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around again, clearly still wondering what I’m doing here. I watch him for one more awkward moment before turning to walk back to my table and more irrelevant words.
     
    “Hey, Piper,” he says from behind me. I turn to find him staring at me with a half smile on his face. “Nice boots.”
     
    I feel my face get red. “Thanks,” I say, because I have no idea what his half smile means. But it’s definitely still there, and just as I’m about to ask him what he wants, he shakes his head and slides back under the car. I stare until all I can see are the bottom of his coveralls and his shoes. I try to focus on my English homework, but all I can think is that Ben. Period. Donovan. Period. actually knows my name.
     
    Jillian is giving me “the look” again as I eat my lunch. Normally I have better manners, but I am starving and have only three minutes to shove food into my mouth before assembly. She’s eyeing me like I’m one of those nature shows where you just know the cute little bunny is about to get it, but you can’t stop watching.
    “So, The Plan—” she finally says. Claire nods, looking past her to where a group of upperclassmen is climbing the steps from the caff and heading into the auditorium.
     
    “Plan?” I ask around my last bite of veggie burger. I live for teasing Jillian.
     
    Jillian sighs. “The Valentine’s Day Plan. We now need to find
three
yummy guys.”
     
    I glance over at Claire, but she’s not paying attention. She’s still watching the stairs. Still looking for Stuart. “How about instead we find cupid and beat the stuffing out of him,” I say. “Or we could all wear black. You know, in protest.”
     
    “Why are you so anti-Valentine’s Day?” Jillian asks.
     
    “Don’t,” Claire says.
     
    “Don’t what?” Jillian asks.
     
    Claire looks over at me. “Too late.”
     
    I take a deep breath. “Valentine’s Day is just a capitalist scam, designed to make people currently in a relationship spend unnecessary money in a fruitless attempt to ensure undying love and devotion. For those of us not in a relationship, Valentine’s Day is simply added pressure to identify ourselves within the context of a romantic relationship, whipping us into a frenzy that only the presence of our soul mates can relieve.”
     
    Jillian rolls her eyes at me; Claire just shrugs. “I tried to warn you,” she says. A group of rugby players mounts the stairs. Stuart is in the middle of the group as if he’s hiding in their midst. He barely makes eye contact with Claire as he walks by.
     
    “See?” I say to Jillian. “Why should we celebrate a day that is devoted to heartbreak?”
     
    “I refuse to admit defeat,” Jillian says.
     
    Out of the corner of my eye I spot Jeremy lurking across the hall, probably trying to work up the nerve to say hello to Jillian. I smile in his direction, but Jillian glares at me and shakes her head. This of course makes me smile even more.
     
    “We should go in,” Claire says finally. “Afternoon assembly is about to start.”
     
    “I’ll meet you in there.” I notice that my hands are sort of gross from the veggie burger and probably I’m sort of grungy in general from my time in The Pit. Unfortunately,the closest restroom isn’t all that close. I have to actually go outside and over to the next building. Even more unfortunately, it’s raining. By the time I end up back in the main building, I’m pretty damp. Somehow, the twist my mother put in my hair is still holding up. But rubber boots + water + tile floor = an unbelievable amount of noise all in the form of loud squeaks that make it sound like I’m trying to smuggle a bunch of small rodents into the assembly.
     
    As if the day couldn’t get worse, the assembly has already started and Father Birch is up at the front leading everyone in an opening prayer. Claire and Jillian are about three rows down from where I’m standing at the back and they’ve left a seat for me on the