Junie didn't know why she dreaded telling her friends about her date with Jim. It just wasn't something she was looking forward to. Honestly? She felt like turning around and running the heck out of the building the minute she stepped into school the next morning and saw all three of her best friends leaning against the lockers, obviously waiting for her. She took a deep breath, smiled in a way she hoped didn't look too forced, and walked over to them. She almost sighed in relief when she saw that Herb, the main culprit behind her discomfort lately, was smiling and joking around with the guys. He looked at her and nodded, the smile still on his face.

"Hey, Junie B." He said casually. 'So far so good', Junie thought. Maybe he wouldn't freak on her for no good reason that day...But just in case he did, she decided it was best to keep quiet.

The other two boys waved at her and she said hi. "So, what's going on guys?" she asked.

"We have a pop quiz in Algebra today." Lenny said. Junie groaned. Jose and Herb smirked, since they were already in Trigonometry, and their class, though somewhat harder, never got pop quizzes.

The group kept on talking to each other in a friendly way, as if Junie hadn't walked out on them on Friday after not being invited to the movie. All was fine...for the moment, at least.

Homeroom and second period (Computer Science) went by really quick without anything unusual. Third period was time for History. Junie had the period with none of her best friends, and if that wasn't bad enough, she sat right behind May. Tattle-tale May, the girl she had detested ever since first grade, when she wouldn't let a day go by without getting Junie B. into some kind of trouble. May, as you probably already guessed, was still a major teachers' pet and a kiss-up pro. And if you guessed that she really had no real friends, then you guessed...wrong. Shockingly, May led a clique. An extremely cliché clique, but a clique nonetheless. It was made up of about 5 girls, all moderately pretty, as was May, who were really stuck up and wore beige skirts with knee high socks and cardigans that usually rested over their shoulders. Picture perfect nerd. Exact opposite of Junie, who usually wore skinny jeans and converse, with bandages all over her arms and elbows because she was so crazy she would try anything on her skate board, whether she thought she could do it or not.

As soon as she entered the room she saw May lining up her pencils on one side of her desk, pens on the other. Her notebook sat in the middle, and she had already dated her notes. That was the kind of student she was. Junie would be lucky if she found at least one good pencil and/or pen to use during the period, and she would have to make do with loose leaf paper to take notes, and pray she wouldn't lose it when it was time to study for a test. That was the kind of student she was. She sat down and sighed. May gave her what was supposed to be a nonchalant once-over, but was painfully obvious, since that's what she did every day. Junie B. wondered why she always checked her out in the morning. Probably just to compare and judge, considering that she usually smirked and straightened her skirt right after. Today, Junie B. was wearing skinny jeans that were ripped at the knees and written all over with faded black sharpie. Her shirt was probably the first thing she saw in the morning, just a plain old red T-shirt. As usual, Junie's hair hung loose with only a headband holding it away from her face.

The bell rang and Junie got ready for another boring lecture all about the Civil War, the Reconstruction, Abraham Lincoln and other things she wouldn't ever remember.

Junie B's POV

When the bell that released me from the prison that is my history class finally rang, I threw all I had into my backpack and jumped up. While I was swinging my pack on my shoulder, I accidently hit someone who was walking down the aisle. I turned around to apologize to Ryan Ferguson, but he simply smiled at me and winked, unnecessarily grabbing my arm in a type of caress. I looked after him with a confused expression. Whatever, I thought. But as I was making my way out of the class, I felt someone grab me(not all that gentle either) and pull me towards the lockers. I was pushed against the wall, harder than what I would have expected from a girl that looked considerably weaker than me(not that I looked all that strong myself).

My assaulter turned out to be none other than May, in all her sweater draped shoulder glory. I looked around and noticed that May's posse was standing a few feet away, with a smug look on their faces. Well, all except for one girl, Diana Shaw, who stood at the center of a small circle. She looked angry, and slightly hurt. I wondered what I had done to anger the crew.

May didn't let me wonder for longer.

"Junie Jones," she started. I glared at her and interrupted.

