"Look, Danny," I said to my classmate. "Pick a concubine ... any concubine. Maybe one of these girls! If you do, I'll skip eighth period or a whole da... of classes if you don't want to do it today. We'll pull Alba out of class, then we take the Jessa sisters on an around the world test-drive and if you want them, it's a done deal. Otherwise, I'll take them."The cheerleaders sucked in their breath loudly. I was guaranteeing Marissa and Alba slots either with with Daniel or me. Daniel let go of. ..". I struggled to find the right word."I was ... what? A pain in the ass, your worst nightmare, the love of your life?"I think we were both a little surprised by her last option, but it did open the door for me to find the answer I had been seeking. "You were, and still are, a special part of my life. If we were the same age, I think we might have had something."She got a funny look on her face then, as if that wasn't quite the answer she had expected. When she recovered, she said, "I think. It always helps the digestion when I am able to in fact eat the food.As I sat down, I realized that the lunchroom was a bit emptier than normal. I gave a quick check out the window. Nope, no blizzard. As far as I knew there was no special events going on today that would give that many students a good reason to not show up.So I did what I usually did at lunch. Try to eat while listening for interesting gossip. It took most of my sandwich before I heard what I wanted."You know," some girl was. I will. I can pick some sexy lingerie while I’m at it!” she laughed again and went into the kitchen to call Mr. Burkle. I gritted my teeth together as I walked upstairs to my room and changed out of my school uniform and into a pair of stretchy shorts, a tank top, and my tennis shoes.“Mom, I’m going for a run. Be back soon!” I yelled and dashed out the front door before she could yell back. I ran down the block to Mr. Burkle’s house and looked through the living room window. He was on the phone.