Lessons in Love (Flirt) (20 page)

“Whatever.” Megan turned to Ling. “Anyway, like I was saying, you really need to back off. Everyone in school is talking about how desperate you look throwing yourself at Logan.”

“
Me
back off?” Ling said. “How about
you
back off? Like this morning, when he so obviously wanted to talk to me about this weird dream I had, except you kept butting in.”

“Get real.” Megan’s eyes rolled so dramatically I was afraid they’d get lost somewhere up in her skull. “Nobody wants to talk to you about your stupid dreams. He was totally making eye contact with me the whole time.”

Ling just snorted. “Please.”

Suddenly Zoe slammed her soda down so hard it made everyone else’s lunches jump. “You know what? This is getting
really
old.”

Everyone turned to stare at her, including me. Zoe was super competitive on the athletic field, but the rest of the time she was just about the most laid-back person I knew. If Ling and Megan were getting on
her
nerves, it had to be bad.

“What’s with you, Zoe?” Ling asked.

“I’ll tell you what.” Zoe glared at Megan and Ling in turn. “You two seriously need to settle this Logan thing. Like, soon. Before you drive all of us crazy.”

“She has a point, you guys,” Taylor added tentatively. “You have been a little, like, intense lately.”

Megan flipped her hair back. “It’s not my fault she’s trying to horn in on my guy.”

“He’s not your guy,” Ling retorted. “If you weren’t so delusional, you’d be able to tell he’s into me.”

“Enough!” Zoe cried so loudly that she drew curious glances from nearby tables. “Don’t you even care that you’re acting like total jerks to each other? You’re supposed to be friends!”

Megan frowned for a second, then looked slightly chastised. “Okay, I guess I see your point.” She glanced at Ling. “Maybe it’s time to deal with this.”

“Maybe.” Ling shrugged. “Logan does need to make up his mind already.”

“We should tell him that,” Megan said. “I don’t want to do it at school, though.”

“Agreed.” Ling wrinkled her nose as she looked around the cafeteria. “It’ll have to be this weekend.”

“How about talking to him at the kickball game?” Taylor suggested. “You’ll all be there anyway.”

“Good idea,” Ling said, and Megan nodded.

“But don’t do it right before the game, okay?” Zoe put in hastily, already sounding more like her usual self again. “Logan’s one of our best players, and we can’t afford to have you guys freak him out and make him choke.”

“Fine,
after
the game.” Ling already sounded bored of the whole topic. “Megan and I will pull him aside and confront him, make him decide which of us he wants to be with.”

“What if he doesn’t want either of you?” Simone said, a mischievous gleam in her eye.

I kicked her under the table. This situation was messed up enough without her dragging me into it. Which I could tell she was about to do.

Luckily, the others seemed to take the comment as a joke. “Very funny,” Ling said, while Megan stuck out her tongue at Simone.

“Shh!” Taylor nodded toward the door. “Here he comes.”

We all turned to watch Logan hurry toward us. He looked pretty happy, so I guessed the meeting with Mr. Ba had gone well.

“Hi, Logan!” Megan sang out, at the same time Ling said, “Come sit by me, Logan!”

“Hey, guys,” Logan greeted the table at large. Ignoring Ling’s command, he slid into the empty seat beside mine. “So guess what?” he told me. “Mr. Ba says I’m making tons of progress already—more than he expected.”

“Really? That’s amazing!” For a moment I actually forgot about the others. I was really happy for Logan. He’d been so worried that he couldn’t handle the course, but I’d known all along that he could.

“I couldn’t do it without you.” He sounded so happy he was almost breathless. I wondered if he’d run the whole way from the science wing. “Mr. Ba pretty much came out and said I’m lucky to have someone like you who’s willing to tutor me.”

“Yeah, Bailey’s a genius when it comes to sciencey stuff,” Simone put in. “We’d all probably be flunking out of that class without her.”

Logan flashed her a quick smile, then turned his attention back to me. “So anyway, I wanted to figure out a way to thank you.” He glanced down and started unwrapping his sandwich. “I was thinking the least I could do is maybe buy you a slice of pizza or something. What do you say? Are you free after school?”

Simone let out a tiny gasp. Everyone else went silent for a moment. The entire cafeteria seemed to be holding its breath. Or maybe that was just me. I was stunned, but not in a bad way. This time there was no mistaking it. He’d just asked me out—right?

I knew what I had to do. I knew what I
wanted
to do. Feeling suddenly bold, I opened my mouth to accept his invitation.

Before I could get the words out, Ling jumped in. “Oh, Bailey can’t do anything after school,” she said, leaning across the table. “She has to work at the restaurant. Every day.”

That wasn’t true, and everyone at the table knew it. Everyone except Logan, that is. His face fell.

“Really?” he said.

“Yeah,” Megan jumped in. “Plus Bailey hates pizza.”

Also not true. Which Megan knew.

“But I
love
pizza,” Megan went on. “There’s this awesome place over on Jackson Street—I could show you this afternoon if you want.”

“No way,” Ling put in quickly. “Everyone knows the pizza at Romano’s is way better.” She turned to Logan. “What do you think? Want to check it out after school?”

“Um . . .” Logan didn’t seem to know what to say.

I didn’t know what to say either. Were my so-called friends really doing this? Shoving me aside, not even noticing that I might like this guy too? Or maybe just not caring?

“Bails?” Simone whispered, leaning closer with concern in her eyes. “You okay? Want me to say something?”

“No!” I whispered. I stood up, raising my voice so the rest of the table could hear. Not that any of them were listening. “I’m going to grab more napkins.”

Not bothering to wait for a response, I hurried away.

