Lessone Five - Part One

         Lesson Five – Part One



“You heard what?” Heather asked, so amazed she stopped twirling her hair around a finger.  She rolled her eyes and waited.

         “I said,” Jan repeated with a grin as she picked at something on her book, “that Jonathon is going to ask you to the prom.

         “He can’t!  He wouldn’t!  He couldn’t!  Could he?” Heather insisted, her voice climbing in pitch with every word.

         “Of course he can,” her friend responded, “it’s not like there’s a law against it.  All you have to do is say ‘No!’”

         Heather looked at her best friends with a beady eye.  She had the distinct impression that her bff was enjoying this.  “I can’t even have him ask me.  What will everyone think?  What will Brad think?”

         “That you’re hot and even nerds want to date you,” Jan said with a smirk.

         “I will die—absolutely die—if Jonathon asks me in front of another living soul.”  Heather flicked her head to toss her long sleek hair back.  “I might die if he asks at all.”

         “Well,” Jan hissed, “don’t die yet.  Here comes Brad.” 

         Heather gnawed at her lips and fluffed her hair in readiness for Brad’s approach.  Then two unrelated but significant things happened.  Just as Brad was within earshot of them, the coach snagged him with a question.  And Jonathon rounded a corner, looked up and smiled at Heather and promptly dropped his book bag on Eileen’s foot. 

         “Get that sack of rocks off of me!” Eileen howled.

         Slamming his locker, her boyfriend, Toby, made a menacing move towards Jonathon, shoved a stubby finger in his boney chest and screamed inches from his face, “What are you doing?”  He poked at the boy again and continued, “Listen you jerk!  Stay away from her.”  He jutted out his jaw and added, “And stay away from me too, you . . . ‘geekoid’.”

         “Ah, I’m sorry—really.  I didn’t see her.  Honest.  I saw Heather.  I need to talk to her and I guess—”

         “Whatever!  Just don’t let it happen again.”  He gave Jonathon a little push towards Heather and added, “There, go talk to your girlfriend.”

         “Let me die!  Let me die!  Let me die!” Heather chanted under her breath as she scanned the hallway for an escape route.  There was none.  She was trapped.

         Jonathon stumbled in her direction before he managed to right himself and visibly tighten his grip on his briefcase.  “Ah, Heather . . .,” he coughed out, “could I speak to you for a minute.  I promise, I won’t keep you—“

         Heather cut him off.  “I suppose—just make it quick, will you?”  She looked through him like glass and added, “Well. . . ?”

         Jan suddenly came to life and asked, “Should I stay?  Or do you two want to be alone?”

There was a cruelty in her voice that shocked Heather.  It made her try and remember what it was she liked about Jan, anyway?

         Jonathon stammered, “No, of course not.  I . . . I just . . . I was just—”

         “For God’s sake,” Heather shrieked, “just get it out!  What is it!?”

         “I didn’t mean to upset you,” Jonathon said, flushing scarlet.  “I just wanted to give this back to you.”  He handed her a folded piece of paper.  “You dropped this in English, last period.”

         She shot out a hand, snatched it from him and opened it.  Now it was Heather’s turn to blush.  “OMG!”

         “What. . . ?  What is it that’s so important?” Jan asked, leaning in to sneak a peek.

         “It’s my teacher’s recommendation for my college application.  I’ve been ragging on Mr. Henderson about it for weeks now.  He said this was the first and only one he would ever write,” she said in one breath, sucked in some air and continued, “And he only agreed to this because of have a 3.98 gpr.”  She looked up, but Jonathon had melted into the students milling through the halls. 

         She shrugged at Jan and sighed, “Well that’s okay then.”  Then she saw that Brad and the coach had finished talking and he was coming towards her again.  All smiles and giggles, she moved in front of Jan, planted herself directly in Brad’s path and cooed, “Hi.”

         Brad gave her a noncommittal, “Hi.”  When he tried to step away, she dropped her purse, effectively blocking his retreat.  He looked into her face and said, “You’d make a pretty good defensive lineman.”

         “Ah . . .thank you,” she spluttered, having no idea what that meant, she continued, “Jan was just telling me about her prom dress.  She’s going with that junior, Jeff Gordon—but it’s okay, ‘cause he lost a year because he had mono.”

         Jan just stared at her like she had two heads.  Heather glowered at her and regrouped.  “So, Brad,” she asked in a seductive voice, “what about you?”  S***, nothing like being subtle, Heather! 

         “Well, since you ask, I wasn’t going to go.  I was planning on staying home and studying for my science exam.  But that’s what the coach wanted to talk about just now.  I aced the last test—so I don’t even have to take the exam.  And it’s all thanks to Jonathon.  He is THE MAN!”

         “Oh, that’s great that you’ve gotten out of an exam.”  She was treading water and sinking fast.

         Brad squinted at her and barked, “I wasn’t trying to get out of it.  I was trying to get a good grade so I would qualify for my football scholarship.”  He seemed to give her the once over and Heather knew he was about to ask her, when to her chagrin he continued, “I had thought about asking you if I was able to go.  But after the way you treated Jonathon, I’d rather take my Aunt Cathy."

         Heather felt herself color crimson, as she watched Jan slide down the front of the lockers in hysterical laughter.