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But Kenny was totally inflexible. He went, “Yes, now,” and you could tell from his face he meant it.
Tina rolled her eyes and backed off. I stood there, my back to the Computer Club’s booth, and prayed, Please, please don’t come over here, Michael. Please stay where you are. Please, please, please don’t come over here.
“Mia,” Kenny said. He looked more uncomfortable than I’d ever seen him, and I’ve seen Kenny look plenty uncomfortable. He’s an awkward kind of guy. “I just want to . . . I mean, I just want you to know. Well. That I know.”
I stared at him. I had no idea what he was talking about. Seriously. I’d forgotten all about that hug he’d seen in the hallway. The one I’d given Michael. All I could think was, Please don’t come over here, Michael. Please don’t come over here, Michael. . . .
“Look, Kenny,” I said. I don’t even know how I got my tongue to work, I swear. I felt like a robot somebody had switched into the Off position. “This really isn’t a good time. Maybe we could talk later—”
“Mia,” Kenny said. He had a funny look on his face. “I know. I saw him.”
I blinked.
And then I remembered. Michael, and the B-minus hug.
“Oh, Kenny,” I said. “Really. That was just . . . I mean, there’s nothing—”
?
??You don’t have to worry,” Kenny said. And then I realized why his face looked so funny. It was because he was wearing an expression on it that I had never seen before. At least, not on Kenny. The expression was resignation. “I won’t tell Lilly.”
Lilly! Oh, God! The last person in the world I wanted to know how I felt about Michael!
Maybe it wasn’t too late. Maybe there was still a chance I could . . .
But no. No, I couldn’t lie to him. For once in my life, I could not summon up a lie.
“Kenny,” I said. “I am so, so sorry.”
I didn’t realize until I said it that it was too late to run for the girls’ room: I had already started crying. My voice broke, and when I put my hands to my face, they came away wet.
Great. I was crying, and in front of the entire student body of Albert Einstein High School.
“Kenny,” I said, sniffling. “I honestly meant to tell you. And I really do like you. I just don’t . . . love you.”
Kenny’s face was very white, but he didn’t start crying—not like me. Thank God. In fact, he even managed to smile a little in that weird, resigned way as he said, shaking his head, “Wow. I can’t believe it. I mean, when it first hit me, I was like no way. Not Mia. No way would she do that to her best friend. But . . . well, I guess it explains a lot. About, um, us.”
I couldn’t look him in the face any longer. I felt like a worm. Worse than a worm, because worms are very environmentally helpful. I felt like . . . like . . .
Like a fruit fly.
“I guess I’ve suspected for a long time that there was someone else,” Kenny went on. “You never . . . well, you never exactly seemed to return my ardor when we . . . you know.”
I knew. Kissed. Nice of him to bring it up though, here in the gym, in front of everyone.
“I knew you just weren’t saying anything because you didn’t want to hurt my feelings,” Kenny said. “That’s the kind of girl you are. And that’s why I put off asking you to the dance,” Kenny admitted. “Because I figured you’d just say no. On account of you, you know, liking someone else. I mean, I know you’d never lie to me, Mia. You’re the most honest person I’ve ever met.”
HA! Was he joking? Me? Honest? Obviously, he did not have the slightest clue about my nostrils.
“That’s how I know how much this must be tearing you up inside. I just think you’d better tell Lilly soon,” Kenny said somberly. “I started to suspect, you know, at the restaurant. And if I figured it out, other people will, too. And you wouldn’t want her to hear it from somebody else.”
I had reached up to try to wipe some of my tears away with my sleeve, but paused with my hand only halfway there, and stared at him. “Restaurant? What restaurant?”
“You know,” Kenny said, looking uncomfortable. “That day we all went to Chinatown. You and he sat next to each other. You kept laughing. . . . You looked pretty chummy.”
Chinatown? But Michael hadn’t gone with us that day to Chinatown. . . .
“And you know,” Kenny said, “I’m not the only one who’s noticed him leaving you those roses all week, either.”
