A Long Time Coming part 1

A Story of Life and Love

Friendship

Another week of school was over, much to Simon's dismay. There was a time once that the end of the school day would find all of the Chipmunks and Chipettes meeting at their locker group to discuss their plans for the weekend. Now, however, the final bell found only Simon and Jeanette at their lockers. This was due mainly to the fact that in their freshmen and sophomore years, Alvin and Theo had finally gotten the courage up to ask their love interests in the Chipettes. By now, Alvin and Britney would be at the recording studio arguing over who was more famous, or else making out in the back of Britney's car. Theo and Ellie however, were probably staying after to use the Home Ec room working on a new recipe and talking.

Simon, though a little jealous, thought of his brothers as lucky, they had at least found a girl to be happy with. While as far as he knew, despite his recent stint in the schools weight training class to at least look more appealing, none of the girls in school found him even remotely attractive. When he thought about it, this situation was probably due to his unwillingness to take fashion tips from Alvin and Britney. In fact, the only girls he really hung out with on a regular basis were the Chipettes. Yet even then, the only one of his friends who could really relate to and understand Simon was Jeanette, who at that moment rounded the corner and walked towards him.

"Hey there Simon" said Jeanette unenthusiastically. "Hey there Jeanette, what happened to you today that put you in such a mood?" Simon asked.

"Oh it's nothing"

"Are you sure?" he replied worry slowly creeping up his insides.

"Yeah, besides, if I was going to tell you I certainly wouldn't want to tell you here." She responded with added venom on the word "here". If Simon didn't know her any better, he could swear that she hated school.

"Well, if you have something bugging you, perhaps we should discuss this in a more private spot?"

"Yeah, I'd really like that Si."

Now Simon knew something big was up with Jeanette. She only ever used his pet name when she was either really excited or really upset. Since she clearly wasn't enthused, he figured he had best approach this situation with care.

By the time they had driven over to the park, Jeanette's mood had at least improved slightly. Simon parked the car and turned the engine off, looking at his friend out of the corner of his eye, he saw her looking out the window at a cluster of trees in the distance just outside of the parks boundary line.

"You want to go for a walk?" he offered.

"Yeah that seems like just the sort thing I need to do to cheer up." She said with a shy smile.

As they approached a fork in the path, for the first time Simon noticed an almost undefined dirt road off to the side. "Hey Jeanette." he said.

"Huh" she replied snapping out of a daze.

"Have you ever seen that path before?"

"Well… yeah." She answered with a little confusion in her tone. "Have you already forgotten?" she asked.

"Forgotten what, exactly?" Now it was his turn to be confused.

"That's the path to my sisters and my old tree house, you know, the one we lived in before we were adopted by Miss Miller."

" Really? How come I don't remember that?" he asked.

"Well, when we lived there it was usually only Alvin who came to visit us. Now we both know that he was just trying to spend more time with Britney, but at the time my sisters and I always thought he came over to escape from Dave when he messed up."

"So that's where he always disappeared to", Simon thought to himself. "How come you guys never invited us over? I don't even know what your old home looks like."

"Well, we did invite you over. Several times, in fact", She answered, "But you were always so busy, and besides, I really didn't want you to see how we lived. It would be too embarrassing."

"Why would you be embarrassed to let me see how you guys lived?" Simon asked, slightly hurt.

"Because, if you did, you might have become more stressed out than you already were."

"Were you all living that badly?"

"No, no, nothing like that, I just didn't want you to worry about us is all." Jeanette answered emphatically. "In fact, we were really comfortable where we were."

"Oh, I see…" Simon trailed off sounding hurt. Jeanette looked at him with care in her eyes. They really were beautiful, her eyes. Simon began to wonder to himself why he had never noticed that about her before.

"You have lovely eyes Jeanette" he blurted out, "I've never noticed that before but you really have a lovely shade of jade green eyes"

"Really?" she said while her cheeks began to glow a slight shade of pink. "I've never been told that before. You're not playing a joke on me are you?"

"Joking? Please, no one would joke about that. That would just be too cruel."

"Don't I know it." He heard her mumble.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, concerned.

