“Just, keep quiet,” I mutter to him as I open my door.

Rounding the car, I see that Bruno is watching me and I can’t fight back the grin on my face.

“Hey,” I offer coyly. “What’s going on?”

His eyes widen just a little, like he’s shocked that I’m talking to him. He actually does a quick glance to each side to make sure there isn’t someone behind him. Then he relaxes.

“Hi Zoe.” He stumbles just a little, his stick falling out of his meaty hand. We both lean over to pick it up, but I get there first. He stands up, blushing a fierce red as I stuff it under his arm.

“Are you guys starting practices already?”

I start walking toward the school and he falls in step beside me, grinning like a little puppy.

“Um, yeah. No. Sort of.” He clears his throat. “It’s tryouts. We have to break in a few new players. And uh…” he pauses for a few seconds before continuing. “We need to choose a new team captain.”

There’s just enough of a breeze that my loose braid is falling apart, strands blowing wildly. I try to tuck them behind my ears. In the corner of my eye I see Bruno shake his head to move the dark hair falling in over his blue eyes. He really is kind of adorable, I realize. I suppose I never really looked that closely before, but now I see the dimple in his chin that matches the ones in his cheeks, the perfect arc of his nose, even the impossibly long, thick eyelashes only boys are ever blessed with.

“I hear you’re a shoe in for Captain.”

His step falters. “Really?”

I nod.

“Who told you that?”

I lower my chin and smile, hoping it looks coy instead of nervous as a sliver of panic slices into my belly. Beside me Logan slaps himself in the forehead.

“Well,” I offer, changing the subject, “I have a student council meeting.”

“Offer to catch up with him after,” Logan instructs from my other side.

“Maybe I’ll see you later?”

We reach the doors and Bruno reaches out, pulling the door open for me.

“That would be great.” He blushes again and it’s really hard not to chuckle. I never in a million years would have guessed he could be so…sappy.

I wave and turn down the hall opposite us as he keeps going straight, toward the locker room.

“Slow down.” Logan demands.

I slow my pace and hear Bruno call from behind me.

“Hey Zoe?”

I turn slowly, crossing my ankles and folding my hands behind my back. “Yes?”

“You wanna hang out later?”

I look down at my feet, waiting for instructions from Logan. Do I say no? Play hard to get? God, I suck at flirting.

“Say yes,” Logan whispers impatiently.

I look back up and nod, “Yeah. I’d like that. See you after tryouts?”

Bruno grins widely and a ripple of guilt washes over me. As he turns away I whisper out the side of my mouth to Logan.

“He really does like me.”

Logan frowns and shakes his head.

“What?” I demand, watching the expression on his face.

“You are gonna eat that poor guy alive.”

I’m not sure how to take that so I just turn and head for the library and my meeting.

Stepping through the wooden doors is like stepping through time. The scent of old books, stale and crisp, hangs thick in the air. I pause, letting the memory of my first time here wash over me. Freshmen year, just paroled from a year trapped in home-school, I walked through these doors and into a world like nothing I expected. It wasn’t scary, just bigger than I expected. High school is like a city unto itself, complete with celebrities, despots, and nameless faces that never really leave their mark. From my first friendless day I resigned myself to virtual obscurity. Even joining student council and a half dozen other clubs hadn’t increased my social stock. Still, they look good on college applications so I kept going, kept waiting for my time to shine. At one of the large round tables my classmates sit chatting happily.

Peter Lawton, class president and obligatory math nerd catches sight of me and waves. The others turn and stare for a second before smiling and waving me over. Lucy Parsons, a vibrant red-haired junior leaps out of her seat and tosses her arms around me, squeezing. I pat her back lightly. I have never been much of a hugger.

She pulls back, sliding her hands down my arms.

“You look amazing!”

I murmur thanks and let her lead me over to the table. Carson, our vice president, and one of the few people I talk to on a regular basis on account of being lab partners last year, stands and hugs me quickly. His one-time girlfriend Leena sits across the table from him with her legs crossed, flicking her flip flops with her toes. She nods, but doesn’t look overly thrilled to be here. I understand why. Her new boyfriend is on the Lacrosse team and she would probably much rather be out there watching him than in here with her ex.

Carson pulls out my chair—something he’s never done in the year I’ve known him—and I take a seat, pulling a black spiral notebook out of my bag.

“Hey guys. Thanks for meeting up.”

Lucy sits forward, taking a sip from a very tall, very whipped creamed coffee drink. Her wide eyes and overall jitteriness is almost comical.

“Hey, I’m so excited to meet up! I can’t wait for this year, so many fun things going on! We have prom and Homecoming and the decade dances—“

Leena silences her. “Yeah. That’s great. Can we get to the point? Some of us have lives?”

I lower my chin and stare at her. This is the point where I normally call Leena a worthless waste of skin bobble head and tell her to leave. She’s staring at me like she expects the insult and has prepared some kind of clever comeback. I glance over, looking for Logan but he’s gone.

Shame. He’s going to miss this.

“I understand Leena, and I’m sorry to pull you away. I just wanted to get together and figure out what our schedules are like, when we can schedule our regular meetings, and to set the date and theme for Homecoming so I can get the Dance Committee going on it.”

Leena frowns. Yep, she had some snappy retort planned and I’d ruined her surprise. Poor Leena.

She finally flicks her long brown hair over her shoulder. “Oh. Okay. Well, I have Cheer every day except Friday until six, but I could do after six or right after school on non-game Fridays.

