I do have is an empty stomach.” Amanda hooked elbows with Grace. “Bye, Mr. Peters,” she said, blowing a kiss with a flirty wave as she pulled Grace with her to the cafeteria. From over her shoulder, Grace saw a very worried Mr. Peters watching them walk away.
Once inside the cafeteria, Grace yanked her arm free. “Are you insane?”
Amanda’s eyes went all Precious Moments as she tried pulling off the complete look of innocence. “What do you mean?”
Grace raised one brow and threw out her hands in a wide arc. “Duh!”
“Oh, that?” she asked with a thumb over her right shoulder. “That, my sweet Grace, was an A.”
“What, so you’re screwing teachers for A’s now?” Grace knew it was none of her business, but Amanda was her friend and she didn’t want to see her in trouble.
Amanda rolled her eyes. “Of course I didn’t sleep with him. I didn’t have to.” Her smile turned smug. “You walked by at just the right time.”
“How do I have anything to do with this?” Grace’s stomach clenched at the thought of how much she really, really didn’t want to get involved. Again, plate full right now, people.
“You’ve made it so that little show back there is no longer my word against his and he knows it. So I can skip his class the rest of the year and I’m sure to get an A.” Grace’s stomach turned a little at how Amanda was completely at ease with herself.
“Please tell me you haven’t slept with any teachers.”
Amanda’s eyes went wide with shock. “Of course I haven’t.” Grace breathed a sigh of relief. “None of them are my type.”
“Oh, that’s much better,” Grace muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing.” Grace shrugged and turned toward the cafeteria. “I’m hungry.”
Amanda followed Grace to the sandwich bar. Grace looked around at the selection of breads, deli meats, cheeses, condiments, and trimmings, but seemed to be suffering from a lack of appetite. All she’d had earlier was toast. Grace hoped once she sat down she’d be able to force a sandwich down. Amanda followed close behind Grace while she led them to their usual table.
“How’s it going?” Emily asked as soon as Grace sat down.
“It’s going.” Not very well, but the day kept moving forward. Unfortunately.
“You wanna do what we talked about earlier?” Emily asked in all seriousness.
“Yeah!” Tommy whisper-shouted with a fist pump.
“What?” Amanda and Leah asked at the same time, watching the three of them.
“Nothing,” Grace said as she studied her tray. The food she’d chosen seriously lacked appeal. She took a bite anyway and forced it down. “Hey, you guys want to go to Latté Da’s with me and Zeke on Friday?” she asked between bites.
Tommy didn’t wait until his mouth was empty to reply. “Can’t,” he mumbled, then went back to eating.
“Zeke?” Emily asked, with a raised brow. “What about Quentin?” Grace sighed, frustrated that Emily even asked. She wanted to forget about Quentin, not talk about him with anyone, let alone while everybody was listening.
“Who’s Quentin?” Leah asked in her shrill voice.
“Yeah, Grace. Who’s Quentin?” Amanda smirked at her, raising a suggestive eyebrow. She leaned forward expectantly, as if she hoped she’d caught Grace in something she shouldn’t have.
Grace threw a few eye daggers at Emily, who simply shrugged her shoulders and took a bite of her salad. “No one. What’s going on Friday, Tommy?”
Still chewing his food, Tommy looked up from his tray. “This guy heard the band play at Latté Da’s the other night and asked us to play at The Board Shop in Bountiful.” At this he grinned, cheeks full of food. Disgusting, but cute in his own surfer-boy kind of way. “You and Zeke should come to The Board Shop and hear us play instead.”
“Is it going to be wild with a lot of moshing?” Grace frowned, trying not to shudder at the memory of the other night. A repeat definitely wasn’t in her future if she could help it.
“Not this time. Not that kinda crowd.” Well, she wasn’t that kind of crowd either, but there was still screaming and moshing. “Zeke’s in my fifth period. I can talk to him if you want,” he offered.
“Sure, that sounds fun.” Grace crossed her fingers under the table, hoping he’d want to go.
“I want to go too,” Leah chimed in. “Did you invite Brian?”
Tommy frowned at Leah, then shook his head. “Why don’t you two just hook up already?” Not waiting for a response, he dipped his head and went back to shoveling in his lunch.
“Why?” Leah