I didn't have much time to dwell on my bad feeling because of the head children librarian suddenly shouting for everyone's attention. Before I knew it, I was sitting on the floor in the middle of the room reading "Trumpet of the Swans" to a Shawn Jackson or Johnson or something from Riverfield Elemantary. I had never read the book myself before, so I was actually pretty caught up in it when the librarian called for everyone to stop a half hour later so pages could be counted.
While Shawn ran up to give our page count, I sat back on my sleeping bag and looked around to see where the other book buddies were positioned. I didn't see Jana anywhere, but it was very possible she was watching me right now, so I didn't want to look like a loser just sitting around not talking to anyone. I spotted Curtis Trowbridge right in front of me, but he started talking to Whitney Larkin, his girlfriend, so naturally I didn't butt in. Keith Masterson was a few spaces away, but- I thought with a slight frown- I wasn't sure I felt like talking to him at the moment anyway. Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder. For a brief moment I wondered if it possibly could be Jana, and I felt a flash of hope as I turned to see who it was. But it wasn't Jana, of course. It was Sara Sawyer. Again! I fought back a frown of frustration. It seemed like she was everywhere I went anymore.
"Hi! Hey, is this fun or what?" She said cheerfully over the buzz of talking around us.
I almost laughed out loud. Yeah, what a BLAST. I was, like, having the time of my life. Just how I like to spend MY Saturday nights- sitting around in a library reading to 8 year olds and watching one of my friends flirting (?) with the girl I cared about (who was totally giving me the cold shouder). Yeah, sooo much fun.
But Sara didn't look like she was being sarcastic, so I forced myself to smile back.
"Oh, um, yeah. It's... fun."
She laughed again and tossed her hair, which is so short it kind of just swung into her face. (Was I supposed to think that was attractive?) "I LOVE the little kid I got!" She gushed. "Her name's like, Vanessa or something, and she is SO adorable. She picked out, like, five books and they are all Curious George! How cute is that?"
She started giggling again and I laughed too, though only out of the absurdity of the whole conversation. 'How cute is that?' Um, okay. Whatever.
To tell you the truth, I was kind of surprised at the way Sara was acting. She was almost ditzy or something. I guess I should just get used to it because I lot of girls are like that, but after Jana who's so level-headed and definitely not 'valley-girlish'... it was just kind of hard for me to know how to respond.
Sara started to open her mouth again, but she didn't get a chance to say anything as it was at that moment the little kids returned to their bookbuddies and the librarian instructed us to begin our reading again for another half hour. I was actually relieved to turn back to the book where I didn't have to think about all that was going wrong with the evening and talk to Sara. But, all too soon, the time was up again and we started a musical game. (Which was super boring, I might add. I also noticed a lot of staring going on by some of the other book buddies. Beth Barry staring at Keith, Keith staring at Jana, and Jana staring at the floor. The hardest to ignore was Keith staring at Jana, but I also had a hard time ignoring Sara watching *me*.) As we went back to another 30 minutes of reading aloud, I shook my head, silently asking myself if the evening could get much worse.
The answer, of course, was 'yes' and it happened right after the third reading session.
The librarian had just announced 'snack time' and I was starting to get to my feet to join the crowd heading to the refreshment table, when I heard shouting. I looked up in surprise to see, of all people, Beth and Jana faced off about 6 feet away. To say I was shocked was an understatment. I had NEVER seen Jana yell at anyone in public or private (except maybe once or twice at Taffy Sinclair back at Mark Twain) and NEVER EVER at her best friend.
"No! Give it to me!" Jana yelled, stepping closer to Beth, who was unfolding a peice of paper and giving Jana a quizzical look.
"But-" Beth started.
"I said, give it to me!" Jana reached out and snatched at the paper, ripping it down the middle. By now, pretty much everyone in the room was watching the upset. And all wondering the same thing- what in the world did the paper say and why didn't Jana want Beth to see it?
Beth apparently could still read it though, even ripped down the middle, and her eyes got large as she comprehended the message.
"It says, 'Keith Masterson plus Jana Morgan!" Beth cried, looking up at Jana in disbelief and horror. "How could you? You're supposed to be my best friend, and you stole my boyfriend!"
"But, Beth! You don't understand! I didn't steal your boyfriend. Keith's been asking me out now that I'm not going steady with Randy, that's all." Jana insisted, biting her lip, her eyes pleading.
"Oh, yeah! I've seen you two with your heads together! And you tried to make me think you were talking about me!" Beth spat, shaking her head in fury. I had never seen her look so mad. She litterly looked ready to fly at Jana. I was dying to hear Jana's reply, but she quickly pulled Beth towards the paperbacks across the room and nothing more could be heard.
The spell was broken. Everyone was starting to move again, the little kids brushing it all off- it had no meaning to them. I could see most of my classmates giving me looks out of the corner of my eye, and I thought Sara was going to say something, but thankfully she didn't. She just got up and walked towards the refreshment table, and I sat frozen to my spot, my head pounding and my heart aching. So it WAS true. There WAS something going on between Jana and Keith. But how? Keith had really seemed to like Beth, and Jana... well, Jana just didn't seem like that kind of girl. I would never have guessed she would steal someone else's boyfriend. Or had she? She had said Beth had it wrong. But what if she was just trying to cover up the truth? I looked at Keith who was still sitting on HIS sleeping bag. He was running his finger along the shiny part and staring at the floor. And... smiling? No, he couldn't have been smiling. Not after a horrible scene like that. Unless he didn't find it so horrible. Unless he wanted everyone to know that he and Jana were going together. If they were. It was possible they weren't but he wanted them to be. I put my hand on my head, trying to calm my swirling thoughts and splitting headache. Everything was so mixed up and confusing. I just wanted to go home and think things out. But I couldn't. I had to stick the night out.
I sighed and got to my feet, heading for the snacks. I wasn't planning on eating anything though. I was sure my stomach couldn't take it.