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his classic mischievous
grin, “Oh, I see. Where did you guys ‘get along’? Back alley behind
the restaurant? In the bathroom?”
    “Gross. I didn’t mean it like that.”
    “Then how’d you mean it?”
    “I just meant like we literally got along.
Very well. And so we decided we should go on another date
sometime.”
    “Sometime?” Alex frowned, “Well that’s
vague. How about you make plans for next week? Say, Monday?”
    “Uh, isn’t this between Keenan and I?” Val
asked.
    “Yeah yeah, of course. But remember, I’m
gonna be the one doing all the driving, so we have to fit anything
you two do in with my schedule as well.”
    “Ok. Well what all do you have on your
schedule next week?”
    Alex leaned back in his chair, “Absolutely
nothing. Except ‘receive lap dance from Val’.”
    Val groaned, “You can’t possibly still think
there’s a remote chance of that actually happening—“
    “Why not?”
    “For one, I wouldn’t ever do that. Two, I’m
dating your best friend, and that would pretty much be cheating,
so—Yeah, not gonna happen.”
    Alex snapped in mock frustration, “Oh well,
it looks like my schedule’s empty now.”
    The bell that signaled the start of class
rang and Miss Stevens started in on her lesson. Val was always
amazed at how easy her teacher could make something sound; when she
did her homework, it was as if all the numbers that had seemed so
friendly and easy to manipulate that morning had turned suddenly
hostile. Though Alex tried to distract her throughout the class,
Val tuned him out. Miss Steven’s lesson lasted all hour; by the
end, despite the fact that she’d taken notes on every important
concept, Val couldn’t remember what the lecture had been about.
    “Hey Carrie,” Val said, “Did you get all
that?” Carrie nodded. “Do you think you could come over to my house
after school today and help me do the homework?” Miss Stevens was
handing out an intimidating packet; Val was worried if she had to
do it by herself that it would take all night.
    Alex overheard, “Wouldn’t you rather study
with our ‘study group’?”
    “I didn’t know you guys ever actually
studied,” Val retorted.
    “We’ve been known to—on occasion. If you
need help, I’m sure Keenan would be happy to provide it. And I’ll
tag along so things stay light.”
    “Hmm, I’ll think about it.” Val turned back
to Carrie, who was zipping up her backpack, “Would you wanna hang
out with Alex and Keenan and I? And we’ll study algebra and finish
this homework and stuff?”
    “Yeah, I guess. Where would we meet?”
    “Um, my house. Right?” Val directed the
question to Alex.
    “Your dad scares me,” Alex laughed, “But
alright. Maybe if he sees us doing some actual studying he’ll
believe the whole ‘study group’ cover.”
    “Yeah, I hope so! Alright, that sounds like
a good plan then. Do you know where my house is Carrie?”
    The brunette shook her head.
    “Oh, well I’ll text you the address.”
    “You don’t have my number.“
    “Right—“for a moment Val had felt like she
was back at Walker, but the reminder of how new she was to Palm
Lake hit like a cold slap. “Well, what is it?” she asked
awkwardly.
    Carrie told her, and Val sent a text to her
phone to make sure she’d gotten the number correct. By the time
they were squared away, Val, Carrie, and Alex were the last ones in
the room; students in Miss Stevens’ next class were filing in,
waiting for the three of them to vacate their seats.
    Val’s next few periods flew by; her Italian
class didn’t meet on Fridays, which left a free period right after
Geography. Third hour was an awkward time for a free period, since
there were so few students who had it off. Val spent the whole time
in the library, hoping someone she knew might drop by and disturb
the tedium of her geography homework (the teacher, Mr. Andrews, had
assigned a list of fifty terms to be defined and organized into
categories by the