"Issa, are you tracking mud into my house?" Beth's mother, Maria, asks an hour later as we make our way to Beth's bedroom. Beth cringes as she looks down at her feet and sees that she is, in fact, tracking mud into the house. Maria is probably one of the sweetest women I've ever met in my life, but she works hard to keep her house virtually spotless. How she does it with her two boys and Beth, I'll never understand.

"Shit," Beth mutters under her breath as she slides her shoes off and bends down to pick them up, almost dropping her stack of text books in the process. "Sorry, Mami," she replies to her mother, and I hear muttering coming from the kitchen that sounds a lot like frustrated Spanish. "Summer, can you take these books to my room while I clean this up? My social life cannot afford to be grounded again."

"Sure," I say with a laugh, and she dumps all her stuff onto my own pile. Carefully, I carry our books into her bedroom and set them all on her messy bed. Then I take a look around at Beth's room. She's got clothes strewn about all over the floor, ranging from hardly worn to absolutely disgusting. There's a half-eaten apple sitting on her nightstand, and I wonder how long it's been there. By the time Beth gets back, I've already tossed all her dirty clothes into hamper and started making my way through all the trash.

She shakes her head, smirking. "You know, my mom loves when you come over because my room is always clean by the time you leave."

I roll my eyes. "Is that why I get the extra serving of enchiladas?"

"No," she replies, chuckling as she plops down on her freshly made bed. "You get the extra serving because she's thinks you're too skinny. 'Issa, I worry about that Summer. Does she eat? She works too hard. Does she skip meals?'"

I throw a pillow at Beth's head, which she avoids just in time. "She does not!" But even as I say it, I know it's true. I often skip meals. Not intentionally. I just get so caught up in what I'm doing that I forget to eat. Actually, the only time I really snack while I study is when I study at Beth's house, because her mother is always bringing us snacks. "Is that why she's always trying to feed me when I'm here?"

Beth nods her head. "Yup. But don't let it get to you. We can't all have Mendez appetites." Beth can put down an entire pizza on her own, and her brothers are even worse. "Thanks for picking up my room, by the way. I appreciate it."

"Well," I begin as I sit next to her and open my chemistry textbook, "if you get grounded again, then who am I going to have to tell me I'm crazy all the time?"

"It's an important job that I take very seriously," she says, and this time the pillow I chuck at her does make contact with her head. "Ow! Okay, okay! Come on, let's get to work. I have got to get my chemistry grade up before my papa finds out it's a D."

"A D?" I ask, shocked. "What the hell, Beth? We've been doing our homework together. I check your work. How do you have a D?"

"Our teacher hates me," she replies with a shrug, and I glare at her. She sighs. "Okay fine, maybe I forgot to hand in a few assignments. And maybe I'm shit during the labs. Not my fault. I don't have you as a lab partner this year."

"You're impossible," I say with a shake of my head. "Seriously, I should ground you myself."

"I'd like to see you try, Lumen," she replies, sticking out her tongue at me. I stick my tongue out at her in response. Beth lays down on her bed and looks up at the ceiling. "I love when I bring you down to my level. It's much better down here."

"Shut up and open your textbook," I growl at her, and Beth groans and rolls over, pulling her chemistry book out of the pile and opening it to the section we're supposed to be working on.

We spend the next two hours working on our chemistry homework together, and I spend extra time making sure she's prepared for the labs. At some point, her mom enters the room with a small pile of chicken quesadillas with guacamole, salsa, and sour cream. Then she gives Beth a pointed look, who rolls her eyes and pushes the plate of food closer to me.

I wait until Maria is out of earshot before I say, "Jesus, she really does think I'm malnourished, doesn't she?" Beth gives me a small nod her head as she takes a quesadilla off the plate and takes a large bite. I shake my head and grab one myself, dunking it in the guac before taking a bite myself. God, her mom really can cook. This is one of the reasons why I enjoy coming here to study. Her mom makes the best food. Beth's parents both moved from Mexico when they were in their early twenties, and they've raised all their kids in Idaho. No idea why they chose to live up here, but I'm glad they did. I don't know what my life would be like without Beth.

"So," Beth says as she dunks her half eaten quesadilla triangle into the shared both of salsa. She's the absolute worst. "I heard a rumor."

I roll my eyes. "Of course you did."

She smirks. "That Baker and Ollie got into a huge fight after school today because of you. That there's some crazy little love triangle going on with you in the center of it."

The mention of a love triangle reminds me of Baker's little brother, and I have to fight a grin. "Yeah? Well, glad to see the rumor mill is still milling."

Beth nudges my shoulder, and I look up from my textbook at her. "So, is it true? Did they really get into a fight?"

I sigh and lean back against her headboard. "I don't even know if you could call that a fight. It was more of an ambush." She raises her eyebrows, and I continue. "Ollie attacked Baker. Baker didn't even fight back. He just took it. And yeah, they were fighting over me. Ollie thought Baker and I had a thing going on."

"Whoa," Beth says as she sits up and crosses her legs in front of her, staring at me. She slaps me on the arm, and I jump back, offended. "What the hell? Why didn't you tell me about all this?"

I rub my shoulder, wincing. "Because it wasn't that big of a deal."

She rolls her brown eyes at me. "Two guys get into a fight over you, and you're going to sit there and tell me it's not a big deal? Summer! This is a huge deal!"

