JENNIE

I glanced up into the bandstand again. Well, I guess it would be more accurate to say the bleachers.

The band was right there in the middle of everything though. So I called it the bandstand.

I always liked looking up there and seeing Lisa smiling at me. Most games I could look forward to the third quarter break where the band and the cheerleaders both got to run to concessions at the same time.

It had always been the best time of the night before. Now it would be another reminder of the awkwardness that had settled between us.

Awkwardness that was threatening to ruin our friendship. I hated it.

“Earth to Jennie,” Joy said.

I looked over to Joy. She was staring at me as though I’d grown a second head. I looked around to make sure nothing was wrong and realized we’d gone into a cheer and I wasn’t playing along.

“Sorry,” I said.

I launched into the cheer and it was a welcome distraction. For a minute. Then the cheer was over and it was back to the crowd watching the game.

Not like many people watched us anyways. Just some of the guys up in the bleachers who were interested in a girl on the squad. Oh, and there were always a couple of creepers up in the stands wearing letter jackets from decades ago that barely fit around their beer guts.

Their stares were the creepiest, but they never bothered us other than staring so whatever.

There’d always been at least one person staring down at me in particular. I always blushed knowing Lisa was watching me, but I’d always liked it too.

Now she seemed preoccupied with chatting with that Jimin guy though. I felt a stab of jealousy even though I knew there wasn’t a chance she was talking to the dude for the reasons I thought she was talking to the dude.

I knew there wasn’t a chance she’d be interested in him like that. Not after everything that happened between us.

She was talking with a friend though. Like we used to talk a week ago. Before the incident. Before everything changed.

“Come on Jennie,” Joy snapped.

I looked over to her. Realized we were in the middle of another cheer. The crowd was cheering.

Huh. Looks like the team scored. Oops. I really should have been paying better attention.

When the cheer was done Joy was staring at me again. This time it was an appraising look though. Not the kind of look I wanted to be getting from her.

That was the sort of look that said she was trying to figure something out. It was never good when the gossip queen was trying to figure something out about you.

“So do you have a crush on one of the band geeks or something?” she asked. “Because you know that’d be total social suicide if you started dating one of those band nerds.”

I grinned. Tried to play it off with a laugh. The laugh didn’t sound very genuine though. From the way Joy stared at me it looked like she wasn’t falling for it either.

Damn it.

“No,” I said. “That would be totally gross, right?”

I felt like a piece of for saying it even as the words left my mouth. Lisa was my best friend. She’d been my best friend for nearly my entire life. Why did I feel the need to throw her under the bus to make Joy happy?

Maybe because I was worried that if she did too much digging she’d find out the real reason I was so nervous. If she knew the particular band geek I was mooning over then it would be the end of the world as far as my life was concerned.

At least until I got to college. That was almost a year away though. A long time to be an outcast.

“Totally,” Joy said. “Like I can’t even believe you’re looking up there all the time. Why do you even spend so much time with that girl?”

Panic hit me again. The panic that she might know more than she was letting on. Of course it was ridiculous. She was just saying nasty things about Lisa like she always did.

If you looked up “mean girl” in the dictionary then Joy’s picture would be right there next to Regina George. Maybe in front of her.

“Give it a rest Joy,” I said, confident that she didn’t have some sort of crazy insider knowledge about what happened with me and Lisa last weekend. “She’s my best friend. I don’t see why you have to be so nasty all the time. She’s a fellow tennis player you know.”

“Because I worry about you. She is not the same as us even if she is good at tennis,” Joy said. “But whatevs. Are you coming to t