Kellan glares at Tyson. “That is the stupidest thing you’ve said all day. What on earth does shaving your head have to do with being gay? Are you gay because you and Greg tried to light your farts on fire?”

“You remember that?” Tyson cracks up. “Oh, man! Do you still have that tape, Josh?”

“I don’t know. Somewhere.” It’s hard to believe David might be gay. I mean, he must be gay because I don’t know any straight men in relationships with guys named Phillip. But now I have to rethink so many things I thought I knew about my brother. We never did meet that girl he spent so much time with after school. Was Jessica really a dude? He had Mom and Dad so worried about how much time they spent together. They even told him they weren’t ready to become grandparents yet.

“Graham isn’t gay,” I say. It’s still hard to say his name without seeing his hand up Emma’s shirt.

Kellan throws a fry at Tyson’s face. Amazingly, he catches it in his mouth.

“Anyway,” she says, “I don’t see why it matters to you who’s gay or not.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Tyson says, biting off more sandwich. “My dad thinks Ellen DeGeneres is gay, and we love Ellen!”

“Are you kidding? She’s not gay,” Kellan says.

“Who’s not gay?” Emma asks, walking up to our group.

Kellan clasps her hands and smiles at Emma. “So is it true? You’re no longer with what’s-his-name?”

Emma looks right at me. “Did you—?”

“Did I what?” I ask. And then I laugh. She thinks I told them about getting rid of Jordan Jones Jr. “She’s talking about Graham. We heard you broke up with him.”

Emma pulls out her lunch, a clear Tupperware with steamed broccoli, carrots, and cubes of orange cheese. “It was time,” she says.

Kellan offers Emma a fry. “If you want advice on finding a new romance,” she says, “you should ask Mr. Templeton over there.”

Emma and I look at each other, puzzled.

“Don’t act so innocent,” Kellan says. “I’ve seen you chatting up girls all over school today.”

Tyson slaps me a high five. “My man!”

Emma opens a bag of pretzels and laughs. “Oh, I’m not so sure Josh has romance all figured out.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask. Is she talking about Sydney, and how I don’t know what to do next? She’d better not be joking about rejecting me herself.

“You know what it means,” Emma says.

“You guys are always teasing me, saying I’m clueless about romantic stuff,” I say to Emma and Kellan, “but maybe I know more than you think.”

“That’s what you’re hoping,” Emma says. “But I don’t think you have any idea what you’re doing.”

“Really?” I say. “Well, if you ever need advice on how to make a real relationship work, I’m right next door.”

Tyson and Kellan glance at each other but don’t say a word.

* * *

PEER ISSUES IS ALMOST OVER and I still haven’t said a word to Sydney. Tapping my pen against the desktop, I casually look over my shoulder. She smiles when she sees me, and I smile back.

“Josh Templeton?”

I turn around and Mrs. Tuttle is looking at me. Standing beside her is Thomas Wu, a student aide from the front office. Mrs. Tuttle points me out, and then Thomas walks up my aisle.

He places a blue slip of paper on my desk. “You need to go to the front office right after class.”

I look at the clock above the whiteboard. There are three minutes until the end of class. Three minutes until my first chance to speak with Sydney all day. And now I’m going to miss it!

I stuff my binder into my backpack and then zip it shut. When the bell rings, I pull my backpack over my shoulders. Behind me, I hear a sheet of paper being torn. Glancing back at Sydney, I wish I could mouth Call me again, but I can’t do that without looking pathetic.

But then Sydney reaches forward and passes me a folded piece of paper. Our fingertips touch and I get a shock of energy through my entire body. She smiles and breezes past me, leaving me gaping at the paper in my hand.

On my way down the hall, I spot Thomas Wu at his locker.

“Do you know why they called me to the office?” I ask him.

“Your parents want you to come by their work after school,” he says, turning his locker combination. “But I’m not supposed to listen in on the phone calls, so I didn’t tell you that.”

This must have to do with being late to school. Well, I really don’t care. Because I’m holding a note—written specifically to me—by Sydney Mills.

In the front office, I sign in and take a seat in an orange plastic chair. I unfold Sydney’s note and see the words “my cell phone” and then a line of beautiful numbers scribbled across the fold.

