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she’s from Neptune. Then he says things like “How can you NOT like a juicy red steak?” and “Aren’t you HUNGRY all the time?” and Dawn doesn’t want to make a scene, so she’s trying to change the subject, but you can see her getting angrier and angrier.
    You no longer feel so jealous. But is that right? Should you be GLOATING because Jay is under attack?
    Finally Sunny manages to get us all talking about movies — only Jay is chewing the spare ribs lovingly and says “Mmmmm” while looking straight at Dawn, who is not amused, and you
    realize your 8th-grade friends are much more mature than some of your OLDER friends, and before you know it, everyone is serious — including Jay — because Sunny is talking about her mom’s cancer.
    This sure doesn’t brighten things, but Jay has stopped his doofus act and is listening intently. He comments that Alex’s aunt had lunch cancer, and you remember that. You remember how Jay and you comforted Alex when she died, and how Jay cried, and you feel this pang in your chest for the old days, when we [sic] were all so close.
    It’s a pretty intense dinner. Afterward, you drive Jay home, and one of the first things he says is,
    “She’s perfect!”
    You explain that if he even THOUGHT about asking Dawn out, he would probably have to
    abstain from meat-eating for a few months first, before she’d even look at him again.
    But no. He’s talking about SUNNY.
    He is saying that she’s perfect for Alex.
    And this, finally, leads to
    Part Two. Alex.
    But it is almost time for next period and you haven’t eaten anything yet, so you sign off temporarily.
    No Longer Hungry
    Just Bored with English Class
    … So you pretend to be writing the Great American Essay, when in reality you are going back to where you left off.
    Yesterday. Okay, you’re home from the China Wok. You’re thinking about Jay’s comment.
    Matching up Sunny and Alex. It’s so JAY. So mind-bogglingly WRONG. But just the fact that he showed concern for Alex is a good thing. And THAT’S what you’re thinking about. Maybe the three of you are NOT on three different planets. Maybe you can all be best friends again.
    And really, there’s something about the idea that isn’t so stupid. It might be good for Alex and Sunny to get to know each other. Not in a dating sense, just in a hanging-out-as-friends sense.
    Sunny’s the ONLY person who would understand the kind of depression Alex must be having.
    And Alex might be just the one to reach Sunny when she gets into one of her dark, angry moods.
    So you figure you’ll invite them both to hang out with you at the beach Saturday. You call them.
    Sunny doesn’t sound thrilled that Alex is invited. Alex says he’s sick of the beach and he doesn’t like meeting strangers.
    It’s not easy, but you twist their arms.
    You tell them both, “It’s important to me that you come.”
    Which is true.
    And they agree.
    Another good deed by Ducky.
    Saturday at Venice Beach
    You picked Alex up first. He looked about as happy as he would be if he were going to an all-day math fair.
    He complained about how early it was.
    He complained that it was too cold for the beach.
    He complained that he was tired.
    You were surprised he even got into the car.
    But he did, and you drove off, singing along with the radio, and when the station played an oldie that you and Alex used to love, you shouted out, “Remember this?”
    But he was slumped in the backseat, eyes closed. As you pulled up to the Winslows’, Sunny BOUNCED out the front door. In such a good mood.
    Then she saw the corpse in the backseat.
    “Oh, uh, hi, is he …?”
    You nudged Alex awake. You introduced him to Sunny.
    He just grunted.
    Sunny climbed into the front seat, and you covered for Alex. You said he was probably up late studying, or something stupid like that.
    Sunny is SO cool. She just took over the talking.
    S: “I am JEALOUS. I could use some sleep too.”
    A: “Mmmph.”
    S: “I was up all