I considered lying to my mom the next day, telling her I felt fluish and that I thought it would probably be best if I skipped school. I was sooo not ready to face another day like yesterday. Especially having to see Jana now that I had yelled at her. While I still felt I was sort of in the right telling her off like that, I couldn't help wishing I could take it back. Even if I didn't have a chance with her now that she and Keith were a thing, I didn't want her hating me forever. I knew it would really hurt if I walked onto the school grounds and she was standing there, glaring at me hating me. I just didn't think I could handle that right now.
Even so, I ended up discarding the flu idea. I mean, besides the fact that moms can always tell if you're really sick or not, I knew that only the wimps don't face what their afraid of. So, I headed to school like always, resolved to not let everything that was going wrong in my life turn me into a sissy.
When I arrived at the school grounds, I kind of looked around for Jana so that I could avoid her, but I didn't see her anywhere. Which was a little strange because usually she's at school before me. Not that I cared that she wasn't anywhere in sight. All the better for me. Upon inspection, I noticed that a lot of my friends were gathered around the gum tree, so I headed in that direction. I had just stepped up next to Bill Soliday when I noticed that Keith Masterson was also in the crowd and was arguing with a bunch of guys about some football player. I froze, and debated turning around and heading to my locker to avoid a confronation with Keith so early on in the day, but at that moment he noticed me too, and gave me such a look of superiority that I clenched my jaw and stayed where I was. He wasn't going to intimidate ME. Nope, no way, no how.
I was just preparing to join the conversation when the most amazing, unexpected, and just plain totally shocking thing happened. Something that I will never, ever forget. Out of nowhere, a loud, clear, confident voice rang throughout the courtyard:
"Keith, I have something to ask you, and I want everyone to hear it."
It was Jana. I whirled around in surprise along with everyone else who was standing around. I'm sure all the other kids were wondering exactly what I was- what in the world did Jana have to ask Keith in front of the whole student body? I felt a nervous shiver run down my spine. I realized that this could be very bad for me. Maybe Jana was so furious at me that she and Keith had concoted a plan to embarrass me in front of everyone. I turned to look at Keith and check out his expression. He had a cocky look on his face as he swaggered away from the tree and faced Jana, who was standing some feet away.
"Sure. Ask away."
I looked back at Jana. Her jaw looked tight and her eyes were narrowed. She actually looked mad at Keith. Could it be possible that...? No, it couldn't. Could it? Maybe? Another shiver ran through my body, and I noticed everyone else was also looking expectantly at Jana to see what she would say next. It was quieter on the grounds then I'd ever heard it. It was really kind of eerie.
"There's a rumor going around that you're telling everyone that you and I were sneaking around behind Randy's and Beth's backs, and that we planned the breakups so that we cold go out together. Did you really say that?"
"Why not? It's true," Keith replied, raising his arms up in an exaggerated shrug.
Jana's eyes narrowed even more and she put her hands on her hips.
"It is NOT, Keith Masterson, and you know it! Did you also say that we had a date last Friday night?"
It is NOT? It is NOT?! Was it possible....? My eyes flicked back to Keith.
"Hey, how could you forget a thing like that?" He swaggered around a little again, wiggling his eyebrows, and all the guys laughed. Oh PLEASE. I glared at him, thinking for the billionth time what a jerk he was.
"Gosh, you'd better refresh my memory. I can't seem to remember where we went," Jana crossed her arms over her chest, and tilted her head. I noticed that she still looked mad, but not nearly as confident as she had looked a minute or so ago. Keith stood there a moment, staring back at Jana.
It was probably not even two minutes before Keith answered, but it felt like a year. I shifted, and glanced around. Everyone in the crowd was watching Keith breathlessly, waiting to hear his reply. I rolled my eyes. Was he going to answer sometime this century?
"We went to Mama Mia's," he said finally. Jana's mouth dropped open and she took a step forward, but he rushed on before she could get anything out. "Jana didn't want to go anyplace where Wacko kids would see us because she hadn't figured out what to tell Beth yet. That's why we went to Mama Mia's. We even hid out in the booth farthest away from the window to eat our pizza." A slow smile crossed Keith's face as he kind of looked around at everyone to see how this registered. I noticed Beth Barry's face was like a storm cloud and she turned to glare at Jana. I looked over at Jana myself. She didn't look confident at all now. More like totally defeated. Her arms were at her sides, and her shoulders sagged. She didn't look as if she was pleased by what Keith was saying at all.
