Chapter Eight: Frog

Chemistry lab was quickly becoming the worst class of my day. It wasn't that the work was hard. Since Mrs. Clements was still on probation, they just stuck us with a substitute from the English department who had us watch instructional chemistry videos from the 80's. So we watched people with big hair do experiments, which was clearly a lot safer than having us do them ourselves. No, I didn't mind the videos, or the substitute, but I hated having to watch Kayla and Wyatt be all cozy for an entire hour. I tried to ignore them, but they were right in front of me, and every time he put his arm around her or whispered in her ear I wanted to roundhouse kick him in the head. It didn't help that Milo kept up a constant commentary on their actions.

"Hey, did you see how he brushed her hair back to touch her neck? That was pretty smooth. Or the way he dropped his pen so he could put his hand on her thigh when he picked it back up? You should take lessons from this guy."

At least Kayla was still coming over to my house the next day to work on our project. Not that I thought that meant I had a chance with her. I was just glad that I'd be able to spend some time with her.

The video we were watching ended - some snoozer about alkali metals - and a few seconds later the bell rang. I headed toward the door, but tripped over somebody's bag on the way there and ran into the back of Alice Rowes.

"Watch where you're going, Jell-O pants!" She called out, and several students around her snickered.

I rolled my eyes and tried to leave, but suddenly Wyatt was in my way.

"Hey, leave him alone," he said, giving Alice a glare that made her turn bright red. "He didn't do anything to you."

Kayla looked at Wyatt with admiration, and I had to bite back a rude remark. This sort of thing happened often. Some guy would be nice to me to impress some girl. Usually I didn't mind, but this was Kayla.

"If anything, you should be thanking him," Wyatt continued, raising his voice. "We should all be thanking him. He saved us from blowing up the other day."

A few of the students nodded thoughtfully.

I really wanted to hate this guy, but he was doing me a favor. "Thanks," I muttered, stepping around him.

"Anytime," he replied, clapping his hand on my shoulder in an exaggerated way as I went by.

I couldn't get out of that classroom fast enough. If there was anything more uncomfortable than being tormented, it was being praised.

*****

"You should be folding laundry when she comes in. Then she'll think you're all domestic."

"Or really lame," I replied, looking at Milo in exasperation. I'd made the mistake of telling him that Kayla was coming to my house, so he'd come over to help me prepare. While I cleaned up, he had been making ridiculous suggestions on how to make the atmosphere more appealing.

"Oh! And you should bake some cookies!" Milo added. "The smell will drive her wild." He chewed on his lip. "Or maybe that's for when you're trying to sell your house…"

"I think it smells alright in here as it is."

Milo raised an eyebrow at me, so I went to find a can of air freshener and gave the room a couple sprays.

"Are you going to take her up to your room?" Milo asked.

"Probably not. That'd be kind of weird."

"Yeah, you should wait until at least the third date if you want to be a gentleman."

"Milo, this isn't a date!"

"It's all about perspective."

I looked at my watch and straightened a few pillows on the couch. Milo sat down, immediately messing up the pillows.

"Is your mom going to be here?"

"I don't think so. She's been working pretty late these days."

"Perfect."

Before I could ask him what he meant by that statement, I heard the rumble of Kayla's truck in my driveway.

"She's here!" I hissed. "You've got to leave!"

"Do I have to?" Milo whined. "I could just hide in the closet and spy on you two. That'd be a lot more fun than doing my homework."

I glared at him and he took the hint.

"Okay, I'll go out the back," he said, standing up. "Good luck!"

He started to leave, but I had one more question.

"Hey, Milo."

"Yeah," he said, turning around.

"How do I look?"

He glanced at me and frowned. "Um, like… Frog?"

I sighed. I guess that was about as good as I was going to get. There was a knock at the door and Milo gave me a thumbs up, then ran through the kitchen and out the back. I took a deep breath and opened the door.