How Boys Think

Lesson #11: Tank Doesn't Like Being Referred To As A Slave

MINA

Monday rolled around pretty soon and I can honestly say, nothing could have prepared me for what awaited me there.

"Oh. My. GOD!" If Nani's eyes got any bigger, they'd pop out of her head and roll across the floor.

I clapped my hand over her mouth hastily, looking around to see if she'd attracted any attention. "Shh!" I hissed.

She licked my hand and I snatched it away. "Ew! Gross!" I wiped her slobber off onto my jeans. "Seriously? What are we, like, six?"

"Amina Lawrence don't you dare!" She advanced on me, pointing at my face accusingly. "You are a failure as a best friend!"

"What? Why?"

"When did this happen?" She snapped out the question like this was a criminal interrogation.

"Um...Friday?" My voice was small and it came out like a question.

"And what day is today?"

Yeah, I was beginning to feel like I was on trial here. "Monday?"

"Exactly!" It was an 'aha!' moment and I was more confused than ever.

"Exactly what?" I asked, trying to understand.

"It's been three days and I'm just finding this out now?"

I looked up at her, trying to formulate a response and Caiden walked by, clapping me on the shoulder. "Hey, Mina, I kind of grabbed Christian's phone by mistake, so do me a favor and don't text me any gushy stuff, okay? I'd really like to get through the day without my breakfast coming up." He grinned at me wickedly and I smacked his shoulder, blushing furiously.

"You are such a jerk!"

He shrugged nonchalantly, walking backwards. "I'm your jerk, honey."

I stuck my tongue out at him and he laughed and walked off. Running a hand through my hair, I looked back at Nani to see her staring at me with an almost comical look of outrage.

"What?" I asked warily.

"CAIDEN knows?!" I swore she reached for my throat right then and I backed up fast. "You told Caiden Jake before you told your best friend!" She screeched.

"Nani!" I grabbed her by the shoulders. "They live together. I was at their place all weekend. Of course Caiden knows. Outside of that, I promise you're the first person I've officially told."

She instantly deflated and switched from scary Nani, to cheery, bouncy Nani. "Okay," She said happily and I slumped back against the lockers in relief.

"Thank God," I muttered. I pushed myself off of the lockers and linked arms with her as we continued down the hallway. "So what's with you and this Victor guy?" I asked her, changing the subject. "Into you? Not into you? You know what? Scratch that. He'd better be into you; it's not like he's got anything going for him. He's lucky that for some godforsaken reason you want to go out with him."

"Hey!" She assumed a wounded look. "I think that whole 'tortured soul' thing is totally hot."

I gave her a sideways look. "Nani, I do too, but I draw the line at Tim Burton characters. Honey, the guy looks like he's about ready to throw himself off of a cliff."

She laughed. "Whatever. And so far it's a no go. I can't seem to get him to understand that I'm interested without spelling it out for him in plain English."

I moved out of the way of a bunch of loud jocks. "Did you spell it out for him in plain English?"

"Yup,"