"I checked out the Guide website again over the weekend," she said to Amanda, Tara, and Quinn, who were to waiting to walk down the hall with her. "I can't wait to try the rules out on Lennon."
"I still think you're making a mistake," Amanda told her, brushing her hair out of her eyes.
"How can you say that after Friday night?" Tara asked Amanda.
Amanda frowned. "Huh? What happened Friday night?"
"Chloe's very own sister used the rules on Todd," Quinn explained. "They had a hot date, and now she's acting as if she doesn't like him."
"She doesn't like him," Chloe pointed out.
Tara smiled. "That's not what Todd is saying. He said that they made out on the beach. And now Mary-Kate is ignoring him. It's all over school."
Chloe gasped. "What? That totally did not happen! What do you mean it's all over--"
Chloe stopped when she saw a girl with short blond hair rushing out of the girls' bathroom. Her eyes were red, and she had black mascara blotches on her cheeks. She'd obviously been crying.
Quinn sighed. "Poor Adrienne," she whispered.
"Why? What's wrong with her?" Chloe whispered back.
"She met Peter Millis by using the Guide," Tara explained in a low voice. "They were a hot item for a while. Then she stopped following the rules. He broke up with her this weekend--by e-mail. Can you believe it?"
Amanda looked doubtful. "That's not what I heard. I heard that Peter Millis just started liking someone else."
"Well, we all know why," Quinn said. "Five letters. G-U-I-D-E. Need I say more?"
Wow, the rules in the Guide really are powerful, Chloe thought.
Amanda rolled her eyes. "I am so sick of hearing about the Guide! It's so stupid."
"Hey, what about that bet of yours?" Tara asked Amanda. "I thought you were going to prove that the Guide doesn't work."
"Well, Amanda?" Quinn added.
Amanda nodded. "I will. I thought of a plan over the weekend. I'm going to use a rule on some guy I don't know, and he won't even notice that I'm alive. That'll prove once and for all that the guide doesn't work." She looked up and down the hall nervously. "I--I just have to find a candidate."
Chloe scanned the hall, too. She knew Amanda was shy and would have a hard time getting her experiment going.
Then Chloe spotted the guy. "There he is," she said, pointing to a boy across the hall. "Bobby Flynn!"
"Bobby Flynn? Are you crazy, girl?" Tara asked.
Bobby was cute with curly blond hair and blue eyes. So far, he hadn't given Amanda--or any of them, for that matter--that time of day.
"Perfect!" Quinn giggled. "Go for it, Amanda. Try rule number one: 'If you want to meet a guy you're interested in, walk by him slowly and totally ignore him at the same time,'" she recited.
"Wow, you have the rules memorized," Chloe said, impressed.
Amanda regarded Bobby with an apprehensive look. Chloe could tell that she wasn't sure about going through with her plan.
"You can do it," Chloe encouraged her.
Amanda smiled anxiously. "I guess. Okay, here I go. But I'm telling you, I can do rule number one for days and Bobby Flynn isn't going to notice me."
Chloe, Quinn, and Tara stared, mesmerized, as Amanda headed down the hall in Bobby's direction. Just as she was about to pass him, he closed his locker and turned around.
Amanda slowed down--just like the rule said to do--and didn't look at Bobby once.
But Bobby looked at Amanda. And looked. And looked.
He couldn't seem to take his eyes off her.
Amanda circled back around to the girls. "See?" she started to say. "The rules don't--"
"Hey, Amanda?"
Chloe saw Bobby rushing down the hall toward them.
"Oh, wow," Tara whispered, elbowing Chloe.
"Hey," Bobby said breathlessly as he stopped in front of Amanda. "Could I talk to you alone for a second? I'm Bobby Flynn. I was wondering if you were doing anything tonight--"
Chloe gasped. She had just seen it with her own eyes. There was no doubt about it. The Girl's Guide to Guys really worked!
