Scott

Friday morning before school started, I posted myself next to the shool's front gate, keeping a watchful eye out for Randy. I was absoultely dying to talk to him and wanted to make sure I caught him the minute I saw him arrive. Yesterday after football practice, when we were getting ready to leave, Randy had suddenly walked off to talk to Jana Morgan who had shown up out of nowhere, and then he'd abruptly jumped on his bike and left without even saying 'bye' or at least telling us what Jana had wanted. I'd seriously debated calling him last night, but decided it would be better to just wait and talk to him in person today. I couldn't imagine what in the world Jana had wanted to talk to him about that looked so urgent, or what she could have said to make him take off so suddenly, but I knew it had to be interesting and I wanted *all* the details. I just hoped Jana hadn't tried to apologize and he'd been a jerk blown her off. I was still convinced that he and Jana would be perfect together and if he'd totally blown any future chances of the two of them ever going out, I was going to have to seriously give him a peice of my mind. Unarguably, it was great that he was such a nice guy that he didn't like to see Jana and Taffy waging war on each other, but you can't be unreasonable either. Everyone makes mistakes and everyone deserves a second chance. I vowed to make Randy understand this- I'd been avoiding the subject all week in fear that he'd blow up again, but I realized now that it was more important for me to take a chance at risking his anger if it meant convincing him to see that he needed to forgive Jana.

"Hi, Scott!"

I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sound of Randy's voice cheerfully calling my name. I looked around and noticed him coming up the street on his bike. He hopped off once he got closer and walked it the rest of the way to where I was standing.

"What's up? Are you waiting for someone?" He asked, glancing around.

"You, actually," I replied cautiously at Randy's happier-than-usual mood. Ok, at least he wasn't in a *bad* mood.

"Me?" He laughed, pushing his bike past me and onto the schoolgrounds. "What for? Is something wrong?"

"You tell me," I answered laconically, falling into step next to him.

"What is wrong with you today?" Randy asked, giving me an exasperated look. "Would you quit with riddles and start talking like a normal human being?"

"What did Jana want yesterday?" I demanded abruptly, deciding to ignore his comments.

"Huh?"

"When she wanted you to come over and talk to her after football practice yesterday afternoon," I insisted, rolling my eyes. "You know... then right after you left in a hurry on your bike and without a 'I've gotta go now' or anything? I've just been extremely curious as to what Jana wanted to discuss that made you race off."

"Oh, that," Randy said eagerly with a nod. "Wow, you're not going to believe this, Scott." He paused in front of one of the trees in the yard and glanced around to make sure no one was in earshot. I stepped closer as he lowered his voice and began talking excitedly. "Get this, ok- you know how Taffy hasn't been at school since Monday and we thought maybe she was just doing a lot of filming in New York? Well, apparently, Jana and her friends started watching the soap opera- whatever it's called- this past week and noticed Taffy wasn't on the show. So they started to wonder if she was just staying home or what, then they found some note in Taffy's handwriting that sounded kind of like the start of a suicide note, so they freaked out, thinking Taffy was so upset about the exposé that she was getting ready to kill herself-"

"Whoa," I gasped. Randy glared at me for interupting him before continuing.

"But anyway, none of them were brave enough to call Taffy and see if she was ok, so Jana thought maybe I would be willing to go to her house and find out what was up, which is why she came down to school and was so anxious to talk to me when we came out of the gym."

"So did you go to Taffy's?" I asked, still trying to soak in everything Randy had been telling me.

"Yeah, I went," he replied, half grinning. "And she was there, still mad as a hornet and definitely embarrassed, but not anywhere near killing herself, that's for sure. She said she wasn't planning on coming back to school, but I told her how it was specifically Jana who was worried about her, and I think she'll actually be back today."

"Really?" I glanced around the schoolyard to see if I spotted Taffy's bright blond hair, but didn't see any sign of her yet. It was still pretty early though.

"Yeah."

I noticed Randy had that huge grin on his face again and I had a feeling I wasn't hearing all that there was to this story.

"So, then what happened?" I pressed. "Have you talked to Jana again since you went to Taffy's? You know, to let her know that Taffy was ok?"

"Yeah," Randy replied with a nod. "I called her when I got home. She was definitely relieved."

When he didn't add anything else, I decided to press my luck.

"So, maybe Jana isn't so evil after all?" I questioned slyly. "Maybe there *is* still a kind bone somewhere in her body?"

