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brother, Aken.”
    “Aken,” Jackson said formally.  He was still squeezing Berlin’s hand though.
    I could see that Jackson’s knuckles had turned white where he gripped Berlin’s hand so tightly.  Berlin looked uncomfortable, but was obviously unwilling to say anything.
    I turned to look up at Jackson where he loomed behind me.  His eyes were burning holes right through Berlin.
    Finally, he glanced down at me and then back up at Berlin.
    “So, city names?” Jackson commented amicably, releasing Berlin’s hand.
    Berlin smiled uneasily. 
    “Yeah.  Our parents were weird like that.  They picked out names as they were traveling through Germany.”
    “Ohmigod!  That is so bizarre.  Our parents did the same thing, only ours are American names,” Jersey said.  Then she grinned sheepishly at Aken.  “Like you couldn’t have figured that out on your own, right?”
    The boys laughed.  Jackson and I didn’t.
    “I’m just glad they weren’t staying in Frankfurt or Leipzig or Dusseldorf, some place like that,” Aken replied.
    “Me, too.  I really like Aken,” Jersey said, smiling coyly.
    “Yeah, yeah,” Jackson interrupted.  “You two can talk all about it when you see each other at school tomorrow.”
    “Maybe we can get together after,” Aken suggested.
    Jersey beamed.  “That sounds awesome.”
    The rest of us stood, forced to watch uncomfortably as Jersey and Aken flirted.  I was glad when Berlin spoke.
    “Maybe the four of us could get some coffee,” Berlin proposed, looking questioningly at me.
    Before I could respond, Jackson chimed in.
    “You’re wasting your time, man.  She’s not interested.”
    Berlin’s mouth dropped open a little as he glanced from Jackson to me, to Jackson and back to me.
    Anger rose, my jaws tightening as I clamped my teeth together.  Purposely relaxing them, I smiled brilliantly at Berlin.
    “Ignore him, Berlin.  He has no idea who or what I’m interested in.  Coffee sounds great.”
    Nodding hesitantly, Berlin looked behind me to Jackson one last time before he responded. 
    “I’ll find you tomorrow.”
    “Ok, see you then,” I agreed, reaching out to take Jersey’s arm.  “Let’s go, Jersey.”
    Jersey threw me a withering look before speaking to Aken. 
    “We’ll talk tomorrow.”
    “It’s a date,” he confirmed. 
    The smile that curved his lips struck me as slightly predatory.  It made me distinctly uncomfortable, although it didn’t appear that Jersey felt that way.  She was eating it up.  I couldn’t help but wonder if it was just my snarky mood casting a black shadow onto everything else.
    Grinning, Jersey nodded her agreement as we turned to leave.  We walked off, arm in arm, completely ignoring Jackson. 
    All the way back to the dorm, I could feel his eyes on me, drilling furious red holes into the back of my head.  I could tell he was angry, though I didn’t know why.  And it didn’t matter. I was angry, too. 
    As Jersey chattered on about all the wonders of Aken, I pondered Jackson and his animosity toward Berlin.  Had I imagined it?  And what if I hadn’t?  What did it mean?
    I would like to have believed that it was an act of jealousy.  But as thrilling as the prospect of Jackson behaving in such a way over me was, it just didn’t jibe with his actions otherwise.
     I lay awake in bed that night, listening to the muffled sounds of Jackson in his room next door.  My mind kept wandering the same path, the path that was nothing more than a frustrating conundrum.  At that point, there was just no understanding the mass of contradictions that lay behind Jackson’s Greek god-perfect face. 
    Thinking of all his sharp words and frowning stares, it would be all too easy to convince myself that he really did hate me.  But then there was that kiss.  I just couldn’t get it out of my mind.  It had felt so passionate and genuine, so heated.  Was it possible that I’d just imagined that, too? 
    I’d likely