CHAPTER 21

I have to admit that Mr. Thomas' statements proved very true as I knew they would. However I did not expect to see it so quickly. We had no sooner arrived at the local theater, we were in line to get tickets when I noticed several older people eyeing us up. You could see by the look on their face they did not approve of Jasmin and I being together. I'm not sure if Jasmin noticed, I tried to make small talk to keep her preoccupied. I purchased the tickets, we got two Cokes and a large popcorn from the concession stand and entered the theater. We were walking up the ramp towards the back rows then I saw Kelly and her boyfriend sitting on the end of the aisle, right in front of us. I could tell from the look on Kelly's face, she was stunned to see us together. They said hello as we passed them and headed up to the back row. We found two seats in the middle and sat down, it was not very crowded. Jasmin leaned over to me and whispered in my ear.

"I'm really sorry Brian, I am guessing before the end of the night, Courtney will know we were together.", she said softly.

"It's ok Jasmin. She dumped me, remember ?", I answered.

That seemed to reassure her somewhat, she leaned back in her seat. The movie was pretty good, we both enjoyed it. It was about nine thirty when the movie let out, we decided to grab a burger and fries before going home. We got to the diner at about ten, it was packed. It seemed like half the school was inside, there was a line waiting for a table. We got in line, it took about thirty minutes to be seated. By the time we were shown to our booth, I'm sure we would be the talk of the school on Monday. Everyone kept looking at us, you could tell they were all wondering what the hell was going on.

I could tell Jasmin had noticed, she seemed somewhat uncomfortable as she nervously scanned the crowd. I reached over and touched her hand softly causing her to turn to me.

"Jasmin, ignore it, it's their problem not ours. Don't let other people ruin the evening, just have fun.", I urged.

She did just that. For close to two hours we sat and talked, laughed and generally cut up, having a good time. We left the diner just after eleven to head back to her house. We arrived there about eleven thirty, I pulled into her driveway.

"Thanks Brian, I had a good time tonight. You really make me feel comfortable, like you don't expect anything from me.", she told me.

"I had a good time too, Jasmin.", I replied.

"Look, call me Jazzy, everyone else does.", she asked.

"Ok, I will.", I responded, opening my door.

I walked around my truck, opening the door for Jasmin, letting her out. I walked her to the front door, where she paused to fish her keys from her pocket. With keys in hand she turned to me and stepped close, putting her arms around my waist and stepping up on her toes. I leaned down and pressed my lips to hers softly. For close to a minute, we kissed softly, slowly with no urgency. Without a doubt Jasmin was the absolute best kisser I had ever experienced. Her lips were thick and moist, she ever so briefly teased me with her tongue. By the time she pulled away from me, my heart was racing. She once again wished me goodnight as she stepped inside of her house.

I could tell by the time the bell rang for homeroom Monday morning, everybody who was anybody had already heard about Jasmin and I being out on Saturday night. As I sat down in the homeroom I could feel the eyes on me, actually it was kind of funny. I had my next class with both Jasmine and Courtney, I figured it would be interesting to say the least. I was one of the first to arrive, so I sat down and began to get organized for the class. Within a few moments class had filled up, our teacher arrived settling everyone down. As I glanced towards the opposite side of the room I caught Courtney staring at me. She had a blank look on her face, so it was difficult to judge what she had on her mind. Soon we were headed for our lunch period, all of the seniors ate at the same time. I was late getting to the cafeteria, so everyone was pretty much served and seated by the time I got in line. I paid for my lunch and as I turned to scan the room for a seat, I saw Jasmin waved at me, motioning me to join her. I moved quickly across the room and sat down directly across from her. It seemed the entire cafeteria was intently focusing on us and what we were doing. I happen to notice one of our teachers, Mr. Higgins, watching us as well. I went back to my conversation with Jasmine and thought nothing of it. Later that day upon arriving in Mr. Higgins' physics class, he pulled me to the side away from the rest of the class.

"Brian, do you really think it's a good idea for you to be seeing Jasmine Thomas in a social setting ?", he asked, very quietly.

"We are just friends Mr. Higgins, it's no big deal.", I answered.

"It's a big deal to a lot of people Brian. I wouldn't want to see you ruin your record here when you're this close to graduating.", he warned.

"How could I ruin my record by dating Jasmine ? Are you serious Mr. Higgins ?", I shot back in a no nonsense tone.

"Ok, Ok Brian, I was just trying to be helpful.", he answered, walking back to his desk.

It really surprised me that one of our own teachers could have such a narrow minded view of things. But then again, I had learned that a lot of people pretend to be something they are not in public, but deep down they are completely the opposite. By the time school let out on Friday, the prom was just about the only thing everyone was talking about. It would be held next Saturday night in the next town over at a large hotel, they had a huge ballroom. There was nothing in our town big enough, unless you wanted to use the gym, which was the old stand by. Everyone had agreed to use the hotel, even though it would be more expensive.