Chapter 2

Lately I had been going out at night with Kevin and his friends. I'm fifteen and Kevin is seventeen. I'm not as tomboyish as I had been. My hair was now growing longer than shoulder length. The longer it grew the more it turned dark brown because my hair was so thick. I hadn't grown much since I was 13. I'm now 5 feet and 1 inch and I have been this height for a while. From this I got two wonderful nicknames. One from Kevin which was Shorty, and the second one was from Brian, which was Smiget. I took these nicknames with pride because I knew that I woudldn't grow too much more.

I also began to wear skirts and dresses more often. I had nothing against them when I was little, it was just that I played sports and wrestled with Brian and Kevin a lot, so there was no use. I still play sports, but not as much because Kevin has his other guy friends to hang out with. Which is fine with me because he had grown a few inches and now he was pretty much towering over me. He also was getting to be buff because he played football. I went to every single one of his football games and cheered him on, along with Brian and Kevin's parents.

I still spent every weeked with Kevin, whether it was at my house or his. Actually it was my house or our clubhouse. I usually spent the night in the clubhouse on Friday's because he would have his footbal games and I would go home with his parents and just spend the night.

Then one night I went over to our clubhouse, as usual. The football game was cancelled because the other team forfeited.

I walked in and asked, "Hey Kev. Are you ready to pig out on. . .?"

Then I stopped right in the doorway when I saw Kevin and his girlfriend, Katherine, sitting on the couch making out. It hurt so badly to see them kissing. I mean I knew that he wasn't mine. In fact, we weren't even anywhere close to going out. But it was just that h wa's my best friend. He should have called me and told me that he was having company over in the clubhouse. Instead of me walking in on him making out.

"Oh sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt," I said, trying not to let the hurt in my voice be heard.

"Yeah, sure you are," Katherine answered. "Kevin can't play right now. Can't you see he's a little busy with me right now? He can play kiddy games later, but now he's with his girlfriend, so good bye."

I turned around and ran out of the clubhouse as fast as I could. I could hear Kevin yelling for me, but I continued to run. I ran towards the gate and let myself out. Then I stopped and decided where I should go. I didn't want to go home, so I went the next best place. Brian's house.

He was outside in the front yard playing basketball with his older brother, Harold. I hated to bother him, but I really needed someone to talk to.

I slowly walked up to the basketball court and said, "Hey Brian. Can I talk to you?" trying not to sound too upset.

"Oh, hey Janel!" Sure just a sec," he said.

He dribbled the basketball and then decided to shoot it from 3-point range. He shot it and it went in. Nothing but net.

I was sitting on the curb watching him. Then he came over to me.

"Nice shot," I said.

"Thanks. So what's up?" he asked.

"Nothing. I just needed someone to talk to," I said.

"What's wrong? How come you're not talking to Kevin about your problem?" he asked. "Not that I mind, but you usually talk to Kevin about your problems."

"I know," I said.

Then I told him about me walking in on Kevin and Katherine making out. I told him what she had said to me. I also explained to him that I knew that Kevin had a girlfriend, but I didn't like the fact that he didn't mention that she was going to be over. And how I knew we weren't going out it just hurt to see that, since he was my best friend.

Then Brian's mom came out and told him that Kevin was on the phone.

"Please don't tell Kevin I'm here. I don't want to talk to him or see him right now," I said.

"Okay, Smiget. But I'll have to resist yelling at him for his stupid girlfriend," he said smiling.

"Thanks," I said.

Brian went over to his mom and took the phone.

"Hi, Kevin," Brian said.

"Hey Brian. Have you seen Pumpkin?" Kevin asked.

"No, she hasn't stopped by. Why?" Brian asked, staring at me.

"We just had a disagreement and I need to talk to her," Kevin explained.

"Kevin come on. I'm sure she's fine. Now can we please get back to what we were doing?" Katherine asked innocently.

"Who was that?" Brian asked while making a face.

"Katherine," Kevin stated.

"Oh," Brian replied. "Well I haven't seen Janel. I better let you go so you can get back to Katherine. Bye," Brian said quickly, then hung up.

Kevin sat there wondering where Janel could have gone if she wasn't at Brian's. That or she was there, but Brian was lying to him. He didn't ponder to much more about it becaue by that time Katherine had cuddled up to Kevin and they began to make out again.

Brian walked over to me and sat down on the curb next to me again.

"So what did he have to say?" I asked.

"He just said that you two had a disagreement and he needed to talk to you. I just told him that you hadn't stopped bye and then I hung up," Brian said.

"Thanks again, Brian. I think I'll go home now, since it doesn't sound like he'll be leaving that clubhouse any time soon," I said.

"Sure, but let me walk you home. Okay?" Brian asked.

"Okay," I said.

We walked to my house in silence because my mind was just going crazy.

Once we were at my house I said, "Thanks for everything. See you at school tomorrow."

He hugged me and said, "You're welcome."

I went straight up to my room and crashed on my bed. I lightly cried myself to sleep thinking of Kevin and Katherine kissing. So many thoughts raced through my head.