Erin and Pam were already seated at the lunch table.Luckily Sarah had told them earlier what had happened the previous night when she’d driven Bent back from the soccer game. There was no way she would have been able to tell them now. Not after the way he had acted towards her. She flopped down onto a plastic chair, opposite her friends. She spun her spoon absentmindedly around the bowl of chicken noodle soup in front of her. Pam and Erin exchanged questioning looks.”Girl, what IS the matter?” Erin asked. She snatched Sarah’s spoon from her hand and pretended to whack her across the head with it.Ironically, that gesture was similar to Trevor hitting Sarah with his pencil in math class. Erin and Trevor were, in fact, extremely alike in that regard. Sarah took back her spoon. She forced herself to sip a spoonful of soup. She barely tasted it. “I don’t feel like talking…or thinking right now,” Sarah said. She put down her spoon and propped her chin on her elbows. She stared at an empty chip bag on the floor, under the table. Pam shook her head. “Come on, Sarah. You were beaming this morning. It sounded like you and Bent were really hitting it off. As way more than friends.” Sarah picked up her soda can to take a drink. But decided she wasn’t thirsty. “Please don’t talk about him. I’m dating Kurl! Why does EVERYONE seem to forget that?” “Actually, it sounds like you’re the one who keeps forgetting you’re dating Kurl,” Erin snorted under her breath. Pam elbowed Erin in the side. Sarah groaned. She rubbed her hands over her face. “Why though? Why can’t I like Kurl as much as I like…the other one?” Pam frowned sadly. “It doesn’t always work that way, Sarah. But, honestly, I don’t think you’re really giving Kurl a chance. I mean, you’ve only been on two dates with him?”Sarah checked around to make sure no one was listening. Bent’s name was a trigger word for every girl around the school. They all knew who he was. She leaned closer to her friends. “He was mean to me today,” she confessed.Erin set down her milk container so fast, the straw fell out. “What?” she asked, her eyes narrowing. Pam’s mouth formed an ‘O’ of surprise. “Why would he be mean? And after he was so happy with you yesterday.” Before Sarah could reply, Erin clicked her fingers. “I know what we need. We need advice. Professional guy advice,” Erin said.Pam dropped her salad fork onto her paper plate. “Well, I could ask Patrick?”Erin shook her head. “No. Your Patrick’s heart is way too deep inside your pocket, sister. He likely doesn’t even remember how to be a jerk.” Pam smiled at that. “Trevor then?” she asked. She popped a tomato into her mouth and chewed it thoughtfully. The girls looked at the table of soccer players on the far side of the room. Trevor was balancing a spoon on the end of his nose, causing the guys around him to laugh hysterically. “Yeah, I don’t think so,” Erin said, cracking up. Sarah managed another spoonful of bland soup. “Too bad I can’t ask my brother. He thinks Bent’s a great guy. He’ll be furious if he hears Bent’s been rude to me.””You don’t have to tell Charles who the guy in question is,” Erin said.Sarah sighed. “Charles will know. He saw me and Bent together on my birthday.”Pam nodded, still thinking.Sarah pushed back her hair. “Kurl’s a jerk,” she offered. “We could ask him?”Erin gave her the widest grin she could muster. “You wanna ask Kurl why Bent isn’t into you? Be my guest.” Sarah burst out laughing. “Wow. Totally didn’t think that through first, did I?” Erin’s eyes surveyed the lunch room. “What we need is someone who isn’t close to the soccer team. Someone who will be truthful, honest, and who’s smart.” “What about that guy?” Pam asked, pointing. Sarah followed her gaze. A skinny senior guy sat alone at a table near them. He was reading what looked like a science fiction book. “Excuse me! Yoo-hoo!” Erin called. She waved her arms in the air to get the guy’s attention. Pam frowned. “He’s pretty engrossed in that book,” she said. “I doubt the poor guy ever interacts with anyone at lunch.” The guy turned a page in his book. He adjusted his large glasses to keep them from slipping down his nose. “LOOK! A SPACE ALIEN!” Sarah yelled.