She looked ready to cry.
Suddenly I wondered if maybe I had truly been wrong. If possibly Jana had been telling the truth on the phone yesterday- that there really wasn't anything going on with her and Keith. And yet, the other side of my brain argued, everything seemed to add up. The Jana Morgan plus Keith Masterson note, their flirting before the read-a-thon, Keith himself bragging about their going out... How could it all be false?
Then it kind of clicked to me that it'd been KEITH who had been the one making it look there was something going on with them. Why hadn't I noticed that before? The note at the library had been from him. And Keith had been flirting with Jana at the read-a-thon but I hadn't been able to see her face to see if the feeling was mutual or not. Then all this about a date on Friday at Mama Mia's was making Jana look like she wanted to sink through the earth instead of happy. Could it really be possible that Keith was behind the whole thing?
Then the most important question flashed through my mind: Which one was more trustworthy?
I didn't even have to think about that- it was, without a doubt, Jana. She had never lied to me before and she never two-timed or anything like that. She was kind and sweet, and never did anything to hurt her friends. And Keith... I had known him a long time and he had been a jerk pretty often. Lying and Keith often went hand and hand; he cared more about himself then others; he could be obnoxious and rude.
And it suddenly seemed pretty obvious to me that Keith was the one behind it all. But how could I be positive? There was, of course, a pretty big chance that my reasoning was off, and as much as I disliked Keith now, I didn't really want to condemn him if Jana was to blame for this whole mess, too. Besides, just because someone had bad character didn't always mean they were guilty for everything. Yet this time... I just had this FEELING it did. But how could I be sure?
Then it struck me. There *was* a way to find out.
By asking just one question, I could see who was telling the truth once and for all- by this one question I could either get Jana back or lose her forever. I swallowed hard, half afraid to see what the answer would be, then without any further thought, I took a step forward.
"What kind of pizza did you order?" I asked in a loud, clear voice. Sounds like a dumb question, but wait. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Jana's head snap up and her eyes widen. I knew that she knew what I was getting at.
"Large sausage with double cheese. So what?" Keith shrugged again, and gave the crowd a look that said he thought I was crazy.
But I wasn't the crazy one- it was him. He was crazy to think he could have pulled something like this off. Something that could have split me and Jana forever. I felt a burst of anger and I reached out and grabbed the front of Keith's shirt, pulling him closer. I was practically shaking I was so mad.
"You're a liar, Masterson! Jana didn't go to Mama Mia's with you Friday night! I KNOW she didn't!"
"Oh yeah? How do you know that?" Keith spat, pulling away from my grasp and glaring at me. I put my hands on my hips, giving him my most disgusted look. The jerk! He hadn't gone out with Jana- especially not to Mama Mia's. If he had, he would have known the one fact about Jana that you couldn't possibly not know if you went out for pizza with her.
"Because she doesn't LIKE sausage pizza, even with double cheese," I retorted. "You wouldn't know that, of course. What you also wouldn't know is that she always eats pepperoni, green pepper, and mushroom pizza. She's got GOOD TASTE."
I half turned so I could see Jana. She still looked surprised, but her eyes were looking right at me, shining with gratitude and a kind of disbelief.
Keith's eyes darted around at the people standing around who were starting to grumble among themselves, and he started backing nervously towards the school entrance.
"Hey, so I forgot what kind of pizza we had. Big deal! So I was wrong. Okay?" He grumbled, giving me a look of contempt. I glared back at him.
"You were wrong, all right. And you'd better never pull a trick like that again."
"Big deal, big deal," he muttered, almost breaking into a run as the crowd started to disperse.
For a minute I just stood there, feeling ready to collapse with relief. Never before had I been so glad of a decision I'd made. I didn't even want to think about how different things would have ended for Jana and me if I had chickened out on asking Keith about the pizza, convincing myself there was no way Keith could have made up such a horrible, complex lie.
