You feel more focused after using relaxation techniques to calm yourself down. You open your eyes just before you turn to enter class. You see Aaron running down the hall, wiping his eyes before entering the boys' restroom.

It looks like he's crying. You shrug your shoulders, surely not, and open the door to your math class with dread.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You feel a pat on your shoulder and, snap out of your reminiscing, and look up.

"Lanne, you're still here? Your coffee must be cold by now, so I brought you another fresh cup. It's after five, and I'm heading home now. I'll see you tomorrow." Bonnie hands you a hot cup of coffee and a donut wrapped in deli paper.

"Thank you, Bonnie. See you tomorrow." You watch her leave before you set the coffee aside. If I drink any more coffee, I won't be able to sleep tonight.

You smile and eat the donut. You didn't realize you were so hungry. Thankfully, your book signing event was only for half the day, and you're done. You pull a bottle of water out of your bag and open it.

 After taking a few sips, you stare at your laptop screen, lost once more in memories.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You enter the math classroom and see two of the boys who dragged you into the restroom sitting at their table, the one you must pass to get to yours. You clutch your books tightly against your chest and try to get by as hastily as possible.

Your heart is racing out of fear, and your palms are sweaty. The one closest to the aisle is fast enough to turn and flip your skirt up, and the others laugh.

You feel your face getting hot as you know you're blushing. You swiftly sit and keep your head down as you remove your pencil and paper. Does everyone know what happened?

You sigh when you hear the teacher come in. "Put all your books and bags on the floor under your tables and get your pencils out."

He walks through the room, handing out the tests. He pauses by your table and leans towards you, "Are you ok, Miss Jiminson?"

"Yes, sir."

He pats the test he placed in front of you and says, "Good luck." Then he walks on to hand out the rest of the tests.

When a test is done, he lets each student leave as they turn it in. Today, you waited until everyone else had left, then stood and walked up to his desk to turn yours in.

"Miss Jiminson, you're usually the first to turn your test in. Are you sure you're feeling ok?"

"Yes, sir. I'm not ill."

He smiles, "Well, I know at least one person who'll get an A. You never disappoint me, Miss Jiminson. Have you thought more about signing up for advanced math classes? You do qualify, you know."

"Thank you, sir, but I'll be moving before the semester ends."

"I will ensure to note in your record that you are eligible to take advanced mathematics. That way, at your new school, they'll know."

"Thank you, sir."

As you leave his class, you bump into Parker and Tate. They were a grade ahead of you but needed a little help to pass math, so your teacher recommended they have you tutor them, which was nice. Their parents even paid you. The twins were so sweet and eager to learn.

Tate smiles his cute boxy smile and says, "Hey, I got an A yesterday on my math test. Thank you, Lanne."

"You're welcome." You look at Parker, "How did you do?"

He pouts, "Well, I didn't get an A . . ."

You start to apologize, but he stops you. "I got an A plus!" He smiles, "Thanks!"

He looks at Tate and then back at you. "We couldn't have done it if you hadn't tutored us."

Tate sadly looks at you, "Is it true you're moving?"

You sigh. "Gigi, let that get around fast. Yes, I'm moving to New York with my family soon. I can recommend someone else to help tutor you in math if you want."

Tate pouts, "But I don't want nobody else."

Parker nudges him on the shoulder, "But you were just eyeballing the new girl in homeroom this morning."

Tate rubs his shoulder. "Owe. I meant I don't want anyone else to teach me math. Lanne made it look so easy. I had other tutors before, but none made it fun." He smiles at you.

"It was great to hear about your test scores. I knew you guys could do it." You smile at them both and hold each one's hand, giving a squeeze of encouragement.

Parker pouts, "I can't believe you're moving away."

 His eyes fill with regret. I always liked you. Well, I more than liked you. I knew I should've asked you out before now. I know Dad would've been happy to drive us to McDonald's.

"My dad has been offered a once in a lifetime opportunity to run a branch of my uncle's publishing company in New York. He can't pass this up."

Tate pouts now, too. "But we'll miss you." His eyes shimmer with tears. He has always been so tender-hearted.

You hold his hand, saying, "Who knows, someday we may meet again." You smile, then let his hand go.

"I have first lunch, so I will see you guys later." You walk away and look back to say, "I'm starving. Math tests always do that to me." Even after all that happened to you this morning, I wonder if Gigi would say that was due to puberty.

They laugh as you go to your locker to put your things away before going to lunch. Aaron has first lunch, too, so you take a deep breath and head to the cafeteria. You meet Gigi on the way, and she grabs your arm.

"I'm so hungry. I skipped breakfast this morning because I overslept." 

Arm in arm, you get in line to pick up your lunch. Gigi gives you a gentle poke. "Don't look now, but Aaron is here."

You look anyway. He is sitting with his friends. They laugh and nudge him while pointing at you, but he isn't laughing with them. He looks in your direction, and your eyes lock. He breaks contact first and lowers his head.

You feel your heart racing, and his eyes seem filled with regret and sadness. There's more to that look than you know.

You look away and back at Gigi. She casually bumps your shoulder. "Come on, let's sit. I want to eat. Did I tell you I'm hungry?" she grins as you walk to your usual lunch table, getting swallowed up by the sounds of overlapping conversations, laughter, and the loud rumbling of hungry stomachs—yours and Gigi's.

Before you sit down, you glance over at his table, but he's gone. You sit and begin to eat  when you suddenly aren't feeling so hungry as you glance around for Aaron. Where did he go?