Chapter 12: Bobby

THE NEXT FEW DAYS moved along slowly for me. And the sole reason was that Zander seemed to be avoiding me. I kept seeing him around campus, but he slipped away before I passed him. In class, he sat as far away from me as possible and avoided my gaze. I couldn't help but assume he had heard about me, the "me" from last year. It was inevitable, I guess, but it like that unexpected sliver under the skin that you couldn't get out. Examining it made it worse and not removing it allowed it to fester. He had been a knight in shining armor the first time I met him, as stupid as that sounded, and I had hoped he was going to be different than everyone else.

We didn't see him at lunch, either. My friends wondered where he was, too, except Isaac, who seemed rather pleased about it. Phoebe and Isaac were continually bombarded by hopefuls, and Val took up permanent residence next to Ruthie. Isaac kept edging closer to me, making me think perhaps Ruthie had it right and he did like me, but then with