“How the hell did you get my number?”

I was shocked.  Completely shocked.  I glanced toward the kitchen, hoping, praying, that my mom hadn’t picked up the other cordless phone and decided to stalk the conversation because there was a guy on the other end.

Dannon, the reason for my anxiety, chuckled softly.  “Hello to you, too.”

My jaw, which had just managed to close itself, dropped again.  He was acting like we were best buds, like we’d talked on the phone a thousand times.  I found the strength to move and collapsed on the couch, my free hand going to my forehead.  I was going to have a pounding headache later. I could just tell.

“Brianne, language!” my mom hollered from the kitchen.  I snuck a glance in her direction, containing a small laugh.  She’d always been after me and Garrett for our terrible language.

“How did you get my number?” I demanded softly again, cleaning it up for my mom’s benefit—you know, in case she heard.

Everybody Loves Raymond continued to play, but I could barely hear it.  I could see Raymond’s parents arguing, I could see Raymond and his wife standing there and staring at them.  But I couldn’t really hear them.  The most I could hear was the automated laughter that the television programmers added in.

I stood up again, moving to the window.  The two squirrels were there, chasing each other after that single nut that both of them wanted.  I leaned against the sill, closing my eyes for a moment before opening them again.

“Well, I was looking through past yearbooks,” Dannon began.  “And . . .”

“And?” I pressed, my eyebrows rising.

Dannon paused for a moment before replying.  “I found your picture and called around in the phonebook.”

My eyes widened.  He’d found my last name in the yearbook and called around?  How many people with the last name Nichols lived in the area?  How many houses had he called going, “Hey, is this Brianne?” 

I pulled away from the window and shot another look toward the kitchen.  “So you’re saying,” I drawled lowly, moving toward the stairs.  At least this way I wouldn’t have to whisper, “that you found my last name in the yearbook and then called a bunch of people seeing if I would be the one that picked up?”

“Uh . . .” Dannon paused.  “Yeah.”

I wanted to laugh at how unsure he sounded, but I couldn’t bring myself too.  “And you did this why?” I demanded, hurrying up the stairs and making my way to my room. 

I opened up my bedroom door and flopped onto my bed, looking up at the ceiling.  This whole situation was just so weird.  I wondered for a moment if that apple had given him a concussion.  That would explain why he’d eat the apple off the floor.  I mean, the concussion could have made him crazy.  Or maybe he was always crazy and no one noticed.

“I don’t know, really,” Dannon answered finally.

My eyebrows knitted together in confusion.  “So you just had the urge to do the most legal way of stalking?”

Dannon chuckled.  “Sure, if you want to put it that way.”

I sat up, tempted to switch on my TV even though it didn’t work.  All I would get was static, but it would at least be something to look at.  “Are all you popular people like this?” I demanded bluntly, the words slipping off my tongue before I could stop them.

Dammit.  I really had to stop doing that.  It was making me look like a jerk.

Dannon didn’t sound offended, however.  I sagged back, relieved, as he said in a cheerful voice, “Popular?”  

My eyes widened.  Did he not realize how popular he was?  “Yeah.  You know, the people with crowds staring at their every move.”  I paused.  “You seriously don’t know how popular you are?”

“Enlighten me.”

I couldn’t help but laugh.  I stood up and grabbed a pen from my bureau.  I’d won it in a fair a couple years back.  It was a funky little pen with a weird little creature at the top with rubber strings hanging down so you could only see its huge, blue eyes peeking through all its man-made hair.  A pink cowboy hat sat on top of its head.  I swayed it back and forth, jumping slightly when the strings tickled my finger.

“I don’t need to enlighten you on the obvious,” I said, getting bored with the pen and setting it back on my bureau.  I grabbed a necklace I hadn’t put on since I’d gotten it at my fifteenth birthday party.  My grandparents thought I was all into jewelry and makeup like every other girl my age, so they always got me that kind of stuff.  “And I’m still awaiting the reason for this phone call.”

Dannon chuckled.  “I already told you—I don’t know.”

I seriously found that hard to believe.  You didn’t just grab a yearbook, find a girl’s last name, and then call all the Nichols families throughout the area.  You had to have some sense of reason.  At least, I thought you did.  “Uh-huh, okay.”

“So, what’s up?” Dannon asked lightly.

