I just had to get through one more day before the weekend started, and I was so looking forward to it. Meeting Jared had tilted my equilibrium, and I wanted to tilt my world back to normal. I'd bought a thousand-piece puzzle that I'd been itching to do. There was something about concentrating on fitting puzzle pieces together that left no room to think about anything else, and I needed that. But my friends had other ideas.

"I don't want to go," I said, shaking my head. "I wasn't planning on doing much this weekend."

"That's boring," Stacy exclaimed, looking to Kennedy for help in persuading me to go. "How are you supposed to meet new people if you spend the entire weekend at home in your room?"

"She's right. You need to go out and live a little. You never know, you might even meet a guy."

Seeing the two determined faces of my friends, I knew I was fighting a losing battle.

"Okay," I relented. Maybe they had a point. It would probably be nice to go out and spend time with my friends. I just hoped that I wouldn't see Jared, but it wasn't like we moved in the same circles as he did. So what was I worried about?

"I'll pick you guys up a couple of hours before the party and we can all get dressed together at my house," Stacy said with an excited smile. Kennedy was already nodding her head in agreement.

"Okay." I sighed. "I've got to go. I'll see you guys at lunch."

I hurried toward my locker, hoping to get the books I needed before I saw Jared again. I collected all my books for the entire day and stuffed them into my bag, which only resulted in making it really heavy; but on the other hand, less time spent at my locker meant that there was less of a chance of running into Jared. I was worried another encounter with him would end up making me look like a bigger idiot than I already felt like.

I closed my locker and spun the combination, adjusting the strap of my bag to ease the weight of the books inside. Glancing around the hallway quickly, I noticed Jared and his some of his friends standing a little farther down the hall. My stomach did a somersault—just the sight of him did weird things inside me. The foreign feeling of jealousy stabbed through me as I saw Jared lean toward Felicity and whisper something to her. He was so close that if I hadn't been watching intently, it would have looked like he was about to kiss her on the cheek.

What made the whole exchange worse was that Felicity had caught me watching the exchange and quickly leaned closer to him with a satisfied smile spread across her face, her eyes flashing with triumph. The message she was sending was clear: he was hers. Despite my mind telling me I didn't care, I actually did and it hurt a little. I hated how strongly I felt for him after just a short space of time.

I spun around and walked toward my next class and walked straight into someone. Hands reached out and steadied me as I looked up at the guy I'd walked straight into.

He was good looking, with short brown hair and dark blue eyes. He wore a black T-shirt and blue faded jeans.

"Sorry," I mumbled, feeling annoyed at the fact that I'd been so distracted.

"It's okay," he assured me as he released his hold on my arms. He smiled and I felt the heat of embarrassment fill my cheeks.

"Do you often walk around not looking where you're going?" he asked in a teasing tone.

"No." I shrugged. Just when I was busy ogling a certain somebody.

"I'm Andrew," he said as he leaned closer and looked intently at me. With his friendly smile and expressive eyes, I felt more at ease with him. Normally, I was really shy around boys, but this boy had such a laid-back way about him that I couldn't help but feel relaxed around him.

"I'm Ava," I replied. With my previous anxious feelings totally forgotten, I smiled back at Andrew.

A guy appeared beside him.

"This is David; David, this is Ava," he introduced.

David. The name sounded familiar.

"Hi," I said while I tried to remember where I was supposed to know him from.

"Hi," he greeted.

"I'll see you around, Ava," Andrew said with a wide smile before he walked away with his friend. I looked back and caught one last look at them before they disappeared down the hallway.

There was something I liked about him and I found myself smiling as I continued to my class. It was only when I got to my next class that I remembered why David sounded familiar. It was the guy who Stacy had a thing for.

Later in one of my classes I was surprised to be seated beside Andrew.

"You bump into anyone else today?" he asked, teasing.

"No," I said, shaking my head.

There was something about him that made me feel at ease around him even though I didn't know him. The class started and I pulled my attention to the teacher. After our class finished I stood up and picked up my bag.

"So what do you think of our school?" Andrew asked patiently, waiting next to me with his bag already packed and hitched over his shoulder.

"It's okay," I replied nonchalantly, shrugging.

"Have you managed to see much of the town yet?" he asked casually as he walked me out of the class. I only reached just past his shoulder.

"Not really. I've been spending most of my time unpacking. I used to spend some time here with my grandmother before I moved here, but that was some time ago."

"If you're up to it, I could take you out sometime and show you around, if you want?" he asked in a friendly tone.

Taken by surprise I said, "Okay."

"Andrew!" someone down the hall shouted.

"I've got to go, I'll talk to you later," he said.

"Okay," I said again. He gave me one last brilliant smile and then disappeared down the hall.

Maybe I was getting better at this 'making friends' thing than I initially thought. Or maybe it was the fact that the students at this small-town high school seemed friendlier than the students in my last high school.

Later, when I was sitting with the girls in the cafeteria, I mentioned my brief encounter with Andrew.

"Andrew Parker?" Kennedy asked.

"He asked if he could take me out sometime and show me the town," I revealed. Then, as if on cue, I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Andrew standing beside me.

"I totally forgot to get your number before," he said as he grinned sheepishly.

"Oh yeah, of course," I replied as I turned back to search in my bag for my phone. I caught my friends watching our interaction with secret smiles. We exchanged numbers and he promised to call and then he walked back across to his table of friends a few tables away from us.

"He's really cute," Stacy said.

"And he's a nice guy," Kennedy added.

"I'm sure he wants to show you more than the town," Stacy said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. I shook my head at her in disagreement.

It didn't matter how much I tried to explain to them that he was just being friendly and wasn't interested in me more than a friend, my friends were convinced he was. I liked him, but I wasn't sure if I liked him in that way.

"Looks like someone saw that," Kennedy said, staring toward the direction of Jared's usual table in the cafeteria.

I turned to see Jared glance toward Andrew with a strange look before he turned to look at me. I couldn't decipher the look on his face. He looked...agitated. I turned back to my table and shrugged.

"Interesting," Kennedy replied while she continued to look in the direction where Jared sat.

I don't know why they kept thinking there was more to this than there actually was—Andrew was just being friendly. Jared and Felicity seemed to be together so there was no reason for Jared to be interested. Besides, it wasn't like he would actually be interested in someone like me.