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Chapter 8: About last night

"I can't believe you did that."

Macy cringed at the sound of Stella's voice. She guessed deep down inside that she could pretend she didn't know what her best friend was talking about. After all, there was the possibility that Stella was freaking out about something else, like the fact that Macy's socks didn't match perfectly with her sweater after the rush she'd been in to get ready that morning. Somehow, Macy doubted this was the case, however.

"Huh?"

"Don't huh me, Macy Misa. You know exactly what I'm talking about. I can't believe you got Kevin to go out with Brooke last night. I thought I'd warned you not to do anything stupid."

"Did you not hear about what happened during lunch? I wasn't going to let people think that I had fallen all over myself because of Kevin and that I was now taking advantage of that and making him do anything and everything I wanted. It was stupid, but you can't blame me. You know that with your temper you would have done the same thing, if not worse."

Stella sighed because she knew that Macy was right.

"Don't worry about it. Nothing spectacular happened."

"How do you know?"

"Kevin was telling me all about it this morning on the ride in."

Macy felt the smile that had almost formed on her lips at the thought of nothing spectacular happening drop once again. If he'd been talking about it that morning, that meant it was on his mind, which meant that it was something to think about, which meant that it wasn't nothing.

"Oh."

"He said that she wouldn't take his advice on anything. Apparently, they have totally clashing styles, which means that she doesn't know how to dress, because I helped mould Kevin's style, and it is therefore perfect."

"So..."

"So the date was definitely not a success."

Macy smiled at the news. Her grin dropped when she remembered her current situation.

"But I still yelled at Kevin because he was trying to help me yesterday. I haven't talked to him since. I had to get home before he got back in."

"Well, you're both stuck in the same building all day. I'm sure you'll get your chance. Besides, it's Kevin. He won't let you go the whole day on one good leg without showing up to carry something for you at some point."

"Right," Macy said in a whisper with a nod of the head. "Right."

Even to her, the word didn't sound all that convincing.

***

Macy tried to ignore the presence behind her. It wasn't easy, but she was determined to do it. From the moment Brooke had walked through the door of the class with that wide grin on her face, Macy had been striving with all her strength to simply ignore the girl and let her day move forward.

"You know," she finally heard Brooke whisper behind her when the teacher had told them to start working on the problems in their books, "I really wanted to thank you, Macy."

"You're welcome," Macy answered automatically without looking up.

"Kevin and I had a great time last night, and it's all thanks to you."

"Okay..."

Brooke's eyes narrowed at Macy's drawled answer. "What's that suppose to mean?"

"What?" Macy asked, finally pulling her head up.

"It was obviously sarcastic, so what was it supposed to mean?"

"It wasn't supposed to mean anything. You think I helped you and Kevin have a great time last night. He thinks whatever he thinks. I'm not getting involved."

There was a moment of silence between them in which Macy had time to figure out three algebra problems.

"Oh," Brooke interrupted again, "you mean the fight."

"What?"

"The little temper tantrum Kevin had when I wasn't taking his advice."

"Kevin does not have temper tantrums of any size. That's more Joe's deal."

"Well, in case you were worried, we totally made up."

Macy rolled her eyes but refused to say anything.

"I mean, truly, the boy does have taste. It's just that his tastes were a little too conservative for what I was trying to do. I couldn't get him all hot and bothered trying on what he was suggesting. I had to go a little shorter and tighter to get the effect I wanted, and by the way his temper flared, I'm going to guess that I definitely got the effect I wanted."

"Congratulations."

"I don't think you really mean that, but I'll still take it. After all, I apologized to Kevin this morning, told him I had picked one of the dresses he liked, and convinced him that since he'd picked it out, he really had no other choice than to go with me to next week's dance."

"What?" Macy asked, her voice suddenly low and downcast.

"That's right. That's almost a checkmate, Misa. One more date, and I just know he'll be mine."

***

Either version could have been true and the knowledge of that weighed on Macy. Stella had told her one story and Brooke a completely different one. Both girls could be wrong, but chances were one was right, and Macy dreaded which one that would be.

There was really only one way to find out the truth, and while asking Kevin should have been easy enough, it wasn't.

First, there was the fact that she still needed to apologize. That was a first hurdle that she didn't necessarily want to face, but Kevin had apologized to her once, and she imagined that if he'd been able to do it, she would as well.

Second of all, there was the need to track him down. He had not joined them at the lunch table when it was time to eat, and Macy hadn't crossed him anywhere else. She could only guess that he was avoiding her, because there was no other way to explain the fact that he wasn't taking the same path between classes he had been for months. And yes, Macy had assuredly known what path Kevin took between each of his classes for months.

She had one last hope. Macy sighed as she leaned against her locker. She had scared him off the day before, but Kevin had been faithful to showing up at her locker every day after the last bell and making sure that she had some way of getting home. She couldn't help the wide smile that covered her face when she did finally spot him across the hall.

"Kevin!" she called after him.

He waved.

And that was it.

He waved and he was gone.

He didn't ask her if she had a way to get home.

He didn't ask her how her day had gone or commented on the fact that they hadn't seen each other all day.

He didn't have any reaction to her at all, and Macy was fairly certain that she'd heard the all too familiar giggle of her competition not far ahead of her friend.

Maybe things were even worse than she'd believed.

"Are you okay, Macy?"

Her head sprung up. She had no idea how long she'd been standing there, feeling sorry for herself and wondering if there was any way for her to fix the situation she'd somehow dug herself into.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I was just getting my things together."

"Do you have a way of getting home?"

She smiled at Joe and shrugged. "I'll figure it out."

"Or," he told her, grabbing the books she was trying to hold while stuffing her bag with the rest of her homework, "I can just drop you off on the way to getting Stella to the airport."

"Why are you getting Stella to the airport?"

Joe blushed. "I guess her family was busy."

"Or maybe you just wanted to be the last one to say good-bye before she left for an entire week of fashion boot camp."

Joe shrugged again. Macy rolled her eyes.

"Come on. I'll make sure you don't say anything stupid during the fifteen minutes it'll take to get me home."

"Oh good." Joe smiled and looped his arm around her shoulder. "Nick and Kevin are busy. I'm so happy you're here to pick up the slack."

At least someone was, Macy thought to herself with a sigh.