Starcrossed

he’d forgotten the whole thing, but he kept trying to stop himself from glancing over at her, so Helen knew he was still really worried. She caught his eye and smiled warmly, and after that he seemed a little less preoccupied. Zach turned his head and looked out the window as soon as he took his seat, making a big show of not looking at her.
    She made it through the rest of the morning without incident, right up until lunch. As she walked to the cafeteria she realized too late that she was going to pass by Lucas’s locker. She was about to turn and go another way, which was ridiculous because that would mean she would have to literally go around the entire school, when she was spotted.
    Gretchen and Zach noticed her as she stood wavering indecisively in the middle of the hall. They were at their lockers, which just so happened to be right next to Lucas’s and Jason’s. Some of the fuzz fell off of Helen’s memory and she recalled Gretchen’s and Zach’s petrified faces floating around in the background as she tried to choke Lucas. It made alphabetical sense for their lockers to be together, Brant— B , Clifford— C , Delos— D , but Helen blamed her terrible luck for the fact that all of the most popular people in her grade had been firsthand witnesses to her moment of utter humiliation.
    She had no choice—she was just going to have to walk past them. Gretchen and Zach didn’t say a word and their faces didn’t show any expression at all as Helen hurried by with her shoulders practically in her ears. At least Lucas wasn’t there, she thought, ducking into the cafeteria.
    “Stand up straight! You’re going to give yourself scoliosis,” Claire scolded when Helen got to their table.
    “Sorry. I just had to go by his locker,” Helen explained quietly. Matt made a disgusted sound.
    “You can calm down, Lennie,” he snapped. “None of them are here today.”
    “Supposedly they all took the day off because the aunt and the eldest Delos kid finally got to the island this morning,” Claire said.
    “Oh yeah, great,” Helen mused. “There’s another one.”
    “Hector. He’s a senior,” Claire added helpfully, although she could have no idea that saying his name didn’t help Helen at all. In fact, for some inexplicable reason, it ticked her off.
    “No news on him yet. Zach will probably call me with an update this weekend,” Matt said with a shrug. “He always knows where everyone is and what they’re doing.”
    The rest of the day dragged by, although there was some relief in knowing that she wasn’t going to bump into the Delos kids or the wraiths that seemed to appear whenever they did. She even started to enjoy herself during track practice as she ran through the fog and splashed in muddy puddles with Claire. Coach Tar didn’t say a thing about Helen’s pathetically slow run time when she came in, although Helen knew she wouldn’t be able to get away with that for much longer. She had an athletic scholarship to win, and Coach Tar was not about to forget it.
    Dodging her way through the day, Helen made it to work that evening with something like relief, until she realized that a lot of kids from her school were coming in to buy a single piece of candy or one can of soda.
    “Why don’t you go to the back and do some stocking for me?” Kate asked, giving Helen a gentle pat on the arm. “They’ll stop coming in to gawk if they think you’ve left for the day.”
    “Don’t they have anything else to do on a Friday night?” Helen asked hopelessly.
    “What island did you grow up on?” Kate replied sarcastically. Helen rested her forehead briefly on Kate’s shoulder, stealing a second of comfort before she straightened up. “You may as well do the inventory, too. And take as long as you want,” Kate added as Helen headed toward the back.
    Inventory was not usually Helen’s favorite job, but it was that night. She was so occupied counting every object in the store that before she knew it, they were locking the front and going through the ritual of closing down.
    “So. What really happened between you and that Lucas kid?” Kate asked without looking up from the stacks of bills she was sorting.
    “I wish I knew.” Helen sighed as she rested on her broom handle.
    “Everyone’s talking about you two. And not just the kids,” Kate said with a half smile. “So what’s up?”
    “Look, if I had an explanation, believe me, I’d be shouting it in the streets. I don’t know why