Chapter 7

POV: Simon

I was waiting for Jeanette at the gate. I was a bit nervous about the date, but I also didn't want to appear unconfident. I still wasn't completely sure that I had a real crush on Jeanette, and not just an opportunistic attraction. I spotted Jeanette walking toward me, so I composed myself and approached her.

"Ready to accompany me to the movie?" I asked, as confidently as I could manage.

"Not yet," she chuckled, "I need to go home and get changed." I didn't want her to be someone else on our date. I asked Jeanette out, because I was rapidly realizing that I had a very good friend, who I liked a lot.

"Jeanette, I want you to remember that I asked you out, not America's next top model. Don't think that you need to be different for me to go on a date with you." Jeanette blushed.

"Thanks, Simon, but I still don't think these clothes are good enough." She replied, "I'll go home and change into something nicer." I wasn't going to argue with her, I just didn't want her to feel like she needed to be a supermodel for our date.

I walked her back to her house, and then made my way to mine. When I walked into the living room, Alvin was playing Xbox, and Theodore was eating a chocolate bar, watching him shoot some aliens.

"Hi, guys." I greeted them. Alvin looked up from his game and paused it.

"Yo, Si. How's it going?" I raised an eyebrow, but ignored his pseudo-gangster language.

"What would you say, if I told you I was about to go on a date with Jeanette?" Theodore stopped eating his chocolate bar, and placed his full attention upon me.

"Are you serious?" Alvin looked surprised, "How did that happen?"

"I asked her out yesterday, and she said 'yes'. It was pretty tense for a moment, and I thought she was going to say 'no', but she didn't." Alvin looked at me as though the world would start to fall away at any moment. I was confused by his reaction, but Theodore interjected;

"That's amazing, Simon, good luck." He always knew how to lighten any conversation.

"Well, I'll have a date too." Alvin suddenly exclaimed. "You'll see." Maybe he was jealous that I'd asked Jeanette out before he had dated someone himself. Alvin had always assumed that he would be the first in our family to date a girl.

"Are you saying that you're going to find a date today, just to prove that I didn't go on a date before you?" He affirmed my query, and I shook my head. I walked to my room, to find something more appropriate to wear than jeans and a short sleeved shirt. I settled on some dark tracksuit pants and a blue jacket.

I walked back to Jeanette's house some minutes later, in order to take her to the cinema. I knocked on the door, and heard a voice from inside, followed by the pattering of feet. The door opened, and Jeanette was standing in the doorway. She wore a purple dress and a dark blue coat. She had very little, if any make-up, which was good, and her hair was brushed and straightened down.

"You look amazing, Jean." She wore a cute smile, which widened at my words. "So, are you ready to go watch the movie?"

"You bet, Simon." She replied, and stepped down to me. We walked down the path together, talking about the movie.

When we finally arrived at the theater Jeanette waited at the entrance to the cinemas, and I approached a ticket seller.

"Two tickets to Hugo™, please." I requested, and I soon received them. I walked back to Jeanette.

"OK, Jean, the movie's about to start. I'll just buy some popcorn, and then we'll sit down." I told her, and promptly did so. We walked into the cinema, right as the movie was starting, and sat down in the middle.

Suddenly a girl whispered to someone next to us. Jeanette started and looked around.

"What is it, Jean?" I asked.

"Brittany? Is that you?" She answered my question with one of her own.

"Alvin, stop it, or I'm leaving." I heard the voice more clearly this time. It was Brittany, and Alvin must have been here as well. What were the chances of him going to the same movie at the same time as us?

"Jeanette?" Brittany spoke up, but was immediately shushed by the people around us. We were silent for a few moments, but I could see Jeanette's face fall. She didn't seem too happy about their being with us. Our date was beginning to fall apart.

"Fancy meeting you here, Simon." Alvin whispered to me, "As you can see, I have a date as well." I could tell that it was no coincidence that he was here. Jeanette didn't look comfortable, being on a date with Alvin and Brittany watching. I didn't feel too great about it myself.

Jeanette and I were silent for the rest of the movie, but Alvin was always whispering to Brittany. She seemed to be as uncomfortable as Jeanette. The date was a dismal failure, if you could call it a date at all. Alvin had really incinerated our time together.

When the credits started, Jeanette and I walked out of the cinema. We both wanted to put some distance between the volatile love/hate relationship that was going on between Alvin and Brittany. We just wanted to have a proper date, alone.

Not much was said on the way back home. We walked in silence until we reached Jeanette's house.

"Well, I guess that's it." I sighed, "I'm sorry about Alvin. He decided that it was time for him to get a date after I told him we were going out."

"It's OK, Simon, maybe another time it'll be better." I felt I should ask her out again, there and then, but this, I couldn't bring myself to do.

"Well, see you tomorrow." I walked back home and straight into my room. I finished up my homework and lay on my bed until sleep finally defeated the memories of the day.

I hope this chapter lives up to the expectations of those kind reviewers. Don't forget to review this chapter, I really appreciate the reviews you people give.

Please feel free to speak your mind, and give me suggestions for my writing. No-one is perfect, especially not me.