework last night. Smart move, on my part, and it was a good thing I'd been able to get all of the problems. I didn't want to jeopardize my ninety-eight average. The quiz was actually the page in the textbook that the homework had been on, copied, with certain numbers circled. The directions at the top of the page said, "Complete the circled exercises".

There were two easy ones circled, and three harder ones circled. Then, at the bottom of the page, there was a starred question that said, "Bonus- 2 points". I figured I'd attempt that in case I had made a stupid mistake that I didn't catch. It was the hardest question on the homework. I'd struggled with it, but I think I'd finally gotten the right answer. I'd realized that the quadratic wouldn't factor, so I went to the quadratic equation, and I think I'd gotten the right answer. It was kind of strange, and it had a radical in it. Foiling was kind of hard, as was solving those quadratics.

The girl I'd learned was called Barbara handed in her quiz and Mrs. Stall handed her a packet and said, "This is tonight's homework. It's nothing new, it's just practice with what we learned yesterday. This will be handed in for a grade on Tuesday."

Don't get me wrong, Mrs. Stall was really nice, but she had to stop with the graded packets. Fine, it was only the second one being graded, but she handed out a different packet every week! I guess this was high school math- a lot of packets.

I handed my quiz in and Mrs. Stall said, "Here's your packet, it's due Tuesday beginning of class."

"Thanks," I said, taking my packet back to my seat.

I finished about ten questions by the time the bell rang. Harold took me back to the middle school, where Mom was waiting to pick me up.

For my birthday, I'd only asked for one thing. A guitar. I wanted to learn to play guitar. What did I get for my birthday? Well, I got some clothes, a pair of sneakers, and the guitar I wanted, with demo videos that were supposed to teach me to play.

"Honey, we got you a right handed guitar, but only because the guy at the store told me that it's just as hard to try and learn right handed as it is to learn left handed. I figured he knew more than I did, so I listened to his advice. And we got you demo videos so you can teach yourself, because we think you're capable of teaching yourself. If you feel you need lessons, just let us know," Dad said.

I hugged him. They'd gotten me what I wanted. That night, I watched those videos and played until my fingers were numb. I think I'd picked up on a few chords.

Chapter 26

The next day was Jorge's birthday. I'd gotten him a present. It's a CD, Bon Jovi, Slippery When Wet. He told me he only owned one Bon Jovi CD, Cross Roads, even though Bon Jovi was his favorite band. I started wondering if that had been a bad idea by the time I was starting to get ready. We were going to one of those fun centers. When I got there, he was waiting just inside the entrance, because it was starting to get chilly out again.

"Happy birthday, Jorge, " I said, giving him a hug.

I held out the present. It was wrapped, because who gives an unwrapped present?

"You didn't have to get me anything! I mean, I actually got you something, but I didn't expect anything!" Jorge said, pulling out a similar looking package.

We swapped gifts and he tore the paper off.

"Whoa, is this the CD where Livin' on a Prayer was debuted?" he asked, flipping it over.

"Yeah. You said you only had Cross Roads, so I figured I'd get you a different one," I said.

I carefully took the paper off my package and saw two CDs. I looked at the covers. They were Hilary Duff CD's.

"Um, I know it sounds weird, but she's actually really good. I think you'll like her, but if you don't, sorry. I mean, you kind of look like her, and I thought it would be cool for you to have these," Jorge said, sort of sounding like he'd done something stupid.

"No, I loved her in The Lizzie McGuire Movie. I didn't know she had a solo album out! Let alone two!" I said.

"For your information, the self-titled one is better. Not that the other one isn't good, it's just the self-titled one's better," Jorge said.

"Sounds good. Hey, let's go channel our inner toddler and jump on the bouncy castle," I said.

Chapter 27

On Sunday, Mommy and I went shopping for my Halloween costume, before it got too close to Halloween and all the right sizes were gone, and I'd be stuck with either an oversized costume or a costume that wasn't really that cool. We picked out a costume with a long, ragged skirt and a puffy blouse. We went to Claire's (the jewelry store, not my friend's house) and got gold hoop earrings and other accessories. We went to other stores and hunted down a belt that would work. We finally found one in TJ Maxx.

On Monday, in math, I learned that I was the only one who got the bonus from the test right.

"Cassandra is the only student to get the bonus right. Now, naturally, I don't give grades higher than a hundred, so your two bonus points will be added to a future test," Mrs. Stall said.

"Who is Cassandra?" some guy in the back asked.

This guy from the back liked calling out a lot. This was like the eighth time this year he'd called out. It was often a question that asked Mrs. Stall what something on the board said.

"Does it matter?" I said.

"Yeah, because I'm pretty sure there's no one named Cassandra in our grade," the guy said.

"That's because she's not in our grade, Bob," Kristy said.

"Oh, did you flunk this class last year so you have to take it again?" Bob asked.

"Bob, Cassandra is in eighth grade. She was in our math class last year," Kristy said.

"Oh, okay. Fine," Bob said.

Chapter 28

The dance finally rolled around. By then, my fingers bled daily because of the extent of guitar practice I was doing. I could easily play practice track one on the video, and I could sort of play the second one. I wasn't as good at that one. I loved Jorge's present, the Hilary Duff CD's. I learned the words to Someone's Watching Over Me the Tuesday before the dance. It was a nice song. Well, it's 5:30, and it's time to dress like a pirate. I pull the skirt and blouse on, wrap the belt around my middle and put on all the jewelry. I puff out my hair a bit, and when Mom calls down to me that it's time to go, I'm ready. I grab my jacket, because there has to be somewhere to put it at the dance.

When Mom drops me off she says, "Have a good time. Call me if you want to leave early."

"OK. Bye Mom," I say, and hop out of the car and head to the gym, where they're holding the dance. When I get there, I spot Jack Sparrow, Michael, Jorge, whatever he wants to be called. We've kind of dropped the Michael thing, but he brought it back then.

"Hey, Michael. Wow, I haven't called you that in a while. You look awesome," he said, kissing my cheek.

I decided not to tell him he missed this time. I figured he didn't always have to kiss my lips. The cheek was okay some of the time. Andy and Anna walked in just then, and they looked amazing.

"You guys look great!" I said, giving them each a hug.

"You look very cute yourself. I'll bet you went to Claire's for accessories," Anna said.

"I did. But why dress up only a little? Why not go full out?" I asked.

We danced the night away, and at 10:15, Mr. Law came up by the DJ and took his microphone. He was wearing a white wig like the ones you see on old presidents in their portraits, and he had on what looked like a Revolutionary War costume. I smiled. Mr. Law was pretty cool.
"Hello, students. What we didn't tell you was that this was a contest to see who had the best costumes. I'm looking around, and one group clearly sticks out. No students voted, just myself and the three other teachers here today, Miss Mignonette, Ms. Valid and Señor Ramirez. We had intended to pick only two winners, a boy and a girl, but this group of four all had the same theme and pulled out all the stops. I'd like to announce the winners to be the Pirates of the Caribbean quartet, complete with Jack Sparrow, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan. There is also the additional pirate wench.

"So will Jorge Espinoza, Andrew Baker, Annabelle Powell and Cassandra Stone please come to the front so everyone can see your awesome costumes?" Mr. Law said.

People applauded, and we made our way to Mr. Law.

Some eighth grader in our history class said, "It's a set up. They're his favorite students!"

"Mr. Wyatt, I'm afraid it is not a set up. The three other teachers agreed with me completely," Mr. Law said.

"As your prize, you get to pick the remaining two songs," the DJ said.

We all looked at each other, and nodded.

"Livin' on a Prayer and Everytime We Touch," Andy said.

The DJ put on our first choice, and we went all out, singing and dancing and jumping, having a great time.

When Mom came to pick me up, she asked, "How was it?"

"It was awesome! We had the best costumes, so we got to pick two songs, and it was just awesome!" I said.

"Well, awesome is good," Mom said.

Chapter 29

That Sunday, I was listening to Someone's Watching Over Me, and unconsciously strumming my guitar. Then I started playing the song. I turned off the music and realized I could play the song. I started singing and playing. I called Jorge.

"Hey, I was just about to call you. What's up?" he answered.

"I learned to play a real song!" I said.

"Really? Do you want to play it for me?" he asked excitedly.

"Yeah, sure!" I said, just as excited.

I put the phone flat on the bed and played and sang Someone's Watching Over Me.

When I was done, I said, "What do you think?"

Jorge didn't answer.

"Hello? Did you hang up on me?" I said, picking up my phone.

"No, sorry, I just was in amazement. You sang the song better than Hilary did!" Jorge said.

"No, I didn't. But thanks anyway," I said.

"You did. Hey, you should do that for the eighth grade talent show!"

"There's an eighth grade talent show? When is it?" I asked.

"It's during the last week of school before Christmas break," Jorge said.

"How do you know?" I said, because I'd heard nothing in school.

"Because I don't just have a younger brother, I have an older sister. She's a junior in high school," Jorge said.

"Really? What's her name?" I asked.

"Angelina," he said.

"We've been friends for a year and I didn't know that. Anything else you've been hiding? A twin who goes to another school, perhaps?" I asked.

"Nope, that's it. And I didn't tell you because it never really came up," Jorge said.

I heard someone speaking to him in the distance.

"OK. Fine, mom. Just give me a second. Cassie, sweetie, I have to go. It's dinner time," Jorge said.

"Bye. See you tomorrow," I said.

Chapter 30

It's now November sixteenth, I just got to the high school and am climbing the steps to math. I believe it's packet day. Mrs. Stall liked giving packets out on Thursdays and Fridays. Today was a Thursday and we hadn't had a packet in a while.

I got to class and when Dan walked in he said, "I have something important to tell you."

"Go ahead," I said, wondering what he could possibly think is important.

"I finally got over you, and I'm going out with this girl Danielle," he said.

"Oh, good, congrats," I said.

"Of course, she's not as amazing as you but…" Dan started, but I cut him off.

"Dan, I don't want to hear it, especially if you have a girlfriend. I wouldn't want to hear that Jorge was telling some other girl she was prettier than me," I interrupted.

"Yeah, then you'd have to break up with him too, wouldn't you?" Dan muttered.

"What was that?" I said.

"Nothing, forget it," he said as Mrs. Stall walked in.

"I have this week's packet," she said, "Monday."

By now she just told us days of the week and we knew it was due then. Dan put his packet on my desk. Kristy came over as well, which was surprising because she had been working with Steven a lot.

"Why aren't you working with Steven?" I asked.

"Because I broke up with him," Kristy said.

"Why? You guys were great together!" I said.

"The spark was gone," Kristy said.

"Oh, all right. I understand. Wait, so after a year does the spark go away?" I asked.

"Not always. I guess it just happens sometimes. I don't know. I'm not a dating expert," Kristy said.

Chapter 31

Why is this year going by so fast? It's now December fourteenth. I've been practicing for the talent show almost nonstop and I do believe it is bugging Jorge.

He just called in the middle of my practice session and I said, when he asked what I was doing, "Practicing. I was in the middle of practice session."

"Oh, all right. I guess I'll see you tomorrow," he said, and then I said, "Wait, wait, wait. I feel like I'm bugging you with all this practice. I can take a break. You're more important than some stupid talent show," I said.

"You're not exactly bugging me, but it's making me a little sad that we haven't seen each other outside of school since December second. What are you doing this weekend besides practicing?" Jorge said.

"Um, nothing that I'm aware of," I said.

"Good. We're going to the fun center again and we'll channel our inner child and get funny looks from the six year olds. I'll meet you there at two," Jorge said.

"Sounds like a plan," I said.

"Well, I'll let you get back to your practicing. See you in school tomorrow, beautiful," Jorge said, and we hung up.

Saturday rolled around and Mom dropped me off. Jorge was standing inside.

"Why are you always here first?" I asked.

"Because I purposely get here at 1:45, or fifteen minutes before I say I'm meeting you, so you don't get paranoid that I'm standing you up, even after three months," Jorge said.

"But don't you get worried that I'm standing you up?" I asked.

"Nope. Come on, let's jump!" Jorge said, racing me to the ticket booth.

We paid our admission fee and headed straight for the bouncy castle. We put our shoes in the little cubbies and climbed onto the castle and started jumping.

An obnoxious child who looked not much younger than us said, "Hey, aren't you two too old to be in here? It's no one over twelve."

Jorge looked at me and I said, "Oh, well we're twelve, we're just a bit big for twelve. What's your name? I'm Cassie."

The little boy just stood there, glaring at us.

Jorge suddenly burst out laughing and said, "Come on, Cassie, we'll go ride the go-karts or something."

So we rode the go-karts, and it was fun. Every time we passed each other, we laughed about the little kid for yelling at us for being on the bouncy castle.

Chapter 32

The talent show rolled around, December twenty-first, the last day before winter break. Yes, freedom! I'm scheduled to go on second to last, and third. Anna and I are doing a dance we choreographed, and I'm doing my song. I bring my change of clothes and my guitar backstage, where we wait until it's our turn to perform. Anna and I are dressed in the little matching skirts we bought, in different colors, with a shirt in the color of the other's skirt.

"Break a leg, girls," Andy said, walking by with Jorge.

They were doing a 2- man version of YMCA. I had suggested getting their brothers to help, but they didn't want to give their brothers the fun of being in two eighth grade talent shows.

"Hello and welcome to the talent show! Today, we have a slew of talented students performing. We have thirty acts in all, out of eighty-five students. This is the biggest turnout we've had in years. Well, without further adieu, let me introduce Claire and Walter, performing a skit they wrote!" the principal said, introducing the talent show.

Claire and Walter appeared to be performing a comedy, because the audience was laughing. A girl named Sara performed her rendition of the star spangled banner, not very well, I must say.

"And now, we have Annabelle and Cassandra, performing a dance for us," the principal said.