"Junie B. Jones, May. If you are going to call me by my full name, I've told you a thousand times, never forget the B." she knew it bugged me to hear that name, 'Junie Jones'. You could call me three things: Junie, Junie B., or June (the last one was uncommon for anyone but my teachers). But if my 'Jones' was uttered anywhere near a 'Junie', then there better be a 'B' in the middle.

"Whatever, Jones." She said, rolling her eyes. "I swear, you should have dropped the i e and the B a long time ago. How are you suppose to be taken seriously with all those nicknames dragging you down?"

I rolled my eyes this time. "What do you want, May?"

"I'm on to you, Junie Jones!"

Huh? What did that mean?

"I've seen you and your ogling eyes. I know what it's like to be lusting after someone!"

Lusting? Did she seriously just say lusting?

"I swear, I know that look in your eyes! And I'm about to get to the bottom of this!"

I was starting to fear for my life. (Note sarcasm).

"May. What. Do. You. Want." I said, with long pauses between the words.

"Oh, no nothing much. I just have a couple of questions to ask you." She replied, casually. I put my guard up immediately.

"Oh, really? Like what?" I asked.

She smiled, then she took a piece of paper out of her binder. I could see questions 1-10 sprawled out on it. I gulped. She also took out a fancy purple pen(who buys fancy pens for school?).

"Question number 1," she began. "Have you or have you not heard the recent rumors surrounding you and a certain member of the opposite sex?"

I looked at her, shocked. What rumors? "Wha-"

"What rumors? So you haven't heard about them?"

"Um…no?"

She scribbled down something on the paper. "Question number 2: Are you or are you not currently interested in any member of the opposite sex?"

"Huh?" Now I was even more shocked than before.

She raised her eyebrows. "It's a simple enough question. Are or are you not currently interested in any member of the opposite sex? Yes or no?"

"Um. I-well, I-You, um-" I didn't know what to say: Jim was none of Tattle-tale May's business! And, sure, he was cute, and I liked him, but did that mean that I was interested in him? What does it mean, to be 'interested' in someone? Does it mean you have a crush, or-

I saw May scribble down something else on her paper. She must have seen me squirm.

"Question number 3: Is that certain someone, someone in this school?"

"Where are you taking this, May?" I asked, annoyed.

"Hm. I'll take that as a yes." She scribbled down some more. Then she looked up at me and glared. "Now, this is a vital question. It is very important, so listen up, Junie Jones!" I tried to correct her, but she stuck her finger right on my nose. "Your very own safety relies on the answer of this question. And, if you do not answer truthfully, I will find out. And then, I will find you." I swear, if this girl scared me before…"Do you understand?"

I nodded.

"Very good. Question number 4: Does that certain someone happen to be…."

I don't know why, but I got really nervous. What if she knew about Jim? How could she know about Jim? What if she told everyone I liked Jim? There were still people who remembered Jim! Would they tease me? What was she planning?

"…Ryan Ferguson?" She blurted out all of a sudden. I had been wrapped up in my thoughts for a bit, so I jumped at her sudden outburst. On my way down I hit my head against the wall.

"What the? Where did you get that from?" I said, rubbing the back of my head.

"So it's true?" She looked incredibly angry, and I didn't know why.

"No! I didn't say that! I was just asking where you heard that from."

"There is a certain rumor floating around that you and Ryan Ferguson are 'meant to be' and that you were all over him two weeks ago, at Amelia James birthday party."

"Where did you get that?" I asked.

"Jenny heard it from Brian, who heard it from Sarah, who heard it from Jade, who heard it from Lorenzo who got it from Ryan himself." Should I be more afraid that people are so willing to spread gossip, or that people are so willing to believe it? I decided that I should be more afraid that I, Junie B. Jones, had not been informed of this gossip by anyone.

I was outraged by the fact that no one had bothered to tell me!

"So it isn't true? You don't have anything to do with Ryan Ferguson?" She asked.

"Of course not! Oh, but I'm going to!" When I got my hands on him…

"So you are interested in him?"

"No!" I exclaimed, "That's not what I meant!"

She glared at me. "Stay away from him!"

"I don't like him!"

"Oh, but you were all over him-"

"No I was not!"

"Listen up: He's Diana's property, okay? So hands off! No one messes around with my friends boyfriends."

