Chapter 1.

Oh, no!I thought as a girl with dark brown hair and a wide smile walked toward us.Things were going so well, too. My perfect summer day with Robert was about to be ruined.

I reached over and took Robert's hand, intertwining my fingers with his. He'd just bitten into a tuna sandwich on a roll, but he smiled at me with his eyes. I returned his smile.

We had spent the whole morning together playing tennis. (He'd won three games and I'd won three.) Then we'd biked to the deli and brought back lunch, which we were now eating as we sat on a green bench by the outdoor courts. It was perfect end-of-summer weather, warm but with a cool breeze. The day had been so much fun. I wanted it to go on — undisturbed by Andi Gentile — forever.

Robert hadn't yet noticed Andi Gentile approaching. He was looking at me. Maybe if I pretended I didn't see her he wouldn't notice

her, either. Maybe she'd just keep walking.

I swiveled around and acted fascinated by a tennis game at one of the courts behind us. (And I do meanacted. The two people playing were moving at a snail's pace.) "Look, Robert,” I said. "Doesn't that guy have a great serve?"

"I guess,” Robert said, eyeing the game skeptically. "It's kind of slow motion."

"Hi, guys," Andi exclaimed.

No luck.

"Oh, hi, Andi," I replied with casual friendliness as I turned away from the slowest game of tennis on earth.

"Andi! Hi!" Robert said, quickly wiping at his mouth with a white deli napkin. He swallowed his tuna in one big gulp. "How are you?"

"Okay," she replied, rocking on the soles of her gleaming white sneakers and casually swinging her chrome tennis racket.

I didn't like the way he was smiling at Andi.Calm down, Stacey, I ordered myself. There was no reason to worry about Andi. Robert and Andi were just friends.