That night, Hannah was in the middle of dinner when her friend Beverly, Bev for short, phoned. Hannah excused herself quietly from the table and took the living room phone from her brother.

"Hello?"

"Hannah! It's me, Bev. I was wondering, what's the deal between you and Tom? I heard he was going to ask you out. Did you accept? The Fugitive is coming out in theatres on Friday, are you going to see that? It would be so cute!"

"Wait! Hold on Bev," Hannah said, as she took a moment to swallow the information she had just received. "What's this about Tom? He hasn't asked me out! Even if he did, it's not as if I would…"

"Why not?" asked her friend, puzzled, "I thought you two liked each other. At least, that was the impression I got on Saturday…are you feeling okay?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, only a really insane or sick Hannah would ever pass up a date with Tom. You've been crazy about him for months! Practically the entire school year! So what's wrong with you?"

"Well…" Hannah hesitated. Should she tell her the whole story? No, it was too much, so instead she just said, "I sorta found out some stuff that changed my mind."

"Must have been pretty serious!"

"I don't really want to talk about it. Look, I've got to go, I'm eating dinner. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Well, alright, if you insist. Later!" Hannah's friend hung up.

She had barely sat back down at the dinner table when the phone rang again.

"Hannah!" her mother scolded her.

"We are trying to have an actual family dinner tonight. Unlike the past two weeks," her father added. "Leave it! They'll phone back."

"I told Bev I was eating, I swear!" Hannah defended. "Marc, don't!"

She sighed as her brother ignored her and got up to answer the phone again. She was going to kill Bev. Her parents were normally pretty lenient when it came to dinnertime, but they were right, it had been two weeks.

"Hannah!" her brother called to her, "It's for you, again."

She looked up apologetically towards her parents, and made her way towards the living room again. She took the phone, and whispered angrily into the mouthpiece, "I told you, I'm eating! My parents are ready to flay me alive! Phone back later!"

She hung up the phone, sped back to the dining room, and finished her dinner. After washing her dishes, she went up to her room on the second floor. Her computer, already on, displayed an MSN menu, and she could see that Beverly was on.

She quickly typed to her friend: What were you thinking? I could have been killed!

Bev replied: What are you talking about?

You phoned my house again, duh!

Uh, no I didn't…

What?

Maybe it was someone else. What did their voice sound like?

I don't know! I hung up before they could say anything.

Maybe they'll phone again…

Just then, the phone rang.

Hannah typed: I think they just did. I'll be back later.

She signed off, and was walking over to the telephone on her nightstand as her mother shouted up, "Hannah! Phone's for you!"

She picked it up, "Hello?"

"Hannah?"

"Yeah, who's this?" she asked.

"It's Tom."

Hannah was tempted right then and there to hang up the phone, but held herself back for a few seconds.

"How did you get my number?"

"Beverly gave it to me."

Hannah was definitely going to kill Bev. And she would enjoy it. "Yeah? Well, what do you want?"

"When I asked you about what you were doing on Friday…I meant after school, not during the day."

"Yeah, I know! I'm not an idiot or anything," Hannah said impatiently.

"I know…I mean, well…uh," Tom stuttered. Hannah was amazed, he had lost his nerve!

"You disgust me!" she said, "You don't think I know? I-" she was about to continue when Tom interrupted her.

"Yes, you're right. I am pretty lame, aren't I? All right, I'll get straight to the point… I was wondering if you'd like to go see a movie on Friday. After school that is…"

"Um." Hannah was at a loss for words.

"Look, you don't have to answer right now. You can give me a call back, my number is…have you got paper nearby? Okay, my phone number is 734-6754, or you can tell me tomorrow if you want."

Hannah stared at the number she had written down, still incapable of words.

"Right. So… I guess I'll be going… now. Right. Okay, bye then…"

Hannah managed to squeak out, "Bye…" before she heard a click at the other end. She hung up the phone, sat down on her bed, and flopped back. For a while, she just lay there, looking up at her ceiling, listening to the sounds of the football game her family was watching downstairs. Tom. He had asked her out. Her. It had to be a trick. She clenched her hands, unsure of what she should do next.

"I'll go… to get back at him, to reverse the trick," she quickly reassured herself. It's not as if she would go just to be with him. She smiled. Tom had asked her out!

Suddenly, she remembered Sam. Her boyfriend. "Well…I didn't really like him that much," she said to no one in particular, "And then of course, Sarah said he did try to pick her up…"

She reached over to the phone, picked it up, and dialed the number she had memorized within the first week after Sam had asked her out. "He'll probably be relieved," she quickly thought before he picked up.