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“Do you want a hug?”

I paused. A hug. A hug sounded heavenly.

Sucking in a breath, I nodded.

Face lighting with surprise but immediately followed by pleasure, Todd opened his arms. I stepped between them. When he pulled me tight against him, I even rested my face on his shoulder, closing my eyes as I soaked in all the support he provided.

Everything that had previously vexed me about this boy slipped away in his compassionate embrace. I didn’t even care if Ryder was right and Todd was only using me to irritate his best friend. He was offering me a shoulder to lean on when I needed it, so I took it with the utmost gratitude.

Relaxing, I began to enjoy the sensation of my cheek against his cotton t-shirt, the smell of dryer sheets emanating off him. He was warm and human and I gobbled up the comfort—whether it was sincerely given or not.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw over Todd’s shoulder was Ryder staring at us, his jaw slack and mouth hanging open. I looked away, because sometimes looking at him just hurt too much.

Lifting my face to Todd, I said, “Thank you,” meaning it from the bottom of my heart.

Reaching out to tuck a piece of hair behind my ear, Todd smiled. “No problem.” After he cast a glance over his shoulder, he let out a smug grin and returned his attention to me. “So, what’re you doing tonight? Want to do something together?”

With an irresistible urge to avoid Barry’s house as much as possible, I gave my second nod, and Todd beamed as if he’d just won a new car.

“Cool. We can hang out at my place.”

“Okay.”

So, we did.

It wasn’t awful. Away from his friends, Todd could be decent, if a little awkward about how to treat me. I could tell he wanted to shut me alone in his room and try to get touchy-feely, but his eight-year-old sister took a strange and sudden liking to me. Every time Todd tried to shoo her away, she thought of something else to say to me.

Much to Todd’s disgruntlement, I spent most of that night coloring with her and letting her braid my hair. The next night, he asked me to a movie. I accepted. I think he kept trying to take my hand or meet fingers with me in the popcorn bowl, but I was so into the show, I only noticed his failed attempts when it was too late.

Wednesday, he didn’t ask to do anything. Once he’d caught this particular fish, he was ready to throw it back. Ryder totally ignored us whenever he

saw us together in school, so if his theory was true that Todd was only using me to get his goat, then maybe that’s why Todd lost interest. His attention to me no longer bothered his friend, so his own strayed.

That was a miserable night. I called Bridget’s house, but Joel—who answered the phone—said she wasn’t home. So I tried Schy and Adam, but neither of them was home. It was my night to cook. I rushed out a salad, threw in some canned chunks of chicken, and then made my plate to go. After eating alone in my room, I snuck down to the kitchen to find Mom and Barry had already cleared the dishes. Maybe that was her way of saying sorry to me.

If so, it wasn’t enough.

Thursday, I didn’t see Todd in school, so I called him afterward. He answered his cell phone on the first ring.

“Hey,” I said, trying to sound casual instead of desperate. “I didn’t see you in school today.”

“Oh, yeah. I spent most of the day in, uh, English. I was late turning in a paper so the teacher let me come in between classes to finish it.”

It sounded like a lame excuse to me, but if he didn’t want to be honest, I really didn’t care. I desperately needed something to get me out of my house. Now if he’d wanted to say, “Yeah, I was trying to avoid you,” then maybe I would’ve left him alone. But I went ahead and asked, “Do you want to do something tonight?”

He stumbled around before telling me he had to go to a play at his little sister’s school. I swallowed some pride and asked what he was doing the next night. Friday.

“I’m hanging out with Yates tomorrow night. It’s guys’ night. You know.”

“Oh, okay.”

I didn’t ask about Saturday—cutting my losses there—but hung up with him moments later, worried I’d just lost an outlet to get me out of the house

Friday, I had chemistry with both Todd and Ryder. Ryder completely ignored me; Todd smiled and greeted me but his manner was very vague, telling me he’d definitely lost interest.

My mom had to work late that night. Since Barry had played a part in convincing her I’d turned into some kind of loose-morals teenager, I didn’t feel like socializing with him. I planned to stay the entire evening inside my room.

Except fate intervened.