I cocked an eyebrow.  “Don’t you have football practice or something?” I asked, answering his question with a question.  “Or someone else to talk to?”

Dannon laughed.  “What makes you think that?”

I shrugged even though I knew he wouldn’t see it.  “I don’t know.  You’re always surrounded by people so you ought to have someone to talk to.”

“I have you to talk to.”

I was about to reply, but suddenly there was another voice in the background.  I tilted my head to the side, trying to figure out who it was.  Was it his mom or his dad?  Maybe a sibling?  That got me thinking—did he have any siblings?  Or was he an only child?

“Hold on,” Dannon murmured softly.  I could tell he’d pulled the phone away from his ear when he called.  “Yeah?”

I heard creaking.  Was he getting off his bed?  Or maybe it was his couch.  I sighed, sitting back down on my bed and resting my chin on my hand.  There was no point in guessing.  It wasn’t like I would know what was going on anyway.

“Dad?” I heard Dannon call, the curiosity clear in his voice.

“Oh, you’re on the phone,” came his dad’s voice.  He sounded a lot closer.  So either Dannon had come to him or he had come to Dannon.  Or maybe somewhere in between.

“Yeah,” Dannon said.  “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” said his dad.  “Just telling you I was home.  Who’s that on the phone?”

“Great.  Hi,” Dannon said, laughing.  “And it’s no one you know.”

What a great way to be introduced.  “No you one you know.” 

I sat there for a few moments, listening to him and his dad talk.  It was interesting how they talked to each other.  It wasn’t more of a father-son conversation, more like a conversation amongst equals.  It was like Dannon’s dad looked at him like they were the same age—like Dannon was mature enough to be considered older than he was.

“Remember, you have an appointment tomorrow after school,” his dad said, his voice becoming more distant.  He must have been walking away.

“All right,” Dannon called.  A moment later his voice turned back to me.  “Hey, sorry about that.”

“An appointment tomorrow, huh?” I said.  I bit down my curiosity on what the appointment was for.  I mean, who cared?  It was probably just some normal check-up or something.  Everyone had those.  Even Mr. Popular.

“Huh,” was Dannon’s reply.  I expected something along the lines of “Yeah an appointment.” Not “Huh.”

“What?” I asked, my eyebrows rising. 

“I had the suspicion that you were going to hang up on me.  I guess I was wrong.”

I realized now that I could have escaped any further conversation with him by hanging up the phone.  It would have been easier, and probably more satisfying than sitting there feeling awkward.  There was something about talking to Dannon that didn’t feel real.  Not like one of those freaky fantasies where all your dreams seemed to be coming true in one moment.  It was just . . . weird.  Like the most popular guy in school shouldn’t be on the phone with me.

“Would you like me to hang up on you?” I challenged, silently hoping he’d say yes.  “I could.”

“Nah.”  Dannon chuckled.  “You amuse me.”

Oh.  Well, that was cool?  I guess?  No, not really.

I looked up as my mom appeared in the doorway, wiping her hands on her pants.  The apron was gone, and I could see what she was wearing.  A simple orange tee with jeans.  Just one of the usual outfits that she wore around the house.  She was clean.  That was a good sign, right?  That meant she was done with the brownies—maybe even quit making them.  That would be nice.  I prayed silently that she threw them out.

“Who’s that on the phone?” she asked, smiling.

“Someone from school,” I replied quickly, hoping she wouldn’t dig further.  She’d absolutely flip if she found out it was Dannon of all people on the phone.  He had really bad timing, I hoped he knew.

“You talking to me?” Dannon asked, sounding confused.

“No!” I directed my voice to Dannon now.  “That doesn’t even make sense with the conversation.”

As Dannon laughed, obviously finding my exasperation amusing, I kept my eyes trained on my mom.  She was grinning—which, in this case was not a good sign—and playing with her bun.  She trotted forward, placing her hands on her hips.  “Who from school?” she inquired, wriggling her eyebrows.

Great.  So she already suspected it was Dannon.

“No one you know,” I said, trying to get her to back off.  It was only after the words were out that I realized I’d said exactly what Dannon said to his parent.

“Hey, that’s my line!” Dannon exclaimed playfully with a chuckle.

I sighed deeply, not able to handle two conversations at once.  “I’m going to hang up on you,” I told him, looking up at the ceiling. 

“Why?”

