Xia

Xia watched Phaedra open her locker from around the corner. She saw the whole thing, the older girl's confusion, Stevie Hicks stealing the candy she'd meant for her crush, and Phaedra leading Tré Kilallen away. She wasn't close enough to hear what they said, but Phaedra hadn't seemed very impressed.

Great. If I tell her it was me, she'll think I'm an emotionally stunted pre-teen. The card had been self-conscious joke. Phaedra was supposed to laugh and instantly recognize the sender as the girl she'd visited in the hospital for two weeks. She said she liked Hanna-Barbera cartoons. Scooby-Doo's not that obscure. She didn't want to listen to the cautionary voice in the back of her head that said Phaedra could have been making that up.

She was just being nice, wasn't she? She doesn't really like me at all.

Xia pressed a stiff hand to her ribs and tried not to miss what she'd never had. She was going to be late for Pre-Cal.

Don't give up, she told herself lest she fall into a hopeless funk. There'll be other ways to get her attention.

PEMDAS might have been a might have been Greek to Xia, but she could plan a romance. She would plan this one. Her hero deserved at least that much.

Okay, I'm gonna need backup for this. She knew just who to ask.