Chapter 17

Jenny at the Sleepover;

Mom took me over to Rachel's at 6. I had never been allowed to have a sleepover when I was younger. It seemed like Mom didn't believe in fun. I had been looking forward to this all week. I don't care what Mark was trying to tell me, Rachel, Jenna and Diane would not do anything to hurt me.

Friday night was pizza and pop while we did our nails and hair, talked about boys and other miscellaneous drabble. I was fine with most of what we were doing. When we got on the discussion of boys, Rachel and Jenny really seemed to push the point about the football team.

"What makes you think that football players are so much better?"

"It's purely status. You rank higher when you are dating them. Others treat you better," Rachel answered.

"Rachel. As nice as that sounds, I went with a football player for almost 9 months. Oh I was treated pretty well in school, I will grant that. Ryan treated me like I was only good for getting him off. I don't need that anymore. Mark treats me like a princess and always makes me feel good."

"That's nice Jenny."

I noticed that they changed the subject fast. The rest of the night was spent goofing off and staying up late. Not too late, since we were going to the movies at 10 am.

The next morning, I was up at 7. I have been so used to waking up at that time, I no longer needed the alarm clock. I sat there thinking for the next 2 hours before the other 3 started to stir. I realized that Mark was right about one thing. These girls had no use for him.

Once everyone was up and out of bed, we got ready to go to the movie.

"We have to hurry. The guys are meeting us there."

"What guys Rach," I asked.

"They guys. Don't worry about it."

I was starting to get a bad feeling about this. We headed over to the movie complex and lo and behold, there were 4 guys waiting for us.

"Jenny, Steve here needs someone to act as his date. I hope you don't mind," Jenna told me.

"I'm seeing someone. I don't need this."

"Oh get over it. Your boyfriend will never know. Enjoy the movie, he will just sit next to you."

Against my better judgment, I went inside with them. I really wanted to see this movie. I guess I could just sit next to Steve for the 2 hours or so it was going to take.

Yeah, I spend the entire movie pushing his hands off of me, slapping him and threatening to remove parts if he kept up his touching of me. It really never worked. Once the movie was over, I was glad to get outside where I could get away from him. We walked over the McDonald's for lunch.

Just before we went inside, Steve grabbed my hand to led me in. I was just about to forcibly let go when he turned and planted his lips on mine. When I was finally able to push the pig away, I turned and snarled, "You could learn a lot about kissing from my boyfriend. Don't ever touch me again."

I turned and was just about to sit down when I noticed Erin and Jan staring at me. 'Oh shit!' I thought as I turned.

"I'll be right back Rach."

"Ok Jenny, don't be long."

I walked over to my sister, hoping that they didn't that Steve's pathetic attempt at a kiss. I was about to be disappointed.

"Nice lip-lock Jenny," Jan stated. Both of them were noticeably upset.

"Please don't tell Mark you guys."

"Oh, we would never dream of telling Mark," Jan stated mockingly.

"Yeah, I would never dream of that," Erin snarled.

I suddenly had a very bad feeling. I just knew this was about to become very bad.

"Did Mark see that for himself?"

"No, that sandwich on that side was eating itself." Erin snorted.

"You screwed up big time on this one Sis," Jan stated.

"Oh shit. We better go find Mark. I'll be right back. Get ready to leave."

I picked up Mark's drink and walked back over to the table where I had left my so-called friends sitting. I noticed that they were laughing about something.

"I have to leave guys. Something happened."

"Yeah, we saw what happened. Too bad about that loser you were with. Now you can go out with Steve," Rachel said.

I was mad now. They had planned this and thought that is was just a good joke.

"I wouldn't go out with Steve if he was the last male of our species. Quite frankly, he can't kiss worth a shit, smells bad and is as rude as they come. I will stop by later to get my stuff from your house Rachel."

I took the drink and dumped it in the opening of her cleavage. The ice seemed to get stuck in the opening.

"Get the fuck out of here."

"Fine."

I turned and headed back over to Erin and Jan. I finished helping them take care of the mess they had made and we headed for home. As we walked, I was feeling worse and worse. Erin seemed to notice.

"Are you ok Jenny?"

"I'm pissed at my now ex-friends. I'm pissed at myself. I should have listened to Mark when I had the chance. He was right about them. I need to find him and explain."

