---- Sorry I haven't updated in a bit! I'd like to say that because of that I will make this chapter super-duper long…unfortunately I seem more or less incapable! Urg! Thanks for all the awesome reviews…When I look at story traffic and see that people not just from North America have viewed this story - people in Trinidad and the Philippines and Ireland and Germany and New Zealand and Sweden and Australia and the UK and the Netherlands…oh my god it's just so cool!!! Anyhow, seeing as this author's note is ending up being longer than the chapter, I'll go now! -----

When I go to dance, Jennif knows something's wrong. She asks me, but I ignore her. When I get to school on Monday, Kennedy snubs me. I take a deep breath. The only way this is ever going to be fixed is if I take the initiative. Obviously Kennedy's angry at me…but surely she can't be that angry. Max is only a guy she's known for less than a month and I've been her best-friend for years, right?

Wrong. "Ken, listen! We were just talking and -" "Please!" Kennedy holds up a hand to silence me, "Max is so 2003."

I smile. "Great! I'm really sorry, you know that - him and I are only friends and I should have made sure you knew that -" But Kennedy cuts me off again. "He's so 2003 because he hangs out with you!" she snaps and stomps off. I stand there, shell-shocked. Kennedy certainly isn't in the mood to be reasonable, I guess. I mean, I get why she's so bugged - I really do! But you'd think she'd listen…

At lunch, Kennedy turns traitor. It'd make sense if she just gave me the silence treatment, spoke only to JJ and Lillian or something. But she doesn't even sit with us. She enters the cafeteria, ignores Jayden's beckoning wave, and walks acutely and pointedly to Melissa's table.

All of the girls at my table watch sullenly as Kennedy converses with the girls who have more or less made our lives nightmares and spent more than half their time stomping on us; making it clear they were better. Much to our mortification, Melissa smiles invitingly and pats the spot on the bench in between her and Viv, another one of Melissa's posse.

Kennedy chooses that moment to look over at us. She sneers when she notices our stares and everyone else looks down. Everyone except Jayden and I - so Kennedy gives us the finger. Only then do we look away.

"What the hell?" Jayden asks me. I sigh. "This is when you say. 'I told you so.'" I inform her. Jayden gasps. I expect her to flip out on me too. But instead she inquires, "What happened? Did Max ask you out? How'd Kennedy know?"

And interestingly enough, all the girls at our table - JJ, Lillian, Lidia Martow, Cheryl Dubrov, Terra Crook; the girls I've known since either grade seven or age seven - are suddenly more interested in Max than in Kennedy.

I can't figure it out. Kennedy's always been our friend - why don't they care that she's ditched us? I think about Kennedy's words a week or two ago, You've known her for years. I've just put up with her - and I have to wonder…is this how JJ, Lillian, Cheryl, Terra, Lidia, and Jayden all kind of feel about Kennedy?

***

"How upset is she?" Max mumbles during history. I shrug, "Pissed, of course." "Sorry." he apologizes. "For what? It's not your fault. Especially since Kennedy seemed to have a nice little backup friend!" I glare at the back of Melissa's perfect-for-a-shampoo-ad head.

"Yeah, I noticed…No offence or anything but…" Max tries to figure out how to word his question. I help him out, "Doesn't it seem suspicious how she was welcomed so lovingly?" I question bitterly. Because, well, it does. I mean - for Melissa to so readily receive Kennedy…it means this was a long time in the making. So now the crucial question - was Kennedy planning to dump me as a friend? And if so, why?

"It's so stupid though," I continue, "I mean, if only Ken would let me explain! Me and you are just friends!" I say unthinkingly. "Yeah…" Max murmurs awkwardly, "Just friends…"

I turn red. Damn it! I didn't mean to say that…I mean I did but I didn't…Max and I are just friends but - but - but I never necessarily said I wanted to keep it that way!

It isn't until the end of the day when I'm at my locker that I remember something strange - what about that note Max passed me. What ever happened to it? Thrown in the recycling of course…But something's off. I just get a bad feeling about that note. What if - what if someone found it?

What if Kennedy found it?

Just then, Melissa walks past my locker laughing with Viv, Kim, Ella, and now her new recruit - Kennedy. And suddenly it clicks. It wasn't Kennedy who found the note after it was tossed in the recycling.

It was Melissa.