Blue Is for Nightmares by Laurie Faria Stolarz

What time shall I be there?"
    don't know," Drea says. "I might have something to do.
    "Another time maybe." His eyes hang on Drea a few more seconds before he moves away, not even bothering to say goodbye to Amber or me.
    "Oh my god," Amber says, when he's out of earshot. "He so wants you." She peers around the corner of the building to watch him walk away. "You don't think it's him, do you?"
    "I've known him since the third grade." Drea plucks the protection bottle from under her sweater and secures it in both hands.
    Amber tilts her head to size up Donovan's assets from behind. "Not bad. I'd say about an eight on a one-to-ten scale. What do you think, Stace?"
    "I think I can't believe he still continues to ask Drea out after all these years."
    "Painful," Amber says.
    "Did you see the way he studied me?" Drea asks. "He always studies you," I say.
    "No. It was different today. More intense."
    "He is an artist," Amber says. "I just love artists." "You just love everyone," Drea says.
    "Do I sense a note of jealousy?" Amber juts her bosom forward. "The boy is fair game. Maybe I'll let him sculpt
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    me.
    "I don't think he's into abstracts." Drea kisses the protection bottle and shoves it back into her skirt. "Come on, let's go to the library before I change my mind."
    We creep around the side of the building, and even though everything feels as if it's been changed in some way--who we can trust, what we can say, where we can say it--the library appears just as it has on any other day, like a giant brick harmonica dropped down from outer space. The constancy of it comforts me.
    We round the corner by the tennis court and there it is. In full view. The pay phone. But it isn't the actual phone we stand there gawking at; it's the person using it.
    Chad.
    "Oh my god," Drea says. "He's calling home, right? Tell me he's calling his home."
    -Right," I say. "Home."
    "Right," Amber repeats. "Even though he has a perfectly good phone in his dorm room with an economical calling plan."
    "Seriously," I say, "what are the odds that whoever called us would still be on the phone? It could be anybody" I glance around at the swarm of navy-blue-and-green-plaided bodies sitting, stretching, and standing in the quad area.
    "Yeah, and maybe if we didn't stop to flirt with Donovan," Drea evil-eyes Amber, "we could have gotten here a lot faster."
    "Hey" Amber says, "don't complain. I was just trying to do you a favor."
    "Well, don't try so hard next time, okay?"
    We continue toward the phone, toward Chad, our eyes burning blisters into his back. He doesn't look like he's talking to anyone, just listening, or waiting for somebody to pick up.
    "Chad," Drea says, when we're close enough. "What do you think you're doing?"
    He turns and clunks the receiver back down on its cradle. "Oh, hi, guys. What's up?"
    "Who were you talking to?" Drea asks.
    "Nobody"
    "Well, I guess you just hung up on nobody then."
    "What are you, my mother?" He flips his notebook shut and stacks it atop the heap of books on the shelf.
    "I guess I just don't think it's polite to hang up on someone. That's all."
    "Well, not that it's any of your business, but I wasn't talking to anyone. They weren't home."
    "Who's 'they'?" Amber asks.

    Chad ignores her and looks at me, and I feel my cheeks turn into fireballs. "What's up, Stacer
    "Not much," I say, watching his eyes linger at my hips, move past my wobbly knees, and land on my clunky black shoes. Why did I wear socks instead of tights today? I wonder if he notices that the left sock is yanked up at least six inches higher than the right. I cross my legs at the ankle, hoping it offsets how stylistically challenged I am, and glance at Drea. She shoots me a quick dose of the evil eye and then looks away.
    "Well," Amber says. "Maybe we should get going." She yawns in Chad's direction. "We were just heading off to the library to study."
    "Study?" Chad arches his eyebrows.
    "Yeah," Amber says. "You know, that thing you do with