At lunch, my center table was packed. It was usually crowded, but this time it appeared to be surrounded by what seemed like the entirety of the school.

"I heard that Autumn tried to break Julian's arm so that he wouldn't be able to get in the NFL!" a cheerleader girl exclaimed, her pom-pom-clad hands gesturing widely.

"Julian dumped Autumn because she said that she thought football was stupid! Seriously, what the hell? If she thought that then why would she date a football player in the first place?" a glee girl criticized.

"I heard she was only dating him to make Wes jealous," a prep girl replied, then primly took a bite of her California rolls. My face went frozen and I could feel the blood rushing down my cheeks.

Mia, who sat next to me, noticed the look on my face and gave the prep a murderous look.

"Where did you hear that?" Mia asked. Translation: whoever started that rumor was screwed.

The prep girl's eyes widened in fear as she swallowed her bite.

"I—uh, I don't remember," she began. I could see her hands trembling as she fidgeted with the Cartier bracelets on her wrist. "I think it was one of the artist girls that Autumn sometimes hangs out with. She would know about Autumn's love life, wouldn't she?"

Now that I had a suspect in mind, it was time to change the subject before my classmates saw that I couldn't keep my own boyfriend in check.

"Love life?" I mused. "What love life? You mean her and the trashcan she's sitting across from?" I gestured at the only café table that had just one bench, where Autumn sat alone across from a large green dumpster. With that, my table exploded into giggles.

Suddenly, a hush came across my table. I slowly turned around, wanting to see who could cause a tableful of gossipy, giggling girls to shut up so quickly.

It was Julian. I was pretty much immune to his "charms", since I obviously had Wes, but that didn't mean that the rest of the female population at my school was.

"Mind if I sit here with you guys?" Julian asked, a red plastic tray loaded with food perched in his hands.

None of my friends spoke. They all looked at me for the final call. Whatever I said they would back up, even if it wasn't the answer that they were hoping for.

I tilted my head to the side and gave my most winning "nice girl" smile.

"Of course! You're always welcome at our table, Julian," I replied, and the cheerleader and glee girl scooted over to make room for him.

"Thanks," Julian replied, opening a large bottle of Gatorade and shoveling a handful of fries in his mouth.

"How can you eat so much?" the cheerleader girl widened her eyes at him. Now that Julian was officially "on the market", of course they would be hitting on him. I pretended to search for something inside my hot pink Kelly bag, surreptitiously glancing at Autumn to see her reaction. She looked equal parts furious and crestfallen, and I smiled to myself. Even if I didn't already hate her guts, she totally deserved it. She treated all her friends and boyfriends like shit and never appreciated them.

I speared off a piece of lettuce with my fork, trying not to think about what the prep girl had said earlier, but it was hard not to. Even here, it always seemed like Autumn and Wes had lingering feelings for one another when she was supposed to be dating Julian. But the thought that Wes still cared about her was what truly made me pissed off—and maybe even a little scared. I had complete and total control over my house, my school, my friends, my classmates… but the one thing that I had no control over was Wes's feelings for Autumn. That girl was seriously cramping my style, and she had no right to. Over my dead body would I let a clingy, whiny fashion-challenged loser with ratty sneakers win.