Mr. Novak came out to greet us when Blue's mom drove into the dirt parking lot. He was wearing jeans and boots and a navy tee shirt with "Sam's Farm Stand" on the front. Sunglasses were perched on top of his head.

Was he hot or what? Drool-worthy.

Blue elbowed me. "This is your teacher? He's gorgeous."

"Yeah. Too bad he's married." And he was looking at me like he wasn't sure I should be there.

I immediately folded my arms across my chest and gave him my "I'm powerful so don't mess with me" look. It was almost the same as The Attitude, but the latter was for attracting boys, or more precisely, making them think you weren't sure whether you were going to speak to them, which of course, always made them want you. Mr. Novak wasn't my appropriate Attitude target seeing as how he was old, but it was important for him to know he'd hired someone who could withstand whatever he was going to throw at me. So I gave him some Attitude mixed with disdain. That should do it.

"I'm thinking I want to go to your school next year. I think I want to learn Latin," Blue whispered.

I grinned and tucked my arm through Blue's. "You have Colin. Isn't one older guy enough for you?"

"Or I could make due with that guy with the wheelbarrow." She nodded off to the right and I followed her glance.

A pretty cute guy was hauling a load of plants. He was wearing the same navy tee shirt as Mr. Novak, but didn't come close to filling it out the same way. Well, of course not. He looked like he was fifteen. A boy. Not a man. Cute though. Fending off his adoration would definitely be enough to heal my wounded ego after my dad's rejection.

"Welcome to Sam's," Mr. Novak announced. He looked at Blue's mom. "They'll be finished at three today."

Blue's mom nodded and then took off in the Suburban, no doubt to do some grocery shopping or something that normal moms do. She'd be back at five of three to pick us up. Blue's mom would never forget and leave us stranded.

Mr. Novak inspected each of us, a frown marking his brow when he came to my outfit. "Are those the only shoes you have?"

"Yes." Weren't they darling?

"You'll need sneakers tomorrow. Those will never work."

Well, I hadn't worn them to impress him. They were for the boys. So I tried to blind him with my smile instead and tried not to wonder if I'd already disappointed him.

He gave me a look, then turned to the rest of the crew. "I always pair up the newbies with some of my more experienced hands for the first month. I've already assigned you." He whistled and I saw the guy with the wheelbarrow head over.

Wow. Blue would freak if she got assigned to him.

The boy approached Mr. Novak. "What's up?"

Mr. Novak nodded at me. Wait a sec. Me? "Tad, this is Allie Morrison. Allie, this is Tad Simmons. You'll be Tad's right hand for the next month, Allie."

"But..." He was my age! I didn't hang out with guys who were my age. Especially with my less experienced friends currently dating high school graduates. If I was stuck with him, how was I going to meet the older ones? I needed to be paired with a man.

Tad didn't look any happier than I felt. "Are you kidding? Look at her. She'll be useless on a farm."

"Hey! I'm not useless." Did he think I couldn't hear or something? Just because I was wearing a cute outfit didn't mean I was incompetent. I always took care with my outfits because it was the best way to make people like me, and now he was using it a reason not to like me?

I lifted my chin. No, it was impossible. I could totally succeed here, and Tad would like me and think I was cute.

"You're my best worker, Tad. I figure you'll be a good influence on her."

His best worker? So, was Tad going to be a spy to report back to Mr. Novak how I was useless and should be fired? No way. I wasn't going to lose this job. I was going to prove I was worth something. I narrowed my eyes and glared at Tad. "I'm perfectly capable."

Tad met my gaze, then took a deliberate look at my shoes. He didn't look impressed with my pedicure. I resisted the urge to curl my toes under and hide the rainbows painted on my big toenails.

"Rainbows." He sounded disgusted.

I scowled. "Don't judge me."

"I can see you two are going to get along well." Mr. Novak gave me a little push toward Tad. "I think there might be a pair of old boots in one of the barns. See what you can find, Tad."

He scowled. "I don't have time to be finding her boots. We have work to do."

"Find the boots."

Tad folded his arms across his chest and glared at me.

What was his problem? What had I done to him? He hated me because my toes matched matched my shirt? Most boys would have liked it and given me a nice smile and been excited to be paired with me.

But not jerky head over there. Which was fine. He was a boy, and who needed boys? I needed an older guy. At least seventeen, preferably in college.

Yes, that was the problem. He was too young to appreciate me. See? Everything would be okay.

"Fine. Come on." He turned away without waiting to see if I followed. What? He thought he was too good for me? It was so the other way around. I didn't need him and I didn't care what he thought of me.

"You better hustle. It'll be hard to run in those shoes and Tad's not going to wait." Mr. Novak then turned back to my friends and corralled them so he could herd them off to their new partners.

Leaving me standing there in the dirt parking lot like an idiot.

Tad stopped at the edge of the parking lot and turned around. "Are you coming?"

Did I have a choice? I lifted my chin and stalked toward him, detouring around two mud puddles. I was so not going to ruin my sandals before a cute older guy had a chance to compliment me on them. Because there was nothing wrong with me or how I looked and some guy was going to notice it even if I had to shove strawberries up his nose to get him to appreciate me.

I could have sworn Tad was laughing at me by the time I reached him, but his face was stoic. Except the one corner of his mouth, which was twitching. All I can say, is he better be leering at my boobs and not finding amusement at my expense.

Between my dad and my mom and her obsession with dating, I had very little tolerance for the opposite sex these days, and I wasn't going to be taking any grief from this one. Besides, he was my age! A boy!