Soul Mates 4 Life

Chapter 1 The Concert

“Mom, I can’t find my Converse!” “Susan, you always wear those dumb Converses. Wear something nice for a change! You’re singing in choir for the whole school. Everyone is going to be wearing fancy-schmancy accessories except for you and those Converse and black jeans.” I rolled my eyes and turned to my room, surrendering. “Fine, but if I collapse and make everyone fall with me, it’s your entire fault because you made me wear high heels.” She called out, laughing, “I’m sure you’ll be fine. Plus, there’s always a first. Maybe after this you’ll love heels and won’t leave them ever.” I snorted, closing my door to fall on my bed. Susan Wayne. Typical name, really. But I’m everything but ordinary. I go to Medford High School, MHS, in Oregon. I have four best friends, and we’re all really smart. Most of the kids who go there smoke, ditch, all the crap, but we’re the “nerds” of the school. Except for some popular kids, like Jeffrey Sandoval, the most popular kid in school, and his girlfriend, Sandy Cortez, also the most popular girl in school; they’re smart, beautiful, and popular. How did they do it? I have no idea. My two best girl friends are Courtney and Mila. I had known Mila since we were seven and Courtney since I was nine. Max and Kyle, both geniuses, I had known them for a long time too. Max, I had known since I was eight, and Kyle since I was nine. Courtney was probably the best singer in the whole school, Kyle was a math freak, Mila was a good musician, and Max was an overall smart brain. I was just the one who could pass with straight A’s without really being an overachiever. But besides that, I was an ordinary klutz, and my issues with balance were not a problem as long as I wore flat shoes, although I always found a way to fall on a flat surface. But besides that, I was just a person. All five of us were in choir just because we wanted a class all together, but the only one who seriously enjoyed it was Courtney. The rest of us thought Mr. Wing was wacko, boring, and annoying. “I hate this so much” I grumbled as I sat next to Courtney, who was all smiles. “I can’t wait! See the frowning guy in the front row?” I nodded. “Well, he’s the agent for Portland Records!” I gave her a smile, and looked away. I

was so bored. I knew that this was a good chance for Courtney to get a record deal and become famous, but I was bored out of my brains. “Hey.” A husky voice said from behind me. I turned around to see Max sitting down, and Kyle and Mila right behind him, waving. I waved at them and turned back to Max. “Hey, ready for this disaster?” He grinned. “Nope, but here we go.” I snickered and turned back; squeezed Courtney’s hand that squeezed back, and we looked at Mr. Wing, our music director, waiting for our cue. Mr. Wing looked directly at my side of the bleachers, and we started. I looked straight ahead of me, and saw my two twin brothers Joshua and Carlos, pointing and laughing at me. I narrowed my eyes, still singing, but when they saw my face, they stopped, and looked away, still giggling. Courtney tapped my hand, and I looked at her, confused. She widened her eyes and looked to the door. I looked, and it was Jeff. The most popular guy in school, and he was looking at my side of the bleachers with a smile. Had he broken up with Sandy? “...and when I walk towards you...” I cracked a note and I swallowed, hoping no one had heard, but I heard Max chuckling behind me. I lifted my left foot, balancing on my right, and kicked him; glad I wore my heels for this. He shouted, “Ow!’ Mr. Wing narrowed his eyes towards my smug face, and I composed myself, making my face look concentrated on the music. He nodded at me, approving, as he wiped the sweat off of his forehead. The towel looked bad, brown with dirt. Courtney gulped. I knew that she hated it when he did that, and I grinned. Just then, I felt a little unbalanced. “Uh-oh.” Austin, the most annoying kid in the whole school, loudly shushed me. “Susan, shut up!” Mr. Wing looked at me again, his face red. I gave him an apologetic look, and he looked away, his face turning back to a chalky pale. Then, I felt it coming. “Oh no.” Austin looked at me again, about to yell at me, when he saw my face. “Um, Susan, you don’t look to good.” I hissed back, “Mind your own business Austin.” Courtney grabbed my shoulder, and asked, “Ann?” I gulped air, and grabbed my stomach. “I’m going to fall. I feel it.” Every time I wore heels, I would always start to feel a little queasy and I’d fall. It was a reaction I always had with heels. That’s why I stuck with Converse and skater shoes. They were flat. Then I would have a better chance of not falling. With my balancing issues, I never had luck with heels. Max tapped my shoulders. He’d known me the longest besides Mila, and since he was right behind me, he held on to my shoulders, and whispered, “It’s all right, you’re not going to fall Susan. Just breathe.” Courtney sighed. “Why’d you have to wear heels today?” I managed to choke out, “Mom.” Max cursed under his breathe. “Of course your mother would make you wear heels.” We finished the last song, and Mr. Wing turned to bow down, still wiping sweat off his face. Courtney winced as the agent from the record company raised his hand. Mr. Wing politely asked, “Yes, Mr. Fuller?” The frowning man pointed in my direction and asked, loud enough for everyone to hear; “Yes. I have a question. Why is the young man holding the lady’s shoulders in front of him?” I felt my face turn red. Everyone in the audience and Mr. Wing turned to Max and me and his face was turning red again. “I have the same question Mr. Fuller. Why? Would you care to explain, Mr. Mitchell?” Max gripped my shoulders tighter. I winced as he said, “Er, Miss

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Wayne was feeling faint, and she didn’t look too good, so I held on to her so she wouldn’t collapse.” Mr. Fuller sat down without another word and Mr. Wing said, “I’m sure she feels fine now, Max Mitchell. Let her go.” Max let his hands drop from my shoulders, and I felt lightheaded again, my toes pushing too forward. I was about to fall in five, four, three, two, I said to Courtney, “Court, you have to move.” She looked at me, but I fell, bringing her down with me. She squealed and held on to Max’s hand, who was holding it out, but as soon as she did, he fell, Kyle caught him for a second, but slipped. Mila shrieked and tried to hold on to Kyle, but she was so light, She grabbed on to Sandy, but Sandy barked, “Freak, get your dirty hand off of my white dress! It cost me eight hundred dollars you idiot! What the heck do you think...?” And she fell on top of Mila, who slapped Sandy, and grabbed Austin’s shoe, making him slip and right on top of a quiet girl named Kristen. She pushed Austin off of her feet and she pushed another boy named Peter, who fell on top of Sandy and Mila, who were still fighting. And it continued like a domino effect until every person in the choir class was on the floor, and it was my fault. I scrambled to my feet, my shoes in my fist. Max was up and helping the twenty people in my class off the floor. He looked at me and turned away. Mr. Wing’s sweaty hand suddenly grabbed my shoulder and pulled me to the gym’s corner. He made me turn, and he gruffly scowled, “I don’t know what the meaning of this is, but if you don’t like to sing in front of public, get the hell out of my class.” I stuttered, “Uh, M-Mister Wing, b-but I really like your class. I love it, in fact, but I don’t do well in heels.” Mr. Wing harrumphed and then said, “Well, I’m glad you like Choir Class, but I expect that next time we have a concert you don’t bring the whole class down with you and you won’t be wearing heels, am I clear?” I nodded, sighing. “Yes Mr. Wing.” He turned and muttered, “Tell you, can’t find a person without issues in a public school. Even the smart ones, I tell you.” I turned, blushing, and headed for the door “Well I think you did fantastic, honey.” My mother cooed on and on in the car. I rolled my eyes. My dad, focused on the road driving, simply said, “Next time don’t wear heels Susan. I don’t want to pay medical bills for all those people.” I muttered, “You can count on that. Plus, it was mom’s fault.” Joshua snickered, “Yeah. Susan.” Carlos pushed me and laughed with Josh. “Don’t fall Susan!” I pushed him back, annoyed. “I’m sitting down, you dork.” “Exactly! I bet you could fall now even if you didn’t try, you know how blind you are.” I felt my face go red as I turned to the window, but I reached in front and smacked both of my brother’s heads. “Ow!” I snickered and looked down at my glossy purple-cased phone. Max had texted me, Call me. I sighed as I dialed his number “Hello?” “Yeah, you told me to call you, remember?” He sighed and asked, “What? Oh, yeah. Oh yeah...so what’s up?” I scoffed. “Well you were the one who wanted me to call you! What do you need?” “I’m not doing much, how about you?” I groaned. “You’re so annoying sometimes.” He laughed. “Hon, who are you talking to?” I answered my mom, “Max. Why?” She half smiled at my dad who smiled back. “Oh.” I rolled my eyes. Ever since a year ago, my parents and Max’s parents had thought that we were “meant to be,” but Max and I had disagreed and we never let it get

