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stop being so difficult,”
I said with a smile.
    We joined Cameron, Dena and Morgan at our
regular table.
    “Do you want anything?” Sam asked me as I sat
down as lithely as I could.
    “Just a Luna bar, if they have one.
Thanks.”
    “I’ll come with you,” Dena said as she got up
and followed Sam to the cafeteria line.
    Prompted by Morgan’s longing, I decided to
take advantage of my window of opportunity.
    “Hey, Morgan,” I said.
    His eyes flickered quickly to mine after
realizing I’d caught him checking out Dena as she left the table.
He looked away, his cheeks turning red.
    “Oh, hey, Julia,” he said while drinking his
soda to hide his embarrassment.
    “I was wondering…Who are you taking to
homecoming?” I asked with a smile.
    He took one short breath, appearing calm, his
anxiety known only to me.
    “No one. Why?”
    His eyes darted back and forth between me and
Cameron.
    “I think you should ask Dena to go with you,”
I said softly.
    I watched as panic spread across his
face.
    “Dena?” his voice cracked.
    “Yeah.”
    “I think she wants to go with someone else,”
he said sheepishly, glancing over at her as she stood with Sam at
the cash register.
    “I think she wants to go with you.”
    His eyes came back to mine. I sensed his
disbelief.
    “Me?”
    “Yeah and you better ask her soon, before
someone else does and she has to say yes because she doesn’t want
to go alone.”
    Cameron cleared his throat rather loudly. We
looked up just in time to see Sam and Dena’s return to the
table.
    “What are you guys talking about?” Dena
asked.
    Morgan stiffened.
    “Just football stuff. Hey, where’s Katie?” I
asked.
    Dena’s powder blue eyes studied my expression
as I feigned innocence. She paused for a moment then glanced at the
tables around us.
    “Off trying to get Tyler alone I think,” she
finally said.
    “She’s persistent,” I muttered followed by a
chuckle.
    “Yeah, it seems sorta hopeless,” Sam
said.
    Hopeless .
    That’s what I was. Why was I torturing myself
hoping Nicholas would show up?
    The bell rang and I got a pit in my stomach;
time to endure another torture session in Algebra. My only saving
grace would be going out with Sam later. I almost hoped Nicholas
would show up and find I wasn’t at home. I could imagine his face
when he found out I was out having a glorious time without him.
    It would serve him right for standing me up.
I do have a life after all.
    “Are you coming?” Sam asked.
    I snapped out of my fog and realized she was
talking to me. As we headed over to our classroom, Cameron nudged
me.
    “You’re pretty sly, you know that?” he
said.
    “What?”
    He nodded his head and I looked over in the
direction he motioned. Morgan was sheepishly talking to Dena. I
smiled.
    At least someone was following their
heart.

    During Algebra, I decided dinner and a movie
would cater to my crippled condition the best. Sam thought so too.
Actually, she didn’t seem to care what we did, as long as it
cheered me up.
    “Can we go right after school?” I whispered
in class.
    She nodded.
    That would be my solution for avoiding home
completely. The sooner my distraction started the better. I sent
Luke a text under my desk letting him know my plans. His
confirmation reply came a second later. I suddenly felt
excited.

. . .

    6 – FOREWARNING

    We took off down the freeway, the wind in our
hair, tunes blaring, without a care in the world. I finally felt
liberated, keeping thoughts about Nicholas in the far recesses of
my mind. He would stay locked away so I could enjoy our fun-filled
girls-only evening. I totally needed it.
    “Where do you want to go for dinner?” Sam
asked while we waited at another long red light.
    “I was hoping you’d want pizza,” I said, even
though we ate at Pleasure Pizza all the time.
    “Ooh, that sounds good.”
    They had the greatest pizza ever, amazing
homemade dough cooked to perfection in a stone oven. My mouth
watered as I imagined