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The shout came from behind Jenny as she was leaving her dorm room at the Ohio State University. She had just finished her last exam of the semester and now had the whole summer ahead of her. A smile touched her mouth as she turned around, returning the shout with one of her own: "Lara!!!"
She was greeted with Laura's smile when they reached each other. The two shared a hug and started toward Jenny's car again. "I finished my exams yesterday. I knew you were still down here, so I decided to stop by to see you. How ya been? Haven't seen you in a few months. Not since Spring Break..." Concern filled Laura's eyes, "Have things been okay? You know what I mean, right?" Jenny's grin widened.
"I have been doing fine. I'm not going to get over my fear, but ever since I told you guys everything, I have been managing it better. You don't need to worry, Lara!" Jenny said with a nod.
"Great! You wanna go have lunch? I haven't even eaten breakfast yet today. I woke up this morning and caught a bus down here to see you. Feel special!" Laura laughed.
"Oh, I do! I do!" Jenny returned enthusiastically. They both snickered. "Let's go to the campus cafe." Jenny and Laura climbed into Jenny's car and went on their way toward the cafe.
Meanwhile, at the cafe, the rest of Jenny's Backstreet-loving friends were trying their best to sit still. All of them were excited but worried at the same time. Jenny was about to hear that her worst nightmare had come true. They knew she would want to back out, and that she had every right to. They weren't going to let her, though. This was exactly what she needed.
"I wish I had won the contest. I would have tried harder if I had known that there was one! It isn't fair that she got to win it, especially since, out of all the girls the Boys have seen, she is the only one who doesn't want this kind of a prize!" Colleen complained. She didn't really mind, and certainly didn't blame Jenny for winning the contest, but it made her feel better to whine. It helped keep her mind off of the fact that their news would crush Jenny.
Alicia smirked. She knew Colleen didn't really mean what she said, since she had agreed to help convince Jenny to go through with this, too, but she wished Colleen would shut up. "Weenie, let it go. Please? I'm sick of hearing it."
Colleen muttered something about someone being bossy and stayed quiet after that. Then Holly spoke up.
"How exactly are we going to explain this?"
"We need to be straight forward. We can't let her mind come to a conclusion before we tell everything, or she will panic," Rachael advised. The other three agreed and silence came again. Then the cafe door opened. Jenny and Laura walked in talking and laughing. Jenny looked over and saw her other friends. Her immediate reaction was to run to them and say "hi" to each. Then she saw their grim expressions. She expected the worst, and cautiously went over to their table.
"What's wrong? Don't act like it's nothing and don't avoid it. Tell me, please," Jenny pleaded. They all looked at each other, not sure who should say it. Laura sighed and moved around Jenny so everyone could see her face as she prepared to give the news.
"You remember the Backstreet Boys' autograph signing we went to at the Virgin Megastore over Spring Break? Of course you do; we were just talking about it a little bit ago. Well, it turns out, the Boys were having a contest," she was slurring all of her words together nervously. "They carefully and secretly were inspecting and interviewing each person who came up to their table. You know how we had to fill out a little sheet of paper with our names and phone numbers and then give it to the Boys as we came up to them? Remember how strange we thought that was? Well, the purpose of it was so that after they reviewed every person and picked one out of all of the autograph signings they had, they could announce a winner on MTV."
Jenny gulped, knowing what was coming. "I won," she rushed out before Laura could. Her face turned pale and her knees weakened, causing her to fall into a nearby seat.
"That... that's not all." Jenny looked up at Holly in horror of the thought that there was more. Holly went on, "You didn't just win any old contest. You won the chance to travel with the Backstreet Boys on their tour, for the WHOLE tour."
"NO! I won't do it! I can't do it! They probably hate me! They just want to get me alone so they can hurt me..." Jenny's cries broke into sobs. Her friends held onto her arms to keep her from jumping out of her seat and out the door.
"You can't think they would hurt you! They don't want to spend their whole summer with someone they hate. You must have intrigued them or something. I bet they found your behavior so peculiar, but one that would make for an interesting time. Besides, we won't let you give this up. This is just what you need!" Alicia said.
"What I NEED?! How can you say that?" Jenny demanded.
"If anything can truly take your fear away from men, this can! Spending all your time with five of them will only help you realize that they aren't all bad," Rachael answered.
Jenny thought this over. The possibilities of what could happen, good and bad, rolled through her mind. After mulling it over for long minutes, Jenny nodded and looked up.
"I'll do it. Not because I have to, but because I can. I will prove to you all and myself that I can," she announced. Her friends all knew that she was fooling herself by thinking it was her choice in the end, but none of them wanted to mention it to her. Instead, they agreed with her and everyone found a more comfortable position, finally relaxing.
"Now that that is settled, what do you all say to some lunch? I'm starved!" Laura suggested.
"Excellent! And while we do, why don't we all share what we have been doing for the last two months. That's about how long it's been since we were together like this," Colleen added.
"I'll go first. My exams were over about a week ago. I did pretty well. Other than that, I'm just planning on taking many shopping trips this summer!" Rachael said. The girls started talking about when they could get together to go shopping with each other.
Too bad I won't be able to go with them. But the Boys can't be that bad, can they? Well, I guess I will find out soon enough. I'm sure I will be receiving a phone call about it within the next few days. The smell of french fries reached her nose. I will think about this later. I'm hungry.
"Anyone want to share a basket of fries with me?" Jenny asked.
Broken Promises