Chapter 26

Kiana hated to admit it but she was a stalker. After her disastrous date with Tyler, she had decided she needed to try some more with Jacen, since he was the boy she really liked, so she decided to give Stacy’s idea some additional attempts. As such, she nonchalantly followed Jacen around school all week, trying to stay close enough to him so he would finally get a chance to talk to her and (hopefully) ask her out. And, finally, after what seemed like dozens of fruitless attempts, it worked.

Well, kinda.

It was their lunch break and he was sitting with some of his friends at a table in the school’s cafeteria, and Kiana was standing a few feet away, facing the other direction, pretending she was texting something to her friends. In reality, she was just watching the reflection on the face of the phone to see if he had noticed her. Much to her delight, he looked over, thought about it for a couple of seconds, then stood up and walked over to her.

“Kiana. We’ve never formally met. I’m Jacen.”

Her heart raced the second he said her name. She couldn’t believe it. They were finally talking. Now if only she had something worthwhile to say to him in response.

“Hi. It’s nice to meet you.”

It was a little bland but it was the best she could do at the time.

“Likewise. I just wanted to say, I know you’ve probably heard this a lot already, but anyway, that was great what you did with Brett. He was a huge problem around here before you came along.”

“No problem. It was nothing. And you know what I always say, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.”

She regretted it the minute she said it. It was so corny. What had she been thinking? If it had been possible, she would have kicked herself in the head right there on the spot.

But Jacen didn’t seem to care.

“Brett is a completely different person now. Look.”

He pointed at Brett who was sitting on the far side of the cafeteria with a bunch of the band members, talking. One of them, a really smart kid named Rory Stevens, was helping him with a math assignment.

“That would have never happened a month ago,” Jacen said. “I heard he’s even been going around apologizing to people. Admitting he was a complete jerk and offering to make it up to them.”

“Really?” That was news to Kiana.

“No one’s certain why. Some people think he’s finally realized the error of his ways and is trying to make up for it. Others say you kicked him so hard you finally knocked some sense into his big, dumb head. Either way, it’s made this school a much better place and we’re all grateful.”

They stood there for a second and it was actually somewhat awkward. Kiana wanted to say something, but she was petrified she was going to say something stupid again. She cringed every time she thought about her last statement. But then she realized she had to say something and she had to say it quickly, otherwise she might never get another chance. And for a brief second, it looked like Jacen was going to say something more, but then, much to Kiana’s chagrin, it looked like he was going to turn and leave.

She realized that was her big chance, and maybe it was going to be her only chance. If she didn’t do something then, she would regret it for the rest of her life. No matter how hard it was, no matter how badly she might bite her lip in the process, she was going to say it.

“Would you go to dinner with me?”

She had never felt so relieved in her entire life. It had been extremely difficult, and she had basically had to force the words out of her mouth, but she had somehow, miraculously, managed to say it.

But then she realized something. At the very same moment she had spoken, Jacen had spoken, too. And he had said the exact same thing she had said.

Both of their eyes got big as they realized what had happened. And as they realized it, they both said, “Yes.”

And then they both said, “When?”

And then they both said, “Where?”

And then they started laughing.

To someone on the outside looking in, it probably looked pretty stupid, and it was undoubtedly one of the strangest, most awkward conversations in the history of the world, but Kiana didn’t care. After all, she wasn’t going for style points. All she was trying to do was get a date with Jacen.

Finally, when they stopped laughing at themselves, things started to calm down and smooth out a little. Jacen spoke first. “You can probably tell I’m not like a lot of guys. I’m not very good at this type of thing. I’ve never been very good when it comes to asking people out.”

“I’m not very good at it either,” Kiana said. “You can probably tell.”

He smiled. “To be perfectly honest, I’ve wanted to ask you out for a while, but I just didn’t have the courage. You’re so famous around here, and so popular, I just assumed you’d want to go out with a football player or a rich kid.”

“I don’t like football players or rich kids. Well, no, wait, I do, really, but I like you better. I’ve wanted to ask you out forever. Actually I wanted you to ask me, but either way is fine.”

“Is that why you’ve been following me around all week?”

Kiana’s heart stopped. “You knew about that? You could tell I was following you around?”

“It took me a while but it wasn’t too hard to figure out. Every time I turned around there you were, standing with your back to me, texting.”

Kiana felt her cheeks get red. She had rarely been so embarrassed. She couldn’t believe he had figured it out. “Please take note I don’t normally stalk people. You’re the only one ever.”

He grinned. “I’m honored. But I’d be even more honored if you’d go out to dinner with me on Friday. There’s this little place in Snohomish I’ve wanted to try, everyone says it’s amazing. It’s called -”

She was so excited she didn’t even let him finish.

“I’d love to.”

He laughed. “I didn’t tell you its name yet.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’d love to go.”

“Okay. I’ll pick you up at your place at 6:00 pm if that’s okay.”

“It’s perfect.”

He was about to turn away, to return to the table with his friends, but he hesitated. There was a small glint of concern in his eyes.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“There have been stories going around about your date last week with Tyler. Apparently something happened and he ended up peeing his pants.”

Kiana’s eyes got big. She couldn’t believe he knew about that. How had he found out? Tyler must have said something because she hadn’t mentioned a thing to anyone.

“You have nothing to worry about. I don’t usually make my dates pee their pants.”

He nodded but he still didn’t look completely reassured. “Okay. I just wanted to make sure. It’s kinda strange you know?”

At that, they parted ways, and as Kiana walked back to the table where her friends sat she could not have been happier. She couldn’t believe it but against all of the odds she had finally done it.

She had gotten a date with the boy of her dreams.