• The girl almost ran to the 7-11, her mind full of scenarios of angry mothers, ex-boyfriends, and worse. She expected her friend too be seething about some hideous crime committed by a relative, or crying for an unknown reason. Instead, the girls friend was sitting on the bench with a smug grin, reminding the girl of a cat who had eaten a canary. The girl's friend caught sight of her and waved her over exitedly.
    "Hey!" The girls friend yelled across the street. "Guess what!?"
    "The Love Brothers where discovered and now have their own TV show." The girl shouted back.
    "What? No!" The girl's friend said, annoyed.
    "Well they should." The girl replied as she crossed the street. Her friend pondered a moment, then agreed.
    "So what am I guessing again?" The girl asked, bringing her friend back down to earth.
    "Okay, remember the writing contest I entered a few months ago?" Her friend said exitedly.
    "Um, yeah..." The girl said vaugely. (Her friend had entered several)
    "The short romance one."
    "Oh yeah!"
    "Well guess who got second place?" Her friend grinned crazilly.
    "No way!" The girl shrieked exitedly and gave her friend a hug.
    "I won a hundred and fifty dollars and I get to go to a dinnerandIcan'tbreatheIcan'tbreathecan'tbreeahthe!" The last word came out as a wheeze as the girl's friend pried her fingers apart and gasped for breath.
    "I can't beleive it!" The girl bounced exitedly.
    "And- do you know- what- the best part is?" Her friend said in between breathes.
    "No. What?"
    "The top five finalists in the six different sections get to go to Chicago for two days and have dinner with several prestigious novalists." The girls friend said, quoting directly from the website she found the contest on.
    "No way!" The girl gasped again and prepared to give her friend another hug.
    "No! Please! Not again!" Her friend manuvered out of the hug before continuing. "I get to bring a parent and a second individual along as well. So do you want to come?"
    "Yes! Of course!" The girl broke into a crazed smile.
    "The trip is in two weeks. I'll e-mail you later with all the boring details." The girls friend paused for a moment. "Umm..." The girl looked at the uneasy expression on her friends face.
    "What?"
    "Hows the boyfriend situation?" The girl's friend looked away uncomfortably.
    "Oh." The girl felt her brain shut down at the question. "well..." She thought about it. How could she not know his name? Just thinking about him made her heart race.
    "Have you asked him... You know..." Her friend trailed of and looked away again. The girl suddenly felt irrrationally angry. Why did her friend want to know anyway? It wasn't her bussiness.
    "No." The girl replied shortly. But on the other hand, the girl really, really wanted to know, too. She silently scolded herself for being a jerk.
    "Maybe I could introduce you and you can ask him and say that you forgot?" The girl said suddenly. "Yeah, that would work!" She said, mostly to herself. The girl suddenly got angry again, but this time at herself. That was the lowest of the low. Why would she even want to pull such a cheap, dirty trick? If she did that, she would not be a worthy girlfriend. She would just ask him honestly. As soon as she thought that, her stomach seemed to drop ten degrees. She coldn't even imagine asking him that. What if he broke up with her? She all but panicked at the thought.
    "Nevermind, that wouldn't work..." The girl said, trying to hide the chaos that was her mind. Her friend looked at her strangely.
    "That sounds..." The girl's friend dropped off. This annoyed the girl as well. She hated it when people didn't finish their sentances.
    "That sounds like what?" She said impatiently.
    "Nevermind..." Her friend looked down, then past the girl.
    "Oh! Look!" She brightened up immediately.
    "What?" The girl said, even more frustrted than before.
    "Theres a hot guy coming this way." The girl friend immediatly smoothed her hair down and took some lipgloss out of her purse. This, along with everything else her friend had been doing, bothered the girl. Her friend obsessed over guys way to much. The girl looked over her shoulder at the aproaching boy. He looked hansome from a distance, with dark, wavy hair, dark eyes, and the slightest tan. As he came closer, the girls stomache jolted with recognition.
    "Oh, my god." She exclaimed, apprehension mixing with joy and exitement in her stomach. "It's my boyfriend!"