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Jeez, you met everybody!”
    “I was just cruising around. I’m a friendly guy.”
    “And a terrible driver. We’ll just keep the driving me to school thing between us. My parents might not like it.”
    The bell rings, and we stand, collecting our things.
    “Should I carry your books too?” he asks.
    “Why would you do that? I’m not injured.”
    “I’m just saying, since you don’t ask guys out and all.”
    I narrow my eyes at him. “I’ll meet you this afternoon.”
    He smiles. “Later, H.D.”
     
    When I finally get to biology lab, Shelly is beside herself. She’s going on and on about Trent popping the question, and my teeth clench as I make my way over to tell her about my alternate ride home.
    “I never even saw it coming!” she gushes at Trish.
    I smile less enthusiastic. Clearly my boy-crazy best friend had forgotten about her plan to help me get a date with Trent.
    “I was just sitting there at lunch talking to Reagan,” she continues. “And then there he was asking me to the luau!”
    “That’s really cool,” I interrupt.
    “And here I was trying to get him to ask you !” she shrieks, giving me a big hug like she’s just won a trip to Paris. Then she sees my face. “Don’t be mad. This is all part of the plan.”
    “Really? Which part?”
    “It’s the mentoring part. Where I model the behavior you’re supposed to emulate.”
    “Oh, so I’m supposed to start dating the guys you like now? I’m not sure I can keep up.”
    “You don’t understand at all. The deal is, if a hot guy asks you out, you say yes. You know, to Break the Cycle!”
    “So that includes the ones your best friend’s trying to date?”
    Mr. Platt comes back in the room, and I know I have to get to my seat.
    But Shelly catches my arm before I leave. “It’s just the luau. And we’ll probably only go out once. Or possibly twice. At the most.”
    I resist the urge to jerk her red ponytail. “That doesn’t make it okay,” I whisper, turning to my seat, but she catches me again.
    “Think about it, if I go out with him, I can find out what he likes and stuff,” she hesitates, then brightens. “And you don’t have to worry about him getting all serious with somebody else because I’m doing this for you!”
    I just stare at her.
    “Harley,” she whispers. “Are you really mad?” Her expression is identical to the one she had the night her parents split, and I decide this must be one of those tests of patience Dad’s always talking about in church.
    “I’ll get over it,” I lie. She squeezes my arm, excited again.
    “We can talk about it on the way home.”
    Then I remembered why I walked over. “Oh! I’ve got a ride home.”
    “What?”
    “This guy… this new guy Jason? He offered me a ride.”
    “Jason? Who’s he?”
    “Well, he’s uh…” His words after the crash fill my head. “He’s Jason James. Just moved here from New Mexico.”
    “But what about Trent?” I struggle not to get mad at her all over again. Shelly can be completely clueless, but we’ve been friends since kindergarten. And after her parents’ divorce last summer, I held her hand as she cried—it made us like sisters.
    “I don’t know. Jason asked me to the luau, and well…” I realize I don’t have a believable reason for dating him yet. “He seems nice.”
    “Is he cute?”
    “You haven’t seen him?” She always has the latest on every noteworthy boy-event at school.
    “No. I’ve been so knocked out by Trent asking me that I hadn’t really noticed.”
    I can’t hear her say those words again. “Well, you’ll meet him after school.”
    Mr. Platt is walking down the aisle, and I have to get to my table before he starts deducting points. I also have to give this fake dating scheme further thought if it’s going to work. People will get suspicious if I don’t have a good reason for suddenly losing interest in Trent. I do not have my best friend’s reputation for guy-hopping.
    That afternoon in the