“That and Greek literature. Oh, and we’re also going to read some Chaucer in the original text.”

Elise took the schedule from me, pulled a pen from her backpack, and crossed out Honors English.

“Hey, it’s a fun class,” I said. “We’re going to put on The Tempest in a couple months. Everyone will have a part.”

Elise added more pen marks across Honors English. “Which means the teacher will make us memorize large chunks of sixteenth-century dialogue. Forsooth and forthwith—I just don’t think so.”

Josh said, “The lady doth protest too much.”

More hand fluttering on Elise’s part. “Beware the ides of March—and any teacher who makes you write essays on that phrase.”

“It’s all much ado about nothing,” he said.

The two of them could even banter in Shakespeare quotes. Impressive. I slipped Macbeth into my backpack. “I think you’ll be able to handle Honors English.”

Elise gazed at her marred schedule. “I wonder if they offer dance during that hour. What are the easy classes?”

“I wouldn’t know,” I said.

My comment made Josh laugh, although I wasn’t sure why. I hoped I hadn’t come off sounding arrogant.

After Josh parked the car, he walked beside Elise and me to the school. Yesterday I hadn’t noticed how tall he was and how broad his shoulders were. It made me feel suddenly self-conscious. I wasn’t sure if it was rude to walk beside him and only pay attention to Elise or whether it would be presumptuous to start a conversation with him when he’d only given me a ride because his sister had asked him to.

Anjie’s brother had been in seventh grade. I had no idea about the social mores of friends’ hot older brothers. Before we went our separate ways, I inserted an awkward “Thanks for the ride” into the conversation, and he shrugged and said “No problem.”

I helped Elise find where her locker and classes were. Despite Elise’s prediction that it would be easy to find everything in a small high school, it wouldn’t have been the case. Pullman High had apparently been designed by a frustrated artist looking for a creative medium.

First of all, the school was orange and yellow—two colors I’d grown to hate by the time I was halfway through my freshman year. Second, there was hardly a regular geometric shape anywhere. All the classrooms were sort of trapezoidish. It was as though the builder had dropped walls anywhere he fancied. The hallways were so confusing that the administration had painted giant arrows on the walls to show which direction certain classes were. The cafeteria was an open, sunken room off the main lobby. The library was two stories in the middle of the building. The architect had also dropped two minibuildings a short distance from the main one. I’m not sure what purpose those buildingettes were supposed to serve off by themselves, but we had to trudge outside to get to our math classes—a fact everyone appreciated from October to April, when it was freezing.

After I’d shown Elise around, I took her to the library to see if Faith or Caitlin were there. They weren’t, but Chad and Mike were. After we walked by them, Elise said, “Who is that gorgeous blond guy?”

“Chad Warren. He’s one of the junior jock gods, but he also takes trig and chemistry, so he can’t be all good looks and muscle.”

I could have told her more. I knew Chad was the starting wide receiver for varsity football, was the third leading scorer on the basketball team last year, and also ran the 100-meter dash in track. He was student body rep for his class, had two older brothers, drove a dark-blue Toyota, and took weeklong skiing trips with his family every winter. I also knew his address.

When you come down to it, there’s a fine line between adoration and stalking.

Elise cast another look at Chad over her shoulder. “Moving to Pullman just got a little better.”

“Well, if you ever find a good way to get his attention, let me know. I’ve been trying for years.”

Elise managed to drag her gaze away from Chad and back to me. “What, is he stuck up or something?”

“No, he’s just, you know . . .” I shrugged. “He’s Chad Warren.”

We walked slowly around the library, so we could look at him without being conspicuous. “Have you ever talked to him?” Elise asked.

I kept my gaze straight ahead. “It’s not that easy. He’s an upperclassman.”

“So is my brother. You didn’t think talking to him was hard, did you?”

“Um . . .” Now that I thought about it, I realized that during the car ride to school, Josh and I had both talked to Elise but hadn’t said anything to each other.

“You’re a wimp,” Elise said. “But since you’re my friend, I’ll give you the first shot at Chad. You have until the end of the day to talk to him before he becomes fair game.”

“What?” I blinked at her. “How am I supposed to talk to him today?”

Elise nodded toward his table. “He’s sitting right there. Go up and say something to him.”

I made little incredulous grunts. “You can’t force these things.” We had circled all the way around the library but kept going, just like those Jane Austen characters who took turns around the room. That had never made sense to me until now.

“Come on,” Elise said. “You’ve liked the guy for years but have never spoken to him? What are you waiting for, the angel Gabriel to announce you?”

I looked over at Elise with her flowing black hair and blue eyes, all confidence and tan. She couldn’t understand. The problem with living in the same small town all your life is that people don’t just see you, they see who you used to be. They remember every backward, stupid, humiliating thing you ever did. They remember that you used to be short and scrawny with bad hair and no fashion sense. You can’t erase it. It drifts behind you like a kite tail.

I had to wait for the right casual moment to talk to Chad—the moment where it didn’t look like I was hitting on him. That way if he wasn’t interested, I’d still have a shred of pride left.

Faith and Caitlin walked into the library, saving me from explaining this to Elise. “There are some of my friends. You should meet them. They’re really nice.” I steered her in their direction.

After I made introductions, Faith said, “How do you like Pullman so far?”

“Well, you have some cute guys here.”

“True,” Caitlin said, “but we’re always looking for new talent. We hear you have an older brother. What’s he like?”

Elise glanced over at me, and I was suddenly embarrassed that I’d told Faith and Caitlin about the new family moving into Anjie’s house. It made me seem gossipy. I wasn’t. I‘d just been eager for them to move in.

“I’m not a good judge of my own brother,” Elise finally said. “What has Cassidy told you?”

“Just that he’s a senior,” Caitlin said.

Then everyone looked at me. “Josh is pretty cute,” I said. On a scale of one to ten I gave him an eight—nine if you counted the fact that he could quote Shakespeare. Chad was a twelve.

Elise smiled at my appraisal. Caitlin raised her eyebrows suggestively. “We’ll have to meet him sometime.” Caitlin was the type who rotated through crushes as though dating were a relay event.

Elise compared schedules with Faith and Caitlin then and was relieved she had some classes with them. They spent the rest of the time telling her about the teachers she was in for and various homework horror stories. I was just glad the topic of Chad had been pushed from Elise’s mind.

Elise saying I should talk to him today? Crazy talk.

Before we split up to go to first period, Elise said, “If you want a ride home, meet me at my locker after school. And remember,” she added, “you have until the end of the day to speak to Chad.”

Chapter 4

I met up with Elise on the stairs at lunch time. “How have your classes been?” I asked.