It was Thursday afternoon, and I sat across from Trent Parker at a table in our school library, our English textbooks opened up in front of us. We'd been studying together for almost two hours now, and it felt like no time had passed at all. My first impression of Trent had been all wrong, I'd discovered that afternoon. He was really… funny. Charming, maybe. The fact that he wasn't Phil was undeniable, but he came pretty close.
"Yeah. I see that now," Trent replied. He glanced up from his book and caught my eye. He smiled, and I looked away, feeling a little nervous, even though I didn't know why. "I'd be failing English already without you, Keel."
"Keely," I corrected him automatically, thinking of the conversation Phil and I had the day before. "I mean, um, my name. It's Keely."
"I know," Trent said. "I was just calling you Keel. You know, like a nickname."
I didn't answer. I didn't really have anything to say to that. He was right. I must have sounded all anal, being all… anti-nickname.
"So, what are you doing tomorrow night?" Trent asked, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen between us.
"You want me to tutor you on a Friday night?" That was surprising. This kid must be really dedicated to his schoolwork or something. Not even Phil, the biggest fan of public education I know, would want to study on a Friday night.
"No." Trent laughed. "I like you, Keely. I thought maybe you and I could, I don't know, go on a date or something?"
"A-a date?" I stammered. He was asking ME out on a date? This almost never happened to me. I didn't know what was supposed to happen next. "You… you want ME to go on a date with YOU."
Trent nodded. "Yeah. I thought we had a good thing going here, but if you don't think so, we could pretend like—"
"No," I heard myself say, like I was watching a movie of this moment instead of actually living it. "I mean, sure, Trent. I'd love to go out with you."
For some reason, after I spoke those words, Phil's face popped into my mind. I tried really hard to push it out of my head, but it seemed impossible.
"Awesome!" Trent smiled at me as he gathered up his stuff. I stood, too, closing my book and slinging my purse over my shoulder. "We can go get something to eat, or whatever you want to do. Pick you up at seven?"
So many thoughts were swirling around my head all at once that all I could do was nod. Dazed, I watched him leave. Then, trying to get my thoughts together, I walked out of the library, too.
"Keel."
Phil was waiting for me outside of the library. He walked beside me down the hall. "So how did tutoring with Trent go?" he asked, sounding kind of anxious. I couldn't imagine why, though.
"It went really good," I replied. It all started to hit me at once what had just happened. I, Keely Teslow, had a date with a very cute boy with a great personality the next night. "Trent and I ended up getting along a lot better than I thought we would."
"Well, if you have to tutor someone, it's easier if you can get along with each other," Phil replied. "So while you were in there I looked up movie times on my Wizrd. It just so happens that Samurai Love You Too is opening tomorrow night, and since I know how much you love those stupid movies, I'd be willing to make a personal sacrifice."
Something else started to hit me too—and this time it was how horrible of a friend I was.
"Oh, Phil," I said, my heart sinking into my stomach. "Trent asked me out for tomorrow night and I said yes. I totally forgot about our plans. Stay right here. I've gotta go find him and tell him I can't—"
"He asked you out?" Phil interrupted, staring at me with—what was that? Usually he was so easy to read. Of course he was, he was my best friend. But lately it had become harder and harder to tell what he was thinking.
"Well…yes," I replied, feeling about two inches tall. "But you asked me to hang out first, so I'm just gonna go tell Trent that I have to—"
"No, Keely, wait," Phil interrupted me a second time. "You want to go on this date. I know you do. Am I right?"
I nodded. I didn't want to, though. But I couldn't lie to Phil.
"So go on that date. Don't worry about me."
"No, Phil. I told you I'd go to the movies with you tomorrow night, and that's what I'm gonna do," I said firmly. I had always promised myself that I would never be the kind of girl who ditched her friends for a boy. Even if her friend was a boy, too.
"Don't worry about me," Phil repeated. "I'm happy when you're happy, and I can tell that going on this date is gonna make you happy. So go."