Anna and I stepped out and got in our places for our dance, which was to Fly, by Hilary Duff. At the end, we grasped hands and bowed. People were applauding. Anna went down to the audience to watch the rest of the show. Charlotte, Vincent and Brooke sang a duet- Don't Go Breaking My Heart. Charlotte and Brooke sang the same part, and Vincent sang the guy part. Several acts of people I didn't know went on then it was time for the two-man YMCA. I cheered with the crowd, now in my new costume. They got a really loud cheer at the end of their performance. They must have been good. I didn't see them, obviously, because I was stuck behind stage.

Brittani and Jake went out next, after an announcement of a "Surprise act will be performed by Brittani and Jacob."

I had to assume they were doing something inappropriate, because the principal said, "That's enough! Now we have Victoria performing a dance," and Vicki went out.

Vicki, Brittani, Jacob and I had lost touch, and I think they were turning into those snobs you see in movies…the 'popular' kids who look down upon people.

A few more acts went on, then the principal announced, "And now we have Cassandra singing and playing us a song."

I grabbed my guitar, and sat down in the chair that had been placed there.

I pulled the mike down so it would work and said, "Hi, this is not a song I wrote, it's a song by Hilary Duff. It's called Someone's Watching Over Me," I said, and I played the intro, and tacked on the words in the appropriate spot.

When it was over, I stood up and bowed. There was a lot of cheering, and it sounded like there was more than when Jorge and Andy did YMCA.

"Go Cassie!" I heard, and it sounded like it came from Anna, who was next to Claire on one side, and Andy on the other.

I ran backstage to grab my clothes and headed down to the seats and took the vacant one next to my boyfriend.

"That was amazing, Cassie!" Anna said, and Claire said, "You sounded just like Hilary Duff, maybe even better. If you don't try out for the musical, I may have to stop being your friend." I laughed.

Chapter 33

We went to visit Dad's family over Christmas break. They'd moved to New York, so I was finally setting foot in the state of my favorite baseball team. We ran into Jorge at the airport, and he told me he was going to Virginia to visit his new baby cousin.

"Have a good time in New York," he said, when his plane was called to board.

"See you soon," I said.

When we got to New York, we went to the rental car place to pick up a car. Daddy used the directions he'd printed off the Internet to find his sister's house. We parked outside a house smaller than our current house, but bigger than our Seattle house. We got out and Dad rang the doorbell.

"Hi, Chris, Michelle, Cassandra! Wow, you look so grown up! Come in, come in!" my Aunt Betsy said.

I followed her into a large room with a TV. She brought my parents into another room. A teenage guy was sitting there, playing with some sort of game.

"Ryan, surely you remember Cassandra," Aunt Betsy said.

This was cousin Ryan? Wow. He looked so old. He vaguely reminded me of Jorge, except I knew Jorge was cuter.

"Cass? Wow, you look so different!" Ryan said, putting his game on the arm of the couch and coming to hug me.

"So do you!" I said.

"Time ages people, Ryan," a girl's voice said, and soon my cousins Jessica and Kristen appeared.

"It's so nice to see you, Cassie," Kristen said. "The last time I saw you, you were eight years old! Oh, did you dye your hair? It looks lighter."

"Yeah, and you were ten. I didn't dye my hair, it just seems to be getting lighter," I said.

"Huh. Never heard of hair getting lighter unless you bleach it, but okay. How's Michigan? I heard about what happened, and I totally hate that principal. It's partially your friends' fault, because they were egging you on. Didn't you say you hesitated?" Kristen asked.

"Yeah, I hesitated, and they egged me on, so I did it. I really regret it. Michigan's actually not that bad. It may be better than Seattle, even though you have to drive a great distance to go somewhere fun," I said.

"You're in eighth grade now, right?" Ryan said.

"Yeah, aren't you?" I asked, because I thought he was just about the same age as me.

"Yeah, I just wanted to make sure I didn't confuse you with a cousin on Dad's side. There's someone in ninth grade in that side," Ryan said.

"Yeah, but I take a high school math course. I actually go to the high school eighth period and take a class there," I said.

"Oh, right, you're like a math genius," Jessica said.

Jessica is eleven, and I believe in sixth grade.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," I said.

Kristen pulled her phone out of her pocket.

"Robert. Ugh, I'll be right back," she said.

"Who's Robert?" I asked Ryan.

"He's her boyfriend," he said disgustedly.

Uh-oh… I guess I won't tell him I'm dating Jorge…

"Are you disgusted by boyfriends or by Robert?" I asked.

"Oh, no, no, no boyfriends are fine, just not Robert. He's a slob. He always has a food stain on his shirt. And he's way too old for Kristen. He's a senior. Two years is no good. One year is okay. And if I said boyfriends were bad, I'd be calling myself bad!" Ryan said.

"Oh, you have a girlfriend?" I asked.

"Yeah, I asked her out two weeks ago or so. Her name is Sandra, and it's not short for anything," Ryan said.

"Aw, I like that name," I said.

"You would. You wanted me to call you Sandra. Anyways, how is the friend situation? Didn't you move like a year ago though?" Ryan asked.

"We moved in 2005, before seventh grade. The friend situation is amazing. I have three best friends and several other friends," I said.

"How many of your best friends are guys?" Ryan asked.

Jessica sat down and turned on the TV.

"Two. Andrew and Jorge," I said.

"All right, which one are you dating? And don't say neither, because that would so be a lie," Ryan said.

"Um Jorge, and how did you know I was dating one of them?" I asked.

"Easy. Sandra and Katherine are my best friends, and a guy named Tim. Well, there's kind of a third guy, but he doesn't always hang out with us. His name's Evan. He's rather shy. But anyway, I'm dating Sandra. It's simple math. Two guys, two girls. At least one of the guys is dating one of the girls. As a matter of fact, Tim is dating Katherine," Ryan said.

As I said, "Andy's dating Anna, who's my other best friend!" Kristen showed up.

"Oh, please. That logic works on people other than you?" she said to Ryan.

"Apparently. I told you it wasn't BS," Ryan said. "How's Slobby?"

"Robert is dandy. He wanted to call me before his flight to Michigan. He was complaining about how boring Michigan is," Kristen said.

"Not all of Michigan is boring. Detroit's okay," I said.

"I told him that it's impossible for an entire state to be boring, unless it's one of those Dakotas. He didn't believe me. Ugh, I'm going to miss him when he goes to college next year," Kristen said.

"Well, with any luck, he'll go to community college. That is, if he can even get in there," Ryan muttered the second part, I think so that only I could hear.

"Anyway. So did you tell Cassie all about Sandra?" Kristen asked, sliding her phone closed after texting someone.

"No, I basically just told her she exists and was my best friend first," Ryan said.

"So why don't you describe her so Cassie gets a sense of what she's like?" Kristen asked.

"All right. Well, Sandra has pitch-black hair, but I think she dyes it, she's kind of small, like skinny and short, she wears black plastic-rimmed glasses with little rhinestones down the side. She's witty, sweet, sensitive, and completely amazing. What's Jorge like?" Ryan said.

"Who's Jorge?" Kristen said.

"My boyfriend," I said.

"Ugh, is he Hispanic?" Kristen said, wrinkling her nose.

"Um, sort of, why?" I asked.

"Ew. I have never seen a cute Hispanic," Kristen said.

"Be nice, Kris!" Jessica said from the couch. "Plus, you don't know this Jorge."

"Jorge has sort of long, dark hair, with a few locks of hair that fall over his eyes. Sometimes he flicks his head to get the hair out of his eyes, and that's really cute. Um, he has the most amazing brown eyes, they're rich and they sparkle every time he looks at me. He's funny, smart, has an amazing smile and laugh. His smile is a sort of crooked smile. It's just adorable. And his laugh, it just sounds like music. Sometimes I try and say something funny around him just to hear his laugh," I said.

"How long have you been dating him? The way you're describing him it sounds like you've been dating since the day you met or something," Kristen said.

"No, only four months. I had a boyfriend prior to Jorge. He cheated on me," I said.

"Oh, I'm sorry. What was he like?" Kristen said.

"I used to think he was cuter than Jorge, but he really wasn't. He had blue eyes, and he's a freshman in high school now. Daniel Iodine." I said.

"Ugh, there's your problem. He was only one year older than you. One year older than you is no good. Two is the way to go, if you're going to go with an older man," Kristen said.

"Kristen, that's not true. Just because Jonny emailed you naked pictures of himself does not automatically mean that all guys that age are like him," Ryan said.

We had dinner then. We were silent during dinner. Then we went back to talking, this time including Jessica.

"So do you like middle school?" I asked.

"Yeah, there's more freedom than elementary school," she said.

"Wait until you get to high school. There's even more freedom there," Kristen said.

"Let's all name our favorite class!" Jessica said.

"Sure. Why don't you start, since it was your idea," Ryan said.

"I like Science," she said.

"Well, subject wise I'll go with English. But I like lunch as my favorite class of the day," Kristen said.

"Yeah so you can hook up with Rob the Slob," Ryan said.

"Ryan, don't bother," I said.

"I'll have to say I like gym the best, but the class I enjoy being in the most, besides lunch, is Art, because Sandra's in my art class and she sits at my table," Ryan said.

"What's your favorite class, Cassie?" Jessica asked.

"Better question: Which class do you have with Jorge?" Ryan asked.

"If I counted classes I had with Jorge, I'd like every class. But it's a tie between history and math. I like history only because it serves as entertainment," I said.

"How does history serve as entertainment?" Kristen asked.

"Well, my teacher is sort of boring. Well, to some people he is. People take full out naps in his class, and on days before tests, he reminds us while people are still sleeping. Andy, Jorge, Anna and I are the only ones who stay awake, most of the time. During tests, people actually sleep, and the four of us have the job of marking down how long it took the people to wake up and take the test and write down the names of who stayed asleep the entire test. Andy and I did it last year too," I said.

"What kind of a teacher lets people sleep in their class?" Kristen said.

"I don't know, but Andy and I ended the year with one hundred averages last year, because of the two point bonus for not sleeping in a single class," I said.

"Wow! That's awesome. I wish our school was like that," Jessica said.

"I would feel bad for the people sleeping. And why don't you wake them up?" Ryan said.

"I feel bad, but if they want to sleep in class, that's their problem. I have no problem with that," I said.

"Do you guys want dessert?" Aunt Betsy said, coming into the room.

"Yes," we all said at once, and scrambled to our feet.

I had like three brownies and five cookies. Goodbye, skinny body. I was already starting to gain weight. I didn't need the calories that three brownies and five cookies gave me. The adults mulled around talking a bit more, while we watched TV.

Then Dad came into the room and said, "Cass, it's time to go. It was nice seeing you, Kristen, and Ryan and Jessica. Hopefully we'll see you sooner than five years this time."

Ryan was the first to hug me, then Kristen and Jessica hugged me together.

Chapter 34

The rest of break went by fast. After we visited my aunts' house, we headed to New York City and had a good time there for two days. Then we went back home to Hell. I've been thinking lately. When I first came to Hell, I was dead set against it. Now, I love it. It's probably based on the fact that I have some really good friends and an amazing boyfriend. When I stepped foot in Hell Middle School the first day, I figured there might be a possibility I would make friends, but I never imagined that I'd make such amazing friends.

Well, it's the Saturday before I go back to school. Daddy just fell down the steps, and hit his head on a step. I didn't see him do it, Mom did and she told me.

"Cassie!" Mom yells. I come running because of the panic in her voice.

I hope my guitar didn't break.

"What?" I ask, finding her at the foot of the steps.

"Daddy!" I said, and knelt down to see him.

He looked like he was dead, honestly.

I started crying and Mom said, "Cassie, he's not dead, he's unconscious. He tripped down the steps and hit his head. Call 911. Tell them your father hit his head and is now unconscious and you need an ambulance."

I headed to the kitchen phone and dialed.

"Hello what is the emergency?" the 911-man said.

"I need an ambulance. My father just hit his head and is unconscious," I said.

"What is your address?" 911-man asked.

I gave him my address.

The ambulance came within ten minutes. Two men lifted my father onto a stretcher and strapped him down.

"Come with us," they said to Mom.

"Cassie," she said, holding out her hand.

I took it and we followed the men to the ambulance. We climbed in the back and they drove back to the hospital. Mom had hold of Dad's hand. Daddy actually came around as we pulled into the hospital.

"Chris, you fell down the steps and hit your head. You were unconscious!" Mom said.

"I feel awful. I have the biggest headache and my ankle hurts," Dad said.

The men brought Daddy's stretcher into the ER and brought him to a room. They x-rayed Daddy's head and his ankle. It turns out he got a concussion from hitting his head on the step, and a broken ankle. They said he will be on crutches for 6-8 weeks. As far as the concussion goes, he has to stay in the hospital for a few days, then he'll get to come home. The doctors made Mom and I leave, so we took a cab home.

The next day, I did something stupid. Well, I did something that was supposed to be good that turned into me doing something stupid. I was cleaning my room, and I'd moved on to cleaning under my bed. I found the pair of scissors I'd put there over a year ago, and picked them up, remembering how good it felt last time I'd cut my ankle with them. So, stupidly, I hopped on my bed and opened the scissors so the blades would be able to cut. I took off my sock, and I lightly ran one of the blades against my ankle. It felt good, and I couldn't explain why. It was bad, and I knew it, but I did it anyways. This time, I cut until tiny droplets of blood appeared. I started to keep going, until disaster struck.

Mom had come into my room without knocking. I don't know how long she was there, or if she'd even waited to say something when she saw what I was doing.

"What are you doing?" Mom asked.

I looked up. Crap, I'm screwed, I thought. I pulled my pants over the cut, but Mom came over and yanked them back up so she could see the cut.

"Why would you cut yourself?" she asked. "You have at least three friends who really care about you. You have a boyfriend. You have Dad and me. Next time you feel lonely, come talk to me, or Dad, or call one of your friends. Call Jorge. I'm sure he'd love to help you feel better. Play music, just don't cut!"

"I don't know, it feels good," I said.

That was the wrong thing to say, duh.

"Well, if tomorrow weren't Monday, I'd call Dr. Bryan and tell him we need to meet earlier because something has to be bugging you deep inside. I thought you'd gotten better! Nevertheless, I'm coming into your session and telling Dr. Bryan that you were cutting yourself. Did you cut anywhere else?" Mom asked.