"He looked like he was going to throw up when he ran out of there."

"Damn."

When we arrived back home, I immediately went looking for Mark. I went to our room and he wasn't there. I looked in Jan and Erin's rooms without finding him. Once I had checked every room where I would expect to find him, I want to the living room where Jan and Erin were sitting.

"I can't find him."

"He must not have come home."

It felt strange sitting on the sofa crying on Jan's shoulder for a change. Normally it would have been the other way around. Mom came out a few minutes later.

"Jenny. What's wrong?"

"I screwed up."

"What?"

I told Mom the whole story. I cried most of the time I was telling it. She just put her arms around me.

"Jenny, you need to talk to Mark and tell him everything. You also need to apologize."

"I know. I don't know where he is though."

"I have noticed something lately. When Mark is upset and feeling bad, he goes over to visit Sarah for a while. She always makes him feel better. He will be home soon. You'll just have to be patient."

"Thanks Mom."

I went back upstairs to our room. I just started pacing waiting for him to return. I had no idea when that would be.

I woke up to a noise in the room. I don't know when, but I must have fallen asleep at some point. I realized that it was pretty dark. I glanced at the alarm clock and noticed that it was already 10 o'clock. I heard the noise again. I reached over and turned the light on. Mark was pulling some things out of the closet.

"Mark, you're home."

"Yeah, where else would I be at bedtime?"

"I need to explain what happened."

"You mean why I saw the girl I love attached at the lips with some Neanderthal? Save it. Right now, I don't want to hear it."

Before I could respond, he left the room closing the door behind him. I wanted to run after him. I could tell that he was hurting. I fell back on the bed crying. I cried myself back to sleep.

On Sunday, Mark seemed to do a good job of avoiding me. I took time to talk to Mom and she told me that he talked his father into taking him to some convention in the downtown arena. They were gone most of the day. He made it very clear that he didn't want to talk to me when he returned home.

I was feeling rotten when I got up on Monday. If I thought the weekend was bad, school was about to get worse. I had barely gotten to my homeroom when the first person started asking questions.

"Hey Jenny, I heard you broke up with Mark."

"Where did you hear that from?"

"It's all over school. I heard that you're dating Steve Tanner as well."

"No way. I would kill myself first."

"That's not what I hear."

At first, I thought Mark might have been behind this. After talking to a few others, I realized that Mark could not have been. The rumors knew too much about what happened at the movies. I knew exactly who was guilty of this. I was surprised when Diane sat down with me during lunch.

"Hi Jenny."

"Yeah, hi. What are you here for? Going to try to get me to wish I was dead again?"

She looked at me a little strange. I forgot that I never told them about my suicide attempt. I had no intention of changing that now.

"No. I'm here to apologize."

"Apologize? I should hope so. My boyfriend won't talk to me at all. The whole school thinks that I'm dating Steve now. Yeah, I would say that there is a need to apologize."

"I'm sorry Jenny. I should have warned you about Rachel and Jenna. They only befriended you because their boyfriends wanted them to set Steve up with you."

"Yeah, well you seemed to be pretty chummy with them over it."

"No I wasn't. They did the same thing to me last year. I should have said something to you when I saw this coming. When they came up to you after your mother's death, they could care less about how you felt. They needed to befriend you so they could set you and Steve up. The whole thing was a sham."

"Why are you telling me this now?"

"I know that you needed to know. You also needed to know that they are the reason behind the rumors. It is part of the plan."

"How do I know that this isn't part of the plan?"

"I told them off and broke up my so called boyfriend. They won't talk to me anymore. Not that I want to. Listen, I understand if you don't want me to be your friend. I am here only to apologize and tell you the truth. I can only hope that you can get Mark back before it's too late. When I was in your shoes, I didn't find out for a few months. By then, my old boyfriend had moved on and wanted nothing from me. I don't want the same fate for you."

I just stared at her. Something about what she said made this sound sincere. I just stared into space for a moment. They created all of this mess just so Steve could have a date with me.

"Thank Di. If what you're telling me is the truth, I know it took some guts."

"Do you want me to leave now?"

"Why?"

"I thought you might still be mad at me for my involvement with them."

"No, now that I think about it, you were the only one who even tried to get to know Mark. Sit down and relax. We can stay friends."

We talked for the rest of lunch. I noticed that Jenna and Rachel were looking at us with a not so happy look. I really didn't care much.

