"That was amazing, Jeremy!" Amanda Kellerman squealed.
Jeremy rolled his eyes. So he had made a two-pointer. Who
cared? He made them all the time. He and Trent and Stan
were playing basketball outside the school. School had let out
almost an hour ago, but they hadn't bothered to leave yet.
Amanda was the captain of the cheerleaders, the richest girl
in school, and she had been crushing on Jeremy since junior
high. Jeremy had known about it, but he wasn't interested in
her. She was shallow and snobby. Two qualities Jeremy
couldn't stand. She was very beautiful, but that didn't matter
much to Jeremy. Trent had hooked up with her for about
five minutes their freshman year, and said she was an
amazing kisser. Jeremy hadn't been convinced.
"Amazing, Jeremy," Stan snickered, and Jeremy threw the
ball at him. This was the best time he had had all week. He
hadn't thought about Jessica for about half and hour. All
week she had been on his mind. He had had to practically
force himself not to pick up the phone and call her.
"So have you decided to forgive that girl you were seeing?"
Trent said, throwing the basketball and missing. Stan retrieved
it and took a shot.
"Yeah, Jer. We're all dying to meet her. We're beginning to
think that you made her up, and this 'I don't want to talk to her'
thing is just a cover."
"She's real," Jeremy said, running his hands through his hair,
which was damp with sweat. "I just don't know what to do. I
mean, she basically ruined her sister's life. Plus, I think she's
still into her ex. But I can't stop thinking about her. She's the
most incredible girl I've ever met."
"You should dump her," Amanda said taking a delicate sip of
her water. "She sounds like a real loser."
Jeremy's eyes flashed. "That's not true. You don't even know her.
You could stand to take some lessons from her."
Trent 's eyes widened. Jeremy didn't usually talk like that. "Yeah,
Amanda," Trent said chidingly. "Weren't you dating the halfback
and the defensive lineman at the same time?"
Amanda blushed. She got up from the bench where she was
sitting and walked over to Jeremy. "Listen, I'm sorry. I just
don't like to see you upset like this," she batted her eyelashes
and tugged on her black lace top.
She then placed her fingers lightly on his forearm. She
looked up at him and licked her lips. Jeremy sighed. She really
was incredibly sexy; if he wanted to be honest, sexier than Jessica.
It would be so easy just to give in. Then he saw a flash of blond
in the corner of his eye. Jessica was standing at the edge of the
parking lot. Jeremy's heart began to pound wildly, and he pushed
Amanda away. He took a few steps foreword, as if in a daze.
"Is that her?" Stan said.
"Man," Trent said. "Why have you been avoiding her again?"
Jeremy couldn't remember a single reason, and he felt himself
being drawn to her. He hated himself for it.
Jessica crossed her arms and looked away from him. "Hey," she said,
unsure. She glanced over to where Amanda was scowling.
"Hey, Jessica."
She looked at him hopefully. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Jess-"
"It's not what you think," she said hurriedly. "I'm not here to talk about us.
It's Elizabeth . She came home a few days ago. I thought you'd want to know."
"Wow, that's great. How is she?"
"Pretty upset. She's in major trouble at school, with our parents."
"At least she still has her job; it was nice of you to cover for her."
"Thanks."
"What about her and Conner?"
"She won't talk to him. He's really frustrated. They both still want each other.
It's so obvious."
Jeremy looked away. "Are you okay with that?"
"Of course I am," Jessica snapped. "I don't have feelings for Conner
anymore."
A surge of hope went through Jeremy but he shrugged it off.
"How's the baby?"
Jessica sighed, "I don't know if I should be telling you this, but she lost the
baby, she had a miscarriage. Conner doesn't know yet."
"Oh, man," Jeremy said putting his hands on his hips.
"Yeah." They stood there in awkward silence for a minute. "Jeremy,"
Jessica said softly. "I'm really sorry-"
"I said I needed space."
"Yeah, but how much? For how long?" Jessica cried. "I miss you so much."
"I miss you too," he said softly. "But not yet…I need time."
Jessica swallowed back tears. "Listen, I should get going. I have stuff to
do." She turned around and walked off without saying anything else.
Jeremy fought back the urge to call out to her. He wanted her so bad.
Jeremy let out his breath. He would take her back. Soon. He turned around
and went back to his friends.

Conner slammed the door to his car and strutted towards the school
gym. He couldn't believe that he had agreed to volunteer for this lame
carnival thing. He could be doing other things like…hanging out.
Normally he would have taken the suspension, but he needed to be
with Liz. He had to get her to talk to him. She couldn't keep shutting
him out like this. Even though they weren't together, they had a baby
to think about now. It was scary to Conner. He threw open the door
and almost immediately turned back around. The gym was covered
with balloons and full of different games. The speakers were blasting
out songs from some weekday morning kiddie show. Plus, there was
a clown. But before he could flee for the border, Mr. Copper seized him
and led him over to the coach's office. A large sign was next to the door
that said: 'Prizes'
Elizabeth was sitting behind a long table full of stuffed animals, games,
sports equipment, dolls, cars, and dozens of other toys and games.
"When the children play the games they are rewarded tickets. They
come in here and exchange their tickets for prizes. Everything is marked
with how much it is worth. You have to count their tickets and give them
their prizes. Their will be children here from three up to twelve and many
are too young to count and you will have to help them. Most of the little
ones will have a parent volunteer with them." Mr. Cooper finished his
lecture and walked out leaving Conner and Elizabeth alone.
