1961

"You're going to take pictures at the game? All you're going to get is the back of people's heads and tiny football players," Jonathan pointed out as he drove them to the football stadium in Jennifer's car as she fidgeted with her camera.

"I'm not going to take pictures of them, dummy." She leaned across the seat and kissed his cheek and rested her head on his shoulder. "I'm going to take pictures of you."

He chuckled at that. Her father had gotten her the camera for Christmas, and she was eager to use it now that they were back at school for the new semester. Jonathan was fairly certain she'd used an entire roll of film turning the camera towards them and trying to take pictures while they were kissing. Nearly all of them would probably be blurry and out of frame or ridiculous, but they had a lot of fun with that little photoshoot.

"Besides," she added, "I'm covering the game for the newspaper so I'll be down on the sidelines for a bit of it, too. I can get good shots from up close."

"I guess if you're going to write about the game, we'll actually have to watch the game," he realized, grumbling slightly.

Jennifer laughed, "What else would we be doing?"

"Well, I had a lot of fun a that last game we went to," he answered. The last game before the holiday break was the one where Jennifer had been late because of the rain and forgetting her wallet and her car breaking down, and when she did eventually arrive, they spent most of the time hiding in corners and kissing passionately. They'd gotten hot dogs once her stomach started rumbling, but they ended up just putting in an appearance with their friends and then walking back to campus. Jonathan wanted to have Mick come and pick up Jennifer's car to get it fixed, but they weren't in a rush. They stopped more than once to keep kissing.

But between then and now, quite a lot had happened. They'd spent the holidays in New York and had a wonderful time right up until New Year's Eve. Well, most of that had been wonderful, too. Except Jonathan had meant to take Jennifer to bed and Max had come home and caught them before they could get too far. Jonathan was mortified at his lapse in judgment in putting Jennifer in that position, and he felt even worse that she had looked so ashamed when she left with Max for him to take her back to her aunt. He had worried the next day when he called to her hotel that she wouldn't want to speak to him. But Jonathan should have known better. This wasn't just any girl, this was Jennifer. And Jennifer loved him and trusted him, and she had wanted to talk to him, too. He apologized for leading her to that and she apologized for being too forward, and they both assured the other that there were no apologies necessary, which made them both feel better. In the end, they wound up agreeing that they'd made a mistake and were maybe moving too fast. They could just enjoy the way things were and wait until they could be properly alone together before anything like that happened. Jennifer had suggested that maybe they go away somewhere for Spring Break and get a hotel. Jonathan thought that was a great idea, but he kept to himself that he had no idea how he was going to afford that.

That was a problem for another time, however. Jonathan still had about two months to save up as best he could. He also hoped that he could finish his car before then, too, so he could drive Jennifer himself, and not just in her car.

"We did have a nice time at that last game," Jennifer noted. "And I know we can have just as nice a time at this game. I just have to pay attention a little more to the actual game."

"I'll try not to distract you," he promised.

Jonathan parked the car, and they held hands as they walked to the stadium with the crowd, keeping an eye out for their friends. Midge was a cheerleader, of course, so she was already on the field with the rest of the squad. But some of Jennifer's other friends—Evangeline Taylor and Ollie Jackson and Lillian Shipley—usually sat near Jonathan's friends at the games. Richard was sweet on Eva, so the rest of the groups seemed to always find each other nowadays.

"Hi, Jennifer."

They both turned as someone greeted her. Jonathan vaguely recalled the overweight boy with his big glasses. He was popping his gum in a manner that Jonathan found instantly annoying.

"Oh hi, Ford," Jennifer greeted in return. "How are you? Did you have a nice holiday break?"

The two of them started talking as they all walked into the stadium. And despite the fact that Jonathan was holding Jennifer's hand, he sort of felt like she forgot he was there.

"Ford, you know my boyfriend, Jonathan Hart?" she said, making Jonathan feel silly for ever doubting her.

