Everybody Bugs Out by Leslie Margolis

too too terrible, although probably still not so nice. What if Oliver happened to ask me to the dance before I had the chance to ask him about Claire?
    It could happen.
    But then what if it did? Could I say yes? Or did saying yes to Oliver make me a lousy friend? What if Claire never forgave me? Even just wishing for that to happen felt lousy. But I couldn’t help it.
    I didn’t say anything to Oliver during class. I wasn’t planning to after class, either, but then I found Claire standing by my locker after school.
    â€œWhat did he say?” she asked.
    â€œNothing,” I said. “I mean I haven’t asked him yet, but I’m going to his house in a few minutes.”
    â€œPerfect! You’re the best, Annabelle.”
    Claire gave me a hug, which only made me feel worse. “Call me later and let me know how it goes,” she said before taking off with a bounce in her step—like she knew I’d report back with good news.
    And the thought that I’d betray her had never crossed her mind.

chapter twelve
    bugs and boys
    I think the red one should be farther left,” Tobias said that afternoon as we surveyed the construction paper we’d put out on Oliver’s lawn.
    Oliver moved the paper over ever so slightly. “How’s this?” he asked.
    â€œLet me check.” Tobias pulled his tape measure from his back pocket and measured the distance from the edge of the patio. Then he compared it to our notes from last time. “No, half an inch to the right, actually.”
    â€œNo problem.” Oliver moved it back.
    â€œEverything ready?” I asked.
    â€œWait,” said Oliver. “You guys need to see my bug sketches.” He opened his notebook and showed us drawings of a bumblebee, a ladybug, and an ant.
    â€œCool!” Tobias said.
    â€œThese are amazing!” I couldn’t help but gush—because they really were. But I didn’t want to say too much because I feared Tobias would make fun of me again. True, he was taking our project much more seriously lately, but I wasn’t taking any chances.
    â€œRoly-polies are next,” Oliver informed us.
    â€œDid you guys know that they’re actually called armadillidiidae?” asked Tobias.
    â€œArma what?” I asked.
    â€œI’ll just write it down on the graph.”
    Once Oliver put his sketches away, I set the timer on the stopwatch for thirty minutes. “Now?” I asked.
    They both nodded.
    â€œOne, two, three, go!” The second I hit the timer we all fell to the grass—not close enough to disturb, scare, or influence any bug that might land on our construction paper. But close enough so that we could actually keep track of what showed up where.
    Within the first five minutes we recorded three bees, two ladybugs, six flies, and a beetle. Twenty minutes later we had an ant parade marching across the green page. And I realized I was stalling. If I didn’t ask Oliver about Claire soon, I’d be out of time. And I’d promised Claire.
    So I cleared my throat and blurted out the question. “Are you guys going to the school dance?”
    â€œDances are dumb,” said Tobias.
    â€œHow do you know?” asked Oliver. “This is the first one.”
    â€œI’ve seen them on TV,” said Tobias as he retied one of his shoelaces. “And they sound dumb.”
    â€œHe’s just saying that because he doesn’t have a date,” said Oliver.
    â€œDo you?” I asked.
    â€œNot yet.” Oliver gave me a sideways glance. “What about you?”
    â€œNope.” I shook my head.
    â€œDo you want to go?” Oliver asked.
    â€œI don’t know yet,” I said quickly. “My friends are, but most of them have dates. Wait. When you asked if I wanted to go did you mean—”
    â€œYou guys are too cute!” Tobias interrupted, giving Oliver a little shove. “Dude, just ask her and get it over