Twisted

Sean Caine smiled at me in homeroom every day for the next two weeks. The first couple times he did it, I turned around to see who was standing behind me. Then came the day he got up from his chair and hobbled over to sit in the seat in front of me.
"Hi," he said.
Stunned silence on my part.
He blinked his eyes. "Are you mad at me or something?"
I choked out an answer and he smiled so brightly that small holes were burned in my retinas. He let me sign his crutch in an open space close to his left hand. He had a packet of Sharpies in his sweater pocket. I chose blue.
After that I performed superhuman feats of speed to make it to his fourth- and eighth period classes so I could accidentally be standing close by in case he decided to smile again. He let me carry his books. People were confused- Why is handsome with the dweeb? I didn't know, either, but as long as he wanted me around, I was going to be there.
Meanwhile, my grades were being flushed down the toilet. I learned that I remembered nothing from Trig, that Paradise Lost was not the book they based the survival reality shows on, and that using search-engine translations is a bad way to do Spanish homework.
Luckily, Dad had to work fourteen hours a day because of some government audit. He left a letter taped to my bedroom door, explaining that I should re-dye my hair if I wanted people to take me seriously.
I blew a strand of my neon blue hair out of my eyes.
If my luck held, he'd have a heart attack before report cards came out.
Hardy's campaign to make Aaron fall in love with her was in full swing. She drove him everywhere, even to buy cups. If he had a test, she helped him study. If he sneezed, she appeared out of nowhere with a tissue. Every time he had a game, Hardy was pacing on the sidelines.
But Aaron was holding out. It didn't matter what Hardy did; he refused to move her from friend-who-was-a-girl status up to girlfriend.
It was killing her. She told me the problem was her lack of athletic genes. She had a permanent doctor's note from gym because she had been hurt in there so many times. But to capture the heart of my brother, twerp jock that he was, she was willing to do something along the lines of sports.
After a lot of pleading and attempted bribery, the JV Cheerleading coach finally gave in and offered her a two-week trial. Hardy could manage the squad if she fit with the team's "chemistry".
I had a bad feeling about this.

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