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I was
feeling better about the French quiz after Hannah helped me figure
out how much the D would impact my final grade while we were in
drawing. It wasn’t as terrible as I’d thought, and as long as I
started to do better on quizzes and tests, my grade shouldn’t
suffer too badly. I was also glad that Hannah believed me when I
told her I didn’t think Hawaii was a foreign country.
    “Let me guess,” I said, returning to
Chelsea’s question. “It has to do with Drew?”
    “We’re going to the movies on Saturday
night!” she squealed, leaning forward in excitement.
    I dropped my pencil in shock. “He asked
you?”
    “Well…I asked him. And I sort of said I was
going to the movies with you and Jeremy and didn’t want to be a
third wheel,” she sneaked in, fidgeting in her seat. “You’ll come,
right?”
    “Sure,” I said, keeping my voice level.
“I’ll have to ask Jeremy, but it shouldn’t be a problem.”
    She barely let me finish my sentence before
speaking again. “This will be so much fun!” She beamed. “Thank you
so much. Next time you need me to do anything, I’m there. Not that
I wouldn’t be otherwise, but you know what I mean.”
    “Anytime,” I said, the word sounding
strained as I spoke it. Out of all the guys in school, of course
Chelsea had to go for Drew. She was clueless about my feelings for
him, but it was impossible to not be irritated.
    I picked up my pencil and started doodling
on an empty page of my notebook, trying to clear my thoughts of
everything involving Drew and Chelsea.
    “Are you okay?” she asked. I must not have
been doing a good job at hiding my feelings.
    “I’m fine.” I smiled in a way that I hoped
was convincing. “I just got a bad grade on my French quiz, and it’s
bothering me a bit.”
    “One bad quiz grade won’t destroy your
average,” she assured me, shaking her head like it wasn’t a big
deal. “It was only a quiz, and you’re really smart. I know you can
do well.”
    The guilt hit immediately. “Thanks,” I said,
knowing she meant it.
    For the rest of the class, I couldn’t forget
the conversation I’d had with Drew earlier in the day. Technically
I wasn’t doing anything wrong by having him tutor me, but it felt
like I was going behind Chelsea and Jeremy’s back. And I still
couldn’t figure out why he offered to help me in the first place.
Perhaps he wanted to ask about Chelsea, since our being friends
must have come up in one of their conversations. However, I doubted
that was the case—Drew didn’t seem like the type to fish for
information when he was interested in a girl—he would probably just
go for it.
    So what if he was doing that, but with me
instead of Chelsea?

Chapter 5
     
    Drew would be arriving in the library soon,
and I debated bringing up the double date planned for tomorrow
night. I leaned back in the beanbag and took a deep breath, telling
myself not to worry. There was no need to make this complicated.
When Jeremy got out of soccer practice, I would just let him know
about the plans. We’d gone on double dates with Chelsea and
whatever guy she was seeing at the time many times before. The big
difference this time was that she would be there with Drew, who I
couldn’t seem to get out of my mind.
    Glancing out the large window, I attempted
to refocus by taking in the colors of fall. The late September
leaves looked like a pointillist painting with the various colors
of reds, oranges, and yellows, and I took out my sketchbook and
colored pencils and began drawing the scene outside, concentrating
on the trees as I tried to represent them to the best of my
ability.
    “I didn’t know you were an artist.” Drew’s
now familiar voice caught me by surprise. I must have been so
involved in drawing that I didn’t hear him enter.
    Placing my pencil down in the crease of the
book, I turned to look at him as he clicked the door shut. The
temperature had dropped enough in the past few weeks that his
leather jacket