"He's coming this way." whispered Madison. I slammed my locker shut and glanced where my best friend was staring.

"Let's go." I muttered, grabbing Madison's sleeve.

"But wait," she said hesitantly, "What if he's here to get you back?"

I scoffed. "Get me back? Mad, if he wanted to get me back, he would've probably said something in the past six months. He's perfectly happy with his new cheerleader girlfriend. That's why he dumped me. Besides, why would he pick me over HER? I mean, look at her."

Madison obidiently checked out Lauren, whose talents consisted of leg-kicking, sycronized clapping, lipgloss applying, and boyfriend stealing. Oh, and she's a straight-A student, wears clothes so tight you can read the washing instruction tags, and has bleach blonde hair, which guys inexplicably love.

"Okay, so she's perfect. But-"

I cut Madison off mid-sentence because I really didn't feel like listening to anymore of her 'pep talk'. Still clutching her sleeve, I dragged her down the hall until I was positive Brandon wouldn't be able to catch up with us.

"Hey, Miranda."

Shoot. Okay, so he'd seen me. Who knows what he wanted?

"Hi." I growled. The scene where he dumped me flashed into my mind, and I turned away.

"Miranda, wait." Brandon laid a hand on my shoulder. I slapped it off and continued walking.

"Miranda, I want you back!" he shouted from behind my back.

The hallway froze. No one spoke. No one laughed. No one slammed their lockers. No one moved.

No one seemed to breathe.

I whipped around to face him and snapped, "Oh, do you?"

"Yes." he said, dead serious. "And I have. I want you back. I never should've dumped you. I fell for Lauren because of her looks but I really want you." he gulped. "You're sweet and nice and funny and...perfect for me."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Really?"

"Yes, really. I want you back!"

Madison leaned over and whispered, "Told you."