“So, let me get this straight. You want us to help you invite the whole school to the dance so that you can get extra credit?” Claudia asked. 
My friends and I were all at lunch, sitting at circular tables. I sat next to Claudia and Leo, our lunch trays in front of us. The room was brightly lit, filled with the chatter of the many other circular tables, and occasionally food flying around. 
I nodded. “Please, I need it so bad.” 
Max laughed. “What’s your grade in that class?” 
 “Seventy-three.” Leo and I answered simultaneously. Leo chuckled as we did, and I shot him a death glare. 
Lania cringed. “Woah. That’s pretty bad for an honors class.” she admitted, her voice soft as always. 
I sighed. “Yeah.” 
“Oof. That is bad. Welp, sucks to suck.” Daniel said, shrugging. Daniel was one of Max’s friends who always hung out with us. Short story, no one really likes him. 
“C’mon guys! I need this. Please help me.” I pleaded with them. 
I was met by silence. I looked around, everyone avoiding eye contact with me and acting more interested in their fries, twirling them in their fingers. Failed mission. If only- 
“Buy me lunch every day and then I will.” Max said, breaking the silence. 
A grin started to spread over my face.  
Claudia then sighed. “If Max is then I guess I will too.” 
“Count me in.” Daniel said, belching after chugging down his soda. He was one of the main reasons I had no interest in going to the dance. Up until I got a sixty-seven on a quiz, that is. 
“Me too.” Lania said quietly. 
I looked at Leo, the last one of them. 
“Fiiiiiiiiiine.” he said, starting to smirk. 
I smiled so wide that it stretched from one end of the Earth to the other. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I kept on saying, repeatedly. 
I hugged Leo, and he blushed. He brushed me off his shoulder. “Don’t make me changed my mind.” he said, chuckling. 
I relaxed, knowing that I might have a chance at getting this done now. I wouldn’t have to worry about doing it all by myself. Just as we started talking about how we were going to do this, we heard a call from a few tables away. 
“Yo Max, come over here!” one of the boys yelled. 
Max shouted back. “Alright!” He turned to face Claudia and kissed her cheek. I stuck out my tongue in disgust. His breath must have smelt so bad after eating and stuff.  
“Love you.” she said to him. 
“Love you too.” he replied. He then got up and walked to the other table, dapping up his friends when he walked over. 
Claudia sighed and looked at me. She was never like this after he left the table. 
“Is everything alright?” I asked her. 
She stared off into space looking at him. Or at least I think she was looking at him. 
“Claudia!” I hissed, snapping her out of her trance. She shook her head as if it helped clear her thoughts. 
“What’d you say?” she asked, biting at her nails. 
“I said, is everything alright?” I replied, looking around the table to make sure I was quiet enough. I realized that Daniel had left with Max, and the only person still here was Lania and Leo. Lania ate her lunch thoughtfully, while Leo downed the meal, as any teenage boy would do. 
I turned back to face Claudia. 
“Everything’s okay.” she said. But she gave me the eyes. They widened a little as she said “okay”. A.K.A, girl code for: talk later. 
I nodded. “Alright.”  
Leo looked over suspiciously. He licked his fingers slowly, not breaking eye contact with me, and then narrowed his eyes at me. 
“Whaaaaaat are you doing?” I asked, confused when he just stared at me. 
Leo shrugged and looked away. “I’m just bored. I’m the only guy here with a bunch of stupid girls. What else am I supposed to do?” 
I rolled my eyes and looked back at Claudia, who smiled at me and went back to her meal. Just then Lania got up to leave without saying a word. It was very usual for her, but I could tell that she was most likely quite a chatter box if you would get her to talk. She also might hold a lot of gossip that no one knows about. 
Leo turned back to me. “We need to talk,” he said in a hushed voice, looking around to make sure that no one would hear him. His eyes darted around as if there was a killer looking for him.  
“What is it?” I asked, looking around myself. No one was looking over here though. Everyone was chatting away or throwing food at each other.  
Leo’s eyes darted over to Claudia, who stared blankly at her food. He cleared his throat. I wasn’t sure exactly what he was trying to do, but he just stared down Claudia until she looked over at him.  
