"You can do whatever you want tonight." Megan told Jake, making an effort to be as casual as she could.
"Really?" he seemed surprised, and Megan tried not to look insulted. Like she usually stopped him from doing whatever he wanted anyway.
"Yeah. I'm going out with my friends." she replied.
There was a party at one of the houses in the next neighborhood over that she'd been invited to, and she was really excited. This was going to be her first real high school party.
"Thank you." he told her. And for once he didn't sound like the words pained him to say. "Actually, I was planning on going over to Greg's house tonight. He and his brothers are having a party or something."
"And he asked if you wanted to go?"
Megan tried not to sound jealous, but it was hard. Jake had been going to school for less than a month, and he was already getting invited to parties. She'd been going to school with these kids since elementary school, and this was the first time anybody had ever thought about seeing if she wanted to go.
Megan hadn't actually planned on telling Jake she was going to a party tonight. It wasn't that she didn't want to take him – it was just that she kind of wanted her own space. Besides, she was going to go over Tara's to get ready – like a girls' night. Megan brightened at the thought. They wouldn't have a girls' night that ended up going to a party at Greg's, would they? And Jen never mentioned that Greg was doing anything. Maybe Jake was going to a different party.
"Where does Greg live?" Megan asked slowly.
"Kind of by the woods, I think." Jake told her.
"Really?" Megan tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice. She was pretty sure that was where her party was.
"Yeah." he nodded. Then seeing her expression he asked, "Do you want to come with me?"
"No thanks." Megan said. She would have laughed if she wasn't strangely touched.
"Well, don't worry – if you need me, you can always call me." he told her, misinterpreting the look on her face.
"Or just look across the room." she mumbled.
"Really?" Jake asked, surprised.
"Yeah. Me and my friends are going to a party tonight." she told him. She tried not to sound too hopeful as she added, "Unless it's a different party."
"Eh, probably not." Jake said, dashing her hopes. "You know the address?"
"Blue River something?" Megan asked, trying to remember.
"Blue Ravine?"
"Yeah!" Megan brightened. Then her face clouded over as she realized what that meant. "Oh..."
"Same place." Jake confirmed, grinning. "So I guess I'll see you there."
"Yeah, fine." Megan grumbled. Still, she tried to look on the bright side. If there were enough people there, maybe she could pretend he didn't exist.
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At seven o'clock Megan was at Tara's door, just like she promised. Of course, she'd managed to be the last one there.
"What took you so long?" Tara asked as she led Megan back to her bedroom.
"I'm on time." Megan said, looking through her purse for her phone.
"Close enough." Stacey shrugged. That's when Megan saw the alarm clock by the bed: 7:10. How did that happen?
"Bus must have been late." Megan mumbled to herself.
"What? You took the bus?" Danielle seemed shocked at the very idea.
"Well, yeah." Megan told her. "I don't have a car."
She would have been embarrassed at that a couple weeks ago. But now she knew her friends wouldn't care. And who knew? There was a decent chance half the kids at school would stop driving their own cars if they knew – in an effort to be more like her, of course.
"I can take you home." Karen offered.
"We'll see." Tara told her. "Depending on how tonight goes, we might be better off all spending the night here."
"True." Karen nodded. Then turning back to Megan, she added, "Well, if you ever need a ride, just let me know."
"Thanks." Megan said, but she doubted she'd ever need to.
"So what's wrong?" Tara asked, seeing the look that was still on Megan's face.
"Nothing. I was just thinking about Jake." Megan told her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jen freeze, brush poised in midair.
"So why don't you look happy then?" Karen asked.
"I just found out he's coming tonight."
"What?" Jen looked aghast.
"Greg invited him." Megan told her. This wasn't all Megan's fault.
"So? Why didn't you just tell him he can't go?" Jen asked, turning to stare at Megan.
Before Megan even had time to respond, Danielle was laughing.
"Yeah, 'cause that always works."
"I know every time I tell Heath not to go somewhere he totally does it." Stacey said, pretending to think about it. Then she added, "Wait, no...what's the opposite of that? Oh, that's right – he shows up anyway."
"Jake does what Megan tells him." Jen informed her.
"Really?" Stacey asked, turning to Megan. "Then you've got a keeper."
Megan didn't even bother to hide her laughter.
"You don't believe me now, but you'll see." Stacey said knowingly.
"So what are you wearing tonight?" Karen asked, changing the subject.
"I was thinking about this." Megan said, looking down at her favorite jeans and red top.
Sure, her jeans were a little faded, but they weren't too bad – at least Danielle didn't make a face the few times she wore them to school. And the shirt was pretty nice. It had a low-cut frilly neckline and matching trim on the sleeves. She figured it was nice enough to dress up her jeans. Besides, this wasn't prom or anything. Suddenly, Megan realized she had five pairs of eyes staring at her critically.
"Top's good – different pants." Tara said instantly.
"No pants." Danielle corrected. "Don't you have a skirt she can wear?"
"Black or white?" Tara asked, already riffing through her dresser drawers.
"Let's see." Danielle said.
Tara actually had three black skirts and two white ones. Megan liked the straight black one, but she didn't even bother to offer her opinion; it would come way past her knees and her friends would never allow it. Between them they managed to narrow it down to the gauzy white one and the tight black one. Megan tried on both and the decision was unanimous.
"The black one." Danielle declared. Everyone else nodded.
"Well, now that we got that taken care of, what about your makeup?" Stacey asked.
"What about it?" Megan had planned on the sparse look she usually wore to school. Again, she was vetoed.
"You need to look great – especially if Jake's going to be there." Stacey told her decisively. "We want to make sure he's impressed."
Megan looked around the room for help. She would have thought for sure that Jen would disagree, but she was wrong.
"Actually, I think it's a really good idea." Jen told her. "It might be good to have your you-know-what be impressed. Anyway, it couldn't hurt." she shrugged.
"You really think that if I look nice he'll start actually liking me?" Megan asked Jen quietly.
She wasn't sure if she was more surprised by the stupidity of the comment or the fact that Jen was the one making it.
"Well, nothing else has worked." Jen told her. "And who knows, maybe it'll gain you a little respect."
"Yeah, sure." Megan grumbled. But then Jen said something even Megan couldn't ignore.
"Well, you sure don't want to be seen there looking bad."
Megan thought about that for a second. Jake being unimpressed with her was definitely something she had to worry about. He'd loosened up a lot around her since going to school – he even joked with her sometimes. Megan would have thought he was just a normal kid if he didn't show up in her room every day after school. And while she definitely liked this side of him, she still needed him to have at least some level of respect for her. If she showed up looking bad, it could only work against her.
But as important as her delicate balance with Jake was, he wasn't her only concern. She was also the most popular girl in school – she couldn't forget that. And even with them all liking her, she knew everyone would be talking about it all next week if she didn't look her best.
"Ok – fix me up." she told her friends decisively.68Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtZAOxW3DbA
