Susan shook her head as she folded the letter and slipped it into the sack. “Are you really going to leave this for him?”
“Sure.”
Susan frowned. She took off her glasses and wiped the lenses on her jacket. “Do you really want to find out who the guy is?”
“Of course I do.”
She put on her glasses. She looked into the darkness behind the bench, then both ways along the walk, then at the trees and bushes on the other side. “What time do you have to be home?”
“Ten, I guess. Ten at the latest. They think I’m at your house.”
“Let’s put the letter in the garbage, just like he wants,” Susan suggested. “We can pretend to leave, only circle back and hide in those bushes there. Then when he comes for the letter, we’ll see who he is.”
“I don’t know.”
“Why not?”
“It’s… that’s just not a good idea. Besides, maybe he won’t even come.”
“Afraid?”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
In the darkness of a thicket, they sat and waited. Janice could see the garbage can through a gap in the leaves.
The ground felt cool and hard through the seat of her corduroy pants. She wished she had a coat to sit on, like Susan. Her sweatshirt was plenty warm enough, but she wanted something under her. Soon, she could feel the dampness through her pants. It made her itch and squirm.
“Sit still,” Susan whispered.
“This is stupid,” she said.
Something crawled on her ear. She brushed it off and moaned. “There are spiders in here!”
“Shhh!”
“I can’t stand spiders!”
“They won’t eat much,” Susan said, and giggled quietly.
As they waited, Janice remembered the last time she had gone along with Susan’s plan to hide in the bushes. Just Friday night, after the movies. She remembered how Mike had surprised them, how they had all walked together until Susan angered him by shouting, “Brita Kramer, Brita Kramer, Brita Kramer!”
“Brita hasn’t got any sense of humor,” he had said when they were standing by the door. Then he’d said Brita was dense.
A lot he cares about that! As long as she’ll make out with him, what else matters? The creep! What makes him think Brita is any better at it than me? He’s never even given me a try.
That’s his loss, she told herself. If he’s more interested in that cheap, snobby crud, well then it serves him right!
“What’s wrong?” Susan whispered.
“Nothing.”
“Are you crying?”
She wiped her eyes. “No.”
“Yes, you are.”
“Quiet!” She heard footsteps. Hunching low, she could see part of the walkway. She watched it, barely breathing as the footsteps grew louder. When they were very close, she almost believed that she would see Mike step into view.
But she saw two sets of legs. They stopped.
“How about taking a load off?” said the voice of a young man.
“Here?” asked a female voice. She sounded as if she didn’t go much for the idea.
“This is as good a place as any.”
“If you say so.”
Janice watched them sit on the bench. When they sat down, she could see their faces, but she didn’t recognize them. They looked older, maybe eighteen or twenty.
For a while, they sat motionless and said nothing. Then the boy said, “Peg, there’s something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about.”
“Is there? Let me guess. You heard about me and Victor.”
“Is it true?” he asked.
“Depends on what you heard.”
“That you went out with him last night.”
“Of course it’s true.”
“I don’t get it.” He sounded sad. “What do you want to see him for?”
“I like him.”
“But what about us?”
“What about us?”
“Is it over?” he asked. He sounded awful. Janice knew how he must feel. She wished she weren’t hearing this, but she had no choice. She couldn’t just stand up, say, “Excuse me,” and walk away.
“Why should it be over?” Peg asked.
“If it’s not, why are you going out with Victor?”
“What’s wrong with dating both of you?”
“I love you.”
“That doesn’t mean you own me, Jim. If you really love me, you’ll want what’s best for me, right?”
“Not if it means you dating other guys.”
“That’s a selfish thing to say, you know that?”
“Selfish?”
“If you were taking out another girl, I wouldn’t get all bent out of shape.”
“Well, maybe you should!” Now he sounded angry. He ought to! Janice wished he would really tell Peg off.
“Don’t get mad. I like you as much as always.”
“Oh?”
“I feel just the same about you. I don’t want to lose you.” Janice watched her take Jim’s hand. She lifted it to her mouth and kissed it. “I don’t see why anything has to be different.”
“Well, I do,” he said, but he didn’t sound so angry anymore.
“I don’t,” she whispered, her mouth close to Jim’s. Sitting on the bench was awkward because of their legs, so they stood up and embraced tightly and continued to kiss. It went on for a long time. Janice couldn’t figure why they wanted to do it that long; it must be hard on the lips. If she had a chance, though, to kiss Mike that way…
A man came along with a dog. The dog, a poodle, started yapping at Jim and Peg. They split apart, and smiled at the man.
“Come along, Jacques. Come along.” He yanked the leash.
The dog pranced across the walkway. Janice held her breath as he stopped at the bush she was hiding in. He peered into the gap at her. She gave him a big smile.
“Yip-yip! Yip-yap!”
“Come along, Jaques.”
The leash jerked the dog way from the bushes. In moments, the man and dog were gone.
Peg pressed herself against Jim and looked into his eyes. “Are you okay now?” she asked.
