Chapter 5: It's A Date…Again

"He kissed you!" Emma squealed.

"Yep. Then I kissed him. And then, we kissed again right before he left!" Manny said.

"But Manny, you only met him today. I mean, shouldn't you get to know him first?" she asked.

"Emma, I know what it seems like. But I really like him. I'm not going to let the small detail that I just met him get in the way."

"Just be careful okay? Anyways, I've got something to tell you. I'm not sure if you're going to like it," Emma said.

"You can tell me. I don't think anything could make me upset right now, all I have to do is think about Chris and everything bad seems to disappear."

"Well, Craig sort of called me tonight. And we talked for a little while…"

"What do you mean he 'sort of' called you?" Manny asked, surprised.

"He called me. He's just upset about a bunch of things I guess and I kinda told him that you were with Chris and he got mad," Emma told her.

"That's just too bad for him then isn't it? He's not my boyfriend anymore and he doesn't have a say in what I do! That is just typical of Craig to get all jealous even though I haven't even talked to him in three months!" Manny ranted.

"I'm not finished yet though," Emma said quietly. "He called me and told me that he broke up with Ashley today because he likes someone else, and that she was just a rebound from you."

"Well, who does he like?" Manny asked.

"Um…me?"

"Is that a question or an answer Emma?" Manny asked angrily.

"It's an answer! I don't really know. He said that he liked someone else and then he asked me to go to the movies with him on Saturday night…"

"Well, are you gonna go?"

"That's the thing…" Emma started to say.

"What's the thing? What are you trying to tell me?"

"A: I don't want you to be mad at me, and B: he wants you and Chris to go too," Emma finished with a sigh.

"Fine, we'll go. I wanted a chance to show Chris off anyway. I'm not mad at you Emma, it's not your fault that Craig likes you. It's kinda sad actually," Manny stated.

"What do you mean by that? Are you saying that he could do better than me?" Emma asked forcefully.

"No! Emma, you are my best friend. I meant that Craig doesn't deserve you and I said that it was sad because I didn't think you liked him back…do you?"

"I don't know. Sorry for making accusations though. Hey I gotta go, my mom's yelling at me to clean my room again!"

"That sucks. I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school then," Manny said.

"Yep. See ya," Emma replied and hung up the phone.

"Emma and Craig?" Manny said out loud to herself. "Who would have ever thought?"


The next morning at school, Manny went straight to her locker to find Craig there waiting for her.

"So Manny, are you, uh, going to the movies on Saturday night? With me and Emma?"

"Yeah Craig, I am," she replied, turning away to open her locker.

"That's great," Craig said with a grin.

"Yep, great. Um, I gotta get to homeroom since I didn't go yesterday," she said, trying to get rid of him.

"I can walk with you…if you want." Before Manny could answer, Chris showed up on her other side.

"Ready to go Manny?" he asked, taking her hand. Craig's grin immediately disappeared.

"So Craig, I'll see you later," Manny said as she closed her locker.

"Yeah…later," he replied in a sad tone. He waited until Chris and Manny were out of sight and slammed his fist into Manny's locker. He leaned forward and let his head fall against the locker. After a couple of seconds he slammed his open hand against the lockers. Craig had become increasingly violent since Manny broke up with him. When Craig pulled himself together, he noticed that his knuckles on his right hand were bleeding and bruised. He threw his backpack over a shoulder and stormed off to his own homeroom, late as usual.

In Manny and Chris' homeroom, Mr. Simpson was telling the students about upcoming school events (Emma wasn't there; she ended up being in Mr. Armstrong's homeroom). Manny sent Chris an instant message even though they were sitting right next to each other.

MSant: About our second date…

CHawk: What about it? Do you still want to have one?

MSant: Of course! But…I kinda volunteered us for something.

CHawk: For what exactly? I'm getting a little worried here…

MSant: Well I promised Emma that we'd go on a double date to the movies on Saturday night.

CHawk: That sounds good. Who's her date?

MSant: Craig.

CHawk: Craig? As in, your ex boyfriend Craig? With your best friend?

MSant: Yeah, I don't mind. I'm glad he's moving on. But if you don't want to go because he's going, then I'll understand.

CHawk: No, no, I'll go. Of course I will. As long as I'm with you, we can have fun.

MSant: Good. I can't wait!

