It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single fourteen-year-old girl in possession of the newest N*Sync CD must be in want of a boyfriend.
Jessica came home from school one Friday afternoon to find that her parents were not home yet. She picked up the phone eagerly. She dialed her best friend’s number.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Wendy. It’s me, Jessica.”
“Oh, hi Jessica. What’s up?”
“Do you want to go with me to the mall to pick up the new N*Sync CD?”
“Sure! I’ll meet you there at five, okay?”
“Sounds great. Bye!”
“Bye!”
Jessica hung up the phone. She looked outside; her parents’ car was not in sight. She made herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and she sat down at the table to eat it. “I can’t wait to hear the new CD!” she said to herself. “It must really be something!”
It had not been a long time when she heard her parents pull up the driveway. As soon as they walked in the door, she inquired, “Can either of you take me to the mall to meet Wendy?”
Her mother looked at her with a questionable expression on her face. “What are you going to do there? Look at boys?”
Jessica rolled her eyes. “No, Mom. We want to get the new N*Sync CD!”
Her mother seemed satisfied. “Well, okay. Just give me a minute to get ready.”
Jessica’s mother walked out of the kitchen. Jessica’s father looked at his daughter with skepticism; he knew that young teenage girls do not go to the mall just to buy N*Sync CDs. But he figured that as long as she just looked at boys, it was safe.
Jessica and her mother soon left the house. The mall was not far; it was perhaps seven miles away. They pulled up in front of JCPenney’s and Jessica jumped out of the car. Her mother told her to call when she was ready to be picked up; but she was not to stay out past eight.
Jessica walked over to Fye, where she knew Wendy would be waiting for her. Along the way, she saw her classmate, Brad, looking around in Electronics Boutique. She hated Brad; he was obnoxious, loud, and rude. He was always fooling around in class and flirting with all the girls. Jessica walked by the store quickly, making sure not to look at him.
She soon arrived at Fye. She walked in, and spotted Wendy immediately. She went over to her, and found that she had already discovered the display of new N*Sync CDs.
“Do let us have a little music!” giggled Wendy in a fake English accent.
“But of course!” replied Jessica.
They stared in awe at the beautiful display for quite some time. They didn’t notice the group of boys from their school that had entered the store. They noticed the girls immediately, and jabbed each other in the arms as they sneered at them.
Jessica soon realized that they were being watched, and she nudged Wendy. They both looked up, and the boys laughed. Jessica noticed that Brad was among them, and she rolled her eyes. She looked at her friend and said, in a voice loud enough for the whole store to hear, “Come on, Wendy. Let’s buy our stuff and leave. We don’t need to stick around to entertain the likes of them.”
The boys snickered, but they only did so in order to cover up their embarrassment. Brad was impressed; he had never met a girl so outspoken before. He followed Jessica with his eyes as she and Wendy walked up to the counter to pay for their CDs. The girls left the store, and immediately Brad told his friends that he had to go.
Brad followed the girls out of the store, but stayed behind them at a safe distance. They walked into Victoria’s Secret, and, against his better judgment, Brad followed them in.
Jessica knew that Brad was following them, but she did not inform Wendy of this fact. She wanted to embarrass him as much as possible. She deliberately stopped short in her tracks, and Brad bumped right into her. She turned around, and she smiled innocently at him.
“Why, hello there, Brad. What brings you here? Shopping for your sister or something?”
Brad could not help blushing. “Um, er, um…” He struggled for words; he did not expect to be caught.
Jessica looked at Wendy, and they both giggled. She then turned back to Brad and said smoothly, “My good opinion, once lost, is lost forever, Brad. You can’t make me like you.”
Brad was finally able to compose himself, and he feigned surprise. “Whatever could you mean, Jessica? You could never tempt me.”
“Good,” she replied, and she and Wendy left the store.
Brad could not help following them. He was bewitched by Jessica, he was certain. He simply could not force himself to walk away. He just had to follow her.
Jessica soon realized that Brad had not left them alone. She was becoming very heated, and she knew that she had to get him to leave. She turned around and waiting for him to catch up. Wendy, realizing what Jessica was doing, turned around as well, and crossed her arms in front of herself. Brad approached slowly, but just as Jessica opened her mouth to say something, he held up his hand, and said:
“Jessica, let me speak. You misunderstand me; I am not only the person that you see in class. I do have another side to me; a sensitive, nice-guy side. Please, give me a chance. Let me prove to you that I am worth your time. Please!”
Jessica was not sure whether he was joking or not. He sounded sincere, but since when was Brad sincere? She decided to play it safe.
“I’ll make you a deal, Brad. You be nice to me and my friends for one week, and I’ll consider dating you.”
Brad’s eyes lit up. “Oh, thank you, thank you, Jessica! You won’t be sorry, I promise!” And with that he turned around and walked away quickly.
Wendy looked at her friend in amazement. “Do you realize what you’ve just done?” she cried. “I mean, that’s Brad for crying out loud! You know how he is!”
Jessica smiled. “Oh, I know,” she replied in a calm tone of voice. “But I am not so mean as to resent the past.” And with that, she turned and walked towards the exit.