After lunch I, like, ditch Ash and Bren and tiptoe by the office. Through the glass I can see Sarah and Rob on the bench next to Mister You-know-who himself. His foot’s twitching like it does before a game. He doesn’t see me. None of them do.

Ms. Gold, the secretary, is fiddling around with paper on the counter, so I can’t just, like, waltz in. I pretend to read the announcements on the board outside the door. There’s still an index card up for Mrs. Kaliman’s free kittens, who are probably, like, grandparent cats by now. And I’m all, like, How long can a girl stare at ancient notes on a message board?

So I knock on the glass, and finally Danny looks up.

I roll my eyes, like, You doofus. Now look what you’ve done! And I smile, like it’s all a big joke. And he smiles back, all cocky.

Sarah half-smiles, too. And not the kind of smile you’d give a girl whose boyfriend you just stole. So who knows?

After an eternity Ms. Gold comes out, so I catch the office door and stick my head in.

Danny whispers that Chen is calling their parents and that they don’t know if they’re, like, suspended or not. He sounds practically proud of himself.

Not Rob, though. His neck is hanging and his head’s, like, dragging on the floor. He looks up for a second and gives me this totally scared-rabbit look.

So I’m all, “But what did you guys, like, do?”

Rob moans and drops his head. Sarah sighs and looks totally embarrassed.

But Dan-the-man looks exactly like his usual smug self. He goes, “We didn’t do nothin’!” Then a little quieter he says, “White and Chen think maybe some of our answers weren’t strictly legit.” And he, like, winks.

Then the principal’s office door opens, so I scoot.

Now I’m thinking: Answers not legitimate? Meaning??? That he, like, cheated or something? He got busted for cheating on his midterm?

Is that what he was talking about this morning? Ick! How gross is that? And it must’ve been something much more grand and glorious than just sneaking a peek at someone’s paper if it included Rob and Sarah, and got them all benched like that. And, like, broadcast on the PA no less!

“ATTENTION, EVERYONE! ANNOUNCEMENT! Ruby’s boyfriend is so totally stupid that he has to cheat to pass his stinking midterm!”

Eew! That makes me look like trash that hangs with, like, lazy misfit losers. Eew! Eew! Eew!

I could die. I hate him. I totally hate his stupid guts. Danny, I hate you!!

Dan