"No, just this ankle," I said.

"Well, at least it wasn't your wrist. If you'd done what you did to your ankle to your wrist, you'd be getting stitches, or bleeding to death. Please tell me you don't want to die, Cassandra. You have a lot going for you. You may have an illness, but I haven't seen very much from it lately. Sweetie, please just talk to someone next time," Mom said.

She left, and I picked up my guitar, just strumming random chords. I almost didn't hear the phone.

"Hello?" I answered, putting down the guitar.

"Hey, beautiful. What are you up to?" Jorge asked.

"Well, just before you called I was playing guitar, then before that I got busted for cutting my ankle. I wasn't even depressed, it just felt good, I swear!" I said.

"No! Why would you cut yourself? You have so much good stuff in your life, me included…I think. Baby, don't cut. You could have called me, I wasn't doing anything in the past hour," Jorge said.

"I know. I was being dumb. I'm good at doing stupid things that get me into trouble. The only thing is, they usually involve something sharp and bleeding," I said, lifting my pant leg and looking at the cut.

"You're bleeding?" Jorge said.

"Not really. I only produced a few trickles of blood, nothing even close to what happened with Ray," I said.

"Ray was that guy your friends fucked you over on, right? Where they were all cheering you on? I still don't get how they didn't get in any trouble and you did," Jorge said.

"Yup. Ugh, Jorge, I'm just upset that my daddy's in the hospital. That's probably why I did it," I said.

"Oh, no, why is your dad in the hospital? I'm sorry!" Jorge said.

"He fell down the steps yesterday, hitting his head and knocking himself unconscious. He has a concussion and a broken ankle. He's conscious now, so that's good," I said.

"Oh, no! I'm sorry, baby," Jorge said. "If you were here or I was there, I'd hold you in my arms and never leave, even if you tried to push me away. I care about you a whole shitload, and I don't want to see you sad."

That made me smile a little bit.

"Thanks, Jorge. You're the best. Dan never would have said that. I'm just sorry I made you wait so long for me," I said.

"Don't worry about it. I did sort of think I'd get over you, that you were just a two month thing, then, I started getting jealous of Dan, and that's why I sort of dated Kristy that time. Because I thought since she asked me out, I'd say yes, and then maybe she'd grow on me. I mean, she's cool, so it's not like I was agreeing to date someone I hated. Then I realized it wouldn't work, that I was obsessed with you. That's why when Dan broke up with you, I started talking to you again, so I could be next. Except, I would never ever do what he did to you. I'd never cheat on you, or let another girl try to kiss me. I'd never let another girl come between us, ever. I promise," Jorge said.

"I know. And I believe you mean it," I said.

Chapter 35

The next day I went to DB. But, while at school, there had been an announcement that the musical auditions were this Thursday and Friday. They said, sing a song of your choice. Jorge and I decided to try out. Mom came into the room with me when DB called me in.

"Did you have something you wanted to discuss, Michelle?" DB asked.

"Yes, Dr. Bryan. I went into Cassandra's room yesterday," Mom started and I butted in, "Without knocking."

"Well, yeah, I didn't knock, but she was sitting on her bed sort of hunched over. I asked her what she was doing, and she sat up and pulled down her pant leg. I figured she must be trying to hide something, so I went over to her, pulled up the pants and saw a line of little blood trickles. She cut herself, Dr. Bryan," Mom finished.

DB shifted uncomfortably in his chair, the way he always does, and said, "Why would you do that, Cassandra? We've had our nice chats and you have some good friends."

"I don't know, Daddy's in the hospital. I think that's what caused it," I said, leaving out the fact that it felt good this time.

"Chris is in the hospital? What happened?" David asked.

That's his name, David Bryan. David Marshall Bryan.

"He fell down some steps the other day. He'll be fine," Mom said.

"Yeah, but it was scary! He was unconscious!" I said.

"Well, still, Cassandra, you do know that cutting isn't the answer. You should call a friend or find your mom or dad and talk to them. You shouldn't be hurting yourself," DB said.

"I know, okay, I made a mistake, can we get over it and move on?" I asked.

The way I said it probably provoked David's next comment.

"I think I need to see Cassandra before next Monday," he said in a half whisper.

Immediately, I disagreed.

"No, no, no. No way. No effing way. I'm fine. I just made a dumb mistake, it won't happen again! I was happy before I walked into this office! But of course, when I walked in the office I was no longer happy, but that's the case no matter the circumstances," I said.

But DB the mean asshole just looked at Mom with this odd look on his face…it was a sort of sad look but it had a hidden happiness to it…he'd get to torture me twice this week!

Then he whispered to Mom, "Yeah, we need to meet again this week."

Mom agreed like a little puppy dog. She and Dad liked David for some reason I had yet to understand. They agreed to whatever he said. In the whole year I've been going to him, I don't remember them ever disagreeing with what he said…

So the appointment was set for Wednesday, 6 pm. Thanks, asshole. Interfere with dinner, why don't you? We can't eat at any time between 5 and 6:45, and after that, my stomach starts eating itself and by the time we get dinner, it will be like 8:30 because Mom will have to cook and pretty much nothing she cooks takes less than half an hour. Maybe she'll be nice and take me out to dinner in Detroit. Nah, it's a school night. She wouldn't do that.

Chapter 36

Wednesday came and went. I went to DB's, ate at some Irish pub with Mom and Dad, because they'd let him out of the hospital on Tuesday, and instead of going right back to work, Daddy stayed home, and Mom dragged him to DB's. So the three of us went out for dinner. It was a pretty tasty grilled cheese. After dinner, we drove home. My phone vibrated, and I knew it was Jorge, but I just let it ring. I didn't really feel like talking to anyone at that point. David had made me angry. He had that good quality about him. I could have been in the happiest mood ever, but I'll bet if I had to go see him that day, he'd bring me down. He probably wouldn't mean to…oh wait. Yes he would. Well, I let the phone ring because I didn't want to be mean to Jorge and I didn't want to answer the phone in the car.

When I got home I just did my homework and went to bed. I wasn't tired, but what else was I supposed to do? Well, fine, I could play my guitar or listen to music or call Jorge. I just wasn't in the mood. I woke up at around midnight, and it took me three hours to fall back asleep. So much for getting extra sleep…

In school, at lunch the day after David's, Jorge asked me why I didn't answer my phone any of the times he called me. I decided to lie.

"Oh, no, I didn't hear the phone ring! It must have either died or still been on silent from school! I'm sorry," I said, hugging him.

"It's fine, I was just a little worried. You're okay, though? I wouldn't want to see my baby hurt," he said.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Ugh, I even went to bed early because I didn't think you were going to call. You must have called either before I went to sleep or after or both. I'm sorry," I said.

"What time did you go to sleep?" Jorge said.

"Like 9:30, and I always go to sleep at like 11," I said.

"Oh, I called you at like 8:30, the first time, then I called again at like 10. So you probably wouldn't have gotten the 10 o'clock call, but whatever. It's fine. Don't worry about it. As long as you're all right," he said.

"I'm fine," I said.

This week we'd been sitting in our couples. As in, Jorge and I sat at our own table, and Anna and Andy sat in their own table. At first I liked it, because I could be alone with Jorge but now I was getting worried we were splitting as a group. I decided to confront Jorge about it then.

"So why has our group split? At first it was cool, now it seems like we're not really friends anymore. Like, Anna hasn't called me as much this week, and when she does, it's for literally five minutes. We used to talk for an hour, or at least half an hour. She's my best friend. I don't like it," I said.

"I'm not sure. Well, for the phone calls, you can call her, and try and get her to talk longer," Jorge said.

"You know what, I'm going to try and sit with them. You can come or not, it doesn't affect me," I said, pushing back my chair, grabbing my bag and walking over to Andy and Anna's table.

Andy had Anna's hands in his, and when I saw Anna's face, I saw tears staining her cheeks. I pulled out a chair and sat down, tossing my bag to the floor.

"Hi," I said. "Are you okay?"

"Sort of. Hey, sweetie, can you leave for a second? I want to tell Cassie something you wouldn't understand," Anna said.

Andy nodded, then kissed Anna's hands and headed off, probably to Jorge's table because he hadn't come with me.

"So what's wrong? You've been very distant lately," I said.

"I have? Oh, no, I feel awful, both physically and mentally. I don't mean to be distant, it's just something's going on and I think it's affecting me for the negative," Anna said.

"I'm sorry you feel bad. I don't mean to pry, but what's going on that's making you like this?"

"Promise you won't tell anyone," Anna said.

"I keep secrets, I don't spread them. I promise," I said.

"Um, I got my period on Tuesday. Like my first time. It's making me feel weird, and I have these stomachaches all the time and I can't eat anything but junk, and it's bugging me," she said.

"Oh, no, that's seriously annoying. I promise that stuff goes away when your period's over. It only lasts about a week, but it comes back just about every month," I said.

"You have yours?" Anna asked.

"Yeah, I got it in sixth grade, it was disgusting. I have a nasty story about that, if you'd like to hear it," I said.

"Sure," Anna said.

"Well, it was late June, so it was summertime, and I was going to a party. You know, like an end of year party. Um, I was wearing white shorts, because why shouldn't I, and…"

"Oh no, don't tell me that's when you got your period? Oh, no that's much worse than mine. I feel awful being such a bitch about mine," Anna said.

"No, it's fine. That's not the worst part. Some guy was like, 'Hey Cassandra, you must have sat in some red paint earlier, because there's some on your butt,' and I was like 'what?' so I went to the bathroom and checked. I called my mom to come get me then. No one else in my grade there had gotten theirs yet as far as I knew," I said.

"I'm sorry. You know, for that, and for being a bitch. What are you doing after school?" Anna said.

I bit my lip. "I'm actually trying out for the musical with Jorge," I said.

"Good. That's what Andy and I were doing. I was going to drag you along if you weren't." Anna said, smiling.

I gave her a hug as the bell rang.

As we headed to history, I said, "No more segregated lunch tables. We'll pick one of them and all four of us will share again."

"Deal," Anna said, holding up her hand for a high five.

The end of school came and we headed to the theater. Jorge had his guitar and said I could borrow it, because I'd intended to bring my guitar to accompany me. When we walked in the theater, we saw about 30 people. Granted, about three of them were adults. One of the adults came up to us with sheets of paper.

We filled them out and Andy tried to hand his back to the guy, but the man said, "Keep it and give it to us when you audition."

So we sat down in a row together, and someone turned around and said, "Yes, all four of the people who need to be here are here."

Claire was sitting two rows in front of us.

"Why do we need to be here?" Andy asked.

"Because you guys have the best voices in the entire school as far as I know," Claire said.

"That's nice, thanks Claire," Andy said.

"It's true. You and Jorge have like really awesome voices and Anna and Cassie should probably audition for Broadway rather than this school play," Claire said.

"We're not that good," I said.

"Yeah, and we're only thirteen. They wouldn't give a thirteen-year-old a role on Broadway," Anna said.

"Wow, you're only thirteen? I thought you guys were fourteen," Claire said.

We shook our heads.

Then one of the men standing in the front said, "Hi, I'm Mr. Cost, I'm your director. Now, seeing as we have 30 people here today, we're going to have to cut some of you. Why? Because there's two auditions, and if 30 people are here today, I wonder how many will show up tomorrow. There's a max of 35 people in this show. Generally, people who are trying out for their first play here do not get leads. That depends on the person. Now, there's private auditions and auditions in front of everyone. We'll do the ones in front of everyone now. Who wouldn't mind being auditioned in front of everyone here?"

I decided to raise my hand. I saw Claire and about five other people raise their hand.

"OK, if I could have you all come sit in the front," Mr. Cost said.

Jorge handed me his guitar and said, "Don't break it," then laughed.

"I won't," I said.

I pushed past my friends to the front row.

"Claire, would you like to go first?" Mr. Cost asked.

"Sure," she said.

She handed him her sheet and Mr. Cost asked her, "What are you singing this year, Claire?"

"I'm singing Happy Talk, from South Pacific," she said.

"OK, whenever you're ready," some other guy said.

She sang, and made little movements. Crap, I couldn't exactly make little movements if I'm playing Jorge's guitar…Claire finished and the dude said, "Show up Wednesday. See you later, Claire," the guy said.

"Next," a woman said, and a guy got up and handed his sheet to her.

"Ah, Jonny, good. What are you singing?" the random guy asked.

"Um, I'm singing Any Way You Want It, journey," the guy called Jonny said.

He hopped on stage and sang. He wasn't bad. I still thought Jorge was better, even though I may be biased now…

"Come here Wednesday after school," Mr. Cost said.

Another guy went- Enter Sandman, Metallica. Another girl went, something called Too Little, Too Late. It sounded familiar. Maybe it was on the radio or something. One more girl went, and sang Skater Boy, by Avril Lavigne. It's a good song, but she butchered it awfully, sorry. No offense intended.

"Next? Do we have anyone left? There were only a few people," Mr. Cost said.

I looked around, then took a deep breath.

"Hi," I said, handing them my sheet.

"What are you singing?"

"Um, Weird, by Hilary Duff. Is it okay if I have accompaniment?" I asked.

"Yes, but you have to do it yourself or get a friend to do it," Mr. Cost said.

"I can do it myself," I said, picking up Jorge's guitar and walking on stage.

I saw a chair in dead center of the stage and sat in it. I played the intro and sang. When I saw done, I saw Jorge and Andy exchange high fives.

"Thank you, please come Wednesday," Mr. Cost said, frantically scribbling something on a pad of yellow paper.

Why were we all coming Wednesday? He'd even told the awful girl to come then. I handed Jorge back his guitar, and gave him a kiss.

"I'll see you tomorrow. Call me later," I said.

I gave my other best friends a hug and left. Mom was waiting outside.

"What took so long?" she asked, starting the car after I closed the door.

"Oh, I thought I told you, I was auditioning for the musical," I said.

"Oh, wow, was that today? I'm sorry, I forgot. How do you think you did?" Mom said.

