THE NEXT MORNING, all of the juniors were called into the auditorium for assembly. Alicia and Carmen walked in together. Alicia was wearing a denim bustier, black silk harem pants, and platform shoes that were hand-me-downs from her superstylish mom. Carmen was dressed in one of her own creations—a white halter-topped jumpsuit with a fitted dark denim blazer over it.

“How much do I love assembly?” Alicia asked. “If this goes long enough, I’ll not only miss Russian lit, but part of AP biology, too.”

Carmen looked surprised. “Come on, Lici, you’re Miss four-point-oh GPA. I would think you would hate skipping classes.”

As the students rushed in and filled the auditorium, Alicia pouted. “I know. I know. When it comes to the GPA, I’m rocking it. But if one more teacher says, ‘Fun and games are over. Every grade counts for your college application now,’ I’m going to scream! I don’t want the fun and games to be over. We spent so much of sophomore year juggling school and building up Amigas Inc. I feel like the fun is just starting.”

“Hey, Alicia,” Gaz called out. Tanned and handsome in an ocean blue button-down, he gestured toward the seats next to him.

Carmen followed her friend over to him. But by the time they got there, there was only one seat available.

Carmen pushed Alicia toward it. “Sit with your boyfriend, chica.”

Alicia looked uncertain. “I don’t want you to go solo.”

Carmen laughed. “It’s only an assembly.” She’d survive. And she would. Ever since her talk with her ex, she had been fine about the Domingo situation. He was away at college. She had just turned sixteen. It’d be fun to be single for a little while.

Walking toward the back of the auditorium, she scanned the rows, looking for a place to sit. There was Jamie, seated with the new art teacher, Ms. Bagley. The two of them looked to be involved in an intense discussion. Carmen guessed it was probably about something unbelievably old-school and esoteric, like Michelangelo or Gustav Klimt. While Jamie liked to play the hood card, the longer her friends knew her, the more it became apparent that she was equal parts South Bronx tough girl and art nerd. They’d made that discovery when the whole crew had gone to New York after Carmen’s quince for a visit and Jamie had insisted on making their first priority a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Five hours after entering, they were all ready to gouge their eyes out, but Jamie was just getting started.

Carmen was still looking for a seat when she heard her name called. “Carmen, sit with us!” Even before she turned around, she knew it was Dorinda and the SoBees. She tried to pretend she hadn’t heard them and kept looking. She could hear the principal, Mrs. Richards, addressing the room. “Everyone, please take a seat,” she said, her voice booming over the microphone. “It’s not a school dance. It’s assembly. If you’re separated from your friends, rest assured, they’ll be waiting for you at lunchtime in your prearranged meeting places.”

Then another voice called her name. “Carmen, over here!” She looked and saw that Carolina, in the middle of the center section, was gesturing to her.

Despite the fact that this meant squeezing past a dozen annoyed classmates, Carmen shimmied down the row and took the seat next to Carolina.

“Thanks,” Carmen whispered. “You saved me from the SoBees.”

Carolina smiled. “Glad I could help.” Then she gestured to the cute boy sitting next to her and whispered, “Do you know Maxo? He’s the brains behind Blue and Green.”

Maxo looked embarrassed. “Well, that’s not true. But if I’m the brains, Carolina is the heart. She really cares about the environment.”

Maxo was Haitian American; he had cocoa brown skin and a short curly Afro. While Mrs. Richards went on and on about the dos and don’ts of using personal electronic devices in school, Carmen answered texts from Alicia and stole glances at Maxo. He was super-cute and seemed supersmart. She wondered why she hadn’t noticed him before. But then she remembered that she’d been focused on Domingo. And it didn’t matter anyway, as clearly, having an interest in him was out of the question, since he and Carolina seemed to be an item. Their foreheads almost touched as they whispered excitedly about carbon footprints, roof gardens, and how cool it would be if all of the school’s floors were done in sustainable bamboo.

As the assembly dragged on, Carmen came to a rather startling revelation.

True, she had been honest with her friends when she told them she didn’t feel the slightest pang when she saw Jamie with Dash or Alicia with Gaz. But she sincerely hoped that her new amiga and client didn’t ask her to hang out with her often, because every time Carmen looked at Maxo, pangs were all she felt. It seemed that somewhere between sitting down and now, Carmen had developed a serious crush.

After the assembly was over, Carmen gave Carolina a quick hug. “So, we’re meeting tonight about your quince, right?”

“Yep,” Carolina replied. “At Las Ramblas. See you at seven.”

“Nice to meet you, Maxo,” Carmen said, trying to sound casual.

“The pleasure was all mine,” he said, holding her hand as if he were a character in an old-fashioned movie—as if he might kiss it. “May we walk you to your class? What way you headed?”

Carmen could feel her knees buckling. May we walk you to your class? Wow! He was such a gentleman! How nice of him to be so concerned about the earth, because he was clearly from another planet. No boys she knew, not even Domingo, were this polite.

“I’m going over to the Humanities floor: Latin American lit,” Carmen answered.

“How unfortunate,” Maxo replied. “Carolina and I have oceanography. And…”

Carolina looked at her watch. “And it’s all the way over in the annex. We’re going to be late if we don’t hurry.”

Carmen waved good-bye and then walked slowly down the hall. She felt as if she were in one of those music videos where the girl singer is standing on a corner in New York City and all the people around her are moving so fast that they seem to be just flashes of light. Fast-moving balls of light: that was what all the students looked like to her as she walked down the hall. It was as though Carmen had been hit and pushed out of orbit. All because she had just met this guy—this obviously taken guy—and he had held her hand.

She had to fight the urge not to break out into a cheesy love song, not to start humming a Leona Lewis tune or something by Miranda Cosgrove.

Suddenly, she felt an arm on her shoulder, and she jumped, startled. Turning, she saw that it was Jamie. They had Latin American lit together.

“Didn’t you hear me call you, chica?” Jamie asked.

Carmen shook her head.

Jamie looked at her quizzically. “You have the strangest expression on your face. What’s the qué pasa?”

Carmen smiled. “I was just thinking that I might start singing a song.”

Her friend sighed. “Like I said, strange. Why don’t you sing us an excuse for the principal’s office? Because the bell rang five minutes ago. And you know Señora Gonzalez won’t let us into class without a late pass.”

But even the stern lecture she got from Señora Gonzalez upon entering the class late couldn’t burst the happiness bubble in Carmen’s heart. All afternoon, she kept thinking about Maxo. That morning, when she’d gotten out of bed, she hadn’t even known he existed. But now, he was in her thoughts…for better or worse.