How You Get the Girl

I am the Last Virgin on the Planet

I stood in the hallway for awhile trying not to freak out. I told myself that Clare was just trying to make trouble between Ben and I. I had no reason to trust her and every reason to trust Ben. Besides, if Ben was a player, there would have to have been some rumors about it at school wouldn't there? I had heard nothing. No, Clare was just being a bitch. Feeling calmer I went back into the gym and all but ran into Kenzie.

Being my usual tactful self, I immediately blurted out, "How crazy is Clare?"

"What?" she asked "Why? What happened Harper?"

"She just corned me in the hallway and sort of implied that Ben had cheated on her and that he was going to cheat on me," I explained.

Kenzie's eyes got wide. "You don't actually think that's true, do you?" she asked.

I felt better the minute I saw her reaction. "No, of course not. It's ridiculous isn't it?"

"Of course, it's ridiculous. He would never cheat on you," she reassured me. "Clare was always crazy. She loves drama."

"Thanks, I shouldn't have let her get to me," I replied gratefully.

"Don't worry about it. Who wouldn't freak out if their boyfriend's crazy ex came up to them and started saying that stuff? I'll talk to you later. I have another bout," she told me and walked away.

But I realized as I watched her go, she had not actually said that Ben had never cheated on Clare. Then I shook myself. Don't be silly. She made it pretty clear she thought it was ridiculous. Ben would never do something like that. You're just letting Clare get to you, I told myself. You need to trust Ben.

I went back to the bleachers to watch with Mrs. Ryan. Mr. Ryan had come while I was away. I had spent less time with him than with Ben's mom but he seemed nice and happy enough that I was there. Kenzie ended up coming in third in women's epee, which was pretty impressive. Ben won men's foil.

Ben's mom and dad left after Ben's last bout but Ben and Kenzie needed to stick around until the medal ceremony since they had done so well. I figured it was time for me to head out too. Ben and Kenzie were back over with their team. I was sitting on the bleachers by myself getting ready to go over to them and say goodbye when my phone buzzed. I looked down and smiled. It was a text from Chip. This time he had texted me about a new book on Frank Gehry that he thought I would like to know about. I texted him back to thank him for letting me know and told him I would definitely read it. Then I told him about a great documentary I had just watched on I.M. Pie, another famous architect, that he should try to see. When I looked up I saw that Ben had come over

"Hey," I said.

"Hey, are you texting Beth?" he asked.

"Um, no," I told him. Why had he come over just as I was texting Chip? He was still weird about my friendship with him. "I was just texting Chip about that I.M. Pie documentary I had told you about."

"Oh," Ben said.

I blinked. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," he said.

"Okay," I answered. "I was going to go since your done fencing and all."

"Sure, fine," he said. He seemed not fine though.

"Are we okay? I'll stay if you want me to," I told him. He had closed down.

"Go," he answered.

He was not fine. When Ben gave one-word answers, I knew he was not fine. Screw Clare for having messed with my head. Ben was a great guy. She was just being a crazy ex. I might not be an expert at the dating thing yet but I had figured out a few things and one of those things was that leaving Ben to brood did not ever help things between us. I was staying.