Out of the corner of my eye I saw two girls at a nearby table watching his display with equal expressions of jealousy and dismay. “Yeah okay. Cool it, Romeo,” I said, laughing. “Before you break every heart in here and start a lynch mob after me.”

“What?” he asked innocently.

I shook my head because I knew Roland was not as clueless about his effect on the opposite sex as he let on. Girls had started chasing him around long before he began to notice them. Then he went through a growth spurt in eight grade and bam – instant heartthrob. His casual disregard for rules added just enough bad boy to his image to make the entire female student body lust after him. I couldn’t fault a guy for having good genes but I often thought Roland was a little insensitive where girls were concerned. He dated a girl a few times and as soon as she started to get serious, he ended it. He was always nice about it, which probably made it even worse for them. Whenever I said anything about it, he argued that no one’s heart gets broken after two dates. But I’d seen the pining faces more than once. I love my friend but he is an idiot when it comes to matters of the heart.

“I’ll cool it if you say you’ll go to the Attic with us. Come on, we’ll have a blast.”

“I’ll think about it,” I said, taking my book from him and stuffing it in my bag.

I left the two of them finishing my plate of fries. No one else spoke to me as I made my way to the door but I heard the whispers. Already, Jeffrey’s comments were circulating the cafeteria.

The door swung open just as I reached it and I had to step back to avoid getting whacked in the face. The malicious smile on the face of the pretty blond standing in front of me told me she had been aiming for me. I wasn’t surprised. Faith Perry and I weren’t friendly on a good day and I didn’t expect her to be happy after what happened to her boyfriend.

“Excuse me.” I started to walk past Faith but she moved to block my way. I groaned inwardly as the cafeteria fell silent behind me. It was only the second week of my senior year and already I was wishing for graduation.

“Are you happy?” she hissed, her venomous green eyes glittering.

I pasted an innocent expression on my face. “About what?”

Faith tossed her long straight hair back over her shoulder. “I’m talking about Scott.”

At that moment, I spotted Scott and Ryan coming down the hallway toward us. They stopped walking when they saw me and Faith. Scott’s eyes flashed angrily then looked away as if he couldn’t face me.

I shrugged. “Seriously Faith? You honestly think I could have done that?” I spoke loud enough for my voice to carry to the people behind me. “Do I look like I was in a fight?”

That brought her up short and she stared at me as if she noticed my lack of bruises for the first time. I felt Scott’s gaze on me too and I knew he must be wondering how I didn’t have a fat lip today.

“How the hell do I know?” Faith scoffed. “For all I know you had those loser biker friends mess him up. I wouldn’t put it past you.”

I bristled. If anyone here liked to hurt other people it was Faith. She’d been a bully ever since we were little kids and she only grew worse as we got older. When I started school here, Faith was not happy that Scott wanted to be my friend and did everything she could to make my life miserable. I was already devastated from losing my dad and she might have broken me if it wasn’t for Roland. His friendship had filled some of the aching void inside me and gave me the strength to stand up to Faith. I’m not sure what made her dislike me more – not being able to hurt me anymore or the fact that Scott had liked me first – but she’d hated me ever since. I usually kept my distance from her because it was just not worth the hassle.

“You know what Faith?” I took a step toward her and she stumbled back a step. I leaned toward her and I could sense everyone in the cafeteria craning forward in their seats. “If I was you,” I whispered in her ear, “I’d be less worried about whether or not a girl beat up my boyfriend and more concerned about why my boyfriend wasn’t with me instead.”

Faith’s mouth fell open. It probably wasn’t wise to stir her up like that. After years of crushing on Scott, Faith had finally gotten him, but she was very jealous where he was concerned. If she wasn’t such a bitch I would have told her not to worry because she and Scott were made for each other.

I pushed past her, leaving behind a room full of curious onlookers. More people had stopped in the hallway to hear our exchange and I ignored their stares as I walked past them. Scott stepped aside when I reached him and Ryan and our eyes met briefly. I could see the confusion and suspicion on his face and I knew he was wondering why I’d denied hitting him when I could have totally humiliated him in front of half the school. I just walked by because I had no desire to explain my actions to him or anyone else. Let him think what he wanted.

The rest of the afternoon was quiet. There were no more run-ins with Faith, and Scott kept his distance as well. Neither of them was going to forgive or forget any time soon but I had a feeling Scott at least would keep a wide berth from me for a while. I hoped they both did because I didn’t like the person I became around them.

I was on Market Street on my way home after school when I started to feel like someone was watching me. It was an eerie sensation but I shook it off and cut though the small parking lot between the pub and the antique store, emerging on the waterfront. Our place was the seventh one down at the end of the row.