"Nothing, it's just something that happened at school today is all."

"Well, why don't we go to your old home and talk about it."

"You just want to see my old house" she replied bitterly.

"While my curiosity is definitely a part of it, the other half is the fact that there is also a small gang of tough guys checking you out behind us and I think if we have to run, its much better to do it in a place that we have the advantage in."

"Oh!" she said after she looked behind them to see the group that Simon was describing leering at her without even trying to hide their intentions from their expressions. "Maybe you're right about that running thing."

"Care to lead so you have a buffer between them?"

"You really think they would try anything?"

"Not really but better safe than sorry". "Alright" she said as she led him into the woods where the twilight quickly enveloped them in the shadows.

"How did she find her way home in the winter when there was no light after six?" he silently wondered. "Maybe she sees better when she knows where she's going." But that was a question for another day.

"So, what exactly happened at school that has you this upset?"

Jeanette sighed, "Well you know that I'm not the most popular girl at school right?"

"Well I know that other girls don't generally hang around you unless they are trying to scam you into doing their homework for them" he said, "As for popular, I thought you had risen above that. Neither of us is exactly popular."

"Well, popular or no, what happened still hurt like hell."

"And I notice you still haven't told me what happened to you. Did someone mess with you about not being popular?"

"They messed with me all right but I wish they had just Said that I wasn't popular. Instead, this ass hole on the basketball team flirted with me all day in our classes in front of everyone until I thought that he was serious and asked if he wanted to hang out and see a movie this Sunday" as she got to this part, she started to tear up and Simon had a pretty good idea about what was coming.

"Don't tell me this douche turned you down." He said with pure hate in his voice.

"If only, instead he starts laughing at the top of his lungs and when he finally calms down, he says that he would… rather have both his legs broken than go out with a…a nerd like m-me." By this point she was crying to the point that her face was flooded with tears.

Simon reached out his arms hesitantly trying to hug Jeanette when she rushed into his embrace and sobbed into his chest. "How dare that fucker hurt his Jeanette" he thought. Wait, "his Jeanette"? He had never thought of Jeanette like that, but he had to admit that the idea endeared itself to him somehow. "Was this what his brothers felt for the Chipettes?"

After a while her tears started to subside and the sobs that wracked her body petered out into soft whimpers. Simon had no idea what to do; he had no experience with this sort of thing. The only thing he dared to do was rub his hand up and down her back and try to soothe her. It was now almost completely dark. After Jeanette had calmed down some more, she let go of Simon's shirt and backed up clumsily.

"Sorry about that" she mumbled, "I don't know what came over me."

"No need to apologize" he said, "If it doesn't bother you too much, do you know this jerks name?"

"Yeah" she sniffled, "I know his name. Why do you want to know?"

"No reason" he replied, "I just want to know so my anger at least has a focus"

"Oh Simon, violence never solved anything."

"Maybe not, but I won't be the one getting violent, that will be up to Britney."

"NO!" she yelled, "she'd never understand. She's always been popular and she wouldn't understand why it hurts so much. She's never been rejected." Jeanette sounded almost envious of that last part.

"Well I don't keeping secrets" Simon fumed, "but if you really don't want her to know, then who am I to say otherwise."

"Thank you Simon, thank you so much for understanding" she said, as she hugged him with relief.

"Well, that aside" Simon sputtered, his cheeks now slightly red, "we should save this trip up to your old home for a day when there is more light."

Jeanette stared at him in confusion, her eyes red from crying, until she realized that it was now full dark, and they were in a dead zone for cell phone reception. "Well the poor reception would explain why no one has called us about where we are." Simon remarked.

"Miss Miller must be having a fit about where I am!" Jeanette exclaimed, "And I forgot my phone at home!"

"Don't freak out yet Jeanette, my phone is right here and I have your home number, let's just find a place with reception and I'll make the call. Besides, they probably think that we're at the library or something like that."

"Oh yeah, I remember when we would do that all the time." she said, "Why did we ever stop, we had fun."

"Because, we started to take different classes, remember." Simon explained as the two began to walk back towards the path.

