The next day at school, I was determined to avoid Bobby. Yesterday night’s dream hadn’t given me any clue as to who Bobby’s secret lover was. But I knew that tonight’s dream had to.

So I was going to stay away from Bobby until I knew who it was. But once I did, I would definitely talk to him about it. But it was all I could do not to go talk to him right there and then. After the dream I’d had yesterday, after seeing how hurt Becca was, I was furious with him.

How dare he cause my sister such pain! I completely hated him for that. Yet, underneath all of that hatred and fury, was longing and desire. Why? I had no clue. It was such a strange feeling. I was attracted to the guy that I hated. I honestly didn’t know how that was even possible, but I did know that it totally sucked.

I hated feeling so infatuated with a guy that hurt my sister and possibly killed her. What would I do if he was the one who killed her? How would I feel about him then? Well, I’d obviously hate him beyond belief. Would I still be attracted to him though?

I shook my head, taking a deep breath. I had to stop thinking about this and start focusing on the biology worksheet sitting in front of me on my desk. But no matter how hard I tried to focus on schoolwork, my thoughts still ended up wandering back to Bobby.

It was weird how much I liked him now. Back when he was dating Becca, I had a crush on him, but just because I thought he was cute. However, I didn’t know him well enough to actually like him. And that crush was kept completely hidden from Becca. Which is why I knew that he was lying at Starbucks when he told me that I was a difficulty because I had a crush on him.

And that gave me even more of a reason to think that I might be the one he was in love with. But no matter how much sense it made, I still couldn’t get myself to fully believe it. How could a guy as hot and popular and perfect as Bobby like someone as average and plain as me?

It just didn’t seem possible to me. There were a million other beautiful, wealthy, popular girls in our school. So why, out of all those girls, would he be in love with me? It really didn’t seem very sensible.

It was much more likely that he was still in love with Lindsey. They seemed perfect for each other. After all, both of them were popular, good-looking, and rich. He played football, she was a cheerleader. They were designed for each other.

“Alright everyone,” Mrs. Hopkins announced, “it’s time to turn in your worksheets.”

“Crap.” I murmured. The only thing I’d written on the paper was my name.

“Hey,” Connor whispered. I’d sat in the same seat as yesterday, the one straight to the left of Connor’s.

I turned my head to look at him and whispered back. “Yeah?”

Then he handed me his paper. “Erase my name and write yours on it. I’ll take your paper.”

“Connor, that’s sweet, but I couldn’t.” I replied.

He simply rolled his eyes in response. “I’m already failing the class, one unfinished worksheet won’t make a difference.”

I bit my lip, considering his offer. Finally, I gave in and switched papers with him. “Thank you so much.” I told him as we both walked up to Mrs. Hopkins’s desk to turn in our worksheets.

“No problem,” he said with a smile. We both sat back down at our desks and gathered our things. “So, um, are you doing anything this Saturday?” he asked nervously.

I swallowed hard, knowing exactly where this was going. “No, actually, I’m not.” I replied. He was so nice to me, the least I could do was go out with him at least once.

“Oh, well either am I.” he said. “Maybe we could go see a movie. If you’re feeling up to it.”

I grinned, “Are you asking me out on a date?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess I am.” he said a bit sheepishly. “So, what do you say?”

“I’d love to.” I concurred. At that moment, the bell rang and we both stood up, walking out of the classroom together.

“Cool,” he said. “So what time do you want me to pick you up?”

“How about three?” I suggested.

“Yeah, three would be fine.” he agreed. “I guess I’ll see you then.”

“Yep,”

“Ok, well, bye.” He smiled and walked off down the hallway.

I sighed as I walked to second period. Connor was a really nice guy, so I should’ve been happy to be going out on a date with him. But in truth, I was only happy because going out with him might help me forget about Bobby.

And that was something I definitely looked forward to.

