Then the bell rang (saved by the belll!) and I nodded at him, hoping he’d relinquish me so I could go crawl into my class and do what I did best: disappear.

“OK, well, ‘bye,” I said and turned to leave, thinking to myself, Please don’t trip, please don’t trip…

“Wait!”

I froze as if his voice paralyzed me and then turned ever so slowly. “Yeah?”

What was this? He looked almost more uncomfortable than me. And that was saying something. His forehead had turned unnaturally red and he kept clearing his throat for some reason. It was kinda cute.

“Well, there’s this party tomorrow night and I was wondering if you were going with anyone.”

Me?! Going with anyone? To a party? His words echoed stupidly in my head.

“Um, no I’m not – Not going with anyone, I mean.”

In the lightning-bolt of his smile, he seemed to recover himself. “Oh, OK, it’s settled then. I’ll pick you up at 8.” And before I could say anything else, before I could even breathe, he walked away, melting into the surging crowd of students.