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head. “I’m sure that’s not true.”
    “I don’t know if it is or not, but I wouldn’t want to be friends with someone like that.”
    “He seems like a really nice guy.”
    “Pastor Thomas says the devil walks the Earth in Armani and speaks the most beautiful poetry you’ve ever heard,” she said.
    “You’re being a bit over-dramatic, Joy.” I chuckled.
    “Maybe, but I still wouldn’t be friends with him.”
    “Whatever happened to ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself’ or however it goes? You were just going on about it the other day.”
    “You should love your neighbor, but that doesn’t mean you have to hang out with them,” she said. “The Bible also says we should stay away from bad influences. ‘Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.’ Proverbs thirteen, twenty.”
    “All right, Joy.” I turned away and rolled my eyes. I hated Joy’s Bible lectures.
    We went to our lockers. She didn’t want to be late for fifth hour, so she got her books and headed off while I rearranged my books. I wasn’t looking forward to biology. Mr. Martin had threatened to give me detention if I didn’t turn in my overdue homework and I hadn’t gotten any of it done.
    “Hey,” Devon said as he walked past me to the locker on the other side of Kennedy’s. “Cleaning day?”
    “No.” I shook my head. “I’m just dawdling.”
    “Don’t like your next class?” He opened his locker door.
    “Not really. I hate biology.”
    “It’s not so bad. I liked it so much I took it twice.”
    “You’re joking, right?”
    “Yeah.” He chuckled. “Biology sucks.”
    “I should have just taken physical science with Kenn. Then I might actually have a chance of passing.”
    He pulled an American History book out of his locker and shut the door. Then he leaned against it. “Is Ken the guy you’re always with?”
    “No.” I laughed, amused that he thought Kennedy was a guy. “She’s my best friend. Her name’s Kennedy. I just always call her Kenn.”
    “Oh. So, who’s the guy?”
    “My boyfriend. Chad.” I sighed.
    “Sore subject?”
    I shook my head. “No. Just not one I want to talk about right now.”
    “That’s fine with me,” he said.
    I took a deep breath and closed my locker. “Well, I guess I should get to class.”
    “Yeah, I probably should, too.”
    We walked to the end of the hall and parted ways. When I got to biology, I hid toward the back of the room, hoping Mr. Martin would forget about my missing homework. I thought I’d succeeded when he didn’t ask for it during class, but as soon as the bell rang, he called me up to his desk. All the excuses I came up with fell on deaf ears as he wrote out a detention slip. I took it reluctantly and sulked into the hall.
    “So, I got detention.” I told Kennedy when I got to my locker.
    “That sucks,” she said.
    “You’re telling me. My mom is going to flip out.”
    “So, do you know what you’re going to wear on Saturday?”
    “No idea. I don’t even know if my mom will let me go.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because I got detention.” I showed her the detention slip again.
    “Just don’t tell her,” she said.
    “That’s going to be pretty hard considering that she has to sign the detention slip.”
    “I didn’t know that. Maybe she’ll let you go anyway.”
    “I’m not getting my hopes up.” I sighed.
    “It’s going to totally suck if I have to go to this party without you.”
    “Jason will be there, won’t he?”
    “Yeah, but still,” she said. “It’s not like we’re going out or anything. I don’t even know if he likes me. It’s like he acts like he does, but he hasn’t asked me out so I don’t know if we’re just friends or…”
    Devon walked up to his locker while she whined about Jason for the hundredth time that week. I tuned her out, watching as Devon opened his locker door and rummaged through the pockets of a black leather jacket. He pulled out a pack of