"Not bad, but they said new people generally don't get leads," I said.

"Oh, well, even being in the chorus should be fun," Mom said. "I was never a lead. I was always in the chorus, but it was fun."

Chapter 37

Wednesday showed up, and I reminded mom that morning that I had to stay after for the play. The four of us walked to the theater after my friends met me in the front of the school after my math class.

We sat down in the theater and Claire said, "Hey guys. They're going to announce what play it is now."

"Um, does that mean this will only be like five minutes long?" I asked.

"No, they tell us who got the parts! I'm hoping for something important. I got a decent part last year," Claire said.

"All right, it's time for the announcement of the show. We are doing South Pacific. Brooke Alexandra Samuels will play Ngana, Vincent Valor will play Jerome, Jacob Novel will play Stewpot, and Walter Marist will play Luther Billis. Jason Baker will play Captain Brackett. Andrew Baker will play Lieutenant Joseph Cable. Annabelle Powell will play Liat. Claire Estrella will play Bloody Mary. Jorge Espinoza will play Emile, and Cassandra Stone will play Nellie. Anyone whose name I did not call, please come see me, I have the chorus list; I just don't want to read it out. Congratulations to all our leads," Mr. Cost said.

Claire turned around and said, "Congrats guys, I told you that you were all good. You guys got like the best parts. Do you guys know the plot of South Pacific?"

"No, not really," I said.

"Well, Nellie's the lead female. She's in love with Emile, this French guy who has two kids that you don't meet until the end, Bloody Mary is like this creep, and she has a daughter Liat, who she sets up with Cable. I forget how that one works out. Then there's Billis who's a freak…" Claire said.

"Oh, so I'm playing a freak?" Walter asked, sliding his arm around Claire's neck.

"Hey, I'm a creep, okay? Anyways, it's sort of like a love story and the main attraction is Nellie and Emile, but Cable and Liat are pretty scandalous…so the casting is perfect. Now Anna doesn't have to pretend to like Jorge and Cassie doesn't have to pretend to be in love with Andrew. I think I'm going to go congratulate Mr. Cost on that. I'll be back," Claire said, and went to go talk to the director.

We just sat there, Jorge said, "I'm playing a Frenchman. Good…"

Walter said, "I'm a freak. I'm proud. Hey, so you people all have great voices. Just thought I'd throw that out there."

"Attention!" Mr. Cost said. Everyone shut up.

"The first practice will be tomorrow. I'll give out scripts then, and we'll go over all the lines that were cut, and we'll do a read through. When we get to songs, we'll skip them. Tuesdays will be working with music, full cast. Other days will be other parts of the play. Opening night is May fourth, with a performance at 7 on the fifth, and a performance at 3 on the sixth. We wouldn't want you to be sleeping in your classes because you were up late performing. Although, some teachers tell me you sleep in their classes anyway…See you tomorrow!"

We all got up and Anna said to me, "Hey, I forgot to ask earlier, but do you think your mom could drive me home? My mom's working late and my dad went with my sister on her field trip."

"Yeah, I'm sure my mom wouldn't mind. She's probably waiting outside," I said.

The four of us walked towards the front of the school. Jorge had his arm around my waist. My mom was waiting out front, so Anna kissed Andy, and gave Jorge a hug, and I kissed Jorge and gave Andy a hug. I still found it amusing that out of a set of four best friends, two guys, two girls, that the people they wanted to be with most was one of their best friends. Anna and I headed to my mom's car.

"Hi, mom," I said.

"Hi, Michelle. I sort of need a ride home, because my mom's working late and my dad's on my sister's field trip," Anna said.

"Sure, anytime!" Mom said.

Mom drove Anna to her house and Anna gave me a hug and thanked my mom.

"See you in school tomorrow, Cassie," she said, and headed for her house.

Mom made sure she got inside okay, and drove home. When we were about halfway home I realized I should have asked her to come over for a bit so she wouldn't be home alone. Oh well. Hopefully she won't hate me for that.

The next day, I got to math a few minutes late.

There'd been a lot of traffic for some reason, and I said to Mrs. Stall, "Sorry, there was a strange amount of traffic for some reason."

"It's okay. We're working on this," she said, handing me yet another fucking packet.

Sorry for the language. I just HATE all these packets. And half of them are graded. I mean, I have a 97 average, but it annoyed me that we were doing these packets. I mean we barely had any tests. It was just 'I'm grading this packet. Have it done by insert day here.' Kristy had given up on asking if we could work together and just brought her chair over.

Dan still spoke to me. Today, he had news.

"So, I ended it with Danielle. Um, she was cheating on me. It hurt a shitload to find that out."

"Really? I had no idea!" I said, being mean for some reason.

"Don't start," I added before he was going to say anything.

The only problem was, it actually hurt to remember that. I think I was falling for him again. But I couldn't tell anyone. Anna would have a fit, Jorge would be jealous again, and Andy would probably be mad…but he wasn't the one I really cared about what they'd say. I cared about what Jorge and Anna would say. Plus I was dating Jorge. He'd kill me if I broke up with him for Dan. I could guess.

Then Kristy said, "Claire told me you got the lead in the musical. I'm proud of you. You must be an excellent singer."

"You've heard me sing, haven't you?" I asked, then remembered she wasn't at Anna's party.

"No, I haven't. But I'm not about to ask you to break out in song in the middle of math," Kristy said.

"I would, but I think Stall's a bit mad right now. Someone told her people cheat on her tests. Not the ones she gives us, but the geometry ones. They wear bracelets and draw stuff under them to help them remember things," Dan said.

Uh-oh. That didn't help my case. Him still pining for me, however secretively it is, is making me like him more and more.

"Students, can you listen up, please?" Mrs. Stall asked. "Your midterm is coming up. It takes place on the twenty-third of January, at eight thirty in room A220."

I raised my hand.

"Yes, Cassandra?" Mrs. Stall asked.

"Um, just curious, but do I have to take that too? Because I'm not actually enrolled in the high school," I said.

"Well, yes. It's part of the class. After class, come with me and we'll get the administration to write a note saying you'll miss class that morning," Mrs. Stall said.

"Oh, okay, thanks," I said.

"What the hell is a midterm?" I asked Kristy, lowering my voice.

"Um, it's a big test on everything you've learned that year. I heard they're scary," she said.

"Thanks, make me feel a lot better, why don't you," I said.

"Sorry," she said, writing her name on her packet.

So Mrs. Stall and I worked out the details of the exam, so I would take it with the rest of my class. Then she sent me off to Harold, so he could take me to practice. Before I headed to the theater I dropped off the note to the secretary.

"OK, sounds good," she said, after she read it.

I met my friends and we headed to the theater. Mr. Cost handed us each a script. He went through it, telling us what was cut, and then we had a read though.

After practice, Jorge said, "There's nothing in there about us kissing! I don't like that." I laughed.

Chapter 38

The next day, disaster struck. Jorge was waiting for me just inside the school. I did not like how that looked. He looked like shit, too. As in, his eyes were sort of red, and he just looked awful.

"What's wrong? You do not look good at all," I said.

"Look, just know what I'm about to say is not because I want it, but I'm being forced. We have to break up. Mom said so," he said, avoiding eye contact with me.

I could feel my face turning white.

"What? Why? I thought she liked me!" I said.

"That's not the problem, Cassie. I got a sixty-five on a math test a few days ago. Math is my strong point. I had to get it signed, even though it's not a failing grade, and Mom said that I wouldn't have gotten a sixty-five if I was focusing on my school work rather than you. I'm sorry. I truly care about you. Maybe I can convince her, but for now, we're just best friends and nothing more. It kills me inside, but I have no choice. I'm deathly sorry, Cassie," he said.

"Don't worry about it. It's only the second time in a year my heart has been broken. Don't worry about it. Just don't stop talking to me like you did when I was dating my ex," I said, not bothering to say Dan's name, even though I didn't mind it anymore.

"I'll do my best, but we can't talk as often and as long as we do now," he said.

I saw a fresh tear roll down his cheek, and I reached out for a hug. Hugs between friends are allowed, right? If they're not, then oops, because I've been hugging Andy for quite some time. We walked up to art, where Anna and Andy were sitting. I saw the horror in Anna's face when we walked in.

"What happened?" she said.

"Mom's making me end it with Cassie because of that sixty-five," Jorge said.

"Oh, shit, dude. I'm sorry," Andy said.

"Don't worry about it. It's more Cassie I feel sorry for. She said it herself, this is the second time someone broke her heart in a year," Jorge said.

"Shit, Dan was in this year?" Andy asked, confused.

"Not this physical year, but in a twelve-month period, yeah," I said rather meanly.

I was angry. I really liked Jorge. I thought he was making it up, like maybe he was too immature to actually handle a girlfriend. like he'd tried for four and a half months, then realized he couldn't do it, so he made up some bullshit story. It hurt a whole shitload. I mean, yeah, Dan's cheating hurt more but I watched him kiss another girl. With Jorge, he just sort of pulled the rug out from under me.

"I'm really sorry," Jorge said again.

"Don't worry. It doesn't hurt as bad. Besides, as long as you stay my best friend I'll heal in no time," I said, I lied, pretending so that he wouldn't think I was a bitch, therefore giving me first chance to be his girlfriend when he was ready again.

But when I walked to math, I walked with slumped shoulders and no smile. I managed not to cry, but, since it was yet another packet day (what did I expect? Yesterday was a packet day. It usually lasts 3 classes), Kristy came over and immediately knew something was wrong.

"What happened? You do not look okay," she said, which made Dan turn.

I believe he might have even worked on the packet by himself today, if it hadn't been for Kristy's comment.

"Oh, yeah, you look pretty crappy. I've seen you look crappier, but that was my own fault. What's wrong?" he asked.

I figured, might as well tell them, for fear they'll ask me one day "How's Jorge?" and I'll be like, "He's fine…why does it concern me?"

"Um, Jorge broke up with me, because his mom said he had to, or so he says," I said.

"What? She let you go out for months, untouched, then suddenly just pulls the plug? Wow, I really don't like Mrs. Espinoza," Kristy said.

"Well, there was more reason than that. He'd gotten a sixty-five on a math test, and he's good at math, so his mom blamed it on him spending too much time focusing on me and not his work. It just hurts. I mean, he's still my best friend but I'm afraid he'll stop talking to me again, like when he was jealous," I said, refusing to look at Dan.

"Jealousy is a bitch," Dan said.

Shoot. Don't tell me the roles reversed…Dan's jealous of Jorge? It is actually possible. He still seems to like me. Only, Dan talked to me over these four and a half months. Shit, it's only been four and a half months? It feels like so much longer!

Chapter 39

Over the time between when Jorge broke up with me and the midterm, I studied like I'd never studied before. I missed dinner like three times in the ten days. Then, one week from when Jorge had broken up with me, I realized something. Not only had he broken up with me on a Friday, but it had been the twelfth. I'd found Dan cheating only eleven months earlier almost exactly. That had been the thirteenth. Except, now I was starting to believe that he was telling the truth. He hadn't done it on purpose, and I have to admit, you probably can't stop someone from kissing you. Shit, I think I was in love with Dan. No, no, no, not allowed. Math. Yes. Math is good. Polynomials. FOIL. Good shit.

The midterm rolled around.

Mom drove me to the high school and said, "Good luck, Cassie. I know you'll do great."

I headed in and found Dan standing there.

"Hi. I figured you didn't know where A220 was. I'll show you," he said.

He guided me, and it was making it harder and harder for me to not just blurt out, "I love you and I'm sorry I've been sort of shunning you for the past 11 months, I know it wasn't your fault, take me back!"

He opened the door for me like a gentleman.

I started to take the first seat I saw, but he said, "Come sit by me and Kristy."

So I followed him to where they were sitting, the absolute middle of the classroom. A lady who looked familiar walked into the room.

"Hi, I'm your proctor. All you need is a pencil and a calculator. You can put the rest of your stuff up front and we'll get started," the lady said, cleaning her red glasses on her sweater.

I dug around in my bag for a pencil and calculator and put my bag upfront.

The teacher took attendance and when she got to my name, she said, "Cassandra Stone? Wait, I thought you were in eighth grade."

Then I recognized her as last year's English teacher, Mrs. Hudson.

"Well, yeah, I am, I'm just in this one class here," I said. "I thought you taught at the middle school!"

"I got transferred," Mrs. Hudson said.

She handed out the answer sheet and a lot paper and then she handed out the test. It was much harder and longer than any test I'd ever seen before. I plowed my way through it, and eventually I saw people get up and leave. I got more and more nervous as I worked on section three as more people left.

"Ten minutes left," Mrs. Hudson said.

I worked on the questions and just as I put the box around my last answer, Mrs. Hudson said time was up. She collected the tests from the three people still in the room (me included), and I left, after picking up my bag. At the front of the school, Harold wasn't waiting. Dan and Kristy were.

"What did you think?" they asked.

"It was hard! I think I failed that!" I said.

"I'm sure you didn't fail. You're a genius," Kristy said.

Harold appeared, and I waved and went back to my school.

"It's fifth period about to start," he said.

"Oh, okay, thanks," I said.

I headed towards the cafeteria. I heard the bell on my way. I took my seat at the table and Jorge was the first to appear.

"Hi, where were you today?" he asked.

"I was killing myself on the algebra midterm. I so failed that," I said.

"I'm sure you didn't fail," he said.

"How was the morning?" I asked.

"It was okay. I took your seat in class, because I didn't like being isolated from Anna and Andy even if it was only one seat," he said.

"Oh. Do I get my seat back?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's just you weren't there, and who else was going to sit there?" Jorge asked, looking up from his sandwich.

I noticed the sparkle in his eyes was still there. What the hell was it still doing there?

"I don't know," I said, as Andy and Anna came back with hot lunch on trays.

"Bitch, where were you?" Anna asked. "You just show up for lunch?"

"No, I was failing my algebra midterm. You do not want to be in honors next year. Trust me, that midterm is fucking hard. I probably got a fifty if I was lucky," I said.

"Oh, stop, you didn't get a fifty. You probably got an eighty," Andrew said.

