24 Lillian Lane

EVE

I wake up feeling strangely refreshed. I don't know why, but I'm in a great mood. I mean, I ate real pizza, learned to play the violin, finished my biology paper, and my parents don't know about the fight yesterday. All is good. Plus, Jack appears to have forgiven me, so that's off my conscience. I'm not normally a violent person.

I wash my face, brush my teeth, and throw my hair back into its usual messy braid. As I make my way to the door, I grab a piece of pizza. We still have three boxes left. Pizza for breakfast, pizza for lunch. I like it.

I practically soar onto the sidewalk, and briskly make my way to the bus stop. Suddenly, I collide with something.

I'm sprawled in the snow. There's snow in my mouth and there's an elbow jabbing my stomach. I stand up and dust myself off. Jack stands up too, laughing.

"Watch where you're going!" I tell him, my good mood rapidly disintegrating. Only he could spoil such a great morning. I stomp off to the bus.

When I arrive at school, my friend Bridget greets me, puffing from the cold. Her hair is short and blonde and she wears electric purple glasses. She's pretty small, but really fast.

"Hey, Eve! You know what I learned last night?"

I laugh. Bridget's super smart, and a bit nerdy. Last January, she made a New Year's resolution to learn a new fact each day. It's December now, and she's still going. Every day, she tells me her new tidbit.

"Dragon's Breath Chili peppers are so hot they could kill a human!"

"Wow!" I say. Bridget shakes my shoulder.

"I'm serious! It could put you in cardiovascular anaphylactic shock!"

See, I love science, and I'm pretty good at it too. But even I don't understand what Bridget means sometimes.

We reach our lockers, directly across from the science lab. Bridget and I always get lockers beside each other, and this year it was her turn to pick the location. As we shed our coats and boots, we talk about the pepper.

"I'm still doubtful that peppers could kill a person. After all, it's only our tongue that can sense taste," I say.

"True, but I think there's some kind of chemical in it too."

"Yeah," I say, nodding.

"Well, I believe my fact book, even if it isn't logical," Bridget replies. "Faulty information disgusts me!"

At that moment, Michael Sullivan joins us. He's got black hair and black glasses, and he wears a blue hoodie.

"Hey, Bridget," he says, kind of shyly. As if as an afterthought, he greets me with a quick "hi, Eve." I nod in reply. Michael is Jack's best friend, so we don't really talk that much.

"Hi, Michael!" Bridget says, her usual cheerful self. Michael scuffs his shoe on the floor nervously. He seems a bit on edge. He turns to Bridget and clears his throat.

"I wanted to, I mean, would you, uh..." he stutters. "You know what, Bridget? Never mind."

Michael turns and practically runs away, embarrassed. Bridget looks at me and shrugs. No matter how many times I tell her, she refuses to listen.

"Bridget, come on! He was totally going to ask you out. Michael is hopelessly in love with you..."

Bridget scoffs. "Sure, Eve. Why are you such a romantic these days? He probably wanted help with his math homework or something. That's all."

"Oh, Bridget, give him a chance! It's kind of cute the way he follows you around and blushes like that."

"I said, that's all, Eve!" Now Bridget's turning red. I drop the subject.

"Sorry, Bridget," I say.

"No problem!" Bridget replies cheerfully. She's never mad. She turns down the hall to her computers class. I continue on to the music room.