“Why am I
not surprised?” Amanda rose from the ground and brushed bits of grass and
leaves from the thin swath of fabric she used as a skirt. The yard debris clung
to the clothing and resisted Amanda’s efforts to dislodge it.
Amanda had
long legs like a model, perfect blonde hair, and a dazzling set of teeth that
Jackie suspected could blind a person if she smiled. Good thing that Amanda
seldom smiled.
“I didn’t
expect anyone to be waiting outside my door,” said Jackie.
Amanda
looked up at Jackie with a look that was one-quarter surprise and
three-quarters wrathful retribution. Her hands stopped picking at her clothes
for a moment; no doubt intended for dramatic effect.
“Is that
your version of an apology? You run someone over on your front steps and then
act as if it’s their fault. No wonder you have trouble making friends in
school.”
“I have
friends.” Jackie bent over and gathered up the books that Amanda had dropped on
the porch.
“Do you
mean that loser, Daniel? That’s actually worse than having no friends at all.
The way he walks around, peering out from under that hideous carpet of hair, is
just plain creepy. You really need to start hanging out with a better caliber
of people.”
“Can we
skip all of that and get to the reason you’re here?” Jackie held her breath and
counted to ten. As much as she’d like to unload on her pompous neighbor, their
parents were close friends and the sort of explosion of grief she wanted to
rain down on Amanda would seriously disrupt the harmony of both homes.
“Well,
Yesss! I guess it was too much to expect an apology from you anyway.” Then
Amanda stood there, arms crossed over her books, a disapproving glare glued to
her face.
“Alright,”
said Jackie. “I’m sorry I knocked you down.”
“See.”
Amanda slapped a fake smile on her face. “There is always time for good
manners.”
“Please,
get to the point. What do you want?”
“Tsk, tsk,
tsk,” Amanda clucked out. “Someone got up on the grumpy side of the bed today.
Don’t worry though; I won’t let that get me down. I have good news for you.”
Jackie
waited but, Amanda apparently wasn’t going to continue until she had been
properly prodded along. “What is the good news you have for me, Amanda?”
“It is
simply delightful.” The smile on her face took on a semblance of sincerity. Not
the full blown honest smile that most people gave, but the closest to that,
that Amanda ever achieved. “Your parents were talking to my parents about how
concerned they were that you didn’t socialize enough. My parents agreed that it
would be wonderful if something could be done about that. And then I had an
idea. A really great idea!”
A sick
feeling dropped into the depths of Jackie’s stomach. It felt like a punch to
the gut that you knew was going to start hurting like crazy any second and you
just wished there was a way to avoid it.
Jackie
didn’t want to say it. She wanted to cover her ears and run screaming down the
street rather than hear what Amanda was about to say. This was one of those
perverse moments in life. If she didn’t speak the horrible feeling of dreadful
expectation would be prolonged and the longer she waited the worse it felt.
“What idea
is that?” Jacked asked.
“My cousin,
Arnold is coming to town on Friday and the two of you are going to double on a
date with me and Tyler Dunhurst.”