"Oh sure," Ford replied, popping his gum. "The scholarship student. That article you wrote in the paper was really good." Ford's attention was clearly on Jennifer, and Jonathan was now even more annoyed at him for more than one reason.

Jennifer obviously didn't like the way Ford spoke either. "Thank you," she answered stiffly. "He's also top of the senior class," she pointed out.

"Not quite," Jonathan corrected modestly.

She turned and smiled at him affectionately. "One B on an essay about Moby Dick is not going to take you down too many places in your class ranking."

Jonathan just shrugged. Ford tried to get Jennifer's attention again, but the crowd engulfed them all, and Jonathan could barely keep hold of Jennifer's hand. Thankfully, Ray found them on the other side of the entrance gates.

"Hey there!" he greeted brightly. "Morris saved us seats. Eva's already there with Richard."

"And Ollie?" Jennifer asked.

"I'll wait here for him. You two go head up to row eighteen," Ray instructed.

"Thanks," Jonathan said giving his friend a wave and leading Jennifer to the seats.

On the way, Jennifer said hello to at least a dozen other people. Jonathan loved how popular she was. Not that he cared at all about being popular or even trying to impress or be accepted by the popular kids. No, Jonathan loved that Jennifer was so well-liked, that people could see how kind and funny she was. He was just so proud of her for everything, and he felt even prouder to know that he wasn't the only one who saw all her wonderful traits.

A lot of the people were in Jennifer's class, he thought. There was one called Muffy, which he tried not to laugh at. Rich kids always had dumb nicknames. Muffy, Goofy, Jinxy. But thankfully Jennifer seemed to be succeeding in distancing herself from that name.

Though Jonathan wasn't one to talk. His closest friends—Richard, Morris, and Raymond—were fairly normal names. But he was also in class with Bertram, Cornelius, Huxley, and Bradford. Going to prep school was certainly quite an experience for someone who had grown up as far as possible from this world. And that wasn't even including the moments, like just a few minutes ago with Ford, when people made explicit reference to how much of an outside Jonathan was. He felt it even if people didn't say it.

"Smile, darling!"

Jonathan was taken out of his thoughts by Jennifer behind her camera. He laughed and gave her a bright smile so she could take a picture.

"Don't you have enough pictures of that annoying face?" Richard teased. "Here, take one of me and Eva."

Jennifer's friend Goofy smiled with such unabashed joy that Jonathan knew he'd done the right thing in suggesting to Richard that if he wanted to show he cared, he might want to use Evangeline's real name instead of the silly school nickname. It appeared that she was very happy to have her name used instead of Goofy. But then, of course, she started giggling, and the odd sound coming from such a pretty girl was a clear reminder of where the name Goofy had come from.

The game got started, and Jonathan did his best to just have his arm around Jennifer while she took notes and to not distract her. Still, he couldn't quite resist kissing her neck in between plays.

Eventually, though, Jennifer had to pull away from him. "I'm going to go down to the field," she said, extricating herself from his embrace. "I'll take pictures of Midge and the cheerleaders and see if I can get a coach or someone to talk to me."

Jonathan watched her until she disappeared inside the stadium halls to go to the field. But before he turned his attention back to the game, more movement caught his attention. Ford Beebe had left his seat and was heading down the stairs, just the way Jennifer had come.

The immediate instinct was to jump up and follow to make sure Ford didn't do anything to bother Jennifer. The Clicker, as he was sometimes known, was a little too friendly with Jennifer for Jonathan's liking.

But Jonathan didn't leave the stands and didn't follow and didn't do anything about Ford Beebe. Because Jonathan knew that Jennifer could take care of herself. If she needed him for something, she'd ask. And if Jonathan went inserting himself into things, she would only get annoyed at him for not trusting that she could take care of herself. And he did. He trusted her. And he trusted that everything would be alright.

Besides, Brookfield was in field goal range, and Jonathan didn't want to miss it.