Excerpt from The Dating Debate:

“So, this whole dance thing?” West picked up a fork, took a bite of rice, and stared at me like he was waiting for me to give him an easy out. Not going to happen. Mess with a smart girl and suffer the consequences.

“You started it,” was the most amusing response I could come up with.

“No.” He shook his head as if trying to emphasize his response. “You started it when you invited me in for dinner.”

“Why? Because I knew you’d rather eat dirt than join us for rice? That’s your fault for being a suck-up and carrying my mom’s food.”

“I was being nice,” he shot back.

“No good deed goes unpunished.” I batted my eyelashes at him. “Besides, I was going to help her before you rushed over.”

He looked at me like I was crazy. “So I shouldn’t have helped your mom, but it’s okay for you to shove Cole off on Vicky.”

“Please. He’s a nice guy. She’ll fall for him...maybe because he’s the total opposite of you.”

He pointed his fork at me. “Where do you get off judging me?”

“I’m not judging you. I meant you’re all black-leather- jacket-brooding loner guy, and he’s Mr.-Happy-Sunshine- everyone-is-my-friend.”

“Fine. Mr. Sunshine is out of the way now, so there’s no need for us to go to the dance.”

“Nice try,” I said. “We’re going to the dance.”

“Why?”

“Because you said we were,” I said. “And lying is never acceptable. Don’t stress about this. I’m not proposing we run off to Mexico and get matching his-and-her tattoos. We’ll just go to the dance together. No big deal.”

“Right. Nothing is ever that simple.”