Ms. Belson apologized for not knowing, and said she’d talk to Paul and Jake, and let the principal know about their behavior. She told me to keep Ethan’s record of what they’d said, because it could come in handy if I wanted to take further action.

When she dismissed us, Ethan and I made our way out the door. By now, we only had a couple of minutes to get to our next classes, but we lingered in the hallway. I smirked at the notebook he was still holding, open to the page where he had written down every one of Paul’s and Jake’s gross words. All along the margins were doodles of Paul and Jake getting eaten by various animals. A shark, a bear, a cute little bunny.

“Not my most sophisticated work, but very therapeutic,” Ethan said. I laughed. I’d missed him so much.

“Thank you. Really,” I said. “And I’m sorry for ditching rehearsals and not waiting for you by the lockers and… hurting your best friend.” My face fell when I said that part.

“Alina,” Ethan said, a bit exasperated. “It’s not… I’m not angry at you for that. I’m sorry it happened, but you’re my friend, too.”

I should already have known that. But hearing it made me ridiculously happy.

“I was just mad that you decided to shut us out all of a sudden. Like we didn’t matter to you.”

“That’s definitely not true.”

“I know.” We were quiet for a few seconds. “Anyway, look. You didn’t even have to apologize to me, because you gave me a great shot.” He pulled his phone out of his bag and held it up. I stared at the picture. It was my profile, and because Ethan had been sitting down when he took it, I looked larger than life. My arm was stretched in front of me, like I was a sorceress warding off some unseen evil.

“Whoa.”

“I think I’ll call it ‘The Negative Correlation of Dicks Speech.’”

“You’re not posting it, are you?”

Ethan rolled his eyes. “Do you think I just met you? No, I’m not posting it. But people will talk about it, and word travels fast around here, so be prepared.”

“Got it. Will you send it to me, though?” Ethan tapped a few buttons and my phone lit up with the picture.

“You’re coming to rehearsal today, right?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said nervously. “I mean, if they let me back in.” Ethan squeezed my shoulder, holding it for a few seconds before a teacher shooed us on to our next classes. And even though I still had knots in my stomach, I felt lighter than I had in a while.