I dressed slowly on Monday morning. I was trying to avoid the inevitable. I knew I looked sexy in my new clothes, but I didn't necessarily want that. I was fine with being invisible except for my little group of friends. But I knew that Latisha wouldn't let me get away with not wearing them.

"Woo-oow," Allegra murmured softly and sleepily as she got dressed herself. "You look hot. I like your hair."

"Thanks," I mumbled. I stole a muffin from her mini fridge. And just to take the attention off of me, asked; "Where were you this weekend? You missed out."

"With Erik," Allegra told me.

"Doesn't he give you any time to breathe? He's with you all the time," I commented. I slipped into some black flats. Peyton wanted me to wear heels with the dress, but there was no way.

"It's called being in a relationship," Allegra snapped defensively, with perhaps too much venom than necessary. "Not that you would know about it."

I raised an eyebrow. I would normally let it go, but this pissed me off. "There's no need to be so rude all the time, you know."

Allegra sighed and sat on her bed. "Sorry. Long weekend." When I raised my eyebrow again at this, she hurriedly said, "We stayed up late, I'm just tired. But it's worth it, I love him. I love him," she repeated, as if trying to convince herself.

"Cool," I responded, not knowing what to say. I slipped out the door to class.

In English, I sat by Xander as usual. "Hey."

He nodded to me. "I'm told that Peyton returns feelings to me?" he asked.

I nod. "Si."

"So you're Mexican, eh?" he asked me.

I nodded. "So, you're going to ask her out then?" I mean, I was totally supportive. Hot guy gets the hot girl. Story of the day, right?

"We already are."

"Wait, what?" I asked. "When did this happen?"

"This morning, in geometry," he told me. "She kind of hinted it to me. Like, 'it might be nice to have another chance to date you before you graduate. You are a senior after all'," the last part he said in a la-de-da girl voice.

"Uh huh," I muttered. "Sounds like her."

"Mollie and Xander," Mrs. Potter called from the front. "If you would please, as you young people say nowadays, 'shut up', I can make my announcement."

I shut my mouth and Mrs. Potter began talking. "As most of you know, we have a Shakespearean project coming up in the next week, involving research and partnership. "

There was a slight buzz of talking, friends making plans to be partners. Xander nudged me in the side and gave me a nod. I nodded back, but Mrs. Potter wasn't finished.

"… And I will be assigning partnerships," she continued. Groans erupted, and Mrs. Potter shushed us. "I have been doing so for years, and there is no reason that I should stop. I have found that it expands social groups and stimulates communication."

Yeah, right.

"Today, we will do an exercise to get to know each other, but before that, I must assign the partners. Jane Brown and Peter Davis, table one."

As everyone groaned or cheered with their partners, I waited for my name to be called.

"Mollie Watson and Evan Collins, table seven."

I slowly moved to that table, searching for my partner.

"Hey," a voice said to me as I slid onto my seat.

"Hey," I glanced over at my new partner. He was the classic hipster type- wearing large glasses that somehow looked good, a knit hat, a plaid shirt that was unbuttoned, revealing a dark purple shirt underneath, and ripped jeans.

"Class," Mrs. Potter said. "Take out a piece of paper and write a description of your partner—but it must be in Shakespearean form. It must be appropriate, and you may talk to get to know your partner."

Well, fabulous. That meant that, no matter what I wrote, it would sound all dramatic.

I turned to Mr. Hipster dude. "So."

"So," he nodded back. His voice was quiet. "Um.. What do you like to do?"

"I dunno," I shrugged. "Um… I like the beach. I like music."

He nodded and scribbled something on his paper.

"What about you?" I asked awkwardly.

"I—uh," he murmured. "I play guitar."

Naturally, hipster stuff. I nodded.

"So, I guess we could write stuff now," I mumbled.

I turned to my paper and wrote…

What was I supposed to write? I didn't know, and five minutes later, I had nothing but "Evan—oh wearer of the big glasses."

"Now switch papers with your partners and read the descriptions. This is a self grade assignment, the clipboard will go around in a moment and you may mark the grade that you think your partner should receive beside it. Remember to be fair and mature about it," Mrs. Potter droned.

I didn't even look at Evan as I slid the paper over to him. He handed me mine and I began to read.

Mollie—

May your ocean blue eyes shine on

And the fire in your hair never cease

Keep your smile, that lovely smile, even in the face of adversity

And your pink cheeks may fade with time

But never let yourself fade.

"Well," he asked when I looked up, "How did you like it?"

"My hair isn't completely fiery red," I told him in response.

He laughed, showing off white teeth. "That's all you have to say?"

"I liked it," I muttered.

"I liked yours too," he told me. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"What?" he said. "It amused me. I do wear big glasses."

The grading clipboard came to my spot, and I quickly scribbled an "A" in the spot next to Evan's name.

He wrote something, then passed it on.

The bell rang in the next second and I hightailed it out of there.

This chapter was super crappy, I know. It was actually an important chapter, though. Let's just say there's going to be a love triangle in the future. Maybe. If I decide to do it. But, either way, Evan was important. And so was the part with Allegra.