Mark

"So what would *you* do? I mean, under normal circumstances I'd totally forget it, but now that he's completely given up on her and moved on, do you think it'd be ok if I asked her out?"

I shifted my position on the workbench while I waited for Matt to answer. It was Thursday evening and I'd decided to talk to my older brother, Matthew, about the war that'd been raging in my head ever since Jana's expose and Randy's disgust towards her. I'm always going to Matt for advice on stuff like sports, but this was one of the first times on the subject of girls. I wasn't even sure I should trust his advice on this sort of thing, but he *was* a junior in highschool so he had to know something. When I ask Matt for any sort of advice, though, I have to be prepared to take everything he says with a grain of salt because he likes to joke around as much as I do and it can be a real pain to try and get him to be serious. That's why I decided to confront him while he was doing what he was doing right now- working on his car. It always takes up the majority of his attention so he doesn't have any brain power to come up with witty remarks.

"Well, I don't know," he said after a pause. He was peering into the engine of his car which had taken to smoking from time to time as of late. "Unless you're 100% positive he's moved on, I wouldn't risk it. You may feel pretty sure that he's over her now, but I think it's really too soon to tell for sure. I think I'd wait a bit, if I were you."

"I wasn't talking about asking her out *tomorrow*," I sighed, rolling my eyes. "I just met in the, well, sort of near future."

Matt was quiet again for minute as he fussed with oil cap. "Darned thing," he muttered. "Mark, hand me that bottle next to your arm, would you? Thanks." I waited while he worked with the engine for a moment, knowing he'd answer me in his own time. And he did. "I don't know, Mark," he repeated finally. "I guess that would be ok. It's just hard for me to really say because I don't know how much Randy liked her- Jana, you said?- in the first place. And I certainly don't know his real thoughts. He might not be as over her as you believe."

"He is," I insisted. "He practically bit my head off at lunch the other day when I tried to defend her. He never looks at her at all anymore and if we so much as mention her name in passing... I really think he's through with her."

"Well, you would know better than me," Matt conceded. "Do what you think is best, but if you want my honest opinion, you should wait a little while. Even if he is through with her, he still might not like it if he suddenly finds out that you- one of his best friends- likes her. Think how you'd feel."

"Maybe a little betrayed, I guess," I admitted with a sigh. "Ok, I'll wait a while. I just don't want to lose my chance again."

Matt looked up at me and grinned. "This must be some girl."

I nodded. "She's so cool, Matt, I wish you could meet her. She's just really, really sweet and I know she feels bad that she wrote that article now. I don't know why Randy can't see it."

"It's hard to say- maybe he built up some totally perfect idea of Jana in his head and couldn't take it when he realized she didn't completely live up to his ideal. It's kinda sad, but it happens." He pointed a wrench at me. "Just beware of that yourself."

"I will," I promised, hopping off my perch. "Thanks, Matt. I appreciate that advice."

"Sure, anytime." He waved at me with his wrench before turning back to the car. I walked slowly out of the garage and into the house, still thinking about my predicament and trying to decide how long I should- or could- wait before I told my best friends that I liked Jana.

***

The next morning I took extra time getting ready for school. I had meant it when I said I'd wait a while before letting Jana know I liked her, but I figured it couldn't hurt to start 'easing my way in'... you know- start talking to her more, even if it was just a little comment here or there, so that when the time came to finally ask her out, it wouldn't be such a surprise. I was sure right now that Jana had no clue I liked her. Heck, she probably forgot I existed half the time. Well, I was going to change that.

Taking longer to get ready meant getting to school later, and by the time I braked my bike in front of the bike rake, the yard was already full of students. I took my time locking my bike, casually glancing around to see if I could spot Jana. She and her friends have a little spot that they like to gather at every morning to talk in private and I figured that was where she'd be now. But when I happened to glance towards the front door of the school, I actually glimpsed her walking up the front steps with Curtis Trowbridge, who was talking a mile a minute. I had to smile a little at that. Curtis has the biggest crush on Jana and it seems like every other time I turn around, he's talking to her about something. She's pretty nice to him though, which I have to give her some credit for. Curtis is really an ok guy, I like him, but talking to him for too long, too often has a way of making your eyes glaze over. I continued to watch while Jana stopped in front of the glass doors and said something to Curtis before giving a quick wave and disappearing inside. Glancing around the yard and not seeing Randy or Scott, I decided that maybe I'd follow Jana in and see if I could catch up with her. Just to casually say 'hi' while no one else was really around.