When they finally reached the path, the first thing that Simon did was look for the thugs he saw earlier. Luckily, they were nowhere to be seen and Simon felt it was safe to proceed. When they reached his car Simon pulled out his phone, relieved to see that he had a few bars and called Jeanettes home first. It took a couple of rings but finally someone answered.

"Hello?" the other person said, Simon recognized the voice as Ellie.

"Hey Eleanor, its Simon, Is Miss Miller there?"

"Oh thank God it's you Simon, is Jeanie there?" Eleanor asked with obvious concern in her voice.

"Yeah, she's here and she's fine, we just got a little lost in the park is all." He replied.

"Oh, thank god, we were watching the news and this gang of thugs were arrested near the park and we were worried when we couldn't get a hold of either of you two."

Simon decided not to mention the fact that he thought they had seen the very thugs in the park just a couple hours ago. "Yeah Eleanor we're both fine and I'm driving Jeanette home to you guys now. Let Miss Miller know, alright?"

"Alright then Simon, see you later, bye."

"Bye." He said as he hung up.

"Well now that that's sorted out, what do you say we get you home?"

"Alright" Jeanette said with a smile.

As they drove to her house, they talked about other things that had happened at school that week including, Jeanettes new outfit that Britney had helped her pick out, Simon's latest award in science, and Jeanettes story she was working on. The story had been her pet project throughout middle school and had all but been forgotten by her in high school until just that year. Nevertheless, she found the words just as easy to write as ever. Simon really did like that about her, despite her admitted clumsiness which had been her trademark in middle school and freshmen year; she really had a way with the written word. And as her best friend Simon had the pleasure to proofread all of her stories before anyone on the web had the chance to criticize, though criticism was rare, in fact, he had only ever heard of 1 negative review, and that had been a prank of Alvin's. Now that he thought about it, he also realized just how much Jeanette had changed since they first met. Instead of clumsiness, he now only saw her walk with a certain grace that other girls would have envied surely. And despite what her loose clothes hinted at, Simon remembered last summer when he had seen Jeanette in a bikini; she really had a perfect figure, nice flat stomach, supple curves, and perfectly proportioned features. "Maybe" he thought to himself, "the reason I was angry at that basketball player is because I was protective". "But protective of what, his best friend certainly, but perhaps him and Jeanette could be more than friends?"

So for the last half of the ride, while Jeanette talked about her classes, Simon planned how best to bring up the thought that had entered his mind and refused to leave.

"So what do you think Simon?"

"What?" he said, snapping out of his thoughts.

"Do you think that I should help Melissa with her English project or not?"

Crap, he had no idea who Melissa was but decided to wing it. "Honestly, I don't think you should help her face to face. Instead, have her email you what she already has written and just critique her work. That way she learns and you help without doing all of the work."

"That is a great idea Simon" Jeanette exclaimed, "Why didn't I think of that? You really are a great friend."

"Perhaps more than just friend?" Simon blurted out before he could stop himself. Almost immediately after he thought, "SHIT!!! Why did I say that out loud?!?!" while he cussed himself out inside his head, Jeanette sat in silence letting those 5 words wash over her. As she sat and thought a faint color rose in her cheeks and the thought of Simon and her together made her heart race faster than anything ever had.

When he pulled up to Jeanettes house, she got out almost as soon as the car stopped, and walked up the steps to her home slowly. Seeing this as a hint to ask her out, Simon rushed after her until he caught her on the steps of her porch.

"Jeanette, would you maybe want to go out with me on a date this weekend?" he asked praying that she would say yes.

"Simon," she began, "so much has happened to me today that I really just need some space to breathe, sorry but no. I mean, you're a great guy and an awesome friend but I really just don't want to mess up the one thing that's right in this world for me." Simon hung his head and mumbled out "Sorry."

"I'm really sorry Si. Goodnight." With that she hugged him, a hug he did not return, and went inside.

When Simon got home he went up to his room, his brothers having long ago taken up different rooms, laid down on the bed and cried as he thought of Jeanette.

TO BE CONTINUED IN:
A LONG TIME COMING PART 2

REALIZATION