Cipher

to her notebook instead of glancing at the boy across the aisle.

“Was it worth it?” Troy whispered.

Is he talking about our kiss? She was going to ignore it, but curiosity got the best of her. “What are you talking about?” she whispered back.

“Fighting Jenna over that loser. The whole school saw it happen. I can’t believe you keep going back to him. I really thought you were smarter than that.”

Summer glanced at Mr. Jennings. Since his attention was still on the board she swiveled to face Troy. “Apparently, I’m not smart. I go for all the wrong guys. But you know what? At least Cody never kept a string of girls.”

A crease formed between Troy’s eyebrows. “That doesn’t make any sense. Every time I think I’ve got you figured out, you prove me wrong.”

Summer blew out her breath. “The fight wasn’t about Cody. In fact, I was going to walk away, but then Jenna said something mean to Ashlyn. That’s why I got into a fight. Now, I have enough crap to deal with without you telling me how dumb I am, so—”

“Troy and Summer, are we bothering you?” Mr. Jennings asked, making Summer jump. “If you have something important to say, please let’s hear it.”

Summer turned to face the front of the room. “Sorry.” She was already on probation. If he sent her to the office, she’d be kicked off the dance team for good, and nothing would convince Dad that she’d listened to his speech last night.

“Summer, why don’t you move behind Steve since you and Troy can’t stop talking.”

Ew. Not Stinky Steve. Slowly, she started to gather her belongings.

“I’ll move,” Troy said, picking up his books and heading to the other desk. As frustrated as she was with him right now, she appreciated his sacrifice of taking the seat behind Steve. It was almost enough to make her ignore all the other girls and just hope he’d narrow it down to her someday.

Almost.

Kendall and several of the other girls from the team surrounded Summer as she put her books into her locker. “You can’t dance for two weeks?” Kendall asked, her voice a couple octaves higher than normal. “Are you trying to sabotage the team?”

Summer turned around to face them. “I want to dance. You think I’d keep going to practice even though you all gang up on me if I didn’t want to be on the team?”

Lexi crossed her arms. “This is your way of punishing us.”

“Yes, I planned Jenna Cambell pushing me just to spite you guys.”

“What happened to you?” Kendall asked, running her gaze up and down Summer. “You used to be cool.”

“Yeah, when I wasn’t being myself. When I let you push me around. Look, I’m going to keep practicing the routine, I just can’t practice with you guys.” Actually, getting lost in the music and the dance moves without the girls tearing her down would be kinda nice.

Kendall narrowed her eyes on Summer. “I hope we don’t have to make any changes.”

“Then I’ll have to learn the new moves when I get back,” Summer said. “That seems like it would be a lot of extra work.”

An evil grin spread across Kendall’s face. “I guess we better pull in an extra girl in case you don’t make it back.”

Kendall was obviously watching for Summer’s reaction; Summer was determined not to give her one. “Do what you feel you got to do,” she said before moving past Kendall and the rest of the girls. She wasn’t going to waste any more time on these girls. Her real friends were in the cafeteria, waiting for her.

By the time she made it to the Misfits’ table, she’d cooled down some. It would suck to be kicked off the team, but if it happened, she’d live. Somehow.

“So guess what?” Ashlyn said as soon as Summer sat down across from her. “I have a date tomorrow night. Matt and I are going out.”

“It’s about time,” Summer said.

Ashlyn’s gaze drifted over Summer’s head. “Hey, Troy. Are you going to join us for lunch today?”

Even though Summer told herself not to look, she couldn’t help it. Troy stared at her as though he hadn’t expected her to be was sitting there. “Uh, not today. But I’ll see you guys around. Ashlyn,” he said with a nod. “Marcie, Nelson, Darren, Aaron.” Nod, nod, nod, nod. His eyes met hers, but he didn’t say her name or nod, just held her gaze for a beat and then walked away.

“Goodbye to you, too, Troy,” Summer said. “Thanks for the obvious snub.”

“What was that all about?” Ashlyn asked, eyes wide. “It was like he was shocked to see you or something.”

Summer threw her hand up. “Who knows with that guy? He’s in a mood, or has somewhere to be, or just…Who knows?” Yeah. That’s what she was going to stick with. Still, she kept remembering how he’d moved in Chemistry so she wouldn’t have to. How there was a flicker of…hurt? in his green eyes just now. Ugh, she needed to put him out of her mind.

Focus, Summer, focus. You’ve got bigger fish to fry.

Hmm. Bigger fish? She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Ashlyn said, “What phrase are you contemplating now?”

“How did you—?”

“You get this scrunchy eyebrow face,” Ashlyn said. “It’s either about your food choice or sayings, and you’re already eating your Doritos, so…”

Summer laughed. “You know me so well it’s a little scary, but in the coolest scary way ever. I was thinking about the ‘You’ve got bigger fish to fry’ saying. I mean, why would you start with the big fish? Wouldn’t it make more sense to go little?”

“You’re on your own with that one. I don’t like fish at all. Or this sandwich. Yuck to the eggplant turkey combo, as if there was any doubt that it’d suck.” Ashlyn tossed her food aside and reached for her Diet Coke. “So, you’re coming to my place after school, right?”

Summer grinned. “Since I can’t practice and we got banned from the ballgame, I guess I have nothing better to do.”

“That makes me feel special.” Ashlyn pointed to her heart. “Right in here.”

Summer laughed again and then turned to Marcie. “You know you’re free to join us anytime, right?”

“Thanks for the offer, but my mom needs me to help out at home. I do want to do something right now, though.” Marcie turned to Aaron and Darren. “Whip them out, guys.” Aaron, Darren, and Nelson scooted closer to Ashlyn, Marcie, and Summer. “We got bored in our art class today. So we made these.”

Aaron dropped several chess pieces on the table. “We decided to make everyone pawns.”

“See, because it works on many levels.” Darren picked up one of the pieces. “We’re all just pawns against the man. We can trade up for something better. All of us are on equal footing. Pick anything. It all goes.”

Aaron studied the pieces and passed them out. “This one’s you…that one’s you. We’ll give Troy his some other time. Here’s yours, Summer.”

Summer held out her hand, and he placed the pawn on top of her palm. They’d glued blond, curly hair on top, then drawn in her face. The Misfits was written across the bottom.

“It’s okay if you throw it away,” Aaron said after he’d passed them all out. “We know it’s nerdy, but we had fun making them look like everyone.”

Summer curled her hand around it and held it to her chest. “Are you kidding me? This is awesome, and I’m going to find a special place to show it off.”

Marcie grinned at everyone. “I think it’s nice to belong to a group, even if it is the Misfit Group.”

“I love being in the Misfit Group.” Looking around at her friends, Summer nearly teared up thinking about how lucky she was to have the supposed rejects in her life.

After another half day of classes that ticked by at a snail’s pace, Summer headed out of the school and bumped into Troy—he seemed to be everywhere. “Why is Jenna draped all over your boyfriend?” Troy asked, jerking his chin toward the spot where Jenna and Cody were kissing in the parking lot.

“Newsflash I already gave you forever ago, we broke up,” Summer said. “He’s not my boyfriend.”