Page 116 of A Really Bad Idea

She sat behind me in Algebra II and rolled her school skirt up three times. I know this because I used to watch her hands as they skimmed her waistband, exposing extra inches of thigh. It was against school rules, which made it even hotter. Pervy, I know, but I was fifteen, so bear with me.

Amanda was my first girlfriend. I took her to the movies three times, bought her a bracelet for our one-month anniversary, and wrote a love letter. I asked her to go with me to the school play where Meadow was starring as Annie Oakley. My parents told me I had to support her because our families were friends, and it was the right thing to do. Meadow was cool, but Annie Get Your Gun wasn’t my idea of a fun Friday night. Amanda agreed to go, so we went.

Meadow was okay from what I remember. Actually, I don’t remember most of it because I was too busy being dumped during intermission. I was heartbroken. I felt like my chest had turned to stone, and this lead weight was now sitting inside my ribs, waiting to drop. I wanted to hit something, so I did. I punched a tree and hurt my knuckles. And I cried. A lot. Again, I was only fifteen, so cut me some slack.

After the show, I did what they’d sent me to do and waited for Meadow to come offstage, so I could congratulate her, and like any sullen teenager, I kept my head down and looked off into the distance. I thought no one noticed or cared that my heart was shattered.

I was wrong.

Meadow noticed.

“Where’s Amanda?” she asked, looking past my shoulder for my girlfriend.

“Gone,” was all I said.

Meadow took the hint.

By the time I got to the sidewalk in front of our school, Meadow was jogging behind me.

“Wait up!” she called out, huffing from trying to keep up with my long steps.

Man, she was out of shape.

I looked at her with her hot-pink sweatshirt and hair still in barrel curls from playing a sharpshooter from the Wild West. “Aren’t you supposed to be hanging out with the cast? I thought there was an after-party.”

She shrugged. “Yeah. They’re headed over to Umberto’s for pizza, but I can hang with them after tomorrow’s performance.”

I looked at her like she was an idiot. “Why would you ditch your friends like that?”

“I’m not.” She raised her brows at me as she dug her thumbs through the straps of her backpack and gave a smug look. “You’re my friend, too, and something tells me you need me more than they do.”

Until that point, I never considered Meadow more than someone I hung out with sometimes—at our parents’ country club, tennis camp, and on the occasional school trip. She was all about the arts, and I was a sports guy. She hung out at the library, and I went to the mall.

She stopped walking and bent to look at an old penny on the ground. “Find a penny, pick it up, and all day long, you’ll have good luck.” Instead of picking it up, she flipped it over.

“What did you do that for?” I asked.

“This way, someone else will find it heads up, and they’ll have a good day.”

Since I was alone and down, I let Meadow walk with me. I was thankful she didn’t mention Amanda again. Instead, she asked if I had seen Saturday Night Live last weekend. I had, and we laughed for ten blocks about our favorite Will Ferrell skits.

We didn’t live too far away from each other, so I walked her home. Her parents were already back from the performance and were surprised to see Meadow hadn’t gone out with her friends. I was young but wise enough to see the mischievous way Mrs. Duvane looked at us together, her wheels turning with how exciting it would be if we dated.

My first thought was, No way.

I mean, Meadow was cool, but she wasn’t someone I was attracted to.

She asked if I wanted to come in and play video games.

Since I had nothing else going on, I said, “Sure.”

I stayed until midnight when my dad picked me up. After he found out what had happened with Amanda, he approved with how my night had turned out.

“Great friendships are the best cure for a broken heart.”

He was right. Meadow had turned my glum night into a bearable one.

After that, we hung out more. Mostly playing video games in her basement. She came to my basketball games, and I’d see her in the school plays. She didn’t hesitate to tell me when she thought my next girlfriend was a bitch. I took her out for pizza when the bitchy girlfriend and I broke up. Meadow seemed pleased.