Chapter 6: Rules for a Girlfriend

Caleb set the empty cup down on the bike rack and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Rule one," he said. "You don't talk to Asher."

Asher, standing a foot away with his arms crossed, made a short, angry noise.

"Rule two. You don't sit near Elliott."

"Got it," I said.

"Rule three. Don't be rude to either of them, because they're my friends."

"So I talk to them, but I don't talk to them."

"Yes."

"And I'm near them, but I'm not near them."

"Exactly," Caleb said, and walked away very fast.

Asher watched him go.

"He's going to hurt himself," he said, and then looked horrified that he'd said it out loud.

At the seminar that afternoon, Caleb took his usual seat in the back row.

"Sit where I can see you," he said, as rule four.

The room was nearly full.

Elliott sat in the row in front of Caleb's, on the left, and the empty seat beside him was the only one in view.

Asher sat in the same row on the right, and the only other empty seat in view was next to him.

Rule one said not near Asher, rule two said not near Elliott, and rule four said where Caleb could see me.

I thought about it for a moment.

Then I went to the supply closet, the same one Asher had fallen into, took a folding stool, and carried it into the aisle.

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