I walked into school on Monday determined to return things to normal. I couldn’t keep spending entire evenings on one assignment. Sooner or later I’d fall behind in my classes. I had to get my head on straight.

I walked into first period, keeping my eyes away from the back corner where Irene sat, and headed toward my seat. I sat down and set my notebook on the center of my desk. I sat up straight and looked to the front of the room.

Joy came running in just as the bell rang, fast-walking to her seat and sitting down hard enough for the chair to scrape the floor loudly. Our teacher gave her a stern look and she looked right back, beaming innocently. I raised my eyebrows at her as a question. Joy was usually early, even earlier than me most days. She just smiled and popped a piece of gum in .

“So Seulgi invited me to a party next weekend. Wanna go?” Joy asked as she popped a leaf of spinach into .

“A party? Really?” I asked skeptically. We’d never been quite the party-going type. As social as Joy was, she preferred conversation over dancing and getting wasted.

“Please? I really want to go.” I looked at her to see if she was really serious. “We don’t have to drink or anything, I don’t even really want to. I just don’t want to go alone.”

I took a deep breath. “Fine.”

Joy smiled brightly and reached for my hands across the table. I rolled my eyes, smiling and reaching out as well.

“It’ll be fun, I promise. I’ll be with you the whole time.”

By Friday, I was feeling pretty normal. I’d managed to finish my homework in only three hours the night before and even caught a decent amount of sleep. I caught myself glancing at Wendy in class from time to time, but maybe I was just curious because she was new. I was overthinking it. It wasn’t a big deal.

Joy was back to normal too. No more running into class late and out of breath. No more strange requests.

“But then she was like, so mad over a potato. Who gets mad over a potato, right? …Rene? Are you listening?”

Joy waved her hand in front of my face. I breathed in deeply and looked at her.

“Where’d you go, Mars?” she teased.

“Uh. Sorry, just tired I guess.” I shrugged my shoulders and glanced over Joy’s shoulder. I’d noticed Wendy across the café a few minutes before. She looked nice with her hair braided over her shoulder.

“What’re you even looking at?” Joy pivoted in her chair. “Wendy?” She looked back at me.

“Yeah, I just thought she um… I didn’t realize she ate here,” I lied. I bite my lip as Joy squinted at me, then turned around again.

“I’m going to ask her to eat with us,” she said after a long pause.

“Wait, Joy, no!” I hissed at her as she got up. She ignored me and walked confidently toward Wendy, talking to her with a smile and pointing in my direction. Wendy’s eyes locked on mine for a tiny second and my heart jumped in my chest.

They started walking back toward me. I didn’t know where to look. I settled with staring at my lunch until I heard them pulling out their chairs. I looked at Joy and she smiled.

“I’m Wendy. I don’t think I’ve caught your name yet?” She was looking at me. Talking to me.

“Yeah…” I choked out. A beat passed.

“I mean, uh… Irene. My name… I’m Irene,” I stumbled.

“Nice to meet you, Irene.” I could hear the smile in her voice. Was she laughing at me?

Joy started talking to her, asking easy questions. I ate quietly and listened to them talk. I only looked at my food and at Joy. I’d spent the last two weeks constantly looking at Wendy, but now I couldn’t seem to bring myself to do more than glance at her.

“So have you made any friends here?” Joy asked casually.

Wendy hesitated. “Not really. Everyone seems pretty set with their groups already.” She shrugged.

“Well then you should eat lunch with us next week too! Right, Irene?” Joy said excitedly, looking at me and nodding. I smiled weakly at her in assent.

Wendy smiled brightly. “Okay. Cool.” She glanced at her phone. “Oh, I have to go. I’m finally supposed to have a locker before fifth period.”

She grabbed her plate and her bag and stood up. “Bye, Joy,” she said. “Bye, Irene.”

I managed a tight-lipped smile and an awkward wave. The whole time she was sitting with us, I couldn’t even speak but now that she was leaving, I was fighting an overwhelming sense of disappointment.

“Are you okay?” Joy asked once Wendy was out the door.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You were acting weird. Do you not like her?”

“No, I told you I’m just tired.”

Joy looked at me suspiciously but shrugged her shoulders and went back to her lunch.

I couldn’t really tell Joy the truth. I didn’t even know what the truth was. Something about Wendy unnerved me, but at the same time I was drawn to her. And now she’d be eating lunch with us every day. I just hoped I could pull myself together.