After school I.m at my locker when my friends Morgan, Madison, and Megan come up to me.
Sierra calls them the Fairfield M-factor.
Morgan hugs me. “Oh my God, are you okay?” she asks, pulling away and examining me.
“I heard Colin protected you. He.s amazing. You.re so lucky, Demi,” Madison says, her signature
curls bouncing with each word.
“It wasn.t a big deal,” I say, wondering what the rumor is in contrast to what really happened.
“What exactly did Joe say?” Megan asks. “Caitlin took a picture on her cell of Joe and Colin in
the hallway, but I couldn.t make out what was going on.”
“You guys better not be late for practice,” Darlene yells from the end of the hallway. Just as quickly
as Darlene appeared, she.s gone.
Megan opens her locker, which is next to mine, and pulls out her poms. “I hate the way Darlene
kisses Ms. Small.s butt,” she says under her breath.
I close my locker and we walk toward the practice field. “I think she.s trying to focus on dance
instead of obsessing about Tyler going back to college.”
Morgan rolls her eyes. “Whatever. I don.t even have a boyfriend so she gets zero sympathy from
me.”
“No sympathy from my end, either. Seriously, when is that girl not dating someone?”
Madison asks.
When we reach the practice field, our entire squad is sitting on the grass waiting for Ms. Small.
Phew, we.re not late.
“I still can.t believe you got stuck withJoe Jonas ” Darlene says quietly to me as I find an open
spot beside her.
“Wanna switch partners?” I ask, although Mrs. Peterson would never allow it. She made that crystal
clear.
Darlene sticks her tongue out in full gross-out mode and whispers, “No way. I never go slumming
on the south side. Mixing with that crowd.ll get you nothing but trouble. Remember last year when
Alyssa McDaniel dated that one guy… what was his name?”
“Jason Avila?” I say in a low voice.
Darlene does a little shiver. “In a matter of weeks Alyssa went from being cool to being an outcast.
The south side girls hated her for taking one of their guys and she stopped hanging with us. The confused
little couple was on an island all alone. Thank God Alyssa broke up with him.”
Ms. Small walks toward us with her CD player, complaining about someone moving it from her
usual spot and that.s why she.s late.
When Ms. Small tells us to stretch, Sierra nudges Darlene over so she can talk to me.
“You are in big trouble, girl,” Sierra says.
“Why?”
Sierra has “super” eyes and ears; she knows everything going on at Fairfield.
My best friend says, “Rumor has it Carmen Sanchez is looking for you.”
Oh, no. Carmen is Joe's girlfriend. I.m trying not to freak out and think the worst, but Carmen is
