“I know, I know,” you mumble, without even looking at the screen. “But what if that wasn’t the whole reason? What if he did think she wasn’t so bad back then? And what if now that he’s seen how amazing she is on skates, and he’s spent all this time with her, he thinks she’s kind of cool? My crummy behavior sure didn’t help things.”
“Aw, I’m sure you weren’t that bad. And besides, you were acting that way for a really good reason: Nick Jonas! Helloooo? Why don’t you just give Jimmy the fourth pass? I’m sure all will be forgiven once we’re at the concert together.”
You would so love to believe that, but you know it just isn’t that simple. In fact, you know exactly what you have to do, but Jessie and Lena aren’t going to like it, not one bit.
“Guys, I’m really sorry, but I won’t be going to the concert with you.”
“What?” Jessie shrieks, causing a still half-asleep Mark to snort himself awake in the back and shout out, “That is not the real Santa Claus!” before dozing off again.
“What do you mean you aren’t going?” Jessie asks with a horrified look on her freckled face.
“I mean,” you answer, scooting past her to stand up in the aisle and draw your two passes out of your back pocket, “I’m giving mine to someone who deserves them.”
Before Jessie or Lena have a chance to stop you, you make your way toward the front of the bus where Jimmy and Charlie are sitting, sharing an iPod and eating M&M’s. “Um. Hey, Jimmy,” you start nervously, not sure if he’ll just shoo you away right here. He looks up suddenly and an instant smile flashes on his face, before his memory of the day sets in and his expression goes back to neutral.
“Hey.”
“Uh, would you mind if I talked to you for a second?”
He looks at you, seeming to weigh his options, then shrugs and says, “Sure.” He hands Charlie his earbud so that Charlie can keep listening, and suddenly you and Jimmy have semiprivacy. Thank goodness even your teachers are snoozing away, otherwise they’d probably tell you to stay in your seat while the bus is moving. “What’s up?”
You look down, studying your shoes in the darkened aisle. “Look, I wanted to apologize for not helping you today, and I know I should have. I just … well, I just wanted those passes so badly, I didn’t care about anything else for a second.” You hold the two passes out to Jimmy, who looks from you to them and back again. “I was going to ask you if you wanted to go with me, but I wouldn’t even feel right going now. I thought maybe if you wanted to take”—your voice catches on the next word as if there is a chicken bone caught in your throat—“Mona, you could.”
Jimmy takes the passes from you and studies them for a few long moments, letting you sweat it out. But slowly his face goes from neutral to warm. Very warm. He grins up at you and says, “Well, I could … but I’d rather take you.”
And now you really should go sit down, because your legs suddenly have the consistency of raspberry Jell-O and your heart is thumping loud enough to wake up Mark again.
“Sweet.” You smile happily.
“Sweet,” Jimmy answers and goes back to listening to his iPod.
You head back to your friends, loving this town even more for the happy ending it just delivered. New York, New York … the city so nice they named it twice.
THE END
Your Life, but Sweeter Page 14
