The Burning of the Palace at Versailles (or, Butterfly) [REWRITING]

Chapter 13 - A Moment of Relative Peace

"Don't look, but there's a guy behind you that's definitely giving you his full attention," Kara said. Of course, Diana and Leo turned around.

The cafe was busy like it always was on Saturdays. All the students from the local college would come out and mix with kids from the high school like Diana and her friends.

"I said don't look!" Kara said, but it was too late. The boy, who had been looking at Diana, turned away quickly. Leo and Diana made eye contact, then they simultaneously rolled their eyes.

"I guess he's into you," Leo said.

Diana nodded and sipped from her cup of tea. "I guess."

Kara frowned over her overpriced mug of hot chocolate, something Diana was nearly positive she could have made at home for pennies, along with Diana's tea. "Why do you sound so disappointed?"

"I'm not!" Diana said. Her voice cracked, though, and she winced.

Kara raised an eyebrow. "Okay, well, you don't look pleased."

"Why do I need to look pleased?"

Kara sighed loudly and sat back in her chair. "You've been so weird lately. Are you nervous?"

Leo made the universal gesture of the three wise monkeys, covering first his eyes and then his ears with his hands.

"What would I be nervous about?" Diana asked.

"You— Oh my God!" Kara shouted, drawing the attention of a few students and businesspeople working overtime that clearly had gone to the cafe for peace and quiet.

Diana knew she was being testy. She had been for a while now, and made a pretty nasty comment every time Kara mentioned any boy— or girl— that happened to notice Diana. But Diana made a point of showing any interest. She turned again to the boy, who was still staring down at an empty plate, his face red.

"Maybe he's trying to figure out if I'm a girl or a boy," Diana said.

"With googly-eyes like that? I don't think so," Kara said. She sighed. "D, you look like a girl, you sound like a girl, you act like a girl, you are a girl. No one wonders if you're a girl or not."

"Is that so? Because I see a lot of people giving me a second glance. If I went over to that boy and introduced myself, he would ask me what's in my pants."

"He would not!"

"Leo," Diana said, and Leo looked like a deer about to be hit by a truck. "If I were to go up to you and start flirting, would you ask me what's in my pants?"

Leo looked like he wanted to duck under the table to hide. "Uh..."

"Okay, okay, fine, I was just pointing him out." Kara looked down at the pieces of paper in front of her. "So the birthday cake is going to be fifty dollars, and the heart cake is going to be thirty dollars."

"My mom can bake a cake," Diana complained.

"D, I love your mom, but I don't trust her on something as important as this."

"It's a cake!"

"It's the cake that will celebrate the rest of your life," Kara said, taking an annoyingly long slurp from her mug, something she knew Diana hated.

"You are so dramatic."

"And you're an airhead."

"So eighty dollars on cake. How much is the venue, again?"

Kara smiled, knowing she had won that argument. Their mindless prattle continued, with Kara being much more invested in Diana's birthday/surgery/graduation party than Diana was. Every once in a while, Diana glanced back at the mysterious shy boy behind them. Occasionally, their eyes would meet and he would look away again. He was cute, she thought, or at least as cute as Diana could find in the area. One time, when their eyes met, she gave him a little smile. His ears turned red.