Chapter 13

Therese's party started at 7:00. At 6:30 Suzannah emerged from her bedroom, all ready to go. She looked great, each stand of hair was in place, she wore the right amount of make-up, things like that.

"Too bad Arnold isn't going to be there tonight!" I thought to myself.

I could tell Suzanne thought this too, because when I looked in her eyes, I could see that they were very distant. She sighed. Then she brightened and turned to me.

"You know what?" she asked.

I shook my head.

Suzannah leaned close to me. Her coice was almost inaudible as she whispered to me. "I think Therese likes you."

"Me?" I was surprised.

Suzannah nodded.

Mrs. Rawlings came downstairs and told us to get in the car. AS we walked outside, a cold December wind hit us in the face. Once in the car, I turned to Suzannah.

"Why do you think Therese likes me?" I asked her.

"Well, for starters, she's always staring at you. I'm surprised you didn't notice it before!" she replied.

I thought about that. Suzannah was right, she had been staring at me lately.

"What else does she do?"

"She also talks about you constantly. She thinks you're sooooo cure." Suzanne imitated Therese.

"Oh," I think I was disappointed, but I wasn't sure why.

Suzannah's mother got in the car and drove us to Therese's house.

We got there a few minutes early. As Suzannah rang the door bell she raised her eyebrows at me and giggled. Therese answered the door almost as soon as Suzannah rang the bell. Apparently, she didn't see me at first.

"Hi Suzannah." She looked around. "Where's John?"

I could see in the outside light Suzannah narrow her eyes down to slits.

"Don't worry," she said with annoyance, "your loverboy's here."

Therese turned red. Then she spotted me. "oh, hi!" her voice was sugar sweet.

We went inside. Her house was the same kind as mine. I was going to point that out, but decided not to. She might have wanted to come and see my house. Therese led us downstairs and into the rec room. Then the bell rang, so she excused herself to go upstairs.

Suzannah flopped down on the couch.

"Do you know who else is coming?" I asked her as I sat down next to her.

She nodded. "I think Sarah, Brant, Yoshiko, Carrie, Dan, and a few other kids are coming."

Therese returned with Dave and Ed. I was surprised that they came. They saw me and belched. It was our greeting. Happily, I burped back. The door bell rang again. Therese didn't move.

"My mom will answer the door," she explained.

"Oh, wow," Dave exclaimed sarcastically.

About six kids came down. In another five minutes, everyone was there.

"Well, now what?!?" someone demanded.

Therese smiled. "Want to play Truth or Dare?"

"Yeah!" everyone liked the idea.

"Since it's my party, I'll go first, OK?"

Everyone nodded.

"All right, John. Truth or dare?"

I thought about that a second. "Dare!"

Therese smiled. "I dare you to moon us."

That wasn't such a bad dare, but I wasn't sure I wanted to do it. I looked at Ed. He nodded. I looked at Suzannah. She was unsuccessfully trying not to laugh. "OK, I'll do it!" I said.

When I was done, Therese had this dreamy look on her face. Suzannah was laughing so hard tears were pouring down her face. The she couldn't breathe, so she had to take her inhaler.

The game went on for about an hour. It was interrupted by a pizza break. When we went back downstairs, Therese put on her stereo and we all danced for the rest of the night.

The third song was a slow one. Therese asked me to dance and I agreed. I noticed Suzannah sitting alone on the couch. She looked so sad. I couldn't stand seeing such a good friend so sad. The next song was also slow. I walked across the room to where Suzannah was sitting.

"Want to dance?" I asked.

She smiled. "Sure. Why not?"

I didn't really know how it all happened, but the next thing I knew, I was holding Suzannah tightly in my arms and she put her head on my shoulder. I could feel the outline of her figure against my chest.

I glanced around the room. Therese was wrapped up in Dan's arms, but was watching us with jealousy glaring in her bold green eyes.

All too soon, the song ended and Suzannah went back to her place on the couch. She didn't look quite as sad as before. I felt a lot happier inside. A warm feeling had evolved and stayed with me for the rest of the night.