I stared down at Stacey’s note. It gave me a great feeling to see her handwriting once again. We used to write dozens of notes a day, and I had missed that when we were fighting. Now, even when we didn’t have classes together, we’d pass notes in the halls. We used to leave them in each other’s lockers, but I had learned my lesson about that.

Still, even Stacey couldn’t help me figure out my life these days. On the one hand, Jeremy was avoiding me. I barely saw him at all on Tuesday. On Wednesday he passed me in the hall twice, but both times he just waved without even smiling. He acted as if it would kill him to stop and talk. By Thursday morning I was going out of my mind. That’s when the notes really started to fly between Stacey and me.

Alan, on the other hand, wouldn’t leave me alone. Not that I minded, exactly. I loved getting so much attention. I don’t know what it is, but a lot of times I go after boys who are more, I don’t know, unavailable. Alan was the opposite. He was so available it was ridiculous.

Every day he told me I looked great and commented on some specific part of my outfit. “I love that vest,” he’d say. “Did you really make the buttons yourself? Awesome.”

And Stacey says boys don’t notice what we wear.

He would smile at me in the halls, save me a seat in study hall, buy me treats at lunchtime. “I know you like the kind with walnuts better,” he said as he handed over a chocolate-chip cookie, “but this is all they had left.”

He gave me presents too. Just little things, but they were carefully picked out. One day he brought me a magnet with a picture of a Michelangelo sculpture on it. Another day he gave me some charcoals. I knew he’d bought both at the art supply store I go to.

Alan was really being nice. And I can’t explain it, but he did it without acting pushy or desperate or anything. He surprised us all with how normal he could act when he wanted to.

At lunch on Wednesday, even Kristy commented on it. “Alan has — changed,” she said in a bewildered tone. Stacey and I had been talking about him, but I hadn’t thought Kristy was listening. She seemed too busy poking at her “mystery meat,” making faces as she tried to guess what animal it came from.

“He really has,” I agreed. “I know it’s hard to believe, but I think Alan Gray may finally be growing up.”

“Ha,” she said, putting down her fork. “We’ll see about that. I’m not about to stop checking for whoopee cushions when I sit down near him.”

“Fine,” I said. “You do what you want. But I’m telling you, he’s different.” I had seen another side of Alan. A softer, romantic side. A side I had to admit I liked. Not that the old Alan was gone completely. Alan Gray was still a clown at heart. But I liked that too. He could always make me laugh just by pretending to slip in a puddle or by mimicking our principal.

On Wednesday afternoon, as I was leaving school, I ran into Cary Retlin.

“Hey, Claudia,” he said. “Are you in a hurry?”

I shrugged. “Not really. What’s up?”

He fell into step beside me. “I just wanted to talk to you about something,” he began. “Actually, about Alan.”

I paused. “What about him?”

Cary met my eyes. “He really likes you, you know.”

I smiled. “I could kind of tell.”

“I mean he likes you,” Cary said without smiling back.

“Uh-huh.” I stopped walking. “Cary, do you have a problem with that?” I asked.

He stopped too. “Not exactly. I just — well, Alan’s a friend. A good friend. I don’t want to see him get hurt.”

“Who says I’m going to hurt him?” I felt a twinge of guilt when I remembered how I’d been tempted to break our date for the dance. I started walking again, and Cary followed me.

“I know you might not mean to.” Cary was still looking very serious. “But let’s face it, Claudia. He thinks that note was for him. I know it wasn’t.”

I drew a breath. “How do you know about the note?” Had Alan passed it all over school? I felt my face grow hot.

“He showed it to me,” Cary said. “But just to me,” he added hastily, seeing my look. “And I figured that you must have left it that day I opened his locker for you.”

I felt a little better. “But how did you know it wasn’t for him?”

Cary shrugged. “I just knew. I’ve seen how you look at that Jeremy guy. You never looked at Alan that way.”

I had to admit that Cary was good at noticing things. But I was not about to admit that he was right. So I kept quiet.

“Anyway,” Cary continued. “I can’t help wondering why you’re stringing him along.”

I stared at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s an expression,” he explained. “It means you’re keeping his hopes up, even though you’re not at all interested in him.”

“I know what it means,” I said, kicking a stone that appeared in my path. “But it’s not what I’m doing. I like Alan, I really do. And I’ve been clear with him. He knows we’re going to the dance as friends.”

“He may know that,” said Cary, “but it’s not what he’s hoping for.”

I gulped. I knew Cary was right.

“He’s trying really, really hard to convince you to see him as more than a friend,” Cary went on.

I nodded. “I know that,” I said softly.

“So please, just don’t hurt him.” Cary stopped walking, and I did too.

“That’s the last thing I want to do,” I told him. And I meant it.

“Good,” said Cary. “That’s all I wanted to know.” He gave me a little salute. “Later, Claudia,” he said. He turned and walked off quickly in the other direction, leaving me to stare after him.

Everything was changing so fast. First, Alan turned out to be a sweet, caring guy. Then Cary Retlin showed me his sensitive side. What was going to happen next?

By Thursday afternoon I was feeling worn out. Alan had continued to give me all sorts of attention, and Jeremy had continued to avoid me. Cary gave me a Look every time he saw me in the hall. I was beginning to wish the dance were already over. Things were too complicated. At least I didn’t think they could get worse.

I was wrong.

“Did you hear?” Stacey asked. She had stopped by my locker at the end of last period.

“Hear what?”

“Oh, you didn’t,” she said. “Oops. Well, it’s not great news.”

“What? Tell me!”

“Kristy told me that Mary Anne told her that she heard that Jeremy asked Emily Bernstein to the dance.”

Thud. That was the sound of my heart hitting the floor.

Stacey gave me a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry, Claudia. I know he would rather have gone with you.”

“Sure,” I said, feeling dazed. Automatically, I put my math book into my backpack. “I guess that’s it, then,” I said.

“What do you mean?”

“There’s no chance for me and Jeremy.”

“You don’t know that,” Stacey said firmly. “You guys still haven’t talked, have you?”

I shook my head.

“Then nothing’s for sure. You need to talk to him.”

She was right, and I knew it. So when I saw Jeremy in the hall as we were leaving school, I called to him.

“Hi,” he answered. He didn’t meet my eyes.

“I already heard that you asked Emily to the dance, in case you’re wondering,” I told him.

“So? What else should I have done? Wait for you to do something you don’t want to do?” His face looked pinched.

I stared at him, shaking my head. “Forget it,” I said. “Just forget it.” I turned and walked away.