Eleven O'Clock Number

THE BEGINNING OF THE END

        Allison's brows remain drawn, but less tightly. She lets out a resigned sigh. "Sorry," she says in a grudging tone of voice. "Hasn't been a good morning."

        "It's a Monday," Lydia says, neglecting her lunch in favour of studying her nails. "In what parallel universe is a Monday morning good?"

        "Apparently the same one in which I'm unlucky enough to get Toby Martin as my partner in English," Allison mutters in response beginning to shovel a spoonful of the cafeteria's latest offering of nondescript sludge into her mouth.

        Lydia pauses in her search for nonexistent flaws in her manicure, a hint of amusement in her eyes. "Mm. Would've been your best man, once upon a time."

        Allison glares. There are things that are okay, and currently jokes about her and Daniel's breakup isn't one of them, even though it's been, like, months, so jokes about her and Daniel's breakup should be one of them. "I'm glad you find this so funny."

        "Of course I do," Lydia responds with an arched brow. "The universe was bound to screw you over at some point."

        Allison just manages to stop herself from saying that she's pretty sure the universe screwed her over when her and Daniel broke up, but it sounds whiny in her head, so she doesn't doubt that it'll sound far worse out of it. Instead, she settles for intensifying her glare further. Lydia sighs.

        "Allison, not to belittle your problems and all," she says, "but is this really a big deal? I mean, he's your ex's best friend. Who cares? It's just for the rest of the semester, anyway."

        "Just for the semester?" Allison repeats incredulously. "We started the semester last week."

        Lydia purses her lips, considering Allison's point. "At least his I.Q. is over forty," she offers finally. "It could be worse."

        "Sure it could."

        "You could be paired with Daniel."

        "Daniel isn't even in our class."

        "Right," Lydia says, smiling pleasantly. "I forgot that Daniel Smith and I.Q. below forty are pretty much the same category."

        "Hey, that's not fair," Allison defends automatically, before frowning at herself, because already, all this is doing is further demonstrating that Allison is not over Daniel, and she wants to be, and she should start now, probably, because she's pretty sure that immediate defence of one's ex-boyfriend isn't okay. Especially since one's ex-boyfriend is the one who broke up with one, and not the other way round.

        God, this is so bad. Screw English, Allison thinks to herself. And Rosenberg, and paired work, and Daniel Smith, and Toby Martin, even though he's a completely innocent ingredient in this recipe for disaster. Across from her, she sees Lydia giving her a smile that seems halfway between sympathetic and amused, and scowls.

        "Shut up," she says.

        "Didn't say anything."

        "Shut up."

        "Okay."

        For the rest of lunch, Allison kind of manages to forget about the whole thing - or, at least, convince herself that Lydia's right and it really isn't a big deal - until her free period, when Toby Martin himself decides to come and ruin the party by standing in front of her with a wide smile on his face that she a) does not like the look of and b) does not think she is capable of returning.