“Better. But I still don’t see why you have to go out with Victor.”
“You’re hopelessly provincial, James. I suppose that’s partly why I love you.”
“Do you love Victor, too?”
“My love is big enough to share.”
Janice wanted to throw up. Obviously, though, Jim felt differently because he let the jerky girl kiss him again. They kept at it for a long time.
Then, arms around each other, they walked away.
“We should do this every night,” Susan said.
“No, thank you.” Janice turned and started crawling toward the rear of the bushes.
“What’re you doing?” Susan wanted to know.
“Getting out. Going home. I’ve had enough of this.”
But as she got to her feet, she saw a man heading up the walkway. Quickly, she ducked. “Someone’s coming!”
“Maybe it’s him!”
The footsteps quickly drew closer. They didn’t slow down. Janice glimpsed the swiftly moving legs as the man hurried past.
“Wasn’t him,” Susan whispered. She sounded relieved.
“Maybe it was him, and he saw me when I stood up.”
Susan shrugged.
“Come on, let’s get out of here.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
As Glen entered the band room the next day, he winked at Janice. She hoped he would go directly to the rear of the risers where the sousaphones were, but he didn’t. He walked right over to her.
“See you tonight, sugar face.”
She nodded. “Sure. See you then.” Thinking of her dentist, she managed a smile.
This was Friday and there was no marching practice. They stayed in the band room during sixth period, practicing the music they would be playing next week at the football game. When the bell rang, Janice hurried out to the hallway wh
ich was filled with students. Looking behind her, she couldn’t see Glen.
On the way to her locker, she met Susan. They got on the bus together and Glen climbed aboard soon afterwards. All the seats near Janice were full, but he stopped in the aisle. Leaning across Susan, he said, “We’re gonna have a ball, sweet stuff. See you at six-thirty.”
“What’s going on?” Susan asked when he was gone.
Janice smiled mysteriously.
“Good gripes, you’re not going out with Glen!”
“Why not?” Janice asked cheerfully, wondering why she wanted to mislead Susan this way.
“Boy! You mean you don’t know?”
“Know what?” Janice asked.
“He’s not just the grossest guy on two feet, you know. He’s bad news. He’s even been arrested and stuff.”
“For what?”
“Assault, I think.”
“Where’d you hear all this?”
“Mike, mostly.”
Mike. She stared out the window. “Well, he may be interested to know I’m dating Glen tonight.”
“Are you out of your tree? What’s going on with you? You’ve always been so—sensible, until now. Suddenly, you’re writing to the letter nut, you’re going out with the scuzziest creep on campus… What’s the matter with you, anyway?”
“Ask Mike.”
Susan stared at her, then turned away. She took off her glasses and inspected the lenses. With a tissue from her purse, she cleaned them. “Do you mean,” she said, “that you’re acting weird because you got dumped on by Mike?”
Janice shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“Boy.”
She knew what she wanted to tell Susan. This was the perfect time and she had to say it. “I liked Mike an awful lot, Susan. More than I ever let on.”
Susan glared at her, eyes narrow. “More than you liked me, probably.”
“No.”
“Sure. Do you know what I think? I think you’re not even my friend. I think you just used me to get near Mike.”
“I did not.”
“I’m not stupid, you know. Or blind! I see things. I’ve seen how you look at him, how you blush whenever he’s around. Do you think I can’t hear how your voice shakes when you talk to him? I know he’s the one you’ve always liked. I was just so hard-up for a friend, I pretended not to notice. Well, he’s not interested in you. He doesn’t even like you, he told me so himself. So if you’re using me to get to Mike, you can forget it. Just forget it!”
“Susan, you’re my best friend!”
“I’ll bet,” she said. She hurried to the front of the bus, and climbed off even though the bus was still two blocks from her stop.
As the bus pulled away, Janice looked out the window. Susan, on the sidewalk, kept her head down.
Janice leaned back in her seat, and sighed. She felt awfully tired and confused. Had she been using Susan? No! But she did always hope to see Mike when she went over, did always feel bitterly disappointed if he was away.
Well, now she had lost them both.
Glen sat down beside her. “All set for the big night?”
After an early dinner, Janice’s parents drove off. They would be picking up the Saunders, and going to a play. Afterwards, they would stop somewhere for drinks, so they wouldn’t get home until about one o’clock.
When they left, Janice looked at the clock. Six-fifteen. Glen was probably on his way, already, to the dentist’s office.
She went to the telephone and dialed Susan’s number. As the phone rang, her stomach tightened. What if Mike answered!
“Hello?”
Relief. Disappointment. “Hello, Mrs. Anzio. This is Janice.”
“How are you this evening?”
“Oh, fine. And you?”
“Not half bad.”
“May I speak to Susan, please?”
“Certainly. Hold on a moment.”
Janice sat on the kitchen floor, her back against the wall, her knees up.
“Hello?”
