Queen of the Clueless #2 of 3 (COMPLETE)

Chapter 10

Peanut butter spaghetti sounded like something I would like, in theory. I liked peanut butter. I liked Filipino-style spaghetti, especially when it was unapologetically sweet and artificially red, with foreign elements like hotdogs thrown in. But now that I was chewing the mashup version, I wasn't sure how to feel about the entire thing.

"Do you like it?" I asked dinner companion/date Robbie, who was chewing thoughtfully over on his side of the table too.

"Oh I do," he said. "I'm just waiting for you to throw up, or something."

"I'm fine," I said super enthusiastically. "I don't hate it... It's just..."

"I get it."

"I haven't decided yet." I didn't want to be a whiner on my first date, ever.

Not that he ever said the word. And I wasn't saying it either. But as far as I was concerned, it may as well be, since it had all the signs.

Weekend, no school or any school activity.

He picked me up from my tita's house.

I wasn't wearing flip flops or sneakers.

He paid for the meal.

The fifth sign? He thought this was a date. He was thinking about it so much, I could hear it between chews.

It was probably why I wasn't nervous at all on this momentous occasion. It kind of boosted the ego, knowing exactly how much he liked me. It was a relief too, after being friends with Quin for a year and not knowing why he was hanging out with me, what his intentions were.

On the other hand, regarding Robbie, all his intentions were being beamed right into my ear:

She looks perfect.

I want to kiss her.

I wonder if she'll let me have her leftover spaghetti.

Transparent as the ice water in my glass. It was comforting. Some of his thoughts were kind of weird, but overall, comforting.

It just occurred to me that, if I stayed Goddess of Love all my life, I wouldn't need to be nervous at a date ever again.

"Did you audition for the reality show?" he asked, because his brain prodded him to say something.

"Of course not."

"What do you mean, of course not? You'd be great at it."

"A camera crew wouldn't want to follow me around. I'm sure they'd get a queen bee like Vida anyway."

"No they didn't. I can't believe you don't know this yet! They got Kathy Martin."

"As in Kathy Martin my friend?"

One thing I should say about the celebrity culture of our small school: Vida Castillo, senior, was as good as royalty as we got on a daily basis. Kathy Martin, on the other hand, was practically invisible. At least, she was a shy and pleasant person who didn't really stand out, when I first met her. Except that, last year, she seemed to have come out of her shell and got herself noticed by several guys, one of whom started sending her gifts anonymously. Turned out it was Jake, a cute guy in our class, and they were dating exclusively right now.

I kind of helped them out there.

But the main thing was? Good for Kathy. Not invisible after all.

"Vida auditioned, but they didn't get her," Robbie said.

"Wow," I said. "She must be pissed about that."

Robbie gave me the dirt about how he saw Vida storm into the gym and yell at Quin. "It's just a television show," Quin had said. Which of course made her turn into a shade of red and she made just as loud and angry an exit. You'd think that Vida would act with more subtlety, but I guess she thought of the world—especially a small college like Ford River—as her playground. We didn't deserve common courtesy.

"Why would Quin have anything to do with it though?" Robbie wondered. His confusion was understandable; he didn't know his friends were gods. To him, they were probably just acting strange.

"He's not very exciting," I offered. "He wouldn't understand why being on TV would matter to anyone."

"How long have you two been friends?"

The question was perfectly casual, but something in his tone just completely changed.

He was nervous.

Don't say he's an ex don't say he's an ex bounced around his head.

"Just a year or so," I said, and I sounded perfectly casual too. "He just needed my help with, um, a project."

"I just noticed you two are really close," he added. "He comes over your house often, right?"

"Homework."

"But he's a senior. You help a senior with his homework?"

I coughed. "He's really not great at tests."

You help with homework every day? was the next thought in Robbie's mind, so quickly that it felt like a slap.

Before I knew it, I had reached across the table and taken his hand. My fingers wrapped around his, and I smiled.

Relax, and it was a message from my mind to his, bypassing my lips entirely. You have nothing to worry about.

(Because Quin wasn't a threat, or because Robbie had no chance against him so why bother worrying? Hannah, don't be mean.)

It had an effect, instantly. Not that the worry went away, but I had distracted it with the equivalent of something shiny. Robbie's mind cleared up.

Now why couldn't I have done that to Sol, and that easily?

Quin would have been so proud of me.

"Yeah, I guess I'm just wondering why he needs so much tutoring," Robbie said. "He's been hanging out with that cute young teacher lately too. But the guys at the team don't think she's helping him study. If you know what I mean."

Wait a freaking second.

"What?"