Claudia snarled at him in a dramatic way. “What? Why are you staring at me like that?” 
“I....uh.... need you to leave.” Leo said, his eyes still darting around the cafeteria.  
I waved him off with my hand. “You know that I’m going to tell her whatever you tell me. That’s the way best friends work.” 
He bit his lip. “I know but-” 
“I’ll leave.” Claudia said, winking at me. I returned her wink with a frown and let her run off. I watched as she turned the corner to go outside, and I slowly turned back to Leo. Claudia almost seemed eager to leave. She had never been eager to leave. She always wanted to stay. I shrugged it off. 
“So, what do you need?” I asked, leaning my head against my hand. I picked up a fry from my tray and twirled it in between my fingers, getting tiny beads of salt on them. 
“Look, Zay, I... need your help.” He said, almost nervous to say it. I perked up and stopped rolling the fry between my fingers. 
“With what exactly?” I asked, intrigued. 
His eyes darted around the room, and his voice lowered. “I like Lania.”  
My eyes went wide. Him? Liking the quiet Lania? I mean, she was very pretty. She had long blonde hair that swished and hazel eyes that held back secrets. She was always coordinating colors with her eyes, making the gold flecks in her eyes pop. But she was also very quiet. Not the type of girl that Leo would be looking for. 
“Well, I would honestly tell her about how you feel.” I said. 
“But what if-” he started to say, but I interrupted him saying, “Look, she’s way too sweet to say no. The worst thing she would say to you is most likely sorry.” 
Leo cracked his knuckles as a nervous habit. I could tell he didn’t want to be straightforward and just tell her. I imagined how that would go down myself. And then realized he would probably say something stupid and mess it all up. 
“What if you asked her to study with you?” I said, the idea suddenly popping into my head. 
“If you’re not there she’ll wonder what’s going on.” he said, continuing to crack his knuckles. I thought for a moment. There weren’t many things to do when it came to this other than to be subtle about it. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted Lania coming back to our table. She must have just gone to the bathroom. I elbowed Leo. “Here she comes!” I hissed to him, starting to eat my fries and act like nothing had happened.  
We all sat there for a moment in silence. I shot glances over at Leo, who avoided eye contact. I soon reverted to kicking his legs, not only to get him to ask, but to punish him for not asking sooner. And to be honest, my own entertainment. I liked watching him kick my leg back and watch as he shot death glares at me.  
After what felt like forever, I finally heard a voice from our table. “So... do you guys want to get together for a study group tonight?” Leo’s voice asked, confidence lacking. I almost facepalmed, but instead tried to come up with a solution so that only Lania and Leo would be together. I had to think quickly. “Oh, sorry, I can’t go tonight!” I said, the words leaving my mouth before I could think. It was a good way to get them alone. 
I breathed out in relief, the anxiety of finding an excuse fading away. The anxiety came right back. 
“What for?” Lania asked. I pang stabbed into my chest. I hadn’t thought that there was nothing to study for. I shot a panicked look at Leo before trying to remain calm for Lania. Leo was just as panicked as I was. He started stammering. 
“Uh....I was... um...thinking...that...” he paused for a long time. Possibly enough time for Lania to notice. “Thinking that maybe we could study for our biology test together since Mr. Taylor always piles work on us and when the test comes you have to remember so many things.” 
I stopped holding my breath and smiled. Thank goodness he had finally found a way to get around it. I wanted to pump my fists in the air, letting everyone know of our triumph. But of course, my triumph faded as well. 
“I’m so sorry Leo, but I don’t think I can go tonight.” Lania said, a look of apology all over her face. She wasn’t one to be rude either. She felt bad about rejecting a simple offer. Maybe that’s what Leo found attractive about her- obviously besides her looks. She waved goodbye to us and walked toward another table. I never realized that she went over to that table. It was probably where some of her other friends were. I found it weird that she would come and sit with us instead. 
Just then Max walked back and sat down. “Where’s Claudia?” he asked.  
“Leo needed to talk to me about something, so we had Claudia leave.” 
He tapped the table with his fingers, making a consistent rhythm. “Where did she go?” 
I shrugged. “I don’t know. She just walked off.”  