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to us in our friendship. It was kind of annoying because whenever I would talk on the phone, my parents would ask who I was talking to and when I answered ‘Max’ they’d smile, in on something I wasn’t. It sometimes scared me a little, and sometimes it worried me. Didn’t they have anything else to do than to interfere in they’re daughter’s life and who she chose for a boyfriend or just a friend? I guess they didn’t. “So what did you want?” I asked again, trying to get a good answer from him, which he usually had. “Nothing much really, I just wanted to warn you about something.” “Tell me” I demanded, but it sounded a little whiney. “Your family’s coming over for dinner.” “Oh.” Well that wasn’t really news. We always had dinner with my friends parents, but most occasionally was Max’s family because of their stupid theory, but why today after my humongous accident? “Um, why is this news? We always go to your house. And you know why.” He replied, “I found that they were making a seating chart. And they’d make it so that the little peoples as in my brother Steen and your brothers have to eat somewhere else, and then they’re going to talk to us about their stupid theory.” I groaned. “Mom, why do you have to do this to me?” She looked at me from the mirror with a “behave yourself because you’re on the phone” look. I rolled my eyes and told Max, “I gotta go.” He chuckled, “Did you get the ‘Behave yourself” look?” Was it possible he knew me better than Mila? Nah. “Yea, see you later.” He sighed. “Yup, and don’t forget to wear your flat shoes. Remember, flat.” “Ugh. I know, bye.” “See ya.” And I quickly hung up so I could call Mila. “Mila, you’ve got to help me.” “Perdoname?” I felt my face turn red as I hear Mila’s mom answer in Spanish. “Oh, esta Mila?” ‘Is Osmaida there?’ was probably the only thing I could say in spanish. She didn’t answer but I hear her yell, “Mila! Te llama Susanna!” I felt the heat in my face get worse, and I knew that my face was a deep red. “Hello?” I hear Mila’s voice. “Oh my god, help me. I have to have the theory talk with Max’s family and mine!!! I told you it was going to happen soon!!!” She laughed. “Ha-ha! I laugh at you.” I shrieked and my dad yelled, “Whoa! Stop shouting Susan! We can hear you from here.” I sarcastically talked back, “Well it’s a small van, and of course you can hear me!” My mom shushed my dad before he could start yelling at me. “What am I going to do?” I whispered into my tiny phone as I talked to Mila again in my room. “I don’t know! But I do have a question?” I hoarsely asked, “What?” “Why are you whispering?” I groaned again. “Mila, you have to focus!!!” “Okay, okay. Jeesh, I was just asking.” I felt tired as I sighed. “Well, when are you going?” I checked my watch, and I felt my eyes pop out. “I’m going in an hour! I just took a shower, now I have no idea what to do!” She giggled. “What’s so funny?” “Um, random thought, but you do have clothes on, right?” “Ugh!!! You are not helping at all!” “Well...You could dress up all fancy...” “NO way, I’m going to see one of my best friends. I’m not going out on a date.” “Well...” I knew what she was going to say. That we acted like boyfriend girlfriend, and that we were pretty much on the verge of being a couple. “Don’t say it!” “Ok I won’t, but you know it’s true.” I sighed. “You’re not helping. I’ll see you tomorrow.” “Wait! I have an idea! How about you act totally obnoxious in your date and maybe the parents won’t like you after all.” I growled, “First of all, it’s not a date okay? And second of all, they

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already know who I am. I’ve known them for almost seven years!” “Hmm. Yeah you’re right. Well I have nothing else to give you. Good luck!” and with that, Mila hung up. I groaned. “Bye.” And I shut my phone off Looking at my closet, I realized, what did I have that was all right looking and that went with Converse? Nothing besides jeans would match any of my five pairs of Converse. And I wasn’t allowed to wear that or else my mother would start a huge lecture on wearing jeans to dinner at another’s place, although I always did when I went over but not today. I had a feeling today was going to be a totally different roller coaster than I was used to. I stood up and grabbed a nice black pair of pants that matched with my pretty purple turtleneck. I looked in the mirror as I put on my black Uggs. It was winter after all, and in Oregon, it was usually pretty cold in fall, winter, and spring. While straightening my bangs, I hear a knock on the door. “Yeah?” My mom came in with a small bag. “Wow! You look really nice in that.” I rolled my eyes. “Seriously? I feel overdressed. But I guess I’m wrong.” I saw that my mom was wearing a black vest over a light blue shirt and a really frilly brown skirt with black heels. She lightly laughed and gave me the small white bag that with the white words Bath and Body Works. I nervously asked, “Uh, what is this?” She encouraged me with a hand, to open it. I slowly opened the tiny bag and saw at least 50 lip glosses. I groaned. “Mom, I’m not going out on a date! I’m going to see my best friend Max and we’re going to have dinner with them, like we do what, once a month? It’s not that big of a deal!” My mom sighed, “Hon, you’re making this complicated. It’s not that hard. Really Susan, if you think about it, you and Max have something that just...click. Connection, you know? It’s almost like....ok, here’s an example; two hands, the exact personality, humor, acts, different people. They fit perfectly into each other’s lives forever.” I looked up at the ceiling. “Mom, he is part of my life.” Her pretty blue eyes lit up. “Really?” I nodded, “But not in that way. I need a best friend; Max is always there for me.” She immediately protested, “No, that’s why you have Mila as your best friend. You can’t have two best friends, dear. No matter how hard you try, you’ll always have to choose one before the other. So that’s why you chose Max as you know what, and Mila as a best friend.” “Nu-uh! I can too have two best friends. And don’t argue with me about this again because I love Mila and Max the same exact way. And I will not choose one before the other, no matter what. They’re my friends. Cue; friend.” My mom sighed and turned to leave. “Sure, why not. But please put something to make your face light up Anne. I think you’d look really pretty with some makeup and gloss.” I scoffed. “Are you my mother? You always tell me I can’t wear makeup, and now you want me to wear makeup? You’ll do anything to get me to be with Max as his girlfriend, huh?” She turned and with hope in her eyes she added, “Please? I think it’d be good for both you and Max.” I groaned as my mom left, plunging onto my bed with extra force so I could feel something else besides frustration. Why couldn’t they get that he and I were just friends? I sighed and looked at my watch; 6:30. I grabbed my phone from my blue counter and dialed Courtney’s phone number. “Yellow?” I yelped. “Court, you gotta help me!!!” She chuckled and said, “Is it Max?” And I groaned. “Did Mila already tell you?”

