letters to the boy who never cared

n i n e

It was almost too easy to get Alyssa Texiera to switch spots with me. It was quite another thing to get Reed to stop staring at me while she shamelessly flirted with him. I learned to mostly ignore that, though.

Grace came back to school a week after her dad had gone into the hospital. Though obviously tired, she looked almost normal, beautiful as usual, even bumming it in the Pink hoodie and leggings she'd packed for staying at the hospital with her parents and sister, Ellie.

"Bae!" Summer screamed, as if we hadn't visited her four times this week. She launched herself at Grace, embracing her and wrapping her legs around her waist. Jen and I looked on in amusement.

Grace took a deep breath. "Hi, guys," she said cheerily. Jen and I draped our arms around her shoulders, and Summer joined us to build a tight chain of four. We strode down the hall, people still staring because of Summer and Grace's dramatic reunion.

We walked Grace to her first class, then dispersed. When I finally got to my locker, Matt was there.

"Hey, Matt," I greeted him, putting in my locker combination.

"I need your help," he told me, rushedly. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, hi Alexa, so lovely to see you. How are you doing?" I prompted him. He scowled.

"Sorry. Hi,'' he clipped, all in one breath. "Really, though, I need you and your friends for something."

"What for?" I asked, intrigued.

"My cousin, he's a junior in college, and he's in town. He's always been pretty popular and he's got friends in the area, so he's having this party tomorrow night. And I kinda told him some things I shouldn't have."

I raised my eyebrows. "Where do we come in?"

Matt sighed, and started to turn red under his freckles. "Basically, I need some friends to come to this party. I think if I bring girls I can get him off my back."

I stifled a giggle. "So you want us to come and pretend to be popular with you?"

"Yeah," Matt said, blushing. "But there's one last thing."

I felt myself grimace. "What?"

In a voice so low I could barely understand, he mumbled, "Ineedyoutopretendtobemygirlfriendfortheparty."

I couldn't quite contain my laughter this time. "Oh, my God, you told him you have a girlfriend?! Matt!"

He buried his face in his hands. "I know, I know. It would be too awkward to ask anybody else. Would you quit laughing?"

I got halfway through apologizing before I bursted into laughter again.

"Will you do it, though?" Matt repeated, exasperatedly.

"Okay, yeah," I said, sobering up quickly. "Only 'cause I owe you."

Matt beamed and hugged me. "You're a lifesaver, Alexa."

"Suffocating," I choked out.

Matt let go quickly. "Sorry. Thank you."

"No problem," I replied, grabbing my books and heading to class.

--

"Tramp," Grace muttered as Marin Daley walked past to her seat.

My head snapped up at the same time as Marin's did. Crap. I was royally screwed now.

"What did you say?" Marin hissed, rearing that faux-blonde head.

"I think you heard what I said," Grace replied icily, her brown eyes trained on Marin fiercely.