I nodded, annoyed at how shallow they were being.

"I've had it." Tracy stood up.

"Tracy, don't cause any --"

Before I could finish my sentence, Tracy stood up on our bench, turned around to face the people behind us, and screamed at the top of her lungs, "GIVE ME A D!"

Our section quieted down as everybody stared at Tracy.

She looked exasperated. "Come on, people, I said GIVE ME A D!"

Oh my God, is Tracy , . . cheerleading?

D!" Morgan, Kara, and Amy shouted.

"GIVE ME AN I!" Tracy continued.

"I" the Lonely Hearts Club started to roar.

"that's more like it! GIVE ME AN At" Tracy started to clap and bounce on the balls of her feet. the cheerleaders from below turned around, mouths opened in shock as the Ravens side of the gymnasium gave Tracy an "N!"

"GIVE ME AN E!"

The gymnasium echoed with a loud "E!"

"What's that spell?" Tracy made her way down to the front of the bleachers.

"DIANE!"

She was now at the space occupied a few moments earlier by the cheerleading squad. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" She placed her hand up toward her ear.

DIANE! "The crowd cheered back.

The buzzer sounded and everybody was on their feet cheering. Tracy looked over at Missy and company and gave them a little smirk, letting them know they were no longer the ones in control of the crowd.

Diane got back on the court, determination sketched on her face. Less than fifteen seconds was left on the clock. Springfield took possession of the ball, and the guard slowly made her way down the court. Their team was going to lose, so why would they let us score any more points.

"TEN. . "--the crowd started to count down with the clock.

Diane's eyes zeroed in on the approaching player.

"NINE..."

She started to shuffle back and forth.

"EIGHT..."

The guard tried to make a quick break to the left, but it was too late.

"SEVEN.,

Diane stole the ball and dribbled at a sprint down the court. . .

"SIX. . .."

.. while the entire Springfield team rushed after her.

"five..."

Diane focused on the net ahead and .. .

'TOUR ,. "

. . . went in for the layup.

"THREE..." the ball bounced off the rim and hit the backboard . . .

"TWO..."

. .. and went right into the net. the buzzer was muffled by the cheers erupting from the crowd. Diane was swarmed by her teammates. the cheerleaders rushed out of the auditorium with disgusted looks on their faces. the Springfield side was clearly confused about the celebration before them.

I thought back to the Diane who sat across from me at the diner less than two months ago. I looked around at all of the Club members to whom Diane had been such an inspiration. She had shown us all that it could be done.

Chapter Twenty nine

IT WASN'T LOST ON ME THAT there was a correlation between the demise of my friendship with Ryan and the growth of the bond within the Club.

Every time the Club moved forward (Diane's basketball triumph last night), Ryan and I took a step back (he never showed up at his locker that day).

While that was upsetting, there was another problem that I needed to face. Nate.

There was another e-mail waiting for me when I got home. This one entitled

FRIENDS?

I sat down and clicked it open.

Pen,

I've been thinking about us a lot lately. Actually, you're all I think about. I know I'm not going to hear from you. I know you hate me. I know you will never feel for me the way I feel for you. I deserve this. But I just need to ask you one question, and I want you to think about it (if you're even reading this) before I see you in a couple weeks. Do you think we could at least be friends? I need you in my life. And I'll take you whatever way I can.

I am going to do everything possible to get you back in my life.

Love,

Loser

Friends? He wanted us to be friends? Could I be friends with Nate after everything that happened?

Ryan and Diane were friends, but Ryan didn't cheat on Diane. Ryan was ...

I couldn't handle thinking about how wonderful Ryan was. Or being friends with Ryan, since he clearly had no interest in even talking to me.

Maybe the best thing would be just to tell Nate we could be friends and move on.

But I knew: I -was fooling myself if I thought that I would be able to do that.

After brooding about it for a week, I decided to ask Diane for advice over dinner. "How can you be friends with Ryan?" I blurted out before we even ordered.

Diane was surprised. "He's been in my life for so long."

"But so has Nate ., . for me," I replied.

Diane looked concerned. "Yeah, but Ryan never .. ."

I sank back in my chair.

"What is this about?" Diane bit her lip.

I filled her in on the e-mails and Nate's plea for us to be friends.

She shook her head. "Penny, do you want to be friends with Nate?"

"No -- I never want to see Nate again. But that isn't going to happen."

She sighed. "I really think you need to come clean to your parents." No way.

Diane set down her menu and grabbed my hand. "is everything okay? You've been really quiet all week."

I shrugged.

"You know!' Diane offered, "it wasn't easy at first, being friends with Ryan. I had to get in a new routine with him, but now he's one of my best friends. And so are you." She hesitated. "And I wish that my two closest friends could forgive each other."