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“Well, we know Mr. Halifax likes younger women. Because he likes me.”

“She’s 12,” Scarlett said again. “It’s definitely not Nova. I think we can rule her out.”

“Good, because we were about to get in a huge fight. I didn’t even tell her dibs because I didn’t think she knew Mr. Halifax.”

Scarlett laughed. “She doesn’t.”

“God, what’s taking Axel so long?”

“You asked him to do something incredibly weird,” Scarlett said. “Be patient.”

I wasn’t good at patient.

But Axel finally reemerged from Mr. Halifax’s room.

“That was really awkward,” Axel said.

“What did he say?” I asked.

“That I got an A on my last test and he didn’t know why I was asking for extra help. Especially tonight.”

“But what did he say about Nancy Cox?”

“Who?” Axel asked.

I had not filled him in well enough. “Does he have a date tonight with someone with the initials NC or not?”

“I don’t think so. He told me he was busy because he had a meeting.”

“A meeting?” Scarlett asked. “Great. Not a date.” She patted my back.

I breathed a sigh of relief. A boring meeting was certainly not a date. “Thank you, Axel. I was going crazy there for a second.”

“Mhm,” he said.

Well, I didn’t love the idea that he thought I was crazy. But it was fine.

“Come on,” Axel said and grabbed Scarlett’s hand. “You’re going to be late for your next class.”

It was really sweet that he walked her to her classes. I glanced back at Mr. Halifax’s doorway. He wasn’t going on a date tonight. But I did wonder what the meeting was about.

I hurried after Scar and Axel.

***

“So how was school today?” my mom asked as she passed around the salad.

I put some in my bowl and started picking out the tomatoes. I only liked cooked tomatoes. These raw ones ruined the whole salad. My mom was being very pedestrian tonight.

“Great,” RJ said through a mouthful of food. “Uncle Matt let us out of practice early to rest up. I can’t wait for tomorrow.”

“You’re going to do great,” my dad said. “First big game. Are you nervous?”

RJ and him both laughed. Because they both knew he wasn’t. I wasn’t sure RJ was capable of nerves.

“What about you, Sophie?” my mom asked. “Did you have a good day?”

“It was fine,” I said. “I failed a calc test, snooped on a teacher’s calendar, and then made Axel hit on said teacher to figure out who he was meeting with tonight. Oh and they had pizza today at lunch. With cooked tomatoes.” I gave my mom a look.