"Yeah, eighty," Anna said.

"But that will bring down my average!" I said.

"Um, so would a fifty. A fifty would be worse," Jorge said.

"Oh, okay. I knew that. But still I can't have a B average!" I said.

"Cassie, please. A B is good. You can't keep getting A+'s forever!" Jorge said.

For some reason, that threw me over the edge.

"Yeah, well you need to come up with a better excuse to break up with your next girlfriend…'My mom says so'. Give me a break. You're just too immature. Bye," I said, and picked up my uneaten sandwich and backpack and headed over to Claire's table.

"Hey, Cassie," she said.

"Hi, can I sit here?" I said.

"Sure. But why aren't you sitting with Anna? I thought she was your best friend," Claire said.

"He's giving me a hard time," I said.

Shit. Now I couldn't say Jorge's name? What is this?

"He who?" Walter asked.

I took a deep breath and said, "Jorge. He said I can't keep getting A+'s forever. You see, I just took a midterm, and I think I failed it. I was saying it would hurt my average, and I didn't want a B average, and he said I can't get A+'s forever," I said.

"Oh, yeah, midterms. You actually had to take that?" Claire said, munching on a carrot stick.

"Yeah, they said it was part of being in the course," I said.

"Oh, that sucks. So they're hard, then?" Walter asked.

"Well, maybe it was just this one. But this one was hard. Although, I bet if you ask Kristy she'll say it was easy," I said.

"She doesn't usually think math is easy. But she's been in honors her whole life," Claire said.

"Ugh, Claire, I have a problem and I need someone's help. I can't ask any of my other friends, because Anna will flip out and he'll be jealous and Andy will, you know whatever. I need help," I said.

"Surely. What can I do for you?" Claire said, picking up another carrot stick.

"Well, you remember um your sister's best friend, right?" I said.

"Sure, he was over last weekend studying with Kristy. What about him?" Claire said.

"Well, obviously we broke up, like a year ago, and I got over him, then I started falling for him again. Like almost as hard as when I first met him," I said.

"Why'd you break up in the first place?" Walter asked.

"Well, umm, about that. I went looking for him at lunch one day and I found him outside the gym, with some girl. She said something like be my valentine because it was the day before Valentine's Day, and she kissed him. Yes, she did it. I believe him now, a year later. I've realized it's probably impossible to push someone completely away when they want to kiss you. They'll just do it anyway. That's what happened. I dumped him then, but now I sort of want him back," I said.

"Oh. But what about Jorge? You can't date two guys at once," Claire said.

"That's fine. I won't have to. He gave me some lame excuse and dumped me. The only thing that hurt more than that was Dan sort of cheating on me," I said.

"Well, I could probably help. Don't ask him out. Make him do it. I'll drop hints to Kristy that someone likes him and tell her it's you, but I'll make her swear not to tell him, and see if he figures it out," Claire said.

"You know what, Claire? You're awesome. Please do that," I said.

Chapter 40

Setting the scene: February thirteenth. A year ago today, I forced Dan out of my life because I thought he was kissing Emily. Emily was in fact kissing him, I now believe. I've been sitting with Claire at lunch because I'm still pissed at Jorge, and I can't sit with Anna without sitting with Jorge, so I joined Claire's table. I like how hers and Walter's relationship is. It's filled with comments about something they thought they heard the other say but really didn't, and there's just lots of smiles. The bell rang for Science to be over, and I got out of my front row seat (I'd ditched my seat next to them… I wasn't even sure they were still my friends. They hadn't spoken to me in over two weeks.

I head to Harold, who's waiting. He drives me to math, and I walked up the steps. Kristy is sitting in my seat talking to Dan. Why she's doing that I have no idea, because her seat is on the other side of Dan.

"Hi, that's my seat. Remember, you sit on the other side of him," I said to her.

"Oh, do I? I'm sorry, Cassie. I got confused," Kristy said.

"Oh, it's okay," I said.

Dan said, "So do you know what happened exactly a year ago?"

"Well, yeah but it was a year and a few hours ago. Thanks for reminding me," I said.

"Well, I wanted to make up for that mistake. It took me a year to work up the courage, but I love you, Cassie, and I want you to be my valentine," he said.

I decided to listen to what Claire said, and I said, "Um, I guess."

I desperately wanted to say "Yes! Of course!" but I had to pretend.

"Um, by valentine I mean girlfriend," he said.

"Um, yeah, all right," I said.

He looked over at Kristy and must have mouthed something because she nodded. Mrs. Stall walked in and started writing on the chalkboard. We were learning today.

When the bell rang, Dan said, "I'll walk you back to school," and I said, "I would love that, except the school has someone come pick me up," I said. "Oh, all right."

He kissed me and left. Oh, wow, how much I missed his kisses. I have practice today. I just remembered that. Fuck. I decide to call Mom and tell her I'm not feeling too well and can't go to practice. So she comes and gets me and I go home.

"It's a stomachache," I told her.

"Maybe you're hungry," Mom said.

"No, I don't think so," I said.

I didn't tell her about Dan. I sat in my room, and played my favorite song on the guitar, Someone's Watching Over Me. Mom knocked on my door.

"What?" I called up.

"Someone's here to see you," she said.

"Male or female?" I asked, because if it was Jorge I was going to tell him to go away.

"It's a girl," Mom said, but she sounded like she was confused as to why I was asking.

"Send her down," I said, strumming on my guitar.

I was trying to pick up Livin' on a Prayer, but it wasn't working too well. I heard footsteps on my stairs and soon saw my best friend, Anna. I stood up and put my guitar on my bed.

She hugged me and said, "Come back to lunch, Cassie, we miss you. Oh, and come sit with us in class. I think Mr. Law's getting mad you don't sit with us. He quite enjoyed having all of his favorite students in the same row."

"No. You are probably the only one who misses me. He doesn't miss me and neither does Andy. Andy never really liked me that much," I said.

"No, today, Andy said, 'Why is Cassie sitting with Claire all the time now? I don't like it. I don't want Claire to be her best friend I want us to be her best friends.'" Anna said.

"Did he really say that?" I asked.

"Would I lie to you? Where's your phone?" Anna asked.

"In my pocket, why?" "Call him. I want him to tell you how much we've missed you. I cried when you left after that midterm," Anna said.

"OK, you've given me proof you and Andy care, but how about Mr. Mommy-says-so-I'll-do-it?" I asked.

Why was I so mean to Jorge? I felt bad now, and I wanted to take back what I'd just said, but I couldn't.

"He misses you. He probably misses you the most. I mean, he took your seat in class but that's not the point. He didn't want to break up with you. I promise," Anna said. "Yeah, well, I don't buy that," I said, and to lie, I said, "Just like I didn't buy that Emily kissed Dan."

I did believe that. But Anna couldn't know just yet. I didn't know if I'd ever tell her. Maybe on our one year. Yeah, sounds about right.

"That's different. He cheated on you. You saw it. Jorge really cares about you. I can't remember when he said it, but once he told me that you made him feel amazing, even in the darkest of times. He told me once after you'd told him you cut your ankle that he cried himself to sleep that night. He doesn't like the thought of you hurting yourself. What more proof do you want?" Anna asked.

"Yes, but those must have all happened a while before. Oh, I see it now. He broke up with me because he didn't like the fact that I cut my ankle. I knew you people wouldn't understand my problem," I said, finally realizing the truth.

Anna sat on my bed and said, "Cassie, you're my best friend, I care about you more than I care about Andy, and that says a whole lot. While Andy cares about you a lot, I'll have to say he cares more about me."

"I would expect that. He's your boyfriend," I said.

"Jorge cares about you more than he cares about me and Andy put together. That's a lot, Cassie. A whole lot more than I care about you," Anna said.

"Anna?" Mom called down.

"Yeah?" Anna called up.

"Your mom says she has to go make dinner, so she would like you back," Mom said.

"OK, be there in a minute," Anna said.

"Now, you're coming to school tomorrow. I don't care that it's Valentine's Day and you're single. You're coming, and you're sitting with us," Anna said. I hesitated, almost telling her I wasn't single.

"Fine. As long as we rearrange the seats so I'm not next to Jorge," I said.

"Fine, we'll do that. I'll see you tomorrow," Anna said and hugged me goodbye.

When I walked into Art the next morning, Jorge wasn't there.

I smirked and said, "He couldn't handle the pressure of Valentine's Day. That's too bad."

"Come on, Cassie. He could be genuinely sick," Anna said.

"Uh huh, so conveniently on Valentine's Day, too."

"Hey, don't talk, missy, someone wasn't here last year on Valentine's Day," Andy said.

"Well I had a real reason. I'd just dumped my boyfriend against my will the day before. Did you want me to come in and see all the people hooking up when I just lost my chance to hook up?" I asked.

"Jorge was forced to break up with you. You don't call that a real reason?" Andy asked.

"No, because he's had time to get over it. I didn't. But whatever. He's not here. I'm safe," I said.

"What do you mean you're safe?" Andy asked.

"I don't have to pretend like he's still my best friend when he's not," I said.

They both just looked at me. I glared back. My favorite class of the day came quickly. Yay. Harold dropped me off at the high school and I climbed up the steps to my math class.

"Hey, beautiful," Dan said, when I came in. I took my seat next to him and he handed me a bar of chocolate.

"Happy Valentine's Day, beautiful," he said, and kissed me.

"Oh, I didn't get you anything, I'm sorry," I said.

"I don't need anything. I just need you. You're amazing," he said.

Ugh, how much I missed this! I had made the right choice last year. I made the wrong choice of Jorge! After class, Dan walked me down to Harold.

He kissed me and said, "We're hanging out this weekend."

"OK," I said.

Chapter 41

Jorge was genuinely ill, much sorrow. I wanted him to be purposely skipping Valentine's Day. He came back a week later and I refused to talk to him. I still hadn't told Anna and Andy that I was dating Dan again, but I'd told Claire. She'd been really happy for me. That day, report cards came out. Here's my report card:

Art: 93. Spanish: 96. English: 97. History: 100. Science: 98. Math: 95, with a midterm grade of 92. Gym: A. Ninety-seven average!

The play progressed. I finally forgave Jorge, around March. Then, around that same time I dropped the bomb on them. I hadn't meant to. It's my one-month anniversary with Dan. I'm sitting at lunch with Anna, Andy and Jorge.

"What day is it?" Anna asked, doing tonight's homework at lunch like the studious girl she is.

"Um, March thirteenth," Andy said, and I didn't mean to say it, but I said, "Oh, is it? It's my one month!" I said.

Anna dropped her pen, Jorge and Andy stared at me. Oops.

"With who?" Anna asked accusingly.

Crap. I think she knows it is Dan.

"Um, his name's Daniel. He's in my math class. Um, Dan Jones," I said.

"You're funny, Cassie. The truth please," Anna said.

"How do you know I'm not dating Dan Jones? Oh, all right. I'm not. You'll kill me, so I think I'll tell you and run," I said.

"You didn't! Cassie, he cheated on you!" Anna said.

"You got back with Dan?" Andy said.

I refused to even glance at Jorge for fear of what he'd do.

"Yeah, because it wasn't his fault. I can't blame him if the girl is doing everything she can to kiss him," I said.

"Please don't, Cassie. Break up with him for me," Anna said.

Jorge spoke, but it wasn't nice at all.

"Good. No, Anna, don't make her do that. They're perfect for each other. Both stupid stuck up assholes. Cassie's a fucking moron for getting back with him after he cheated on her, which I know killed her inside otherwise why the fuck did I help her?"

Oops. It had killed me inside, Jorge brought me back to life, then dumped me, so Dan brought me back. Hmm. Good, a circle of Jorge, Dan and me. Actually, it's a triangle, really.

"It did kill me inside. You brought me back, then wounded me, then Dan brought me back. Just wait, you'll come back into the cycle soon. Force him to hurt me and you'll have your chance sooner," I said.

Jorge and I had done a lot of fighting since we'd broken up. We'd seemed so perfect when we were together, now we seemed nothing alike, doing nothing but fighting.

Then I realized that sounded bitchy so I said, "I'm sorry, Jorge, I didn't mean that. It just slipped out," I said.

Chapter 42

At least Jorge and I are good actors. We were able to successfully pull off the play and make it seem like we loved each other on its weekend. So now it's May eighteenth, a Friday. I'm supposed to be hanging out with Dan and Kristy, and this guy they're friends with, Tim. Anna, Andy and Jorge are going to the movies down the street. I know, because Anna invited me. She said they were meeting there at 7:30, so if I changed my mind, I could meet them there then. So Mom just dropped me off at the fun center, and I headed inside. In a corner near the entrance I saw a guy and a girl.

Somehow I could hear them from here, and the guy was saying, "I love you. Let me kiss you."

His voice was rather familiar. I shook it off at first, probably just some guy I'd heard before but didn't know.

"I love you too, but at least break up with her first! She could be here any minute and she'll hate you forever. There's no way you'd get her back if you kissed me now," the girl said, familiar as well.

Fuck no. It's not…

I headed over to them just in time to see the guy kiss the red-orange haired girl.

"Wow, that looks like fun, why can't I try that," I said. "Oh wait, I can't because I don't have anyone to kiss. Looks like I don't have a boyfriend. I knew it was coming. Bye, Kristy, bye Dan. We're not friends anymore and we never will be again," I said, and I turned and headed down the street to the movies.

I sent a text to my mom saying I'd gone to the movies instead. I walked in and Andy and Jorge were standing there.

"Hey!" Andy said.

"Don't, she's pissed," Jorge said.

We hadn't really patched back up yet since Dan came back into the picture.

"Yeah, I am, thanks for noticing. He cheated on me with his best friend, so I might as well cheat on him with my best friend," I said.

Andy made a noise, but I kissed Jorge instead.

He pushed me away and said, "You just used me to cheat on your boyfriend? What the hell!"

"No, let me explain. He kissed Kristy. I broke up with him. I just wanted to kiss you. You probably hate me even more now. I'm sorry for all the mean shit I've said in the past months. You're my best friend. I guess I was really just mad at your mom, and taking it out on you," I said.

