#3 Truth and Kisses by Laurie Friedman Page A

around in a giant circle that didn’t lead down a path toward any answers.
    It had me a little weirded out, so after lunch, I decided to take Gilligan on a walk. Surprise, surprise—when I did, I saw Matt. “Want to hang out?” he asked.
    â€œSure,” I said. Since all my other friends were off together making posters and, in all likelihood, talking about me, I didn’t see that it made much difference. So I went over to Matt’s, and we sat on his couch and watched TV. For a Saturday, it was strangely quiet at his house. “Where are your parents?” I asked.
    â€œMy mom is at work,” Matt said. He didn’t mention his dad. Then he looked at me. “I really don’t want to talk.”
    Did that mean he wanted to kiss? That’s all I could figure. And even though the only thing I’ve been thinking about lately is getting back together with Billy, as I sat there beside Matt on the couch and thought about Brynn talking to Billy about me and Billy barely speaking to me this morning, what I was thinking was that I wanted to kiss Matt too. I moved a little closer to him and tilted my face toward his. It seemed like the perfect moment.
    Matt looked at me. Then he looked down. “You should probably get going,” he said. “I have baseball practice this afternoon.”
    It wasn’t what I’d expected him to say. I felt like such an idiot. The next thing I knew, I was walking home with Gilligan and a head full of even worse thoughts than I’d gone there with.
    The whole day was so weird. Sometimes it seems like Matt likes me, and then he has a chance to kiss me, but doesn’t. It’s so hard to figure him out.
    He’s like a Rubik’s Cube. Nothing ever lines up perfectly.
    Does he like me? Or doesn’t he? How does Billy feel? Did Brynn tell him what she saw? Does Billy still feel the way he did the other night when we talked? Was he really in a hurry to go this morning because he was late?
    Way too many questions. Not enough answers.
    Monday, February 3, 1:39 p.m.
Study Hall
    This morning, the school dance was the only thing anyone was talking about. When I got to school, there were posters up everywhere. There was a student government rep stationed at every poster passing out teaser pins that said, What will happen at the dance?
    Brynn had her camera around her neck, and she was following Billy everywhere, snapping pictures and making notes on her phone. When Billy saw me, he did this weird half-wave. I couldn’t tell if it meant “I’m too busy being president to stop and talk” or “I’m pissed.”
    â€œIsn’t this cool?” Brynn said when she passed me in the hall.
    â€œYeah,” I lied.
    Friday, February 7, 9:45 p.m.
Back to normal
    Until this afternoon, I would’ve classified this as a mostly uneventful week of unsuccessful attempts to a) teach Des to dance, b) figure out if Billy still feels the same way he did when he said, “I miss this,” and c) forget about Matt saying, “You should probably get going.” Then something eventful happened.
    Brynn called and asked if I wanted to go shopping tomorrow for dresses to wear to the dance. “It’s been way too long since we’ve done something fun together,” she said. Then she went on for a long time about how much fun we always have when we shop together—which we do, it’s true. So I said yes, and as we talked about where we were going to go and what we were going to buy and when we would meet, it felt like everything was normal again.
    10:02 p.m.
Back to NOT
    I thought about it more, and just because Brynn asked me to go shopping with her doesn’t mean her feelings about Billy have changed. For all I know, she wants me to go shopping with her because she knows I trust her taste in clothes. How do I know she’s not just trying to get me to buy a dress that looks terrible on me? What was I thinking?