CHAPTER 14: The Weekend

Late Saturday morning, Kristy and I were sitting on the porch swing. I'd just kicked off my jelly shoes and laid my feet in Kristy's lap when Jason pulled up in his truck. When we'd first met him, he'd owned a motor scooter, which he told us he'd gotten for Christmas when he was thireen, then his mom and Steve had traded it in and gotten him the truck last Christmas.

"Hi," Jason said as Kristy moved my feet off her lap. "Are you ready, Kristy?"

"Just a minute," she said. Then she went inside.

"Kristy and I are going out to lunch at the Rosebud Cafe," Jason told me as I examined the bottoms of my feet for blisters. I was a little surprised that there weren't any.

"Hey, that's great!" I said. At the same time, I thought, Kristy and Jason are go-ing out on a date! I knew it! Ever since the last day of the competition in Washington, I'd had the feeling that those two liked each other. To tell you the truth, I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to get married someday.

When Kristy came out of the house, she had her green fanny pack around her waist. She climbed into the front seat of Jason's truck. As the truck pulled away from the curb, Jason honked and waved.

About two hours later, the phone rang. Since my voice was almost back to normal, I answered it. "Hello?"

"Hi, Karen, it's Mary Anne. Kristy told us you had your tonsils out. How are you feeling?"

"Oh, much better. My voice is almost back, as you can tell."

"That's good. Is Kristy home yet?"

Just then, I heard the front door open, and Kristy came in. "Just a sec," I said, waving Kristy over. "It's Mary Anne," I told her as I handed her the phone.

While Kristy and Mary Anne talked, I sat on the couch and picked up a nearby copy of Teen People. Even though the article I was reading—or pretending to—was very interesting, I was more interested in Kristy's phone conversation with Mary Anne.

When Kristy got off the phone, she sat next to me on the couch. "Mary Anne was wanting to know how my date with Jason went," she said. I figured that if anyone wanted to know about that, it would be Mary Anne, since she's Kristy's best friend.

"You like him, don't you?" I asked.

Kristy sat back with a huge grin on her face. "Yup," she said. "I sure do."

"I thought so. So, how did it go?"

"It went pretty well," she answered. "In fact, Jason even offered to pick up the check."

"Wow! Did he?"

"Well, he started to, but I'd already told him I'd chip in a few bucks," she answer-ed. "I guess he was trying to convince me that chivalry was alive and well."

"Or maybe he was just trying to be a gentleman?" I suggested.

"That's basically what chivalry means," Kristy explained. Then she got a serious look on her face, but not quite as serious as the one she'd gotten on the day I'd met Jason at the library, when she was telling Hannie and me to basically leave him alone. "You know something, Karen? I think I'm beginning to understand why you like him so much."

I was glad to hear this. If anyone understood my feelings, I knew it would be Kristy.