Charades And Champagne

15

"ZOE BLAKE!! Will you please stop staring out the window and pay attention to the lesson?!" demanded Mr. Henry, his stern voice cutting through the class like a whip.

        Aliza looked up just in time to see Zoe's head snap away from the window and towards her textbook with a muttered apology.

        Mr. Henry continued to teach, but Aliza looked on at her best friend in concern. Something wasn't right about her. Ever since class started, she'd been on the edge. Her attention kept drifting and she kept throwing scared glances at the door.

        Aliza frowned in confusion. She didn't get why Zoe wasn't floating around in Cloud Nine right now considering her afternoon with Miles yesterday. Thanks to Mark, Aliza now knew that, though there hadn't been any actual making out between them last night, Zoe was indeed, totally in love with the guy.

        And judging by his outburst this morning, it was clear that Miles felt pretty much the same way. Too bad they were both too blind to see that their feelings were so not one sided.

        But that still didn't explain what Zoe's problem was. She wondered if it was something to do with Miles. Because while he did make a conscious effort to be less blunt around them, Miles could still have said something stupidly insensitive by accident.

        Aliza finally decided to ask Zoe straight out about it after class, but as soon as the bell rang, Zoe had gathered up her books and disappeared out the door before Aliza could even call out for her to wait.

        She sighed. Oh well, there was always Miles to interrogate. She had World History with him now, where could ask him why Zoe was acting weird. Seriously, it wasn't healthy for someone to be so stressed out all the time. She had to figure out what had Zoe so freaked out. And soon.

        Miles had already arrived and was sitting at his desk when she came into the class. He smiled at her and her heart did a tiny somersault in her chest. Just a tiny one. Nothing compared to the one it'd done last night when she'd seen him coming out of that park.

        And definitely nothing compared to all the racing it'd done this morning when MARK had come over to say hello.

       She had no idea why she was so attracted to him. Especially since she'd basically never even talked with him before yesterday. But whatever it was, it could wait. Right now, her best friend was her main concern.

        Smiling back at Miles, she went over and sat at the desk directly in front of him. And as Mr. Kennedy started droning on about civil wars, she tore off a piece of paper from her notebook and wrote. Hey, what's wrong with Zoe? She was SO weird in Accounting today. Are you responsible somehow? Did you say something to her when you pulled her into the library? Because if so, you're a moron. – Liz.

        She quickly folded it up, turned around, and deftly placed it on Miles's desk. Ten seconds later, she received a prod on her back. She reached out behind her and took the reply from him. It said, I told her I was going back home for a week. She was upset at first but she understood. Define weird.

        Aliza wrote back. Well for starters, she spent half the class staring out the window. Mr. Henry yelled at her like five times but she didn't stop. And she spent the OTHER half staring at the same page in her book with her fingernails digging pretty hard into her face. Oh, and she also kept throwing terrified glances at the door. That sound crazy enough for ya?

        Aliza heard Miles's sharp intake of breath as he read her reply. Needless to say, he answered back pretty quickly. Yes, it does. But it's not because of me. That is not an appropriate reaction for when your friend is going away for a week. She skived World Lit and stayed in the library. Something must have happened then. I have a feeling Tasha did this.