Jazz and Bethany sat chatting over cheeseburgers in the school cafeteria. For the first time in their high school careers, Jazz and Nathan found themselves in different lunch periods, which kind of sucked.

Luckily, the two girls had become fast friends after Bethany’s short fling with Nate the previous year.

“Oh, did you hear?” Bethany asked, her green eyes wide with whatever secret she had yet to reveal. “Our favorite bad boy is really bad now.”

“What did he do now?” She tried to sound casual, but Jazz was quite worried about her BFF. He’d once been serious about school, but now Nathan constantly found himself on the receiving end of a detention slip—and nothing Jazz had said made any difference when it came to his bad boy behavior.

The question was, what had Nathan done now, and why did she have to find out through Bethany? Usually she was the first to know all of his news, for better or worse.

Bethany nodded and took a swig from her raspberry Snapple. “It just happened between second and third period. Mrs. Neff caught him spray-painting the south wall. Can you believe it?”

Jazz sighed. “That was really stupid of him. There are cameras everywhere. He knows that.” She was almost afraid to ask but knew she’d find out eventually—and it would be better for both of them if she gave herself time to prepare for the upcoming confrontation with him. “What did he write?”

“Not write. Draw. And I’m not sure exactly. Some trees and a cat?”

Jazz groaned. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“I know, right? I can’t believe I ever went out with him.” Bethany laughed, and Jazz forced herself to join in. She still couldn’t believe it, either. She couldn’t believe Nathan had chosen a girl so much like her, but still hadn’t chosen her. Did this mean she would never get the chance to find out? Had Nathan already checked “brainiac goody-two shoes” off his date card?

“Hey, Jazzy,” Nathan said, turning a spare chair at their table backward before sitting down with his legs spread wide apart. He nodded toward his long-ago ex. “Bethy.”

“What are you doing here?” Jazz growled, expecting him to be in the vice principal’s office or at home suspended.

Nathan’s smile faltered. “Ahh, so Bethy told you what happened?”

“What were you thinking? Graffiti? Really? I can’t believe you’d be that stupid.”

“It wasn’t graffiti. It was art, made that boring old wall look miles better. And, to your other point, we can’t all be geniuses like you two. Besides, ignorance is bliss, right?” He winked at Jazz, but she shook her head at him. Best not to encourage this unfounded swagger.

Bethany let loose a high-pitched, tinkling stream of laughter. “Oh, Nate. When has your ignorance made you any happier?”

Nathan laughed, too.

Jazz continued to fume, and his nonchalance only made her angrier. He was throwing away any chance of getting into Burton College, her dream school. If he weren’t careful, he’d end up stuck in community college or, worse, find himself in jail after one of his reckless stunts. He could do…be…so much more if he only wanted to.

“Touché, but hey! It’s not all bad. I got community service. I can volunteer with you in the city, Jazz.”

“I don’t volunteer. I have a job.” One she loved.

For almost a year now, Jazz had been spending Saturday and Wednesdays in Brooklyn, tutoring elementary schoolers who struggled with their reading and writing. She also acted kind of like a big sister to them and often spent her paychecks on small gifts for her regular students, which meant she’d saved up exactly $200 for her new car. Still, worth it. So worth it. She had more than enough compared to the kids she helped.

Could Nathan, with his crazy and selfish attitude, even begin to understand how important this work was? Or would volunteering just be something to do until he’d served his sentence and returned to football practice and video games?

Nathan shrugged, as if he were trying too hard to act casual. “Yes, yours is a J-O-B, but I’ll just be a volunteer.”

“No, you’ll be a convict,” Bethany corrected.

Nathan laughed. “A convict. I like that.”

Jazz scowled at the crazy turn her best friend had taken. She’d thought when he had turned into the biggest player on Long Island that was bad enough. “You shouldn’t.”

“Boys will be boys,” he countered.

“That’s what they say to justify date rape,” Bethany pointed out.

Nathan put both his hands out as if trying to balance himself. “Okay, whoa. Let’s not go there.”

“Agreed.” Jazz said, having officially lost her appetite and given up on her half-eaten burger now.

“So you’ll get me the job?” he asked, turning his dark chocolate eyes on her.

She shrugged and shifted the ice in her Styrofoam cup around with her straw before drawing out the last little bit of soda. Ugh. Saying no to him was never easy for her. Okay, impossible. “Fine, whatever.”

Nathan jumped to his feet and plastered a big, wet kiss on the cheek. “You’re the best, Jazzy J! I love you! And, hey, now you don’t have to take the train. I’ll drive you.”

“Okay, buh-bye, psycho.” Bethany waved at Nathan sweetly as he left before bursting out laughing again. Bethany was always laughing, and it was one of the many things Jazz loved about her friend.

“Actually, I like taking the LIRR,” Jazz said in defense of her lack of a car. “It gives me time alone with my thoughts. Much better—and safer—than being stuck in the crowded parkway traffic.”

Bethany glanced toward the spot where Nathan had just been, then rolled her eyes. “I agree with you there.”

They cheersed with their cups, and then Jazz flipped the plastic top off hers and crunched the slowly melting ice between her teeth.

“So what types of things do you think about while riding the train?” Bethany asked casually, but the way she avoided eye contact told Jazz her friend might be trying to get at something deeper.

Jazz shrugged. “I don’t know. Where I’ll go to college. What I’ll major in. Stuff like that.”

“Not about… oh, I don’t know… who you’ll date?”

“I don’t date,” Jazz argued. And she hadn’t, not since Tony Evans slimed all over her at the eighth-grade dance. Ick. No, thank you.

“But you want to.”

“What, you can read my mind now?” She kept her voice steady.

“No, but I can read your face, and you’ve got it bad for one Nathan Reed.”

“Bethany, shh!” Jazz turned from side to side to make sure Nathan had truly left and wasn’t within earshot of their conversation.

“See,” her friend said with a triumphant smile. “You love him.”

“Of course I love him. He’s my best friend.”

“But you want more than that.”

So much it hurt. But Jazz didn’t dare say the words aloud. She kept her face neutral. At least she tried. “It takes two to tango, Bethany, yet here I am dancing alone.”

“Do you want me to talk to him?”

“No!” Panic flared. “Do not do that. I’ll never talk to you again.”

“Jeez. Calm down. It was only an offer. Anyway, Nathan will come around eventually. He’d be crazy not to.”

Given she’d been waiting years, Jazz was doubtful. “We both know that boy is crazy. Today’s graffiti nonsense only adds to the proof.”

“Fair point.” Bethany pulled her brown, wavy hair into a high ponytail, then said, “Okay, new topic. You mentioned college. What are you thinking about doing?”

“I don’t know yet. Maybe teaching? I love helping the kids at the center, but I’m not sure I want to major in education.”

Bethany smiled at Jazz and reached over to rub her shoulder. “You’ll figure it out.”

“Let me guess—you’ve decided the next twenty years of your life.”

“Pretty much. I’m going to be a doctor.”

“Of course you are.” Jazz hadn’t expected any different since Bethany took all advanced placement science courses and both her parents worked in the medical profession.

“Some things are just so obvious. Like me being a doctor, and you and Nathan hooking up one day.”

From your lips to God’s ears, Jazz thought. Though if God had heard her many prayers about Nathan, he’d clearly already made a decision not to assist her in the matter.