I couldn’t actually complain. He was my secret boyfriend after all. We hadn’t so much as glanced at each other at school for weeks to keep it a secret. And despite my confidence that he truly cared about me, in my heart I knew that there was no way we could work out long term. But that didn’t mean I had to be happy about it.

I was grumbling along to my locker Wednesday after lunch. Bethany hadn’t spoken to me for a week, but I’d seen her hanging on Collen all week. Joe had noticed and was acting like a girl on her period. I hadn’t been able to...