For some reason, Lisa said she wanted to meet with Micah on Tuesday already instead of Sunday. When he'd told her Ryan had training then, so he couldn’t bring the other boy along if she wanted him to, she’d said that she knew already. Apparently, her class left the field just as his was walking on.

Didn’t that mean she was supposed to have class then? Micah had asked.

“I have my grade already,” she’d told him. “No way I’m going back there. Besides, Mr. Bates-”

“Can go screw himself?”

“Exactly!” She'd grinned at him.

Micah still felt a little awkward cussing at someone he didn’t even know, but at least it was one thing that he’d done right. The whole trip home, he beat himself up over all the things he’d said and done that day. Most of all — apparently, he’d stared at Annebeth like a creep for ten minutes.

He just wanted to put his head through a wall, or scream his lungs out, or scrub his hair until it was gone. He felt like there were a thousand words in his throat that were all tumbling around and suffocating him.

Still, Micah was glad because he’d learned two things from his first lesson with Lisa. One, he had a lot of work to do.

And two …

He was pretty sure he had a crush on Annebeth.

A girl he had just met.

When he let himself think that, he blushed, screamed, and ran the rest of the way home like the giggling kid that he was.