-Simon-
Okay, not fair. She knows I don't want to disclose this information right here in front of everyone. i know she knows. But she's asking anyway.
Honestly.
What a bitch move.
I knew I was probably the color of Alvin's swimming trunks (which he was still wearing- don't ask me why). I glanced at Jeanette, who was looking at me very intently. I looked back at my questioner, and coughed, blushed again, and said, "Hmm. So it can't be anyone from the Arts school downtown?"
Eleanor frowned. "No. Our school."
"So... OUR school..."
"Yes. Simon, answer the question, would you?"
"The highschool or the middleschool?"
She rolled her eyes. "Simon."
"It's a viable question. We're halfway through the summer between middleschool and highschool. So, is it-"
"ANSWER THE QUESTION, SIMON."
"Gosh! Fine, El, jeez..." I paused, and took in a deep breath.

-Jeanette-
Say it. Say my name, please, please say my name. Say my name and carry me into the sunset while dramatic music plays in the background...

-Simon-
I opened my mouth to say it when the door to the garage banged open and Dave came in with his breifcase, looking exhausted.
I don't think I had ever been so happy to see Dave in my life. i jumped up and walked over, thinking to myself how this was the PERFECT excuse... had he balnced his checkbook or paid his bills yet? Dave wasn't much for math, so maybe he would let me do it for him.
"Hi Dave!" I said, trying to sound normal as I could while my heart was beating much faster than what was healthy.
"Oh, hi Simon," he responded as he walked over to the dinner table and set his stuff down. he poked his head back into the hallway and looked into the living room. "Hi Alvin, Theodore..." he saw the girls and continued in a confused voice, "Eleanor, Brittany and Jeanette...?"
"Hi, Dave," a chorus of voices responded.
He turned back to me, pulling his keys out of his pocket and putting them on the microwave stand. "Is there a reason why the girls are over here? Does Miss Miller know?"
"Miss Miller is going to see her second cousin who got in a car crash. She said she would be gone for a while and Jea- I mean, the girls didn't want to stay in the house alone so I thought maybe Jea- i mean, the girls could stay with us for a bit," I responded.
"Oh. I see," Dave said. "Well, tell them they can stay, but they can't sleep in your room- i don't know that i trust all of you to do that."
I laughed. "Oh, I wouldn't worry about that, Dave."
Dave shook his head. "Yeah, easy for you to say. Do you know the teen pregnancy rate?" With that, he started back to his bedroom to take a shower and stuff.
"Hey, Dave," I called after him.
He turned around. "Yes, Simon?"
"Have you balanced your checkbook or paid your bills?" i asked.
He sighed and started to come back to the kitchen. "Ugh. I almost forgot. Thanks, Simon, someone's gotta keep me in line," he said, ruffling my hair. "I'll get right on that."
"No, you can go on and get ready for bed, Dave. I'll do it for you."
He smiled. "Really?" i nodded. "And i trust you know how to do that." Better than you, I thought, but didn't say it, just nodded again instead. "Great! Thanks so much, Simon. Thank you." He pulled me into a hug, then turned back to the hallway, where he faced the living room again. "Now," he said in their direction, "I'm going to bed. I'm really exhausted. You guys can stay up for a while, but please be asleep by one in the morning. And keep it to a dull roar please, I want to sleep. Goodnight."
He turned toward his room, and started back there. I sat at the kitchen table and started working.

-Eleanor-
As soon as Dave said goodnight, Alvin turned to us and made a face, saying in a mocking voice:
"Please be asleep by one in the morning! Blah Blah Blah!"
We snickered, and Dave yelled from his bedroom:
"I heard that, Alvin!"
"Love you, Dave!" Alvin responded, grinning.
I shook my head, smiling. Alvin is such a goofball. Then i looked around the circle and realized Simon was still not back. I got up and went into the kitchen, ruffling Theodore's hair on my way out.
When I went into the kitchen, I found him sitting at the table iwth a pile of papers sitting in front of him.
"Simon," I said, leaning on the doorframe, "You're not going back in there, are you?"
"I'm working," he answered briskly.
I sighed, and shook my head. "Fine. But you know you're going to have to tell her at some point, right?"
Simon looked over at me and opened his mouth, tehn closed it as if deciding against saying something, then opened it again and replied, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"You," I replied, walking over to him and leaning down a little so I could whisper, "You know exactly what i am talking about Simon, don't even give me that BS, okay?" he pursed his lips, and looked back down at his paper. "Look. All I'm saying is, she's not like me. Theodore didn't ask me, and I got so tired of it I asked him. Let me tell you, that's not going to happen with Jeanette. She will wait for you to ask becasue she can't do it herself. And one day, she's going to meet another boy, Simon, and she's going to move on with her life." He sighed, but did not meet eyes with me. "Simon, are you really going to let that happen?"
He still didn't reply, so i walked back to the door, saying over my shoulder, "Think about it."

-Simon-
i watched her go, and as soon as she left, I put my head down on the table.
She was right.
I had to tell Jeanette soon.

-Brittney-
"Alvin, quit it!" I squealed, scooting away. He kept tickling me! I tried to crawl away and was almost across to where Jeanette was when he grabbed me around the waist and pulled me back onto his lap.
"Quit what?" he asked, tickling me again.
"AHH QUIT IT!" I screamed, laughing and squirming and trying to get away.
"Quit what?" he asked a second time, tickling me again.
"OHMIGAWD STOPPPPP!"
"Honestly, Alvin, will you just leave her alone?" Jeanette asked, looking annoyed.
Alvin let me go, and gave Jeanette a look, "Jesus, who put the Edward Cullen in your Harry Potter book, Jeanette?"
Jeanette shook her head, then pulled her knees up to ther chest and put her forehead on them. "Just... leave me alone, okay?"
Theodore patted Jeanette on the shoulder with a worried look on his face.
I smoothed down my hair (it had gotten messed up when Alvin had been tickling me), and asked, "What's wrong, Jen?"
Her muffled voice responded, "You wouldn't understand."
Eleanor walked back in the room with a bag of chips. "You guys need to be quieter. Dave is trying to sleep..." she sat down, heaving a sigh, and noticed Jeanette. "Are you okay, Jeanette?"
Jeanette lifted up her head and put a weak smile on, saying in a faux-chipper voice that lacked the enthusiasum of her normal voice, "Oh, I'm fine. Just... tired, is all." she paused, then asked, "Is he coming back in here?"
Eleanor rolled her eyes. "No. He's working, apparently."
Jeanette sighed, and dropped the unenthusiastic smile. "Oh."
There was a quiet, awkward moment.
Then I sat up and asked, "Soooo... what should we do now? Truth or Dare is getting boring. Wanna play Seven Minutes in Heaven?"
"But there's three of you and two of us," Theodore said quietly.
"Oh. Good point," i responded, looking at the ground.
"Wanna play Bull?" Alvin asked, smirking.
"So you can win because you can lie like a rug? Yeah, right," I remarked, rolling my eyes.
Alvin pouted. "Come on. Please? I'll let you beat me in DDR."
I sighed, and he gave me a puppy face. "Fine. Even though i USUALLY beat you on DDR. Whatever. Let's play Bull."
"Yay!" he cheered, and got a deck of cards off of the coffee table.
The night went on like that, loads of fun. I had a feeling that living with the boys for however long would be great.

Bottom of Form