The Locket by Stacey Jay

the fact that he was the more interesting half of our couple.
    Which he was . . . but still . . . it would be nice if he’d at least pretend I was interesting. Mitch seemed to find me interesting. But Mitch wasn’t my boyfriend.
    Mitch wasn’t the person I should be thinking about last thing before I went to bed, Mitch wasn’t the person I should hope to see sitting alone at a table in Jukebox Java when I walked by after school, and Mitch certainly wasn’t the person I should be thinking about while I was making out with my boyfriend on my back porch. I shouldn’t be thinking about Mitch at all, let alone comparing Isaac’s kisses to a kiss that had never happened.
    I was as horrible a girlfriend in my do over as I had been the first time around, and I needed to get a grip in a major way.
    The only reason I was thinking about Mitch’s kiss was because Isaac and I had been together forever. I’d never kissed anyone but Isaac and I’d kissed him for three years . Mitch was intriguing because I’d only kissed him once, but I knew better than to be sucked in by the lure of the new and ruin the good things I had.
    Mitch was my friend and Isaac was my boyfriend. That was the way it was supposed to be. I just had to find a way to put some of the spark back into my romantic relationship.
    Maybe Sarah had something. Maybe I should show Isaac how handy I’d become with power tools.
    “Isaac might have to learn to deal. I’m considering a career in construction,” I said, lifting the old light up to the grid and settling the new one in its place.
    “Well, you’ll have to work on one-story houses, Ms. Skeered of Heights.”
    “Ha ha. Speaking of heights, you should come see the tree house this weekend. After it’s up in the tree.”
    “You going to climb it with me?”
    “Sure. Dad’s putting the platform on a low limb. He’s securing it and nailing the steps on the tree this afternoon while Mitch and Isaac and I are apple picking. That way it will be a surprise.”
    “Very cool.” She was quiet for a second, and I heard the soundboard computer shutting off. “You done yet?”
    “Almost,” I said, tongue slipping out to wet my lips. “I’ve got the old light out and the new light in. Just need to put on the safety harness.”
    “Perfect! See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
    “I’ll let you know. I’m not back on the ground yet.” She was right, though, it hadn’t been that bad. My heart still raced like I’d downed three All-nighters at Jukebox, but I’d replaced the light and was on my way back to the catwalk without having a fullblown heart attack. “Thanks for talking to me.”
    “Oh please, Katie. You don’t have to say thank you.”
    “Yes, I do.” I left the old light sitting on the catwalk where Mr. Geery, the drama-club sponsor, had said he would pick it up later, and started down the winding circular stairs leading back to the stage. “The manners are deeply ingrained. My mom and dad wouldn’t even change my diaper when I was a baby unless I said please.”
    “You don’t need manners with friends.” Sarah’s voice hit me twice, once in my earbud and once from just ahead of me, at the base of the stairs.
    I pulled my headset off and handed it over. “I think you do. Especially with friends. I’d rather be unmannerly with people I don’t like than people I do.”
    Sarah shot me a sideways look before hustling back toward the equipment lockbox. “But aren’t you always meaner to the people you love? I’m way meaner to my dad and mom than I am normal people. And Hunter . . . Well, I love my sweet little brother so much I punched him in the face on the way to school this morning.”
    I laughed and grabbed my backpack from the floor as Sarah locked up the headsets. “I’m sure that really messed him up, you being so buff and all.”
    “It did. He cried.” She jogged the ten feet to the dressing room and knocked on the door. “Ya’ll almost done in there? I need to lock