Once inside the school, I saw Jana down at the other end of the hall, apparently heading for the 6th grade lockers. If I walked fast I could probably catch up with her... I was mentally rehearsing exactly what I planned to say when a voice behind me nearly made me jump out of my skin.I whirled around to see Scott striding up the hall towards me.

"Geez, Scott," I muttered. "Next time try calling my name a little louder, ok?"

"Mark, I've been looking for you all over!" He said excitedly, ignoring my remark.

"I just got here," I replied starting to walk again. Jana had disappeared from view and I gave a sigh as I realized I could just forget catching up with her now.

"You're not going to believe this!" He cried, falling into step next to me and shaking his head.

"What?" I demanded, starting to feel my curiousity rise. What could have happened since I saw him yesterday at football practice that could generate so much excitement?

"Well, you know how Randy's been all mad at Jana, right?" he began, tossing a look over his shoulder as if to make sure we weren't being followed.

I give him my best "duh" look. He shrugged quickly then hurried on.

"Well, this morning I figured I was going to try again to make Randy forgive Jana- you know, make him realize that everyone makes mistakes, yada yada yada. Ok, so I'm waiting by the front gate when Randy rides up on his bike and, wow, you aren't going to believe this!" He laughed, shaking his head again.

I had a bad feeling about where this was going.

"What?" I demanded, shaking his arm. "Could you cut the dramatics and just spit it out?"

"He asked her out, Mark! Here I thought I was going to have to pratically brainwash him to get him to even like her again and I find out that he's actually asked her out for tomorrow!"

I felt my mouth drop open as I came to a dead stop in the hall.

"Ok, I'm all for miracles," I said finally, trying to fully comprehend what Scott had just said. "But I have to ask, *how*? As of yesterday afternoon he wasn't even looking at her!"

Scott immediatly launched into some long story about Jana thinking Taffy was going to kill herself over the expose and Jana coming to school to get Randy's help and Randy visiting Taffy then calling Jana and somehow deciding to suddenly ask her out... I don't know. I started getting majorly lost about halfway through but the overall result was clear: Randy had decided Jana wasn't so bad afterall and he still liked her enough to actually ask her out. For tomorrow, after our football game. I hoped the shock and, well, disappointment, I felt wasn't as clearly printed on my face as it felt.

"Wow," I said as we started walking again.

"Yeah," Scott agreed, still grinning. "I can't believe it- it's almost too bizarre. I"m really glad though... I knew he'd come to his senses, I just didn't think it would be like *that*."

"I guess," I replied, then turned my head to look at him. "I have to say I am a bit surprised that Randy is the first one of us to go out with a girl. I always figured it'd be you."

I probably just imagined it, but it almost looked like Scott's face clouded over for a minute. But it was so fleeting, it might never even have happened because the next moment he was smiling again.

"Oh, well, you never know," he said. "I'm actually kinda glad it's not me. Now we get to let Randy screw up first."

He laughed and I forced a chuckle too.

"Now, don't tell him I told you about all this, because he'll probably want to tell you himself. I just didnt want you to fall down dead with shock," Scott said as we approached the locker area.

"That was probably wise," I agreed with a small smile.

"Yeah, so- oh, here he comes!"

I turned to see Randy coming down the hall talking and laughing with Keith Masterson. As they walked towards their lockers, they passed Jana who was standing at Beth Barry's locker with Beth and Melanie Edwards. They all stopped talking and watched Randy and Keith walk by, then looked at each and started grinning. I rolled my eyes and sighed. I guess I had to be happy for Randy too, but darn it, sometimes I couldn't help but be annoyed with him. There was Jana apparently thrilled that Randy had forgiven her and asked her out when he'd been sticking up his nose at her for the past week. If it'd been me, you can bet Jana wouldn't be so ready to forgive and forget me treating her like that. Some people have all the luck.