smile and untucked her hair from behind her ears to hide her face. Lucas reached across the table and smoothed her hair back behind her shoulder.
“Same, yeah,” Zach mumbled as he nearly tripped over himself to get away, his eyes darting between Helen and Lucas with disbelief. “See you in a few,” he called out before joining the other guys in line.
Helen bit her lip and stared at her coffee cup, rubbing her stomach under the table as subtly as possible. Please, no cramps, she thought.
“What’s the matter?” Lucas asked, watching her.
“Nothing. Can we just go?” she pleaded, desperate to change the subject, get away, maybe drop dead if at all possible.
“Sure,” Lucas said, standing up. He gave her a worried look. “I know it’s not nothing, Helen, and I’d rather you told me the truth, whatever it is. Ariadne gave all three of us guys a whole lecture about women’s troubles years ago, you know. And by lecture, I mean beating.”
“Well, I owe her one, but it’s not what you think.” Helen grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the door.
Lucas waved to Zach on his way out. Zach waved back, but he was still pouting.
“I think I’ve lowered your rank. Sorry,” Helen said as they got in the little silver Mercedes.
“What are you talking about?” Lucas asked, backing out of the parking lot.
“Well, Zach and all those guys saw us together,” she said, like her meaning was obvious.
“And?”
“Zach and Gretchen aren’t my biggest fans, which makes me sort of like popularity antimatter at school,” Helen explained sheepishly. Lucas’s face cracked into a huge smile and he grabbed her hand, but he had to let it go to shift.
“I’m going to have to start driving an automatic,” he mumbled to himself before continuing. “You think you’re unpopular? The first hour I was on this island I heard about the beautiful, perfect, heavenly Helen Hamilton. You know that’s what the boys call you, right? Heaven Hamilton?” Helen dodged his seeking hand, but he eventually captured hers and held it tighter.
“Stop it, Lucas. This isn’t a joke to me. And what’s up with this?” she asked, holding up their linked hands.
“I don’t know,” he said with a curious tilt of his head. “But it feels right, doesn’t it? Look, why don’t you tell me what’s really bothering you about being seen with me. Are you afraid of people talking?”
“Yes and no. You don’t understand because you haven’t been here long enough, but those popular people have something against me, and some of them go out of their way to be mean to me. I’ve never fit in with them.”
“And you never will,” he told her seriously. “No matter where you go you are going to be different, Helen. It’s about time you got used to it.”
“I am used to it! I’ve had my whole life to get used to it!” she exclaimed as they drove into the school parking lot.
“Good. Now stop freaking out and listen for a sec. Those guys weren’t staring at us because they hate you. They were staring at us because they couldn’t figure out how the hell I convinced a girl who tried to strangle me the other week to get in my car and go out for coffee.”
“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that,” Helen said to the ground, getting out of the car. She tossed her bag over her shoulder.
“And I’d like to go back to forgetting about it. If we never talk about trying to kill each other again, it would be fine with me,” Lucas said quietly. He took her hand firmly in his and pulled her up against him so that her shoulder was touching his arm as they walked into school.
Everyone was staring. The halls were lined with blank faces and slack jaws as conversations were momentarily halted and then continued twice as loud when Helen and Lucas passed. Helen tried to pull her hand out of Lucas’s, but he resisted at first. Finally, he let go when he realized that Helen was not just being modest, she was about to panic.
“Lennie?” Claire called out warily. Helen smiled briefly at Lucas and veered in Claire’s direction.
“Where were you all weekend?” Claire asked, eyeing Lucas suspiciously.
“Did you try to call me?” Helen asked, grateful for an excuse to pry herself away from Lucas and hopefully away from all the stares.
“Like, five times. What happened to you?”
“My phone broke,” Helen said apologetically. Then she turned to Lucas. “I have to stop at my