Chapter 14

It had started out as a very good day for Mike. He and Jennie walked to school together, and they had stopped several times along the way to kiss and hug each other. They had gone their separate ways to the different classes that they had to start the school day.

They were in the same classes together, for three periods during the school day, and they had the same lunch period now, after Mike had made a switch in one of his science classes, because of a lab conflict.

Today was Jennie's dance class day, so they wouldn't be able to walk home together. Mike was standing around, keeping Jennie, Donna and Gail company as they all waited for Donna's mom to come pick them up for their tap and ballet classes.

"Mike, Dennis Balcroft is in your gym period, right?"

Mike had to stop for a moment to put a face to the name before he could give Jennie an answer.

"Is he the tall blond haired kid that transferred here from Midland High?"

"I'm not sure where he used to go to school, but he's new to here."

"I think I know who you're talking about, why?"

"He asked me out today in French class, I just wondered if you could tell me anything about him?"

Mike looked at Jennie, trying to see if she was kidding him, or if she was serious. She just looked right back at him.

"Well, I've only dated him once, and he wasn't fresh with me or anything."

Mike decided to play it for laughs with his answer and was rewarded when all three of the girls started laughing at his joke. Just after that, Donna's mom honked her horn at the trio, and they ran off to hop in the car.

Mike watched as the girls drove off. He wished that Jennie had said something earlier, so that he and she could have discussed it. At least, so that he could have found out what she told Dennis after he had asked her out.

Jennie was nervous after she got back home from her ballet lesson. She was sure that Mike would call and ask her questions about Dennis Balcroft, and she was especially nervous because she knew that he would ask her how she had responded to Dennis's date question.

She had said yes, and they were going out to see a movie tomorrow night. She had known that the situation was going to come up sometime, but she had thought that it would be after she and Mike had gotten over the newness of their changed relationship.

She wasn't even sure that she'd done the right thing by accepting the date. Dennis wasn't any more attractive to her than Mike was. He was sixteen already and had his own car. She would just talk to Mike, and be honest with him, letting him know that she had been on quite a few dates before, and that nothing had ever happened to her. She would tell him that she wasn't about to let another guy get anything more than a simple good night kiss from her.

Mike sat in his room waiting to see if Jennie was going to phone him. He had already made up his mind that he wasn't going to call her. The more he had a chance to think about the way she had picked to bring the whole dating subject up, when they were in a crowd of people, and where he couldn't really speak freely, the more upset he got about the whole thing.

If she had told Dennis no, after she got asked out, she would never have mentioned it like that. He wasn't stupid. He might be new to girls and to relationships, but he knew something about the way people were supposed to do things.

Jennie was showing him that she wasn't really his girlfriend, that they weren't really a couple, at least not all of the time. She hadn't said that it was going to be any different than her actions now showed it was, but still, if a girl lets you fuck her, she's your girlfriend, unless she really is a slut.

Jennie was surprised and pleased when Mike didn't call her. It almost had to mean that he accepted the fact of her dating others, and that he believed that she was free to do so. Maybe he only felt that way right now though, because he knew that she was having her period, and wouldn't let Dennis do anything to her anyway.

The main thing was that she had told him that she was going on a date, and he hadn't raised any objections. She was glad that the matter was settled.

Mike kept to himself all day Saturday. He had thought about going out somewhere, maybe hanging out with Jimmy, but he decided that he'd stay close to the house, just in case Jennie called, wanting to clear the air about the dating thing.

By three that afternoon he had worked himself up into an angry state of mind. If Jennie did go out with somebody else, he was done with her. He didn't need that kind of a person in his life. He'd rather that things went back to the way they were, before Jennie and he started experimenting together.

Who's to say that Jennie was the only girl that might want to do things with him? He was almost positive that Jessica Sanborn had a crush on him. She was always coming up and getting him to let her copy the class homework assignments that she had missed, or asking him questions about things that were covered in the classes that they shared.

She wasn't as good looking as Jennie, but she was at least a nice girl, one who wasn't likely to be running around on him, the very first chance that she got.

Jennie's date with Dennis turned out to be pretty tame and bland. Dennis wasn't much of a conversationalist in the first place, and when he did manage to say a few words, they were always on the subject of cars. Dennis picked the movie, and it was a mindless comedy that featured mostly humor that was based on bodily functions.

It wasn't the type of movie that someone on a date should have picked. He had Jennie home before eleven o'clock, and the good night kiss was awkward, and without any feeling from either participant. In a way, it was a relief that her first date after being with Mike had not presented any temptations for her to have to overcome.

Early Sunday morning, Jennie asked her mother if she had gotten any phone calls while she had been out, and was told that she hadn't. In a way, she was glad that Mike hadn't called and found out that she had been out. On the other hand, he hadn't called her in two days now. Was he already starting to take her for granted?

Mike woke up early Sunday morning as well. He had made his decision concerning what he was going to do about the situation with Jennie. He was going to ignore it, pretend that nothing had happened.

He was going to go back to the way things were before Jennie came to him and asked him if he had climbed her fence, and looked through her bedroom window. If he treated things that way, he'd be assured of coming out way ahead of the game.

Let Jennie make the next move. She was the one who had upset things. She could figure out a way to set them to rights. He would leave early for school, and if Jennie spoke to him at all, he'd keep his distance. It might be a strain at first, but he thought he could get used to it now, easier than he could if they kept pretending to have the kind of relationship that Jennie preferred.

Jennie waited for ten minutes on the corner nearest Mike's house. If she waited any longer, she'd be late for school. She waited two minutes more before walking at a faster than normal pace to school. In her mind, as she walked, she began to deal with the possibility that Mike was mad enough at her that he didn't want to be her boyfriend anymore.