"Hi Nicole!" was all Jason could spit out as he stood at her table. He felt sick to his stomach. Steven had called the table "Ground Zero" when they mapped out the plan. It was strange, he thought, the way they could plan and plan for these things, but they couldn't plan on what to say. Maybe they didn't have so much control over this situation as they thought. He would later find out the true reality of this statement, but right now, he had a job to do.

            "Hi," he realized was all she could reply, on account of he had never given her his name. When she spoke, he calmed down a bit. She seemed so familiar, like a person he saw everyday, and yet was as mysterious as a complete stranger. He hadn't realized until now, but he needed to keep his real identity a secret, for now anyway, just in case he had met her before. Another thing he hadn't planned on.

            "And how are you doing today?" he asked. Gosh. This was so fake. People don't really talk like this.

            "Oh, I'm doing Ok I guess, I've been better, and I'm sure I've looked better too…" she trailed off, now becoming self-conscious of her messy curly blonde hair and favorite but not exactly "Chic" athletic pants. 'Wal-Mart, 10.50,' she thought.

            "Just Ok?" he asked with a less-than-authentic surprise. Yet very convincing. Eyes wide, raised eyebrows; yeah, he had done this before. "You look very nice to me, Nicole. In fact, you look down right smashing, I think. But then again, you always look positively radiant to me." Smashing? Positively? Those were Steven's. But who was he? Prince Charles? 'Note to self, 1. Eliminate 'smashing' and 'positively' from vocabulary. 2. Fire Steven and find a new writer.' He thought to himself.

            She blushed. "Oh, uh, well Thank you, I'm flattered," she replied. She thought his way of talking was a bit strange, but who was she to judge? No one, she thought. Besides, the way he looked into her eyes made her feel, well… Positively Smashing.

            Jason stared at Nicole. 'Wow,' he thought. 'She is beautiful.' She slowly looked up and stared directly back in to his eyes. After a couple seconds, he snapped out of this. This he hadn't planned. "I'm so sorry, how rude of me. My apologies," he said with a repentant expression.

            "Oh, no, don't be. It's really alright…uh…" She hesitated. She then realized something- she had never caught his name.

            As if he had read her mind, he finished her sentence. "Oh, my apologies again! I can't believe I didn't give you my name. How stupid of me! My name is um… Jay!" he spat out. Wow. Really original. "Well, that's not my real name, but that's what my friends call me. It's an acronym… well, sorta." It was, in a way. His name was Jason Alexander Erickson, so that sort of spelled JAY. "Well it really spells JAE, and it doesn't really stand for something like SCUBA stands for Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, and not Something's Creeping Under Boat Alice, but it's close enough." The girls were staring at him. "Oh sorry, I'm rambling again." He blushed. He had gotten that from an episode of Boy Meets World, one of his favorite cancelled TV show of all time. Great wording and literary skills he had not, but the girls laughed, so it was OK. Besides, he was more of a math sort of guy anyway.

            He was lucky that Nicole's mother had always told her not ask to many questions or to pry, "because if someone really wanted you to know, they'd tell you," she had said, so Nicole didn't ask what it stood for.

            "It's really Ok. So, are you going to get the new Michelle Branch CD?" Nicole asked.

            "Michelle Branch CD?" he was confused. Uh-oh. This can't be good.

            "Yeah, didn't you hear? It's coming out tomorrow," she informed him.

A couple seconds went by. "Ohhh! I remember now! Yes I did hear that," he pretended to realize even though he hadn't the slightest clue as to what she was talking about. "I'm not sure, I don't want to go by myself…" he said intentionally trailing off while looking down at his feet. "Guys need to show their innocent boyish side too," he had overheard his sister say on the phone once.

            "Well you can come with us!" Ally spat out before Nicole had the chance to let it go.

            "Yeah! Great idea!" Stephanie agreed. "We're going after school tomorrow. You could catch a ride with us after drama class, if you don't mind waiting."

            "Yeah, or you could sit in and watch. I'm sure Mr. Brookfield wouldn't mind," Ally suggested.

            "I'm not sure," Nicole hesitated. She wasn't sure she wanted a really cute boy watching her play someone else, but she couldn't let them know that. "I mean I'm sure Jay doesn't want to wait around for us. It would probably be so boring for him." She said as she looked at her friends to agree. 'Nice save,' she thought. But he surprised her.

            'Common interests,' he thought. "Oh no, quite the contrary," he quickly replied. "I'd love to watch, that is if it's ok with you, Nicole," he looked at her for approval.

            "Well, I don't…" Nicole started but was quickly cut off by Ally and Steph.

            "Excuse us Jay, could we have A WORD WITH NICOLE PLEASE?" Stephanie stressed as she as she stared in Nicole's direction. Ally and Stephanie's eyes seemed to bore holes into Nicole.

            "Sure, go ahead. Be my guest." He said politely. Steph flashed a smile then turned and dragged Nicole away from the table.         

            "ARE YOU NUTS???" Steph quietly scolded. "He is the cutest boy in our entire grade and he's interested in YOU!

You cannot possibly turn him down!"

            "But!"

            "But nothing!" Ally retorted.

            "BUT!" Nicole objected again.

            "But WHAT?" they asked in frustration.

            "But- But he'll be watching me and I… I…"

            "Nicole, you HAVE NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT! You're a great actress! And besides, if you're going to play the lead role in the school play, you better get used to people watching you! Now go back there and SAY YES! Alright?"

            Nicole's face was stone so the girls both put on their best puppy dog pouts, known to break even the toughest parent. After a minute passed she broke.

            "Fine! But don't expect me to get all buddy-buddy with him," she warned as she headed back toward the table.

            "That's all we ask," they said with smirks and followed. When they got back, Jay was still waiting.

            "Yeah, so it's settled, you're coming with us at 4:30." Stephanie said as she sat back down.

            "Great, but are you sure its ok?" He asked one more time, just to make sure.

            "Nicole?" Ally and Stephanie turned and said in unison.

            "Uh, yeah, it's fine." Nicole said, even though she didn't think it would be.

            "Great! Well, I have to go, but I'll see you tomorrow," he said. "Bye," he waved to Steph and Ally. "Bye Nicole," he said in a more dreamy voice. He turned and left. A minute went by, and as soon as he was surely gone, a high pitched squeal escaped from Ally's lips.

            "HE IS SO CUTE!" she exclaimed as she leaned back, almost falling off the bench.

            "WHAT A DREAM!" Stephanie squealed.

            "Yeah…" Nicole mumbled, but she really didn't mean it. She still wasn't sure about the acting, but that wasn't the problem. Something else was happening… something she hadn't expected…