Chapter 4: Making Plans
The final weekend of September had more fall-like weather in store for us. I took the bus to Sarah, James, and Henri's apartment in Oakland. "Hi, guys!" I greeted my friends. "Do you have any plans for today?" "Yes, Angel," Sarah replied. "We have plans to go to P.F. Chang's in the Waterfront for dinner," James told me. "I've never been to P.F. Chang's before, James," Henri told his brother. "What's it like?" "It's a Chinese restaurant, with really good food," James explained. "You can come along with us, if you want," Sarah told me. "Um, that's actually something I would like to talk with you about later," I told my friends. "But first, let's go up to your apartment and talk about times when you made plans while you were younger!" "Okay," Sarah agreed. We then took the elevator upstairs to my friends' room. "Let's make ourselves at home," I suggested. "You want to learn about times when we all made plans, Angel?" James asked me. "Yes, I do, James," I replied. "You can go first." "Well, when I was a sophomore in high school, I made plans with a girl in my English class, Betsy Radcliffe, to go to the annual school dance with me." "Oh, right," Sarah stated. "The one that I didn't get asked out to." "I don't think you were asked out in the first place, Sarah," Henri told his sister, "because you were only in middle school at the time. I made plans to join the Boy Scouts team back in 4th grade with a boy in my class named Ralphie." "That night, I just made plans with Angel to come over to our house, watch a movie, and eat pizza together," Sarah remembered. "Now, those are all great ways to make plans," I agreed. "The question is, how did you do them?" "We made specifics about when, where, and what to do," Henri told me. "In this case, how to join the 4th grade Boy Scouts," I pointed out. "We found a common interest or activity, which was, of course, the school dance," James informed, "and made a plan to figure out specifics, such as what we would wear, whose house we would meet at, and who would take us to the dance." "We still have each other's phone numbers, Angel," Sarah reminded me, "and we can both compromise and be flexible." "Uh-huh," I agreed with Sarah. "Especially if the power goes out or the pizza does not come right away." "However, it's not good to keep insisting when someone does NOT show interest, surprise them, avoid commitment, or be vague," James told us. "All of those ways are bad ways to make plans with people." "That reminds me," Sarah told all of us, "when I was taking a history exam, and Nathan Hale, a boy in my class, made plans with me to study and he was taking advantage of me by cheating off of my exam. As a result, my history teacher accused me for cheating, and I didn't even do anything!" "Oh, yeah," Henri remembered. "I remember that, too." "You were having a pretty hard day, Sarah," James also remembered. "I would never do anything like that," I told my friends. "Whenever I get help or help somebody else studying for a test, I never do any of that stuff I am told not to do when I am making plans. I bet Nathan got in trouble for cheating, huh?" "Yes, and lying as well," Sarah told me. "He got detention." "Another question for you guys is: How did you know that all these people wanted to hang out with you?" "Well, Angel, I knew that Betsy wanted to go to the dance with me because of her genuine smile, mirroring my body language, open, expressive arms, leaning forward, and light touches." "The girls always loved you back when you were a sophomore, James," I told him. "And they still love me now, Angel!" "I knew I was not interested in Nathan's plans to study with me when I showed him my facial expression of furrowed brows, as well as body language of crossed arms and legs. As a matter of fact, I just ignored him by walking away and looking at my notes for extended periods of time." "Like I said, Sarah, if somebody is trying to make plans to study with you by just simply taking advantage of you and cheating, you should just try to ignore them, or if you can, report it to the principal!" "I know, Angel," Sarah admitted, "because Nathan told the teacher that I cheated and I got accused for something I did not do because I was doing my own work." "I'm very proud of you, Sarah," I told my friend. "We all are, Angel," James told his younger stepsister. "You got caught in a tough situation, and you stuck up for yourself, AND you passed your history exam!" "You have been a great older stepsister just for doing that, Angel," Henri praised. "Now, what was it you wanted to tell us, Angel?" James asked me. "Do you want to go out to dinner with us, or not?" "No, because I am going to start cooking my own meals now, and you guys should, too!" "I'm sorry, but we really don't have a lot of food to cook, Angel," Sarah told me. "It's just expensive and unhealthy," I informed my friends. "As a matter of fact, my good friend, Erica is making Italian meatball soup for dinner tonight. Would you guys like to come meet me at Erica's apartment so you can try her nutritious, inexpensive recipes?" "Italian meatball soup sounds yummy," Henri stated. "Well, we already have plans to go out to eat tonight, Angel," James told me. "I can make plans for you guys to come have dinner with me and Erica's family some other time, if you guys are interested," I told everyone. "Well, I gotta go now! My mom and I are going to buy groceries so I can learn how to cook, too! "Okay, Angel," Sarah told me. "Bye! Have fun cooking with your mom!"