As we'd turned down an alley, dogs barked through chain link fences. Rusty trash cans sat abandoned by the side of the narrow lane. Last semester I had found my way out of spy school and onto ordinary streets full of ordinary houses and ordinary people. This semester it seemed I was seeing the back side of those same houses-the sides they don't really want you to see.
"Hey," Zach called behind me, but I didn't slow down. "Hey," he called again. "Am I going to have to jog to keep up with-"
But before he could finish I whirled on him, pushed him up against a garage, his arms immobilized, and even though he was a good four inches taller than me I knew I had the upper hand.
Still, he was grinning that slow, mocking grin-the grin of someone who either knows too little or too much but in either case doesn't care.
"Stop smiling," I ordered, amazed at how level my voice sounded when, inside, I wanted to break and scream and cry, and I just knew he'd hear it and that would make it worse. I'd have to use all the skills in my extensive arsenal just to disappear and never see him again-face him again.
But he must not have heard my breaking heart, because the smile just grew wider and he said, "Gee, Cammie, if you want to put your arms around me all you have to do is ask, but I think Dillon back there might--"
"Don't you ever paint me into a corner like that again!" I shook him, banging him against the garage but he didn't even flinch. He never fought back.
He just stared deeper into me and slowly said, "Why?" he asked, eyebrows raised, daring me. "Because it might be hard on your love life? It's no big deal. So Jimmy-"
"Josh!" I yelled. "His name is Josh, and I shouldn't even be telling you that because you don't deserve to know it-to say it-you don't deserve to know anything about him because he's-"
"Friends with that guy?" Zach asked. His voice was softer, not mocking now, consoling.
You know the phrase saved by the bell? Well, Josh was saved by the horn-literally-because I was seriously getting ready to find out if he would fit inside one of those trashcans when I heard a horn sound behind us and sensed movement at the end of the alley. Still, I didn't loosen my hold on Zach. I didn't stop to breathe until I heard Joe Solomon call, "Get in!"