"I hate my mom. She used to be awesome, but when she took me away from the only thing I'd ever really wanted, I hated her, and I was mad that you got back with someone who fucking cheated on you, and as you just said, did it again," Jorge said.

"Friends?" I said, holding out my hand for him to shake.

He shook his head.

"Best friends?" I asked, revising my offer.

"Nope. You're my girlfriend," he said, kissing me.

Andy made some sort of hand gesture, not a mean one, like a throwing up his arms in the air gesture.

"You're both bipolar!" he said.

I stopped kissing Jorge and turned on Andy.

"Don't say that. It's offensive. I am bipolar. I don't like when people use it like that," I said.

"Sorry, Cassie. I forgot," Andy said.

I said to Jorge, "What about your mom? I thought I was a distraction?"

"Well, I did well on my last two report cards, so Mom gave me permission to have you. I yelled at her, because you were dating that asshole," Jorge said.

Jorge pulled me back to him and planted his lips on mine.

"Where is Annabelle?" Andy asked.

She must have shown up, because someone said, "What is this?"

Andy said, "She's apparently getting back at him."

"What, no, that's not at all what's happening," Jorge said.

"Well, explain, because I know Cassie's supposed to be down the street at the fun center, not kissing you, which she shouldn't be doing anyway, because then she's the one cheating, not him," Anna said.

"Well, I went to the damned fun center, where I watched Daniel kiss Kristy, broke up with him and headed down the street angry. They can tell you the rest," I said.

"Well, yeah she came in here saying something about cheating and best friends and that she was going to cheat on him with her best friend, which I thought was me, because she and Jorge haven't been on good terms, which I didn't like, then she kissed Jorge and there was apologizing, then I offended Cassie, then you showed up," Andy said.

"So you two are friends now? Finally, I've been waiting months for you guys to make up," Anna said.

"Make out or up?" Jorge said teasingly.

"Either works," she said.

"So what movie are we seeing?" I asked.

"Spiderman 3," Andy said.

We saw our movie, and we waited outside the theater for our parents. Esteban came out of the theater with Jason.

"Ew, she's here?" Esteban asked, looking at me.

"Esteban! That's not nice!" Anna said.

"Jason, when did Mom say she was coming to get us?" Andy asked.

"Never. I don't know, what am I? Mom's secretary? 'I'm going to pick up my kids at 10:26, no later no earlier.' No, I don't know!" Jason said, rolling his eyes.

"So why is she here, Jorge? I thought you said she was going out with her boyfriend that you hated," Esteban said.

"She hung out with her boyfriend!" Andy said. "But I'm not sure Jorge hates her boyfriend. Depends. Do you hate yourself, Jorge?"

"No, I don't," he said.

"Jorge, you said her boyfriend was named Daniel," Esteban said.

"Um, my ex boyfriend is named Daniel," I said.

"I hate you, Jorge. You lie to me," Esteban said.

"He wasn't lying. I broke up with Daniel today," I said.

"Oh. Then how is Jorge your boyfriend now?" Esteban asked.

"She broke up with him, came crying to Jorge and they hooked up. What else do you want to know?" Andy snapped.

"Sorry," Esteban said.

Jason said, "Did you know Vicki's a bitch?"

"Yeah, why?" Andy said.

"Because. She cheated on me for a year before I heard from my friend," Jason said.

"You've been complaining about her for months! Why didn't you break up with her sooner?" Andy said.

"Because it was cool to say my girlfriend was in eighth grade!" Jason said.

"Find someone else in eighth grade! It's not that hard! I have a suggestion: Charlotte. She's probably the sweetest girl in our grade," Andy said, and started to say more but shut up.

I turned around and saw Charlotte with Brooke and Vincent. Charlotte looked over at us, and I thought I saw her blush.

She came over towards us and said, "Hey, guys."

"Hey, Charlotte," I said.

I must have imagined it, but Charlotte glanced over at Jason and smiled.

"Anna, Cassie I want to talk to you about something," Charlotte said.

We walked over to an empty spot and Charlotte said, "Was one of those guys Jason?"

"Yeah, he's the taller one that looks like Andy," Anna said.

"I thought so. Because I was hoping you could drop hints to him that I like him," Charlotte said.

"Sure," Anna said, and I called over to the group, "Hey, Jason, come here a sec!"

Jason came over and Anna said, "This is Charlotte. She's one of our friends. She wanted to meet you."

"Yeah, I know Charlotte. You were at Anna's party that time," Jason said.

"Oh, yeah, I was. I didn't realize you were there too," Charlotte said.

I wanted to stay and find out what happened, but Anna pulled me away.

"Let them talk," she said.

Then when we were equidistant from both groups, Anna said, "Hey, I'm going to call my mom and see if I can sleep over your house tonight."

"Yeah, sure, call your mom then I'll call mine and make sure its okay," I said.

Anna pulled out her phone and called her mom.

"She says I can go if I get the okay from your mom," she said.

So I called my mom.

"Hey, Cassie, what's the matter? I was just about to leave and come get you. The fun center, right?" Mom asked.

"No, Mom, the movies. I went to the movies instead. Um, can Anna sleep over tonight?" I asked.

"Is it all right with her mom?" Mom asked.

"Yeah, she said her mom said it's fine if you didn't mind," I said.

"It's fine with me, as long as Anna doesn't mind a mess," Mom said.

"I don't think she'll mind, Mom. OK. See you soon," I said.

"Mom said yes," I said to Anna.

"Good. We're having fun tonight," she said.

We walked back over to the guys, and Esteban said, "Why were you two just standing in the middle?"

"We were talking," Anna said.

"Oh, because it looked like you were just standing there, staring into space," Esteban said.

"Esteban, stop. Why did Mom even give you permission to leave the house? I thought you were grounded," Jorge said.

"Um, I asked dad? And he said yes? I made sure that he was going to come pick us up, and he said he'd cover for me if Mom suspected I was gone," Esteban said.

Jorge shook his head. Charlotte and Jason came back over to us. Jason had his arm around her. Esteban took one look at all of us and rolled his eyes.

I was still scared Jorge was still mad at me so I said, "Are you sure you accept my apology? Because I'm really sorry. It was stupid of me to get back with Dan. I'm really, really sorry."

"Don't worry about it. I was stupid myself. I was just so caught up in anger at my mom…" Jorge said, but was interrupted by Esteban.

"Oh, so you're mad at Mom, too?" Esteban said.

"Not now, Esteban. Let him speak," Andy muttered.

"That I sort of took it out on you because you reacted a little cruelly. But that's over, mom gave me permission like the week before the play, and I was waiting for my chance. I didn't expect it to come so soon, or the way it did, but all I care about now is that I have you, and of course my other best friends. I should be sorry. I think you only stayed mad because I was mad," Jorge said.

"Um, sort of, but I don't care that we fought in the past. It's the past. This is the present. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me," I said, and Jorge kissed me.

"Come on Jorge how many times do I have to tell you that's disgusting!" Esteban said.

Anna said, "Esteban, please. You're just not mature enough to handle it. Haven't you seen people kiss in movies?"

"Yeah, but it's not the same. I'm not actually seeing them kiss live. Besides, Jorge's my brother. It's weird," Esteban said.

Jorge finally stopped kissing me and said, "Do you expect me to be disgusted when you kiss a girl?"

"Well, you've already kissed Cassie, so probably not," Esteban said.

"Esteban, just stop. I don't want to see you two fight," I said.

"Yeah, all right. Hey, so why are you mad at Mom? You know why I'm mad at her," Esteban said.

"I was mad at Mom because she ruined my life. That's all you need to hear," Jorge said, and Esteban said, "But if your life was ruined, you wouldn't be kissing someone, would you?"

Jason said, "Esteban, I don't think he wants to talk about it."

Anna suddenly said, "Hey, isn't that your mom?"

I turned around and Mom's car was about fifty feet away.

"Yeah. I'll see you guys in school soon," I said, letting Jorge pull me into a tight hug and kissed me. Anna kissed Andy goodbye and we walked toward my mom's car.

"Hi, girls. Cass, what happened to Daniel? I though you guys were meeting at the fun center. And was that Jorge you just kissed?" Mom said.

"Yeah, it was," I said.

"Cassandra! You did exactly what Dan did to you last time," Mom said, and Anna said, "Michelle, I can explain. I mean, I wasn't there, but I heard the story. Cassie walked into the fun center only to find Dan kissing Kristy. So she came to the movies and apologized to Jorge because they've been mad at each other for months, and I'm not exactly sure why he started kissing her again, but he did."

"You left out the part where I broke up with Dan. Don't make me seem bad," I said.

"Oh, yeah, she broke up with Dan before she came to the movies," Anna said.

"Oh. Then why were you kissing Jorge?" Mom asked.

"Because he asked me out," I said.

"Well, I must say, I prefer Jorge to Daniel, but I don't like that he didn't wait a few days. You broke up with someone, then started going out with someone else a few hours later," Mom said.

"Mom, don't worry about the details. What's important is that Jorge and I aren't fighting anymore for the dumb reason of Daniel and you won't ever have to deal with Daniel again," I said.

"Well, I do like that you're done with Daniel. I still don't see why you got back together with him after he cheated on you," Mom said.

"I've been wondering the same thing," Anna said.

"Don't worry about it. I was being dumb, I was mad at Jorge for the excuse, whatever. That's the past. Forget it," I said.

Mom stopped at the gate to open it, and proceeded to our house.

She parked outside, then said, "Anna, you don't have anything to change into."

"Oh, it's fine, Mom, she can borrow something of mine," I said.

"Well, your pajamas, maybe," Anna said, looking me up and down.

I'd gained some weight since I moved to Hell, but I was still really skinny. Anna and I had our sleepover, talked about our best friends (the guys. We weren't talking about each other) and played around with my guitar… I played a few songs she sang, I played a few songs I sang, and I played a few songs we both sang.

Chapter 43

There was a final for my math class that sounded worse than the midterm. The full year of what I learned in math this year in a two and a half hour test. Joy. It took place on June 4th. Jorge called me the night before and wanted to talk.

I said, "Look, sweetie, I'm really sorry, but I can't talk right now, I have to study for my math test. I need at least an 80 on it to get an A- for the semester. I'm really sorry. Oh, and I'll be late to school again tomorrow. Hopefully this time when I come back at lunch, we don't get in another big fight."

"OK, I hope we don't. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Good luck. You'll do better than they will. I promise you. You're way smarter than them," Jorge said, and hung up.

I walked into Hell High, and I tried to remember the room number. Was it A220 again? Yeah, it was. I knew how to get there, because I'd actually paid attention while that moron walked me here last time. I walked in the door and some old man was sitting there.

"Hello. Name please?" he asked me as I walked in.

"Oh, Cassandra Stone," I said.

"All right Ms. Stone, all you need's a pencil and calculator. You can sit anywhere," the man said.

I chose a spot in the back away from where the losers were sitting, holding hands. The old man handed out the test, and a guy walked in late, just as the man gave out the last test.

"Hi, I'm Xavier Watson," the guy said to the old man.

"Sorry son, but the test already started. You'll have to take it on the make up day. Go on," the old man said.

I felt bad for the guy. He'd gotten here all of two minutes late. I stopped worrying about him and worked on my test. The time passed, and I was on section 2, the short answers. There were a few addition and subtraction of polynomials, so I did those, because polynomials had been my strong point. It was the only topic I got a hundred on both the test and the packet that corresponded with it. Someone got up and left at about 10, I continued working on part II. People filed out slowly over the next half an hour. By ten twenty, I was on part III: Graphs. There was only one graph, but she asked for so much detail that it took me until 10:50 to finish.

"Ten minutes left," the old man said.

I wondered if I was the only one left. I wouldn't even bother checking. I needed to check over my final.

"Time's up!" the old man.

I put my pencil down and he came around and collected all the tests. I saw, with a little satisfaction that Kristy and Daniel were both struggling to write something down. The proctor took their tests from them, then came for mine.

As I headed down to meet Harold, I heard the morons say, "That was really hard. I wish she'd sat next to us so we could have copied her answers."

That was his voice. I knew it.

"You dolt, you knew she wouldn't sit next to us. You had to force her to hate us. She was actually a really good friend." Kristy.

I found Harold and he took me back to middle school, where I belonged.

"It's fifth, in case you didn't know," he said.

"Yeah, I figured. Thanks," I said.

I headed into the lunchroom. Anna and Andy were sitting there…but no Jorge.

"Oh, no, was he in school today?" I asked, sliding into the empty side of the table.

"Yes. He is. But he's ah…" Andy said.

My face grew white.

"He's what? You can tell me," I said.

"He's in the principal's office," Anna said.

"What? Why!" I asked.

"Um, he's not alone. Jake's in there," Andy said

"What happened, I don't care who's there, what happened?" I asked.

"Um, in gym, they started a fist fight. I don't know why, honestly," Anna said.

"Yeah, you don't but I do. I was standing right there. I tried to pull him away," Andy said.

"Andy, why is Jorge in the principal's office for starting a fist fight with Jake? What provoked it? As far as I know Jorge wouldn't just randomly start punching someone. There has to be a reason," I said.

"I don't think you want to know the reason. You'll just get hysterical," Andy said, and before I could tell Andy it would be worse not telling me, Anna stepped in.

"Sweetie, I think you should tell her. She'll probably get more hysterical if you don't tell her. Plus I'm curious," she said.

"All right, all right. Jorge started the punching because of what Jake said. Jake said, and this is his language, not mine, he called, um, you, a fucking bitch who just hooks up with guys for her own amusement. He said some bullshit like 'you better keep that bitch away from me. I know she's after me,'" Andy said.

"What the hell? That is not at all like Cassie," Anna said.

"I hate Jake. Why on earth would I be 'after him' as he put it? And in case you're not sure, he's totally lying. I completely care about Jorge," I said.

"Yeah, I know, and so does Jorge. But I couldn't stop him from punching Jake. We'll have to hope that he doesn't get expelled," Andy said.