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“Yup, Kyle too.” “She already told Kyle too? Oh man, I’m screwed. I don’t know what to do!” “Well, she did say about dressing up really nice and acting totally obnoxious, but I pointed out that you two know each other too well. I groaned. “What am I going to do? Ah, I gotta go. I’ll text you later.” She giggled. “Tell me later how your date went!” “It’s not a date!” “Whatevers, I’ll talk to you later. Bye!” And she hung up. I closed my phone and pulled myself up. I was glad that I had my own bathroom because I heard my brother yell at my mom, “MOM HURRY UP! I HAVE TO PEE!!!” I chortled and went into mine. “Hmm.” I stared at my counter, the only make up I had was really light sparkly blush and the bunch of lip glosses my mom had just gotten me. I sighed and leaned close to the mirror. I turned, pressed the play button on my Ihome, and turned again. There was a knock on the door and I answered, “Come in.” my mom came in and into the bathroom. “Honey, you don’t play music when you put on music. It can smear.” I looked at her. “Please mom. All I have is blush and lip gloss. Tons and tons of lip gloss.” She rolled her eyes. “Oh come on Susan. It’s not that much. Here, I’ll show you how to put it on.” I sighed but said, “Okay.” “And maybe we can straighten and then curl your hair a little, to get a professional curly look. Not your natural frizz curls.” I stuck my tongue at her and whined “But I straightened it! Oh wait, I didn’t. I only straightened the bangs... fine.” And I got ready for the torture. “Okay, look now.” I looked up at my mom and sighed. “So dramatic,” I muttered as I turned. My mom had put blush on me, put on mascara on my eyelashes and she even brought out a box of makeup that was for my birthday, but she took it out and put a purple shade of eye shadow on my eyelids. She straightened my really curly hair and then curled it with a thick curling iron that made the curls look bouncy and as the ringlets formed, my normally dark brown hair turned darker and glossier. I looked up in the mirror and I saw my mouth open wide with shock. The girl that was facing me was utterly weird looking. “Uh, mom? Is that me? I look weird with a capitol W.” My mom was behind me, looking normal, “Oh Susan, you’re being silly.” “Uh, I don’t think I am. Look at me!” My mom rolled her eyes and I turned again to the mirror. The girl’s dark almost black brown hair was perfectly parted and had ringlets instead of my regular bushy hair. Her brown eyes were luminous, the purple bringing out the green rings that went around eyes. The blush on her cheeks was very sparkly, and the pink lip gloss was just an addition to the girl’s perfectly full lips. Was that really me? “Mom, I look...whoa.” She smiled and gave my hand a squeeze and said, “You look beautiful, sweetheart.” Just then a huge crash was heard in my room. I turned and ran into my room, finding my brothers on my bed with their sparring gear from karate on, and my purple lamp was on the floor, my picture frame of my friends was shattered. “Oh, my god, mom, look what they did!” My mom was biting her lip, and she commanded, “Joshua, Carlos, go to your dad and tell him to come in.” Joshua, the quietest of both, kept his head down as he got off my bed, but Carlos nodded. “Okay, but can I tell dad that he has to be ready to be scared by Susan’s face? It’s pretty weird.” He left the door running as I took a heel from the floor and threw it at him as Joshua snickered. My mom turned to the broken frame and dropped lamp.

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I picked up the lamp and set it back up to the desk, plugging it in. I then kneeled to see the picture that had fallen out of the anvil, and looked at our faces. We were ten years old, four years ago, and on the playground, all lined up at the slide, sitting like a roller coaster. Mila, since she was the smallest, was in the front, smiling from cheek to cheek. Courtney was behind Osmaida, hands up like on a ride at the fair, her mouth open, and as I recall, she was screaming at the top of her lungs. Right behind Courtney was Kyle, his legs hanging out from one side, his head on the other side. He was smiling so much it looked like it hurt. Right after was Max and me. We were sitting on top of the slides entrance, the huge pole that hung right over the slide so people could let go as they sat. He had an arm around me, and I was hugging him, both of us smiling. It used to be so simple. It didn’t matter if a kid was a boy or a girl, as long as they didn’t cry and fight over stuff, they’d be best friends. Now if a person hung out with another, they knew that a lot of people would think things that weren’t true. I smiled as I remembered that day, it was Courtney’s birthday. I looked up at my mom and asked, “Can we buy a new frame after dinner? This picture’s really important to me.” She smiled and nodded as she was putting the glass in my garbage bin. I sighed as I put the picture on my desk. I checked my watch; 7:00. I grabbed my bag and went out the door, down to the living room to get ready to leave. My mom was already shrugging on her white coat, but my brothers were running around, playing warriors with plastic knives which were coated on with peanut butter. Their faces were smeared with the butter, but they didn’t care. She turned to see Joshua ‘stabbing’ Carlos in the back. My mom groaned and she stomped over, taking the knives and she pointed to their rooms, “GO change into what I told you to wear! And wash your faces!” They groaned and staggered to their rooms. My mom sighed and turned to look at me. She slowly smiled as she saw me. “You look pretty Susan.” I rolled my eyes. “Can I please take my backpack? I have Max’s English binder in it. I got it from Justin. He was about to shred it to pieces.” I shuddered as I remembered the school bully Justin, as he threatened to jump me if I told anyone he let me go without a scar or broken bone. She made a face and nodded. “How about you just bring the binder? You don’t really need it.” I nodded and she continued, “But please leave your backpack. Just take the binder, please.” I nodded again and stalked off to my room. When I got into my room, I quickly left my bag on the bed and took out my cell phone and dialed my three friends. “Hello?” “Yellow?” “Whatdyawant?” I swiftly started talking. “You guys! I’m off to dinner, and you should flippin’ see me! I look weird!” Courtney’s voice came out slurred, “Uh, what are yoouu tawking about? I don’ get it.” Mila responded, “Well then send us a picture! I wanna see!” I sighed. “I already did.” Kyle yelped. “Oh my gosh, that is you! What the heck! What happened to you!?” I sighed “My mom did it.” Courtney cooed, her voice a little cleared, “Aw, you don’ look so ba’.” I made a face and asked Courtney, “Are you okay?” She sighed and said, “Yeah, it’s just I’m in my massage chair, and my mom gave me this whole

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awesome spa treatment.” Mila piped up, “Why? Your mom never lets you do anything. Oh Sues, you look really pretty!” Kyle grunted, “I beg to differ. No offense or anything Anne, but you look ...different, that’s all.” I sighed and said, “I don’t need compliments. I need you to help me get through the whole thing without freaking out.” Mila squealed, “Oh I gotta go. Good luck, Susan. Have a nice....treatment Court. See ya Kyle.” We all said, “Bye.” And she was out. Courtney said, “I’m tired. I’m going to sleep. Bye peoples.” And she hung up. Kyle laughed. “Ha! You have nothing now!” I narrowed my eyes and shouted into the phone, “You’re going to help me so shut up!” He groaned. I smugly smiled; glad to know that he always glued the phone to his ear so close that if there was a loud noise, he’d go temporarily deaf. “No! Now go away! Have fun, sorry! I gotta go. I groaned and shut my phone off. I sat up and grabbed Max’s binder, and left, hearing my dad yell, “Let’s GO!”