I was still in a funk on Friday afternoon. Even learning that neither Megan nor Ling had succeeded in wrangling Logan into taking them out for pizza the day before hadn’t cheered me up much.

After thinking about it all day, I thought I knew why. If the feelings between me and Logan were as real as I’d been starting to think—as real as Simone kept insisting they were—shouldn’t this be easy? Or at least not quite so awkward and complicated?

For once, I was almost dreading study hall. When Simone and I walked in, Logan was already in his seat.

“Smile,” Simone hissed in my ear as we headed toward him. “He asked you out once, remember? Possibly twice. And it’s almost the weekend now. Maybe he’ll try again.”

“Shh!” The girl was nothing if not persistent. She’d been giving me pep talks for the past twenty-four hours straight.

Logan glanced up from his bio book when he heard us coming. “Hey!” he said, breaking into a big smile. “How was English? Did you do all right on your quiz?”

For a second I was confused. How did he know I’d had a quiz in English today? Then I remembered talking to Simone and Zoe about it at lunch that day. I’d thought Logan was distracted by Megan and Ling yammering at him from both sides, but maybe he’d heard me after all.

“Oh,” I said. “I think I did okay. Thanks.”

Simone was still standing in the aisle. She cleared her throat. “So listen, Bailey,” she said loudly. “I can’t hang out with you after school today after all. I just remembered I have a dentist appointment.”

“What?” I had no idea what she was talking about. For one thing, we hadn’t discussed hanging out after school. For another, she’d just been to the dentist like two weeks earlier.

“Sorry to bag out on you.” Simone shrugged. “I guess you’ll have to find something else to do, since you don’t have to work today.” She glanced toward the classroom door. “Oh, look, there’s Taylor. I’ll leave you guys to your studying.” With a quick wave, she rushed off.

Now I got it. At least she hadn’t poked Logan in the shoulder and said, “Hint, hint!” at the end. I supposed I should be grateful for small favors.

“So you’re off work today, huh?” Logan said as I sank into my seat. “I thought Ling said you had to work every day after school.”

“Not every day.” I unzipped my bag. “It just seems like every day sometimes. That’s probably what she meant.” Okay, or maybe not. What Logan didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

“Cool. In that case, I have an idea.”

“Um, what?” I couldn’t believe it. Was he actually taking Simone’s bait?

He grinned. “Patch is cool, but he’s pretty hyper. I was thinking of taking him over to campus for a good run this afternoon. Want to come?”

I hesitated. Was this a pity date? Or was he still feeling indebted to me because of the tutoring thing? Or what?

But suddenly it didn’t matter. I was a scientist—I liked to know things. And right then what I needed to know was what the deal was with my feelings for Logan. This was my chance to gather a little more evidence one way or the other.

So what if it wasn’t easy? Since when did that scare me off? Everything in biology was complicated—I lived for complication! As for Megan and Ling? Yeah, they were definitely two
big
complications. But I’d just have to deal with any fallout from that direction later.

“Sure,” I told Logan before I could change my mind. “Sounds fun—I’m in.”

Chapter
Eighteen

B
efore leaving study hall, Logan
and I arranged to meet up on campus an hour after the final bell. That would give him time to go get Patch, and me time to drop off my books at home.

It seemed like a perfectly logical plan. But by the time I got off the bus in front of my house, I was freaking out. I wasn’t like Simone or the others. I just wasn’t cut out for this boy-girl stuff. I should have stuck to my plans to avoid high school romance.

“What was I thinking?” I muttered as I pushed through the front door and stomped toward the stairs. “For a smart girl, I sure am an idiot sometimes.”

“Bailey? Is that you?”

It was my mother. She wandered out of the kitchen holding a coffee mug.

I pasted a bland smile on my face. “Hi, Mom,” I said. “I thought you’d be at work.”

“I’m waiting for your sister.” She took a sip of coffee. “She’s got gymnastics today. Besides, I told your dad I’d take the late shift tonight so he and Uncle Rick can go to the Spring Thing lacrosse game.”

“Oh.” I wasn’t really listening. “That’s cool. I mean, whatever.”

Mom was watching me carefully. “You okay, Bailey? You seem a little agitated. Did you have trouble with that English quiz?”

“No, quiz was fine. All my classes were fine.”

“What, then?” She took my arm and steered me into the kitchen. “Is anything wrong? You can talk to me.”

“I know, Mom. And seriously, nothing’s wrong.” I glanced at the clock on the microwave. Fifteen minutes before I needed to leave. “Hey, Mom, can I ask you something?”

“Anything,” she said immediately.

I perched on the edge of one of the bar stools at the kitchen island. “When did you know that Dad was the guy for you?”

She looked a little surprised. No wonder. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d asked her a question like that. Probably because there wasn’t a last time.

“Hmm, I don’t know if I could pinpoint the exact time.” She leaned against the counter across from me. “We’ve known each other since we were kids. Is there a reason you’re asking this right now?”

“Sort of.” I took a deep breath. “See, there’s this guy . . .”

“A guy?” She perked up in a very Simone-like way.

“Relax,” I said quickly. “I haven’t decided what to do about him yet. It’s just—I never thought I’d like a guy in high school, you know?”

“But you like this guy?”

“Maybe.” I considered. “I mean, yes. Probably.”

“Wow!” Mom caught herself. “Er, I mean, go on.”

I couldn’t blame her for the reaction. She’d probably been wondering when I was going to get with the program, start acting like a typical hormonal teenager. “It’s just, this wasn’t part of the plan, you know?” I said. “I wasn’t going to let myself get distracted by this kind of stuff.”