“Hi,” Janice said. “How about coming over? My folks are gone. I thought maybe we could watch TV or something.”
“What about your big date with Glen?”
“Oh, didn’t I tell you? I meant to tell you on the bus, but then we got to fighting…”
“Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I guess I acted kind of dumb.”
“Same here,” Janice said. She felt so much better, suddenly, that she smiled.
“Anyway, what about Glen?”
“Well, he kept bugging me for a date, you know. He even said he’d pound me if I didn’t go with him.”
“That guy has style.”
“So I told him sure, I’d be glad to go out with him. He’s planning to pick me up…” She glanced at the kitchen clock. “In five minutes.”
“Good gripes.”
“But I had to give him my address, you know.”
“Uh-oh. Oh, no. Whose address did you give him?”
“My dentist’s,” Janice said, laughing.
Susan didn’t laugh.
“He’ll be in for a shock, won’t he?”
“Your dentist?”
“Glen.”
“He’ll kill you,” Susan said.
The way she said it, Janice felt a cold tightness in her stomach. “Anyway, you’ll come over?”
“Sure. We haven’t eaten yet, though. It’ll be about an hour, I guess.”
“Okay. See you then.”
After hanging up, Janice looked at her arms. They had goosebumps. She felt as if she had goosebumps all over. Susan could really be a downer, sometimes. He’ll kill you.
“Sure he will,” she muttered.
A long, hot bath would feel good and take care of the goosebumps, too. As she headed for the stairway, the doorbell rang. She froze. It rang again.
Could be anyone, she thought. Anyone, even Mike.
She had to know.
Stepping out of her shoes, she tiptoed into the living room. She went silently to the far side of the picture window and lifted the edge of the draperies.
Glen Rastick, in jeans and a T-shirt, was standing on the front stoop. He had a big smile on his face.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The doorbell rang again and again. Sitting on the living room sofa, Janice stayed absolutely still. She wished he would leave, but she knew it wouldn’t be that way.
Her heart lurched as a figure darted past the picture window. Through the drawn curtains it was only a dark shadow, but she knew it was Glen. The figure stopped at a side window. Thank God none of the curtains were open!
She heard the window shake in its frame.
He’s trying to get in!
Quickly, she tried to remember if all the windows were locked.
The bathroom! Dad had left its window open! And the screen was so loose…
Janice dashed across the living room, down the hallway, into the bathroom. The window stood wide open, just as she remembered it. Reaching up, she gripped the wooden edge. She tugged.
Stuck!
She slammed her palms against it, as she’d seen her father do.
“Don’t!” Glen snapped.
Gasping, she leaped away from the window. Glen stood just outside, looking in at her.
“Get away from here!” she shouted.
“We’ve got a date.”
“No we don’t!”
“You promised.”
“How did you find me?”
“Ever hear of a telephone book?”
She hadn’t even thought of that! How stupid!
Glen started to pull a corner of the screen.
“Stop that!”
“We’ve got a date.”
“I’m not going out with you.”
“Then I’m coming in with you.” He grinned at his play on words, and tore the screen off.
Janice rushed to the window. “Get away!” she yelled. “I’m calling the cops!”
“No you’re not, honey.”
She reached up, clutched the window frame, and tugged. Still stuck! Glen, reaching in, grabbed the front of her blouse.
“Let go!”
He pulled as if he wanted to drag her out the window.
Janice jerked once more on the wooden frame. The window shot down, slamming on Glen’s arm. He cried out, pulled his arm free, and ran.
Janice watched him go. His limp right arm hung swinging at his side.
She rushed into the kitchen. From a drawer at the counter, she took her mother’s personal phone directory and flipped to Saunders. With any luck, Mom and Dad would still be there. Maybe they hadn’t even arrived yet, and she could leave a message for them to call back.
She started to dial, and stopped.
If she told them about Glen trying to get in the house, they would be sure to ask questions—awful questions.
Why did he come to the house?
Well, you see, we had a date. Sort of.
Sort off?
I really didn’t want to go out with him, so I gave him a phony address.
Do you mean you accepted his invitation for a date, and lied about where you lived?
Well…
How could you?
Because I’m a coward and a liar.
Janice hung up the phone. She couldn’t possibly admit what she had done. She might try lying, telling them that she had no idea why Glen had come to the house, but they were sure to find out the truth, one way or another. The truth would really bother them and might even destroy their trust in her. They’d probably think she was just irresponsible.
Picking up the phone again, she dialed Susan’s number. After two rings, she heard someone lift the phone.
“Hello?” Susan said.
“He was just here!”
“Who?”
“Glen.”
“Good gripes! I thought you gave him your dentist’s address.”
Janice leaned against the wall, and switched the telephone to her other hand. Her left hand wasn’t shaking as badly as her right. “He used the phone book.”
“He’s not as dumb as…”
“He tried to get in.”
“Cripes!”
“Have you started dinner yet? I mean, maybe you could come right over. We’ve got plenty of stuff in the refrigerator.”
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