Max met my eyes. I had never noticed how striking he was. Well, I guess I had never noticed since he was my best friend's boyfriend. His blonde hair faded in on the sides, his hair longer in the front and coming off his head. He had deep brown eyes that made you want to melt when he looked at you. Not to mention his perfectly straight and white teeth. He leaned on the table with his elbow, his large muscles showing as his shirt sleeve lifted on one side. He was also on the basketball team for our school. Personally, I found volleyball guys cuter. 
“I can take you to around the area she went.” I offered. He nodded and we both got up from the table. I shot a quick glance at Leo who sat there, brows furrowed, telling him that I would talk about Lania later. I turned my head and continued walking with Max. It was a little awkward, considering that we were friends in elementary school, and he most likely didn’t remember.  
Another thing I had never noticed about him is that he was tall. He was most likely around 6’1. But then again, I was only exactly 5 feet and ¾. For an eighteen-year-old senior in high school, that was extraordinarily short. But then again, the shorter the mightier, so don’t get on my bad side.  
I turned the corner with Max and pointed down to the nearest hallway. “I think she went somewhere over there.”   
Max looked around the hallway. A few classroom doors lined it, and some cringy bulletin boards about “Bee-ing yourself.” Other than that, there was nothing else. “That's strange.” he said. “She doesn’t even have a class down here.” He turned to face me, shrugging. “It’s probably nothing.” 
“Yeah.” I agreed. She most likely went down this hallway to get to another one. I started walking away, but Max grabbed me by the arm.  
“Wait.” He demanded. I looked into his warm brown eyes. His brows furrowed. “What if she was cheat-” 
I stopped him in his sentence. “No, she would never cheat. Trust me on that. I know my best friend.” I sighed. “Well, if we can’t find her, we should probably go back to lunch. The bell’s gonna ring soon anyways.” 
Max nodded. He and I walked back the way we came, entering the cafeteria. Liam was gone, and I felt bad that our first initial plan didn’t work out very well. Me and Max sat together, talking like we were best friends. But I knew we really weren’t; we never ever talked like this. Not in the forever since I’d had to be friends with him in high school. I zoned out, thinking about Claudia. Where was that girl? Why hadn’t she come back? 
“Zayla?” the voice interrupted, bringing me out of my thoughts. I looked up, meeting Max’s eyes. They were full of care. I see why Claudia would be so interested in him. Except that she was only interested in him because he was cute and popular. I wanted a guy with a better personality. “Are you okay?” he asked. 
“Oh sorry,” I mumbled, “I was just thinking.” I fidgeted with my hands, suddenly getting nervous around Max. What was going on with me? It was like I had a... No. I did not have a crush on Max. No no no no! I can’t break Girl Code! That’s the most important thing to not break with your bestie. I focused on my hands. Max is not cute. Max is not cute. I repeated to myself. 
“Are you sure you’re alright?” Max asked. I looked up to meet his eyes, and he was truly worried about me. My heart started to beat ten times faster as soon as I met his gaze.  
“Yeah.” I mumbled, at a loss for words. A small smile spread across his face, his white teeth glinting with the light reflecting off them. We sat in silence for a little longer, and I prayed that the bell would ring sooner. 
“Zayla, remember on the bus in fourth grade how we had the seat that would fold up? So, we would sit on it and then go down with the seat?” Max asked out of the blue. 
I laughed, but then my jaw dropped. He... he remembered that. Something from when we were best friends a long time ago. A small smile tugged at the corners of my lips, as I said, “Yeah, I do. That was fun. What made you think of that?” 
Max shrugged. “I dunno. I just thought about it. We’ve grown far apart since those days. It kind of makes me sad. But, hey, now we’re in the same friend group so it all works out.” His smile brightened, and it made mine too. I looked down at my hands before he could notice the blush creeping across my cheeks. 
The bell rang and he got up. “See you, Zayla.” he said, slinging his backpack over one shoulder. My response to him was barely audible. I blushed and walked down the hallway to my next class. Now I had even more to deal with. Not only the school party, whatever Claudia wanted to talk about, Leo’s crush, and my crush. My crush on my best friend's boyfriend.