Chapter Two

"I can't believe you did better in English than I did," said Kristina. She leaned on the front counter of Kelly's, while Adriana wiped it down with a rag.

"I think it was that Hamlet essay that did it," said Adriana, stopping her wiping to talk to her friend. Even though Kristina's father was the one responsible for Adriana's parents' death, Adriana didn't judge Kristina. After all, she wasn't one to judge others by their fathers. "Remember, she made me read it front of the whole class?"

"Yeah, your face turned bright red!" said Kristina, remembering the day very clearly.

Adriana remembered it as well. Public speaking wasn't a talent of hers. Her palms got sweaty and her knees knocked together. And, when she was really nervous, her face and even her arms would become splotchy and red.

"It was absolutely awful!" complained Adriana. "I'm going to purposefully write B-worthy essays in her class from now on just to avoid something like that happening again."

"Are you girls still chit-chatting?" said a voice. Mike came out of the Kelly's kitchen, two hamburgers balanced on a tray in his hand. Both girls smiled embarrassedly as he made his way towards them.

"C'mon, Adriana, I pay you to wait tables, not to talk," he said. Adriana went back to her wiping. He turned to his granddaughter. "And I don't need you distracting her."

"Sorry, Grandpa," said Kristina. Mike dropped the hamburgers off at a table and went back into the kitchen. Once he was out of earshot, Kristina started talking again. "So, nervous about the physics test tomorrow?"

"Completely," said Adriana. She was about to go into detail when her conscience took over. "Look, I have work to do. I don't want your grandfather getting angry at us again."

"He wasn't angry, just frustrated," said Kristina. "I do talk to you a lot while you work."

"Maybe that's a hint that we should stop?" said Adriana, and Kristina laughed.

"C'mon, admit it. You'd be bored to tears if I wasn't here to make conversation."

Adriana smiled and sighed. While Kristina was being a bit full of herself (after all, it wasn't like she was Adriana's only friend), Adriana did have to admit that her being around made her shift go by a lot faster.

"So, what do you wanna focus on when we study tonight?" asked Kristina. Adriana was going over to her house to cram for the next day's test.

"Uh, everything," said Adriana. "I don't understand what we're learning at all."

Kristina snorted. "Don't put on that act, Miss I Have An A In Physics."

"Yeah, and I'd like to keep that A," said Adriana. She was a little tired of Kristina poking at her good grades. It was almost like being an A student was something to be ashamed of. But Adriana knew that wasn't what was bothering her friend. Kristina worked hard for her grades, and wasn't always too happy when someone did better than her.

"Oh, I can't give you a ride home," said Kristina. "My mom has to work late, its Viola's night off, and I'm not allowed to drive after dark."

Adriana shrugged. "That's okay. I'll just call Claudia to send the car." Between school work, soccer, her job, and therapy, Adriana didn't have time to even think about getting her driver's license.

"Girls," sang Mike, coming out of the kitchen again. "What did I say?"

"Sorry, Mike," said Adriana, feeling her cheeks turn red in embarrassment.

"Look, I have to run over an order to the hospital real quick," he said, brushing away Adriana's apology. "Think you can hold down the fort until I get back?"

Adriana nodded. "Sure. Of course."

Mike sighed, not sure if he wanted to leave his diner to his chatty employee and granddaughter. "Alright, I'll be back in half an hour." And, with that, he headed out the door, leaving Adriana in charge.

"Okay, now that he's gone," said Kristina, "did you hear about Megan Hadden and Joe Lestrange?"

Adriana rolled her eyes. "Kristina, not now. I'd actually like to keep my job."

Kristina looked around the diner. "There's practically no one here." It was true. The diner was never very crowded this time of day, between the end of school and rush hour. There were a few students studying in a corner and several other patrons scattered across the diner, but it really wasn't that full. Adriana was the only waitress on the shift, and sometimes she even thought that Mike could do without her.

"I know, but still…" said Adriana, not meeting her friend's eye.

"What?" questioned Kristina.

"It's just…" started Adriana, but trailed off. It was just what? Mike wasn't there. He wouldn't know if she had disobeyed him by talking to Kristina. But there was still that voice inside her head, a moral compass almost. She had never really figured out how to turn it off.

But she would, sooner than she thought.

The door to the diner opened, letting in a blast of cold, November air. In came a kid who looked to be in high school, tall, with dark, wavy brown hair and deep, chocolate brown eyes. He had on a uniform that both Kristina and Adriana recognized as Madison Prep's. When Adriana saw him, she felt panic overtake her body and dropped to her knees behind the counter.

Kristina watched her friend practically melt behind the counter, and went down herself, trying to figure out the situation. "What are you doing down here?"

Adriana hugged her knees up to her chest with one arm, twirling her necklace with her right hand. She heard his deep, calming voice over all the others in the diner as he talked to some of the students near the door. What was he doing here? She had never seen him here before. Why did he have to come when she was working?

"Adriana, what's going on?" asked Kristina, not following the scenario at all. "Who is that guy?"

"That's Kyle Cabalo," whispered Adriana, for fear that he might hear her. "He's a senior. He just transferred into my Spanish class last week." There was more to it than that, but Adriana was a little embarrassed to go into the rest of it.

Kristina recognized the name. "Oh, yeah, I think Kiefer knows him. But that still doesn't explain what you're doing down here."

Adriana gulped. She didn't really want to elaborate. No one knew about her little crush on Kyle, and she wasn't that eager to talk about it. But Kristina was her friend. She had every right to know.

"Well, I kind of have this crush on him," she admitted, blushing hard.

Kristina covered her mouth to stifle a giggle. "You're getting all worked up over a crush? Have you even ever talked to him?"

