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    So, friendless and outcast, I had been working on my biology homework outside alone after a chess match. (I stopped competing when it became too much for my family to manage.) I was waiting for my dad to pick me up when Scarlett approached me.
    â€œYou still here?” she had asked. She was wearing her soccer uniform, and the rest of her team were straggling from the field to the locker room behind her.
    â€œObviously,” I said. I tore myself away from my homework to squint up at her. “Did you have a good practice?”
    Her cheeks were blotchy from the activity, but despite that, she was still unfairly attractive. She has blue-gray eyes. The color isn’t as remarkable as the fact that they are so bright , and lined by naturally dark lashes that seem at odds with her lighter hair. I had noticed her around school before, had been in a couple of classes and group projects with her, but I think this was our first really significant exchange.
    â€œYes, actually. It was really good,” she replied, sounding a little surprised. “Usually at this point in the season we all still hate each other. We’re starting to work as a team early.”
    â€œHow long have you played soccer?”
    â€œSince I was a kid,” she said with the kind of arrogance that comes from doing something for a long time, and talking to someone who knows nothing about it.
    â€œWell, congratulations,” I said, for lack of anything better. There was an awkward moment where neither of us spoke or moved, both waiting for the other to take action. Finally, I broke the tension by picking up my biology textbook and leafing through it for the quiz in the next day’s chapter on the human genome project.
    â€œAre you a nerd?” Scarlett asked.
    I stared up at her, a little astonished at the brazenness of the question.
    â€œI don’t know,” I replied when I got my wits back. “Maybe? I suppose so. Why? What do you mean by nerd , anyway?”
    â€œWell, the only reason I stopped by was to see if you could do my science homework. See, I’m falling behind in class, and I just don’t have time to catch up. You always seem to know the answers in class, and you’re always reading, so I figured you know the stuff and don’t sweat it like I do. I’m okay for most things, but when I don’t get something, I just don’t get it, you know? I’d make it worth your time,” she added hurriedly, perhaps in response to my darkening expression. “I’d pay you for the assignments you do for me. But, like I said, I’m in the red zone here. I mean, I’m in trouble . I need help.”
    â€œIt wouldn’t hurt you to figure it out for yourself,” I said sharply. My head was ringing with the only reason , and I found the rest of her speech increasingly disgusting as well. “You can’t go through life expecting people to just give you what you want.”
    Scarlett bristled. “I know that.”
    â€œClearly you don’t, or you wouldn’t be begging for help from someone you don’t know. And offering to buy it! This is unethical.”
    Her face was even redder than it had been when she had come up to the bench. “I didn’t think you would respond like this. So you won’t help me?”
    â€œNo,” I said, dismissing her by pulling my book up to my face. “And clearly you don’t know me if you thought I wouldn’t be offended by your offer to buy my help to do your homework for you .”
    â€œ Clearly you’re right,” she said mockingly, voice heavy with disdain. “Forget it, Audrey. In fact, do me a favor and forget I ever stopped to talk to you, okay?”
    â€œBelieve me, I’m trying to wipe it from my mind already.”
    She gave a derisive snort and stomped away.
    We haven’t really spoken since. The heated exchange left a frostiness between us