"Teddy, are you still acting like a nutcase?" Gabe called from her doorway.

When she didn't answer, she heard him yell "She's fine, PJ!"

"Good! Now let's go and play some video games!" PJ's faint voice yelled back.

When her annoying brothers were gone, Teddy sighed and looked out the window. Her fingers covered her mouth and when she closed her eyes, it was almost as though the

boy was still kissing her.

But who was he?

She thought that she knew every boy at South High. How was it possible that she'd ever seen that particular boy before? And why had he kissed her so suddenly? It was

completely and totally weird… but wonderful.

"Teddy?"

Teddy whirled around and gasped at the unexpected sight.

"Mom!"

"Sorry I scared you but I had to get your attention. You were a million miles away."

"I-I know. Did you need something?"

Charlie squirmed in Amy's arms and Amy did her best to soothe the baby.

"It's okay, Charlie. Mommy will take care of it as soon as possible."

"What's going on?"

"Charlie has an earache so I'm going to take her to the doctor. Can you watch Gabe for me? Where is Gabe, anyway?"

"Upstairs with PJ playing video games."

"What? They were supposed to check on you!"

"They checked on me, all right. But Gabe's idea of checking on me was to ask if I'm still acting like a nutcase. And for the record, I'm fine. I wish you all would just leave me

alone."

"Honey, we're just worried about you."

"I know, Mom and I appreciate it. I just-."

Charlie started to cry and squirm like crazy.

"Oh God, I forgot about Charlie's earache. Look, just keep an eye on Gabe. Come on honey, we'll get you to the doctor."

"Mom, Gabe can take care of himself!"

"Teddy-."

"Fine, I'll check on him."

"Thank you."

"Why can't Dad watch him?"

"Because your dad is over at Mrs. Dabney's house."

Teddy's eyes widened. "Mrs. Dabney's? What's he doing over there?"

"Well, she called a little while ago in hysterics. Said she saw a huge rat under her bed."

"Whoa, seriously?"

"Yeah, but-."

"That's so cool. Dad lives for stuff like that! He'll be named Exterminator of the Year for sure!"

"Unfortunately they don't give that title to people who rescue cats."

"Huh?"

"The rat that Mrs. Dabney thought she saw was actually-."

"Kaboodle?"

"You got it!"

Teddy and her mom burst into a fit of laughter, imagine Mrs. Dabney's scrawny black cat Kaboodle.

Charlie cried harder.

"Okay, all right! We're going, I promise!" Amy said, doing her best to soothe the baby. To Teddy she said "We'll be back later."

"Bye, Mom. Bye, Charlie!"

When her mom and Charlie were gone, Teddy was grateful to be alone. She returned her gaze to the window and her thoughts to the cute boy from the park.

Sometime later her thoughts were interrupted by the annoying racket of drums, accompanied by what some might call singing.

"Darn it!"

Teddy stormed out of her room and up the stairs to the living room where she found Gabe perched on the sofa and PJ playing so-called music with his obnoxious best friend.

A conversation with Emmett was the last thing she wanted.

"Oh no…"

Emmett looked up and grinned widely, his eyes sparkling behind his glasses. "Hey, Teddy."

"Hello, Emmett."

"Care to join us?"

"Emmett, are you crazy, asking Teddy to jam with us?" PJ snapped.

"Why not? We could use a voice like a songbird." Emmett replied dreamily.

Teddy rolled her eyes. "I've gotta go."

When she reached her room, her phone was chirping wildly, alerting her of new texts; all from Ivy. Teddy opened the most recent one with caution.

GIRL, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?

Teddy sighed. She really wasn't in the mood at the moment; even for her best friend. Feeling guilty, she pretended that she hadn't seen Ivy's texts. But deep down she

wanted so badly to tell Ivy everything. But she wasn't ready. She wished that Ivy would understand, but they'd always told each other their deepest, darkest secrets. How

could Teddy possibly explain what had happened in the park, when she herself didn't understand it?

"Honey, are you sure everything is okay? You've been awfully quiet."

Once again, Teddy jumped at her mother's voice? "What? Yeah! Mom, I told you, I'm fine! When did you get back?"

"Just a little while ago."

"How's Charlie?"

"Sleeping. She'll be fine. Dr. Benton gave her some ear drops. She fell asleep the moment we got into the car and slept the whole way home. I think she'll be sleeping for a

while, so now we can talk. What's going on?"

"I'm fine, Mom." Teddy lied. No way could she tell her mom what had happened. She'd just get the standard lecture about how it's unsafe to walk through the park instead of

going the normal way home and how she shouldn't be kissing strange boys. But the boy wasn't strange. And he had kissed her, not the other way around. Her mom had no

idea what it was like to be in high school. She'd been a teenager a million years ago! School was totally different now! They didn't even have cell phones back then! How did

kids get along without them?

