Here's where life gets tricky.
The lunchroom. Where the students classify and separate themselves like little granola clusters. Usually I'm attached to Jessica. Wherever she sits, I sit. Right now she's at the condiment counter, squirting ketchup into a little white cup for her fries. She has no clue Raine is talking about how she made fun of Miranda's Jewish nose.
Miranda is sitting with her usual cluster. They are not all Jewish. The thing they have in common is they all need fashion advice. They're also straight A students. Miranda waves over to me, and I wave back. She probably thinks I'm going to sit at her table like yesterday.
Jess sits in Raines cluster before I can get her attention.
Looking back, Nathan is at the cashier about to pay for his two slices of pizza and bottle of Arizona Iced Tea.
Okay, time to make a decision. Cluster with Jessica and Raine, where I usually sit. Or sit with Miranda and her friends again. No time to dawdle, Amy. Popular girls don't dawdle.
As if I'm a programmed robot, I sit with my usual friends. I feel like a traitor, although when I glance over at Miranda, she's in a heated conversation with someone else and doesn't even notice I've chosen the popular girls who know what DKNY means, instead of her table, where they're probably discussing E=MC 2 .
When I take a seat next to Jessica, the table gets super quiet. Jess is confused.
"So, what's with you and the new guy Nathan?" Roxanne asks with a snicker. "You two put on a pretty good show yesterday. Any chance for a repeat performance?"
I take a bite of my turkey sandwich so I don't have to answer right away. I need time to think of a response, although I'm usually quick-witted.
Just as I'm swallowing my first bite, I hear Nathan's voice behind me. "Can I squeeze in?"
I look up at Nathan and want to say "No" because everyone is expecting us to start making out. Why doesn't he go sit with Kyle and his buddies? Or with the geeks at the geek table?
Jessica makes everyone move down so he can sit next to me. Ugh, all eyes are on us. I do want to talk to Nathan, but in private without being surrounded and stared at by the cluster.
"So, I hear you guys are going to the Valentine's Dance," Roxanne says, her beady eyes focusing on my reaction. "Are you two, like, dating?"
I feel like the entire lunchroom is listening to my response.
"Oh, yeah," I say. "Didn't you know? It was love at first sight. Right, Nathan?"
It's either going to be me and Nathan against Roxanne and the rest of the bunch, or me against everyone.
I turn my head and look at Nathan, sitting beside me. The fluorescent lights of the cafeteria are reflected in his glasses, so I can't see his eyes. But those circular frames are definitely directed at me. "Yeah, right," he says. "I guess it's true. Opposites attract."
I chow on another bite of my sandwich, staring down at my food so I don't have to talk.
But I do see Nathan's fingers, reaching for his pizza. Within three minutes he's picking up the second piece. It's probably a world record in pizza eating. By the time he's done with his second slice, students are still entering the cafeteria.
One gulp of iced tea and he's done. I'm still trying to choke down my sandwich.
Nathan murmurs something to me in my ear that I can't understand, and leaves.
"What did he say?" Jess asks, obviously confused. She knows Nathan and I aren't even friends. Okay, we did kiss. But it was for show. I wasn't even a willing participant the second time.
"No idea," I mumble, then take another bite.
After school, Jess catches up to me on the way to the bus stop.
"Amy," she says. "I don't get it. You think Nathan is a dork--don't even argue with me because I know you better than your own mom does. Then you kiss him in front of the entire school while you're still hung up on Avi. Raine is telling everyone you've gone wacko on her. It doesn't make sense."
"Life doesn't make sense, Jess. Do you hate me?"
"Why would I hate you? I may not understand you. I may get mad at you. But I could never hate you."
Nathan is walking toward us, his uptight gait is so dorky I want to wince. I swear the guy needs a lesson in loosening up and being crazy. He probably dances like a sixty-year-old.
Avi is an amazing dancer. I remember in Israel last summer he was dancing with a girl and I got jealous so I picked a guy at random and pulled him out on the dance floor. Biggest mistake. Let's just say the end result almost had me arrested by the Israeli police.
When Nathan reaches us, Jessica walks to the bus stop to give us privacy. She's such a good friend. Totally mistaken about the situation between me and Nathan, but her heart is in the right place.
I tap Nathan on his elbow. "We need to talk."
"Why? You want to kiss again?"
"And have your glasses whack me in the face again? I don't think so. I want to talk. The kind of talking where lips don't touch."
"Sorry. No can do."
The bus is turning the corner. "Well, we can't keep pretending to be dating."
"Sure we can," he says, putting his arm around me and leading me to the back so we sit with everyone else. I shrug his arm off.
When we get to our stop, we climb off the bus and he puts his arm around my shoulders again as if we're a real couple. Before I can shrug him off again, I look up. My heart slams into my chest and I almost fall backward.