He said it childishly, like you expected a five-year-old to say.  I wondered if he normally spoke like that when he was joking around—like he was a little kid.  I had nothing against it.  I had a habit of changing the way I spoke when I was fooling around.  It was really amusing, to be honest.  “Because you never answered my question,” I drawled, quickly thinking of an excuse.

Before Dannon could say anything, I pressed the End button, cutting off our connection.  I sighed, turning back to my mom.  She was staring at me expectantly, as though she thought I was actually going to give her more information than “No one you know.”

Well, she was going to be disappointed.

“It’s just a person from school, Ma.  I’m not friends with them.”

My mom narrowed her eyes at me.  “Then how did they get our number?”

I really doubted that explaining to her that a guy from school that she thought I had a crush on had looked through yearbooks and then stalked the phonebooks for our number would really get her off my case.  So, instead, I settled with an, “I don’t know.”

“What did they want?” she asked, fiddling with her hands.

“Help on math homework,” I lied smoothly.  “Even though, you know, I suck at math.”

It was true.  Math was the one subject that I constantly struggled with.  It was the only subject that I didn’t manage to get an A in, which royally pissed me off.  Math and I weren’t best friends.  In fact, if someone came around and slaughtered it with a machete, I’d clap and laugh.

Even though she still looked suspicious, my mom nodded.  “All right.”  She paused and grinned.  “Now come downstairs and have a brownie!”

Oh.  So she hadn’t thrown them out.  Yay.

| It ♥ All ♥ Started ♥ With ♥ An ♥ Apple |

“No freaking way!” Kyla shrieked, gripping my arm so tightly that I feared it was going to fall off.

I never should have told Kyla that Dannon called last night.  I knew that I had to—I mean I couldn’t keep anything from her.  I always told her everything that happened to me, whether it was interesting or not.  But Kyla was never going to let this go.  She was going to yap never-endingly about how Dannon and I were “destined for each other.”

Yeah, right.

I wanted to punch that stupid apple in the face.  If it had a face.  Dannon’s stupid head probably killed it.

“Yes freaking way,” I said softly, kicking at the dirt.  We were standing in front of the school, not ready to go in yet.  Well, Kyla wasn’t ready to go in yet.  I wanted to the second we got here.

“Did he say why?” Kyla demanded giddily, clapping her hands together.

I looked her over.  She was wearing pigtails today, making her seem even younger than she already looked.  She looked thirteen rather than seventeen.  The way she was acting was dragging her age level down  . . . and down . . . and down.  By the end of this conversation she was probably going to be a six-year-old.

I thought over how to answer her question before finally settling on a shrug.  I continued to kick at the dirt, taking my irritation this week was bringing me out on the poor tiny rocks.

Kyla gasped, and I looked up.  She was looking out at the parking lot again, and I instantly realized that Dannon had arrived.  I rolled my eyes.  This was just going to get worse, I could tell.

I allowed my eyes to flick toward the parking lot, spotting Dannon trotting toward the school.  He wasn’t wearing anything special—I mean a plain white Tee and jeans were normal right?  The most notable thing on him was his shoes.  Converse.  I just loved those things.  But still, there was no reason to stare at him.  It wasn’t like he was dressed as amazingly as the lead singer from Manic Drive—my all-time favorite band.

Dannon’s eyes met mine, and I immediately looked away.  Great.  Now he was going to think I was staring at him.

From the corner of my eye I saw him wave in our direction before meeting up with his crew and following them all inside.  I kept my hands planted to my sides, refusing to give him the satisfaction of me waving back.  Just because I whacked him in the head with a piece of fruit didn’t mean we were best friends.

“Oh my—oh my—oh my—”

Kyla was practically hyperventilating.  I watched her as she jumped up and down, slapping me on the shoulder excitedly.  Her backpack moved up and down with her, making this persistent banging noise.  I bit my lip to keep from laughing at her.  She looked hilarious.

“Calm down,” I muttered after her slapping began to hurt.  I pushed her hand away, backing up so that she couldn’t start slapping me again.

“Calm down?” Kyla stared at me like I was an idiot.  “Calm down?  Do you not see what’s happening, Bri?”

I looked around, before turning back to her.  “Kids are going to the torture chambers we call classrooms?” I guessed halfheartedly.

Kyla regarded me coolly.  I couldn’t help but grin at her.  She took this love stuff way too seriously.  “No, smart-ass,” she muttered, shooting a mock glare at me.  “The apple’s powers are working.”

