Barely Even Friends (Luna East No. 3)

Chapter 1

I didn't get the idea of studying Spanish in high school.

Sure, it would come in handy if I wanted to pursue a college education at a Spanish-speaking university in Europe, but it wasn't like everyone in Luna East Arts Academy could afford that. Or wanted that. Students already struggled with the grammar on their English papers, so why throw in another language subject? To justify that Luna East was one of the best high schools in the country?

I think not.

I hated Spanish. I loathed it so much that I needed a tutor to pass the subject. And right now, my dislike for the subject even extended to my tutor, Noah Calderon, who was making me answer fifty Spanish interrogatives as we study for next week's finals.

"I quit," I said, throwing the pen on the table and raising my arms in surrender. We were in a coffee shop near our village for my regular Saturday lesson.

Noah exhaled patiently, leaning over the table to check the questionnaire he prepared for me on a yellow paper. "You barely answered twenty questions," he pointed out.

"Conjugations suck. Why do they have different versions of verbs depending on the nouns they use? Why can't it be as simple as 'I speak, you speak' instead of 'Yo hablo, tu hablas'?" I whined.

"That's the beauty of their language," he explained.

"Pfft." I snorted and leaned back on the chair.

"Come on. I know you can do it. Didn't you memorize the list of verbs that I gave you the other day?"

I scowled at him and crossed my hands in front of my chest like a toddler throwing a tantrum.

He cursed under his breath. "Your mom will kill me if I let you flunk this grading period."

Oh, he was being melodramatic. My mom loved Noah so much that she wanted him to be her future son-in-law. Our mothers were best friends since they were in high school, and they treated each other like sisters. They wanted that relationship to further deepen by pairing Noah and me up. It worked when were kids. We would hang out all the time whenever our mothers would set up playdates at the village playground. But the playdates stopped when my mom got busy with her career, and Noah and I grew up to find out that we exist in different worlds. He liked hanging out with the popular yet laid-back dance club; I joined the more famous gymnastics team. He always preferred to be away from the spotlight despite the attention the dance crew gets; I always sought recognition from other people. We were still civil and we respected each other, but we were barely even friends. Not like before.

"Don't worry about it. She didn't have time to check my grades out," I said. The words tasted bitter in my mouth. She didn't even have time check on her only daughter, I wanted to add but I caught myself.

Noah ignored what I'd said. "Come on," he urged. "I'll buy you a slice of banana-coffee cake if you answer half of the questions correctly."

I pursed my lips and stared at him, considering his offer. It surprised me that he knew me so easily. A few months ago, he approached me and asked me if I needed help in Spanish. He said he heard our teacher, Mrs. Gonzalez, talking to me about my grades after class, and he thought he could help.

Still, I couldn't be bribed so easily.

"You just want an excuse to flirt with the barista," I accused, looking past him to the girl with a ponytail manning the cashier. At the exact moment, she looked at our table.

He glanced briefly at where I was looking and turned back to me as if I had lost my mind. "What? Where did that come from?"

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, don't play dumb. Guys like big boobs. And she's been checking you out for the past hour—which is weird, because she looked like she's already in college."

I couldn't blame the girl. Noah wasn't a heartthrob, but he was attractive enough to have a few admirers in our school with his boy-next-door looks: short dark hair, deep brown eyes, thick lashes, and thin lips. He was smart, kind and very courteous to the teachers. Plus, he was good at hip-hop dancing. I've seen the way girls squeal at the auditorium whenever he and the dance club perform on stage during school activities. It's just that I haven't really looked at him that way.

Noah shook his head, refusing to believe me. "You're changing the subject. Come on. Do you want cake or not?"

"You're bossy." I narrowed my eyes at him before I picked up the pen and resumed answering the questionnaire.

Half an hour later, I was feasting on my favorite cake while I watched him prepare another set of exercises on a sheet of yellow paper.

"Keep answering these questions at home, then I'll get back to you on Monday, all right?" Noah reminded me when he finished, slipping the questionnaire in between the pages of my Spanish textbook.

"Fine," I said, snatching the book on the table.

"And please memorize those Spanish verbs that I've prepared for you. It'll be easier if you mastered it," he added as he stood up and slung his messenger bag on his shoulder.

"Yes, your majesty." I rose from my seat and started gathering my things.

Noah waited for me to finish fixing up when the café's security guard came over to our table. "Excuse me. Are you Emily Fonseca?" he asked.

I nodded at him with a frown.

"Someone left this for you." He handed me a small ivory envelope and walked back to his station.

I held my breath as I stared at the envelope on my hands. I touched the embossed graving of the letter "E" near the flap with my thumb and closed my eyes for a moment. Please, please let this be what I think it is, I prayed silently before I took out the small card and read its contents:

Queen B's place

7 o'clock tonight

Let's see what you've got

Holy mother of god.

It was exactly what I thought it was.

"Secret admirer?" Noah asked, watching me.

"Huh?" My mind was full of anticipation that I got lost in my own thoughts for a few seconds. "No, no. A... uh, party invite," I fibbed.

Noah nodded, but his face told me he was unconvinced. I was surprised he didn't know the story about the ivory envelope in Luna East.

It was an invitation to get into the Elites, the most powerful and popular social group in school.