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“I should go,” she spoke when she got to her first class of the day. “In there…” Cheryl pointed to the room.

“Yes, that’s the idea,” Diana replied with a smile.

“Right. So, I will… see you later, then?”

“I doubt it,” Diana replied. “But…” She looked up and down the crowded hallway. “I’d like that.”

“You would?” Cheryl asked.

Diana nodded.

“Do you want to meet at the soda shoppe later? I know I’ll see you in biology, but maybe we could walk there together after school?”

“I can’t. I have to work at my dad’s shop after school every day.”

“His shop?” Cheryl asked.

“He’s a mechanic,” Diana explained. “He only has one guy who works with him, and he got a daughter instead of a son, so I help him fix cars sometimes. Mostly, though, it’s just paperwork and answering the phones; that sort of thing. It’s really just me leaving with dirt and grime all over me and smelling like grease.” She chuckled just as the bell rang. “Oh, I’m late. I have to go.”

“Okay,” Cheryl replied, regretting not saying anything else, like suggesting that they meet another time or someplace else.

Later, in biology class, she’d stared at Diana’s back for pretty much the entire period. Occasionally, she looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to her. Biology had assigned seats, so it was the only class she’d ever seen Diana in where she wasn’t in the back corner, and no one should put Diana Lacey in the back corner of any room.

“Mom?”

“Yeah, honey?” her mom spoke when Cheryl hurried into the kitchen after school.

“I’m going to the soda shoppe with some friends. Can I be home by dinner?”

“Of course, you can. Do you need any money?”

“I have some left over from last time. Thanks, though.”

She ran up the stairs to her room, dropped her books off on her bed, and hurried to her mirror. Changing out of these clothes and into different ones wasn’t an option since her mother would find it to be weird as Cheryl never did that before going out with her friends, but she did fix her hair after a long day at school and reapplied the red lipstick that she was known for. Then, she went back down the stairs, and after saying goodbye to her mother, she rushed out the door and back out to the sidewalk.

There were only a few car shops in town, and she knew the one her dad used. It was owned by the same old man who had owned it since before she was born. The second one was on the other side of the school, past the soda shoppe and thepharmacy. She didn’t know for sure because she couldn’t, but she felt like that was the one. She couldn’t explain it. Of course, there was one other shop. Cheryl had never been there, but she knew it was on the other side of town. She could walk there, but it would take a lot longer, and it was in the other direction. So, she had to choose, and she felt it in her gut that she’d made the right choice.

“Hi, Hank. Can I get two scoops?”

“No problem,” the man in the white coat behind the counter said. “Your friends aren’t here yet.”

“I’m not staying. Can you make it to-go for me?”

“You usually get a dish. You want a cone?”

“Yes, please. Can I… Can I actually get two cones?”

“No problem. Two scoops on two cones?”

“Yes.”

“What flavor? Your usual?” Hank checked. “I’ve got a new one now. It just came in.”

“What is it?” she asked as she stood between two empty stools at the counter.

“Well, I’ve got the usuals, if you still want them, but I also just got in a new blackberry jam flavor.”

“Blackberry ice cream? I’ve never had that.”