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"No," Grayson decided, sounding firm.

"No? Really?" There was a beat of silence, and a wheedling, "But it could be like, a transition. The hair, Grayson."

"No."

"Oh, fine." Perhaps the only reason Dani capitulated was because she didn't think it was a serious consideration in the first place. Barnaby was kind of cute, she thought, in the way that the puppy with the big brown eyes was adorable in a dopey sort of way. She decided she liked him, which was good (or was it?) and would forgive him for missing the only-half-serious exchange between her and Grayson.

She propped her chin up between her hands, sighed mournfully. "You guys aren't helping, you know. You should start helping."

Grayson went back to his lunch, feeling slightly disenchanted with Dani just then. "I don't want to help. I don't think it's a good idea."

Dani leveled him a long, disappointed look, then turned to Barnaby. "What do you suggest then, aside from video games and football, which will do nothing for a broken heart, by the way."

She said this like she'd ever had a broken heart, or had even tried video games and football as a remedy. She hadn't.

Barnaby wasn't making much of a case for himself if he wanted to deny being Jude's little wife. Dani gave him another suspicious look, trying to decide if raising another man's kittens was grounds for assuming a homosexual relationship, but was distracted by another thought. She was normally a fairly focused girl, but she'd ruled Barnaby out as a suitable replacement for Hero, so she needed to move on.

Who did she know that she could set Jude up with? With dawning horror, she realized she had way more guy friends than she did female ones. This wouldn't do at all. It was also not her fault, because most girls were A) jealous of her B) incredibly too moody or C) a combination of A and B. She only had so much patience to allot in a day, after all, and it couldn't be wasted on trying to get along with obnoxious girls.

That didn't help the task at hand, however.

"If you say so. I don't think it'll work, though." Her tone clearly suggested that if she didn't think it would work, it was doomed to failure. Back to the drawing board, guys. "So we're going to come up with another plan that we can try at the same time."

Code for: So we're going to make a real game plan, all right.

"You two have very little faith in the idea of him hooking up with another girl, but I think you're being silly." She knew what boys were like. She knew the power of cleavage, too. "Humor me, at least. What kind of girl could you see Jude with? Not Hero is not an option," she reminded them, going back to her salad.

Thankfully, Grayson and Barnaby were both spared further awkwardness by the lunch bell chiming. Grayson hadn't realized that it was so late, and he looked down at his tray, debated what he could get away with eating in class, and started to bundle it up. Dani sighed, loudly, and finished off her milk.

"Okay so, we'll talk about this later." It was probably more of a threat than otherwise. "Grayson, don't forget I know your phone number, so you can't avoid this forever."

After a brief hesitation, she smiled at Barnaby. "Nice meeting you."

And like that, she was gone, leaving Grayson and Barnaby a little bemused in her wake. Most of the other students had left the cafeteria, so Grayson lifted his shoulders helplessly. "I guess I'll see you around, then."