Lisa Danforth

Through the rest of April, Brendan seemed to become very depressed. He ate less and wouldn't show up to school for days at a time. The few times a week he did show up, his face was pale, his eyes were dull and he looked as if he wasn't getting any sleep. I was worried about him. At the social, he'd mentioned some "issues" that he had to sort out, and he didn't want anyone else getting involved. But that wasn't about to stop me from helping my best friend. I approached him during school one day. "Brendan, what's been going on?"
    "What are you talking about?" he asked, yawning.
    "That is what I'm talking about. Brendan, you've been ditching school, you look sick and you're always tired. Something's going on and I want to help you." I reached to take his hand, but he wouldn't let me.
    "No," he responded flatly. "I told you, I don't want to get anyone else involved. This is something I need to deal with by myself."
    "Brendan, you're just a kid. You can't play Superman and do everything."
    "Well neither can you!" His exhaustion suddenly seemed to snap and he was shouting at me. "You're not my mother, Cassi! Face it, you're just another one of the kids at school." With that, he turned and walked away. Those words stung more than anything anyone had ever said to me before.
    I skipped lunch for the next week. Then one day I finally decided to show up, and Lisa Danforth was sitting beside Brendan in my seat. That right there threw me off. Without it being required by the administration, there was a basic seating chart in the cafeteria. The popular kids drifted toward the very center, at the heart of everyone's attention; the jocks sat directly in the back toward the center; the gamers sat all the way back to either side of the jocks, and then anyone else just sat at whatever tables were left. My table was one of the random tables just throughout the cafeteria. At my table, we had our own miniature seating chart. And at the table I was at everyday, we had our own miniature seating chart. Brendan always sat to my left and Jess always sat to my right. Mike sat next to Brendan and whoever felt like sitting with us usually occupied the other four seats. So when I walked in and saw Lisa sitting in my seat, my temper flared. I walked over to her and tapped her on the shoulder. "Lisa, I'm sorry but you're in my seat. Could you move?"
    "No. It's not your seat. I don't see your name written on it or anything."
    "I've sat there every day since the beginning of the year. It's my seat. Now get up and move or I'll move you."
    She stood up before I could act on my threat. "Fine. Come on Brendan, we'll go sit over at my table." And that's when it clicked. Brendan and Lisa were dating. And I already knew who had set them up. Brendan threw me an apologetic look before standing. I scoffed at him and opened my sandwich, knowing I wouldn't be able to eat. He walked off with Lisa and sat down at a table where I had a perfect view of them. I turned to Jessica to avoid the nausea that was rumbling in my stomach. "Why would you do something like that Jess?"
    "Because. She's liked him just as long as you have. And since he wasn't going to date you, I thought there wouldn't be any harm is seeing if he'd date her. And he did."
    I fumed. "This is bullshit, Jessica. He told me he didn't want to get anyone involved with his issues. And that if he did date, I was the 'first person on his list'. So what does he do? He goes behind my back and dates Lisa. Who he knows I can't stand. You were the one that set them up, knowing that I like him and knowing that he likes me. I get that you're jealous because this is one guy that won't choose you over me, Jessica, but this was a lousy decision on your part." I stood up and walked off, leaving my untouched sandwich sitting on the table on the Saran Wrap.
    I didn't talk to Jessica for the next week. I didn't even look at Brendan and every time I was forced to talk to Lisa (I was tutoring her), my words were hard, cold and even. I felt that the only person I had to vent to now was Mike. He agreed with any rude things I had to say about Jess, but when it came to Brendan, he would only say that it was a phase that he'd be over soon. I hoped that Mike was right. Hoped, prayed and wished. Finally, after a difficult three weeks, Jessica approached me at my locker, a smile glowing on her face. She and I were talking again, though I was still angry with Brendan. I assumed the smile had something to do with a boy, so I asked, "What's his name?"
    "Brendan." I looked up. She smiled even bigger. "He's breaking up with Lisa at lunch today."
    Whoa, I thought. Didn't see that coming. "Are you sure?" I asked her, debating trusting her.
    "I'm positive. He told me yesterday. He said that she's too clingy." Her words seemed to hang there, as if she had more to say. Grudgingly, she added, "Also that he's sick of fighting with you. Which personally, I think is stupid. I mean, I love you to death, don't get me wrong, but I think that's a bad reason to break up with someone." I looked at her with disbelief. She responded with a shrug. "It's the truth," she said.
    "No. I don't think so. Whatever. We'll see what happens at lunch." And see what happens, we did. When I walked in, Lisa was sitting at her table, and Brendan was nowhere in sight. Jessica was in the lunch line, Mike trailing behind her. They had calmed down to the point where they could be within two feet of each other without screaming, but they were far from being friends. I sat down in my seat and waited. What I was waiting for, I wasn't entirely sure. Suddenly, I looked up at Lisa and saw Brendan sitting beside her. They were talking and she was trying to grab his hand, but he kept pulling it away. There was a lot of head-shaking and shoulder-shrugging. Finally, he stood up and turned away, walking over to our table. Lisa's eyes brimmed over with tears and she stood and walked out of the cafeteria. I grinned triumphantly. Go Iverson, I thought. He sat beside me. I didn't say anything. Brendan looked up at me with his big, brown eyes, a sad look in them, as if he was giving me the puppy dog face. I glanced at him, looked away and looked back again. I sighed deeply. "Stop looking at me like that, Brendan. I'm not mad at you anymore."
    "You're not?" I shook my head. "Thank God. If I'd known that all I'd needed to do to make you not mad at me anymore was to break up with Lisa, then I would have done that days ago. This has been torture, Cassi."
    "Well next time you date someone Brendan, don't pick Lisa." He looked guilty for a second, but I smiled brightly at him to show him I was joking and he gave me his smile again, the one that I always fell for.