Tommy reluctantly made his way to fifth period. He was really dreading having a class with Lil. For one thing, she hated him. For another, he didn't think that he'd be able to even look at her without feeling the pain that he had felt when she had actually said the words "I HATE HIM!"

Tommy entered his classroom. He was one of the first students there. His teacher told him where to sit, as they were assigned in alphabetical order. Tommy was in the second to the last row on the left side. He sat there patiently and waited for his classmates to enter.

Two minutes later, the room was full of students. Even Lil. In fact, she had walked into the room with one of her friends. Tommy didn't recognize her, but he was sure that she wasn't good news if she was hanging out with Lil.

Tommy's teacher had started the class like all his other teacher's had. It was just a course overview, so he decided not to pay too much attention. He glance over at Lil and noticed that she was sitting just two rows away from him. He grimaced. He knew that once Lil realized they were in the same class, she'd be talking crap about him. As far as he knew, she didn't know he was in her class. She was, surprisingly, taking notes and looked very interested in what the teacher had to say.

The class continued without any disturbances until the very end.

'Wow.' Tommy thought to himself. 'That went smoother than I thought it would.'

As the bell rang and everyone made their way out of the door, Tommy once again bumped into somebody. He groaned. He did not want another run in with Lil, again. He looked up into the face of one of his fellow students. He was African- American. He was big. Very big.

"Hey! Pickles!" The guy shouted.

"Marley! What's up, man?" Tommy responded.

"Nothin'. I passed! Can you believe it?"

Tommy smiled. He knew that Marley was having trouble in school, which was why he had to stay back for the past two years. Tommy knew it wasn't because he was dumb. In fact, Marley was probably one of the smartest people he knew when it came to math and science. It was just the English and the History that got to him. He just couldn't get into it.

"Say, I didn't even see you in here, Marley. I didn't know you were in my class."

"Yeah, well...M remember? My last name is Marley, so I sit with the M's."

"Oh, I didn't look over to that row, that's why." Tommy hesitated. "Well, I have to get to my next class."

"Wait, Pickles, are you signin' up for football again this year?"

Tommy had met Marley when they did football together the year before.

"Yeah. I think so. You?"

"You bet ya...what you doin' after school today? Anything?" Marley looked hopeful.

"Actually, buddy, I have some business to take care of after school today. Sorry." Tommy said sympathetically.

"Hey, no prob. Business is business. See you tomorrow Pickles."

Marley and Tommy did a type of buddy handshake and they both headed off to class.

Lil had watched the two of them and couldn't help but smile. She could never get over how popular Tommy had become over the past couple of years. She and Tommy were really the only ones in the group (aside from Angelica and Susie) who were popular. She never doubted why Tommy was so popular. He was good looking. Incredibly good looking, in fact. He constantly got good grades and he was nice to everyone.

For a split second Lil had forgotten that she was mad at him. She had let her emotions for Tommy resurface itself. She shook her head and sighed. She was mad at him. She couldn't have any type of feelings for him other than anger.

Lil was the last one to leave the classroom. As she walked out the door, she felt a tear slide down her cheek.