"On that note," Mr. Rome said with a strange little smile, "let's begin blocking for the classroom scenes."

Yolanda sat down in her seat between Rita and Linda.

"Don't let him bother you, Andee, he's just acting like a typical male pig right now," said Rita.

Yolanda looked over at David, still involved with talking to Kathey, Kelly and Michelle. "I still can't believe he's just ignoring me," she said.

"Huh?" Rita turned in the direction of Yolanda's glance.

"David," Yolanda said.

"See," said Jess, "I told you she wasn't upset, are you Andee?"

"About what?"

"What Chris did," Rita said in a near whisper.

"Chris? What?"

"Rita, you are overreacting, she doesn't care," Jess said.

"I just can't believe he would do that. God, he's been so obnoxious lately. Like it's our fault his girlfriend wanted to see other people, you know? He didn't have to embarrass Andee with that escort thing. What did that prove, what a stud he is?" Rita looked at Linda, who nodded. Jess waved her off.

"I'll make him apologize, Andee," Rita said, and she was off.

"Wwwait..." Yolanda cried, but Rita was all ready gone. She looked helplessly at Linda. "What is the deal? I told her I was fine!"

"It's like having a mom at school, you know how they wont let something go?" Linda said.

"Thank you," Yolanda said, holding out her hand. Linda surprised her by hitting it in response. Usually White girls didn't know what you were doing at that point.

"Omigod, what is she doing?" Yolanda said, grasping Linda by the arm. Linda turned. Rita was coming towards them with a laughing Chris by the hand, weaving in and out between Roy Escobar's stage and props group, who were assembling a rough layout of the classroom that the play was set.

"This can't be good," Linda said.

"Attention! Christopher Beck has something to say to Yolanda. Chris?"

"My life is over." Yolanda hid her face on Linda's shoulder.

Chris got down on one knee before Yolanda and Linda. "Darling Andee, I am sorry. Can you ever forgive me?" He grasped Yolanda's hand and bent over it with a flourish.

"You were just doing the assignment; it's no big deal," Yolanda said.

"Bless you," said Chris.

"Whatever," Yolanda said. She turned from him to raise her eyebrows at Linda.

Linda waved Chris away. "You've caused enough embarrassment, begone," she said.

"M'lady," Chris said as he left.

"Okay, now that I never show my face again, let's get some water," Yolanda said. She grabbed Linda's hand and they charged up the aisle.

"There go the big stars," they heard Michele say on their way out. Yolanda stalked past Michele, Kelly, and Kathey, who were snickering. David stared straight ahead at the stage. Troy, sitting behind them with Donna, held out his hand as they went by. Yolanda hit it on her way out, and when he kept it out, Linda followed suit with a little tap.

"You can do better than that!" Troy protested. Linda hit his hand a little harder.

"Okay, we'll work on it," Troy said.

Just as they hit the door, Yolanda heard Michele say something else, to the apparent delight of Kelly and Kathey. Linda turned, but followed Yolanda through the door. When they got to the fountain, Yolanda noticed Linda had her head down and was blinking rapidly.

"Hey," she said, "screw Michele, she's not worth it."

Linda nodded, then sighed, leaning on the water fountain. "It's not Michele. Okay, it is, but I can't believe Kelly has just like, turned on me. What did I do? Except maybe not be as cool," Linda held up two fingers like quotes, "as Michele the Great."

"If she's so cool, why did she get picked last for improv groups? And please, Joe and them took her out of pity," Yolanda said loftily. Actually, Joe offered to take all the seventh graders, but Yolanda's version sounded better. And Linda looked less like she was going to cry.

"Did you see her face when Rita came up to you?" Yolanda hissed as she bent over the water fountain. Linda shook her head.

"They almost lost it," Yolanda said with triumph.

"Michele was dying I'm sure."

Yolanda stood, wiping her mouth. "Exactly."

David and Troy having been snapped up by Kathey and Leaha posed a problem for Rita's group when they were instructed to take another seventh grader. Rita and Yolanda bent over the cast list, searching for a suitable addition. Jess joined them, after signing up Joe Taylor's group.

"We can take the extra seventh graders; we're pretty used to the mentor thing," Joe offered. He was flanked by Rachel and Kirsten, who nodded.

"Appreciate it, but that might make your group too big. We'll let you know," Jess said as smoothly as any casting director.

"Alrighty," Joe answered, with significant looks at Rachel and Kirsten.

When they left Jess whipped around towards Rita and Andee. "Dig the martyr routine, will you? Now we've definitely got to find one more seventh grader to put our group, I can't take Mr. Taylor's 'holier than thou 'attitude."

Yolanda looked over at Joe, who was telling a story to his group. The way they were listening and laughing reminded her of the way people reacted to Brian. "Maybe he was just trying to help," she said.

"Yeah right. Trust me Andee, I know Joe Taylor, he can't stand being a part of something he's not running," said Jess.

"Andee," Rita tapped her arm and pointed to the list, "focus honey. You know the seventh graders, who should we pick?"

Yolanda suppressed a small sigh and looked at the names. Having another seventh grader in the group would be a good idea. Being the youngest wasn’t always what it was cracked up to be.

Only Linda Morris, Kelly Baker and Michele Lynch were left.

"The Three Degrees," Jess remarked.

"I don't about that," Yolanda looked around the theater. She had heard somewhere that Kelly, Michele and Linda were in a fight, hence the break up of Mr. Rome's "Three Degrees." Sure enough, she saw Kelly and Michele sitting next to each other, deep in conversation behind their hands. Linda was sitting alone a few rows ahead, doing homework, her back straight.