He was so amazing. I would much rather it be Phil that I was going on this date with, but I knew that could never happen. Phil didn't see me that way, and chances are he probably never would. Besides, Trent seemed like the next best thing. Life is short. You have to love the one who asks you out and not the one you wish would ask you out. Or something like that.
"Thanks, Phil," I said, leaning toward him to give him a hug. "You're a great friend. And Saturday night, I promise, I'm all yours."
"Sounds like a plan," Phil replied, smiling.
Something was wrong with his smile. It was different than usual. But I didn't want to think about that. Not now. So I just ignored the nagging feeling that Phil wasn't being completely honest about something and grabbed his arm, pulling him out of school with me.
I smiled at my own reflection in the bathroom mirror. The hour and a half I'd spent picking out my clothes and doing my hair and make-up had been worth it. Sure, I'd had to call Via about five times for outfit advice and reassurance that going on this date with Trent was the right thing to do, but now I was back to my usual confident Keely self.
Sort of.
The second I heard the doorbell ring, I dashed down the stairs, practically flying by my mother who was watching TV on the living room couch. I had to get out of there as quickly as possible to avoid her embarrassing me out of a date.
"See ya later, Mom! I'll be back at ten!" I called. Earlier in the day, she'd had a little talk with me about curfews. Normally, when I was with Phil or Via, I could come home whenever I was ready as long as I called her at some point. But since Mom didn't know Trent—and for that matter, neither did I, really—it was home by ten or nothing.
"Bye, Honey! Have a nice time!" Mom called back as I slipped out the front door, locking it behind me.
Trent was standing on my front porch, looking at me expectantly. "Embarrassing parent syndrome?" he asked with a laugh.
I smiled nervously. "Yeah. Something like that."
"So I thought we could go get something to eat?" Trent suggested. "There's this really good restaurant I go to all the time over in Handsometown."
"Handsometown?" Well, this would be one fancy pants date if we were going all the way to Handsometown—especially if we were going to East Handsometown. "Isn't that a little far?"
"My dad let me borrow his car," Trent explained, gesturing to a black SUV parked in our driveway. "So are you ready to go?"
"Um, yeah." I followed him to the car and hopped up into the passenger's seat.
The first few minutes of our car ride were all awkward silence. I couldn't think of a single thing to say that wouldn't embarrass me. And I guess he was waiting for me to talk or something. If he was, it was pointless, because I wasn't planning on saying anything anytime soon.
Finally, Trent spoke. "So. You seem pretty close with that Phil kid."
I smiled at the mention of my best friend. "Yeah. I am," I replied. "He's an awesome guy."
"And that's why you're here on this date with me?" Trent stared straight at the road.
Okay. He did have a point. But still…
"No. We're just friends," I told him, hoping he wouldn't pick up on the regret in my voice. "Best friends."
"Well, I hope he likes me, then," Trent said, smiling. He still looked straight again. "Because I plan on spending a lot of time with you."
Didn't he move fast? We'd barely even been on a date for ten minutes and already he was planning our relationship? What if I didn't want to spend a lot of time with him? What if tonight went horribly wrong and neither of us ever wanted to see each other again?
I didn't answer. I followed Trent's lead and stared straight ahead at the road until we arrived at the restaurant.
"Well, Keely, I had a great time."
Trent and I stood on my front porch at 9:30 that night, after a very mediocre dinner at that so called "really good" place in Handsometown. I felt like I had entirely wasted a Friday night. All through dinner, all Trent could talk about was himself and his old school and all I could think about was Phil and how I'd much rather be at the movies with him.
"Yeah," I lied, just to be polite. He HAD paid $16 for a lobster dinner that he had ordered for me that I didn't eat. "Me, too."
"So I'll see you at school on Monday?"
"Yeah. See you at school." I forced a smile for his sake.
"Great." Then, before I could stop him, Trent leaned down and kissed me. It was the most disgusting four seconds of my life. I kept my lips pressed shut and my eyes open the whole time.