Chapter 2 The Hell of Spaghetti We were just arriving when I turned my ipod off. I took a deep breathe and looked out the window. I saw Lucy, a girl whose baby sister I babysat during the summer, wave at me. I smiled and waved back. I turned away and looked at the back of my ipod. It was reflective metal, and I saw myself again. I shook my head as I began to believe, “I look...pretty.” I always knew I wasn’t pretty, but I didn’t dwell on it. I was just...ordinary, I guess. I didn’t care much if I was pretty or not, like a lot of girls did. I didn’t wish for any changes, nothing. I was fine and I had a lot of other worries than to look pretty. I got out of the van after the rest of my family and took another deep breathe. I felt my stomach knot, which was the weirdest thing, because it never did except when I talked in front of everyone in the class in school. My mom looked at me. “Are you okay? You’ve been really quiet.” I nodded, flashing a smile as I looked around. I had seen this neighborhood a billion times and I looked down at my shoes, bored at the ordinariness of the place. “Hiya!” Max’s dad opened the door and stepped out, giving everyone hugs and the kids a high five. He looked at me and smiled, “Hi, Susan!” I smiled, “Hey, Chuck.” He laughed and went inside, rushing everyone in. Max’s mom, Jenny, rushed out, “Oh my goodness! Hi! Come in, come in, everyone!” My mom rushed to her and they hugged and then they went to the kitchen, already talking. My dad started walking out with Chuck, and they were talking about their hunting trip a few weeks ago. I sighed and the twins looked up at me. “We’re going to see Steen!” I rolled my eyes as they ran up to Steen’s room, already in play mode. “Hey.” I turned and saw Max looking down, with Tracy, his dog, right next to him. “Hi. Where’d you come from?” He smiled and looked up. “I was walking Tracy, and then I saw...your car...” He stopped. I looked at him curiously. “You feel okay?” I asked, but he exclaimed, “What happened to you?!” I bit my lip, getting the disgusting taste of artificial berries on my tongue. I made a face, “My mom. She decided to add a little ‘light’ to my

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face.” He laughed and said, “Well I gotta say, you look like clown.” I smacked his arm. “I know. You should have heard Kyle. He was like, ‘oh my god you look weird.’” I rolled my eyes. Max smiled, “Well, can’t say that I don’t agree. I should take a picture of you to post it on my blog, your title; ‘The Clown Who Was At My House.’ It’d be a great hit.” He chuckled. I stuck my tongue out at him and then said, “Oh, I have your binder. Justin...” “Yeah, I heard. I’ll get it later.” And he took out his camera from a coat that was hung and turned it on. “Smile!” I made my eyes cross eyed and made my mouth fill up with air. Courtney had once said I looked like a blowfish when I did that. Max sighed. “Seriously, I need a picture. A good one. I’m making a website for the school.” “Oh? And what are you going to do with my picture?” He started walking. “Come here. I’ll show you.” And he was going up the stairs into his room. I was right in Max’s room, when I fell flat on my face. Max burst out laughing and the twins with Steen came out of the play room, and started laughing too. I growled but I did a push up and pulled my self all the way up with just my upper arms. Max looked at me, amused, and said, “Have muscle there, don’t you?” I shrugged. “Tennis, Golf, Track, Had to build something, doesn’t it?” He smiled and turned to his computer. He pointed to a screen filled with pictures and words. “Whoa. So what’s the website about?” “Our school.” “Oh.” He clicked on something and the pictures changed, and then cleared up, revealing the words; Medford High School; Where We Teach the Kids to lead a Life. I smiled. That motto was everywhere at our school, and all everyone did was graffiti them. “Cool, huh?” He turned to me. I nodded. “So why do you want my picture?” He shrugged. “Because only our group is the exceptional good students for this school, we need pictures of us.” I grinned and sat down on his bed. “So you have to explain what the school does that’s better than others?” He nodded. “Ha! Good luck with that.” He rolled his eyes and got up. “You want to go play foosball in the garage?” I nodded, “Yeah! I’m going to beat you this time.” He scoffed but took out his camera again. “Okay, now good picture for me.” I sighed. I looked up at the ceiling that was filled with Max’s favorite bands, movies. I looked back at him and he took it. The flash blinded me. “Ow.” “What’s wrong?” “The flash is really bright.” “Hmm. Race you down to the garage!” “Fine! Just hope I don’t fall down the stairs and end up in the ER.” He laughed and ran to the garage. When we were just about finished playing, I was winning by two. “Come on! You’re usually so much better at this!” He took a sharp breath as he shot another goal. “Dang it.” He started head banging, what he always did in front of pictures, and when he felt victorious. I laughed and sat on the sofa that was in the corner. He looked at me. “I wouldn’t sit there.” “Why?” I stood up, ran back to Max, still looking at it. “Because I’m going to sit there.” I ran back, trying to beat him to it, but he was already was there, so I just sat on him. “Well, hello there Susan.” I giggled and then asked, “Hey, did you get the songs I told you to get on your ipod?” He nodded. I got up and grabbed his hand, pulling him up to stand. “Well show me!” He smiled and ran up the stairs. I groaned and said, “You’re making me hungry with all this running!” He laughed and yelled back, “Good, because we’re going to eat a lot tonight!” I also laughed and followed him up to his room.

