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steps,
she saw Wyatt and his best friend, Kareem Reynolds, walking nearby. As always
happened when she saw Wyatt, her heart skipped a beat. And, again, as always,
she didn't know why. Yes, she had crushed on him since they were 8 years old,
but she had Alex, the perfect boyfriend. Besides, she and Wyatt had barely
talked since before junior high. The last time they'd even been alone together
was in eighth grade, right before Alex asked her out for the first time, and
that had only been for a few seconds.
    So why could she
never get him out of her mind? He couldn't compete with Alex in the looks
department. Not to say he wasn't good looking, with his stylishly-messy brown
hair, cute face with very few blemishes (he had a face full of pimples their
freshman and sophomore years, but his mom had taken him to a dermatologist, who
cleared him up), and his tall, lanky frame. He didn't have much in the way of muscle
tone, but despite dating Alex, a bona fide hunk, she didn't care about that. Wyatt's
eyes were one of the main things that melted her — soft brown that she'd stare
into forever if she could. He dressed like a total geek, but she meant that as
a compliment, as she loved seeing what shirt he'd wear each day. Her favorites
were a tie between his Mister Incognito shirts, a sci-fi spy series which was
her absolute favorite TV show ever, and his shirt which read, "Total
Geek." That one made her see that if he embraced the word, she should,
too.
    Of course, most
girls would call her crazy for lusting after Wyatt when she already had Alex, who
had the face and body of a model. He spent plenty of time in the gym lifting
weights, and it showed. He wasn't overly muscular, as that would hamper his
ability to play quarterback, but he had the right amount of muscle which made
his body look, well, perfect, as so many girls in school liked to tell her when
they exclaimed how lucky she was. Honestly, she didn't think of herself as
lucky; she merely thought of Alex as her boyfriend. Of course, she could see
why they said it. Not only was he smoking hot, but next year she got to go to
Michigan for college. Sure, it was too far away from her family, and, in the
winter, way too cold for her Southern Californian tastes, but a good school for
free was nothing to sneeze at. No doubt she could get scholarships to other
schools, but probably not the entire cost, including living expenses, like she
was now. Plus, this way she and Alex could stay together.
    "Hey, Wyatt,
wait up," Alex said. Mandy gave a double take. She knew they'd shared a
couple of classes in the past, and Alex often nodded hello to Wyatt and Kareem
when he saw them, but he never stopped to talk.
    "Hi,
Alex," Wyatt said.
    Kareem said,
"What's up?" to Alex, and tipped an imaginary cap to her and Luci.
"Ladies."
    "Always the
smooth one, Kareem," Luci said. "Haven't seen you since first period.
And hi, Wyatt. An actual long time no see."
    "Yeah. Hi,
Luci." He then turned to her and gave a smile and a slight blush.
"Hi, Mandy."
    She suppressed a
giggle and hoped she didn't blush, too. No one else but Luci would notice, but
she'd pick on her later. "Hi, Wyatt. Hi, Kareem."
    "Did you read
all of the instructions for the author report in Language Arts?" Alex
asked Wyatt. "I stuffed mine into my folder."
    "You need to
ask?" Luci said. "There's a reason he gets better grades than
you."
    "Hey, I bet
our grades are pretty similar." He gave Wyatt a friendly punch to the
shoulder. "His classes are just harder than mine."
    Wyatt shrugged.
"Yeah, I read it. Looks like it's going to be a fun project."
    "It does, but
is it only classic authors, or can we choose anyone? My uncle is a Stephen King
junkie, and he has all of his books. He'd even walk me through some of them. It
would make my semester easier."
    "Your
semester doesn't need to be any easier," Mandy said, giving him a nudge.
    "Whatever."
    "You might
want to ask Mrs. Anderson," Wyatt said, "but as far as I could tell,
it could be