Chapter Five

                “You had dinner where?” Max asked incredulously when Jen told him and Joel about her visit to Elisabeth. She kept most of it to herself, but relayed the dinner and her crazy conversation with Elisabeth’s parents during and after dinner.

                Jen rolled her eyes as she threw a smurf ball at him. “I had dinner at Elisabeth’s house. You know, Elisabeth Sinclair, Joel’s friend. I went to ask her if she wanted to be my friend and got invited to dinner. Her parents are so cool. Mrs. Sinclair is a chef and dude; she makes the best spaghetti I’ve ever had. Her dad even showed me his Harley after dinner! Who knew he was a biker dude? Anyway, it was fun. They even asked me to come again next week.”

                Joel smiled. Jen was always enthusiastic. He knew from his first meeting with her at age ten that she was going to be one of his best friends and when he met Elisabeth he knew then that the two girls would get along. He was glad Jen took the initiative to form a friendship. “That was really nice of you Jen, to go and do that.”

                “She’s a great girl Joel. I can see why you like her. You two are a whole lot alike, aside from the anatomy difference and stuff.” Jen commented as she finished up her lunch which consisted of a tuna fish sandwich her mom had managed to pack, a bags of chips, carrots, two cookies and a box of fruit juice. She tossed the garbage filled paper bag to Max who made a basketball game with the contents and the trash can a few feet away.

                “Where was she today?” Joel asked his friend. “If you said she was home walking around two days ago, why didn’t she show up to school today?” He asked her, hoping her new found friendship with the mysterious girl would somehow lead him to information he was curious to find out.

                The blond shrugged. She had spoken to Elisabeth on the phone the night before and she hadn’t heard anything that would make her not show up to school the next morning. “I don’t really know. She said she had a headache last night, but that was it. Why don’t you ask one of your teachers? They might probably know something about why she’s not showing up. She told me the school’s in pretty tight with her family since they need to make sure they know what to do in case she gets sick in school or something. Or hey, why don’t you call her yourself or go to her house?”

                Shaking his head, Joel refused to do anything Jen had suggested. “No way, she might freak out and run away from me again or something. I’m not risking the chance of her thinking I’m a stalker. Show up to her house and say, ‘hey, I didn’t see you at school so I decided to find your house and check up on you.’ That doesn’t flow with me, but you on the other hand. She’s your friend now, why can’t you just call her and ask?”

                “Because I’ll end up telling her you told me to call so she’ll still think you’re a stalker anyway. Why are you even wigging out on this?” Jen stopped in her tracks and thought for a moment before she broke out into laughter. “Joel, you like her as in like her like her, right?”

                The young man in question turned a bright shade of red which gave him away to the girl, but he tried to still deny his feelings by shaking his head. “Where are you getting your information from?” He asked her in a tone that would have told anyone else he was offended by the accusation, but Jen knew him better than that and instead of apologizing, she continued her questioning. Joel however, wouldn’t relent. He was intent on keeping anything and everything to himself. He wasn’t even sure what he was feeling so he wasn’t going to prematurely spill his guts to his friend who was friends with the girl and couldn’t keep a secret even if she didn’t know it.

                Max appeared to be fed up with never making a shot and decided to dump it all, his lunch included, into the bin and sit back down with the other two. “What are you guys talking about?” He asked, oblivious to his red faced best friend.

                “We’re just talking about the homecoming dance, that’s all. Have you asked anyone to go with you?” Jen asked, covering up for Joel since she was sure he didn’t want anyone to know and she cared too much about him to spill his beans.

                “No, I was thinking about asking Anne Greenly, but I haven’t been able to catch her yet. What about you guys?” He looked from Jen to Joel expectantly.

                Jen smiled. “I’m going with David Harrington. He asked me last week to go with him.”

                Two pair of gleaming eyes turned to Joel who was finding the grass beneath him very interesting. He only looked up when Max cleared his throat forcefully. “What?” He asked them, feigning a clueless look. When his friends shot him glares, he rolled his eyes and leaned back. “I was hoping to ask Elisabeth if she wanted to go with me.”

                “Elisabeth?” Max asked; staring at his friend as though Joel had grown two heads. “Okay, bro, I know you’re a daredevil and everything, but are you asking for a death wish? You may think Elisabeth is cool and I’ll say it too, she is, but everyone else thinks of her as a freak. You’re already on the hit list with Josh. You show up with her and you’re on everyone’s freak list and they’ll confront you like Josh did and you’ll defend her like the knight and shining armor guy you are and that’ll just mean you’ll get pummeled. Think about it man, are you sure you’re ready to be beaten into a pulp for Elisabeth?”

                “That’s mean!” Jen exclaimed. “Elisabeth may be different because she has medical conditions none of us have ever seen or heard about, but that doesn’t make her a freak. She’s smart, artistic, talented, funny and pretty! She’s got an IQ of a genius! She’s prettier than the bleach blond bitches and guess what? She’s a human being! Why the hell would anyone want to beat up Joel just for showing up with her at a dance? And you Max, how can you say something like that? I thought you liked her. She’s nice, okay? Go Joel for wanting to be a gentleman and take her out, but what the hell crawled up your ass for you to be like everyone else? I thought you were better than that!”

                The girl was in outrage and the boys knew that. She glared at Max, grabbed her belongings and stalked back into the school. Joel looked at Max with an uneasy expression before he followed her in. “Jen!” He called out, hurrying to catch up with her along the hallway. “Jen!”

