"You're awfully quiet, Polly." Minny stretched out beside her, his tall body looking cramped in the chair. "Makes me think you're hiding something."

That's because I am. She sighed and put a hand to her forehead, shooting him a look. Minny was an interesting person, but Polly was convinced he wanted something from her. Something she didn't have to offer.

"What do you need?" She turned back to her book, trying to find her place once again, but that proved impossible when Minny grabbed the book from under her fingers. A protest died on his lips when she turned to him, seeing how close he was to her.

"A favor from you," he whispered, so low she almost missed it.

She narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "What kind of favor?"

He closed her book and handed it back to her. "You'll figure it out," he responded, his answer vague and confusing to Polly. As she picked back up her book, Minny was cruising out of the room, sending her a wink as he left.

She looked at the book in her hands, blinking as she stared at the familiar cover. What on earth does he mean by that?

She opened the book carefully, almost afraid and timid. She flipped the pages, straining to see if she'd missed anything, any clues. And as she flipped, she held her breath, like that would help.

She didn't find anything the first time she flipped through. Or, the second. And she was beginning to believe that he'd left no clues for her, but then what did he mean? What did he want? And how would she know?

The bell rang overhead, and students stood up from their seats, bringing their trash to the large bins. She felt stunned, like there was no way lunch could be over so soon without answers. She felt like she no longer knew what to do, or what to think.

Is this a game for him? What is he getting at? She couldn't fathom what he'd ever want from her, so she shoved the book back in her bag and stood up, walking to the bin with everyone else. But the entire time, she felt confused. She felt irritated that she couldn't figure out his riddle.

But, then it didn't matter, because standing right in front of her was the girl with the purple hair. She looked like she ran the school, with her head held high, and her body language confident. She tipped the tray into the bin, then flicked her perfect hair over her shoulder, barely catching Polly's eye.

"Hey," She stopped, turning back to face Polly. "You're the girl from the store!"

Polly didn't want to be known as the girl from the store, so she rushed to introduce herself, properly. "Uh, yeah. I'm Polly."

"Polly," Kenzie repeated, and Polly could have sworn her name sounded regal coming out of her mouth. Like suddenly she was a queen, and Kenzie didn't even understand why she felt this way. Or what about Kenzie was so appealing. "Nice to meet you, formally. I'm Kenzie."

Polly knew this. She felt like her mind was hazy, and she was trying to formulate a conversation that wouldn't sound embarrassing. She felt like every thought in her mind had disappeared, and she cursed herself for even being attracted to Kenzie.

But, how could she not?

"Yeah. It is nice." Polly wanted to start over. She was mentally face palming at how she was responding.

"You're new, right? No, that's a silly question - of course you're new. I would have recognized you before."

Polly felt like her mouth was dry. Her heart was doing something strange in her chest, and she suddenly felt tongue tied. She didn't like this reaction, and she didn't understand it, but she could hear Doctor Higgins in her head, telling her this was wrong. Feeling like this was wrong.

Polly shifted from foot to foot. "Yeah, I'm new. I just moved in with my aunt and uncle."

Kenzie clapped her hands excitedly, pushing her purple hair over her shoulder as she adjusted her dress. She looked absolutely stunning in what she wore, and Polly couldn't help be jealous of her fashion sense. She looked almost like a doll with edge, and Polly was intrigued.

"I've decided we're going to be friends." Kenzie linked her arm with Polly's and tugged her forward. "The others here are so blah, and do not get me started on the boys. I need a little fresh air, if you know what I mean."

Polly's face turned red when Kenzie winked at her. And Polly was all too aware of the fact that her face hadn't gone red when Minny had winked at her not even an hour before.

"I saw you getting ice cream, too." Polly blurted out, remembering the way Kenzie stood up for herself in front of the boy. It was majestic. It was amazing.

"Oh, goodness. You saw me at a bad time then."

Polly snuck a look at Kenzie. "No, not a bad time. I think you were awesome."

Kenzie let go of Polly's arm as they arrived at the classroom where Polly had her next class. She felt disoriented for a moment, wondering how Kenzie would possibly know her class, when the girl walked in herself.

"That guy was a dick. I was just sticking up for myself."

Polly knew it was a lot harder to stick up for yourself than what Kenzie made it sound like. She'd spent years trying to stick up for herself with no avail, but Kenzie could do it flawlessly with the grace of a woman and the edge of someone who didn't take shit from anyone. She was strong and powerful. Confident and smart. She was more than her looks.

Polly sat down. And when she did, Minny glided into the room. He'd swapped his jacket for an oversized hoodie with the hood over his head, the bill of a hat sticking out from underneath. He looked like he was ready to talk to Polly, but at the last minute decided not to as he passed her, tapping her on the head.

Kenzie noticed.

"Why did he touch you? I'll rip his fingers off his hands if you want-"

"What? He's just this guy-"

"No guy is just this guy Polly. Do you like him? Benjamin is kind of a jerk."

Polly just stared at Kenzie, wondering what gave her that idea. Minny was interesting, strange, and a little disorientating, but he was anything but a jerk. Or, at least he'd been anything but one to Polly.

She glanced back at Minny, who smirked at her from his seat in the back row, looking like he didn't belong in the classroom. The way he leaned in his chair gave off a I don't care vibe. Everything about him gave off that vibe.

"I don't see that. He's been civil."

Kenzie snorted, flicking her hair over her shoulder. "They always seem civil at first. Maybe even charming."

Polly didn't know what Kenzie was going on about. She opened up the book she was reading early and skimmed the pages again and again, looking for whatever Minny may have meant for her to read. And then she saw it, very faint and very slight, the bend of a corner of the page. She didn't know if it was even from Minny, but at this point, she was exhausting all possibilities.

She studied the page, looking at it and reading it, as if it would help decode a message. But there was nothing there for her to take away. The reading made no sense out of context, and it didn't allude to anything mysterious.

But, she wanted to know what Minny needed.

When the bell rang, she was no closer to figuring it out. And she caught his arm as Minny was leaving, grasping tight to keep him from wriggling out of her grasp.

His tall frame loomed over her, a crooked smirk on his face. "Yeah, Pauline?"

"What did you leave for me in this book?" She shook it in his face, frustrated and confused. What on Earth would he want from me?

He bent down, closer to her level. Close enough for her to count the freckles on his face. Close enough for her to smell his shampoo.

"My favor is not hidden in the pages of that book," he whispered. "It's the book itself."

He stood back up to full height, looking at someone over Polly's shoulders. He gave a cold, distant smile.

"Hello, Kenzie," He said, but in a way where Polly knew he was saying it to be polite and nothing more. Polly looked over her shoulder, noticing that Kenzie was still there, waiting for her to finish talking to Minny.

"Hello, Benjamin. Enjoying harassing the new girl?"

Minny's jaw clenched tightly, and then he looked down at Polly, his expression softening. He tapped her twice on the nose, and then was gone, fishing his skateboard from out of his backpack and skating down the hall.

Polly was confused. She wanted to know what Minny meant, but she also wanted to know why Kenzie didn't like him. She was confused about her own feelings for Kenzie. She was even confused about why she had jumped so quickly back into school.

"I'd stay away from him if I were you," Kenzie said honestly. "He isn't who you think he is."

But Polly didn't even know how to respond to that, because so far, she didn't know who Minny was, and she didn't think he was anything except mysterious. And unfortunately, she'd always been into mystery.  

* * *

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