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used to. I walked
slowly, trying to get as much time with him as I could.
    “So.
How was your lunch with Eli yesterday?” he asked.
    I
sensed a little sarcasm in his voice, maybe even a hint of jealousy. Could he
be jealous? I felt sudden butterflies in my stomach just thinking about the
possibility.
    “It
was good. We mainly talked about school stuff.” I tried to make it sound like
nothing.
    “Well,
that's good.”
    I
assumed he meant that it was good we only talked about school stuff. Or maybe I
was just turning it into what I wanted it to be. It was a good thing he didn’t
ask me to elaborate on what ‘school stuff’ meant, because I didn’t have an
answer for him. I really needed to get better at my lying or this web would
swallow me whole.
    “Sorry
I had to cancel. What did you end up doing?”  
    “I
found a few friends, a big group actually. It was nice seeing a lot of the
people I haven't seen in a while. We all got to catch up.”
    “That's
good.” I was relieved that he had fun. “I guess it was a good thing I had to
cancel then.” I looked at him and giggled.
    “Ha
ha ha . At least I get to have lunch with you
today—unless you decide to cancel again that is,” he joked, shooting me a
sideways glance.
    “No,
no, no, there won't be any canceling today.”
    “Good.”
He nudged me with his shoulder playfully.
    We
were standing in front of my class now. Absentmindedly, I grabbed the straps of
my backpack as we stood there. I fidgeted, twisting and untwisting the straps.
    “See you at the same place we met
yesterday?” he asked.
    “Yep.”
I smiled. 
    I
turned to leave and that’s when I saw Eli staring at us—except this time, I was
the only one getting the glare. I could almost feel his eyes searing into me, and the disgusted look on his face made me
feel sick. The cat was out of the bag, so to speak. I just wished he would
still speak to me so I could explain.
    I
didn’t notice Pete say goodbye, but I was sure he had.
    Eli
walked into class without saying a word. I had to jog to catch up
    “Can
I talk to you for a minute in the hall, please? I know you’re mad, but I want
to explain.”
    “Why
should I?”
    “We're
friends. At least let me explain.”
    “Fine!”
Frustrated, he dropped his books on his desk with a thud.
    Several
classmates jumped at the noise and gave Eli dirty looks for the abrupt
disturbance. He didn’t make eye contact with any of them. In fact, it seemed as
if he didn’t notice them looking at him at all. A blush of embarrassment crept
up on my cheeks.
    We
walked into the hall off to the side. I tried to be discreet as possible in
such a public hallway. He turned around and looked at me expectantly.
    I
didn't know where to start without making things worse than they already were.
My rehearsed lines went out the window the moment he saw me with Pete. They
didn’t matter since he already knew; now I just had to convince him that it was
okay. 
    “I
know that me being friends with Pete is a problem for you. I don't know what or
who to believe. I am new here. I don't know you or Pete very well at all. It's
hard for me to just take what someone says to heart without seeing for myself.
I understand your concern but—”
    He
cut me off.
    “My concern? You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into. No, I don't
have proof, but if you aren’t willing to believe me then I don’t know why I even
bothered!”
    He
stormed off before I could get another word in. It was not exactly how I wanted
the conversation to go. I decided to write him a note with my phone number and
invite him over after school that day. If he wouldn’t come over then maybe he
would at least call me; I could still tell him how I felt.
    As
I walked into class I noticed that Eli was still sitting in the seat next to
mine. I hadn't seen Bailey come in, but she was sitting right behind my seat
just as she had the day before. I wasn’t really in the mood to talk, but I also
didn’t want Bailey