I looked up from my computer as Liz scooted her chair closer to mine. "Maria and I were going to rent a movie tonight. Want to join us?"

"That would be fun... no wait. I think Lonnie and I are doing something tonight."

Liz nodded and returned to her assignment, mouth narrowing in disapproval. She and Maria don't say anything. They offered their opinions when I first announced that I was going to date Lonnie. Now they mind their own business and don't say anything about it. I know they miss doing things together, all three of us, but then there were always things the two of them shared that I couldn't share with them. With Lonnie it's just the two of us. I like coming first.

They don't have to tell me. I know what they think, what everyone thinks. They think it's incredibly unlike me. It is unlike me. I like that. I'm no longer Alex Whitman, straight arrow. I used to be more boring than Liz. When I'm with Lonnie it's as if I'm a different person. Someone else, someone more exciting and adventurous. More alive.

I hacked into Mr. Virello's account to check my class standing. It's now a dead heat between me and Liz. I shouldn't have gone out the night before that last unit test. I had to stop to think. I can't just change it, he might notice. As I was thinking, I heard footsteps behind me. My hands hit alt-tab before my brain's warning fully registered.

"Playing computer games in class again, Mr. Whitman?"

I swiveled my chair (the computer lab has the only decent, padded chairs in the whole school) to look at the teacher, and tried to look sheepish. "Sorry."

"Finish your work first and you can go ahead. Sound fair?"

It was more than fair. Mr. Virello may not be a computer expert (for example, marks shouldn't be available on the network at all) but he's definitely the nicest teacher I've got. "It's a deal."

He moved on and I breathed a sigh of relief, quickly erasing the evidence of my crimes. There's still time for me to beat Liz the old fashioned way. I don't know... hacking into the school's computers and changing test scores somehow seems to me like a legitimate way to raise my grade in a computer class. I could think of it as extra credit....

I went back to daydreaming as I finished my assignment. I didn't know what Lonnie had planned for tonight, but we always have fun.

I never went for the bad girl type until I realized that Lonnie Evans liked me. I always was a rebel against groups and cliques and sub-cultural conformity. I reached into my pocket and started fingering the earring she gave me.

I didn't have any piercings. Not yet. I imagined the look in her eyes as I surprise her by wearing her gift, compared it to my parent's reactions. (I'd better show them in a room with a tall ceiling.)

Bringing that look to her eyes and seeing her smile at me will be more than worth it.

I'm the luckiest guy in the school. It's the most impossible match-up one could imagine, the computer geek gets an incredibly gorgeous punk gangster. Even the jocks, guys like Kyle Valenti, are envious of me.

So why, when I fell asleep last night, did I dream about the twin with the long blonde hair?

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