I snorted out a laugh, not able to contain it.  Kyla’d always been one to believe what the website told her—no matter how stupid it sounded.  But for her to believe a website—probably written by a seventy-year-old creepy man, by the way—saying chucking fruit at people would bring you good things was just diabolical.   

“Snort now, but you’ll be thanking me when you have a boyfriend soon enough.”  She began hopping up and down again, shrieking.  “I just can’t believe he’s the one!”

I pulled her down with my arm, keeping her feet planted on the ground.  “Chill out.  I’m not getting a boyfriend, so you can just stop all this.”  I stared at her sternly.  “Seriously.”

Kyla simply grinned at me, not at all fazed by my fierce refusal to believe in her little prophecy.  “You may think that now,” she teased, patting my shoulder in a comforting manner, “but little do you know that you’re simply resistant to the apple’s powers.  You’ll give in soon enough.”

I stared at her for a long time before muttering, “I’m going to put you into an asylum.”

“As long as there are hot guys, I’m in.”

laughed, shaking my head.  Kyla was really something.

| It ♥ All ♥ Started ♥ With ♥ An ♥ Apple |

“Eyes are to stay on your papers at all times.”

Mrs. Carl glared at us all like we were filth while she spoke.  She was a toothpick of a lady, with graying hair and hawk-like eyes.  She reminded me of a vulture, waiting until you were the most vulnerable before swooping down and eating you—if you weren’t already dead.  She was tall, too, so she stared down at you, only making it worse.  You felt absolutely insignificant under her gaze.

“If I catch you peeking at someone else’s paper,” Mrs. Carl continued, her eyes daring us to disobey her, “a zero will be given immediately.”

It was always the same before a test—or even a quiz.  She’d act like it was a life-or-death situation, taking it so seriously that we all feared she was going to blow up.  If I had to put her in a movie, I’d place her as that teacher in the cartoon-animal version of Tom Sawyer that whacked his students with rulers.  She’d do that if it were legal without a doubt.

“And you’ll receive two detentions,” she added.

Oh how Mrs. Carl loved her strictness.  Sometimes I tried visualizing her actually having fun.  It never worked out.  The vision was always tarnished by the harsh reality: she never had fun.  Not around us anyway.

I felt so bad for her kids.  If she had any.

“Now, flip over your tests and begin working.”

I flipped my paper over along with everyone else, my eyes training onto the first question.  I’d be lying if I said I’d studied at all for the test today.  I never studied—it only stressed me out and then I did poorly.  Besides, there was really no need for me too.  I did fine without studying.

I paced myself, forcing myself not to rush through it.  I hated being the first one done my test.  It was always so awkward being the first one to walk up to the teacher and hand your test over.  Especially with Mrs. Carl.

“Hey,” came a voice from beside me.

I mentally cursed before shaking my head slightly.  I stared down at my test, refusing to give Dannon the satisfaction of making me look over at him.  He sat next to me—which was one of the reasons why it pissed me off that he hadn’t known my name in the cafeteria. I mean it wasn’t like Mrs. Carl never called on me.  She liked to surprise you by hollering out your name and staring you down until you squeaked out an answer.

“She said not to look away from our papers, not to be silent,” Dannon whispered.  I could just feel that irritating smile on his face.

I scoffed at him, shaking my head again and pressing harder on my pencil.  I stared at my paper so hard that the words were beginning to blur.  Dammit.  He was going to make me fail this test.  And then, when that happened, I was going to kill him.  And then every single girl in the school was going to kill me.

“Bri . . .” Dannon mused playfully.  He seemed to be enjoying himself, which only made me angrier.

“Shut up,” I whispered harshly, finally folding.  He wasn’t going to quit it until I told him to, apparently.

“Are those voices I hear?” Mrs. Carl demanded.  I glowered down at my paper.  Now she hears voices?  She couldn’t have heard them when Dannon was talking?  You know how I said she didn’t cut any slack unless she really loved you?  Well, Dannon was the only one who made the cut.

How unfair was that?

Mrs. Carl must have come to the conclusion that the voices came from her imagination when no one answered her because she didn’t question anyone further.  If I were looking up, I’d probably see her settling back into her chair, returning to staring at us all, meticulously making sure that none of us were cheating.

I rolled my eyes and returned to my test.  I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment before opening them.  The test wasn’t blurry anymore at least.