"He's Diana's boyfriend?" I hadn't heard that.

"He will be soon."

Diana had had 3 previous boyfriends, all good friends of Ryan's. All of them said she could be a real pain and was obsessive and controlling. I snorted and muttered under my breath, "I don't think so."

"Implying that you do plan on enamoring him?"

"No!"

Lunch Time

After my little meeting with May, I marched over to the library and scanned the isles. I found my prey. Walking over, I tapped him on the shoulder and when he turned and smiled slyly at me, I grabbed him by the neck of his shirt.

"Woah- Hey, what's going on June?" Ryan Ferguson asked. I said nothing, but yanked him off of his chair and dragged him to another more isolated corner of the room. I silenced the snickers and laughter behing me from Ryans little group of idiots with one angry glare.

"Hey, what's going on June?" Ryan asked again once I had slammed him against a wall, not unlike the way May had slammed me a little bit before.

"Who do you think you are?" I asked angrily.

He shrugged. "Ryan Greggory Ferguson?" he answered. I rolled my eyes.

"How dare you spread rumors of me! You know very well that you and I have nothing to do with each other! Heck, I've barely ever even said more than two words to you!" I said in a hushed whisper.

He smiled. "So, you've finally heard the rumors?"

"Of course I heard the rumors!" I was slightly annoyed by the word 'finally'. How long had these rumors been around, and WHY had nobody bothered to tell me until today?

"Well then, what do you think? My handy work of course." He said it completely unashamed, as if admitting he was responsible for my winning a Nobel Prize instead of spreading a rumor about me. "You know, it wasn't completely farfetched, considering you were all over me a couple of weeks ago at that party."

I stared at him in disbelief. "What the- I don't even remember seeing you at Amelia James's party!"

He smiled coyly at me and I wondered what this Diana girl saw in him. He was a nobody to me this morning, now he was somewhat of a conceited jerk.

"Oh come on, June. You know, the hug, the clinging, the giggling. You practically spelled out 'I'm in love with you' that night."

"What are you talking about?" I suddenly flashbacked to that night. I remembered being there with Herb and Jose(Lenny was raiding the kitchen, as was his usual habit at parties). I remembered that Herb was teasing me about something and had lightly pushed me, so naturally I had pushed him back. Then someone who had been dancing around crashed into me and I went flailing out the opposite direction, landing right on…Ryan Ferguson's lap. Yes, I had clung(trying to get my balance back) and yes I had giggle, but I had not hugged him. I was giggling at the situation, but I barely even registered whose lap I was sitting on. "Dang it, Ryan, you took that the completely wrong way!"

"Oh did I?" He asked me, with a slight lift of the brow. Okay, now I was completely convinced. He was conceited jerk. "Listen, June. Let's stop beating around the bush, 'k? 'K. Now, here's how it's going to go. I'll pick you up Friday night, say around eightish? We'll go play miniature gulf, we'll grab a bite to eat, and I'll kiss you good night. You'll wear something sporty but girly, casual but pretty, and flattering but fitting. Make sure it's fitting, I like seeing the form of my girls when I take them out. And, heck, I'll even give you some cash to get your nails done all pretty like a real girl." He said this with a smug smile and I contemplated whether I should a)sock him in the stomach or b)calmly(and slowly) explain that I wasn't interested. I went for B, and when that failed I went with a. After he recovered from the blow, I smiled triumphantly and tried to explain again.

"Now, before you try to put your arms anywhere near me again, let me clear some things up, 'k? 'K. One, I do not do what people tell me to do. I do what I want. Two, I decide whether the boy has earned a kiss at the end of the night, or if he has, like you just did, earned a good dosing of light physical damage. And, finally, I already have plans on Friday, so even if I did want to go mini golfing with you, which I don't, I couldn't. See, I have a date that night, with a really nice boy. His name is Jim, and he lets me decided what I'm going to wear. He's a gentleman." As I said this I felt a smug smile tugging at the edge of my lips. Ryan just looked up at me, rubbing the spot on his upper abdominals that had connected with my fist. Then I heard something crash behind me and I turned just in time to see someone flee the scene. I could have followed but I didn't.

Something told me that Herb wasn't very happy with my at the moment.