“You’re Josh, right?” a girl asks, sliding into the chair beside me. She’s a foreign exchange student from Brazil. She’s pretty, with long black hair and tiny freckles across her nose.

“I am,” I say.

“I’ve seen some of your drawings on my friends’ binders,” she says. “You’re very talented.”

I smile at her. “I’m going to be a graphic designer someday.”

“You’ll be very good at that,” she says.

Maybe it wasn’t the worst thing in the world to get called to the office.

36://Emma

AFTER THE FINAL BELL RINGS, I’m walking down the stairs on my way to my locker when Kellan barrels past me. She stops on the landing below, shakes her hips, and belts out, “Cel-e-brate good times, COME ON!”

“What are you celebrating?” I ask.

Kellan keeps on singing, whipping her hair around her shoulders. “We’re gonna celebrate and have a good time!”

I’ve been friends with Kellan long enough to know I’ll be standing here until the entire song is out of her system. While she swivels and sings, I take this chance to look for a baby bump. She’s wearing a black cotton skirt and a white T-shirt, and her belly looks as flat as ever. Then again, even if she’s already pregnant, she probably wouldn’t be showing yet.

When she’s finally done singing, I ask again, “What are you celebrating?”

“You!” She follows me down the stairs. “Breaking up with Graham. I didn’t have a chance to properly applaud you at lunch. So are you ready to celebrate and have a good time?”

I wish I could muster her level of enthusiasm. Yes, I’m relieved it’s over with Graham. And I’m excited about Cody. But Josh’s attitude at lunch bothered me. It’s like the discovery of his future is changing him now.

“Can you skip track today?” Kellan asks.

“I probably shouldn’t,” I say. “I skipped yesterday, so—”

Kellan knocks her hip into me. “You just want to see Cody’s gorgeous body doing sit-ups and getting sweaty and—”

I clap my hand over her mouth. Then I lean in close and say, “Cody talked to me in the hall today. He came up to me.”

Kellan pulls my hand off her mouth. Even though she thinks he’s self-absorbed, she understands my crush on Cody. Who wouldn’t understand? He’s beautiful!

“What did he say?” she whispers. “What did you say back?”

Here I am, about to spill every detail, but Kellan hasn’t done the same with me. She’s either having sex or is about to have sex or is possibly already pregnant, and she hasn’t breathed a word about anything.

“He just said hi.”

Kellan smirks. “Did you try out my Husband Theory again, or do you still have cats in your passenger seat?”

“Is this the theory with the car coming toward us?”

“Head-on collision.”

It feels wrong to try out Kellan’s theory knowing I’m supposed to marry Kevin Storm. I couldn’t find any pictures of him on Facebook, so it seems unfair to imagine someone else in the car simply because I don’t have a mental image of Kevin.

“Is Tyson still in your passenger seat?” I ask.

Kellan bites her lip for a moment, and then says, “Are you sure you can’t go to the lake today?”

She’s avoiding my question. Are she and Tyson getting back together? I felt like I was picking up signs at lunch, but I couldn’t be sure. If they are getting back together, he could potentially be Lindsay’s dad!

“Will you please come to the lake?” Kellan says. She touches my elbow. “We’ve barely hung out all week.”

“How about tomorrow?”

“I can’t,” she says. “I have my college class.”

The cute college guy! That’s why she never wants to miss class. Could he be the baby’s father? Has she been going back to the dorms with him after class?

“Okay,” I say. “I’ll come to the lake.”

Kellan claps her hands together. “But you need to drive. I had a doctor’s appointment before school, so my mom dropped me off.”

What? “Why did you see a doctor?” This has to be about the pregnancy.

Kellan looks at me and then breaks into a laugh. “You just went completely pale! I’m not dying, Em.”

I need an answer. “Then tell me why you went.”

“It was just a check-up.” She flips her hand dismissively. “Can we stop by your place and grab swimsuits?”

As we walk past the front office, Kellan knocks hips with me again, and this time I knock back. But then I glance through the office window and stop cold. Josh is sitting in a chair with his back to us. There’s a girl leaning close to his shoulder, watching him sketch something on her notebook.

“He’s drawing Pepé Le Pew,” Kellan whispers. “I think our little Josh is finally learning how to hit on girls.”

I grab Kellan’s arm and pull her away. “If that girl wants a chauvinistic, sex-addicted skunk on her folder, that’s her problem.”