“Yeah, so here’s the thing.” Shawna jutted out her hip, just like Jennifer had seen Lisa do a dozen times a day. Next to her, standing just behind Shawna’s shoulder, Kylee twirled her straight hair around her pointer finger and chewed loudly on her bubble gum.
“So, Darren’s gonna ask Lisa out tonight,” Shawna said, never once taking her eyes off Jennifer. “And, well, we know you like him.”
“Yeah,” Kylee inserted. “It’s totally obvious.”
Jennifer ignored the burning in her cheeks. She shouldn’t feel embarrassed. She should feel angry. What was this? Some kind of interrogation in the girls’ bathroom?
The toilet from one of the stalls flushed, and the three of them were silent as a gangly girl hurried out, not even bothering to wash her hands.
Shawna and Kylee followed her out with their eyes.
“Gross,” Shawna hissed.
“I know,” Kylee whispered back.
Jennifer was relieved to no longer be the center of their focus. Unfortunately, the reprieve lasted only a second or two.
“So, anyway,” Shawna went on, “Lisa asked us to tell you to stop hanging all over Darren, if you know what we mean.”
Kylee smacked her gum loudly and added a very emphatic, “Yeah.”
“Because you’re kind of embarrassing yourself the way you’re all over him and everything.”
Shawna and Kylee laughed. Jennifer took a step back.
“We don’t want to hurt your feelings,” Shawna concluded, “but Darren’s already told Adam and Russ and Craig that he likes Lisa better. We just wanted you to know so you could stop acting all weird around him. No offense, but people are starting to talk about you.”
Kylee gave a little snicker. Jennifer wished that she could conjure up a spell to make the floor open up and swallow her whole.
She didn’t hear what Shawna and Kylee said next. She hardly even noticed them walk out and leave her in the bathroom alone. She reached into her pocket, counted out her change. Down the hill from the school was a pay phone. Maybe her dad was right. Maybe these dances were nothing but a big waste of time.
Whatever happened, she wasn’t going back into that gym. Not with Darren acting like such a two-timing player, not with Lisa standing there with her arms draped all over him. It was either call her dad, walk home in the dark, or stay here in the bathroom.
Jennifer allowed herself the luxury of a short cry locked inside one of the stalls, then she counted her coins again and made her way down the hill.
It was time to call her dad.