better.”
“That didn’t make any sense.”
“No?” He raised his eyebrows. “Well, neither did your comment.”
I looked toward the receptionist’s desk again, where a guy in a baseball cap was hunched over talking to her. I didn’t think much of it until he turned around and I recognized his beady brown eyes. Roger, the creep from Saturday. I put my face in my hands, hoping he wouldn’t recognize me.
“Hey, it’s Drea, right?” The sound of Roger’s raspy voice made me cringe. He’d spotted me in less than five lousy seconds.
I sat up and pulled my blue lunch box closer to my chest. “Yeah.”
Roger sat in the chair on the other side of me, stretching his legs out. “Sorry about being a tool to you on Saturday.” He leaned into me and lowered his voice. “That shit I smoked was really strong.”
“Oh,” I said, hoping for the vice principal to call my name. They sure took their sweet time here.
Roger nodded at Justin, who had busied himself with writing something in a notebook. “You must be the boyfriend.”
Justin glanced up at him and raised his eyebrows at me. I rested my forehead against my lunch box, wishing I could snap my fingers and disappear.
“Roger Miller?” Saved by the balding guy with the round nose and glasses—our vice principal, I assumed.
Roger pursed his lips and leaned into my ear. “See you around.”
My chest relaxed as I watched Roger follow the vice principal into the office and shut the door behind him. I still couldn’t bring myself to look at Justin, but I could sense his eyes on me—waiting.
“Bad date?” he asked finally.
“My friend Naomi introduced me to him this weekend, and he was kind of a jerk. She told him I had a jealous boyfriend at school.”
There was the sound of breath escaping from his mouth, a barely audible chuckle. “A school you never set foot in until today? That’s impressive.”
“Yeah, well, it wasn’t my idea.”
“Do you actually have a boyfriend?” He looked down at his hands. “Like back in Frisco or whatever.”
“No. Do you?” I asked immediately. “I mean…” That was when my laughter escaped—these uncontrollable giggles with snorts included.
“Would it really be that funny if I had a boyfriend?”
“No.” It wasn’t even that gay people were new or bizarre to me. Some of my mom’s friends were gay, but somehow I didn’t think this guy was. At least he was nothing like her friends.
“Well,” he sighed before continuing, “my boyfriend dumped me for my girlfriend. How messed up is that?”
“Why were you dating two people at the same time? It seems kind of greedy.”
The corner of his mouth curved up. Then I realized that he was probably joking. I hated it when people goofed around without smiling—it reminded me of the time most of my first-grade class convinced me that our teacher was secretly Barney the purple dinosaur.
I wanted to ask him what his favorite band was or something quasi-normal, but the door swung open and Naomi breezed in.
“Hey.” She knelt in front of me. “Why are your cheeks so red?”
My mouth opened, but laughter was the only thing that came out. Naomi’s eyes traveled from my face to Justin’s, and whatever she saw caused her to smirk.
She stood up and leaned toward my ear. “Cute,” she whispered and sat in the chair Roger previously occupied.
“What can I say? She finds me hysterical,” Justin said, smiling at her. “I’m Justin, by the way. And I’m betting you’re Naomi.” He looked back at me. “I pay attention.”
“Uh, yeah. Talking smack about me already, Drea?”
“Well, Roger was here, and he thought Justin was my boyfriend because of what you said.”
A high-pitched squeal came from her throat. “Oh my God, I totally forgot about that. I’m so sorry.” She leaned over, grinning at Justin. “Do you mind playing boyfriend until we come up with a better plan?”
“Naomi!” I wanted to hit her.
“Can you girls keep it down?” the receptionist asked, putting her hand over the mouthpiece.
I nodded, and Naomi apologized to her. Justin bit his lip but couldn’t hold back a smile.
“I wrote the lyrics to the second verse last night. Our song is going to rock so much,” Naomi said just before the class bell rang. “Meet me by the quad fountain after this class, ’kay?” She got up, tossing a thin backpack over her shoulder. “You should meet us there too, fake boyfriend.” Naomi waved at him before sprinting out of the office.
“I might just have to take your friend up on that,” he said.
“You really don’t need to pretend to be my boyfriend. That’s ridiculous.” I rolled my eyes.
“I meant meeting you guys after the first class. I was hoping to meet some musicians.” He brushed his fingertips against my forearm, causing every tiny blond hair to stand up. “But I don’t mind helping you get rid of
