Coming Up Roses by Catherine R. Daly

quietly slipped downstairs after her. “That’s mean.”
    At first, I thought she was talking to Nicholas. But she was eyeing me directly. I glanced down at the cute red kilt and black turtleneck I was wearing. What was she talking about?
    “Um … yeah,” I said to Rose. Why was she suddenly being so critical of my clothes? Weird.
    But I quickly forgot about it as the four of us set off for school. Nicholas chatted away about the photos he would take for his photo essay comparing and contrasting the middle school experience in Austin versus Elwood Falls, pausing only to wonder aloud if we were taking the most direct route to school. Should we have made a left on Hawthorne instead of Hickory? It looked that way when he had looked it up on MapQuest the night before. I sighed as he rambled on.
    Once we arrived, Aster gave me a sympathetic look as she headed to her locker. Rose waved at me with a smirk. “Good luck!” she said.
    “Are you sure that’s the most efficient way to organize your locker?” Nicholas asked me as I jerked open the lock. “Alphabetically? Have you considered chronologically?” He took off his lens cap and began snapping away.
    When I didn’t answer, he added, “You know what I mean, right? The order that your classes are in?”
    “I am well aware of what
chronologically
means,” I said between clenched teeth.
    Nicholas snapped a picture of me, lowered his camera, and examined the shot. “Not the best look for you,” he said. “I guess I’ll delete that one. You really should smile more.”
    And, once we arrived in the cafeteria: “Are you sure you want hot chocolate? That’s a lot of sugar first thing in the morning. I’m sure they must have green tea. Lots of antioxidants.” He focused his camera on the display of breakfast cereals.
Snap, snap, snap.
    I could feel my jaw clenching. This was going to be one long morning. Then I spotted a familiar face from across the room. Hamilton. He was laughing with a friend. My cheeks got hot and I turned away quickly.
    After Nicholas had taken an action shot of the lunchlady serving up some oatmeal, we headed over to see my friends.
    “This is Nicholas,” I said. “He lives in Austin and he’s staying with us for a couple of days. His mom went to McIlhenny University with my mom.” I smiled. “Perhaps you’re all not aware that today is Take-a-Texan-to-School Day.”
    “Nope,” laughed Heather. “I guess you’ll have to share him, Del!”
    “Hi, Nicholas,” said Becky, looking like she was trying hard not to laugh. I had texted her, filling her in on our new visitor before bed last night.
    “Welcome to Sarah Josepha Hale Middle School,” said Amy.
    Jessica bit her lip. “I had no idea it was Take-a-Texan-to-School Day,” she said.
    “Actually,” said Nicholas. “I had no idea Del had such lovely friends!”
    I rolled my eyes. Nicholas was about as annoying as a person could possibly be.
    “Awwwww,” said my friends. Apparently, they did not agree with me.
    “Do you mind if I take some photographs of you guys?” he asked. “It’s for a school project.”
    “No problem!” said Heather, fluffing her hair and smiling prettily. “Cheese!”
    Things got worse in history class. Nicholas raised his hand more than I did.
    He answered questions I didn’t know the answers to. About the decline of the mills in New Hampshire, no less. And I had done the reading the night before.
And
taken notes.
    I looked at him in disbelief. “How do you know this stuff?” I whispered.
    “Actually, I checked out the New Hampshire middle-school curriculum online and did some research,” he whispered back.
    “Very informative,” said my teacher, Mr. Decker. I was stunned. Even my most well-researched homework answers hadn’t gotten more than a “fine” from my tough teacher. This was worse than I had expected.
    In Spanish class, Nicholas conversed with Señora Friedman in perfect Spanish and she commended him onhis Castilian accent. By