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When we arrived, he jumped on his bed with his ipod. He patted the bed, and I sat next to him. “How many songs do you have now?” “Uh, seventy-nine.” I felt my mouth drop. “You only have Seventy-nine songs?! That’s all you have?” He nodded, curiously looking at me. I moved my head back to look at him. “What are you looking at?” He shook his head with a small smile and looked down at his ipod. I leaned again his shoulder and saw the song I loved. I grabbed his ipod and pressed play, pressing my ear against Max’s to hear the song. I started humming to the song and Max looked at me, amused. “What? I like this song!” He smiled and shook his head once again. “I do too.” I looked down again, still humming After a few songs we had heard, I began wondering what the talk with my parents and Max’s parents was going to bring. “Hey, do you think they’re actually...” He answered curtly, “No. I just think they’re going to put it on the plate, you know, just bring the bomb down with no warning.” “So they are going to tell us what they think without caring what we think.” “Yup...but it won’t be so bad. Plus, since they put us together, we can play rock paper scissors.” I grinned. “You’re on.” He scoffed, “Please, I could beat you so easily. You couldn’t beat a goose.” “A goose?” “Yeah.” Then, my mom called out, “Kids, time to eat!” I groaned. “Here comes our personal hell.” Max chuckled and paused the song that was playing on the ipod. “Max? Susan?” Jenny and my mom were then in the room, taking pictures. I sat up from my comfortable position of my head on Max’s shoulder and yelled, “Mom, Jenny! Why are you doing this? Jeesh, it’s like you have nothing to do except spy on your kids!” Jenny laughed, a beautiful one, like bells on a church day. “Susan, just do what you were doing. It was so cute!” I groaned and stood up, just to trip onto the floor. My mom sighed as Max held his hand to help me up. “Hon, you’ve got to stop being so clumsy.” I stood up, straightened my shirt, and said, “Well I can’t help it. I didn’t get my clumsiness from my father, you know.” My mom rolled her eyes and stalked out the room, Jenny followed. I looked at Max with a pleading look, and he shrugged. “Here we go.” I nodded and followed him out the door, my stomach filled with butterflies, and I had no idea why. When we arrived at the table, my dad was serving the kids their plates, Chuck said, “Hey you three kids, how about you go and watch TV in the living room and then go play outside?” Steen and the twins shouted, “Yea!” And they ran out of the dining room. Jenny turned to both Max and I, eyeing every single uncomfortable twitch we made. I brightly asked, “So, what’s for dinner?” She smiled and said, “Hon, you’re going to have a talk for dinner.” I licked my lips, “Oh, sounds delicious.” Jenny and my mom chuckled but then Max’s dad came in, and slammed the dinner room door. “Kids, it’s time we have a small talk with you.” Max groaned, “Which one, Puberty or sex?” I laughed but our parents made a face and my mom scolded, “Max, you know that wasn’t very appropriate.” I called out, “I think it was!” My mom silenced me with her behave yourself look, and I looked down, still smiling as I bit my lip. We sat down, the spaghetti split into two big bowls. One for Max and I, one for the parents and of course the parents’ dish was bigger than ours. I sighed with relief as I chewed and swallowed; glad my stomach had something in it. Chuck cleared his throat and Jenny said, “Kids, well, Max and Susan, it’s time you grow up and see yourselves and how you act around

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each other.” I looked at Max, “huh?” He shrugged and asked, “Uh, what do you mean?” My parents looked at him with astonishment and then my mom turned to Jenny and asked, “You haven’t talked to him about what we think?” Jenny nodded, “yes, we have. He’s just being a brat right now.” Max grunted. I saw that he had his hands clamped to his chair, as if he was afraid he was going to fall. I gave him a questioning look, but he turned away. My mom said, “You know how you are, right?” I suddenly felt shy and said, “Well, I know that you think wrong about our...actions.” Max snickered and I stepped on his toe. “Ow!” I looked at him, wide eyed. As soon as I had done that, I knew it was a mistake. he narrowed his eyes but nodded and shoved me. I fell on the floor. “Holy cow, you jerk!” I grabbed a handful of spaghetti and threw it right at his face. He spluttered and wiped his now red face, grabbing the remains of the spaghetti, and threw it at my shirt. I gasped and I yelled at him, “You know this is my best shirt!!!” He made a face and said, “I DON’T CARE!” I then slumped down where I was on the floor. My mom looked at me, worried. Chuck and Jenny were in the kitchen getting towels, and my dad was sitting down, eating. “Good food,” he commented. I glared at him and looked back at Max, infuriated he had done such a thing just because I lightly stepped on his toe. He looked at my mom, who had a frown and then at me. I was about to look away from his eyes but then he winked. I nodded back, knowing I wasn’t supposed to take any offence to what we did. It was only to get our parents to back off. I stood up, shrieking, “I STILL CAN’T BELIEVE YOU DID THIS!” He yelled back, “WELL, BELIEVE IT!” I felt the spaghetti sliding down my arm, and I grabbed it and flung it to his face. He grabbed my shoulders and shook me. “DON’T do that AGAIN.” I pushed him to the wall, making the windows tremble. I looked at my mom as she said, worried, “Susan!” I heard my dad comment, “Again, good spaghetti. I think it’s the sauce that makes it so delic...” My mom shushed him. “What happened?” I heard Jenny scrape the chair as she stood up. “ENOUGH! You two,” She pointed at Max and me, “I know what you are trying to do and it’s not going to work. So sit down and let’s talk about this seriously, no jokes, pranks or comments. Now listen to what we as parents have to say.” Max opened his mouth to protest but Chuck silenced him, “Max, listen to your mother. I don’t want to be in trouble for what you cause.” He looked at me. “That goes for you too.” I rolled my eyes. I knew Chuck wasn’t my dad but we were all used to being together that we didn’t care anymore. He had a small smile and turned to look up at his still standing wife. “Hon, are you going to talk to them, or not?” She blinked and sat down, a little confused. “All right, I know we have been a little strong on this theme of you two, but we have to say two things about them.” I raised my hand. Max poked my knee with his finger and had a questioning look on his face, wondering why the heck I had my hand up when we weren’t in school. My mom looked at me, “Susan, you don’t have to raise your hand.” I opened my eyes wider, trying to look innocent, “But you said we weren’t to interrupt, so I decided to be polite about it.” Max tried to stifle a scoff but choked on his lemonade. I ignored it. My mom held her hand out, “Continue then.” I began. “I know you two say that we have things that make us...what do you call it? Er...” Max volunteered, playing along with the innocence, as he asked, “I believe it’s called...soul mates?” I smiled at Max, “Thank you, Max. I