That day, at lunch, I sat at the same table as yesterday. Except this time, it was Connor who approached me and sat down next to me. “Hey, I didn’t realize you had the same lunch period as me.” he stated.

“Yeah, either did I.” I replied.

“So, about Saturday,” he began. “What movie do you think we should see?”

“Oh, uh, I don’t know. What’s out right now?”

He began telling me about what he thought looked good, but I was paying absolutely no attention to what he was saying. Instead, my eyes were locked on Bobby as he entered the cafeteria.

“So do you want to see that one, then?” Connor asked me.

“Huh?” I tuned back into reality, but my eyes still kept flickering over to look at Bobby.

“The movie I just told you about. Do you want to see it on Saturday?” he inquired.

“Oh, sure.” I said, having no clue what movie he was talking about.

“Rachel,” a voice said from behind me. I turned to find Bobby standing over me.

“Bobby,” I said, “hi.”

“You mind if I sit?” he asked.

“Sure, go ahead.” I replied. Well, this was just perfect. My plan to avoid Bobby had just completely crashed and burned.

Connor eyed Bobby a bit suspiciously. “Bobby, this is Connor.” I announced. “Connor, this is Bobby.”

“Hi,” Bobby said to him.

“Hi,” Connor responded, his tone a bit displeased.

“Uh, Rachel, I kind of wanted to ask you something.” Bobby told me. “In private.” he added, glancing at Connor.

Connor glared at him and then looked over at me. “I guess I’ll go sit somewhere else then. Even though I was sitting here first.” Now, he was angry. And I couldn’t really blame him. After all, Bobby had just interrupted our conversation and pretty much told him to leave.

“No, Connor, you don’t have to leave.” I told him. “Bobby, whatever you have to say, you can say in front of Connor.”

He glowered at Connor, who was now smirking. “But it’s about something personal.” Bobby stated.

“Well Connor’s my friend. So if he wants to stay, he can stay.” Bobby’s eyes widened and I could tell that this line rang a bell for him. After all, it was what Becca had told him about Lindsey in my last dream.

“Rachel, don’t do this. Don’t remind me of that day.” he choked out uneasily.

I decided to follow his directions, sensing his discomfort. “I thought you wanted to talk to me about something.” I said, changing the subject. “So go ahead, talk.”

“I’m not saying anything in front of him.” Bobby remarked, eyeing Connor distastefully.

“Well he’s not leaving.” I returned evenly.

“Well either am I.” Bobby retorted. “Not until I get a chance to talk to you alone.”

“Who are you anyways?” Connor spoke up. “Because you kind of seem like more than just Rachel’s friend.”

Bobby and I both blushed and looked away from each other. And Connor noticed. “Well, that’s all we are. Friends.” I declared.

“Right, friends.” Connor said, putting emphasis on the word ‘friends’.

“Yes, friends. Just friends.” I repeated, feeling awkward.

“How do you know Rachel, huh?” Bobby demanded. “Because you kind of seem like more than just her friend too.”

“Well, we’re going out this Saturday, so yes, we are more than just friends.” he replied superiorly.

Bobby’s expression went blank, taken aback almost. “Oh,” he murmured.

Connor grinned smugly, “Why, does it bother you that we’re going out with each other?”

“No!” Bobby remarked hastily. “We’re just friends!”

Connor chuckled amusedly, “I’m sure if it were up to you, you would be much more than that though.”

My eyes widened in shock, as I sat there in silence. What was I supposed to say though? If I spoke, it would only make things more awkward.

“That’s not true!” Bobby cried. “And I don’t know who you think you are, but you can’t just randomly start accusing me of things when you don’t even know me.”

“Actually, I can.” Connor retorted. “Especially when you intrude on my conversation with Rachel.”

Bobby looked at me, his eyes cold, “Can I please just talk to you for one minute in private. Then I’ll leave, I swear.”

“Connor’s not leaving.” I repeated. This made him even angrier than before.
“Then I will.” he hissed, and that’s exactly what he did.