"Ugh, that would be awful! Not even finishing middle school before getting expelled! Where is he supposed to go? How will he pay to live?" I asked.

Anna and Andy exchanged a look.

"What?" I asked.

"If I'm not mistaken, someone I know was expelled from a middle school and where is she now? Oh, I don't know, maybe she's right across the table from me?" Andy said.

Oh. Wow. Right.

"Um, sorry. I forgot about that," I said.

"But you would think they'd at least let him finish the year, because there's not even two weeks left," Anna said.

"Well, it depends on the school system," I said, the story coming back to me.

"I was expelled in March, but I got to finish the year there. But I don't want Jorge to be expelled, because then I'll never get to see him again because he'll have to move," I said.

"Who's moving?" someone said from behind us.

I turned to see Jorge holding a tissue to his nose.

"Ouch," I said.

He pulled out his seat.

"What's the verdict?" Andy said.

"Well, no one has to move as far as I know. We're not all like Cassie when we make people bleed. Oh, shit, sorry, I was kidding. I didn't mean it, it slipped out, shit, shit, shit," Jorge said.

"Don't worry about it. We're not all perfect. I know what you mean, though. So you're not expelled?" I asked.

"No, I barely even got a punishment. I have detention Friday after school. It sucks, but it's better than what Jake got," Jorge said.

"What did Jake get? Did he get expelled?" Andy asked.

"Nope. He has in school suspension until graduation, because apparently the gym teacher was paying attention and heard what that moron called Cassie, and he was called in to testify. I only got a detention because I hit Jake, but I didn't use the language he used," Jorge said.

"Andy told me the language. But, wait, so you don't believe him, right? You know I care about you more than anything except maybe my other best friends," I said.

"I know, baby. And why would I believe him over you? You've been my best friend for a while. He hasn't been my best friend since about fourth grade. Best friends don't lie. I guess ex-best friends do though," Jorge said, putting his arm around me.

Chapter 44

About one week later, we had a test in Mr. Law's class.

"This will be your final grade for the year," Mr. Law said, handing us a three-page test. Us, as in Andy, Anna, Jorge and me.

Everyone else who was awake got a larger test. He'd told the four of us that it was on the whole year. I'd skimmed my textbook, going over what I needed to know. I finished the test last of the four of us.

I handed the test in and Anna said, "This is the last time we get to do this, guys! It's so sad."

We all peered over the list, and pointed out the sleeping people arising from their grand old naps.

Graduation was that Saturday. Mom had bought me a dress to wear under my robe, and she'd also bought me a straightener and a curling iron. She helped me straighten my hair, which was now a dark blonde.

I looked in the mirror and said, "Wow, I look kind of pretty."

"Cassie, you always look pretty. Doesn't Jorge ever tell you you're pretty?" Mom asked.

"I don't know. Maybe. Maybe he just likes ugly girls," I said.

I got dressed and we headed to the school for graduation.

I met up with my friends and Jorge said, "Wow, you look amazing. You're probably the prettiest girl I've ever seen. No offense, Anna."

"None taken. I'd have to agree. She's much prettier than I am," Anna said.

She and Jorge sort of glanced at Andy, who then said, "Well, do you want me to be honest?"

"Yes, please," Anna said.

"She's prettier than you. But that doesn't change anything. In approximately two months, Anna, we'll celebrate two years. They're not invited to that celebration," Andy said, pointing at us.

"That's fine. We'll go have a party of our own," Jorge said.

"But what would we celebrate?" I asked, looking up at him because he is ridiculously tall.

"Hmm. Just us. We'll celebrate us. We don't need an occasion to celebrate," Jorge said, leaning to kiss me then choosing my cheek at the last second as a teacher walked by.

"Good. Then you two have a party and we'll have our own party," Andy said.

"Students! Students! Line up in the order I told you to, like we practiced, come on, come on!" the flitty little teacher in charge of graduation said.

It was in height order. Fun stuff. The only good thing was that Anna was right behind me in line. Some short little dude was in front of me. I had no idea what his name was. I just knew he was supposed to stand in front of me.

We walked in to the dumb music they play, then took our seats, listened to some dumb speech by the principal, and the smartest person in the grade, which was somehow not me, then it was time for diplomas.

"Cassandra Michelle Stone," the man called.

I got up and accepted my diploma, shaking the principal's hand.

"Annabelle Danielle Powell."

Anna got up and did what I had done.

About ten people later, "Andrew Baker."

A few people after Andy, "Jorge Espinoza."

Then the last guy, "Vincent Valor."

Then we all sang some useless song and proceeded back outside in reverse order. Jorge and Andy were waiting for us.

"We're officially done with middle school!" Anna said.

"Yeah, but high school's worse. I promise you," I said. "I've only taken one class, but with midterms and finals…"

"Maybe midterms and finals are only for honors classes or math classes," Anna said.

"Maybe. Sounds okay, but then I'll probably be stuck with like eight midterms," I said.

"Why, because you'll be in honors classes?" Jorge asked.

"Yeah. Well, I think I would be," I said.

"No, you definitely will be," Jorge said, kissing my cheek.

Some woman I'd never met came up to us, and Anna's parents and mine followed.

"Hey, where's my mom?" Andy asked.

Mrs. Baker showed up.

The woman I assumed to be Jorge's mom said to me, "You must be Cassandra."

"Yeah, that's me," I said.

I was finally meeting Jorge's mom. For some reason, I wanted to hate her, probably because she'd made Jorge break up with me.

"Let's take pictures," Anna's mom said.

So we lined up, with Jorge on my right and Anna on my left, Andy next to her. All the parents took pictures of us, then Anna's mom wanted her and Andy, and her and me, and why leave out her and Jorge?

The four families all went out to lunch at some restaurant I forgot the name of. It was a sort of sports bar. Jason, Cassandra the younger and Esteban were there, but Jason made sure to keep Esteban away from his brother. It was weird. They sometimes got along well, and sometimes didn't. I sort of wished I had a little sibling of some sort. I'm an only child, in case you hadn't figured that out in the past year and a half. Cassie the second sat between Anna, and me with, of course, our guys on either side of us. The parents, awesomely, were at a table next door to us. We still knew better than to do what we do at lunch, which is act like we're all in relationships. We just pretended to be friends, and started talking about summer plans.

"Where are you going this summer, Cassie?" Jorge asked.

"Well, I don't know. My dad's a big fan of waiting until right before he wants to go away, then he plans something in a span of two to three days," I said.

"I heard that, Cass," Dad said.

I turned to him and said, "It's true! That's what you do!"

I turned back to my friends and Jorge said, "I'm probably going to Hershey. It's this amusement park in Pennsylvania."

"Oh, wow, lucky. That sounds like fun," I said.

"We're going to Disney world!" little Cassie said.

"Wow, I'm jealous. You people are all going somewhere fun," I said.

"I'm going to camp?" Andy said.

"That's still fun. Is it a sleep away camp?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's actually in Pennsylvania. We're going to some amusement park one day, I forget which one," Andy said.

"When are you going?" Jorge asked.

"Um, mid July- August. It's going to suck, though, I won't have my phone to call all my friends," Andy said.

"Why won't you have your phone?" Anna asked.

"Because they want you to focus on the people there, instead of the people back home. Honestly, I'm sure I'd rather the people home, because there's no way I'm going to meet anyone more awesome than you three," Andy said.

"Aw, thanks," I said.

Jason butted in, "You'll have me there."

"Yeah, but do you expect them to let you hang out with me?" Andy asked.

"Why not? We're only a year apart," Jason said.

"What about the dance next week? Which of you is going to that?" Esteban said.

"What dance?" I asked.

Anna said, "There's this eighth grade graduation dance. Everyone sort of dresses up and we dance all night."

"All night? So until 6am?" I asked.

"No, no, that's not what I meant. It goes until like 10:30, starts at 6. They have little snacks I think," Anna said.

"Huh. Dancing sounds fun. We'll see," I said.

"I'm definitely going," Andy said. "If I have a chance to dance with, um, Anna, then I'm going," Andy said.

I think he meant to say 'the girl I love' but not too sure…I think he didn't say that because he was being kind of loud and didn't want his mom to hear.

"I'll ask Mom," Jorge said, and Esteban said, "She already knows about it and said you could go. She told me."

"Why she told you and not me I don't know. But whatever. I guess I'm going. Now we just have to get Cassie to go and it will be a party," Jorge said.

"Why would me being there make it a party?" I asked.

"I don't know. I just want you to come," Jorge said.

"When is it?" I asked.

"Next Friday at 6. The gym. Be there," Andy said.

"I don't think so," I said.

"Aw, why not?" Anna asked.

"I don't know, I just don't want to go," I said.

Then the parents decided to wrap it up, and we all left. I didn't let Jorge kiss me goodbye.

In the car ride home, Mom said, "Anna's mom was telling me there's an eighth grade dance next Friday. Don't you want to go?"

"No, not really," I said.

"Why not?" Mom asked.

"I just don't want to, okay!" I yelled.

"Well, if you change your mind let me know. Oh, and I've scheduled a shopping day next week," Mom said.

"With who?" I asked.

"You," Mom said.

"And who else?" I asked.

"No one. Just me and you," Mom said.

Chapter 45

So that Tuesday, I went with Mom to the mall. She brought me into Macy's and led me over to the dresses.

"Find a few to try on," she said.

I rolled my eyes at her. She was going to force me to go to this dance. I found a few cute ones, and picked out a five for them. You know, size five? I brought them into the dressing room, and the first one was too big. Eh, it's cut wrong. Then the second and third ones I tried were too big. Eh? The fourth one fit the best, but it was still too big. Mom knocked to see how I was doing.

"I like this one," I said.

"Cassandra, that's too big. Did they not have your size?" Mom asked.

"No, I don't know. I just picked up a bunch of fives because I guessed that to be my size," I said.

"Honey, you're more like a three, or a one. I'll find you some of those sizes, and you can try those on. Just wait here," Mom said.

I sat down on the little bench they had in the booth. Mom came back with a bunch of hangers.

"Some of these I found in two sizes, so you can try them both on. Okay? I'll wait out here, just open the door when you're ready to show me," she said.

I tried on one of them, just picking it up. Damn. It was cute, but too big. I tried a few more on, and I picked up a long, blue halter dress that had rhinestones on the top and put it on. I thought it looked great!

I opened the door to show Mom and she said, "Wow, that looks great!"

"I really like it," I said.

"Well then we'll get that one," Mom said.

I changed back into my clothes, and took all the dresses out of the booth, handing the one I liked to Mom. She paid for it, and we went shopping in other stores.

That night, Anna called me.

"Hey," she said when I answered.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked.

"Nothing. I just wanted to bug you. No, as in, I need your help with something," Anna said.

"Oh? What's that?" I asked.

"Well, I was hoping I could come over Thursday and have a two-night sleepover. I want you to help me with my hair and make up. I want Andy to be stunned at how beautiful I am."

"Oh, well I'm not coming, so shouldn't that help?" I asked.

"No. You're coming, Cassandra Michelle, if I have to drag you there in sweats. That's part of why I wanted to sleep over. Can you go ask your mom? Mine said it's okay, she just needs Michelle's permission," Anna said.

"Sure, just give me one minute. Do you want me to hang up and call back?" I asked.

"Yes please," Anna said.

I hung up and went upstairs to Mom's room. She was watching TV.

"Hi mom, can I bug you for a minute?" I said.

"Yeah, sure," she said, turning the TV off.

"Anna wants to come over on Thursday for a double sleepover. As in, she sleeps over Thursday and Friday night," I said.

"Sure, that's fine. Danielle said it's okay?" Mom said.

"If that's her mom then yeah. I'll work out the details with Anna, and I'll get back to you," I said.

"OK," Mom said, turning the TV back on.

I left and went back downstairs to call Anna.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Mom said it's okay. So are we picking you up?" I asked.

"No, mom's going to drive me there, she says around one," Anna said.

"OK. Sounds like a plan. But there's no way you're taking me to that dance," I said.

"Oh, I will. I'll even bring an extra dress for you," Anna said.

Chapter 46

Thursday came around. Anna showed up and we had a late lunch. When I went to the bathroom, Anna called someone.

"I'm trying to convince her. Of course I will! If she goes, I'll make sure she looks so amazing that he'll cry. Ok, fine, maybe not cry, but I want him to flip out. I'm capable. Sweetie, she already has so much more beauty than I do. Of course she'll be prettier than me. But you better not tell her that. Who are you celebrating two years with? Cassie? Nah, didn't think so. I have to go, I don't want her to hear me. Love you too. Bye."

I flushed the toilet and washed my hands, pretending I didn't just overhear that.

"Hey, what's happened in the last minute?" I asked.

"Nothing. I was going to turn on some music so we could practice dancing, but I couldn't find your iPod," Anna said.

I walked over to my desk, moved the scarf that was half covering it, and picked it up.

"Oh. I didn't want to look under anything, you know, privacy. So come on, plug it in and we'll dance," Anna said. I just stood there.

"Why do you want me to go to the dance so badly?" I asked.

"Because. What happens when Andy's being a bum and doesn't want to dance? I'm not about to dance with Jorge, not that there's anything wrong with him, but it would be fun to have a girlfriend there," Anna said.

I wasn't buying that. True, I was indeed going to the dance. I just wanted to figure out why it was so good for me to go.

"I spoke to Claire and Brooke a few days ago. They're going," I said.

"Well, yeah, they're great, but Walter and Vinny are the type of guy who'll dance to anything. They wouldn't want to give up their girl to one of her friends. That's why I need you. Because I can easily get Jorge to give you to me. I'll pry you out of his arms if I have to," Anna said.

Yeah, that's not very nice. That sounded kind of mean.

"I think Charlotte's going," I said. "Her boyfriend won't be there. Andy wouldn't allow it."

"Charlotte's nice, but she's not my best friend. I want my best friend to be there. Please?" Anna asked.

"We'll see," I said.

"But you only have…" she paused and looked at my clock, "a little more than half a day to decide. Eh, no, no deciding. You're going there if you're in the ugliest pajamas or sweats ever."