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appreciate the help,” he snickered, but as he caught the look on his mom’s face, he held a straight face as I continued, “and yes, soul mates it is. Soul mates are two people who are perfect for each other, as my mother once put it, two hands, different people, fitting into each other’s lives perfectly...or something like that, I think she said...er...” I sat down as my dad said, “Yeah, enough with the lawyer impersonation. Now hear our side of this scene.” My mom stood up, nodded at Jenny, who also got up, and they both left the dining room. I squinted at Chuck and my father, who were both looking a little confused themselves. Max got up, “Well, it’s been a pleasure, but I believe I have an account of beating a friend of mine in foosball, so, if we may?” He held an arm at me, as if to be escorted, but I rolled my eyes and kept looking at the small nails that held pictures up on the orange wall in front of me. Max groaned, “Don’t torture me, Susan. Please, let’s get out of here!” I rolled my eyes, “Let’s just hear what they have to say. Maybe they’ll leave us alone.” He huffed as he sat down and put his elbows on the table, propping his chin on his fists. I did the same thing. Jenny came in and my mom followed, both carrying a small box. My mom handed me one and Jenny handed the one she was holding to Max. “Now,” said Jenny, “We are going to leave.” Max and I looked at each other and then at our parents. “WHAT?” Chuck got up. “You both heard her, now we’re leaving to take the kids to the Family Fun Center. Maybe they’ll get exhausted there.” My dad also got up, putting a napkin on the table, “And, you two are going to look at these albums that are in the box, and then clean up around here.” My mom piped up, “We’ll be back in an hour or two.” I opened my mouth to object, but Max jumped up, “You guys can’t do that!! It’ll be like....ten o’ clock when you guys get back and-and...we’re gonna be here...alone! and...it’s gonna be late...and...” Our parents smiled and grabbed their coats from their chairs. “Bye kids!” Jenny called out, and she closed the dining room door, leaving Max and I in a room that only led to the kitchen. Max groaned, “Oh man! Now I know why they put a different handle on that door! So they could lock us in!” I sighed and opened the box. “Might as well.” Max groaned, grabbed his box and went to the other side of the table. “Ouch!” He jumped up from the chair and looked at the chair, “Ugh! They put a shock thing on this chair!” He grabbed his box and was about to sit to the one next to it, but I said, “I wouldn’t do that. They probably put those on each chair except for the one next to me.” Max cursed and sat next to me, grumbling nonsense like “parents being stupid’ or ‘can’t believe this is happening’. I opened the blue and indigo colored album, and the first picture was two little kids throwing sand at each other at the beach. On the side, it was written, Max and Susan at the beach, three years old. I gasped. Max grunted, “What?” I turned his chair to face me and pointed at the picture then at the writing. He squinted, and muttered, “Impossible.” He turned his back on me again. I sighed, “Max, what’s wrong?” “Nothing.” I shrugged and turned the picture. There was a small girl on a bench with a green dress on, smiling with two front teeth missing, and a small boy who was next to me also wearing a toothless grin and he had a sailor suit on. I looked at the writing, Susan and Max, four years old, Easter. I laughed, “Cute suit, Max.” He turned again and saw the picture. He chuckled and turned his whole body towards me, also

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pointing at a picture in an album. It was, of course, Max and I at seven years old at camp sitting on a picnic table with our arms crossed , both of us seemed a little hostile towards each other, and I remembered that day. It was the first day of camp, and I was stuck with Max as a partner. I had accidentally thrown a worm at him when we were supposed to be studying them under the magnifying glasses, but I freaked out so much I grabbed it and flung it as far as possible, which apparently was Max’s face. “Wow.” I had finished my album and I was looking at Max’s with him, my chin on his shoulder, looking at the picture when we were only two years old, and Max was giving my a stick with a leaf on it, and had a triumphant look on his face as I looked at him, weirded out. I giggled when I saw the next picture. I looked the the writing first, and it said, Max and Susan’s first kiss “Whoa, what?” I asked and I looked at the pictured, a little boy with a blue shirt on that said Captain Awesome and khaki shorts on, and a little girl was pressed to the boy’s lips, both a little in shock, wearing a black shirt that had pink ruffles on the sleeves, and jeans. My hair was auburn, and it wasn’t super curly, but it had ringlets. Max’s dark black hair was actually brown in the picture, and my green eyes were blue. Max whispered, “They set us up.” I looked at him, “What?” He looked at me with a furious glint in his eyes, “They got pictures of other people, don’t you get it? We didn’t meet until we were seven or eight.” I corrected him, “We turned eight years old right before camp, so eight.” He rolled his eyes and continued, “But in these albums, it says we ‘knew’ each other since we were two years old.” I looked at him, still confused, “So...you’re saying our moms just cut these pictures out of magazines or whatever, and pretended it was us so we’d think we’d had a connection since like ever?” He winced, “Eh, sorta like that.” “Oh. Then I get what you’re saying.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me up, “So now we just have to find the proof.” I shrugged, “Okay.” I grabbed my album and opened to the first picture that had the girl with the green dress and the boy with the sailor suit. I squinted to try to get a better look at their faces, but I got nothing. I was about to turn the page, when I caught the sailor boy’s hair. It was blonde. “Aha!” I poked Max on the back, “Hey, your pretend you has blonde hair here.” Max turned and looked at the picture. “Can you picture me with blonde hair?” I laughed at the thought, but I couldn’t really picture it. I got up and yawned. It was nine ‘o clock, and we hadn’t cleaned up at all. There were splatters of tomato sauce and bits of noodles all over the dining room. I jabbed Max on the back and said, “We should clean up. I’ll wash the dishes and clean the table, you can mop the floor.” Max got up too, stretching, “Sounds good to me.” I was scrubbing the table where some sauce had spilled and where the lemonade had accidentally dropped after I had knocked the glass over. I sighed, my arm getting tired. “Do you think they’re going to get mad at us for finding out that they faked it?” Max shook his head, “Nope. We’re the ones who’re supposed to be mad at them.” “Oh.” I turned and kept scrubbing the table. After forty five minutes of non-stop cleaning, Max and I slumped down on our chairs and sighed. “Thank goodness that’s over.” Max groaned. I agreed, grinning, “Yeah, now we just wait to bombard our parents.” He

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chuckled and turned to look at me, “Hey, your make up is all gone!” I sighed, “Thank goodness!” He grinned, and I dozed off on his shoulder. I woke up, but I couldn’t open my eyes. I felt an arm around my shoulders and I was bent, leaning on someone’s lap. And there was more weight on my head than usual. “I don’t get why they don’t give in...” “Maybe they just want to...” I opened my eyes into slits and saw my parents and Max’s parents looking at us. I then noticed my waist up to my head was on Max’s lap, and his head was on mine, with his arm around my shoulder. I closed my eyes again as Jenny crouched to pick up the box of albums Max and I had found fraud in. She stood up again and I tried not to move, my back aching, I yearned to stretch. Max took a deep breathe and his arm dropped from my shoulders to my waist. Jenny and my mother squealed, “They look so cute!” I tried not to grimace and felt awkward as no guy had put their arm on my waist and I never expected Max to do it, but then I felt at ease when I remembered that he was still asleep as I felt his even breathing on my hair, and I dozed off again for a few minutes. “Well, I can’t say they don’t look cute like that.” “Yeah,” my mom agreed with Jenny’s comment. My dad asked, “Should we wake them up?” Chuck said, “Yeah, it’s almost 10:30, and they have to help at the school auction tomorrow...” I had been woken up again, and Max started shaking, or Jenny was shaking him awake, “Max? Honey, we’re home. You want to wake up now?” Max jumped and the comfortable weight of his head wasn’t on mine anymore, I felt bald. He groaned, “Ugh, why’d you wake me up? What time is it, anyways?” My mom replied, “10:15. We better get going.” My mom reached down and started patting my shoulder, “Susan? Sue, we have to leave.” I faked a groan and squinted into the all too bright light, “Mom, it’s Saturday!” I didn’t bother to get up, and Max looked down and took in a very surprised face, “What the....how the heck did you fall asleep on me?” I shrugged and we both noticed he still had his hand on my waist; he looked at his hand, and then quickly put it on his head, rubbing his eyes intentionally, avoiding my eyes as he turned a shade of peachy pink. I was shrugging on my coat and saying bye to Jenny and Chuck when Max grabbed my hand and pulled me to the corner of his living room, “Hey, um...” I felt confused, “What?” He shook his head, “I forgot what I was going to say,” “Oh.” I was about to turn again when he said, “Uh, I’ll see you tomorrow I guess...” I looked back at him, weirded out, “Uh...yeah. Are you all right? You seem a little dazed.” He shrugged and continued to look at me with doubt, and I raised my eyebrows, “Do I still have spaghetti on my face?” He chuckled and shook his head again, “Same old Susan.” I then put my hand on my hip and asked, “What? Is there something wrong with me or what? What’s wrong?” He crinkled his nose and squinted, “I don’t know. I just feel all of the sudden really confused. “Oh.” I turned my back again, “Well you better be okay at the auction tomorrow.” He muttered, “Probably won’t be.” I turned again towards him, “Seriously, what’s bothering you?” It was my turn to face his back and he groaned, “I don’t know, I just...my stomach hurts. I’ll see you tomorrow though.” I warned him, “You better be there.” He nodded and without looking at me, waved, “See ya,” he ran up to his room. I sighed and turned back to follow my parents out the door and into the cool night. I looked up and saw a star wink and I smiled. Today’s dinner wasn’t as bad as I thought it could have been. “Come on Susan,” called my

