Blue Is for Nightmares by Laurie Faria Stolarz Page A

books."
    "Really?" He folds his arms at us. "How come I don't believe you? What are you guys really up to?"
    "Women, asshole," Amber says. "Not guys. Not girls. Women."
    "Don't think for a minute that I don't know what you women are doing here."
    "What are you talking about?" I say.
    A smile curls up his perfectly kissable cheek. "You came for the Olympics of the Mind meeting, right?" He points to a bright orange flyer taped to the wall, calling all first-time brain athletes into the library basement for a meeting.
    "Oh, yeah, right," Amber says. "My brain gets enough of a workout in school. The last thing I want to do is use it after school."
    "That explains a lot," Drea says.
    I glance at the iron clock in the middle of the quad. It's just after four o'clock, only twenty minutes after the phone call in our room. "When did you get here?"
    'About five minutes ago."
    "Did you see anyone using the phone before you?" "No, why? What's up?"
    "Nothing," I say. "I was just supposed to meet someone here. That's all."
    "Really?" Chad's eyes narrow on me. 'Anyone I should know about?"
    "Yeah," Drea bursts out, before I can speak. "Our little Stacey here was just waiting for someone. Get the picture?"

    "Now get out of the picture," Amber says, fake-smoking her Hello Kitty pencil.
    If tearing someone's acrylic nails off, glue and all, and cramming them down her throat didn't look so unattractive, I would probably do just that to Drea right now. She II5
    knows exactly what she's doing--burning away any bridge of possibility that exists between me and Chad.
    "Three's company" Drea says, twirling a lock of hair around her finger. "So we need to split too, right Amb?" Amber nods.
    "I can take a hint." Chad collects his books and leaves, without even one last minuscule peek in my direction. Drea elbows me in the ribs when he's gone. "That totally worked. He so believed you were waiting for someone." "Great," I say.
    "So now what?" Amber says. "You don't seriously think it's Chad, do you?"
    "He knows something," Drea whispers.
    "You don't know that." I watch him as he walks away, until his figure has blended into the sea of matching blue blazers. The last thing I want to believe is that he has anything to do with this.
    "What are you staring at?" Drea asks. "Picture will last longer."
    "I thought I saw PJ," I say.
    "Yeah, right," Drea says. "I don't know why you bother; Chad can be such a jerk. I'm so glad I refused to give him my homework."
    "Refused or forgot?" Amber asks. "You were kind of preoccupied this morning."
    Drea ignores the question. She glances at the phone and smiles. "Let's see who Chad was really talking to. Can you redial on a pay phone?"
    "Negative," Amber says. "But we could call the operator and tell them to dial back the last number. We can just say
    that it's an emergency and we can't remember the last digit or something."
    "It'll never work," Drea says. "But let's try it."
    Amber picks up the receiver, dials a zero, and waits a few seconds. "Hello? Why aren't you picking up?" She finger- punches the zero a bunch more times before hanging up. "Oh my god, what if this was, like, an emergency or something?"
    The phone rings. We look at each other, unsure of what to do, if we should get it. Two rings.
    Three. Amber's mouth quivers, as though she's about to say something, but instead she picks up the receiver. "Hello? Yes." She covers her free ear to hear better. "What?" She lifts the receiver from her ear, but instead of hanging it up, she passes it to Drea. "It's for you."
    Drea crinkles her eyebrows, confused. She takes the phone, and Amber and I huddle in close to listen. "Hello?" Drea says.
    There's a long pause before a static-filled voice--his voice--speaks to us. "Sorry I couldn't stick around to chat, Drea. But I'll be sure to call you later when it's more private and we can talk about more intimate things, like your bra."
    "My bra?"
    "Pink. Lace trim around the cups. Size 34B."
    Oh! My! God! I press my eyes shut,