A/n: New chapter, finally! Rejoice as you see fit.

"All Shook Up"

March 23

My date with Keely tonight was...how should I put this? Well, it was sort of like a Daniel Pinkwater novel: it started out fairly standard, a good deal of crazy stuff happened and then it all worked out in the end. Well, sort of. I'm not sure Keely's quite over what happened yet, but overall, the night had a nice ending.

Like I said, the night started out normal enough. As I rang Keely's doorbell, I was nervous, but not really overly nervous. I managed to calm myself down by telling myself that, as important as this date was, it was still, after-all, just Keely and if there was one person I could always be myself around, it was her.

Keely opened the door and I said, with a smile, "Hey. Ready to go?"

"Yeah." She said, closing the door behind her.

Mom had gladly lent me her station wagon for the night. For some reason she said she was all to happy to do it after I told her who I had a date with. Dad wasn't too happy, he still thinks 21st century cars are deathtraps but Mom and I are more than used to driving by now. I'm sure he'll come around, give it another three years.

As I held the door open for Keely, I said, "You look great tonight, Keely."

She actually blushed as she said, "Thanks, Phil."

As I slid in the driver's seat, I thought, could she be any cuter? I told her where we going and we were off.

When we got to the restaurant, the normal part of the evening was over and the insanity was about to begin.

As the waitress was leading us to our table, I started to reach over to hold Keely's hand but just as I did, she tripped. Without looking where I was going, I jumped forward to catch her and in doing so, tripped a busboy, who was walking by, loaded down with dishes. It might have been a nice moment, the two of us standing so close, my arms still around her waist, if it hadn't been for the sound of dishes breaking in the background.

"Are you alright?" I asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied. "Just a total klutz, that's all.

I smiled at her and started to reply, only to interrupted by the waitress.

We finally got seated at our table and I thought the craziness was over, but boy, was I wrong.

First, Keely smacked her head on the table when she bent down to pick up her napkin. About ten minutes later, when I came back from the restroom, I found a very angry looking man at the next table over shouting at Keely in Japanese. Keely wouldn't tell me exactly what happened, all I got out of her was something about a spoon. I had to work hard to keep myself from laughing.

Then I was about to reach over and give holding her hand another shot but I never got the chance. She reached for water, knocked over the candle in the middle of the table and managed to light my jacket sleeve on fire. She tried to put it out with her glass of water but while she gets an A for effort, she failed miserably, completely missing and hitting me in the face.

For the first time in my life Pim's psychotic antics actually helped me. Having grown up with a sister like her, this was not the first time I'd been on fire so instead of jumping up, screaming and acting like a complete idiot I just calmly put out my sleeve with my own glass of water.

I wiped off my face with my napkin and was about ready to make a joke about the whole thing until I looked up at Keely. She looked like she was about ready to cry so instead, I said, "How about we get out of here?"

She nodded and frankly, I was glad to be leaving.

Keely didn't say much on the way to her house and she didn't seem like she wanted to so instead of trying to start a stupid conversation, I just turned on the radio and drummed along on the steering wheel to a Green Day song.

When we got to her house, I walked her to the door and before I could say anything she said, "Phil, I'm really sorry about everything. I am such a total loser."

I couldn't stand to see her so sad, being so down on herself. It was time to switch to best friend mode and fix it. "You're not a loser, Keel. You just had a bad night, that's all. Besides, it was me that tripped the busboy."

"Yeah, but you wouldn't have tripped him if I hadn't tripped first. I am such a spaz when I'm nervous."

I couldn't believe it. She had been nervous! I started to feel a little better about the night, but I still couldn't believe she had been nervous being with me. I've always been the one to calm her down when she's nervous.

"You were nervous? Why? It's just me, Keely."

What she said next made me feel really, really good. She looked at me and said, "That's just it, Phil. It's you. You mean everything to me. I just really wanted this to work."

I couldn't help smiling. "I really wanted it to work, too." I thought for a second, trying to figure out some way to make it work. "How about we forget tonight ever happened and try again tomorrow night? We can go out for pizza and see a movie. Totally no pressure."

She raised her eyebrows at me. "You still want to go with me? Even after I, you know, lit you on fire and all?"

What a stupid question. I wanted to say, of course I want to go out with you, I'm head over heels in love with you! But I didn't. Instead, I took a step closer to her and said, "Of course, because I know that somewhere under all that nervousness is my Keely. The one who's always sure of herself and doesn't care what anyone else thinks." I wanted so badly to kiss her right then and there but I didn't. I lost my nerve. I just smiled and said, "Goodnight, Keely. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah...'Night, Phil."

About half-way home, I realized what I'd said. My Keely. I'd called her MY Keely. We aren't even dating and I'd called her "my Keely." But then, I've always thought of her as "my Keely," even before I realized how I really feel about her. It's what causes my random acts of jealousy, I guess.

I really wished I'd kissed her, though. Oh well, maybe tomorrow night...

A/n: Hey, y'all know where the review button is! Just so you know, the more you review, the faster I update. Stay tuned for the next the next chapter: "Good Thing."