Across town, Max and Lacy plotted against Keeley over quinoa salad. The food was tasty but the conversation left much to be desired. Just once, could he spend time with Lacy without her wanting something unpleasant from him?

　　"I checked, she's not a scholars.h.i.+p student, otherwise I would get my father to rescind her financial aid," she grumbled. "I don't know enough about her to know her weaknesses."

　　"You act like you're going to war."

　　"Haven't you ever heard that love is a battlefield?"

　　Yeah, one he was living in. Max sighed. "Lacy, is this even necessary? There are plenty of reasons they could have been in that closet. Honestly, I got the impression Aaron was threatening her. She seemed afraid of something."

　　"Tons of people fear him," she said dismissively. "I want to know why he keeps approaching her anyway. Someone like that should be beneath his notice."

　　"They're cla.s.smates! Maybe they had a group project together. You can't help who you get a.s.signed with."

　　Lacy shook her head vehemently. "Project partners don't discuss things in closets! Don't you know anything? People go into closets to make out!"

　　How did her mind jump straight to making out? She claimed that Aaron kissed that Keeley girl at the Valentine's dance but Max would have to see it to believe it. He was such a dead fish; there's no way he would do something as pa.s.sionate as kissing a girl, much less in public.

　　Although he couldn't deny it was strange that he had seen Aaron trying to approach a girl so often. Girls flocked to him, not the other way around.

　　Max wouldn't exactly call him a friend considering he thought of Aaron as a rival for Lacy's affections but he had known him since middle school. Aaron never had to go to anybody for anything. They always came to him. It was even stranger that he was pursuing this girl than it was that the girl was avoiding him.

　　What made her so special? She was from the middle cla.s.s! Hardly a step up from a scholars.h.i.+p student! Aaron towered far above her in both status and wealth so why did he bother?

　　"I don't think they were making out. Why would she cry?" Max reasoned.

　　"How am I supposed to fathom the minds of the lower cla.s.s? Either way, she's too close to Aaron. She needs to learn her place."