“I got it.”

I looked up and saw Brody walking toward my desk. He knelt down and picked up my notebook—I was so glad it was a plain blue one and not one of the sparkly pink notebooks I used for some of my other classes.

“Thanks,” I said when he handed it to me.

“No problem.”

I thought he would just walk away then, but he didn’t. He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at his feet, like he didn’t want to leave but didn’t know what to say, either. I felt like I was on a roller coaster again.

“So…” I said. “Proofs are kind of hard, huh?”

Lame, lame, lame.

He smiled. “I like them, actually. Math isn’t normally my best subject, but I don’t know. I like the logic part.”

“Oh.” I felt a little embarrassed. Math usually was my strongest subject—that’s why I’d taken Algebra I in middle school and got to be in a sophomore geometry class my freshman year. Why had I just admitted to him that I thought they were hard? Now Brody probably thought I was an idiot or something.

“You know, if you ever wanted help sometime—”

I felt my cheeks go red.

“I’m not saying you need help with geometry,” he added quickly. “But… Well, if you do, I’d be glad to help. We could get together after school or something. Do homework together and… hang out.”

Oh my God. Oh. My. God.

“I—”

“Brody,” Mr. Daud, our teacher, called from his desk. “Can I see you for a second? I’m having trouble reading your handwriting on this homework assignment.”

“Sure,” Brody said. He looked at me again. “Let me know about… proofs.”

“I will.”

He smiled. “See you around, Bailey.”

He walked away and I sighed. I closed my eyes for a second, feeling a little light-headed and a lot euphoric.

“So you like my brother, don’t you?”

Justine Frasier, Brody’s younger sister, was standing by a desk a few rows away, staring at me.

“I… uh… I mean—”

She laughed. “It’s okay. You’re not the first.” She scooped up her books and flipped her long brown hair over her shoulder. “You are the first he’s seemed to like back, though.”

“Really? You think he likes me?”

“Seems likely.” She started walking toward the door and I hurried to catch up with her. “My brother’s not the biggest talker. I’m pretty sure that awkward mess a second ago was his attempt at flirting.”

“Wow. That’s so great. I mean, I—I kind of like him, so—”

“Well, obviously,” Justine said. “It’s written all over your face.”

“It is?” I felt my cheeks flush, then my ears get hot.

“Relax. Brody can’t tell. He’s totally oblivious.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay. Good.”

“Hey,” Justine said, stopping outside of a classroom door. “You should come sit with my friends and me at lunch.”

“Really? I’d love to.”

“Great. See you then.”

She walked into the classroom, and I headed down the hall toward biology in a daze. This day was almost too good to be true. Justine Frasier wanted to eat lunch with me and her brother might like me. It was pretty much the best thing that could happen to a freshman at Hamilton High.

Thank God I didn’t wear the floral dress.

***

By the time the lunch bell rang, my joy had turned into pure nerves. I kept running through scenarios in my head. Every possible way this lunch could go bad and totally ruin my life.

“Hold still,” the lunch lady snapped as she attempted to put a glob of mashed potatoes on my tray.

“Sorry,” I said. But I couldn’t help it. My hands were shaking.

The truth was that lunch periods had been stressful for me since starting at Hamilton High in August. My family had only moved to Hamilton in May, right after I finished middle school. I thought it would be easy to find a group of friends at my new school—we were all freshmen, after all. This was the beginning. We were starting high school together.

But Hamilton is a tiny town. All these kids had been going to school together since kindergarten. They already had their groups of friends. And I hadn’t found one to fit into yet.

Don’t get me wrong. Everyone was nice, but I’d sort of flitted from table to table at lunch, never really cementing my place anywhere or becoming very close with anyone. I couldn’t help hoping that this lunch invitation would put an end to that.

Becoming close friends with anyone would be nice. But becoming close friends with Justine Frasier? Being a permanent installation at her lunch table? It was almost too good to even imagine.

Justine was president of the freshman class, a member of almost every club, and the star of this year’s musical—My Fair Lady. She was also really smart—almost all her classes were Honors or AP. I always thought girls like that would be called geeks or something, but not Justine. She was the most popular girl in the ninth grade. She was even dating a junior basketball player named Eddie—and they’d been nominated for homecoming court. Being one of her best friends would be like a dream come true.

I’d just spotted Justine and her friends when I heard someone calling my name. “Bailey!”

Elsie James, a girl I knew from the cheerleading squad, was walking toward me, carrying her tray. “Hey,” she said. She sounded a little nasal, like her allergies were bothering her. “So how are you feeling about that bio test tomorrow?”

“Oh, um. Pretty good. How about you?”

“I’m nervous. I was sick last week, so I’m missing a day’s worth of notes.” She put her tray down at the closest empty table.

“I have notes,” I told her. “You can borrow mine if you want.”

“Really? That would be awesome. Thanks, Bailey.”

“No problem.”

“Bailey.” Justine appeared at my shoulder. “I thought I saw you over here.”

“Hey, Justine.” Elsie brushed some dark curls behind her ear and smiled. “I love your skirt.”

Justine smiled and ran a hand down her fitted black skirt. “Thank you. It’s actually supposed to be knee length, but my legs are a little too long.”

“It looks great.” Elsie gestured to the seats at her table. “You guys can sit down if you want. I’m waiting on Tess and Grace, but there’s room for two more.”

“Oh, thanks,” I said. “That’s really nice—”

“But Bailey and I already have seats,” Justine said. “Thanks for the offer, though. Maybe another time?”

“Sure. Anytime.”

“Excellent. Come on, Bailey.”

I waved to Elsie and followed Justine across the cafeteria to her table. She was sitting with other popular underclassmen, including two sophomore cheerleaders, a freshman football player, the JV girls’ volleyball captain, and the sophomore class president.

“Sorry,” Justine told her friends. “I had to go rescue Bailey from Elsie James.” She rolled her eyes dramatically. “She asked us if we wanted to sit with her. Isn’t that cute?”

“She is so weird,” Melanie, one of the cheerleaders, said. “What kind of name is Elsie, anyway? Sounds like a cow’s name. You’re not, like, friends with her, are you, Bailey?”

“Um…” I looked down at my tray, not sure how to answer. Elsie had always been really nice to me, but I had a feeling that wasn’t the right answer. “I mean, I don’t have anything against her, but we’re not, like, besties or anything.”

“Don’t bother with her,” Justine told me. “Trust me, she’s not worth knowing. You’ll be a lot better off if you steer clear of that girl.”

“She’s so weird,” Melanie repeated. “When she first got on the squad, I thought she was cool, but she’s so weird.”

“Melanie, dear, remind me to get you a thesaurus.” Justine sighed.

“A what?”

“Never mind. Continue.”

“Anyway,” Melanie said. “She’s, like, into those Japanese cartoons or something.”

“Anime?” I asked.

Everyone at the table turned to look at me.

“You watch that geeky stuff?” Ryan—the football player—asked.

“N-No. My brother used to, though. So I know a little about it.”