The next day Jenn was sitting in her first period class wishing that she was home -or anywhere- except there. She still hadn't spoken to Dev since they'd been at school even though they had the same first period class, English.
"So, we're going to get into groups," said Mrs. Young. The class cheered, "that I will be assigning." The class groaned. She counted the class off by sixes. Jenn sat in the first chair so she was number one. She listened carefully and tried to remember everyone in her group as the teacher assigned the rest of the class to their numbers.
She crossed her fingers and silently hoped that Dev wouldn't be in her group. He was. They went into their assigned corner of the room and the group of four started discussing the topic of survival in the wilderness. They were to research and figure out how they would survive.
Jenn and Dev sat and listened while the other two decided on jobs for everyone in the group. Jenn was handed a packet of paper. "What's this for?" she asked Liz, the other girl in her group. "It's a list of web sites and other reference material for you to look through." Liz was sort of the genius of their group of friends at school.
She got straight A's and was always the leader at everything. Jenn envied her up until the day she started dating Dev. Now she envied her again. Jenn stared blankly at the sheet of paper. Suddenly Jenn was pulled out of her trance by the sound of her teacher's voice. "I need two volunteers to take the paper cutting board down to the art room." As soon as she heard this Jenn sunk as low as possible into her chair. The last thing she wanted to do right then was walk. Well, besides talk to Dev. She knew she had hurt him but was unwilling to admit it to anyone.
"Jenn, why don't you and Devon take this?" she asked. She almost said, "Because I don't want to," but decided against it. She unwillingly stood and walked over to where her teacher stood. The cutting board was much too big for either of them to carry by themselves. Dev slowly trudged over and took one end of the board. Jenn took the other. They walked down the hallway in silence, neither of them knowing what to say. Dev broke the silence. "I'm sorry." "What?" Jenn could not believe he had said it! Already! Every other boyfriend she had had would have held the grudge for at least a week, but it hadn't even been a full day! "I said I'm sorry." he repeated. Jenn thought carefully before saying anything for fear she would make him mad again.
All this time she had wanted to make up with him but was certain it would take awhile. They had both said some things they hadn't meant. "I'm sorry too," she said. She stopped and turned around to face him. "I didn't mean what I said about you being jealous of Taylor. I was just so mad because I'll probably never see him again, and I am a fan. A big fan.
I don't even have a crush on him. I just like his music. Is that okay?" Dev looked at her thoughtfully. "I'm not about to let three months of my life be wasted over some other guy. I love you too much." He tried to kiss her but the board kept them about an inch away from each other. "Let's put that on hold for a while." He suggested. They laughed -it felt so good to laugh- and headed down the stairs to the art room.
That night when Jenn was in bed, she thought about the past couple of days and all of the emotions she had felt. She decided to tell her closest friend about them. She pulled out from under her mattress her diary which she had named "Kitty," after one of her many female heroines, Anne Frank.
Dear Kitty, 4-19-98 The past few days have been really hard on me. Dev and I went to the Hanson concert I have been telling you about. It was really good, but absolutely horrible at the same time. When we first got there, we went to our seats in the front row and waited for the band. I didn't pay any attention to Dev. Well, not much. I held his hand while I danced and sang along. But then the most incredible thing happened: Taylor pulled me up on stage! That was why it was so good. But the bad part is: He had pulled me away from Dev. I didn't realize it until it was too late. I was too bust grooving on stage with Taylor to notice that my "True Love" had left. Dev was no where to be seen. After the concert, Taylor had taken me backstage to meet some people. I met their body guard, their producers John and Michael, and their two other producers, Mark Hudson and Stephen Lironi. I met a lot of other people including their family! By the time we were done I had totally forgotten about Dev. I felt so horrible! The four of us rushed outside, Taylor apologizing the whole way and found Dev sitting by the wall asleep. After we had talked I thought he was over it and I felt so much better. I said goodbye to the Hansons and we left. (I had given them my phone number inside) When we got to his street, I said something really rude that totally insulted him and he turned and ran the other way. I sat down in the middle of the street and stayed there I don't know how long. The next thing I remembered was sitting there and realizing it was really late. I went to Sarah's and she told me it was way after midnight. We woke up her parents and they called mine. They came to get me and I went home to go to sleep. Today at school we were assigned to work together on a project. We also had to carry a paper cutter together to the art room. We made up along the way. And guess what!! He was the first one to apologize!! He tried to kiss me but the cutter was in the way! But he made up for it after school. *HINT* Thanks for listening. Goodnight.
When she was done writing, she turned off her bedside lamp and put Kitty back under her bed. Then she pulled her blankets up to her chin and fell fast asleep with a smile on her face.