                “What?” The angry girl exclaimed rather loudly as she spun around. When she saw Joel her face lightened up a bit. “What is It Joel?”

                Joel shrugged his shoulders and began to walk, which made Jen be the one to quicken her pace to catch up with him. “Max doesn’t mean everything he says, you know that. He’s just looking out for me. I know that in his heart, he likes Elisabeth just like you and I like her.”

                Jen laughed and shook her head. “Nah dude, you and I like her differently. I like her as a friend. You on the other hand mister, like her for reasons that are so not friendly. Look, if you want to ask her to the dance, you should. It’s no one’s decision but yours. I personally think she’s cool. I mean, since I’ve known you there’s only been one girl that you’ve been interested in and that’s Elisabeth.”

                The young man shrugged again. “So are you going to her house after school?” He asked, eagerness seeping from every word.

                His friend heard this and smiled. She nodded in affirmation and headed into a classroom. “Her dad asked me to pick up her homework and you know since you’re in all of her classes you can go with me and make the excuse that you’re there to help! Her parents are really cool; they’ll probably welcome you with open arms. Elisabeth’s on the weary side, but then again it’s you and you can charm the socks off of snakes.”

                “All right, I’ll meet you after school.” With that, they both parted ways. Joel walked out of the classroom and went a few doors down to his next class a few minutes before the bell rang. The rest of the day went by rather slowly for him as he waited anxiously for the hour hand to tick to three. And when it did, he was out of his seat and down by the tree waiting for Jen.

                The girl took her time to approach him, her hands holding onto a folder containing a rather large stack of papers. When she reached him she smiled and handed the papers to him. “You carry it. I’ve done the hard work of going to all the teachers. Where’s Max, is he coming?”

                “Yup!” Max answered for Joel as he popped up next to them. “I decided that you’re right, Miss Abbott. I’m not going to be a jackass so I’ll go and befriend Elisabeth too. But I hope you know you’ve abandoned our other friends. They’re supposed to meet us after school at the ice cream shop.” He said this rather cockily which Jen stuck a tongue out at, but when he mentioned their other friends both Joel and Jen groaned. They had truly forgotten.

                “I’ll call them and tell them that there’s a change in plans. They’ll just have to meet us at Elisabeth’s house and after that we can all go hang out.” Joel pulled out his cell phone and dialed Clark’s number and when it was picked up he went through the process of explaining and giving directions all while he walked with Max and Jen to Elisabeth’s house. When he was done he hung up and put his cell away. “I told Clark so he and Penny are going to drive to her place. I hope her parents don’t mind that we all show up.”

                And didn’t mind they were. The couple welcomed in the five teenagers and offered them drinks before telling them that Elisabeth had gone under the weather. With Mrs. Sinclair showing the way, they all headed upstairs to Elisabeth’s room. To say the young girl wasn’t surprised was an understatement. She had expected only Jen but when they had all appeared at her open bedroom door she nearly gasped. She didn’t, however, instead she smiled as best as she could and greeted her visitors from her position on her bed.

                “Hi.” She said rather weakly. “I wasn’t expecting you guys. How are you?”

                Jen smiled and sat down at the end of Elisabeth’s bed. After the day they had shared before, they were as close as some friends could get. “We’re all fine. When they heard I was coming over to your house they just all gradually came too. The question is how are you? The other day you seemed fine.”

                “Yeah, I was, but sometimes with me it’s unpredictable.”

                Joel took it as his opportune time to talk to her. Walking forward, from the back of the group, he handed her the folder Jen had given him earlier. “Here’s all the homework Jen collected for you. If you need any help, just ask me.” He ignored the snicker from Max who was trying desperately, though failing, to keep from laughing. He was never really the best at keeping any sort of secret. Joel silently groaned and headed back, elbowing his friend in the ribs as he stood by him.

                And if Joel had wanted to speak with Elisabeth privately, his friends didn’t give him the chance. They all sat in her room, upon chairs her father had brought up for them and ate, chatted and laughed about things just as they had done days before when Joel had taken Elisabeth out to their hangout tree at school. Joel watched her as she sat in bed, looking comfortable for the first time since he met her. When the hours passed and they all realized they had to get home before the day wore out and they didn’t have any more time to do their homework, Joel was the last one to leave. He lingered after his friends had all taken their leave and stood by Elisabeth’s window, watching the street below.

                “You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.” Elisabeth told him as she gazed up to meet his eyes. “I can do my homework without help.”

                Joel nodded. He knew she wouldn’t need his help. She had after all, skipped a grade for no reason. But he didn’t want to leave yet. He would end up going to an empty house anyway. His parents were still both at work. “But we’re partners for the newspaper and I was hoping that maybe we could work together. You know, we’re both writer’s so why not talk things out, maybe we can help each other, throw out some ideas or inspire new ones.”

                Elisabeth seemed to debate it for a little while before agreeing. Joel sighed with relief and pulled his backpack up from the corner of the room where he had dumped it earlier in the afternoon. Just as he was setting up his schoolwork on Elisabeth’s bed, he pondered whether or not to ask her to the dance that he and his friends had discussed earlier. Looking at her, his mouth seemed to have thought all on its own. Before he knew what hit him, the words escaped his lips.

                “Elisabeth, I was wondering if you’d like to go to Homecoming with me?”

Author’s note:

                Thanks to all my reviewers!