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“Or do you want me to kill her?” Kristen asked, still not completely serious.

“No,” I answered, “I just want you to understand.”

“Understand what?” Kristen asked. She sounded as if she was getting a bit exasperated.

“Give me a second,” I said, sighing. I took my attaché case and went into the room where Sherry was still waiting.

The two girls watched me enter the practice room. I saw Sherry simply waiting there. She went to say something as I handed her another ticket.

“You have one wish.”

I exited the closet, pulling Sherry behind me.

Kristen’s bemused expression turned dark. “You have a girl in there?”

“Wait, Kristen,” Patty said. “Look at her.”

“He’s got her in the power of a ticket!” Kristen spat.

I turned to Kristen and said, “Trust me, Kris.”

Kristen’s expression didn’t soften, but her mouth closed.

I returned my attention to Sherry and said, “Until I say the phrase ‘Truth serum off,’ you are obligated to tell me the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. You will simply stand there and answer my questions, ignoring everything else.”

“Your wish is my command.”

Turning my attention back to the two seniors, I said, “You both know that she cannot lie right now. I’ll ask her right now if I have betrayed you, Kristen. Or do you trust me?”

Kristen looked me in the eyes, and her expression finally softened. “I trust you, Jim.”

“I was thinking about using a ticket to take her mind off me, but I wanted Patty’s advice—and yours—before I did so. You both know how tricky these tickets are.”

Both girls nodded.

“Anyway,” I said, turning back to Sherry. “I still want to set the record straight. Sherry, why did you come into this room today?”

“I came here to kiss you, Jim,” Sherry intoned. “I was going to fondle you and make you shoot off. If I had to, I would give you a hand job.”

“But why?” I asked, almost automatically.

“My cousin said she’d pay me a hundred dollars if I did that here in the music room.”

“Your cousin? Here in the music room?” I asked, not understanding.

“I saw you come in here last week with Kristen,” Sherry explained, still using her monotone voice. “I put my ear to the door and heard what you two were doing in here. I told my cousin, and she dared me to do it with you. She even told me that she’d pay me another hundred dollars if Kristen walks in and you’re naked. If not, she wanted me to steal you away from her, and I could use the hand job as blackmail material to make you leave Kristen.”

“Why would your cousin want that?” Patty asked.

Sherry didn’t answer. My wish had only been for Sherry to answer my questions, and to ignore everything else.

I turned to the other two girls and saw a look of shock on Kristen’s face.

“Kris, I didn’t know how far she was willing to go. This thing about Sherry’s cousin has thrown me for a loop.” I turned back to Sherry. “Who is your cousin?”

“Dale Hardy,” Sherry answered.

“Oh, shit!” Kristen said, and ran out of the room.

I looked at Patty in shock at Kristen’s outburst. “What just happened?”

“Dale Hardy was the girl that Kristen got kicked out of high school, Jim.”

“Oh, fuck!”

“Jim, I need to talk with Kristen. I’m afraid she’ll do something drastic.”

I nodded dumbly at Patty.

Patty went to leave and said, “You’ll need to get Sherry out of here. Um… make her think she failed, that you don’t seem to like girls that come on too strong. Have her forget what happened in here.”

“OK,” I said, but Patty was already out of the room. “So,” I asked, turning to Sherry knowing that the two of us were alone, “do you love me, or were you just putting me on?”

“I love you, Jim,” Sherry said, her voice losing its monotone and becoming more animated. “I’ve wanted you to be my first boyfriend, my first lover. I’d have come with you in here even if Dale hadn’t offered me money. Dale just gave me the idea.”

“Love me?” I asked, surprised. “You hardly know me!”

“Not true,” Sherry said. “I’ve watched you in earth science and English last year. You didn’t notice, but I liked you. I saw you playing the piano here at the high school for ‘Annie Get Your Gun’ last year. I bought a ticket for every performance. I think I’ve been in love with you since seventh grade.”

Oh, shit. I didn’t need another person falling in love with me.

However, there was something about Sherry, and the fact that I knew that there was no way that she could be lying to me, that made me consider what she said.

“So, why am I getting the attention now? Because of Dale?”

“I saw that you were going with Kristen,” Sherry spat. “I hate her! She has everything in the world! She fucked over my cousin! Now, she’s taken the one boy that I always wanted! You didn’t seem interested in anybody last year, but now you’re going out with her, probably because of all her money.”

I looked at Sherry, stunned by her venomous remarks. Did she truly think that I was only interested in Kristen’s money? Is that what other people thought?

I sat quietly, looking at Sherry standing with her tear stained face. Somehow, I would need to clean up this mess, and I had no idea how to do so.

“Truth serum off,” I said.

Sherry shook her head and looked at me. “Did… did what just happen… really happen?”

I sighed, and handed Sherry another ticket.

“You have one wish,” Sherry intoned.

“I wish that you will forget what happened in this room,” I said, remembering Patty’s instructions. “Instead remember that you tried to kiss me, but found that I was repulsed by your heavy handed tactics. And…” I let my words drop off, keeping Sherry from “finalizing” the wish.

I paused, thinking about what Sherry just told me. Had she really been infatuated with me for all that time? I never noticed it if she had.

I realized that Dale probably knew about Sherry’s infatuation and simply used it to get to Kristen. Sherry wasn’t really the one at fault here. There was something else. I couldn’t let Sherry think of herself as a failure. She seemed so… so vulnerable.

“And,” I continued, “as you leave this room, you will turn and give me a tender kiss. It won’t last too long and it will just be our lips touching.” I felt that I had to give Sherry something for baring her feelings to me the way she had done.

“Your wish is my command.”

Sherry blinked again, and said, “Um… I’m embarrassed. I’m sorry I touched you like that…”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said, feeling like I had somehow done something wrong to bring this problem on myself.

“I… I think I should leave,” Sherry said, quietly.

I nodded.

Sherry moved toward the door, but stopped as she walked next to me. She moved upward and pursed her lips for a kiss.

I looked at Sherry for a couple of seconds, and realized that my wish was preventing her from actually touching me with her hands. I needed to bend down to kiss Sherry.

I did so.

It was not a very romantic kiss. There were no tongues, and no touching of either of us, except for our lips.

Nevertheless, the kiss moved me.

After Sherry left, I sat alone in the music room for a few minutes and pondered the situation.

* * *

When I returned to the lunchroom, neither Patty nor Kristen were there. That worried me a bit. I knew that Kristen could easily go off the deep end and do something stupid. Knowing that Patty was with her (at least, I hoped she was) gave me a bit of hope, since I knew that Patty had a good head on her shoulders.