Jackie Rodowsky decided that his girlfriend, Marilyn, was avoiding him. It took a lot for Marilyn Arnold to avoid Jackie. They had nearly every class together. But if she really wanted to avoid him, she'd always find a way. When they weren't in class, she was darting down the hall before he could stop her.

He sighed, picking at his hamburger at lunch.

"With less than a month remaining until graduation, senior Jackie Rodowsky comtemplates his future university and the next bite of his burger." Taylor DeWitt, junior and photographer for the SHS Express, flashed his camera in Jackie's eyes. Jackie shot him a nasty glare.

"No, more like contemplating how she's going to dump me," Jackie mumbled, picking a sesame seed off his bun and flicking it through the air.

"Uh-oh," fellow senior David Michael Thomas looked concerned, but only just. "Jackie, how many times have you and Mar broken up? I think you hold the school record. And you still worry that much about it?"

"It's... different now," he shrugged, hoping they wouldn't press him on it. It was different, ever since they'd had sex. Marilyn owned a lot more than just the girlfriend title now, as far as Jackie was concerned. "You don't get it."

"Oh, no, we get it," Norman Hill nodded knowingly. "Chicks, man."

"Ex-cuh-use me?" Margo Pike, perhaps the only girl in the senior class with the nerve to eat at a table full of boys, piped up immediately. She shook her fist menacingly. "Come again, Normie?"

The other guys snickered at the sight of little Margo threatening Norman. Norman "Enormous" Hill was the class heavyweight who reigned supreme on the football field; he had several universities beating down his door with football scholarship offers. Having four older brothers made Margo Pike atypically agressive, not exactly what you'd expect from the looks of her. She stared Norman down until he altered his remark to suit her.

"Uhm, girls," Norman corrected.

"Better." Margo smirked and went back to her lunch. The boys shrugged.

"Hey, Carolyn, can I see your flashcards?"

"Stephen, I've sat next to you all year," Marilyn said, smiling slightly at the boy sitting in the desk beside her. "You still don't know which one I am? I'm Marilyn."

"Oops," Stephen Stanton-Cha blushed. "No, it's not that. I just came from a class with your sister. Sorry. But if I saw you guys in the hall together, you know I wouldn't be able to tell who was who."

"She's talking about possibly cutting her hair," Marilyn said helpfully.

"As long as she's the one who does it, that's fine."

Marilyn glanced over her shoulder at the person who'd spoken up just then. Seated behind her, Jackie was leaned forward intently. When their eyes met, he gave her a sweet smile. She couldn't return the smile. She just couldn't bring herself to it. Not today. She turned to face the front as their teacher entered the classroom.

Puzzled, Jackie settled back in his desk and pouted. He pouted for the remainder of the class and paid even less attention than usual. Instead, he kept a careful eye on Marilyn, watching her take notes, smooth her hair from time to time, and discretely nibble from a package of animal crackers in her purse. Something was bothering her. Jackie was determined to figure out what.

"Shea, c'mon, didn't you say I could call anytime?" With the cell phone cradled next to his ear, Jackie pleaded with his older brother. He wished Shea was there talk to him. But Shea, now a sophomore at Penn State, usually stayed away from his hometown unless there was a holiday or a birthday to come home for.

"Jackie, I do have a roommate, remember?" Shea croaked, groggily, sitting up in his twin-size bed. "And he and I both have Human Bio at 8:00 AM tomorrow morning. Our fucking prof won't offer it any other time."

Jackie traced the pattern on his bedspread and sighed. "Okay, but you know if I'm calling you at 3:00 AM, I have a good reason..."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "Alright, I'm stepping out in the hall."

Jackie waited. He could hear Shea rummaging around and then he heard the sound of the door closing on the other end of the line. "... OK, what?"

"It's Marilyn, she- "

"Jackie, you are NOT calling me to tell me you broke up again," Shea butted in. "Because if you are, I did not haul my ass out of the dorm for this."

"That's not why I'm calling, " Jackie said in a small voice.

Shea softened. "Something's really wrong, huh?"

"I-I'm not sure," Jackie began slowly. "I just get the feeling she's not telling me something. She's acting weird, like avoiding me and stuff. I can't sleep. It's all I think about. Shea, if she dumps me now, I don't think it'll be so easy to move on. I just..."

Shea exhaled as Jackie trailed off. "Jackie, I hate to say I told you so, but I told you that you just weren't ready to handle the kind of emotions that go with sex. But you did it anyway."

"Well, it was the same way with you, your senior year." Jackie was too late to stop himself from saying that, and he immediately regretted it. It came out sounding as though he'd just been patterning his life after Shea. He was sure that wasn't it at all. He was sure he'd wanted intimacy with Marilyn. He just wasn't sure what to do with this extra baggage.

"Yeah, and I admit that I probably wasn't ready either," Shea said, not bothering to correct Jackie. (Jackie didn't know that Shea had actually lost his virginity in his sophomore year of high school. Shea was still waiting for Jackie to figure that one out.) "I figured you'd learn from my mistakes."

Jackie snorted. "Since when have I ever done that?"

Shea yawned, pacing the hall. "I dunno. I'm working on this theory that little brothers have it easier because they get to watch their older brothers screw up. Then they figure out what not to do. But I guess it didn't work on you. There's always hope for Archie, eh?"

"Mm, he's had two screw-ups to watch."

"Gee, thanks."

"I mean that in the nicest way possible."

"Yeah, Archie'll be fine." There was a pause as Shea collected his thoughts. "Hey, Jackie?"

"What?"

"She's not... you know, or anything?"

"No!" The word shot out like a canon. Then Jackie took a breath, relaxed a little, and made his voice sound normal again. "I mean, no, but..."

"But? I don't like the sound of that."

"Well, okay, she took a home pregnancy test one time, BUT-" Jackie said, emphatically, "... but it was negative so everything's cool. Shea, no."

"Okay, okay," Shea sighed. "I just hope you're being careful."

"Of course we're being careful!" Jackie retorted. " I'm not stupid!"

Shea chuckled. "Okay, well, if I give you some advice, will you let me go back to bed?"

"Okay, what?"

"Corner Marilyn tomorrow and make her talk to you."

Jackie sneered, disgusted. "That's the best you can do?"

"At 3:00 in the morning, yeah," Shea yawned again. "But truly and honestly, that's the only thing you can do. Or ask Carolyn. One of those. I'd pick talking with Marilyn, though. The direct approach."

Jackie closed his eyes, knowing Shea was right. "Okay, thank you. I'll let you go to bed now. Goodnight."

"'Night, little bro."