The rest of Monday went pretty quick. I was too busy answering questions about Steve, Mark and myself to really notice time move. Counseling took up some of my after school time before I could attempt to run into Mark.

When I did get home, Mark was not there. Erin and Jan told me that he went with Dad to do something. They really couldn't elaborate. I went upstairs to work on my homework. While I was working on it, I realized that I missed doing my homework with Mark. Doing things together was so much more fun than doing them alone. It was making me miss him even more.

I went downstairs just in time for supper. We sat down and started eating.

"Mom, when will Dad and Mark return?"

"I talked to Dad a little while ago. He said that they would be home late. It's nice to see them spending time together."

"Yeah. I guess..."

"Oh, I'm so sorry. They're spending time together but it's coming at your expense. Have you had a chance to talk to him yet?"

I shook my head. I could feel the tears start to flow down my cheeks.

"Don't worry Jenny. He's upset right now. He'll come around soon enough. If nothing else, Dad has to go into the office tomorrow. That means that he won't have his favorite excuse for the last few days."

"I hope so."

I woke up the next morning still alone in bed. I didn't even get to see Mark before school today. When I finally did get to school, my day was going to be bad. It was just about lunchtime when Donna found me.

"Jenny, are you ok?"

"Why?"

"Jenny, I don't know how to tell you this. I just saw Mark holding hands with Debbie Delveccio."

"No!"

"Sorry Jenny."

I was crying quietly. I really didn't want to make a scene here in the hallway. I fought back the tears for a moment.

"Donna, can I come over and talk tonight?"

"Anytime Jenny. I'll be there all night."

"Ok. Thanks. I'll see you tonight."

I went through the rest of the day on autopilot. Lunch was the only time I actually had any time to really think clearly about it. Diane joined me again.

"Jenny, Are you in there?"

"Yeah"

"What's wrong?"

"A good friend of mine saw Mark and Debbie Delveccio together."

"Oh my. Debbie doesn't waste time going around the bases. She's known to go straight for home."

"I know."

"I'm sorry. Is there something that I can do?"

"No."

"If you need to talk, you know where to find me."

"Thanks Di."

I spent the rest of the school day trying to hide. I knew this was just getting worse. All I wanted was for Mark to sit down and talk.

I was glad one I had finally returned home. Mark didn't take the bus on the way home. I didn't know where he was. I dropped my books, let Mom know where I was going and headed for Donna's. I needed to talk to her badly.

"What can I help you with Jenny?"

"I need to talk to Mark. He needs to understand fully what happened."

"Jenny, what did happen?"

I told Donna the whole story about the entire slumber party. I was crying once the story was finished.

"I see. Well, Mark hearing it will be easy. Getting Mark to believe it may be much more difficult."

"What do you mean?"

"You could just tie him up and while he can't move, talk to him. But to make him believe the story, that will take some work."

"I guess. Do you have any idea's on what I should do?"

"First, you need to apologize."

"Yeah, I shouldn't have let Steve get that close."

"No, you need to apologize for the fight you had with Mark before the slumber party."

I quickly looked up and stared at her. I didn't tell her about that.

"Jenny, Friday evening Mark was here talking with me about the fight. It upset him that you wouldn't even listen to him about what he knew. You ignored him just like..."

"Like he is ignoring me now."

"Exactly."

"How could he start going to Debbie so quickly? I would have thought that he would go for someone else. Like you maybe."

"Funny you should mention that. He spent the entire time after the incident here playing with Sarah and talking with my Mom and me. I offered to go out with him, but he refused."

"What?"

"He said that he liked Sarah too much to jeopardize our relationship. I guess I can't blame him. If we broke up, it would kill Sarah to never see him again."

"Yeah. It would. But why Debbie?"

"I don't know Jenny."

"I don't know what to do about this."

"Jenny, I know how he feels about you. I know that right now, he is really hurt. I also know how he felt when you had your accident. He was over here crying on my shoulder when he found out you lost the baby. It crushed him to know that you were hurt and he couldn't be there."

"That wasn't even his kid."

"No, but it was yours. That's all he needed to know."

"I should have listened. I would never have gone if I had."

"Jenny, you need to realize that no matter what, you need to listen to him. It may be nothing more than crap, but it may not be either. If you never hear it, you'll never know."