"He asked me for a pencil the other day, that's it."

Kristina could barely contain her excitement. "No way! He was totally flirting with you!"

"Shh!" said Adriana. She would die if he overheard their conversation. "No he wasn't. The next day he asked your brother for a pencil."

"Because he was too nervous to talk to you again," explained Kristina, as if it was obvious.

Adriana was getting frustrated. "Will you stop overanalyzing this?"

"Wait, I still don't get why you're hiding from him," said Kristina, ignoring Adriana's question.

"Because I don't want him to know I work here," said Adriana. "I'd rather he thought I had a life."

"Hello? Anyone here?" asked a voice. Kyle's voice. Adriana swore under her breath. Now she'd have to awkwardly get up from the floor and make up some story about why she was there in the first place.

"Stay down here," she whispered to Kristina, who nodded, before getting up. She saw Kyle jump, not expecting her to come up from behind the counter. She tried not to get lost in his dark eyes and she told her lie.

"Sorry, didn't mean to, um, scare you," she stammered, brushing flyaway pieces of her hair behind her ears, her right hand still twirling her necklace. "I was just, uh, cleaning up a spill." Kyle nodded as Adriana realized her mistake. "Not that I was the one who spilled it, because I don't do things like that. I was, uh, you know, cleaning up someone else's—look, what can I get you?"

Kyle smiled, and Adriana noticed for the first time how perfectly straight and white his teeth were. She tried not to stare as he said, "Can I just get a small black coffee, to go?"

"Sure," said Adriana. She turned away from the counter to pour the coffee into a Styrofoam cup, feeling Kristina poke her in the calf. She ignored the poke as she focused on getting the coffee from the pot to the cup without spilling it.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" asked Kyle.

Adriana tried not to smile too much as she brought the coffee back over to the counter, putting a lid on it. He recognized her. Maybe Kristina was right. "Uh, yeah. I sit behind you in Spanish? You asked me for a pencil the other day?"

His face lit up with realization. "Oh, right. Adrienne?"

"Adriana," she corrected, her hopes faltering a little. That's what he had called her when he had asked for the pencil.

"Right. Sorry," he said, taking the coffee and pulling out his wallet. "How much?"

"Two ninety-five," said Adriana.

He pulled a five dollar bill out of the wallet and handed it to her. "Keep the change," he said, and they both smiled.

"Uh, sure. Thanks," said Adriana, taking the money and putting it into the register. Kyle picked up the coffee, giving her a little wave as he started towards the door.

"So, I'll see you in English," he said over his shoulder.

"Spanish," Adriana muttered under her breath as he mercifully exited the diner.

Kristina jumped up for her hiding spot, her mind exploding with excitement. She had always liked drama; it added spark to her normally bland life. She liked it even better when it didn't have anything to do with her. "We need to work on your flirting skills."

Adriana rolled her eyes. "Can we just leave it alone, please?"

"No," said Kristina simply. "You obviously like this guy a lot. I would hate to see you all depressed over it."

"I don't like this guy 'a lot,'" Adriana clarified. "It's a crush, that's it. In a couple weeks I won't even care about him."

Kristina just stared at her. "Are you crazy? Why are you so down on yourself?"

"Look, before you started going out with Kiefer, how many other guys did you have crushes on?"

Kristina smiled, remembering her boy-crazy freshmen and sophomore years. Those had been some good times. "I don't know, exactly. A lot, though."

"See? You're proving my point," argued Adriana. "It's not rocket science. You like a guy, and then someone better comes along, and you forget about them. I'm not going to get myself worked up over someone that I don't even have a chance with."

"What is it with you and your Johnny Raincloud attitude? What makes you think you don't have a chance with Kyle?"

"Besides the fact that he doesn't know my name or what class we have together?"

"Do you know how many people call me Christine a day? Adriana has its variations, too."

Adriana sighed. She just wasn't getting it. "But if he had any interest in me at all, I'd like to think that he'd at least make an effort to remember my name."

Kristina shook her head, ignoring Adriana's last comment. "Boys are stupid. I'm telling you, he was just flustered. It happens."

"You know what, none of this matters anyway," said Adriana, deciding that it was finally time to end the discussion. "I don't have time for a boyfriend, whether it's Kyle or someone else, so this whole situation is just a moot point."

Kristina folded her hands over her chest. "Please. Everyone has time for a boyfriend."

"Not me," said Adriana. Kristina decided not to press it anymore. Adriana was just being stubborn, something she had inherited from her mother. It wasn't worth the breath to try and argue with her.

"How much longer until your shift's over?" she asked, and Adriana was happy that she was finally changing the subject.

Adriana checked her phone. "About an hour."

"Alright," said Kristina. "I'm gonna go run over to the library. I'll be back when you're done."

"Okay," said Adriana, watching her friend finally leave so that she could work in peace.

As Adriana worked through the rest of her shift, Kristina's words kept popping up in her head. Was she right? Was Kyle really so interested in her that he forgot what class they had together, even her name? The way Kristina was telling it, it wasn't impossible, but Adriana still had her doubts. Even though she agreed that boys could be stupid at times, she had always thought that they were pretty uncomplicated and honest. Kyle seemed like the kind of guy with a good head on his shoulders. He didn't seem like he would be someone to play games with her. As she kept thinking about it, she decided that she was right and Kristina was wrong. Kyle had no interest in her whatsoever. It kind of bothered her now, but she would eventually get over it. She had enough going on in her life to distract her, and soon, she probably wouldn't even remember having a crush on him.

But even as she tried to convince herself of her own opinion, there was still the voice in the back of her head that told her to hold on, just a little longer.