If Only She'd Loved Him

Chapter 20

Friday 7:00 pm

"Did you find something?" Matt asked.  He was at Jean's side in an instant. 

"I'm not sure," she frowned, sorting the papers at her feet. "I think so.  These kind of look like personal notes or diary entries, but none of the dates make any sense.  Remind me to buy Megan an organizer book for Christmas.  This loose-leaf system of hers blows."

Keeping a handful of pages for herself, she gave the rest to Matt.  Various dates were written on the top of each page, but Megan hadn't been a very conscientious writer.  Some days were skipped entirely, and most entries were less than a few lines.  The dates hopped around the pages, and none of the years matched the current year or the last.  There seemed to be no order to them.  At random, Jean picked a note dated 6/10/62 and read it out loud.

Poly Sci test today, aughhhhh.  Sometimes I wonder if I really want to be a lawyer.  It's not like I even like law that much, but it seemed like the right decision to make since Paul's so into it.  Maybe I'll just let him be the lawyer and try med school or something.  After all J, I was pretty good at Biology till I met Paul and got a little distracted.  Maybe I could take a summer class and try again.  Of course I've never heard of a History major going to Med school, but there's a first for everything, right?  Well gotta go do dishes.  I don't want Jean to kill me like last week.  later M.

Jean blushed as she finished reading the entry, but Matt didn't seem to notice.  He was too intrigued by Megan's strange dating system.  He reached for more pages. 

"So Jean-Genie, a lot of help this has turned out to be.  Isn't there anything more recent than 1/9/62?  Megan wasn't even born then yet."

She shook her head.  "I just started flipping through the pile.  Here," she handed him the rest of the papers.  "Why don't you look through these."

Matt searched through the pages he held.  There were about thirty in total.  A few even had crossed out Calculus equations on them.  Calculus I, Matt noted snidely.  He'd done equations like that in high school.  Of course what would you expect from someone who did crossword puzzles in pencil.  He studied the piece of paper in front of him.  It appeared that when Megan got bored in class, she used her notebook as a makeshift diary.  Matt spotted an entry dated 1/7/93.

"Hey, listen to this."

Strange night at the Game today.  I made two good kills, and they felt great, but I couldn't shake the feeling that somebody was watching me the whole night.  Guess I'm getting paranoid.  Maybe I'll give the dumb thing up.  I know Paul would like it if I would.  Course I'd like it if he and his roommate, who is pretty hot by the way, would give up going to the bar at all hours.  Maybe we could make a bargain, have to think that one over J.  later M.

Matt's voice inadvertently stumbled over Megan's description of him, but he looked pleased.  Jean couldn't resist cutting him down a peg.  "My roommate is known for her bad taste in men," she said, "after all, look who she's dating now."

Matt wanted the pillow back so he could smother her with it. "S'funny," he frowned at her, "Do you want me to continue reading these things or not?  It's your friend who felt like she was being watched, not mine."

No, Jean thought, if Paul felt like he was being watched, he'd probably end up posing for his stalker.  Stalker, I didn't mean stalker, she backtracked her own thoughts as she realized what they meant.  "Read the next sheet," she demanded fast.

Matt shrugged, shifting through the pages in his hand.  "Whatever weird system your roommate used doesn't make sense.  Not one of these dates is current.  This next page is dated before that last one, 1/3/40, and the one after that says 1/0/66.  I know they got out of order when they fell, but you'd think they'd all take place in this century."