The Jealousy Bit (Part 2)

So, I told you all last time about Peter asking Claire to go on a date and the foolish way I conducted myself afterwards.  Well, here’s the promised details of the horrid date!

I rode my bike to the theater and met Marco out front at 4:00 yesterday afternoon.  We went to the dollar theater, which shows movies that have been out of the theater for a while for $1 or $2, depending on the time of the showing and if it’s in 2-D or 3-D.  We got tickets to see The Hobbit, and went inside and stood around the concession counter.  Marco bought us popcorn while I watched and waited to see Peter.  After a few moments, I saw Peter, Claire, Anthony, and Angela all walk in.  Anthony and Angela walked over and got in line for popcorn, so I turned away really quick, hoping neither of them saw me.

Marco and I stood around, me watching out the corner of my eye, until Peter and his group went into the theater and then we followed them.  I led the way to seats right behind Peter and Claire.

I’m not sure if he saw me, or if he felt me giving him one of those looks that could freeze oil, but he turned around and saw me.  We locked eyes, and then he noticed Marco.  He looked angrier than I had ever seen him.  Well, good.  He turned away from us, and I could see that he crossed his arms and looked pouty.  He kept glancing over his shoulder at me, and I would make a face at him.  I guess I did that one time too many, because Peter took Claire’s hand in his and looked over his shoulder at me with a smug look on his face.

I don’t know what came over me.  I felt like I had a fever, but only on the inside.  I grabbed a whole handful of popcorn and threw it at Claire and Peter as hard as I could.  Peter turned around and threw a handful of his popcorn right back at me, and Claire shouted, “You stop that right now, Wendy Stein!”  Well, we all got into a shouting and popcorn throwing match right there in the theater.  Anthony and Angela tried to get us to all stop the commotion, but we weren’t listening to them.  We weren’t even listening to each other… just all being mad and horrible.  I’m so ashamed to think back on it now.  Marco was so embarrassed that he tried to leave, but before he could, an usher came and asked us all to leave the theater.  Less than twenty minutes into the movie, and we were all thrown out and told that we were banned for the next month.

But as soon as we were out of the theater and onto the sidewalk outside, Claire shoved me as hard as she could and I fell onto the pavement.  “I hate you!” she shouted.  “You ruined everything because you were jealous that Peter wanted me instead of you!”  And the worst part of it was that she was right.  I knew she was.  This whole thing had been my fault.  I should have left well enough alone instead of butting into Peter’s date and trying to make things difficult for him.  Claire, who lived within walking distance of the theater, ran off in the direction of her house, as Peter helped me up.  Marco called his mom to come pick him up and walked as far away from us as he possibly could, and Anthony and Angela walked across the street to the frozen yogurt shop… probably more to get away from me and Peter than anything else.

As soon as we were alone, I tried to say that I was sorry, but before I could open my mouth, Peter started to speak.  “I don’t like you dating Marco,” he said quietly.  “Well, I don’t like you dating Claire,” I replied.  He smiled a little smile and said, “I didn’t like it either.”

I couldn’t help but feel a little better.  I should have known better than to really think Peter would want to go out with Claire.  We apologized to each other right then and agreed to apologize to both Claire and Marco.  We also agreed to pay them, Anthony, and Angela back for their tickets and popcorn, since it was our fault no one saw the movie.  We agreed then that we wouldn’t be dating anyone else.  We’re still not boyfriend and girlfriend and we're not dating, but our understanding has been slightly adjusted… I guess you’d call it an exclusive understanding.  But I made myself a solemn promise that I would never do anything that embarrassing and foolish over a boy again.  I used to make fun of my older sisters, and I now I feel like I’m turning into them!  And I’m not even a teenager yet!