"They did not get into a fight over me!" I reply, shaking my head. "Like I said, Ollie just thought there was something going on when there wasn't."

"Well, what happened after that?" she asks, taking another quesadilla slice from the plate and dipping it into the sour cream.

I shrug. "I don't know. Nothing, really. I basically told Ollie to go fuck himself, and then I took Baker home. I didn't want him to drive, because I thought he might have a concussion."

Beth stares at me for a few seconds, her mouth hanging open, chunks of half-chewed quesadilla and sour cream sitting disgustingly on her tongue. Then she swallows her bite and says, "Sounds like Baker might be getting to you a little bit." I shake my head and look back down at my textbook, ready to drop this conversation completely. But I know Beth. It's not going to be that easy. She reaches over and closes my textbook. I glare at her. "Summer, come on. You were worried about him, so you drove him home? That's it?"

"Yes!" I growl as I flip my textbook back open. But she knows I'm lying to her. She always knows. After a few moments of her staring at me, waiting for me to tell her more, I finally cave. "Okay, there was like... I don't know. A moment, I guess? I dropped him and his brother off at some open field, and he just kind of... like... looked at me?" Her eyes widen, and I just shake my head. "Forget it. He's probably just screwing with me anyway. Getting in my head."

"How is he getting in your head?" she asks, and I hate how her lips are quirked up in the biggest knowing smirk of all time.

I sigh exasperatedly. "He knows he's top of the class, and he knows I'm after that spot. He's trying to make me think he likes me so I'll back off. And it's not going to work."

"Oh, is that what he's doing?" Beth asks, a note of humor in the question. I nod my head. "Summer, I love you. You're so fucking smart that it kills me. But you're also really, really stupid." I glare at her again. "Did you ever stop and think that maybe, just maybe, he might actually kind of really like you?"

Now I laugh. "And I'm the stupid one? Come on, Beth!"

"You come on!" she says, laughing. "You're a hot mama! I've told you this a thousand times! And if that prick Ollie is going to be a total scumbag, then might as well make room for nice guys like Baker Scott!"

"He's not a nice guy," I reply as I flip a page of my textbook in a sorry attempt to go back to where I was before. "You said it yourself. He's always getting into fights. I mean, every time I've seen him he's all bruised up. Nice guys don't do shit like that."

"Bad boys can be nice guys," Beth says, and now I know she's being ridiculous. "Besides, you said it yourself. Baker didn't fight back. Maybe he's turning a new leaf, you know? Maybe you've inspired him! Oh my God, Summer, you're like... living your own rom-com!"

"Beth, I swear to God, I'm going to let you fail this class if you don't shut up and get back to work," I say, and Beth rolls on her back, holding her stomach from laughing.

"Okay, okay," she says after taking a few moments to contain herself. "Fine. We'll put a pin in this conversation for now. But we will revisit this subject at a later date. When I pass this stupid chemistry class."

And with that, we get back to work. Beth and I consume the plate of quesadilla slices just in time for dinner. I have no idea how I'm going to eat all the food Maria has made with a stomach full of cheese, chicken, and tortillas. But it all looks so good that I'm going to have to make room. I stuff down two enchiladas, politely turning down a third just as Maria is about to set it on my plate. Enzo Sr., Beth's dad, takes it instead, watching me carefully to make sure I look okay. Good thing they didn't see me over the weekend, or they might have force fed me to keep me alive.

"Thank you for helping Issa so much this year, Summer," Beth's dad says as he takes a bite of enchilada.

Beth's parents are the only people I know who call her Issa. Her name is Elizabeth, but they call her Isabel when she's in trouble. Beth once told me Elizabeth translates to Isabel in Spanish, which is the reason for the nickname. When we were kids, she would ask her mom to call her Beth in front of her friends, and for a while she did. But it didn't last long, and now I'm so much a part of the Mendez family that Beth doesn't even care if her mom calls her Issa around me.

"Well, Beth is helping me stay in shape this year, too," I reply to her dad. "We run every morning before class. So you know, we're actually helping each other."

Maria smiles. "That's so nice that our Issa can help you. You two are such good friends."

"Mami," Beth says, rolling her eyes. But I think it's sweet that they care so much. I know my mom cares about me, but sometimes I kind of feel like I'm more of a patient to her than an actual daughter. Ever since the other night, I've had a hard time looking at her, just because I feel like she's analyzing every little move I make. At Beth's I feel free. Like I can really be myself.

And that's when it hits me. I feel more myself today than I have since the party. I'm eating. I'm laughing with my best friend and enjoying her family's company. Maybe I'm actually going to be okay. And I wonder, not for the first time, how different things would be if it wasn't for Baker Scott coming to my rescue that night. There's no way that could've been part of his game, right? He didn't even know he was the top of the class then. So he helped me just to help me. Could Beth be right? Could Baker just be a nice guy? Who might actually like me?

Don't be ridiculous, I think to myself as I head upstairs to grab my books off Beth's bed. It's not like that. This is all part of the game, and no matter what happens, I am not going to let him win. I will get my spot back if it's the last thing I do.

Author's Note:
What do you think? Do you think Baker is just playing Summer? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

I hope you liked reading a little bit more about Beth. She's probably one of my favorite characters I've ever written, because she's just so damn fun. Such a personality. Can't wait to share more of this story with you guys! Next chapter is already mostly written, so it should be up relatively soon. Stay safe and healthy until then, my dears!
XOXO,
~Aly