Caylen doesn't go to school on Thursday, either, but I do. Though still scarred from the weekend, I'm very excited about Kian's social developments.

"You okay?" Rob asks while we're driving to school.

"Yeah," I answer. "I'm worried about Caylen, though. That kid was his friend."

"Yeah, I'm worried about him, too. That was a pretty bad deal back there."

"Um, yeah. I'll be going now." We've arrived at the school. I climb out of the car, and head toward Kian at the picnic table while Rob drives away behind me.

"You gonna sign the cast yet?" I ask Kian once I've reached him.

"Nope." He shows his little smile. I feel that he should be using his big smile by now, but so far he doesn't seem to have one.

"Please?"

"Why?"

I don't know why! Maybe I just want you to act normal!

But I don't say that. Instead, I say, "Just 'cause."

"Sorry." His smile doesn't go away, which makes me happy and mad. I want it to leave and be replaced by a grin. But that really is an odd thing to ask for.

"I just think it's unnatural to not want to sign one," I say with a smirk.

"Well, I don't always do natural things."

No kidding.

I'm disappointed when the bell rings. The stupid broken ankle has made it impossible to get ready quickly in the mornings, so I don't have much time.

"See you at lunch," I say, and hurry to get to class with my blasted crutches. It's been like four days. Maybe I should get used to the things. Pfft.

I sit down just as the bell rings. Once Mr. London starts to speak, Jessica turns to me.

"I heard you were snogging Kian yesterday."

"What? No! And who even uses that word these days?"

"Don't be embarrassed, Natalie! Even if he's kinda weird, he's pretty cute!"

"I wasn't kissing him."

"Come on!"

"I was not."

You see, yesterday I didn't care what people thought. Now it's biting me in the butt.

"Jessica," I say. "Could you do me a favor?"

"Sure."

"Can you tell everyone that I wasn't kissing him? I know you can't possibly believe that!"

"Why should I?"

"Because I once saw you kissing that one kid in that one place."

She gasps. "You did?!"

"Mmhmm." Truth be told, I just made that up. I guess it worked.

"Okay, we have a deal." She sits back in her seat.

"Jess? For the record, nothing happened, okay?"

"Fine."

I feel a giddy satisfaction. Too bad it took a little lie, but it was pretty funny.

Robin didn't say anything in my class with her, so I'm guessing she's just learned not to believe any of the rumors. She's so nice.

But Hayden! Goodness!

"Natalie! I heard about yesterday!"

"Hayden! Why is it that every time we're together you have to gossip about Natalie's life!" I say.

"Sorry."

"It's not true, okay?"

"You sure?" He wiggles his eyebrows at me, and I giggle.

I compose myself. "Yes. I'm very sure."

"Are you embarrassed? What if you were kissing someone else?"

"No. We are not about to have this conversation."

"Okay then."

As I walk to lunch, I realize that school is so repetitive. Same place everyday, different arguments with the same people. I could use a little bit of a change.

I think about this as Kian helps me carry my lunch to the table.

"Kian?" I say. "How does one survive with the same old everyday?"

"You broke your ankle. That's new," he says.

"Yeah, well-"

"You got out of P.E."

"Okay. You're right. It's not that repetitive."

He chuckles, but still, no grin! How can someone just not smile?

"So," I say. "I'm still waiting for you to sign my cast."

"You're doing much better than yesterday," Kian says.

"Not really-"

"Not your ankle," he says. "Just...you."

"Oh. Honestly, I'm just happy that you finally like having me around."

He smiles a little again.

"Really," I say. "It really helped my emotional healing process."

"I've never made anyone happy before."

"Oh, I'm sure you have. Imagine your parents when you were born!"

"I'd really rather not." He looks disgusted, and far away. His parents really are a touchy subject.

"Sorry. ...Sign the cast."

"No."

"Come on! Don't start acting all weird again! We're friends, right?"

He seems to snap back from whatever thought he was having. "Right." Small smile. Grr.

When we go outside, people eye us suspiciously. I step farther away from Kian.

"Have you heard the rumors?" I ask.

"People don't talk to me," he answers jokingly, yet totally serious.

"But you must have heard."

"Of course I have. Just don't let it bother you. You know it's not true, so you don't need to worry about it."

I feel a little bit of disappointment at what he said. Does the confusing side of me wish that maybe...it was true?

Don't be stupid.

Okay.

People continue to look at us as we walk to science class, and while Kian seems oblivious to it, I'm slowly putting more distance between us with each step.

As I sit next to Hayden, I wish more than ever that I'd sat by Kian. As fun as Hayden is, he can be very embarrassing.

Hayden doesn't speak to me for the first half of class, which I find a little off.

But finally, he speaks. "Natalie, I was wondering...."

I glance at Kian, and he smiles and raises his eyebrows at me. I turn back to Hayden and say, "Hmm?"

"Do you want to hang out this weekend with me and my friends? We're going bowling."

"Natalie!" someone whispers.

I turn. It's Kian. He never talks to me during class.

"I'm ready to sign your cast," he whispers.

I furrow my eyebrows but prop my foot on the empty stool next to him. I can't see what he writes, but he does it slowly and carefully, much like he chooses his words.

I pull my foot back in when he's done. He didn't even write on the bottom, like I thought he would. In fact, he wrote directly under Hayden's message.

^Kian's pretty good looking, too.

I blush, and then I look at Hayden. He's staring at my cast with a weird expression on his face.

"Umm...so can you go?" he asks.

"Come on Hayden," I say. "You know I can't bowl with this ankle!"

"Right."

I look at Kian through the corner of my eye, and he gives me an amused smirk before returning to his work.

I'm not sure what just happened. Kian tried to save me from Hayden's attempt at flirting. But what I'm excited about is that he wrote on my cast. Somehow, his words are more meaningful than anything anyone else wrote. And it was funnier, too. It's like a slap in the face for Hayden and all the mischief he tortures me with. And Kian is so different than he was last week!

I keep glancing at Kian throughout the rest of class, hoping for that silent communication we'd had earlier. But he just looks at his paper the whole time.

I know where Timothy sits though. He's on the other side of the classroom. At first I didn't recognize him, because I'd only seen him in the dark before. But he recognized me and said hi. After I looked at him confusingly, he reminded me that he was Timothy, and then I recognized him. His hair is short and brown, and his eyes are brown too. He introduced me to Matt, the other kid in his Family. Matt has blond hair. He reminds me too much of my dad. His hair was blond too, and a few people called him Matt. I think I'd prefer not to be around him too much.

Once class is over, I reach Kian before he can leave.

"Why'd you do that?" I ask.

"I didn't think you were comfortable with him practically asking you out."

"No, actually I wasn't. And...that was super funny."

"I thought it would be. He kind of deserved that."

"A little, yeah."

We walk out the door, and I say, "You know, friends can hang out, though."

"I know," he says. "But I think he might be after you."

"Serious?"

"Yeah."

"Ugh. I was silently hoping he wasn't."

"Why don't you like him?"

"I do...just not like that. He's fun and all, but I don't want to date him."

"He's not good looking enough?"

I pause. "I don't even have a response."

We're almost at the point where we need to turn our separate ways. It's now or never.

"Kian, I was thinking that you and I should hang out. Like friends do."

"Outside of school?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry, but I have to work after school."

"Really? You never have any time?"

He thinks for a second. "Tomorrow night. Eleven o'clock. West Side Park."

I'm a little shocked at his proposal, because that's the park next to my house. I don't get to tell him, though, because he's already turned down the hall to his next class, leaving me walking into a wall.

I can't concentrate throughout the rest of the day, because I'm just eager for tomorrow, when I can talk to Kian again.