…And Then…I Kissed Her

By: Jamie Sommers

Rated: PG 13 (for language)

Synopsis: Landon Carter just got sentenced to do the school play and he needs help. Jamie Sullivan has agreed to give him a hand on one condition…he has to promise not to fall in love with her.

Chapter 3: What Play?

When I got to Jamie’s house the next day she was sitting on her porch swing with a pitcher of iced tea and a plate of cookies placed on the small table beside her. Her script was lying in her lap and her head was tilted to the side, like she was looking over her shoulder, but her eyes were closed and her breathing was shallow. She was asleep. I couldn’t help but grin when I saw her like that. She really looked innocent, like a little girl almost. ‘A little girl, with really pretty hair. Holy shi... You’d better snap out of this Landon. This is Jamie Sullivan you’re looking at, not some girl.’

I must’ve made some noise because she opened her eyes up and looked at me. “Hi.” She said it so softly I wasn’t sure if it was her or the afternoon breeze.

I walked up to her and made a gesture towards the empty seat next to her on the swing, “May I?”

“Please do.” She skootched over and made a little more room for me. “So how was your day?”

‘How was my day? She’s asking me about my day?’ “Ummm. Fine.” ‘Don’t be rude Landon. Ask her about hers.’ “How was yours?”

“Pretty good. So how’d you do on the pop quiz in history today?”

“Welllllll….”

“Oh, come on Carter. It wasn’t that bad. It could’ve been worse.”

“How’s that?”

“Coulda been a pop quiz on what’s in the school cafeteria’s lasagna. Did you see that stuff today? I couldn’t believe anybody would actually eat it.”

We both started laughing, I mean really laughing and I thought, ‘well what’d ya know, Jamie Sullivan has a sense of humor.’ It’s not that it was all that funny; it’s just…well for the first time I actually felt comfortable with her.

“So, how’d you do on it…the test?” I asked her.

“Pretty good actually. I got an eighty eight.”

“How about you?”

“Ummm…niiiinmmethriye.” I mumbled. I had to be careful here, I didn’t want my reputation as a rebellious, misunderstood, hormonal teenage boy getting tarnished.

“What?”

I cleared my throat and said, “Ninety Three.” ‘What the hell, we’ll tarnish it.’

“YOU got a ninety three?”

‘Hey. It could happen. It DID happen.’ “Yeah. You don’t have to look so shocked you know.”

“It’s just that I never expected you of all people to get…”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Me of all people?” We were still kind of chuckling back and forth but something inside me really wanted to know what she meant by that.

“Well you haven’t exactly spent your high school career concentrating on your scholastics.”

“How do you know?” All traces of humor were completely gone from my voice.

She looked at me so seriously and said, “I guess I don’t know.” After a minute of us looking at each other she said, “So?”

“So what?”

“Have you been?” she put her hands on my lap and kind of shook me.

“Been what??” I put my hands on her lap and mimicked her.

“Been concentrating on your scholastics?”

“Wellllll…” I scratched my chin and looked upward trying to act all innocent and we both busted up laughing.

“Oh, Landon.”

I don’t know if that was the first time she called me Landon or if it was the way she said it, but I kinda liked it when she called me that.

“You know Carter, you’re pretty funny.”

‘Ah, so we’re back to Carter.’

“So, where’s your father?”

“At the church. That’s why we have to stay on the porch today.”

“Oh.” ‘I suppose it’ll be okay to sit out front this once.’

“Is that okay?”

“Yeah. It’s fine. I’m kind of relieved actually.”

“Why is that?”

“Because your dad hates me.”

“It’s not that he hates you Landon. He’s just concerned about the path you’re choosing to take with your life.” She leaned over and picked up the pitcher of iced tea and began pouring two glasses. “I don’t think it’s possible for my father to hate someone. I don’t believe anyone can truly say they HATE someone.”

“How can you say that? Thank you,” she handed me a glass of tea. “How can you say that no one is capable of hate?”

“Because I believe that people are basically good at heart.”

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me? So you’re telling me that Adolf Hitler was basically a good person. Oh, I know…I know…he was just a misunderstood racist.”

“That’s not what I’m saying. What I’m saying is that hate is a very strong word…”

We sat there for hours and went back and forth about different topics. News, sports, food, you name it, Jamie and I debated it. Funny thing was, we had more in common than I had ever imagined. ‘Don’t let her know that Carter.’

Her father got home sometime around 7pm, “How’s the play rehearsal coming?”

‘Play rehearsal?’

We both answered at the same time. “Fine.”

When he walked into the house we just looked at each other and started giggling. We hadn’t even cracked open our scripts yet and I thought, ‘geez Landon. When was the last time you giggled?’

“Listen. I better go.”

“But Landon,” she whispered, “we haven’t even run any lines yet.”

“That’s okay, we’ll make up for it tomorrow.” I winked at her and gathered up my stuff. “So I’ll see you after school then?”

“I’m looking forward to it.” She got up and walked me to the stairs and as I turned around to walk to my car I realized that I was looking forward to it too.

Coming Soon…

Chapter 4: