The Lonely Hearts Club

"Hey is everything all right?" he asked, looking up from the syllabus.

I nodded weakly.

"So, do you think we should name it}"

I had no idea what he was talking about, "What?"

A smile crept on his face. I was surprised to find he had nice teeth. "You know, do you think we should name it?" He gestured down to the fetal pig resting in the dissection pan.

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"Oh, sure."

"Well." Tyson leaned over and started to examine the pig. "I was thinking of either Babe or Wilbur."

I looked at him in surprise.

"What? Do you think I would want to name him something like Slash or Killer?"

I couldn't help but laugh. that was exactly what I was thinking.

"I like Wilbur." I looked down at the poor pickled pig.

"Wilbur, it is." Tyson took a marker and wrote the name on the pan.

When the period ended, I immediately collected my books and practically ran out of the room, knocking over half the class. the hallway was a blur of people talking and lockers slamming as I ran down the corridor to the cafeteria.

When I got there, I saw Jen and Tracy rearranging tables in the back corner.

"I think were going to have a big showing today," Tracy said, pulling over a few chairs. We now had even more people at our table than the jock! cheerleader contingent.

All the members started to file in quickly. Everyone gave me a smile or a hug before they sat down.

After a few minutes, the table went silent, and I noticed everybody was looking at me with encouraging smiles,

"Well, I guess I should start." I put down my sandwich and leaned in so everybody could hear me.

"First off, thanks so much for being here for me. I really

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need all the help I can get." I looked around at the faces of my friends -- old and new. I took a deep breath before giving the state of my disunion. "Um, I think some of you might remember Nate.... ?"

Apparently they did remember, as I heard a lot of groaning from the tables and I caught the words pig, jackass, and jerk.

"Well, last night my parents dropped the bomb that Nate is coming with his family to spend thanksgiving with us. Boom!"

Hilary raised her hand.

"Um . .. Hilary?"

"Why don't you tell your parents what happened? they probably would completely understand and then uninvite the loser and his parents."

"I thought of that, but Mr. Taylor is one of my dad's oldest friends. I don't want him to know that his friend's son is a complete and utter ass."

Jackie Memmott raised her hand next.

"Guys," I said, "we aren't in class. You don't have to raise your hands."

Jackie's hand shot down as she looked really embarrassed.

"Sorry Jackie -- you wanted to say something?"

"You can spend thanksgiving with my family if yon want, Pe

A chorus of "me, too!" came out from the group. This was all the proof I needed that no matter what happened, I'd be fine.

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"Thanks so much, all of you. I think I might be slightly overreacting. it probably will be good for me to see him -- I never really had closure with him. I basically fled anytime he was in the vicinity of our house!'

"Hey, Pen!' Tracy said. "I'd be more than happy to help you with the closure. that is, if by closure yon mean kick his ass."

I started to relax. Plus, maybe Tracy was onto something. I wouldn't be violent, but I wasn't going to pass on an opportunity to set things straight with him.

"All right, enough about me! Anybody else have any issues -- boy-related or otherwise?"

Jen shot up from her seat. "Actually, we do!" She gestured to Jessica and Diane.

"As a lot of you may know, the girls' basketball team is in desperate need of new uniforms. And since it seems that the entire athletic fund always goes to the guys' sports, we need to do some sort of fund-raiser. We wanted to do something different this year instead of a car wash or the gross candy drive. So what do you all think of doing a karaoke night to raise money?"

Erin Fitzgerald screamed, "I love that idea, Jen -- brilliant!"

No one was surprised by Erin's reaction, since everybody in school knew that Erin had the best voice at McKinley and loved any chance she could get to show it off.

"thanks, but do you think people would actually do it?" Jen asked. "Pay a cover charge and one dollar per song to sing in front of people?" Erin raised her hand. "People besides Erin?"

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"Could we go in groups?" Amy asked.

"I don't see why not." the crowd started to talk amongst themselves, and there was mostly nodding and excitement as people started discussing songs.

Jen looked hopeful. "Okay, we're going to do it. Just promise me that you guys will help kick it off if people are chicken."

Erin stood up. "I promise you I'll be the first person in line. I cant watt!"

"So, Diane, how's practice going?" Amy asked.

Diane smiled. "Well, people have been looking at me a little differently the last couple of days, because . . " She sighed as she got up and put her foot on the table.

Tracy gasped. "Diane, are you wearing sneakers'?"

"Yep! I'm officially in pain and unable to wear heels. I think it's hysterical that you guys didn't notice. I'm only about four inches shorter!"

"I knew there was something different!" Tracy shouted.

"Oh, that isn't the only thing." Diane got a mischievous look on her face as she opened her lunch bag and pulled out a large piece of bread. "I'm eating complex carbs!"

"Holy crap!" Tracy's eyes were huge. "It's like you're an entirely different person."

Diane threw a napkin at Tracy. "No, I'm just hungry from all the workouts. it's amazing guys -- I'm so excited."

"She's totally going to get a spot on the team," Jen proclaimed. "Meg, you need to do a feature on our newest player."

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Meg Ross smiled. "Well, I do have something I wanted to discuss with all of you on Saturday but I've got deadlines, so no time like the present. As some of you know, I'm the Life-Styles editor at the McKinley Monitor, and, well, I'd like to do an article on the Lonely Hearts Club."

Ob, dear God, no. I wasn't sure I could handle any more drama in my life. the school paper?

Meg continued, "Word about the Club is starting to spread and there are a lot of people out there who aren't truly understanding what this Club is all about I think its important for us to get our side of the story out. What do you guys think?"

Meg looked directly at me when she asked the question, and I could tell that there could only be one answer. the Lonely Hearts Club was about to go public in a big way.

"So, are your parents okay with the concert?" Ryan asked at the end of the day.

"Well, as much as my parents can be okay." He smiled at me and I felt my heart sink. I really needed to get over whatever it was that was making me so nervous before our outing.

"Hey, guys. Ryan, ready for our run?" Diane approached us with her workout gear.

"Yep, I just have to drop off some student advisor stuff to Braddock," Ryan responded.

"Okay, seriously, what is the deal with that?"

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Ryan shrugged. "Hey, as soon as I figure it out, I'll let you know. We now have gone from talking football to talking about the upcoming basketball season. I'm starting to get a