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wheel.
    I was hanging out with the popular crowd. I started imitating Mallory’s and Elena’s movements, trying to get into the groove of the music. So this was what it was like to be popular. It wasn’t so hard. It was actually pretty fun.
    The car skidded to a stop in front of the Ice Cream Factory and we climbed out. Our group took up fourbooths along the wall of the small shop. We were loud and rude, shouting out orders and making jokes. Some of the guys tossed a football across the booths and no one even asked them to stop. It seemed that the football players and cheerleaders could do whatever they wanted.
    And I was right there in the middle of it all, seated next to Elena. Perry had seated himself across from Elena, and he kept leaning over the table to touch her arm or tug on a lock of her blond hair. And whenever Perry would look away to talk to one of his friends, Elena would turn to me and give me that excited look that I’d seen girls exchange whenever the guy they liked paid attention to them. Elena could have given that look to Mallory or Kelsey, but instead she looked at me.
    “Hey, Cassie,” Perry said while we were all eating our sundaes. “The band is ready to play the victory march tomorrow, right?”
    The guys all roared enthusiastically. I stared at my brother, shocked that he knew the band even played at games. I’d never seen him glance in the band’s direction.
    “Yeah,” I said. “We’re ready.”
    “And so are the cheerleaders,” Elena said.
    “Because we have a secret weapon,” Mallory said, grinning at Elena. “Lacede’s best cheerleader is now Troy’s!”
    Elena blushed. “Well, I don’t know about
best
.”
    “Oh, stop being so modest,” Kelsey told her. “You’re amazing and you know it.”
    Elena’s cheeks turned even redder. “Thanks. I hope I live up to all this.”
    “Hey, Cassie, come help me outside for a minute,” Perry said. I followed him reluctantly.
    “What do you want?” I asked once we were outside.
    Perry turned to me, his eyes wide and wild. “I need you to give something to Elena for me.”
    I rolled my eyes. “Oh, come on. You were sitting right there across the table from her thirty seconds ago. Couldn’t you have given it to her then?”
    “I don’t want to do it in front of everyone,” Perry said. “Please, Cassie, you have to help me. I really like her, but I don’t want to mess things up. Just read this note and tell me if I’m being too forward.”
    He held out a hand, a piece of paper pinched between his fingers. I stared at it, my nose wrinkling. The pink paper had flowers on the edges.
    “You have got to be kidding me,” I muttered.
    “Please,” he said again.
    “I’m not your personal messenger!” But I took the note and unfolded it, reading over the words as quickly as I could.

    “What do you think?” Perry asked in a low voice. “I think I’m going to be sick,” I said honestly. “What happened to, ‘Do you like me? Check yes or no.’”
    “This isn’t third grade,” Perry said. “I have to be suave.” I waved the pink floral-print note at him. “And having your sister deliver your love letters makes you suave?”
    Perry turned me around and pushed me toward the doors. “Just go give it to her.”
    I walked back inside, clenching the note in my fist. Was this what love did to a person? Made them write stupid love letters and force their sisters into doing their dirty work?
    But why was I surprised? I already knew love made people do stupid things—like kissing their best friends and almost ruining a perfectly good friendship.
    I sat down in my seat and pressed the note into Elena’s hand. “Here,” I said. “I was told to give this to you.”
    Elena gave me a puzzled look, but when she readthe note her expression changed completely. Her cheeks turned pink and a smile spread across her face.
    “Be right back,” she whispered to me, giggling.
    When Elena and Perry returned a few minutes later, Elena