“She really is strict, isn’t she?” Dannon murmured, chuckling to himself.

“Shut up,” I hissed.  If it weren’t for the fact that I’d get a detention—not to mention a zero on a test grade—I’d have punched him. 

“Whoever speaks again,” Mrs. Carl barked, “is going to get four detentions.  Are we clear?”

The whole class nodded silently. 

After a few more attempts at starting up a conversation, Dannon finally gave up.  He’d laughed softly, saying, “Ah, I see.  Don’t wanna talk right now.  Okay.  We’ll talk later.” 

Because, you know, telling him to shut up hadn’t been a clue or anything.

I was one of the last ones to hand in my test thanks to him.  And what was worse?  I’d probably failed.  I could just feel the terrible great creeping off the paper and taunting me.  I wanted to curl up in a ball and die.  I couldn’t afford a bad grade in this class.  I had a ninety-three—an A-minus.  One bad grade would tip me down to a B.

By the time I passed in my test, there were five minutes left of class.  I shuffled back to my seat and picked up my bag, setting it on my desk.  Everyone else had already done that, and they were all chatting happily.  Dannon was talking to Shelley and Garner, who also happened to be in my class.  Wasn’t that just dandy?  Three people from the popular crew in my history class?  A lot of people would think so, but I didn’t.

I leaned back in my seat, waiting for the bell to ring.  It took forever.  I mean forever.  I felt like I was sitting there, aging in my seat.  By the time the bell finally rang, I felt like I was going to fall asleep.

I stood up with the rest of the class as the bell sounded, relieved to finally be able to leave the classroom.  I had English with Kyla next, a class I loved.

“Hey,” Dannon called with a grin, grabbing my arm lightly.

I spun, facing him with an annoyed look.  “You’re becoming obsessive and quite annoying,” I snapped, shrugging him off and heading towards the front door.  Students were flowing out and dragging themselves in.  I felt bad for the students that had to deal with her last period.  It must have been the longest period of their lives.

“Harsh,” Dannon said, flashing a smile as he followed me out the door.

“FYI,” I snarled, fixing my shirt that had managed to twist itself while I was sitting in the chair, “when someone tells you to shut up, they mean shut up.”

I knew I was being rude, but at the moment I couldn’t have cared less.  My parents had always taken grades very seriously, so if they found out I failed a test, they were going to freak.  My mom would ground me for sure.

“Someone’s cranky,” Dannon mused.

“No, I’m annoyed because someone wouldn’t let me concentrate on my test.”  I shot him an icy look.  “And that same someone hasn’t spoken to me at all until I hit him on the head with an apple.”

Dannon continued to smile even though I’d made it abundantly clear that I was pissed at him.  “You’re upset because I haven’t spoken to you?”  He brought a hand through his hair.  “You could have spoken to me first, you know.”

I threw my hands up into the air.  “You’re impossible!”

We entered the hall.  Dannon began walking backwards, smiling cheekily.  “That I am.  You’ll get used to it.”

And then he was gone, disappearing into the swarm of people as he headed away from me, down the hallway.

I’d get used to it?  That implied that we were going to have another conversation.  Yeah, right!  I wasn’t planning on speaking to him again.  If I had a choice, I would never have started talking to him in the first place.

Well, then again, I’d have to speak to him before I murdered him for making me fail my test.  I would kind of have to explain myself before I did the deed.

“Hey!”

I spun around, spotting Kyla a few feet away, waving her arms.  I made my way toward her, dodging students that felt the need to bang into me like I was a wall.  I pushed my sleeves up on my arms as I reached her, trying my best not to look as annoyed as I felt.  “Hi,” I muttered, hoping the irritation wasn’t seeping through my voice.

Apparently it didn’t work.  “What’s got you in such a bad mood?” Kyla asked curiously as we began our journey down the hall.

“Dannon,” I replied stiffly, my hands flying in the air.  “He probably just made me fail a test.”

Instead of being sympathetic like any normal friend would be, she found it amusing.  “Really?”  She laughed.  “How did he manage to do that?”

I sighed deeply, letting my exasperation show clearly.  “He wouldn’t shut up!”

Kyla giggled.  Giggled.  “Aw, that’s so cute!”

Cute?  Was she insane?  “It wasn’t cute.”  I clutched my bag straps tightly, my nails digging into the material.  “He almost got me four detentions, too.”

