LILIA'S POV

After we'd had dinner—orange chicken with lettuce, spinach, and red bell pepper—Darla and I went up to my room. I got into my pajamas and told her she could change in my bathroom.

"Ready to send up a long line of Z's!" she yelled when she came out.

I looked up from my journal to see what she was wearing. Then I wanted to die! She even wore leather pajamas! My goodness, what was she, the female version of Fonzie? I quickly closed my mouth to hide any shock and forced a smile. "Cool PJ's, Darla!"

"I know, right? My sister bought them for me last week. She was going to have a slumber party and I was going to show it off, but I'm glad I didn't?"

"Oh? You don't like it when she has friends come over?"

She shook her head. "All they do is gossip, mess with makeup and talk about boys. I mean, please! That's not for me. That's for girls!" I mentally face-palmed myself. I mean, she said makeup like she was talking about dog vomit. I'm not exaggerating.

"Darla, you are girl," I reminded her.

"I am? I mean, I know that, but…well, you know what I am. Makeup, dresses, parties, and boys…ah, I don't know. I'd rather hang out with the rest of the guys and do tricks on the skateboard or paint pop art."

This is where I strike!

As I played the movie we'd rented and grabbed the homemade popcorn on the night desk, I said to Darla, "Oh, come on! You're not going to tell me that you haven't come across some cute boy."

She suddenly got very quiet and sort of trying to hide her face said, "Be sensible, Lilia. That's not my style."

"Who ever said having a crush or dating had anything to do with style?"

"Oh, yeah? Ask Larry. Or Dimetroodon. Or Rudy. Or Patty."

"Larry is a jerk. Dimetroodon is too in love with science. Rudy has an abusive father. And Patty is not properly appreciated by the guys in our school. They treat her like a wallflower."

She exhaled deeply relaxing in her…well, her leather cocoon which she never seemed to get out of. "Well, that's all true. But…I don't know. I guess I just haven't found a guy who I like."

"What about that guy you were with the night Spiny was over here?"

"Devon? Well…I called him to make another date but he's never answered."

I felt my pulse freeze at hearing that last sentence. "Hold on. You asked him to go out?"

She slowly turned to look at me. "Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

"Well, there's nothing wrong with it, but…a lot of guys are…well, not used to that. There are guys who think it's too forward and get scared, even though they like the girl. They don't want to appear less…less male.

"Then there are others who are really egocentric and have an ego the size of Russia and are too proud."

"True," she mentioned. "But not all guys are like that. Spiny's definitely not like that."

And just did Spiny have to do with all of this, may I ask you? Is it possible that…no! It's not possible. Shame on you for thinking that about your friend!

"Well, Spiny is sort of a special his-own-category. He'd probably think it was being too forward, but he's too polite and sweet to say anything. He'd just go along with it."

"Yeah, I guess so." We were silent as we watched the movie began. The movie was A Walk To Remember. I like foreign-films. Amarkia has a huge and successful movie industry, sort of a mini-Hollywood. And to us, American films are like what European films are to Americans.

So, yeah. We consider them foreign films.

Anyways, after a while I said to Darla, "You know, sometimes I think I'm a little tomboyish myself."

"Really? How do you figure that?"

"Well…I don't wear makeup either. And I'm not really that much into fashion or trending styles or stuff like that. And I like to climb trees, discover scientific facts, read, fishing, hiking, and soccer."

I heard her chuckle quietly. "In a way, yes I would say that's being a tomboy."

"But you know what? Despite having all those qualities, I've managed to have the best boyfriend in the world."

"Every girl is green with envy, I can say that much."

I turned my head towards her. "You think so?"

"Well…I guess most are jealous. There are those simply don't like Spiny. And also, there could be others who would want him to be their boyfriend but don't want to ruin relationship."

I gave that some thought. Not just thought, but some deep, meaningful thought. "You think there are those kinds of people still?"

"I'm sure."

I laid my head back on my pillow and closed my eyes. Think, Lilia! You have to get started now! You have to be subtle. How the heck can you subtle about something like this?! Hmm. How to start that kind of talk.

"I wonder why Spiny even began to get interested in me after avoiding me for 5,600 years," I said.

"Maybe he just began to realize what a great person you really are. It just took him sometime and heartbreak to realize that. I guess he wanted to find comfort and he also found more," she stated.

"I guess so. The poor thing was so devastated when Susie told him that she didn't like him, right?"

