The Dating Deal Read Online Free PDF

heart beating all wild and crazy when he gave me her gift.  It had me feeling guilty, since back then Conner and I had still been together.
     
    That’s why I had been too afraid to go to Wendy’s house.  I was afraid I would run into Trent.  And I was afraid I might actually like him, you know, more than just as an eighth grade crush.  So, I had written Wendy a thank you note instead, mailing it to her along with a silly poem I had entitled, “Wendy.”  I figured she would get a kick out of it.  The poem was cute, just like her.
     
    But now my reasons for not going to Trent’s had nothing to do with guilt.  It was simply fear.  I was afraid to show up at his house, afraid he might think I was a dork.  Or maybe he would worry I was going to start stalking him.  I felt kind of like I was doing that to Conner—stalking him.  I would go out of my way any time I left my house to drive by his.  I don’t even know what I thought I was accomplishing.  Seeing if he was home?  Seeing if Laura’s car was there?  I didn’t know.  The whole thing made me pretty sure I needed psychiatric attention.  Still I did it anyway.  Even now.  Tonight, on my way to mutual.
     
    “So much for being over him,” I muttered, remembering what I’d tried telling myself earlier.  When I got off the phone with Conner today, having only shed a few tears, I’d thought that maybe it was finally happening—maybe I was finally getting over him.  Still, maybe I am , I told myself as I drove by his house.  Only super slowly . 
     
    “At least today I sort of have a reason for driving by,” I consoled myself. 
     
    I wanted to see if Conner’s car was there.  Prepare myself in case he actually showed up at mutual, not that I expected him to.  His dad was a non-member and Conner had been fairly inactive until he started dating me.  Conner’s mom, Sister Mathews, loved me—I’d gotten her son active again.  But now that we were broken up, Conner had, for the most part, slipped back into inactive status, though occasionally he still showed up for things.
     
    He didn’t show up tonight, though.  Not that it was a joint activity anyway.  It had no impact on me.  But it made me sad that Conner was falling away from the church.
     
    For our class activity we practiced a song we were going to be singing in sacrament meeting Sunday.  It was called, “The Road Home.”  I wrote it myself, even the piano accompaniment.  We had sung it for achievement night, and afterwards Bishop Woodland asked us to sing it in sacrament meeting.
     
    “Your song was so beautiful, it made me cry,” Sister Woodland had said still sniffling.  Actually, a lot of people had told me that.  Everyone, in fact.  I hadn’t realized it was going to affect people so strongly.  But it was nice because the song meant a lot to me.
     
    After we finished practicing tonight, I was excited.  We sounded really good.  Three of us were in honor choir together, and the other three had good voices, even if they claimed they didn’t.  We sounded awesome.  I could hardly wait for Sunday.
     
    As I was gathering my stuff to leave, Audrey Tolley wandered over to me, smiling and looking excited.  “I heard you’re going to the spring dance with Trent Ryan.”
     
    I widened my eyes in surprise.  “You did?” 
     
    I couldn’t get over it—how fast word traveled at our school.  I mean, Audrey and I didn’t run in the same circles (her being popular and everything) and we didn’t have any classes together.  But, then again, even the junior high was talking about Trent and me.  So, I guess I shouldn’t have been so surprised.
     
    Audrey nodded with a smile.  “Trent’s adorable.  I’m jealous.”
     
    “I …”
     
    I was about to tell her not to be.  I was about to explain Trent’s scam to bug Caitlin.  But at the last moment, I decided not to.  Audrey was beautiful and popular.  I could stand to let her be jealous of me for