1. And where did he serve his mission?
2. A warm October day down by the Provo River
3. Orem's not so bad when you give it a chance
4. I can rely on myself
5. Jared gets drunk and gets laid
6. Forget about her, Jared
7. A story I never tell anyone

• (character chart)
• Warning/Disclaimer

1. Young Women's
2. Youth Conference
3. Saturday's Warrior
4. Brigham Young University
• Gratuitous Love Scene
5. Polygamist
6. Temple Wedding
7. Orem High
8. Bordeaux Mission
9. Exmo Conference

Saturday

On Saturday the weather was strangely warm for late October. It was like Summer again all of the sudden. I had nothing to do, so I called up Sam and Joe's house. Joe was home all by himself because Sam was at football practice and his parents had decided to go with him in order to show their support and then maybe go out do a little shopping afterwards. Joe was just sitting around reading or something, so he said he didn't mind if I wanted to come over.

We fixed ourselves some lunch, and after lunch -- since it was such a nice day -- we decided to go for a walk along the Provo River.

The Provo River isn't too impressive as rivers go. It isn't all that much more than a stream. But it was a nice place to hang out on a warm day. As we walked down the path along the river, we got to talking about what colleges we were thinking of applying to.

Joe seemed to notice something in the distance. "Hey look, there's Andrea Sharp," he said.

I looked up ahead along the path and saw a tall, thin girl with long hair and glasses. She was standing on the bank and seemed to be staring into the water.

"Who's she?" I asked.

"She goes to our school," said Joe.

"I don't think I've ever met her," I said.

"She's new this year. She's in my Chemistry class."

As we approached she kept looking into the water, and she didn't look up until we were practically right next to her.

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"Hi Andrea," said Joe.

She seemed surprised to see us. "Oh, hi," she said.

"What brings you here to the river?" asked Joe.

"It's a nice day," she replied. "I like to come here."

"Same with us," I said. "This weather's amazing, isn't it? It's a great day to get out and get some fresh air."

She looked at me for a second and asked "Do I know you?"

"No," I said, "but Joe says you go to our school. I'm Jared Wendell."

"Oh, you're Jared Wendell," she said. She made it sound like she'd already heard all about me.

"You've heard of me?" I asked.

"Oh, it's nothing," she said.

"What did you hear?" I asked.

"No, no, it's really nothing."

"Tell me, I want to know!" I said.

"It's nothing, it's just that my friend Tanya mentioned that you're in her French class," said Andrea.

"And?" I asked.

"And she was saying that she has to help you all the time because you really suck at it!" Then she started laughing.

Oh, great, I thought. It was true that Tanya was better than me at French and that she helped me sometimes, but it wasn't like I asked her to help me or anything. And I wasn't the worst in the class, either, so I didn't see why she should have to make fun of me behind my back like that!

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