The next day I woke up before my alarm went off.

I glanced over at it, thought that it was rather interesting, and then tried to get back to sleep.

Something was bothering me, nagging at the back of my head. I couldn’t sleep, so I got up.

Halfway through my shower it hit me: Jake.

Ugh. Maybe I would suddenly come down with the flu and be unable to go.

Of course I’m never so lucky, so three hours later (yes, I got up that early) I was outside the school.

Max walked up to me, looking grim. “I talked to Monica, yesterday,” he said, frowning a bit.

I didn’t speak, waiting for him to go on. After seeing that I wasn’t going to comment, he continued.

“She…seemed the think that we were dating, first off. I explained to her that I thought she was a very nice girl, but, no, we weren’t dating. Yet.”

I frowned, and he hastily went on.

“And I also told her that if she ever bothered any of my friends again, we never would.”

“Good,” I said, smiling.

Then my smile vanished. Jake.