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mom. I walked quickly to the van, jumped in the back, and closed my eyes, imagining about tomorrow’s auction and seeing all my friends.

Chapter 3 The Auction and Snow Storm

I woke up to the alarm clock and gasped. It was 11:00, and I was supposed to be at the auction setting up at 12:30. I got up from my bed and jumped into the bathroom to wash my face. As soon as I got downstairs, raisins starting falling from the ceiling. I looked up and saw Carlos and Joshua on their room’s ceiling, which was like an inside balcony, pelting the raisins from straws, and giggling like crazy. I growled and ran back up to the stairs to catch them, but I skidded to a halt. They were just kids. I thought to myself, ‘I used to do that, so don’t freak.’ I turned and ran back downstairs and saw Joshua and Carlos’s confused faces. Carlos yelled, “You’re supposed to get mad and try to catch us and fall into our booby trap!” I turned back and yelled, “Yeah, well I have other things to do than fall into a pile of your dirty clothes!” And I walked out as I heard Joshua whisper, “How did she know that?” Carlos answered, “She’s a witch....like...all magical and creepy.” “Oh. Okay.” I grinned and headed towards the kitchen. I found my mom frantically flipping through her address book and I asked her, “Morning. What’s for breakfast?” She slammed the book on the table and glared at me. “Oh, so I’m here, hanging on an invisible string to my job, and you ask me, ‘what’s for breakfast’?” She mimicked me in a high whiny voice as she stood up and grabbed a cereal from the top shelf, “What’s for breakfast, what’s for breakfast?” I backed up a few feet and said, “Well, I just asked...I’ll get something myself, don’t worry...” She slammed the cereal bowl and the milk on the table, making the Cheerios roll down the table and onto the floor, “Yes! Please, help yourself! Make me get up, and then say you can do it yourself.” She stomped on a few cheerios and said, “Clean this up.” And she bolted out of the kitchen. I just stood there, “Well. That was...friendly.” And I sat down to eat my cereal. About ten minutes later, I was done with my bowl of cereal and cleaning, so I headed up to my room and jumped onto my bed, looking for my cell phone. I found it on the bed stand and I slid it open. There was a ding, and I had a new message. It was an unknown number 555-691-2932; Hey, I am so sorry about yesterday. Ouch. I replied, with a confused feeling in my stomach

Anne; Um...who r u? sorry but I kinda want to know who I’m talking to. I clicked ‘send’, and waited for a respond as I went into the

bathroom to get ready for the auction. I placed my cell phone in my jeans pocket, and picked out a pretty white blouse with purple sleeves and collar that matched my cell phone case, and I went out of my bathroom to sit on the small two person couch in the corner of my room.

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555-693-2932; Oh, lol I forgot. It’s Jeff. What’s up? I took in a

sharp breath as I read the name. Jeff? Was I talking to the hot Jeff that dated the gorgeous Sandy, who was amazingly cute? This couldn’t be happening. I quickly answered back,

Anne; Oh. Lol sorry I didn’t have you in my contacts. That’s why I was wondering. WATS up? I took a deep breathe and called Osmaida, who answered the phone with a muffled, “’llo?” I yelled, “Jeff is texting me!” in the background, I heard a plate shatter. Osmaida cursed under her breath and said, “Sorry, plate broke.” “Oh. Well...” “Look Sues, I gotta go get ready for the auction. You’re going to go, right?” I sighed, “Yeah, I’ll just tell you there.” “’Kay, see ya there.” And we hung up. I was sitting in the back of the van texting Jeff when I wondered if Max was going to be okay. He had seemed a little not himself the day before. Maybe he was just tired. I continued with my conversation. Jeff; So are you going to the auction? I’m not. Anne; Yeah, all my friends are going so why not. Jeff; Oh. Well that’s cool. Maybe we could hang out tomorrow, idk. I gasped and re-read the message four times before I replied. Anne; Yeah, that’d be cool. Jeff; Cool. Well I gotta go...so I’ll talk to you at the auction. Text me, bye Anne; Okay, bye. I slid my cell phone and stared at my green plaid Converse while I waited to arrive at the auction, stunned the Jeff had asked me to hang out the next day. “Susan, we’re here,” grunted my mom. I hugged her and said, “Thanks for bringing me, mom. I’ll call you when it’s done.” She cleared her throat, “Uh, that won’t be necessary, Max’s mom volunteered to bring you over to her house. I’ll pick you up there in the afternoon.” I stood on the ground, stunned, “Mom!” She looked at me sternly and said, “Max isn’t feeling well. He’s all dazed and Jenny thought it might be a good idea if you and Kyle went over to cheer him up.” I sighed but protested, “But what about Mila and Court? Are they not Max’s friends too?” She sighed, “Don’t overreact, hon. Mila has to go to church after this, and Courtney’s mom won’t be available after the auction. The whole family is going to California for five days.” Still in shock, I said, “All right, I’ll see you later.” She nodded, “I’ll pick you up at eight tonight.” I shrugged, “Whatever. Bye, mom.” And I closed the door as she zoomed away from the Country Club I was walking into the fancy hall where we always had our Auction, when I saw Max sitting in a chair next to Mandy, a pretty and overly excited 24/7 girl who had a crush on him since fifth grade. I felt my muscles tense, but I felt fine as I walked over. Mandy was excitedly talking to Max as he seemed to be listening half way, the other half

