Just Kidding by Annie Bryant Page A

morning, but it hadn’t been her fault she was there. She shouldn’t feel awkward about it. It had nothing to do with her. Besides, Kevin had been so nice before all of the drama began.
    So when Kevin got into the lunch line behind her, Isabel gave him a friendly smile.
    He smiled back. “I can tell you’re a real artist,” he said.
    Isabel looked at him questioningly. “You can? How?”
    â€œBecause, Isabel,” Kevin said, “you have a big purple paint splotch on your shirt.” He pointed to her sleeve. And as she looked down and discovered the enormous splotch, he started laughing.
    When Isabel looked at Kevin, she saw that his eyes were smiling. He was laughing with her, not at her, and Isabel began to laugh too.
    They laughed all the way down the lunch line, even though it wasn’t really that funny. It was just one of those laugh fests that was contagious—once it got started it couldn’t stop. Isabel and Maeve called those laugh-a-thons . It was on their list of totally favorite things.
    The problem with this laugh-a-thon was that everyone in the cafeteria saw them. And so the buzz began. The buzz was definitely not one of Isabel’s favorite things. The buzz could ruin your life. And now the buzz was spreading all over the cafeteria as if it were an infectious disease, and it was all about Kevin Connors and Isabel.
    â€œDid you see that?” “Isabel Martinez and Kevin Connors!” “Well, I heard that he and Amanda are dunzo!” “And did you hear that they broke up in the art room—and Isabel was right there ?” “No!” “I swear, it’s true!” “Maybe she was the reason….”
    Leading the whisperer brigade, of course, were Anna and Joline. They were soon joined by Kiki Underwood, who was actually meaner, if that was even possible. The BSG called Kiki the “Empress of Mean” because she was so outright mean to anyone who was not in her exclusive group. The three chief gossipers were sitting at their usuallunch table, pretending to talk to each other but whispering loud enough for anyone who passed by to hear.
    Amanda Cruz, who was waiting in line with some of her friends from the basketball team, saw the conversation between Kevin and Isabel and heard the buzz spreading around the cafeteria too. All morning she’d wondered whether Kevin was going out with someone else at the same time as he was dating her, and now it seemed that her suspicions were confirmed.
    Amanda held her head high and pretended not to notice that anything unusual was happening. Her friends talked loudly and tried to ask lots of questions to distract her attention from what was going on. She carefully turned her back so she wouldn’t see Kevin and pretended she was interested in the talk about Spirit Week, but she couldn’t help sneaking glances around the cafeteria.
    Isabel picked up a salad and some fruit juice and headed to the BSG table. Isabel wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, but she could feel people looking at her when she walked by. So what! Two kids have a laugh-a-thon in the lunch line. What’s the big deal ? she wondered. It happens every day .
    When she sat down, Maeve’s comment took her slightly off guard. “Izzy, what’s going on with you and Kevin?”
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Isabel asked, trying to understand what Maeve was getting at. Had everyone heard about the whole break-up incident? Isabel slowly uncovered her salad and slit open the packet of dressing, waiting for Maeve to continue.
    â€œI mean, the whole school is talking about it, like you are his new crush or something.” Maeve gestured dramatically around the room. Isabel, looking around, realized with a sinking heart that Maeve was right. Dozens of eyes watched her furtively. Heads gestured from her to Kevin, who had sat down at Chase’s table. Finally, Isabel’s eyes rested on the Queens