“You? Going out of your way to talk to someone? Huh. Well, maybe you can listen to my podcast to learn tips.” She grinned.
I laughed. “Okay. And I’ll tell you when I find someone interesting.”
The sound of a throat clearing had me whirling to my right.
Diego stood there. Had he heard that entire exchange?
“Hey, Alana. You dropped this earlier.” He held up a key on a silver surfboard key chain.
Alana, obviously not prepared for this encounter, stuttered out, “I—I … oh,” without taking the key.
Not as flustered as Alana, I smiled. “You are a lifesaver,” I said. “She would’ve had to climb in her second-story window without this. Not that she hasn’t done that before.”
Alana recovered quickly, stood up, and held out her hand. “I’m very practiced at that climb.” This was true. Alana had been locked out of her house more times than I could count. It used to be because her parents hadn’t made her a key and the keyless entry on the garage door was broken. Now that she had a key, she usually forgot it.
“Maybe you should put your key somewhere more secure.” Diego placed the key in Alana’s palm and then closed each one of her fingers over it. His hand gripped her closed fist for a beat before he let go.
Alana lifted one side of her mouth into a half smile. “Yes, I need a better system.” She put her key into her pocket.
Wow, they were both really good at flirting.
“I don’t think I’ve met you before,” Diego said, probably feeling me staring at them.
“Oh.” Alana placed a hand on his arm. “This is my best friend, Kathryn. Lakesprings zip code. Kate, this is Diego.”
“Hi,” I said, not sure what more I could add to that single word.
“Do you go by Kathryn or Kate?” Diego asked me.
“Both, weirdly enough.”
“Kathryn has lots of variations.”
“Kate’s the only other one I like,” I informed him, perhaps a little too emphatically.
“Got it.”
“Oh, look!” Alana said. “There’s your brother, Kate. We were looking for him. We have to go.” She turned and walked casually in the direction of my brother.
“Um … sorry,” I said to Diego, feeling like Alana left a little too suddenly. I gathered our lunch stuff and shoved it in a brown paper bag. “We have to …” I stood up and pointed toward Max.
“Off to search for someone interesting?” he asked with a wink. So he had heard our exchange before. No wonder Alana liked him. He was as confident as she was.
“Yes … I mean no. It was nice to meet you.”
“You too.”
I caught up to Alana. “What was that?” I whispered.
“Trust the master,” she said as we kept walking toward Max. “I had to be the one to leave first.”
“Okay. And the dropping your house key thing?”
She smiled, and I realized Diego’s surprise appearance had really been part of her plan. She was good.
We made our way to where my brother, in his too-baggy jeans and overgrown brown hair, was walking down the path toward the library.
“Maximillian!” Alana called, and flung her arm around his shoulder.
“Hi,” he said.
“Whatcha doin’?” I asked.
“Returning this book to the library.” He held up a book about programming.
“You’re returning a library book the second day of school? Did you check this out the first day of school?” Alana asked.
“Yes. It’s not what I thought it was.”
“The first clue should’ve been these numbers on the front,” Alana said. “You might want to find the books with dragons or swords on the cover.”
“I hadn’t considered that,” Max said, straight-faced, and I smiled.
“I think your brother is mocking me,” Alana told me. “Freshmen aren’t allowed to mock upperclassmen. It’s in the handbook. But I’ll let you get away with it because you’re adorable.”
Max blushed. “Much obliged,” he said. Then he stopped at the door to the library. “Are you guys going to follow me in here?”
“Are we embarrassing you, Maxie?” I asked.
“Yeah, kind of.”
“Really?” Alana said. “Two hot juniors hanging out with you is embarrassing?”
“One is my sister.”
I stepped back and pulled Alana with me. “We’ll leave you alone to go meet your friends in the library. Have fun.”
“Yeah, thanks.”
“Your brother is funny,” Alana said after the door swung shut behind him. “If I were a freshman, I’d be hanging out with my older brother and his friend all the time.”
“You don’t have an older brother.”
“This is a hypothetical situation I’m using to prove a point.”
“Maybe we’re just not as cool as we think we are.” I linked my arm through Alana’s and led us away.
“Impossible,” she said. Then she brightened and added, “I think I am going to submit dating dos and don’ts as my podcast idea.”
“You should.” And given what had happened with Diego, she’d be the perfect host for that topic as well. “I bet that will win.”
Her eyes sparkled. “I think it might.”
“And the winning topic is …” Ms. Lyon paused dramatically.
It was Monday again. The first week of school had been uneventful, except for podcasting class, where we got to hear about all the different aspects of producing a podcast. It was surprisingly fascinating. Over the weekend, we’d had to vote online for the topic. I’d happily voted for Alana’s “dating dos and don’ts” idea.
So I was stunned when Ms. Lyon took her marker and wrote Advice Show across the dry-erase board.
“Kathryn Bailey, please stand.”
I bit my lip and slowly rose to my feet.
“Congratulations! Your idea earned the most votes from the class.”
“Uh, thanks,” I said, feeling my face flush pink.
“What I didn’t tell you all when giving you this assignment,” Ms. Lyon continued, adjusting her glasses and smiling, “was that the person who submits the winning topic will automatically be one of the hosts.”
“What?” I blurted out. “No. I can’t.”
Ms. Lyon laughed. “You are in a podcasting class, Kathryn. You didn’t think you might have to do some speaking?”
It hadn’t even crossed my mind. “I think other people would do better at that particular part of the process.” My heart raced. I wasn’t qualified to give advice to anyone.
“Like me,” Victoria said.
“Yes, like Victoria,” I agreed. “She should do it.”
“I’m glad you think so,” Ms. Lyon said. “Because Victoria will be your cohost.”
Victoria smiled triumphantly.
My eyes locked with Alana’s. She looked hurt.
“Or Alana,” I said quickly. “Alana would be an excellent host.”
“I’ve already assigned all the jobs,” Ms. Lyon explained, picking up a sheet of paper from her desk. “I will post them on the board momentarily. Once I have, please, in an orderly manner, come check them out. Then look for the corresponding binder on the back table. Two people are assigned to each task. Our first show will be Wednesday after school. This is so exciting!” With a flourish, she used a magnet to stick the piece of paper to the board.