She knew that her mom would eventually figure it out (Most of it anyway) and she had to admit that her mom was a huge help after her breakups with Spencer. But this was

different. Completely different. The guy from the park was vastly different from Spencer in more ways than one.

A knock on her door startled her again. When she looked over, she realized that she hadn't even noticed that her mom was gone. She crossed her room to answer the door.

"Mom, I told you, everything's fine! I promise, nothing is bothering-."

When the door flung open, Teddy blinked. "...me."

Ivy burst through the doorway, her hands on her hips, a disgruntled look on her face.

"Since you won't reply to my texts, I had to take matters into my own hands, so here I am! I sent you like ten texts in the last hour! Didn't you get them?"

"I got them." Teddy sighed.

"Well, so what's the problem? You can't answer one little text?"

"I'm sorry, Ivy. Really."

"I'll accept your apology on one condition. That you tell me absolutely everything! And I'm not leaving until I know every detail!"

"You know what? It's nothing, really."

"Girl, you're a terrible liar! This is about a boy, isn't it?"

Teddy's cheeks flushed. "I-I don't know what you mean."

"The heck you don't! Now tell me what's going on?"

Teddy sighed. "Okay, I'll tell you, but you have to swear that you won't laugh."

"Since when have I ever laughed at you?"

"Since all the time!"

"Come on, tell me!"

"Swear that you won't laugh!"

Ivy held up two fingers. "Scouts honor. Whatever that means."

"What does it mean?"

"I have no idea. I saw it on an old show that my dad was watching the other night. I don't get why he likes watching black and white shows on a color TV!"

"Do you want me to tell you, or not?"

"Didn't I make it clear why I came all the way over here?"

"Okay.." Teddy took a deep breath. "Today after school, I cut through the park and I ran into someone."

Ivy groaned. "Girl, if you say it was Spencer…"

"No, it wasn't Spencer. I swear it! Actually I'd never seen him before."

Ivy shrieked and climbed onto Teddy's bed. "You actually met someone? I knew you would! So what's he like? I know he's hot, but I want details!"

Teddy sighed, thinking of the handsome boy. "He was good-looking, I guess."

"What do you mean you guess? Don't you know? All you had to do was look at him. He's either good looking or not! That's how it works!"

"Well, I didn't exactly meet him."

"What do you mean you didn't exactly meet him?"

"What is this, the echo game?" Teddy laughed. "We haven't played that since kindergarten, but here you are repeating everything I say!"

"But you said you ran into him!"

"That's right! I literally ran into him!"

"Okay, I've got to know more!"

"It all happened so fast. It was my fault, I wasn't paying attention and next thing I knew I'd bumped into him. He apologized and asked me if I was okay. And then he kissed

me!"

"Wait, what? He kissed you? Like a real honest to God kiss?"

"Yep."

"I need details, like now!"

"He thought I was someone else. He kept calling me Juliet."

"Juliet? What was his name? Romeo?"

"Actually I don't know what his name is."

"How could you not know his name? You kissed him!"

"He kissed me. But after he kissed me, he told me that he loved me and that he couldn't believe it was me. And then he just vanished into thin air!" Teddy prayed that Ivy

wouldn't ask for details on the last part. There was no way she could explain a boy vanishing into thin air before her eyes. To Ivy's credit, she seemed to have missed that

detail.

"Oh my God, this is huge! Did you tell anyone? Besides me, I mean!"

"No, not a soul. I can't even bring myself to tell my mom! I was so freaked out by the whole thing that I didn't know what to think. And now my whole family thinks I'm a

nutcase!"

"That's debatable."

"Thanks, but Gabe and PJ have already pointed it out in no uncertain terms."

"A nutcase, huh? What do Gabe and PJ know anyway? And I'm sure your parents don't think you're crazy."

"I'm not so sure about that."

"So anyway, what happened after that? You said he just left. Did he say anything else before he left?"

"He asked if he could see me again. I think I said okay, but I'm not sure."

"Do you want to see him again?"

"Well… yeah. I can't stop thinking about him."

"Then go find him, Teddy! Don't let this one get away!"

"What am I supposed to do? Go back to the park after school tomorrow and see if he's there?"

Ivy smiled. "I would. And I knew you'd get it sooner or later."

"I don't know…"

"Well, I do!"

Ivy's phone beeped and she glanced at the screen. "Oh dang, my mom's texting me to get home. But don't forget to call me tomorrow and tell me what happens. And I want

every detail! Promise!"

Teddy hugged her best friend. "Okay, I promise!"

Ivy rushed out of Teddy's room. But instead of escorting Ivy to the front door, Teddy sat on her bed and stared out the window once again, thinking about the boy who had

kissed her.