Jerry saw how Charity and Chris were looking at each other at the ice skating rink. He knew that Charity found Chris attractive, and if Chris wasn�t seeing anyone, he knew that Chris would also find Charity attractive. When Chris and Jerry got home from ice-skating, Jerry suddenly came up with an idea. �Why don�t you invite Charity to one of your little concerts? She seems like that �boy band� type.� �Are you kidding me? Adrienne would smack me if I did that,� Chris shouted. �Adrienne is off to the beach for the week, remember?� Chris thought about it for a while before going to bed. He knew that he�d be a player if he brought Charity to his performance at the mall. Adrienne would dump him in a second. And Chris wasn�t about to give up what him in Adrienne had, even though Charity was gorgeous and funny. # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # �So did you think about my idea?� Jerry bugged Chris the next day. �Yeah, and no I�m not inviting her,� Chris said firmly. �I don�t see why not?� �Adrienne is my girlfriend and Charity is not. No way in this world am I ever going to be a player and ask Charity to come to my concert.� Ring Ring Ring. Ring Ring Ring. �Talk to me,� Chris answered. �Chris? It�s Adrienne,� The person on the other line replied. �Hey babe! Got back from the beach already?� �Yeah, I�really wanted to talk to you,� Adrienne hesitated, �Can you come over now?� �Sure,� Chris said happily. He couldn�t believe that Adrienne came back from the beach just because she missed him. This was the kind of relationship he did not want to give up. Knock, knock knock. Chris stood at Adrienne�s doorstep. Adrienne peeped through the door hole to see Chris on the other side. She took one deep breath before opening the door. �Hey Chris!� Adrienne let Chris inside up to her bedroom. Adrienne�s bedroom was filled with posters of Dream Street; most of them were of Chris. �So why did you need to talk to me so bad?� Chris questioned curiously. �That�s not really important. Sit down!� Adrienne quivered. Chris noticed immediately that something was wrong. Adrienne shook at every word she spoke and looked unsteady. �Really, Adrienne�what�s the matter?� Again, Adrienne took a deep breath and said, �Okay. Well, I�ve been at the beach for the past week. I had a blast. I spent a lot of time with my older sisters. I made new friends and tried new things. I realized how my life would be if I didn�t�well, have a boyfriend. Wait, no- I didn�t mean for it to come out like that. I just think that summer should be a real vacation. Summer should be a time for me to take time off from school, from work, from sports, and from you. I�m really-� Chris didn�t let her finish her sentence. At once he pretended to feel sober, holding back crying a lake of tears. He thought that the reason Adrienne came back home was because she missed Chris, but the actual reason was the total opposite. He had to get out of Adrienne�s house before he burst into tears. �-You know what? My brother told me I had to be home before 5:00 so we could---make dinner,� Chris lied, �Umm...bye.� Chris ran down her stairs, out the door, down the block, into his house, and up to his bedroom. He slammed the door shut and lied down on his bed. He tried to catch his breath. Just a half-hour ago Chris told his brother that �Adrienne was his girlfriend and Charity wasn�t.� And now as he lied down on his bed, Adrienne wasn�t his girlfriend anymore. He wondered if Adrienne really did think that he was in the way of her summer, or if he was in the way of having another boyfriend. He tried to shake off that nasty feeling. Chris and Adrienne were together for 4 months, and hoped they would last 4 months more. But now, it seemed like all his hopes died. A tear ran down his cheek and into his lip. Chris didn�t come down for dinner that night. His mother knocked at the door to try to knock some sense into him, but he wouldn�t let anyone in his room.
Chapter 2~
Tears of Tragedy
