Conner walked into the ballroom of the country club. He remembered the last time he was here; he was coming to collect his drunken mother. He looked around for Alanna but didn't see her. He quickly looked again. This sucked. He didn't know a single person here and plus he probably didn't want to know most of them. They were all snobs. Well, except for Alanna. He was getting desperate. Finally he saw Lila Fowler standing by the buffet. He hated her but he didn't want to stand around looking like a reject. So he strolled casually over to her hoping Alanna would appear. No such luck. He walked up to her and cleared his throat. "Uh, hi Lila."
She whirled around and sneered. "Well, look what the cat dragged in. I thought this club had certain, um, standards."
"Don't worry they made sure my rags and garbage was checked in at the door." He replied sarcastically.
"This isn't really your scene." Lila said sweetly. "Shouldn't you be out with Elizabeth."
"She's grounded." Conner replied.
"Right," she said smoothly. "But why are you here? Shouldn't you be out with your guy friends? That's what boys do when their girlfriends are jailed."
"I'm meeting a friend here?" he said off hand.
Lila's eyebrows raised. "Who? Is he single?"
"Uh, yes she is. Her name's Alanna Feldman."
"Oh," she replied. "I know her. Didn't you use to go out with her?"
"A while ago." He said nonchalantly.
"Does Elizabeth know that you're meeting your ex-girlfriend here?" Lila said emphasizing each word.
"No, it's none of her business." He said. Lila gave him a weird smile but before he could reply he saw Alanna across the room. He mumbled a good-bye to Lila and dashed off. But one of her points stayed lodged in his brain. Elizabeth would care if he were here. She would care a lot. But for some reason he didn't care what she thought.

Alanna saw Conner walking towards her. She put a big smile on her face. She hated to admit that she was still attracted to him. She knew he didn't feel the same way at all. But she could still hope.
"Hey," she said. "I didn't think you were going to show."
He grinned. "I always keep my promises. So are you completely ready to bolt?"
Alanna opened her mouth to answer. Usually the answer would be yes. She hated these kinds of parties. But now that Conner was here she actually wanted to dance and gossip. But she would never admit that to him. "Yeah, this so lame. I just wish I was at my house watching some lame reruns of Full House."
Conner laughed. "With a bag of chips and a can of coke."
"Exactly!" How did Conner know exactly what she wanted? Probably because he wanted the same thing too.
"So who are all these people?" he asked.
Alanna grinned. She loved gossip. "That's Michelle Papas." She gestured to a girl with long black hair. "She's quite the scandal. She got kicked out of her elite boarding school because the dean caught her with a certain mayor's son in the closet."
Conner smirked, "Cool. What about her?" he pointed at a blonde girl with an extremely tight red dress on.
"You don't know her?" Alanna asked surprised. "That's Gina Ross. She does the local morning news. But not the kind of news your grandparents would watch. She's quite racy."
Conner's eyebrows were raised. "You know a lot."
"Well I have to listen to my parents and their friends go on and on about it all the time." She decided to lighten the mood. "Do you want to dance?"
Conner nodded but stopped as the song changed to Britney Spears' 'I'm a Slave 4 U.' "Never mind. I hate this song." Alanna said blanching.
"You don't like Britney?" Conner teased.
"No way, her fake looks give girls a bad name."
Conner looked at her confused. "But you're beautiful like her." He let his fingers touch her hair. Your hair is so silky. And you have flawless skin. He placed his hands on her shoulder. You have the pouty lips and the killer figure."
Alanna laughed. "Thanks for the compliment but if you compare me to that girl again, you are dead meat!" Conner smiled and twirled her around wildly to the music. She laughed and realized that she was having more fun then she had ever had before.

Elizabeth and Jessica were hanging out by the band. "You know," Jessica whispered. "Last year I would have given anything to attend a country club party, but they are so boring."
"Tell me about it." Elizabeth giggled. "I don't know how Lila stands it."
"She loves showing off her newest wardrobe and jewelry. She lives for the thrill of people turning green with envy." Jessica looked at Elizabeth who was gazing at something. "What are you looking at?"
Elizabeth jerked her head back. "Nothing. That girl over there looks just like Alanna."
Jessica peered at the girl with curly red hair dancing with a guy. She couldn't tell who the guy was but Jessica was positive it was Alanna. "Speaking of the devil," Jessica grinned wickedly. "What's going on with you and Conner since your grounding?"
Elizabeth sighed. "We've seen each other at school and stuff. But-"
"What?" Jessica asked interested.
"It's just that, things are weird." Elizabeth explained. "I mean I like him but I'm not sure I love him anymore. He's always so distant. And I'm sick of trying to please him all the time and deal with his moods."
"That's understandable. You're human." Jessica said. "I can't believe you've put up with him for this long."
"Well, he does have his good qualities, but lately I haven't been able to see them, and I don't think he can see mine."
"So are you going to break up with him?" Jessica asked.
Elizabeth was silent for a couple of minutes. "I don't know. I just can't imagine doing it. It will be horrible. Just trying not to think about it is bad enough. But when I let myself, I feel like I'm dying." Elizabeth felt her eyes go red. "Anyway, I'm going to go get some air."
"Do you need me to come with you?" Jessica asked concerned.
"No, thanks. I need some alone time."

Elizabeth came back in the dining room from the veranda. She still had no clue about what to do with Conner but she no longer felt sad. All she wanted to do was find Jessica and do some dancing. She weaved through the throngs of people and someone pushed her into a couple. "Watch it!" the girl shrieked. Elizabeth turned to apologize but when she saw who it was she went white. It was Alanna. With Conner. Her Conner. He had said he was hanging out at Andy's tonight. But here he was with Alanna, his ex-girlfriend. And she could tell that this just wasn't a friendly date. Alanna was wearing a gorgeous dress, the kind you reserve for that special someone. And Conner had his arm firmly on her waist. She let out a mangled sob and fled towards the restroom. Images of her and Conner ran through her head. Reading her poem in creative writing, kissing him in her jeep, him telling her that he loved her, him touching her hair, his voice, he was surrounding her. She flung open the door to the bathroom and crashed into a tall person. "Hey!" he exclaimed. "This is the guys restroom!" Elizabeth looked up at him to give a smart remark back but her voice became caught in her throat when she saw who it was.

Jessica saw the whole thing with Alanna and Conner. She knew what Elizabeth must be going through. Jeremy and Melissa had done the same thing to her. She knew that Elizabeth would get over Conner but she needed to get back at Alanna. The way she couldn't seem to get back at Melissa. She needed to show Alanna that Conner loved Elizabeth. And Jessica smiled and straightened her dress. She marched over to Conner and Alanna and smiled sweetly. "Conner, sweetie. What a surprise to see you here!" she cooed in her best Liz voice. Conner looked surprised and Alanna shot her a look of death. "What are you doing?" hissed Alanna.

Well that's the end of this story! I will write the last story in the series next which will be entitled 'Out of My Mind'. I hope you enjoyed Girlfriend and this story.