Chapter 27

"Hey, Robinson," Bobby shouted as Missy and I were headed for English. We waited as he waded through the crowd to us.

"Have you seen Kenny today?" Bobby asked a little out of breath.

"Nope, not since lunch on Friday," I replied, thinking back. "He and Lisa were off by themselves."

"Yeah, well, Betty Lou and I saw Lisa on Saturday. She was kissing Heath Boardman."

"No way," Missy hissed, completely shocked by the idea.

"Yeah, well, we kinda had the same reaction. I tried to call Kenny yesterday. He wasn't home and didn't call me back."

"We'll keep and eye out, Bobby, thanks for the heads up."

Bobby nodded sadly, and we all headed for class.

With my locker right around the corner, I was the first of the gang to the lunchroom, as usual. I was watching for Kenny and Lisa. I spotted Lisa and Heath walking in together. Heath put his hands possessively on Lisa's hips as they got into the food line.

"What's wrong, John?" Mary Jo asked as she sat down.

I nodded toward the line.

"Oh, shit!" she breathed. Where's Kenny?"

"I haven't seen him yet, but I agree with your sentiment."

"There he is," she pointed. "He's with Missy." She looked surprised.

"Good, she found him," I said, relieved.

"What's going on, John?" Mary Jo was visibly concerned.

"Bobby and Betty Lou saw Lisa and Heath kissing on Saturday. Bobby told us about it first thing this morning. Missy, Bobby, Betty Lou and I have been looking for him ever since. He and Missy had class together last period."

Missy gently guided Kenny over to the table and basically forced him to sit between Mary Jo and me. She kissed me and said she'd be right back.

"How are you doing, Kenny?" I asked, sympathetically.

"How the hell do you think I'm doing!" he snapped. He looked down and took a deep breath. Looking up at me, he said, "Oh, hell, John, I'm sorry. As you can guess, I'm not doing so good," he said miserably. "I mean, how could she do it? She didn't say anything about going out with someone else; she just called and said she couldn't go out on Saturday. I didn't think anything of it until I ran into Boardman between second and third period. He was all puffed up like the toad he is, and then Lisa walked up and kissed him. I almost swung at him. If Betty Lou hadn't grabbed my arm, I would have."

"I'm sorry, Kenny."

Mary Jo put her hand on his. "I know it hurts, Kenny, but if she prefers Heath, you are better off without her."

"What really hurts is that she's been telling me she wanted to wait until she got married. Since I cared for her, I respected that. And then Boardman all but said he got there Saturday, and Lisa was just standing there smiling and making goo goo eyes at him." He lowered his head, staring at the table.

"I'm so sorry, Kenny," Missy said as she put her tray down across from me and scooted a plate in front of him.

He looked up at her.

"You've got to eat, Kenny," Missy explained.

Kenny nodded his thanks, and picked at his food. The rest of the gang showed up, and we did our best to cheer Kenny up. It didn't really work, and no one actually expected it to. He looked terribly deflated as he walked with Bobby to gym class.

"That sucks," Jackie said as we watched them walk away. "I really thought better of Lisa."

"I think we all did," Missy replied.

"What a stupid bitch," Gail added, quietly but with surprising venom in her voice. I don't think anyone else caught it, but I did, and it started the gears turning.

Tuesday came and went and not much had changed. Kenny was back sitting with the gang and trying to be his usual chipper self. He was more upbeat at lunch on Wednesday. I was watching things and wasn't really surprised when Gail made a point to sit closer to Kenny and actually talk to him during lunch.

I don't think Missy and Jackie noticed as they were all wrapped up in a conversation about the upcoming dance. Apparently Lyle was coming up from State to take Jackie. Missy made sure that I included them in the plans for dinner before the dance. I had been counting on one extra couple. I'd thought it would be Gail and a date, but with Kenny not going, there was still room for one more couple in our plans.

I was mulling things over in my head and generally not paying attention when a hand snagged my arm as I headed back to my locker after sixth period. I was surprised to see that it was Gail Carson steering me away from my locker.

"What's going on, Gail?"

"Not here, please, John. Just come with me," she pleaded.

I shrugged and followed along. I wasn't really surprised when she dragged me into the newspaper office. Jackie nodded and disappeared.