As soon as Trent pulled away, I opened my front door and went inside as fast as I could. I felt tears pricking the corners of my eyes. I couldn't believe that Trent Parker, a boy I barely knew and barely liked, had been my first kiss. I'd spent the past sixteen years of my life dreaming and imagining that my first kiss would be as magical and wonderful and unforgettable as the night it would have followed.
Instead, I'd gotten kissed unwillingly and unromantically after spending a night in a sticky leather booth sitting under a fluorescent light, filling up on dinner rolls. And all I wanted was to forget it ever happened.
"Nugget, is that you?" It was my mom. She sounded like she was in the kitchen. "Did you have a good time?"
"Uh huh," I answered, trying not to sound like anything was wrong. Then I ran up to my room, taking the stairs two at a time.
Once I was there, I closed the door behind me and sat down on my bed, pulling my cell phone out of my purse. I dialed Phil's number.
He answered on the first ring. "Hey, Keel."
His voice was so warm and so familiar and just from how he sounded I could tell that he cared about me. I burst into tears. That whole night, I'd been pretending. Pretending to have fun. Pretending to like Trent. Pretending I was okay so my mom wouldn't ask questions. And now I knew that all the pretending could stop.
"Keely, what's wrong?" His warm, familiar voice changed to one that sounded serious and worried. His concern only made me cry harder. "What happened? Are you okay?"
"I had a horrible time," I sobbed into the phone. "It was the worst date in the history of the world. The whole thing was a disaster. I shouldn't have ditched you. I guess I got what I deserved for being such an awful friend."
"First of all, you didn't ditch me," Phil said. "And second of all, you have never been an awful friend and you certainly aren't being one now. Tell me what happened. Maybe I can help."
He was being so great about this. I'd spent all day long building up Trent in my mind—how cute he was, what a great personality he had. But I knew that whatever inflated version of Phil I could imagine in my head could never even come close to how incredible he really was.
"Well, we went to this restaurant in Handsometown," I began.
"Handsometown?" Phil interrupted. "Isn't that a little far?"
"That's what I said!" I exclaimed. "His dad let him borrow his car. Can you believe that? He drives! Anyway, we go to this restaurant, and he decides that he wants to be all cool and order for me, since he knows me so well and all. And guess what he orders me! Lobster!"
"But you hate lobster!" Phil cried. "Obviously, he didn't know about your whole Fish Are Friends, Not Food embargo after seeing Finding Nemo. You don't eat seafood."
"I know!" I was feeling better already. Sometimes, even after the worst day of your life, all you need is one conversation with the person who knows you better than everybody else and all the bad stuff just fades away. "But that's not even the worst part. The worst part was when we were saying good night. He kissed me, Phil. My first kiss and it was with a total loser."
"Aww, Keel. I'm so sorry." He really did sound sorry. "If it helps, and it probably won't, my first kiss wasn't what I thought it would be, either."
"It wasn't?" I asked, sniffling. "What happened? Was it with some 2121 girl?"
"Nope. Actually, it was in this century," Phil replied. "I never told you this, but when you were going out with Tanner, I morphed myself into him so I could see if he really was cheating on you and the way I found out was by his girlfriend kissing me."
"Oh." This was new information.
"But you know what?" Phil continued. "What's great about life is that there are always second chances. And I don't think that either of those kisses really counted."
"They didn't?"
"No," Phil assured me. "And I promise that when your real first kiss happens, it's going to be incredible. You will want it to count. I'm guaranteeing it."
"Thanks, Phil." I had to smile. Nobody else ever could have taken this disaster of a night and make it seem so much less terrible than I thought it had been. "Now all I have to worry about is Monday when Trent wants to be all boyfriendy with me."
"Well, maybe we can prevent that from happening," Phil said. "But only if you're willing to go along with this plan I have."
"I'll do anything," I promised. "Whatever it is, I'm in."