I didn’t see Marie again until after fifth period. I was at my locker in the back hall, trading my English book for Government, when she playfully kicked the back of my knee. It buckled, but I was already turning before I could go down. She squeezed behind me into a tight space formed by a nearby open locker door and tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Sorry, dude. It’s not her.”
I leaned against my locker door, half inside as I dug through my books and Talley’s for the one I needed. “Are you sure? What’d she say?”
Marie grinned. “She said, ew, Mike Halston? Not if he were the last guy left on earth, ugh!”
She wrinkled her nose and grimaced, but I could tell she enjoyed telling me verbatim what Jaime said. “Great,” I sighed. “Did you tell her why you asked? Because now she probably thin
