Jade shoved her history book into her backpack Friday afternoon. She
hated how teachers assigned homework over the weekend. Weekends were
supposed to be fun! Jade smiled as she thought about her date with Evan that
night. She was going to take him out to eat and then dancing. But not
at the Riot. She had heard Elizabeth and Jeffery mention something about
a get together at the Riot to celebrate college acceptances. She
figured they meant Maria but she wasn't sure. She just didn't want to do the
whole crowd scene. She needed some quality time with Evan. Alone.
"Yo, Wu!" Jade turned around and saw Matt Wells, Aaron Dallas, Seth
Miller and a few other guys from the football team. They walked slowly
over to her.
"Hey," she said smiling. "What's up? Is there some great party this
weekend or something?"
Matt laughed. "Nah. Just a bunch of us hanging out at the Riot tonight.
You wanna come?"
Jade laughed. "Sorry, but this girl has a date."
"No," Seth said laughing. "Josh told us you were like Miss Unattached
Girl. And that if we ever wanted to spend a fun no-strings-attached
night with anyone it was you."
"Man, that's right!" Aaron said. "You're dating Plummer, right?"
Jade nodded. "For about two months."
"Bummer," Matt said. "But if he stands you up or you suddenly need
Friday evening plans, you know where to find us."
Jade laughed. "Okay. But don't wait up for me."
"Whatever!" Matt called. "It's your loss."
Jade chuckled to herself as the guys walked off. At least she still had
it. Jade began to feel a little disappointed that she couldn't go. It
did sound like fun and Matt and his friends knew how to have a good time
instead of some of her new friends like Maria. And Evan. She tried to
shrug it off but the thought kept coming back. Evan's idea of a good
time was protesting at the meat packaging plant or watching some lame-o
documentary on endangered species. Okay so Evan wasn't a party person like
herself. But that didn't mean they couldn't be together. Opposite's did
attract. Jade thought of Jessica and Jeremy. Jess was like her and liked
to have a good time while Jeremy was more laid back. Jade thought that
if they could work out their differences than her and Evan could as
well.

"God that man is so evil," Evan heard Elizabeth say to Conner. Evan
walked over the where his two friends were sitting in the library.
"I know," Conner replied. "That man has some serious issues."
"Unlike someone else we all know," Elizabeth said sarcastically.
"At least I don't have a permanent stick up my butt," Conner shot back.
"Hey guys," Evan said sitting down. "I hate to interrupt this
scintillating conversation but I wanted to talk to you two."
Instantly Elizabeth shot into concern mode. "What's up, Evan?"
"First tell me who the heck you were talking about."
"Quigley," Conner said in a disgusted tone. "He assigned us a two page
essay about an inanimate object but turning it into an animate object."
"Bummer," Evan said, trying not to crack up. "So you decided that
complaining about it is more productive than doing it."
"Exactly," Conner said grinning. "It's way more productive than doing
it."
"So what's up," Elizabeth repeated.
"Have you guys noticed anything...weird about Jade?"
"What do you mean?" Elizabeth asked.
"She's been acting kind of funny. She's never happy on our dates and
she's always wanting to you know, fool around."
"My God! She is insane. Always wanting make out? Yup, you have a major
problem," Conner said sarcastically."
"Shut up, Conner. What I mean is she's always distracted and
preoccupied."
"Have you tried talking to her?" Elizabeth asked.
"Yeah, but she always complains I'm not paying attention to her, I'm
hanging out too much with my friends, and that our dates are boring."
"What have you been doing?" Conner asked interested.
"We go to the movies and on picnics, we protest and we watched a CNN
documentary last weekend."
Evan looked at him annoyed as Conner cracked up. "What?"
"Nothing is wrong, Evan," Elizabeth said putting her hand on his
shoulder. "But those are things that you like to do. The last two anyway."
"You guys used to go out," Evan said. Conner and Liz glanced at each
other. Evan knew they didn't like to talk about their relationship but
they had started to be friends and no longer wanted to scratch each
other's eyes out. "Did one of you ever feel bored when you were together and
did you guys get upset when one of you wanted to do something you liked
to do when the other one didn't?"
"Sometimes Liz drug me to see these dopey chick flicks that made me
fall asleep."
Liz playfully punched him on the arm. "Just like you drug me to those
lame kung fu movies or the ones where everything blows up at the end."
"But did you get mad at each other?"
"No, we liked to spend time together, it didn't matter what we were
doing. We were never bored together. Heck, we even had a good time
watching the news together."
"Yeah we did," Conner said suggestively. "Every time we were together
it always ended the same way."
"We weren't that bad," Liz said laughing.
"Yes you were," Evan said frowning. "So you guys put up with that kind
of stuff?"
"Sure, if you really love someone, those kinds of things don't seem
like a big deal," Conner stated.
"Oh." Evan was surprised that Conner was talking so freely about love
and relationships. Plus, he knew that Elizabeth and Conner were right. He
enjoyed spending time with Jade but it seemed like she didn't like
doing the things he did or what they did together. He would have to talk to
her next time they went out because if she didn't enjoy being with him
then their relationship was pointless.
"Plus relationships aren't just kisses and fingers," Elizabeth said
interrupting his thoughts. "It's about a connection and after a while
spending time and talking with each other is almost as much fun as making
out."
"Almost," Conner said smiling seductively at Liz.
"Did you like me for my body or my mind?" Elizabeth said joking.
Conner looked her up and down "Mmmm-hmmm, I think I'm in looooove!"
"Oh, stop," she said swatting at him. "Evan, Jade really cares about
you. She's just not used to the steady relationship thingy. She'll come
around. He did," she said gesturing to Conner.
"Yeah, you're right," Evan said forcing a smile. "Everything is okay.
I'm just being paranoid. Thanks."
"Anytime," Elizabeth said smiling. "See you tonight."
"Yeah, bye. I'll let you get back to not working on your essay." Evan
walked away even more confused. Maybe some down time at the Riot would
clear his mind. Maybe.