"You kidding? Spiny cried for a whole week! I mean, for a 13-year-old, he was pretty sensitive. He still is."

"Yeah. He's very easily hurt. But what I don't understand is that he chose me. I mean, he literally could have had a million other girls. I mean, before he released his first CD two months ago he was already a world-famous heartthrob."

"That's true. Ever since Amarkia was discovered by the world back in '12, he instantly made girls faint."

I laughed. "Yeah. But he'd been doing that since way back when he started kindergarten."

"But he chose you."

I felt my face getting hot. "Yeah…he did." Every time Spiny's name mentioned or he came up in the conversation, my reaction had always been the same since I was in the 2nd grade. Concentrate, girl! This is no time for romantic fantasies. Save those for later when you go to sleep and you're unconscious. Now concentrate on getting Darla interested in Roger. How do you do that without saying his name?

"I'm going to confess something to you, Lil," she said.

My eyes popped open and I immediately prepped my ears. "Yeah, what is it, Darla?"

She sighed and sat up on the bed. "But you have to promise you won't tell anyone. You have to take an oath."

I quickly sat up. A little too quickly because some of the blood left my head. I nodded my head, only aggravating my light-headiness. "Oh, I'm sure, Darla. I'm very good at oaths."

She eyed me suspiciously. "Taking them or keeping them?"

"Both!"

"Okay, but you can't tell Spiny either."

I nodded. "All right."

She kind of hesitated, then said, "But if you do tell him, make him promise."

I laughed with just a touch of nervousness. "I wouldn't tell him. And even if I did, my oath would cover us both. Now, what was it that you wanted to confess to me?"

"I…I am in love with a guy."

I guess that shocked me, though I could see it coming. I could tell because the plate slipped from my hand and crashed on the floor.

"Everything all right up there, girls?" I heard Mom yell from downstairs.

"Yeah, Mom!" I yelled back. Then I said to Darla. "You have a crush?"

I noticed she was…blushing?! HER?! She nodded ever so slowly. I walked over to her and hugged her, trying to sound happy. "That's great, Darla! I'm so happy for you! Who is he? Do I know him?"

She stared at her fidgeting hands and hesitated. "Well…I'm not sure I want to say who he is, but you do know him."

"Do I know him well?"

She bit her lip. "Oh, come on, Darla! At least tell me that!"

"Okay, you know him very well, but that's all I'm going to say about him," she answered very quickly.

Hmm. Let's see. What guys do I know besides Spiny? There's Kenneth, Conner, Jason, Isaiah, Jeremy, Brandon, DJ, Bryce…that's all. It's got to be one of them. Can't be Roger. I won't even mention him. She's probably still mad at him. She's good at holding grudges…hmm…like me.

"If I guess, can you tell me who it is?" I asked.

She lay back on the bed. "Nope. Just that you know him very well."

"But why can't you tell me? Why…is there another girl?"

She nodded in that same slow, hesitant way.

"Does she like him?"

"Yeah, she's crazy about him. And him about her. He only sees me as a friend."

Wow! I never know all this about Darla! She really was a sensitive and emotional girl like Spiny had said. The tomboy image is only about skin-deep. Well, maybe a little thicker. She had the tomboy image and acted like one, but still with the heart of any girl.

"Oh, well, I'm sorry about that, Darla."

She shrugged. "That's okay. They are both happy and I don't want to ruin it."

"Well, that's a healthy attitude but…not if it's going to be miserable. And are you crying?"

She threw daggers at me. "No, I'm not miserable and no, I'm not crying." She sniffled.

"Darla….would you like me to help you get him?"

She looked at me as I had just said that I was giving up Spiny to give to her. She was that surprised. I mean, she literally went into a state of shock. She shook her head solemnly. "You don't know what kind of trouble that could bring."

I wasn't giving up on my friend. I was determined to get her happy. And now that I think about it, I figured out why she was crying. I'd seen it from the start. She was crying because of the way she treated Roger and now she's scared he won't like her anymore. There isn't another girl! Roger doesn't date anyone! I know that for a fact. He's…sort of a blonde, more insecure version of Spiny.

But other than that, they have the same personality. I hugged Darla again, a sisterly embrace. "I promise you that first thing tomorrow; you and I are going to work our brains out to get yourself a boyfriend. Permanently. That's a promise."

Well, I scored great! Spiny must be doing just as well or even better with Roger.