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talked. It wasn’t outwardly romantic, but he did seem to be hanging on her every word. What would it feel like, Claire wondered, to have a guy interested in her like that?
    She shook her head, determined not to think about it as she and her friends tromped down the stairs to the small outdoor terrace beyond the library. At the far corner, a lone wooden picnic table with attached benches overlooked the landscaped hills and Middle School below and the football field beyond.
    “Nice spot,” Alec said, admiring the view as they all sat down.
    “This table was handed down to me at the end of eighth grade by my senior drama friends after we did Peter Pan ,” Erica explained. “I was one of the Lost Boys. See? Here’s where we carved our initials.”
    “Hooligans. Shameful of you. Defacing school property!” Brian said through a mouthful of pizza.
    “Brian’s initials are right here,” Claire added, tapping the spot on the table with a pointed look.
    Alec laughed.
    Score! Claire thought. She had actually made the guy laugh! As she dug into her pizza, however, she noticed Alec staring at the slices on his plate, looking a bit uncomfortable. “Something wrong?”
    “No.”
    “Then why aren’t you eating?”
    “I will. It’s just … this may sound strange, but I’ve… I’ve been on a kind of strict diet for a really long time. And I haven’t—”
    Claire exchanged a look with her friends. “Don’t tell me that pizza is against your religion or something.”
    He grinned. “No, nothing like that.”
    “Why in hell would you be on a diet?” Brian asked. “Did you used to be fat?” As Erica swatted him forcefully, he cried, “Ow! What?”
    “I was raised to eat healthfully, and pizza has always been off-limits.”
    “Are you serious?” Claire gasped. A bite of her own pizza caught in her throat and she coughed, her eyes watering.
    “Are you saying you’ve never tasted pizza ?” Brian cried, pounding Claire on the back until she could breathe again.
    Alec shook his head.
    “Holy shit!” Erica dug into her backpack and withdrew her cell phone, glancing about to make sure no one was watching. “Screw the rules. I have to document this moment for posterity.” Placing the phone in camera mode, she aimed it at Alec with a grin. “What are you waiting for? Bon appétit .”
    Alec took a deep breath, picked up his large slice of the works, and deliberately folded it in half. He paused, glancing at them, then took a bite and began to chew. The look that crossed his face— If there’s an expression that mirrors attaining nirvana , Claire thought, this is it .
    “I think he like s it,” Brian decreed with satisfaction, as Erica proudly displayed the photo.
    Alec was mostly silent through the rest of lunch. When it came to dessert, it was the same thing all over again—he practically devoured the cookie Claire gave him. She was beginning to change her opinion of him. It seemed that Alec wasn’t rude or totally introverted after all. He was just quirky, and … new.
    After school, Claire picked up her new locker assignment.
    “It’s the last one available,” the lady from the administration office explained as she wrote down the new locker number and combination on a card. “You’re lucky we even have this one.”
    Claire thanked her and hurried up to Alec’s locker, where she removed all her books and folders, stuffed them into her backpack, and then lugged them up the hill to her new locker. Passing through an arched brick entryway, Claire found herself in a narrow, dark corridor that culminated in a dead end. To her dismay, the locker they’d given her was at the very end of the passage, in the bottom corner, where a pile of dead leaves and filth had accumulated. She hesitantly entered the combination, opened the door, and shuddered in dismay. Every surface inside was caked black with dust, grime, and cobwebs. She slammed the door in disgust and heaved a sigh.
    Better to share with a