But he had and I felt a terrible guilt wash over me. Jana had been telling the truth all along. And even though it had really looked like she was in the wrong, deep down I knew I should have believed her. How could I have ever of thought she could have changed so much? I had blamed her of being stubborn and I had been just as bad. I had been so upset and hurt when she had broken up with me that I formed a conclusion in my mind that everything people were saying was true and didn't believe her even when I knew she never lied to me. I felt like kicking myself for being so stupid.
"Gosh, Jana," I said softly, walking up to her. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you. I know Keith can be a real jerk sometimes, but he really had me convinced until he came out with that stuff about the pizza."
"That's okay," Jana said, almost shyly. "It was my fault too. I shuldn't have been so STUBBORN." We both laughed a little at that, and then she added with a smile, "and I really loved your line about good taste."
I felt the tension begin to crumble away and the heartache I'd been feeling lately start to disappear. Things were going to be the same between us again- I could feel it.
Suddenly Beth stepped up with two of Jana's other best friends, Melanie Edwards and Katie Shannon.
"Jana." Beth was staring at Jana, her eyes filled with tears. "I knew Keith was a jerk sometimes, but I never dreamed he'd pull something like that. I'm sorry I blamed you."
Jana's shoulders sort of slumped again and she took a deep breath.
"I suppose you can guess most of it now. Keith was trying to get me to go out with him all those times you saw us talking together." Jana hesitated a moment. "I couldn't tell you. I knew how much it would hurt you."
"You should have at least told us," Katie spoke up quickly. "Maybe Melanie and I could have thought of a way to handle it."
Jana nodded and looked at the ground.
"I know that now. I hurt you worse by keeping it a secret, Beth, and I hurt you guys, too, by not confiding in you. I guess I was just well being stubborn again. I expected you to believe me, no matter how bad things looked." She shook her head, making her brown hair swing. "I shouldn't have done that. No friendship, not even ours, can take that kind of strain."
Beth rushed forward and gave Jana a huge hug.
"I just feel awful! I should never have believed those silly rumors! Can we still be best friends?"
"Of course, silly, we're all still best friends," Jana laughed, hugging Beth back. When they pulled away, Jana gave Beth a sympatheic look. "And, Beth, I'm especially sorry about Keith."
Beth's chin wobbled a little and I couldn't help feeling sorry for her, too. Even though I'm sure at this point she could see how much better off she was without him.
"Yeah, me, too. Oh well, I guess I can live without him. I mean, I've always known he was immature, and he's acted like a jerk LOTS of times" Beth sighed, shrugging a little.
"Hey! I've got an idea!" Katie piped up suddenly, looking excited. "Why don't the three of us fix a tres gourmet dinner for Jana and Randy to celebrate their getting back together. I've got some great recipes. Melanie and Beth and I cold cook the food, set a romantic candlelit table, and then leave you guys alone."
Tray gourmet?? I gave Katie a puzzled look.
"What's a tray gourmet meal?"
"Tres, it's French for very. A very gourmet meal," she insisted, giving me an exasperated look. "Don't you people ever pay attention in French class?"
As much as I appreciated Jana's friends wanting to help get Jana and I settled again, all I wanted was for Jana and I to do something on our own. For one thing, Jana and I had a lot of talking to do. And I was actually looking forward to talking to Jana this time, because I knew there wouldn't be any junk about breaking up again.
I looked at Jana and she looked at me, reading my mind. Then she smiled at her friends.
"Thanks, Katie. But if you don't mind, we'll find a way to celebrate getting back together on our own."
I held out my hand to her and she slipped hers into it. As we walked across the schoolyard together, I could feel everyone looking at us. Some of them were huddled together, pointing and whispering. But most were smiling at us and Mark gave me thumbs up. I squeezed Jana's hand and she squeezed it back.
Things were going to be fine again between us- I could feel it.
And for the first time in weeks, I felt happy. Jana hadn't been cheating on me. She hadn't had a crush on Keith. Keith was put back in his place and hopefully had learned a lesson. Jana and Beth had made up. And best of all, Jana and I were back together.
I couldn't wait to tell my mom.