Chris closed the window and moved his chair closer to Manny's so he could put his arm around her. She smiled at him and kissed him on the cheek before realizing that Mr. Simpson had stopped talking and was staring at them. 'Sorry,' Manny mouthed to the teacher and slid away from Chris a little. Chris noticed the teacher staring at him too, and he took his arm from her shoulder. As soon as Mr. Simpson began talking again, Chris reached over and put his hand onto her leg. Manny looked down and stared for a minute, but then she put her hand on top of his and smiled.

At the end of homeroom, Manny and Chris walked hand in hand to Chemistry. Great, Manny thought. It's JT time. Chris noticed the change in her mood.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"I just don't feel like working with JT. I'd rather work with you," she replied.

"Well, at least we're all at the same lab station," he said, trying to make her feel better.

"Yeah," she simply stated. At that time, Emma came into the classroom and Manny ran up to her. "Emma!" she yelled playfully. She leaned over and whispered into Emma's ear. "Chris said he wants to go to the movies! I'm so excited!"

"We're going to have so much fun. And to top it all off, Snake said we could all go back to my house after to…hang out," Emma told her.

"Oh no! I just realized that I have Spirit Squad practice late on Saturday afternoon. That means we won't be able to get ready together! What am I supposed to wear?"

"It's okay Manny, you'll be fine. I'm sure you'll find something awesome to wear."

"Class! Take your seats and open your books to page 10," Mr. Bauer said as he entered the room. Manny sighed. She knew this was going to be the longest week of her life. Waiting for the movies would take forever.


It was finally Saturday. Heather and Jason told Manny she could go on the date. The movie started at 8:30 and they told her she had to be home by 12. That meant she would have about an hour and fifteen minutes to spend with Chris at Emma's house. Emma had told her on Friday that they were going for pizza before the movie at 7:30. Manny had practice until 6 that day.

"Um, Paige, I need to leave early today," Manny said to Paige when she arrived at practice.

"Why and how early?" Paige questioned.

"I have a date and 5:30," she replied.

"I guess that's fine. But first I need details of this date!" Paige said excitedly.

"I'm going with Chris, you know, the new kid at school. He moved here from New York City. It's actually a double date with Emma and…Craig," Manny explained.

"Craig! Why did he ask Emma? Does he like her or something? Or wait, did she ask him?"

"That was my first reaction too. He broke up with Ashley I guess. He told her he liked someone," Manny told Paige.

"I heard about him and Ashley. She's like heartbroken. But why would he like Emma? I mean, she's great and everything, but Craig said he'd never go out with someone younger than him after you. Something about immaturity..."

"That's funny, because most girls younger than him are way more mature," Manny commented.

"I'm just saying…maybe he asked Emma out to get close to you again. Why else would he want to double with you and Chris? You better watch out for him. He's been acting a little shady," Paige said.

"Well, thanks for the advice, but I'm sure I can handle him," Manny said. "Hey, how's it been going with you and Matt?"

"You mean Mr. Oleander? You don't even wanna know. Trust me."

"Yes I do! You can tell me, I promise I'll keep a secret."

"There's no secret to keep Manny! I didn't do it with him or anything. Nothing like that at all. He just made me upset the other day. He started yelling at me on the phone because I didn't go over his house. I had homework to do and my mom wouldn't let me go anywhere! So he got all mad and yelled and told me not to call him for a few days. Whatever, like I care," Paige explained. "Besides, I think I like someone. Even though he's my boyfriend, you are the only one who knows that. I could easily have another guy without him knowing."

"Who do you like?"

"I'll save that for another day. But we've got to start practice! It's already 3:30 and we were supposed to start at 3!" Paige exclaimed. The next two hours went by too slow for Manny. She was jumpy and excited and kept daydreaming and not paying attention. As soon as her watch read 5:30, she ran out of the gym waving goodbye to everyone. She got home and showered, put on makeup, and finally found an outfit to wear.

Manny finished getting ready at 7:25. She ran up the stairs to wait in the living room and her doorbell rang. "I'll get it!" she yelled. It was Chris. "You're five minutes early!" she said.

"I was ready to see my girl!" he said.

"Your girl?" Manny questioned.

"Yeah…well, if that's okay with you..."

"Of course it is!" Manny replied. She yelled goodbye to Jason, Heather, and the kids, and hurried out the door. They were going to walk to Emma's house, and Spike would be dropping them off at the pizza place. From there they were going to walk to the movies and then walk back to Emma's.