After school, (where I got good practice at introducing myself,) I met up with Daren and Daisy. For the first time I noticed that their names both start with the letter D. I don’t know why, but that bothers me. When I see Daren, my stomach does the flippy thing again. Seriously, it could try out for the gymnastics team. I see Daisy look at Daren, and she looks like she can’t see anything else. It annoys me. “Hey, are we going to Dairy Queen, or are we going to stand around till school tomorrow?” I asked with an edge to my voice. Daisy looked slightly startled, as if she didn’t know I was there. “Huh? Oh! Yes,” she said, trying to cover up her little jump. Daren blushed; he knew that I had noticed Daisy’s lovestruck gaze. “Do you want me to drive y’all, or do you want to drive yourselves?” he asked. I don’t drive to school yet, I’m only 14 years old, so I said, “I’ll ride with you.” Daren smiled a little. Then Daisy said, “I’d better take my car so I don’t have you wasting gas taking me back here so I can get my car.” My heart jumped. A chance to be alone with Daren? I don’t know whether to be nervous or excited. As Daisy walks to her car, Daren turns toward me. “Shall we leave?” he asks. “Yes,” I say softly. He leads me to his car, which is an awesomely bright green, like what most people think of as froggy green. “Awesome car,” I say. “I know, right? It’s such an awesome color,” he says. What’s not an awesome color is the color my cheeks are turning right now as I look at him.

As we get in the car, Daren says, “I’d like to get to know you better. Better than most people would know you.” I can’t breathe. “The feeling is mine as well as yours?” I ask tentatively. He smiles warmly. “I know we didn’t get off to a perfect start, but ever since I saw you, I just… Fell down the rabbit hole of love, I guess.” My stomach does the flippy thing once more, and now I understand the feeling. He leans forward a little, then stops. “Um.” he says awkwardly. “Sorry.” Now I’m thinking, was he about to kiss me? That’s insane. And… Amazing. The drive to the ice cream place was silent, until he said, “Don’t tell Daisy.” “Don’t tell her what, exactly?” I asked. Daren was silent for a moment. Just as I was about to ask again, he said, “That I almost kissed you.” Now it’s my turn to be silent. “Why?” I asked, wondering if I even wanted to know. “She’s my girlfriend.” Daren says this tentatively, like he’s afraid of what I will say. Maybe he is. “Well. That explains a lot. Great. I’m in love with you, and so is my best friend, who’s dating you,” I say crossly. Daren looks like he might cry. So do I, I guess. I thought he loved me. “I can’t believe you. You would almost kiss me, and then turn around and tell me my best friend is your girlfriend. You are the worst boy I’ve ever met.” I said angrily. “I’m sorry! I’ll make it up to you!” He says, somewhat desperately if I do say so myself. I laugh like I’m a lunatic. “Ha! Ha! Make it up to me! MAKE IT UP TO ME!? You will never be able to do that. NEVER!” And then I collapse. I fall forward onto him, and black out.