After that disasterous conversation, I completely avoided Jana. I tried not to look for her either and got more involved with my friends- talking about stuff with them helped keep my mind off Jana. I realized, too, that I hadn't been paying much attention to what had been going on with my friends and was surprised to find out that Keith Masterson had broken up with Beth. When I asked why, he just shrugged and said he just didn't want to go with her anymore. Okay, whatever. I didn't ask anymore questions because I knew how it felt when people asked a hundred questions about something you didn't want to even talk about.
I also definitely did not look for any girls to date. I was not ashamed to admit I still loved Jana and knew she was the only girl for me. Luck WAS with me in one respect though- Jana hadn't been dating any other guys, either. I knew that's what would really kill me- seeing her with someone else.
But, of course, luck lately hadn't been staying with me very long, so I probably shouldn't have been surprised when standing at my locker after school I happened to overhear a conversation between Parker Donovan and Chris Burke, two 8th graders and members of the school's rockband, The Dreadful Alternatives. Normally, I wouldn't listen in to someone else's conversation, but my attention was grabbed when I heard Jana's name.
"---talk to Jana?" I heard Chris ask.
"Yeah, a few minutes a go." Parker answered.
"And? Do you have a date?" Chris prodded, almost drowned out by a slamming locker. I bit my lip and concentrated on hearing Parker's reply, even though I was pretty sure I didn't want to.
"Yup. I'm going to her apartment to go over the history homework tonight and then to Bumpers afterward."
"All right, man!" Chris said, and I heard their palms slap. They continued down the hall and I didn't hear anymore. Not that I wanted to. I stuffed the books I needed into my backpack and hurried out of the school. I avoided talking to anyone as I got on my bike and headed towards home- I just wanted to get out of there. How could she? My mind screamed the whole way back. How could she go out with someone else? I knew that was the whole idea of the 'experiment', but that didn't make it any easier to accept; especially since I didn't want to try the experiment in the first place. And how dare he? I thought angrily as I screeched to a stop in front of my house and wheeled my bike into the garage. How dare he ask MY girlfriend out! I wished I was still going out with Jana so I could tell him off. But I wasn't going out with Jana, and it would be pointless to get upset with him when he technically wasn't doing anything wrong.
I stomped into the house and slammed the door behind myself.
"Hi, honey!" My mom called from the kitchen.
"Hi," I called back halfheartedly, debating on whether or not to go into see her or just go on upstairs.
"Come tell me about your day," she said, solving the problem for me.
I tossed my backpack down and scuffed into the kitchen.
"So?" She asked, turning from the stove to give me a smile.
"It was fine," I lied, opening the fridge door to get out some milk.
"You don't slam the door when your day's been 'fine'," she replied knowingly.
I sighed and sat down at the table. She gave me a sympathetic look and sat down next to me.
"More problems with Jana?"
"Yeah," I hesitated for a minute, then told her what had happened that day- about trying to talk to Jana and then Parker saying he had a date with her tonight.
"Well, the point of this whole thing was to date other people, right? It doesn't mean for sure Jana DOESN'T like you anymore. She's just doing what she said she was going to do, right?" My mom said when I finished.
I shrugged. "I guess. But more likely she just doesn't like me anymore. Mom, you should have seen her this morning. She really didn't want to talk to me."
My mom squeezed my hand and sighed. "You have a date planned soon to talk things over, right? Where you can tell each other how you feel?"
"Yeah in like three weeks. Anything could happen by then. Most likely she'll probably be going steady with Parker or something," I retorted, playing with my milk glass.
"Oh, Randy." She shook her head. "You never know with girls. Believe me, I know. I am one." She grinned, then added, "So don't give up hope. In fact, I'm willing to bet that you two will be back together before the three weeks is even up. She'd be crazy not to want you back, honey."
"She'd be crazy to pick me over Parker- not only is he an 8th grader but he's considered one of the coolest kids in school and he's also in the rock band," I argued.
Mom stood up and shook her head again. "I can see you're determined to be stubborn about the whole thing, so I'm just going to give it up. But remember what I said, Randy. Things aren't always what they seem."
I got up and put my glass in the sink. "I think I'll go up and start my homework," I said, changing the subject. "Tell me if you need help with anything. Oh, yeah, I told Tony Sanchez I'd meet him tonight after dinner at Bumpers for a little while. It's okay, isn't it?"
"Sure," she nodded, "just make sure you get your homework done."
"Yeah, I will. We don't have a lot tonight. Thanks, Mom."
It wasn't until I was halfway up the stairs when it hit me. I couldn't go to Bumpers tonight! Not if Jana was going to be there with Parker! How would I act? What would I do if my friends said something? Well, maybe Jana wouldn't be there at the same time. I reasoned. If she and Parker were going to study together, they might not get out to Bumpers till later. And anyway, the place might be too busy for me to really see them.
"I'm not going to plan my life around Jana and her boyfriends," I said stoutly to myself as I walked into my room. "I'll go tonight and if she sees me there, I'll show her that I don't care what she does." That wasn't true of course, but I wasn't going to let her know she'd hurt me. If she thought by going with someone else I'd start going crazy and doing things to get her back, well, she was wrong. If she didn't need me, I'd show her I didn't need her. I would flirt my head off with other girls if I had to tonight. Jana still meant a lot to me, but there was such a thing as pride, you know.