When the final bell rang, Emma was still thinking about who she could set Abby up with. She hated to admit it, but she hadn't found anyone good. The problem with setting her best friend up with the most annoying kid in class for Homecoming – other than the fact that Logan was already taken and she'd have to settle for second place – was that it meant Emma would also have to spend time with whoever she found. She just didn't think she could stomach the idea of Logan and anyone else duking it out all night, trying to see who could be the most grating kid at the dance.

She walked into the room where her debate team held their meetings. During the school day, it was used to teach French. Posters lined the walls, trying to get the students into the "French" mood, whatever that was. There were posters with scenic villas from around the French countryside mixed in with posters teaching words you'd use in various scenarios – at the grocery store, to describe your house, things like that. She glanced vaguely at one titled Quel temps fait-il? that seemed to be about the weather before moving on to something a little more interesting.

Emma found herself staring at a clear blue river lazily sweeping around buildings that had to be at least two hundred years old. Pink and red flowers were snuggled up in little planter boxes against the water's edge. It was almost enough to make her wonder about transferring there. But she didn't actually speak a word of French, so that would almost definitely impact her GPA if she did. Her parents probably wouldn't be too thrilled about the idea either.

"Everything ok?" Jackson asked, taking a seat on top of the desk in front of her. He slid his feet around and planted them in the chair.

Emma just shrugged, barely flicking her eyes in his direction. She wasn't really sure what she was supposed to tell him. Everything had been way too weird lately for her to be ok, but she also wasn't really sure what she was supposed to say about any of it. It all boiled down to 'I can't seem to get away from Logan Harris,' which would sound way too whiny to actually admit to.

"I'm fine." she said eventually, mostly because she felt like he wanted to hear something.

"You sure?" he asked. "Because it looks like you're trying really hard to teleport yourself to..."

He trailed off, leaning towards the poster Emma was currently staring at. His hair fell into his face as he searched for the name of the city. As he did, he got just a little too close to Emma, and she could smell whatever it was he'd put in his hair that morning – something vaguely woodsy, she thought. She leaned back in her chair a bit, but Jackson didn't seem to notice.

"To... France?" he said, eying the looping purple script in the bottom right corner. "Really? It just says France? They couldn't have given the name of the city or anything? How are you ever supposed to find it then?"

"It's probably from some travel agency that doesn't even exist anymore." Emma grinned. "Trying to trick you into calling them up for a dream vacation. You can't book it on your own, because you don't actually know where it is."

"Well, naturally. How else would they get all those sales?" he nodded sagely before breaking into a grin. He paused a moment before asking, "So why weren't you here on Friday?"

"I was planning on coming. It's just that I was..." Emma thought quickly, trying to come up with something to say. "...exhausted." she said finally. After the lousy sleep she'd gotten in the gym the night before, it had been kind of an understatement.

"Exhausted? You?" Jackson feigned shock. "But I thought you were a machine!"

"Machines get tired too." Emma said defensively.

"No they don't – that's literally the entire point of a machine." he told her.

"They break down then." she retorted.

"Are you saying you broke down?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying." Emma rolled her eyes. "I just had a really long week, and I needed a break."

"I can see that – everyone needs a break sometimes." he told her. Then, in an over-dramatic tone, he added, "Even the Great Emma Malik, Study-Machine."

Emma gave a half-smile and a slight shrug. But she knew what he meant; most of her friends said things like that to her. And they were probably right – she guessed having a little down-time every once in a while couldn't kill her. It was just that she always seemed to have so much to do.

As the last of the students filed in, they all turned to the captain, waiting for her to officially call the meeting to order.

Everyone got their outlines back. Then, they split up into their opposing teams, based on the outlines they'd handed in last week – those who were arguing "for" on one side, and "against" on the other. Emma was actually surprised to see that Jackson was on the opposing team.

"Really?" she asked as he walked to the other side of the room. "What could possibly lead you to say yes?"

"Because not everything's black and white." he told her, grinning.

That response set her teeth on edge, and she was almost positive that was why he'd said it. She looked down at her paper and read the debate topic again: Is cheating ever justifiable?