"Linda Morris," Yolanda told Rita and Jess, "trust me, you don't want to deal with Kelly and Michele, they'll be joined at the hip and a pain in the butt. Besides, they're getting too chummy with Kathey. Linda seems to be left out." Like me, Yolanda stopped herself from adding. She glanced over at David and Kathey.

"That sounds good," Rita said softly, "do you want to go ask her?"

"Actually," Yolanda said, her eyes back on Kelly, Michele and Linda, "could you do it?" She turned to Rita.

"Me?" Rita said.

Yolanda tried to explain. "If I do it, it'll be like, 'oh and she and Linda are teaming up because they don't have anybody else' and if Jess does it, it'll be like when the teacher has to give somebody a group because they didn't get picked." She looked at Jess, who was usually faster at picking up on these things.

"God help me, that actually made sense," Jess said.

Jess turned to Rita. "You're the star of the show, go over there and ask the girl so she can get back at the two mean ones."

"Kelly and Linda used to be best friends and Michele was jealous, and so she took Kelly from Linda. Linda's the nice one, though." Yolanda said, her tone suggesting that she was a vast authority on the breakup of the three degrees. Actually, up until then she had rarely thought about Kelly, Linda and Michele as separate people, but it sounded good. Plus she was in the mood to see giggling, whispering people get burned.

Their double teaming worked. Rita agreed that Linda was the only choice for their group. Jess turned to Yolanda. "Do you want to watch me tell Kelly and Michele that they basically are in the leftover group?"

"Yeah," Yolanda answered, eyes gleaming.

"Okay, you can watch, but don't look," Jess said. Yolanda grinned. She knew Jess was making fun of her, but in a way that wasn't mean.

Chris Beck ended up following Rita over to where Linda was sitting. Rita stood in the aisle next to Linda, in full view of Kelly and Michele. Yolanda was sure she was speaking her clear, loud drama voice. Rita nudged Chris, who began to pick up Linda's books. He extended an arm towards the bewildered Linda. Rita pushed him away and guided Linda over to their group herself. Neither of them looked back at Kelly and Michele.

By contrast, Jess briskly walked over to Kelly and Michele, told them and waited for them to collect their own books. She then marched them directly over to Joe Taylor and introduced them as they stood in front of their new group, like new kids in an elementary school class. Yolanda loved it, even though she knew that Joe would probably be all nice and Kelly and Michele would later brag about knowing the SGA president.

The door to the theater opened. David and Kathey came out. Linda nudged Yolanda, who had stooped over to take a drink again. Yolanda wished she could be like Rita, who would be cool, as if Kathey and David didn't bother her at all. She swallowed her mouthful of water, but her mouth still felt dry.

"Is rehearsal starting?" Linda suddenly blurted out.

Kathey looked surprised at being spoken to. "Uh, not for us, he's working with the facility."

David suddenly spoke. "We'll be right back, we have to go find the custodians and get more chairs," he said, looking at Yolanda, who nodded, not knowing what else to do. He handed her a folded piece of paper. She took it and put it in her pocket with a little pat, the way he did at the start of rehearsal. He gave her a little smile and left with Kathey.

Yolanda went straight for the theater door, not wanting to read the note out in the hall. Linda followed a little way behind, catching the door as Yolanda opened it.

"You okay?" she whispered as they went in.

"Yeah," Yolanda said, "I should..." She trailed off, holding up the note.

Linda nodded, "Read it?" she said with a little smile.

Yolanda pushed her on the shoulder. "Shutup," she said.

Linda giggled and Yolanda was suddenly very satisfied with her choice for the improv group. Maybe she and Linda would even become friends. Of course, Troy would always be her best friend, but you couldn't hang around with your brother all the time. Besides, she couldn't be any worse of a friend to Linda than Michele and Kelly.

She and Linda threaded their way back through to their seats with their improv group. Rita, Chris and Laura, the girl that played Rita's teacher friend were all on stage. Only Jess and Ron, Boy Mysterious, were left. Jess mouthed a greeting to them.

"Boy Mysterious," Yolanda mouthed, pointing at the back of Ron's head.

Wide-eyed, Jess smacked her hand away. She gave a "what are you gonna do?" look to Linda.

Yolanda sat down and opened the note. It was short, probably written quickly right before he and Kathey went to find the custodian.

Why are you avoiding me? Are you mad? What did I do?

Yolanda breathed a small sigh of relief. David wasn't mad at her. But then, what did she do to make him think she was mad at him? She looked around furtively to see if David had returned, then showed the note to Linda.

"He thinks I'm mad," she whispered. Linda nodded, reading.

"Why?" she asked.

Yolanda shrugged. "Like I know, he's the one that got in a group first."

"You've got to talk to him."

"I know, but how am I going to get him away from Kathey?"

"Just wait up at the door or the water fountain and say you have to talk to him. You're his girlfriend, not Kathey, he should want to talk to you."

Yolanda nodded. "Exactly."

Linda pointed up to the door. "Go, before rehearsal starts."

"Okay Mom," Yolanda said.

Yolanda walked back up to the theater door, ignoring whispers from the other seventh grade girls and not looking at Troy. She slipped outside the theater and paused outside the door, unsure of where to wait. Suddenly she saw the custodian coming, pushing a cart with a bunch of chairs. David and Kathey were nowhere to be seen. Now, Yolanda was getting annoyed. Linda was right, who was the girlfriend here anyway? She marched over to the custodian.