4 : Wednesday

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Step Four: Hey, tell him what you want! Try to hint at wanting a boyfriend (subtly, of course), and, if you're already friends with him, then be openly honest about being lonely and just wanting someone to be there for you. Don't be shy! Put some more options on the table!

"Felix wants a boyfriend," Blake says as he plops his tray of gunk and mush down next to my identical one. It's become regular for us to eat lunch with Jason and Russell now, and it's only the fourth day since I got the book; it's Wednesday. How to Get a Boyfriend 101 must be magical, or something. That's the only logical explanation for such quick progress.

Russell sighs and picks at his pile of who-knows-what using a wooden fork. "Don't we all?"

We do? Russell wants a boyfriend? Interesting. He probably just meant that he wants to be in a relationship, but I'll leave Blake to interpret that how he will.

And, yes, I use a wooden fork. Our school is that kind of school. The nurse doesn't have more exciting things to do than deal with splinters in kids' mouths. It would be sad, but that also means we don't have many injuries as a whole. I think they have that on the pamphlet. "Come to Misty Bay Academy—our kids don't have any problems bigger than tongue splinters!"

"Blake," I hiss, bringing myself back to the present, "what part of 'subtly' didn't register in your brain?"

He shrugs and tilts his chin in the direction of the new kid that I was thinking about befriending not too long ago. "He's probably gay," he calmly remarks, as if that's the type of thing you just say about people. Like talking about the weather.

I cannot with him.

"Blake! You can't just go around saying things like that! Especially if you don't know their truth value." Blake laughs loudly at my outburst, drawing attention to us from the BTFC. Fantastic.

A barbie doll named Sarah Hicks walks up and sits in the empty seat next to Russell, across from the empty seat next to Blake. She gazes intensely at Russell with her muddy shade of blue eyes (the unfortunate effect of blue contact lenses on brown eyes), then her eyes flicker to Blake for a moment.

"Hey," she giggles and places her painted hand on Russell's shoulder. She looks at Blake to see his reaction. He's already bored, and he turns to talk to me.

Sarah looks annoyed and tickles Russell under his chin, and now he's fed up, too. Also, Blake gets jealous, but not in the way that the Wannabe Barbie is hoping. He's jealous because someone is touching Russell, and I think Russell and Blake have been hanging out behind my back.

The betrayal.

The hurt.

The fact that I know the password to his Minecraft account, and I can and will use that as leverage.

Blake gets up. "I need to use the restroom."

Those six words seem to mean a lot to him, and Russell's eyes widen just a bit. I suppose there's some kind of backstory here, one that'll make sense when the time comes. A story for another time, if I can be permitted to say that. A story for another time.

Jason looks at me, confused. I blush and hide my face by turning around to look at Blake's retreating figure.

"Sarah, do you mind? I need to speak with Russell about something." This comes from Jason, and it surprises everyone. First of all, Jason is relatively popular. Second of all, Russell is relatively popular. And third of all, popular boys generally like when pretty girls flirt with them.

So I'm confuzzled.

Why would Jason get rid of an attractive girl?

Sarah "hmph"s and stands up, and then, right when she's about to leave, she turns back around.

"Call me later, Russell," she smirks. He makes a face at her back as she walks away.

What a loyal member of the BTFC. And I'm just here, being a potato: unpopular, plain, and uninterested in girls... somehow friends with Blake Turner (who is hot), Russell Chen (who is hot), and Jason Crowe (who is hot, cute, and the boy I think I'm in love with).

Life's spectacular.

~~~~~~~~

"She gave you a what?" I see the new girl yelling something at her friend. I decide that now is the best time to approach her and try to become friends.

Her friend is in my Chemistry class; she's Amanda. I recognize her from the yearbook—she has a special sort of face. Her lips are huge, and her eyes are the iciest shade of blue I've ever seen, which contrasts with her onyx hair. The other girl, the new one, I don't recognize on sight, obviously. But her face is familiar. Z... something. She's definitely the one from that Google Doc. Her profile picture was a pizza.

"Hi?" I find myself in front of them. Curse these betraying feet. First Jason and Russell, now Amanda and Other Girl.

"Hi... ooh! Are you Felix Gray? The one who did orange justice on a table the other day?" Great, that's the impression I've made on the new girl. She looks at me expectantly.

"Yeah," I sigh. "That's me. That is I. Same difference."

Her eyes brighten and crinkle when she smiles, a big smile that takes over, like, 40% of her face. "Cool! I'm Zoe. I moved here over the weekend, and I already knew Amanda from sleepaway camp. I've been doing, like, an online, tutoring version of this school, so you might recognize my name."

Amanda nods. "Zoe's pretty cool."

"Together or separately?" Zoe asks.

Oldest trick in the book. I have to applaud her for that one.

"What?"

"Am I pretty cool or pretty and cool?"

They continue their conversation as I take a small step back.

"I'll just... I'll be going... yeah... okay... bye..."

Neither notices as I leave.

Oh, well.

But that's okay.

That's okay.

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