I make a note in my spiral then look over to Carson. He’s staring at me. When I look over, he blinks.

“Oh, yeah Fridays are out for me. But I get out of practice at six on Monday, so I could do that.”

“Does that work for you, Pete?” I ask.

He’s looking at his phone, probably checking his calendar.

“No good. I Dungeon Master for RPG club on Monday.”

Lucy pipes up. “What about before school?”

The rest of the table groans.

I pat her hand gently.

“Mornings are a good idea, but that’s a little too early for the ones who wear themselves out at practice every night.” I look around the table. Leena has sat back in her seat and folded her arms under her chest. She’s grinning at me like she knows I’m up to something. “What if we meet up on the first Saturday of the month at Pablo’s coffee at ten am?”

“Do you think that’s enough time? Once a month?” Pete asks, his eyebrows furrowing behind his big glasses.

“I think it’ll be fine. And we can always keep in touch via email and text for things that can’t wait.” I offer.

Lucy claps excitedly. “I love that idea.”

I’m just about to make a snide remark about her excitability level but thankfully Leena does it for me.

“Lucy, switch to decaf. Seriously. Before you explode.”

I grin. Why aren’t Leena and I friends again? Then she turns to me, her voice dripping with venom and I remember.

“Fine. But my breakfast comes out of the budget. No way am I paying to share a meal with you guys.”

I look over at Pete who nods.

“Okay then. We will meet again next Saturday at ten am.” I make another note. “Now we just need to decide on the date and theme for Homecoming. Ideas?”

This time it’s Carson who is tapping away on his phone.

“First home game of the season is October 1st, Saturday night.”

“So we plan the dance for Friday?” I ask and they all agree.

“I think we should do a sports theme,” Carson says, smacking his hand on the table like a gavel.

“Noooooo,” Lucy says flatly.

“I agree with Lucy, for once,” Leena adds.

“What about a dragon theme?” Peter suggests. Leena balls up a piece of paper and throws it at his head, knocking his glasses askew.

“Forget it elf-boy.”

“I like the idea of a fairy tale theme,” Lucy says dreamily.

Visions of pink tutus dance in my head and I shudder.

“Do you have any suggestions Leena?” I ask. She eyeballs me suspiciously then leans forward.

“What about a Venetian Masked Ball?”

As soon as she says it, I’m in. It sounds cool and unique and something we haven’t done before. I can tell from his expression that Carson isn’t sold, so I speak up.

“So classy and sleek. Guys look all 007 with those cool black masks, girls in lace and satin. I like it.”

I may not know much about guys, but I do know that the slightest mention of James Bond can convince them that anything is a good idea.

“Vote?” Pete says. “All in favor of Leena’s idea raise your hand.”

Everyone but him raises their hand. He sighs. “Motion passed.”

Lucy claps again.

“Great, I’ll make the announcement to the Dance Committee and let the principal know.”

“Any other business?” Pete asks before slamming his notebook closed. “Then meeting adjourned. See you guys next weekend.”

Leena dashes off, but the others mill around just a bit. Peter puts his hand on my shoulder as he’s leaving. “Good meeting, madam secretary.”

I tilt my head in thanks. He’s right. It’s the first time we got through a whole meeting without me insulting someone or Leena losing her shit and making Lucy cry or Carson getting distracted by his phone and tuning out completely.

Diplomacy. Who knew?

Carson walks over to the stacks, looking for a book.

“That was amazing,” Lucy says, scooping up her bag.

“What?” I ask.

“You. You just walked in and owned the place. I’ve never seen you look so good.”

I shrug, tugging at the hem of my skirt. “Thanks. It’s new.”

She leans over further, her face really setting off my personal space alarms.

“It’s not the clothes Zoe. It’s you, how you carried yourself today. I’ve never seen you look so confident.” She sits back, looking day-dreamy, like she might burst out in a sonnet or something. “It’s like you’ve been this weird, angry caterpillar. But now you’re a kind, lovely butterfly.”

That’s too much. I literally throw up in my mouth a little. Forcing a smile I pat her hand.

“Thanks Lucy.”

She grins and leaves me to gather the last of my things and throw away the empty drink cup she left behind. I turn and nearly barrel into Carson.

“She’s right. You were awesome today.”

“Thanks,” I murmur and step around him, tossing the cup in the trash and sliding my purse onto my shoulder.

I leave and he jogs to catch up with me. “So, who do you have for Advanced Bio this year?”

I pause, trying to recall the schedule I’d gotten in the mail only last week. “Um, Wells, I think. You?”

“I have Wells too. Fifth period?”

“Yep.”

He grins, running his hand through the back of his light blonde hair. “So, do you wanna be lab partners again?”

I freeze. Last year we’d been paired up in class, quite unwillingly as I recall. Only after a few months had he warmed up enough to talk to me outside of class. Yet here he is, asking me to partner up again. I’m far from a genius, but I hold my own in all my AP classes, so of course he’d want me for a partner.

So why does it feel like he’s asking me on a date?

“Yeah. Sure.”

“Cool.”

We wave goodbye and he heads off. I make my way through the empty school toward the practice field. I open the door to the bright daylight and see that Logan is standing on the sidelines, watching. The expression on his face is serene. I walk up next to him and pull the phone from my pocket, holding it to my ear.

“What are you doing?”

I sigh. “I’m pretending to talk on my phone so if anyone sees me here with my lips moving they just think I’m taking a call.”