Jane wondered exactly how the others had found out that Lucy liked her. Mary had probably told them. She was the kind of girl who loved to know a secret about somebody that she could sell to somebody else for free. Now Mary had Jane's secret. She only hoped that no one would buy it.

Jane remembered how Mary had snatched back the poem she had shown her the other week, most likely so she could have the pleasure of showing it around. Not that Lucy ever tried to hide any of her poems. She scribbled in her Moleskine notebook in full view of the whole world. More than once, Jane had seen Mary standing right behind Lucy, reading over her shoulder.

One thing was clear, though. If Lucy's crush had been a secret before, it was a secret no longer. It seemed everywhere she turned, people looked at Jane weirdly. And when Jane walked into science class, a couple of other classmates in the back of the room made loud kissing noises.

On the chalkboard someone had written, in an oversized heart: J.W+L.A. Jane wanted to erase it before Ms. Anderson saw it, but she would only call attention to herself by going up to the board.

Ms. Anderson ended up erasing the giant heart herself after the bell rang. Jane hoped the teacher didn't think she was the J.W who supposedly loved L.A. For the truth was that J.W loved. G.A.

In art class, Jane found a poem waiting for her on her desk.

'To Jane, My True Love

I love you, dear Jane.

You are my hero.

Even though sometimes

You act like a weirdo.'

It was signed: "Your loveress forever, Lucy Adams."

Who had written it? Definitely not Lucy. It wasn't Lucy handwriting or her style. Was it Jonas? Or someone else? It must have been Jonas. It would be too depressing if everyone except Emily turned against her.

Jane still couldn't help thinking. Did she actually act like a weirdo? She couldn't think of any weird things she had done lately, but maybe if Lucy liked you, that was proof enough that you were weird.

On the way to third-period math, Jane prayed. Please don't let this be a day for Peer-Teaching.

But the universe seemed to listen better to prayers about Caroline.

As soon as the bell rang, Mr. Putnam said, "Let's begin with Peer-Teaching. I want to make sure you have enough time to get a good start on studying for your upcoming exam."

The others began the familiar pushing and shoving of desks.

"Oh, Janieeee!" Jonas called over to her. "Lucy is waiting for you!"

Charlie joined in. "Oh, Lucy! Come to Janieeee!"

Jane didn't move. The chorus of "Janieee!" and "Lucyyyy!" continued.

"Boys! Is there a problem?" Mr. Putnam finally seemed to notice that there was a disturbance in the room. Today his bow and suspenders were both fire-engine red. "Please move your desks quickly and quietly."

Jane couldn't move hers. She just couldn't. She waited for Lucy to move hers. She didn't budge, either.

"Jane, Lucy, get moving," Mr. Putnam said. "Let me remind you that the first exam is going to determine half your grade for this semester."

After one of the longest minutes that Jane had ever known, Lucy slowly moved her desk, not right next to hers this time, but close enough to satisfy Mr. Putnam.

"Do you want to review chapter twelve or go on to chapter thirteen?" Lucy asked in a strangled voice.

Jane didn't reply.

"Chapter twelve?"

Jane still didn't speak.

"Okay," Lucy exhaled. "Remember how on the first problem, x was in the denominator?"

Lucy's voice was more steady now. She was at her best when she could be the perfect student, smarter than everyone who laughed at her. But Jane was a nobody. She could raise herself above it. Instead, she felt herself shrinking smaller.

Jane let Lucy talk, not that she could have stopped her anyway. But she didn't say anything to her, not one word, for the rest of the period.

At lunch, she hoped that she and Emily could sit by themselves and be ignored by the others. It would be nice to have a private meeting for the Loser Club. But Charlie and Jonas plunked their trays down on Jane's table, and a moment later Mary joined them.

"Have you kissed her yet?" Jonas asked Jane. Then he made a kissing sound. Mary giggled. Jane felt herself flushing with shame and fury. She considered flinging her lunch at him, but she knew she shouldn't.

"Have you?" Emily asked Jonas. The question fell flat.

"Look," Jane said. She felt she had to say it once and for all. She had to say it clearly enough that the others could not possibly misunderstand her. "I do not —like— Lucy."

She couldn't bring herself to say the word love. And some part of her resented Lucy for writing that poem about her. She was the one who put Jane through this nonsense. "I have never liked Lucy. I will never like her. In fact, if you want to know the truth, I have no interest in her at all."

The other still looked unconvinced.

"Also," Jane added, "it just so happens I'm allergic to anyone who writes poetry."

Charlie laughed then. Mary laughed, too. Jane had won over two of them. Encouraged, Jane continued, "I break out in big red rashes all over my body if anyone reads a poem in my presence."

She saw Jonas began to smile.

"Lucy wrote another one about you this morning," Mary said. "It started out, 'Though your lips and mine may never meet...'"

"Ah stop! I'm starting to break out!" Jane cried and pretended to scratch her arms. The other two laughed.

She was beginning to feel less desperate, though Jonas still refused to join the laughter. Jonas wanted to laugh at people, not with them.

"Lucy, she really thinks her poems are good," Mary said with a hint of jealousy. "Like she's the next Shakespeare or something."

"You know what would be funny?" Jonas suddenly said. "If we, like, pretended there was a contest. Like a big contest for writing poetry? We could put up signs and things. And when she entered it, we'd send her a letter saying she won. Only it would be just a prank!"

"Dear Miss. Adams," Charlie said, using a fake-solemn voice. "It is my pleasure to inform you that you have just won first prize in the nation for your poem 'Endless Love For Jane'."

Mary snorted.

"What do you think, Jane?" Jonas said with a challenging look. "Or maybe you really like her and don't want us to do it?"

Jane thought it was a cruel joke, but she also didn't want to be the butt of all jokes herself either.

"Whatever you do, I don't care," she said with a cool shrug. She had to stop Lucy from writing love poems about her for the whole class to see. She couldn't spend the rest of the year listening to a chorus of kissing sounds whenever she walked into a room.

"It'd be easy. We can start by printing up some flyers on the school's printer," Charlie said.

"Where would we have people send the poems?" Mary asked. "It'll look kind of strange if it's one of our houses, won't it?"

"We can use my cousin's!" Jonas said. "She lives in Washington, D.C. That'll make it look real official. The National Poetry Writing Contest, in the nation's capital."

"And then you'll tell Lucy?" Emily asked. She sounded uncomfortable, even disgusted by the idea. "That it's all just a prank? A joke? When it's all over?"

"Yeah, after she's bragged about it to everybody," Jonas said, chuckling evilly.

Emily didn't say anything else. Jane knew Emily well enough to know what Emily was thinking: This was too mean.

It was easy for Emily to sit back and judge her. Nobody was writing poems about her lips.

But the plan was too mean indeed. Jane had told the others that she did not like Lucy Adams. But she didn't really hate her. She just hated being teased. She didn't want to hurt Lucy. Lucy was a nice girl after all. Very helpful, too.

Lucy would be so excited when she got the letter, so pleased and proud that she could hardly contain herself. Poetry was all Lucy had. Well, poetry and long book reports and being great at math and having all the teachers love her. But she didn't have anything else.

It would be a cruel thing to trick the girl like that. Jane already felt guilty. She almost felt sick.

But maybe Lucy wouldn't even believe the letter when she got it. Lucy was smart, after all. And if she did believe it, well, too bad, and it was not Jane's problem, right?

If Jane kept quiet about the plan, it would save her from being the laughingstock of the tenth grade. No one could possibly think she was Lucy's girlfriend now.