Eight Blues Blues

"Joanne!" Mrs. Jefferson yelled from the dining room, "it's 5:15; dinner's ready!"

"Ugh, Mommy I'm trying to finish up my homework!"

"Well dear, I'm sure that if you eat quickly your homework will still be there when you return, alright?"

Thirteen year old Joanne sighed. There was absolutely no way her mother would let her miss dinner. For as long as the teen remembered, dinner was served at precisely 5:15 pm Monday thru Friday, rain or shine, in sickness or in health. Today apparently, would be no different than any of the other days of her youth.

"Thank you so very much for gracing us with your presence Miss Jefferson," Howard said as she trudged towards the table.

"Yeah…"

"So," Dinah asked Joanne, "what homework were you working on?"

"Some Theatre 101 crap. I could understand if it was my Algebra homework, or my US History paper, or even Creative Writing. But Theatre? Why the heck do you get homework in theatre?"

"Oh, I didn't know you were into theatre Joanne!" her mother excitedly replied ignoring Joanne's rants.

"I'm not!" she said rolling her eyes, "I'm not a theatre person; I could never be a theatre person! The only reason I'm taking this course is to fulfill my arts requirement."

"Well Joanne, if you want to get into a good private high school, you need to be well rounded dear…" Howard said cutting his steak.

"Okaaaayy…but I already play lacrosse, I'm on the debate team, I'm in mock trial, and I'm in the NJHS…how is that not well rounded?"

"Arts are an important part of our society dear. Without them the world would be bland and boring. Who knows Joanne, one day you may just end up dating an artist…maybe you'll change your mind then."

"I highly doubt that but okay, if you say so daddy. But the class isn't really that bad. Claire's in it anyway; so you know the class is hilarious."

"That's nice; how has she been anyway?" Mrs. Jefferson asked, "I don't think I've seen her at the house in at least a week!"

Joanne laughed, "Yeah, she's okay…you know looking at high schools and she's been really busy with orchestra and stuff."

"Well that's good to hear. Is she planning on applying to Miss Porter's for high school as well?"

"Mhmm, that's her top choice! We refuse to get separated for high school."

Both Joanne's parents chuckled at how close the two girls were before Howard added, "That's nice. Have her come over again soon…we miss her over here!"

"No problem daddio."

After dinner Joanne went into her room to finish studying her theatre work and got started on her Algebra homework. Right as she was about to get started on her sociology paper, her telephone rang.

"Hello?"

"I'm going to come to your house at night…" A man-ish sounding voice said into the receiver.

"Who is this?" Joanne asked playing with her 'fro.

"You tell me…"

"Claire?"

"Damn!" Claire replied giggling into the phone, "How did you know?"

Joanne smiled to herself, "Beside the fact that you do this every single day? And the fact that I could pretty much hear you smiling on the phone…I dunno, it was just a lucky guess."

"Yeah…well one of these days I'm gonna get you though. Just you wait and see, okay?"

"I am confident that you will Claire…whatever you say m'dear."

"Why thank you Joanne!!"

"No problem… oh, my mommy and daddy say 'hi' to you."

"HEY Mr. and Mrs. J!" Claire excitedly yelled as though Joanne's parents could hear her, "So what's up hottie?"

"Just tryna do this Sociology paper…I cannot belive Ms. O'Hara is making us write 3000 words. Does she not realize that we are only 13 years old?"

"Precisely why I don't take her class lovely. So did you memorize your lines for Theatre yet?"

"It only took me three hours," Joanne said sighing, "gosh I hate that class."

"Really? I love it! It's like easy A central! And you know how much I love those easy A's…especially at the Knowles School where they expect you to earn all you're A's."

"Oh, I know alright…"

"Hey, we can't all end up being smart like you are Jo! Way to have sympathy on the little guy…kick me in my ovaries why don't ya!"

"Aww, I'm sawy Claire! Don't cry!" Joanne replied laughing, "You know I wuv you!!"

"Ummmm…okay! I love ya too babe! No worries."

"Glad to hear that." In the background of the phone receiver Joanne could clearly hear Mrs. Felicia, Claire's mother, yelling for her.

"Claire-Marie Jenkins! Come clean up this kitchen!"

"Aw Ma! I'm on the phone with Joanne, can't it wait?!" Claire yelled back. Joanne laughed whole heartedly at the pair arguing.

"Hi Mrs. Felicia!" Joanne said to Claire's mom over the phone.

"Ma, Jo wants to talk to you…" Claire handed the phone over to her mother as she reluctantly went to clean the kitchen.

"How are you baby?"

"I'm good and yourself?"

"Just busy…you know. Oh, Joanne have your mother call me okay? Have a nice evening. I'll have Claire call you back when she's done cleaning up."

"Alright; bye Mrs. F!"

"Talk to you later honey."

Later that evening, Claire never did come back. For little to Joanne's knowledge, Claire had a huge secret that she was afraid to share even with her best friend of eight years. Claire was a lesbian, she'd known that for at least 6 months now. But she wasn't afraid to share that with Joanne because she knew that no matter what, Joanne would love her anyway; their relationship was just that strong.

Claire had an even bigger secret: she was in love with her best friend.

Next chapter: Joanne and Claire both share big secrets with each other as the end of the school year comes around…