Randy gave me a look. "Ok, so I was a little hard on her," he sighed. "I suppose you're never going to let me forget that. I still think she used bad judgment writing that article and I won't lie and say I wasn't disappointed in her... but," he paused a minute, then shrugged, a smile breaking over his face again. "You have to admit, it *was* pretty cool of her to be so concerned about Taffy. She didn't have to try and make sure Taffy was ok. She could have just sat back and done nothing, telling herself she was probably just overreacting and Taffy was perfectly fine. I guess you'd have to say I really admire her trying to sort of make things right."

Now it was my turn to smile.

"Wow," I laughed as we walked the rest of the way to the bike rack. "And here I thought I was going to have to spend all day trying to come up with some way to get you to forgive Jana. It looks like you two got that all worked out on your own, though."

"Yeah..." Randy's voice trailed off and his expression suddenly went from elated to nervous.

"What's wrong?" I demanded, confused at the abrupt change in countenance.

"Scott, I have to tell you something," he confessed, slowly sliding his bike into the rack and locking it. He bit his lip as I waited for him to go on. "You aren't going to believe this..."

"Try me," I challenged, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Promise you won't make fun of me," he pleaded, giving me a wary look.

"You know I wouldn't do that!"

He gave me another look.

"Ok, ok," I sighed, holding up my hands in surrender. "I *promise*. I won't tease you, no matter what. Happy? Now tell me what you're so worried about before I have to beat it out of you!"

"I-asked-Jana-out-yesterday-on-the-phone," he replied so quickly and quietly that I wasn't sure I heard him right at first. We both stood there silently, looking at each other for a minute.

"Are you serious?!" I cried finally, my mouth dropping open. "No way!" Randy grabbed my arm and jerked me closer to the wall.

"Shut up!" He hissed, glancing around the schoolyard to see if anyone had overheard my outburst. "I kind of didn't want to announce it to the world, if you don't mind!"

"So, what? Are you embarrassed to go out with her?" I hissed back, putting my hands on my hips.

"No, of course not," he retorted, copying my stance. "I just...I just don't want everyone to know... yet. I mean, they'll find out soon enough... The longer I can go without getting teased within in inch of my life by the other guys, the better, thank you very much."

"Yeah, I guess I can see your point there," I laughed, picturing the reactions of some of the other guys in our class when they heard Randy had actually asked someone out on a date. All I can say is, he better *really* like Jana.

Suddenly I realized Randy hadn't told me anything *about* this date. "So, what are you guys doing, anyway? Like, when are you guys going out?"

"Tomorrow, after the game," Randy replied, looking nervous again. "We're going to Mama Mia's."

"Ah, so you wanted to have your first date in front of the whole class?"

"Don't remind me!" Randy groaned. "I'm worried enough as it is! I wasn't even planning to ask her out, really," he admitted. "It just sort of popped into my head and I then I said it outloud. I didn't have time to think about it or anything. At least she said 'yes'."

"You actually thought she would turn you down?" I scoffed.

"Considering how I told her off after she asked me to go to Taffy's," Randy muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing, I don't want to talk about it right now," he replied, waving his hand in the air. "I'm more concerned with tomorrow and what in the world we're going to talk about."

I laughed. "*You're* worried about coming up with conversation? Trust me, I don't think there'll be a problem."

Randy glared at me. "Ha ha. This is a lot different then talking with *you* or Mark or any of the other *guys* and you know it," he insisted. "I have no clue what stuff Jana is interested in."

I rolled my eyes. "Isn't that kind of the point of spending time with her? But if you're really so worried about it, well, you shouldn't be. She *is* human, you know. There's stuff she likes, stuff she doesn't..."

Randy wrinkled his nose. "So you're saying I should ask her about her favorites?"

"Well, yeah, but you have to use a certain technique. I mean, you can't just be like, 'so, hey, what's your favorite food?' You definitely don't want to be real blunt like that," I stated firmly.

"So how should I say it?" Randy asked, looking confused. "What other way is there?"

I couldn't believe how clueless he was. Honestly, I certainly didn't consider myself on expert on this sort of thing, but there did seem to be a lot I could improve Randy on.

"Randy, my friend, we have a lot to talk about," I said, throwing my arm around his shoulder. "But don't worry- by the time I finish giving you some advice, you'll be totally ready for tomorrow and everything will be a breeze. Trust me."