Kevin walked out to his truck the following Tuesday afternoon and saw that there was a note slipped under his windshield wipers. He figured that it was from Ann. She had been frustrated with him lately, real frustrated. They had actually started arguing pretty frequently, which was completely out of the ordinary. They never argued, at least not until Lindsey had moved to town. Now they argued.
Ann was jealous. She was used to being the only girl that Kevin paid any extra attention to. He had other girls that were his friends and had been since they were all little kids, but he never really had a good girl friend. He had always been a guy’s guy and she had liked it that way. Now that Lindsey was here though, that had all changed. Kevin swore that they were just friends but Ann wasn’t used to it. Ann was also used to being the prettiest and most popular girl in West Duncan and especially at West Duncan High, and the only one that keep “the Kevin White’s” attention away from football for more than 30 seconds. She was cheer captain and had recently been crowned Homecoming Queen. She was born to be Homecoming Queen. All the boys worshiped her and it was just natural that she would be considered the best all-around girl in town.
It seemed like that was all changing though. Lindsey was beautiful and really fun. Ann’s friends all liked her and so did all the boys. People had even been saying that if Lindsey Crinkle had moved here any earlier she would have been Homecoming Queen. This was not the way Ann had pictured her senior ending, losing her boyfriend to the “new girl.” So she had been mean to Lindsey, almost spiteful. No one understood that she was just very jealous of Lindsey’s instant popularity. Kevin thought that she was being ridiculous. Of course he had feelings for Lindsey, but he assumed that no one knew that.
The note was from Lindsey; she wanted a “star date.” He couldn’t ever argue with that.

************************************************************************

It was the same routine as in weeks past, and when they reached their spot they climbed up into the bed of the truck and waited for someone to speak first. This week it was Lindsey’s turn.
“I am not sure if I can handle Ann much longer; she hates me,” she started.
“She doesn’t hate you.”
“Kevin, it’s ok. I know.”
“Well, I know that she has been …well, not real nice or welcoming.”
“Kevin, she’s not real nice to freshman cheerleaders. She is mean to me.”
“She’s really not that mean. I promise. I think that she’s…”
“She doesn’t like me at all Kevin, and that’s fine. I am coming to grips with it. She can be mean to me if she wants. I am the bigger person.”
“But…she…”
“Kev, look up there near Andromeda  (M99 Galaxy). That queen in her throne, that is Queen Cassiopeia (Cassiopeia, The Queen).”
“I don’t see it.”
“She’s upside down.”
“Oh.” Kevin was starting to feel kind of deflated. She knew that Lindsey and Ann weren’t best friends, but Lindsey was starting to be kind of mean. Ann was his girlfriend still.
“Queen Cassiopeia was King Cepheus’s wife, the mother of Andromeda. She was vain, very vain. She claimed to be even more beautiful than the Nereids, the fifty sea nymphs, who were known for their exquisite beauty. This greatly angered the Nereids. Amphitrite, one of the nymphs, who was the wife of  Poseidon the sea god, told her husband of Cassiopeia’s boasting and she and the other Nereids begged him to punish her for her behavior. He consented to their pleas, and sent a sea monster to ravage the coast of her country. Cassiopeia narrowly escaped death when her husband sacrificed their daughter to the dragon. The dragon was slain and the queen was left unpunished.  So, Poseidon placed her in the sky as this constellation, to forever spin around the poles which sometimes leaves her upside down and in undignified positions.”
“Why did you choose this constellation to tell me about?”
“Well, don’t you feel like sometimes Ann is like Cassiopeia? Vain and completely condescending to those around her, despite how great that person might be.”
“What are you getting at?”
“I just think that she better watch out or her little disciples will be tired of being stepped on and they might react like the Nereids did and she will regret being so rude.”
“Linds…”
“She just better be careful. She is not just rude to me, and it might get ugly.”
Kevin ended the evening not sure if he was more frustrated with Ann for being rude to Lindsey or Lindsey for saying all that she had about Ann. After all, he loves Ann. He thinks.