We were late enough that everyone was already at our table, starting to grow impatient with anticipation to see me. I avoided the carefully-placed empty chair next to Mike in favor of one by Angela. I vaguely noticed that Mike held the chair out politely for Jessica, and that her face lit up in response. I was happy for them, I really was. Jessica had her horse, and Mike had his consolation prize.
Angela asked quite a few questions about the Macbeth paper, which I answered as naturally as I could while spiraling downward into misery. She, too, invited me to go out with them tonight, and I agreed now, grasping at anything to distract myself from my misery spiral.
I realized I'd been holding on to a last shred of hope when I entered Biology IV, saw his empty seat, and felt a new wave of disappointment. vThe rest of the day passed slowly, dismally. In Gym, we had a lecture on the rules of badminton, the next torture they had lined up for me. But at least I got to sit and listen instead of stumbling around on the court. The best part was the coach didn't finish, so I got another day off tomorrow. Never mind that after that they would arm me with a six-inch diameter racquet and some small plastic shuttlecocks before unleashing me on the rest of the class.
I was glad to leave campus, so I would be free to pout and mope before I went out tonight with Jessica and company. Anything would be better than feeling sorry for myself all night. But right after I walked in the door of Charlie's house, Jessica called to cancel our plans. I tried to be happy that Mike had asked her out to dinner—I was relieved that he finally seemed to be catching on—but my enthusiasm sounded false in my own ears. It was depressing, in general, to see her so happy with a boy that wasn't even worth talking to for three minutes. She rescheduled our shopping trip for tomorrow night.
Which left me with little in the way of distractions. I had fish marinating for dinner, with a salad and bread left

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Chapter 7

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