Kyla paused before answering in order to dodge a girl that was walking slower than a snail.  I side-stepped the girl too, speed-walking past her and moving back to Kyla’s side again.  Kyla grinned at me, obviously still amused at the torture I’d endured during history calls.  “Mrs. Carl must have been in a bad mood, huh?” 

I huffed.  Why was she still amused?  Dannon seriously had her blinded.  Why she wanted me to like him, I had no idea.  Wouldn’t she be jealous anyway?  “When isn’t she?” 

Kyla laughed.  “Lighten up, Bri.  It’s not like he killed you or anything.”

“If I failed I’m going to kill him.”

Kyla gave me a strange look before laughing.  She always found me “down right hilarious”—as she put it—when I was annoyed.  Why, I didn’t understand.  Every time I get annoyed, I annoy myself even more just because I’m annoyed.  As a result?  I’m even more annoyed!  Strange, I know.  Maybe subconsciously I like being annoyed or something.

I opened the door of our English class and stepped inside.  Our teacher, Mr. Salbatross, was sitting at his desk, typing away at his century-old computer.  Unlike all the other teachers on our team, he found no need to have a laptop.  He was so old-fashioned with his out of date electronics.  He was older than most of my other teachers, and he always wore a sweater-vest.  He had two of them, and liked to switch them off every other day.  Our class constantly made fun of him for it.

“So,” Kyla drawled as we both plopped into our seats.  We sat across from each other, something that we both loved Mr. Salbatross for allowing us to do.  “Who are you going to the prom with?”

“The prom is like a month away, Ky,” I pointed out, pulling out a notebook.  Prom wasn’t something I exactly took an interest in.  If I had a choice in the matter I wouldn’t go at all.  But Kyla was my best friend, so I was obviously going to be dragged there against my will.

“I know!”  Kyla grinned, pulling out a pencil and beginning to doodle on the desk itself.  She was always doing that no matter how many times I told her not to.  Vandalizing school property seemed to be a bad habit of hers.  “Personally, I’m hoping Oliver asks me.”

“It’s obviously personal if it applies to you,” I said, pointing my pencil at her.  “And anyway, I thought that you were hoping Dannon would ask you.”

“Nah.”  Kyla waved her hand dismissively.  “Dannon’s gonna ask you!”

I rolled my eyes.  Her obsession with Dannon and I was already annoying, and she’d only started yesterday.  By next week I was probably going to have been driven insane.  “If anything, Dannon’s going to ask one of the cheerleaders.” 

“He might have thunk so,” Kyla mused, “but he’s not going to.”

“Thunk’s not even a word,” I retorted sourly, wishing that she would stop with the whole apple thing.

“Oh shush it.”

I smiled smugly at her.  “No.”

“Whatever,” she said, sticking her tongue out at me.

As class began, I doodled in my notebook, thinking over how much things had changed just since yesterday.  Yesterday morning I never thought Dannon would talk to me—let alone call me.  Yesterday morning I never thought that I’d throw an apple across the cafeteria.

I missed yesterday morning.

Yesterday morning was so blissful.  Everything was so normal.  Now it was all twisted and annoying. 

I glared at the chalkboard.  This was all Kyla’s fault.  Maybe I should have her throw an apple across the cafeteria.  Then I would be able to bug her about it.  And if I played my cards right, she would hit Dannon on the head and then she would think that they would fall in love.

“Brianne?”

I blinked hard, looking up at Mr. Salbatross.  Mr. Salbatross pushed his glasses up his nose.  He wasn’t looking at me, but his tone signified that he was expecting some sort of answer.  “Um,” I mumbled, “can you repeat the question?”

The class laughed as Mr. Salbatross held up the attendance sheet.  That was another thing that proved he was out of date.  While everyone else plugged their attendance into PowerSchool—an online grading tool that both students and teachers used—he insisted on writing it onto paper and having someone bring it down to the office.  “I was asking if you were here,” he said, writing on the attendance sheet.  “I’m guessing you are.”

As the class laughed again, I sank into my seat.  Great, I’d just humiliated myself.  And, when I glanced at Kyla and saw her wink at me, I knew that she knew I was thinking about the apple thing.  That only made me feel worse. 

This seriously wasn’t my day.  Or week for that matter.  And, from the looks of it, things were only going to get worse.