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was dazed. I sat down on a chair in front of them and waved, “Hey Mandy! Hey, Max!” Mandy turned to me and smiled, “Hi, Susan! Oh my gosh, were you listening? Because if you weren’t, it’s okay, Max won’t care if I start all over again! Max has been so kind to be listening to me for like, I don’t know, half an hour? And he still isn’t tired! Can you believe that? Well, anyways, I was, like telling Max, that when I was four, I like totally...” I interrupted guiltily, “uh, Mandy, I’m really sorry, but I kind of just wanted to talk to Max in private...” Mandy narrowed her eyes a little, but her smile didn’t fall from her face, “Oh! Well in that case, go ahead; I actually wanted to talk to...” She got up and skipped to a teacher nearby, animatedly talking to herself. I sat in the chair in front of Max and stared at him, “So, what’s wrong?” Max shrugged, “Mandy is a really sweet girl.” I sat back immediately, “What? I thought you always said that she was obnoxious and annoying and wouldn’t leave you alone and it freaked you out that she liked you!” He looked up at the ceiling and I saw that he had dark shadows under his eyes. I opened my eyes widely, “Dang, Max. Did you sleep at all last night after I left?” He shook his head, still avoiding my eyes. I commanded him, “Look at me, and tell me the truth. What’s bothering you?” Max looked down and said coldly, “Well, right now, you’re bugging me.” I slumped down; a little shocked at the answer. He and I had never had a fight, and when we said mean things to each other, we immediately said sorry. What was wrong with him? I looked down and with a small voice said, “Oh, well I guess I’ll go...” I got up and slowly walked away, half expecting him to call me back and say sorry, half expecting I would run back and punch him for being a jerk. But it didn’t happen. I sighed and was about to turn and ask what really was bugging him but I saw Jeff and I hurried over. “Hey Jeff, what part of the auction are you working at?” He turned and smiled as soon as he saw me. My heart jolted. “Hey Susan. Umm I think I’m working in the Sports area. What about you?” I looked down, trying not to show I was blushing. “Um, Arts and Crafts?” Shoot. Why did it come out as a question? He smiled and turned to the door, “Uh, well I’ll see you around.” I nodded, “Okay, I’ll see you too.” He smiled hesitantly and then walked away. I tuned around, muttering to myself how stupid I was talking to Jeff. I turned and looked up to see Max towering over me. I stepped back and glared at him for a second and then coldly asked him, “Do you mind? I’m trying to get to my booth.” He icily retorted, “No. Have a fun time.” I pursed my lips. “I will,” and stomped off. As soon as I was away from Max, I felt my face crumple up in pain. Why were we being so hostile to each other? I walked into the board room where the section of the auction was art, and pushed the door open to see a my teacher freaking out about the fruit basket pointing to the left instead of the right, when I saw Jeff sitting in the

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corner, inspecting everything. I took a deep breathe and walked over to where he was. “Hey, Jeff. I thought you said that you were going to be in the sports section.” He looked up and smiled at me, “Oh hey, well no because now there’s a whole bunch of the other football players in my team who hate me and they threatened me to beat me up if I didn’t get out of their way.” I bit my lip, “Wow that’s harsh.” He shrugged and scooted over on the sofa he sat in. He patted the empty seat next to him. I felt myself blushing as I sat and he asked, “So where are the rest of your friends?” I sat up immediately and wondered the same thing. “Er, I’m not really sure. They’re supposed to be here...” Jeff turned to me, “So what about your boyfriend?” I snapped my head towards him, surprised how close his god shaped face was to mine. “Uh, I don’t have a boyfriend.” Jeff’s eyes opened wider, “Oh, then what about that kid your always around with, Mac?” I automatically corrected him, “Max. But, no, definitely not my boyfriend.” Jeff shrugged, “Oh, so you like him?” I snorted, “No. He’s just been my best friend since we were like eight years old.” “Oh. I didn’t know that.” “Yeah...” I looked down at my poor beat up grey and purple Converse. I sighed and looked up and saw Mila waving at me, but her eyes placed on Jeff. I waved and Jeff looked up, “Oh, do you want me to leave...” He looked at me, ready to get up, but I could see he didn’t want to, and that made my heart jump. “Oh no, just stay, it’s okay.” He smiled and sat down comfortably again. Mila grabbed a chair and sat in front of Jeff and me. “Hey Sue. Um, hi Jeff.” Jeff smiled, “What’s up, Mila.” I looked down and blushed as Mila gave me a look as if to say ‘since when do you talk to cute and popular guys?’ and it was true. I rarely talked to the ‘cool’ guys because they thought I was a freak, but if I’d known them for a long time, it was fine. Jeff looked at Mila with a smile, but he looked a little uncomfortable as she stared at him. I blushed for my friend and stared at my shoes once again. Mila broke her gaze with Jeff and asked me, “So Sues, um where’s Max? I thought he was gonna be here...” I bit my lip and responded as little as I could, “Oh, um...he kinda just went off. I think he’s gonna meet up later...” She met my eyes and somehow immediately caught on because she said, “Oh!” she hit her forehead and rolled her eyes, “of course! He texted my like half an hour ago! Gosh, how could I have forgotten...yeah...I think I’m gonna get a refreshment...you wanna come Sues?” I looked at Jeff and saw he was staring at me with a mystified look. I edged up and asked, “Is it okay if I go for a few minutes, Jeff? I am kinda thirsty...” He shook his head as if shaking off a daydream and nodded, “Yeah, yeah! Sure, go ahead, I’ll be here.” I nodded. “Thanks, and I headed off with Mila, as she grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room.

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She shoved me into the bathroom and shrieked, “OH EM JEE!!!!!!! How the heck did you talk to Jeff Shcooler??????” I flinched at her shriek but I slowly said, “Uh, I don’t really know...he texted me and I was like, who the hell are you but then we got talking and then I came here...” And all of a sudden, I felt tears rimming at the edge of my eyes. Mila had her mouth so wide a whole mob of flies could have gone through easily. She closed it quickly and gasped, “Are you about to cry?” I shook my head, but walked a few steps to the mirror, and sure enough, tears were making my eyes super shiny and already reddening. Mila took a deep breathe and asked, “You wanna talk about it?” And I shook my head, “I don’t know what happened, I mean yesterday we had this whole thing with my parents, and then all of a sudden today he’s hanging out with Mandy and he was saying how she’s really sweet and I asked him what was his issue and he said that I was.” Mila’s eyes widen even more and hugged me unexpectedly. “Oh, I’m so sorry. Stupid Max doesn’t know what he’s doing,” she let me go and eyed me, “we are talking about Max, right?” I nodded and sighed, “I just don’t get why he’s acting all...weird.” She humphed and then turned around to open the door. I grabbed her hand and yanked her towards me, “What the heck are you gonna do?” I hissed. She shrugged, “I’m going to fix this,” I gaped and said, “No, first, I’m not going to let you. Second, it’d between Max and me, all right?” She closed her eyes for a moment and then nodded, “You’re right, um, do you want to now?” I nodded, still a little shaken, my eyes burning. She gave me an encouraging smile as we headed out to find Max, my stomach already giving me trouble Chapter 4 The Confrontation I walked besides Mila to the common room and then I turned to her, “All right, I think I need to do this myself.” Mila stopped and nodded, “All right, I’ll be in the art room, still setting up. Don’t take too long, and don’t cry in front of him, and don’t argue with him, and just listen, and...” I held my hand up, “Okay Mila, I got it.” She shrugged and walked away. I took a deep breathe and walked to the tools section of the auction where Max had last minute changed his place to.

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