"What reason could you have to ever justify cheating?" she asked him.

Jackson grinned wickedly. But before he had the chance to say anything, the captain spoke up.

"Well, I think we have our first two opponents." she said. "Emma, Jackson, come on up.

Today wasn't an official debate or anything; it was really only to get a feel for where everyone stood and to figure out what their strongest and weakest arguments were. Then, they'd pool together and gear up for the scored debate next week.

Emma laid out all her brilliant arguments for why cheating should never be allowed: it went against established rules, it wasn't fair to anyone else playing whatever the game was, and it cheapened your own win. How could anyone disagree with that?

Jackson came back with comments about the rules possibly being unfair, that things could be stacked against certain players. Maybe, cheating was the only way to come up with a fair competition. He was passionate, sure. Emma had to give him that much. But she still wasn't convinced. And in the end, enough of the other students agreed with her that she was ruled the victor. Emma sat down, a grin plastered all over her face.

Once everyone had a chance to get up and lay out their arguments, they made a note of which points were the best and which had obvious counter-arguments. Then they ranked them, deciding which order their arguments would be presented in and if there were any that should be scrapped altogether. When they were satisfied with their work, the group packed up and headed out to the parking lot. Jackson caught up with Emma on the way out.

"You know, I was thinking about what you said earlier. About how exhausting last week was for you." he told her.

"You were?" She was surprised he would still be thinking about it.

"Of course – you're my friend." he shrugged. "Anyways, I was just thinking... It could be worse."

His face said he was trying to be helpful, but Emma wasn't sure why he thought that. Saying 'it could be worse' always sounded an awful lot like saying 'it's not that bad'. From there, it was only a small step to 'why are you even complaining at all?'.

"Yeah? How?" she wanted to know.

"Well... you could have been one of the kids that got caught sneaking into the school last week."

"I... what?" Emma asked, eyes wide.

"Didn't you hear?" Jackson asked, grinning from ear to ear like he'd finally landed on the best gossip. He leaned towards her slightly, lowering his voice. "A couple kids got caught breaking into the gym a few days ago."

"I wasn't – they weren't – who told you they were breaking in?"

Smooth. Real smooth.

Emma did her best to keep calm, despite that dismal performance. He doesn't know it was me, he doesn't know it was me, she told herself.

"I have my sources." he nodded knowingly.

Did he know?

No. There was no way. He wouldn't have said it in that tone if he did. She just had to keep her face neutral. If she didn't give anything away, he'd never suspect her.

"Well, I have my sources." Emma countered. "And mine say yours are wrong."

"I know one of the guys it happened to." Jackson said confidently.

"Really?" Emma asked. She wondered which student would be crazy enough to admit they'd not only been in the school at night but also that they'd been caught. They'd have to be one of the dumbest kids here, especially if they'd really allowed Jackson to believe they'd broken in. Who would want everyone to think they were a criminal?

"Well, the person I heard it from was Logan." Jackson told her. "He said he was there."

"...Why would he tell you that?" she asked. Then she quickly added, "If he was even really there, I mean."

"Mostly because he needed to borrow a couple bucks for lunch. Guess he didn't bring enough to his little heist to afford lunch the next day."

"Oh..." Emma had almost forgotten that for some reason, Jackson usually chose to eat lunch with Logan. Then, a thought occurred to her. "Did he tell you who he was with?"

She almost hated to ask it. The thought that Jackson knew she'd spent the night cooped up with Logan was almost enough to make her start blushing before she even knew the answer. But as painful as this story potentially was, she just had to know. And Jackson was someone she'd been friends with since last year; if she was going to have to hear the humiliating story about how she'd gotten caught breaking into the school, she guessed it might as well be him that told it to her. Maybe he'd soften the blow.

"Nah," he told her. "I think it was some guy on the team with him, but he wouldn't actually say."

"Really?" she asked.

"Really." Jackson nodded. "Why? Who do you think it was?"

"No idea." Emma murmured, wondering why Logan hadn't been happy to tell everyone he knew that she'd been the one there with him.