“Shh.” I could hear Robert’s voice behind us still. I was sure he could hear us.

Amelia lowered her voice. “Sorry. But you should’ve told me. We could’ve bad-mouthed him together all these weeks.”

“I just wanted to forget about it. I felt stupid. I had liked him.” I obviously still did. But nothing had changed. If he didn’t like what was important to me, or at least understand why it was important, there was no chance for us.

“He should feel stupid. You’re amazing. Don’t let his blindness make you feel bad about yourself. You have a passion and you work hard at it.” She made a weird noise in the back of her throat that I recognized immediately as a noise Robert made. “So annoying.”

I laughed.

“Of course you’re too focused for him because he is a lazy pig.”

I smiled. “He’s not lazy. He’s on the track team.”

“Shhhh,” she said. “We’re venting.”

We reached her car and I dug out of my backpack the notebook we had been using the day before. I drew a line through Robert. “Okay, seventy-one more people to go.”

She started the car. “What do you think Robert meant by ‘figure that out on your own’?”

“I don’t know.” We both watched as his car backed out of the space and drove through the parking lot, like it would somehow answer our question. It didn’t . . . obviously. She took the list from me, ran her finger down the page and then ripped it in half. “Well, we’re going to figure it out together. We’ll divide and conquer.”

I took a deep breath and shoved my half of the list back into my backpack.

The next day, I stared at the names on my Who Is Heath Hall? list. I didn’t have to do this. What were the odds that he’d show up at my swim meet again this Friday? The image of him jumping into the pool made my shoulders go tense immediately. I growled. Apparently, I did need to do this.

I scanned the list. I’d start with the people I semi-knew, like Brady Thompson. Then I’d move on to the total strangers. Brady sat two seats to the left of me in math.

Five minutes before class ended, I packed my book away and readied myself to cut him off on his way out the door. I felt like I was planning some sort of attack. I wiped my hands on my jeans. The bell rang right in the middle of Mr. Kingston telling us our homework assignment. I stood, my movement making the chair scrape the floor.

“I haven’t dismissed you yet,” Mr. Kingston said.