"Ew, if you're going to make me go, at least force me into a skirt. I wouldn't want to stand out too much," I said.

"Do you own a skirt?" Anna asked.

"Why yes, yes I do. But it's not Raid Cassie's Closet time. I think it's time for sleep," I said.

Anna woke up before me the next day. She was standing over me for I have no idea how long and when I woke up, I jumped.

"Anna! You scared me. What are you doing standing over me?" I asked.

"Well, you didn't wake when I poked you or blasted music next to your ear, and I wanted you to wake up," Anna said.

My stomach grumbled. "I'm hungry," I said.

"Me too, but I've been waiting an hour for you to get up so I can eat!" Anna said.

We climbed up the steps and Mom was putting grilled cheese sandwiches on a plate.

"Here you go girls. Should I order a pizza around four thirty?" Mom asked.

"Yeah, we can eat and then get ready," I said.

Mom left the room and Anna said, "So you're going?"

"Yeah, all right, fine. I'll go," I said.

We ate our grilled cheese sandwiches, strategized with the hair and makeup, then had pizza and it was time to get ready. Anna wanted her hair straightened, so I helped her make her hair very straight.

She did her own makeup and when I started straightening my hair, she said, "No, you need to curl your hair."

She reached under my sink for my curling iron. She heated it up, and while it heated I did my make up. Then Anna curled my hair, facing me away from the mirror so I couldn't see what she was doing.

Then she turned me around and said, "You look spectacular."

I looked at myself and barely recognized what I saw.

Anna stood behind me, smiling.

Then she said, "Oh, no, what are you going to wear? I brought an extra dress, but I have a feeling it won't work."

"Well, let's try it," I said.

Anna opened up the bag with her dresses in it.

She picked up the pink one and said, "This one's mine, but we'll try that one on you."

I glanced at the dress. It was actually kind of cute. It was a sort of swingy little dress, also with a halter. It was a coral color. Anna went into the bathroom to change, and I changed there, hoping something was wrong with it so I could reveal my dress. Yes. It was too big. I tied the neck tightly, and it was still too big. I was able to pull the back of the dress away from my back.

Anna came out, and she looked amazing, prettier than ever. I mean, she'd always been prettier than me, so I don't get what this thing with everyone thinks I'm prettier than her, but now, she looked like a princess out a Disney movie. Her long hair sort of curled under at the ends, her makeup looked like pink fairy dust brushed over her eyes, and the dress fit her like a glove. It was a short little pink dress with spaghetti straps. I was jealous.

"You look beyond amazing. I've never seen you this beautiful. You look like a princess. I mean, you've always been prettier than me, but right now, I think if I were a guy, I'd be jealous of Andy," I said.

"Please. I may look pretty but there's no way I can compare to the blonde goddess who's probably still a kid's size because my dress is huge on her and it's not even that big. Are you sure you don't dye your hair?" Anna said.

"I'm positive. My hair is just getting lighter. I can't explain it," I said.

Somehow, in the matter of a week, my hair was now outright golden blonde, instead of that dark blonde that looked sort of brown sometimes, but blonde others.

"So what are we going to do about the dress? I don't think we can save it even if we pin it," Anna said.

I knew it was time to reveal my dress. I walked over to the closet, in the way back where I'd hidden the dress, still bagged, and picked up the hanger. I carried it out to Anna.

"Does this work?" I asked, plopping it down on the bed.

It was still in its bag, but I knew she'd be curious enough to take the bag off. She looked between me and the dress for a second, then after a long look at me, she pulled the bag off the dress. My sparkly blue dress was lying on the bed.

"You didn't tell me you'd gotten the perfect dress!" Anna said.

"I was humoring you," I said.

"Put it on, and we'll see who the princess is," Anna said.

I took it into the bathroom, and slipped it on. I looked at myself in the mirror, and actually thought I was about seventeen.

I walked out, and Anna said, "Yeah, there we go. Perfect. Cinderella. If I were a guy, I'd be getting in a fight with Jorge and probably getting expelled for it. He'd probably win, of course. I told you that you'd look more like a princess than I did," Anna said.

"Stop, no one is going to fight over me," I said.

"I believe Jacob already did. He just lost. He was probably saying you wanted him because he really wanted you. Oh, gosh. Please tell me you have amazing shoes to go with that dress!" Anna said.

She pulled a pair of golden heels out of her bag and was putting them on. I had in fact gotten amazing shoes to go with my outfit. They were clear, and had rhinestones on them. I like rhinestones, okay?

I put them on and Anna said, "Perfect. Let's see who's going to be jealous of Jorge tonight!"

"Girls?" Mom called down.

"Yes mom?" I yelled.

"Are you almost ready? I want to take pictures," Mom said.

"You ready?" I asked Anna.

"Yes. Let's go," she said.

We got upstairs, and Mom and Dad were standing there. Mom had a camera.

"Wow, Anna, you look beautiful!" Mom said.

"Thanks, Michelle," Anna said.

Mom made us pose for her, taking tons of pictures.

Then Dad finally said, "Michelle, they should probably go. You don't want them to be late."

"But being fashionably late is good!" Anna said.

"Yeah, but enough with the pictures, Mom. It's not like it is that big fancy high school dance. It's an eighth grade graduation dance," I said.

"All right. Let's go. Do you have everything you need?" Mom asked.

We nodded.

"See you girls later," Dad said.

Mom drove us to school and said, "I'll bet you two will be the prettiest girls there."

Anna said, "Thanks. And Cassie will be the prettiest girl out of everyone else combined."

I nudged her.

"It's true," Anna said.

Mom pulled up in the front and said, "Have a good time. I'll be back around 10:30."

"Bye, Mom," I said.

"Bye, Michelle, thanks for taking me here," Anna said, and we got out of the car.

Anna checked her fancy watch. "It's six fifteen. We're fashionably late," she said.

"Come on, let's get in there before they don't let us in," I said.

We walked along to the gym. Mr. Law and Ms. Valid were standing at the doors to the gym.

"Wow, you girls look great!" Ms. Valid said, and Mr. Law said, "Your friends just came by to ask me where you were. I told them I didn't know, and they went back inside.

Anna shrugged and pulled me through the doors. There were so many colors that hit my eyes. There was a lot of pink and blue, some green, some purple, some white, there was just a lot of color. We looked around for Andy and Jorge. Well, we found Andy. But Jorge was nowhere in sight.

"Wow. You two look amazing. I'm guessing Anna did your hair," Andy said to me.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" "Because he told me to do it. You were going to straighten it, look around. How many other girls have straight hair?" Anna said.

I looked around.

"A few. But then why did you straighten yours?" I asked.

"Please stop fighting about hair. Come on, let's go dance. Jorge will find us," Andy said.

"Is he even here?" Anna asked.

"Yeah. He disappeared though. He'll come back," Andy said.

We danced to three entire songs before Jorge showed up.

"Anna! Hey, when did you get here? Where's Cassie? Oh, right. She said she wasn't coming," he said.

I had my back to him, so he probably just thought I was some random girl.

"She lied, Jorge," Andy said.

"Hey, I didn't lie. I changed my mind!" I said, turning around to look at Jorge.

I opened my mouth to say hi, but I couldn't. I closed my mouth again. Jorge was standing there, in a sports jacket and a tie, and he just looked so incredible. I couldn't explain why. He just did. His hands were even in his pockets! He was just looking at me, and I thought I saw tears in his eyes.

He must have finally found his voice, because he said, "You look absolutely incredible. You've always been beautiful to me, but now you're like something out of a dream. You're incredible, Cassie. I think I'm in love with you."

Andy said, "You think?"

I looked at him.

Then Jorge made me look at him again, and said, "Andy's right. I love you, Cassie."

I looked at him, and I think there were tears in my eyes when I said, "I love you too, Jorge."

He leaned down and kissed me.

"Why don't you guys dance now, instead of just staring at each other? Are you having a staring contest?" Andy said.

"No," Jorge said. "I just want to look at my beautiful girlfriend. Is that a crime?"

"No, not really," Andy said.

Whatever song was playing ended and one of those sad songs started blasting through the speakers.

Jorge held out his hand, and said, "Dance with me, beautiful."

I took his hand and said, "I'd be honored, Prince Charming." He slid his arms around my tiny waist and I rested mine on his shoulders.

"Remember the last time we did this?" he said.

I tried really hard, but couldn't remember.

"No, I don't. I feel awful that I don't," I said.

"It was almost two years ago, at our friend's party. That was the day…" Jorge started, but I finished, "I got with Dan. Ugh, how I regret that. He seemed innocent. But I guess it's always the quiet ones," I said.

"You want to know a secret?" Jorge said.

"Don't tell me unless you want to. I don't want to force you to do anything," I said.

Jorge pulled me away from Anna and Andy.

We continued dancing, but he said, "When I went home that day I cried. Because until I'd heard about you and Dan, I'd planned on asking you out. I hadn't figured out the timing yet, but I knew I wanted to. I was so jealous of him. He had the most beautiful thing ever, and I wanted it. Now I have you and I'll never let you go."

"You want to know the funny thing about Daniel? I think he was jealous of you at the beginning of the year," I said.

"Well he can be jealous all he wants, but he's never kissing you again. That's my job," Jorge said, kissing me.

"I love you more than you'll ever know, no matter what I tell you," he said.

We'd stopped dancing again.

"I love you more than that," I said.

"That's impossible. How long have you loved me? For me, it was love at first sight. It just took me almost two years to say it, and about one to act on it," Jorge said.

"Well, I sort of loved you the whole time, too. I just didn't really pay attention to those feelings until last year, stupidly enough. I hate myself for being so stupid and not seeing that the perfect guy was really my best friend," I said.

"Don't hate yourself. Like you say, it's the past. I'm adding, it may have gotten us to today, but don't dwell on it. I'm so glad you moved here. I'm not glad that you got expelled to do it, but you're here and so am I, and we'll be together forever," Jorge said, and kissed me.

"Did you two really just ditch us?" Andy's voice said.

"No. We ditched you like ten minutes ago. Not recently," Jorge said.

A very girly song came on, and Andy said, "I'm going to sit this one out, babe, okay?"

"OK," Anna said, and she dragged me away from Jorge.

"I'll give her back. I promise," Anna said.

Judging by that comment, Jorge was not happy with Anna taking me from him. We made our way to the middle of the dance floor and started jumping and dancing and singing along with the song.

"So did your plan work?" I asked her.

"What plan?" Anna asked.

"Whatever plan you and Andy had," I said.

"Oh, you heard that?" Anna asked.

"Mhmm. Did you accomplish what you wanted?" I said.

"Yes, we did," Anna said.

"And what, may I ask, was that?" I asked.

"Um, we were trying to make Jorge say he loved you. To you, because he's been telling us for close to two years," Anna said.

"Why didn't you tell me then?" I asked.

"Because, it would sound weird if I said he loved you. He needs to say it," Anna said.

"Oh, I see," I said.

Some random guy came up to me and said, "Hey, do you want to dance?"

"Um, no not really, thanks," I said.

The guy left. Anna started laughing.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"His face. He looked like he was about to cry!" Anna said.

A couple of songs passed by, a couple more guys asked me to dance, then Andy and Jorge came back over.

"How many guys hit on her?" Andy asked Anna.

"Three," Anna said. "She turned them all down. Even that guy Matt. He's pretty cute, but of course, you're better."

"Which one was Matt? They all looked the same," I said.

"They did not all look the same! The first one was butt ugly, the second one had a strange neck and the last one was Matt!" Anna said.

"Good, so we're fighting about guys I don't even give a shit about? Jorge is the only guy I care about like that," I said.

The DJ said, "And we're going to wind the night down with a few slow songs. So guys, grab a girl, and dance."

I instantly put my arms around Jorge's neck, and he smiled.

"Making sure no one else tries to take you?" he said.

"No. I'm enjoying some time with the one person I love," I said.

When the dance finally ended, they turned on all the lights in the gym. Jorge, Anna, Andy and I walked out of the gym together, arms around each other. Well, all four of us.

Mr. Law was standing there and said, "Did you guys have a good time?"

"Yeah, it was great," Anna said.

"Well, I'm glad. What I'm not glad about is this is probably the last time you guys will see me. I don't teach high school history," Mr. Law said.

"Oh, no! You were my favorite teacher!" I said.

"And you four were my favorite students. Well, good luck in high school," Mr. Law said.

We all headed out front to wait for our parents. We sat down on the steps and gazed into the night sky. Andy's mom was the first to pick him up.

"Bye guys. I'll call you, and we'll do something. I love you Anna," he said, kissing her goodbye.

He high fived Jorge, and hugged me.

"You look great," he said.

"Thanks," I replied.

He left. Claire walked by with Walter, and Claire stopped to say, "You two look like Disney princesses. Anna, you look like the girl in sleeping beauty, what's her name…"

"Aurora," Walter said.

"Yeah, her. And Cassie, you look exactly like Cinderella. How come you didn't leave at like ten, and leave a shoe for Jorge to try on like fifty girls?"

"Because if she had left a shoe, I would have immediately found her. Cassie is the only girl for me," Jorge said.

A car horn honked and a familiar voice yelled, "Come on bitch, it's time to go home. Stop talking to people and get in the car!"

Claire turned to us, and said, "She's been a whole lot bitchier since she started dating Dan. It's weird, because they've been friends for years and she wasn't this bitchy. I'll see you guys later. We should hang out over the summer. Bye!"

She turned and headed to the car.

Jorge's mom was next to show. He kissed me, and I hoped for his sake Esteban wasn't in the car. Esteban didn't seem to like him kissing me, but he liked me. I didn't get it.

"I'll call you, okay?" he said.

He hugged Anna and said, "Bye, Anna."

My mom showed up as Jorge was entering his car. Anna and I walked down to the car and got in.

"How was it?" Mom asked.

"It was fun. A few guys asked Cassie to dance, but she turned them down," Anna said.

"I'm not going to dance with some random guy, especially if I haven't met him before," I said.

Anna and I stayed up, and when I woke up, it finally felt like summer.