Conner walked around behind the table and sat down next to Liz. She
had her head buried in a thick novel.
"So is this lame or what?" he said, trying to break the ice.
Elizabeth looked over at him. "Don't," she said quietly, and turned back to
her book. Conner got the message. For the first hour they sat in silence.
They didn't have anything to do because the kids were still playing the
games. Conner had browsed through the prizes, and wrote two songs in his
head, when the children started to come in. Elizabeth put her book down.
Conner had to admit she was great with the kids. She congratulated
each one on winning so many tickets, and talked to them. She would
make a great mom
Conner thought to himself. A couple of the older
girls giggled around him, but he just rolled his eyes and gave them
their prizes. The first wave of people died down and they were alone
again. Conner expected Liz to pick up her book again, but she didn't.
"You're really good with them," she said softly.
Conner looked over at her, surprised. "Really?"
"Yeah, I know this isn't really you're thing."
Conner snorted. "If Cooper hadn't grabbed me, I probably would have
fled."
"Let me guess, you saw the clown," Elizabeth said with a slight smile
on her face.
Conner cracked a grin, "you know me too well."
Elizabeth blushed and looked away.
"Are you okay?" Conner said boldly.
Elizabeth let out a sigh. "No, not really. Things have really sucked lately.
My parents will hardly look at me, and even though Jess and I are
talking again, it's really weird. It's like there's this wall between us."
Conner decided to plunge in. He placed his hand over her's lightly. His
heart was racing. She didn't pull away. "Why did you leave?"
"What?" She quickly pulled her hand away.
"You heard me. Why did you leave? Was it because of the baby?"
Elizabeth 's eyes flashed. "I left because I found out that I was seventeen
and pregnant. My sister wouldn't talk to me, I had no friends, and the
father of my child wouldn't even look at me."
"You should have told me."
"Right," Elizabeth snorted. "You would have taken off for parts unknown."
"Like you," Conner pointed out.
Elizabeth turned red. "Look me in the eye and tell me you wouldn't have left."
Conner looked at her. "I was freaked big time when I found out. And sure,
the thought did run through my brain. But then I thought about you and how
you needed me, how the baby needed us."
Elizabeth looked down and clasped her hands. "I did need you Conner. So
bad. When Jess found out about us…I knew we needed distance, but why
did you just drop me like that? I was so alone. With all the stuff people were
saying about us, I needed you more than ever. I left because I didn't think
I could face you."
Conner was quiet for a moment. "I stayed away because I thought it was
the right thing to do. You and Jess needed to work things out. Plus with all
the things people were saying, I thought if we were together it would just
make things worse. Plus, Jessica threatened me."
Elizabeth laughed bitterly. "You're worried about what my sister would do
to you?"
Conner grabbed her shoulder, "No, I was worried about what she would
do to you. She said if I ever got near you again she would make both our
lives miserable. I don't give a damn about what she could do to me. I just
didn't want her to hurt you."
Elizabeth felt her eyes tear up. "Conner, I thought you didn't want me."
Conner cupped her face with her hand. "I always want you. I wouldn't
have made love to you like that if I didn't."
She said softly, "there's something I have to tell you-" she stopped. She
noticed that there was a group of eight year older staring at them with
their mouths agape. She blushed wildly, and jerked away from Conner.
The rest of the afternoon they were so busy counting tickets, consoling
teary kids who didn't have enough to get what they wanted, and so on.
By the time four rolled around, they were so tired they could hardly stand
up. They folded the tables up and put them away. They walked slowly
outside. Elizabeth stopped Conner outside the gym.
"There's something I have to tell you about the baby," she said clasping
her hands together, not looking at him.
"Listen, I'm prepared to do whatever I can. I have some money saved up.
I'll go to all your appointments with you, I'll drive you to school, and I'll take
those classes where they show you how to breathe with you." Conner
stopped when he saw that Liz had started to cry.
He put his arm around her, and gently lowered her to the ground, so that
that she was sitting next to him. "What's wrong, Lizzie?"
"There is no baby Conner." She was sobbing now. Gut wrenching sobs
which were like a spike through his heart.
"What?" he said confused.
"When you came to pick me up at the hospital, I wasn't there for an
appointment," she said between sobs. "I had a miscarriage. I lost the
baby; there's wasn't anything we could do…"
Conner held her as she cried. He gently ran his fingers through her hair.
"It's okay Liz. As long as you're okay."
"I'm so sorry," she cried.
They sat there holding onto each other. A while later, Liz had calmed
down enough so they could talk. "I don't know why I'm so upset.
Realistically, we could never have been able to take care of it. We're not
done with school, we don't have enough money. We're just way too
young. But that baby was part of me, part of us, It was ours and-"
"You wish we still had it, I know," Conner said. "But I know I'm not
ready to be a dad yet."
Elizabeth smiled. She shrugged herself out of Conner's embrace.
Conner felt cold and incomplete without her there next to him. "I guess
that's that. Now there's nothing left between us. You're now free of me and
can go on with you life."
"How the hell can you say that?" Conner said angrily.
Elizabeth looked away from him, sadly. "There's nothing left for us, Con.
We can't make it work. We've screwed up to bad." Conner opened his
mouth to protest, but Elizabeth placed a finger on his lips. That touch
sent a surge of electricity through his body. "I'll always care about you,
but I don't think we're right for each other. I don't think we ever were.
I changed so much this year. Sneaking around, lying, and changing my
look. You never met the real me, and the person I am now…I hate that
you had to know her." She leaned over and kissed him lightly on the lips.
"Goodbye Conner."