No credits or rights go to me. Only to Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.
But I do own Blake Jones, Abby Smith, Amber Green, and Emily Smith.
Enjoy!
Jake POV:
Lunch time finally came and I sat down at a table with Eddie. My girlfriend.
Feels kind of weird saying that, but I'm not going to lie. I like that we're finally going out. I always did like her.
"Hey, thanks for saving a piece of the cheese pizza for me, Jake." Eddie said, grinning at me.
"You're welcome. I knew you liked it so I decided to save you one." I said. "So, are you still going to tryout for the football team?"
"I'm not sure. I think I'll probably just tryout for baseball again." She said, eating her pizza.
"Really? Well, it is something you're really good at, so I guess it makes sense. But now we won't be on a team together." I said.
"I'll still come to your football games and cheer for you." She responded, with her signature grin plastered on her face.
"Hey guys." Josh and Beth said, walking up to the table. "What's up?"
"Nothing much." I said, putting my arm around Eddie's waist.
Beth looked at me with a wide eyed expression. I was dying laughing on the inside.
"So it's true? You two are dating?" She asked, grinning at her sister and I.
"Uh-huh. That's right, Eddie and I are dating now." I said, grinning at her.
"I'm sorry, but that's hard to believe." Beth said, grinning. "But I knew it would come sometime soon."
This was the first I'd heard of this information. "Wait, what? You knew that we'd start dating sometime?" I asked.
"I mean, yeah. You're very similar and Eddie has had a crush since, well, we left Buckman." She said.
My mouth dropped open at that. "Wait really? I got a crush on her around the same time too."
"Wait honestly? Are you being for real?" Beth and Eddie asked at the same time.
"Definitely. I missed you and then I realized that I liked you." I said, shyly grinning.
She grinned back at me. "I don't know why we didn't just say how we feel. Are we really that dumb?" She inquired, trying hard not to laugh.
I laughed. "I guess so." I responded, eating my pepperoni pizza. "I'm just glad I admitted to myself about how much I liked you."
Eddie blushed, and kissed me on the cheek. "Me too." She said.
Suddenly the bell rang, then I sprung up from the table. "I've got to be somewhere. I'll see you guys in class." I said, grabbing my tray.
"Wait! Jake, where are you going?" Eddie asked, looking up at me.
"It's ok, I'll be back before you know it." I said, and walked out the lunchroom doors. I headed to the playground.
But I didn't notice that Eddie was following me. The mystery person I was meeting was sitting on a swing, waiting on me.
But there was another shadow, and it wasn't me or Eddie. It was a girl from my class that I know for a fact, has a crush on me.
"Hey, Hatford. How's it going?" The mystery person asked, grinning up at me.
"Pretty good, Benson." I said. Yup, it was Steve Benson. One of our good friends. "Hey, Melanie."
Melanie grinned at me, then she looked at Steve. What happened next, definitely caused a ruckus of emotions.
Steve pushed Melanie on me, and she started to kiss me. I tried to push her off, but for a skinny, short girl, she was pretty strong.
I couldn't push her off. But then, I pushed even harder and she fell in a puddle of mud. Then I saw a flash of red, running off.
I looked all around for Eddie. But all I could hear was silence. I fell to the ground, trying to fight the feeling burbling inside myself.
Then I couldn't fight it anymore, and I burst into tears.
Eddie POV:
Jake was acting so strange after lunch. So I decided to follow him.
When he stopped, I hid behind a tree. Why he came to a playground, I'll never know.
Then I heard a voice, that sounded familiar, but it wasn't Jake. I looked out from my hiding spot. I saw a boy that looked so familiar.
Then it registered who I was seeing. It was Steve Benson. His parents owned the house that we lived in the first time we were here.
But there was also a girl too. I recognized her easily. Her name is Melanie and she's always smiling and staring at Jake.
Then the worst thing happened. Steve pushed Melanie onto Jake. Then Melanie started to kiss Jake. And he was kissing her back, at least that's what it looked like to me.
I had tears streaming down my cheeks. I stormed off, not wanting to see the rest.
I didn't stop running until I reached my house. I threw open the front door and ran up to my room.
I threw myself down on my bed, and sobbed into my pillow. I tried to stop the flow of tears. But nothing, and I mean nothing, helped them subside.
Beth POV:
After my class ended, I went to the library. I was looking for The Last Present by Wendy Mass.
Then I heard one of the 11th grade teachers talking to someone else. "It's so strange. Eddie Malloy, she ditched, this period class." I heard her say.
I gasped, mainly because this was not like Eddie at all. I decided to find Josh.
I ran out of the library. I dashed to the 11th graders side. But just as I passed the boys bathroom, I heard someone crying uncontrollably. Then a voice, comforting them.
That's Josh! I began to pound on the door. "Josh! Get out here! I need your help!" I cried, trying not to let the tears slip.
The door cautiously opened and a distraught looking Josh stood at the door. "Beth? What's wrong?" He asked, looking semi-concerned.
Oh great. Now I was the one crying uncontrollably. "Something's wrong with Eddie! Mrs. Jackson said she ditched class!" I cried.
Jake's head snapped up. "Wait? What?" He asked. "You mean she didn't come back to class?"
"I don't think she's here at all." I said. "But where could she be?"
"If I cried at school, I would probably go home." Jake offered. "Go check. But be quick about it."
I ran all the way home, not even stopping to catch my breath. I opened the front door. "Eddie? Are you here?" I called out.
I ran upstairs and found my sister, just sitting on her bed. Her cheeks had tear marks on them. "Oh, Eddie! Are you ok?"
All she could do was shake her head. "No, I saw Jake kiss another girl in our class." She said.
"Now, wait a minute. If he kissed someone else, then why was he sobbing in the bathroom at school?" I wondered.
"Wait, he was crying? Over... over me?" She asked, a bright smile coming to her face. "We've got to get back to school. Then I'll ask him about what really happened."
"That's the spirit!" I shouted, smiling at her.
She laughed, and wiped away her tears.
Josh POV:
Where is Beth? I asked myself, as they came running in the side door.
Eddie ran up to me. "Where's Jake at?" She asked, smiling.
I pointed to the gym floor, where my poor twin was sitting.
"Jake, I really need to know. What happened out there?"
"Well, Steve pushed me onto Melanie. Surprisingly, she's really strong for skinny, short girl." Jake said. "I'm sorry. I didn't know that Steve was such a jerk."
"No, I'm sorry. I should've waited to ask you about it, instead of just overreacting the way I did." Eddie said, kissing Jake on the cheek.
"It's ok. To be honest, we were both acting like a couple of dumbos." He said.
"Well, I'm glad you guys resolved your problems. But now school is over and we have to pick the others up." I said, heading out to Beth's car.
We got into her car and drove to the middle school. Caroline and Wally walked out, laughing.
"How was school today?" Beth asked.
"Pretty good. We finally figured out what the play is on." Caroline said. "They're doing it on The Wizard Of Oz! I can't wait!"
Then we went and picked up Peter next. When we got there, he was waving bye to a tall brunette girl who looked about his age.
"Who was that Peter? Your girlfriend?" Jake teased as soon as he got in the car.
"No, she's my friend." He said. "She was nice to me when no one else was."
That seemed like a good enough reason to shut Jake up.
