Emily found Alex, Anna and Evie in the art room during their common twenty minute free before her next class began.

Thankfully Jenny doesn't have this period free... Because I'm not prepared to have that conversation yet...

Anna came out of the darkroom with a stack of freshly developed photos. She handed them to Evie, who lined them along table in front of them. Alex looked up at Emily from the notebook she was scribbling in. "Want to talk about it?"

Emily tilted her head to look at the photos. "Which part?"

Alex sighed and Anna butted in. "The fight with Jenny obviously!"

Emily scowled. "Well beside the fact that I would rather save my energy and talk directly with Jenny later on about it. There is also, for once, more going on in my life than just this thing with Geoff."

Evie picked up one photo and studied it more closely before handing it to Alex.

Alex spoke to the photo instead of Emily. "Of course there is. We know that. Tell us whatever you feel like sharing."

Thankfully my friends respect my reticence on the subject of Jenny... Okay Emily... Try to keep the morning's conversations light... No reason to fall down the rabbit hole of dreaded anxiety and pernicious self-doubt...

Alex gave the picture back to Evie. "I like this one. You should submit this one to the literary-art magazine."

Emily sat on the nearest stool. "On the subject of art... Kelly is apparently an artist. He painted my Jersey bedroom and made these amazing hand-drawn prints for the walls."

Her three friends eagerly engaged in the conversation about Kelly. Then she told them about the show at the The Stone Pony with Evan.

"Kelly sounds really thoughtful and low-key, which is kind-of perfect for you. Plus it's nice that you can double date with your brother and Samantha," Evie decided.

Anna agreed. "Definitely Team Kelly!"

"No way! You're both so wrong! Evan is obviously the better choice for Em. They like the same music. He handled himself really well when that idiot hassled them after the show. They actually talk. Plus he's a smoking hot baseball player." Alex counted off the reasons on her fingers and then held up her whole hand for emphasis.

Emily vaguely listened as her friends debated their opinions about the pros and cons of each boy back and forth. But she knew she had left out a lot of important details of the weekend, most of which had to do with her own feelings. She let their voices drift into the periphery of her senses.

I feel muddled enough as it is and I'm not sure that getting their perspectives is helping or just confusing me more... There's one person's opinion who I know would help me make more sense of things...

By lunchtime Emily could no longer avoid the inevitable when Jenny found her down by her locker.

"I figured you'd be here."

"Well at least we know you can still figure some things out." Emily slammed open her locker door.

Jenny frowned and shifted her backpack. "So do you want to talk now?"

Emily shoved the books into her bag for her next few classes. "May as well get it over with."

She slammed her locker shut. They both slid down the cold metal lockers to sit on the floor beside one another.

Jenny cleared her throat. "I just want to start off by saying that I didn't mean to lie to you."

Emily picked at her cuticles. "Mhm hmm."

Jenny continued, "See, I was at the party and I was so nervous. Everyone was drinking. So I decided it would be easier to, you know, like relax, if I had one too. And it was. So I had a second one and then a third."

She sighed. "At that point, that's when Geoff sat down next to me and started talking to me. We actually started off discussing you. He admitted that he would listen in on our conversations on the bus and he said he thought you were smart and funny."

Emily scoffed. "Sure. Of course he did..."

Jenny touched her arm. "No really! But like, good funny, not weird funny! Then he offered to get me another drink. So I went outside with him to get it."

Jenny paused and then frowned before she rambled on, "And after I finished that drink, the next thing I knew he told me he thought I was pretty and kissed me. I stopped him and said we shouldn't. But when he asked me why, I didn't know what to say because I thought you would be mortified if I told him you had a crush on him. And I was a little bit drunk so I couldn't think of anything else to say."

Emily asked, "Why didn't you just text me that on Saturday night? Or call and tell me on Sunday? Why wait days and days? And then how did you get from there to making plans to go on a date with him before you talked to me about any of it?"

Jenny twisted a hair tie around her finger again and again.

"Charlotte and I slept over Tina's house that night and I was so hung over the next day. And I felt terrible. Not just from the hangover, because I... I really didn't want to ruin our friendship because I was drunk and did something stupid. I figured it wasn't going to happen again so I could just forget about it. Since he talked about how smart and funny you were, and I was just pretty to him, I thought it was just like a stupid thing where he was drunk and I was just there in front of him. Then Charlotte's friends invited me to the beach on Sunday and Geoff was there too. We didn't kiss that day but we talked more and it was more... it felt more normal because we were sober. So then I kind of panicked because I thought that maybe I should tell you. But I wasn't sure how. I just needed more time to figure it out. Then you had so much going on at your Dad's that I hoped maybe you would like one of those boys more. When Geoff asked me out I said yes before really thinking about it. But in a way I hoped he would admit that he really liked me or something because at least it would be better to know that I messed up our friendship for a real reason and not just for a kiss."

Jenny hung her head down and covered her face with her hands.

"That didn't sound right! In fact it sounded horrible. I don't know how to explain how I really feel. I suck at this," she grieved. "The only thing I do know is that you are my best friend and I don't want our friendship to end over a a guy!"

Emily didn't say anything for a long time while she thought of everything Jenny had just said, all she'd experienced for the past ten days, and most importantly the times she'd shared with her best friend over the past two years.

Then she said simply, "I think I get it."

Jenny timidly picked her face up out of her hands. "You do?"

Emily nodded. "The last ten days have been sort of like that for me... Confusing and exciting and scary. Trying to figure out my feelings and not hurt other peoples' feelings. And... and now I understand the stuff about drinking and making a choice that you may need to reevaluate when you sober up. I've really missed being able to talk to you about things. What bothered me the most about what happened between us is that you know about everything about me... and my family... how my parents' marriage ended and... and my brother leaving. So you know how I feel about lying. I can't deal with the people closest to me lying anymore. It hurts too much. Honesty might hurt at first because change is really scary for me, but it's like ripping off a bandage. I'd rather do that then let the wound crust up and fester with a dirty band-aid hiding it."

Jenny sniffled. "I am really so so sorry Em. I promise no more lies, only honesty from now on!"

Emily nodded. "As far as stuff with Geoff... Well he wasn't really person to me. I mean... he was just an idea that I liked. But you're my first real friend. And that matters more to me than any imaginary idea I had about Geoff. So if you need to figure things out with him, then I'll do my best to listen. Although I don't know if I would ever be able to be around you two together because I thought a lot of things about him... it would be incredibly weird for all three of us."

Then Emily joked, "But I'm guessing you won't want me tagging along on your dates with him anyway."

Jenny laughed and leaned over to hug Emily. "I always want you around Em. And if it makes you feel any better, you can show me those shirtless pictures of Evan and Kelly so I can think some stuff about them."