اشتباه پیسی

CHAPTER SIX - Pacey’s Mistake

The next morning, Pacey brought Jen a cup of coffee and they walked together towards the town pool.

“Pacey, why did you tell lies to the twins?” Jen asked him. “You told them lies about a motorcycle - you don’t have a motorcycle. And you told them lies about your friends who are film stars - you don’t know any film stars.”

“I want to make friends with girls,” Pacey told her. “I want them to like me. Girls like boys who ride motorcycles. And they like boys who know people in Hollywood.”

“Pacey, you have to be yourself,” Jen said. “You mustn’t try to be someone different. Girls will like you if you are happy to be Pacey Witter. You need to feel good about yourself.”

“I’m unlucky in my relationships with girls,” Pacey replied. “So I don’t want to be myself. I want to be someone different. I want to be anybody who isn’t me!”

“Girls will like you, Pacey,” Jen said kindly. “You’re a fine person. You are kind, intelligent and funny. I’ve enjoyed talking to you this week. I’ve enjoyed your jokes. I’ve enjoyed going to the lifeguarding class with you. I’ve enjoyed being your friend.”

When Joey woke that morning, her first thought was about Jeremy. She thought about his soft gentle kiss.

Joey got out of bed and went into the kitchen. Her sister was sitting there. She was holding her baby and she was looking terribly tired.

“Hi, Joey. Alexander didn’t have a good night,” Bessie said. “I didn’t sleep much.”

Joey felt sorry for Bessie. But she didn’t want to stay in this house now. Here, the baby was the center of everybody’s world. Joey wanted to be free. She wanted to be somewhere far away. And she wanted to be alone there with Jeremy Fields. She wanted to be alone with him for the rest of her life.

Later that morning, at the pool, Tim the lifeguard instructor, told everyone to get into the water.

“Everyone must swim the length of the pool twenty times!” he shouted. “I’ll be back soon!” Then he left the pool.

All the students started to swim laps of the pool - along and back, twenty times.

After a few minutes, Pacey climbed up out of the water. He walked around the edge of the pool. He imitated Tim’s voice. He pretended to be Tim. Most of the students laughed at his jokes. The blond twins laughed most of all. But Jen looked worried and angry.

Suddenly, Pacey heard a voice behind him. And he felt a strong hand touching his back. Tim had returned!

“Why aren’t you swimming, Witter?” he said.

Pacey didn’t reply. Tim pushed him hard and he fell into the water with a SPLASH!

“OK, everybody get out of the water now. We’re going to talk about saving people’s lives,” Tim said. “Not you, Witter. You stay where you are. You have to swim one hundred laps in the pool. Maybe you don’t need to listen to me. Maybe you already know everything about saving lives. We’ll find out about that tomorrow!”

Pacey didn’t get any lunch that day. He was swimming laps in the town pool.

In the evening, Pacey met Dawson and they decided to go to The Ice House together.

Pacey hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast and he was hungry. Dawson was hungry too.

Joey was working at the cafe. She smiled and waved at them when they sat down. She brought them glasses of ice-cold water. She looked happy.

“I’ll come back in a few minutes,” she said. “You can order your food then.”

She went away and the two boys started to talk. Dawson wasn’t happy.

“It’s a fine hot summer in beautiful Capeside,” he said to Pacey. “But am I enjoying it? No. I am not enjoying it. I have to work all day. I have to stay in the video store all day while you are outside swimming and talking to beautiful girls!”

“The lifeguarding class isn’t much fun,” Pacey said. “There are beautiful girls there - that’s true. But the instructor is a maniac - he’s always shouting at me. And Jen is angry with me. She’s angry because I tried to make friends with some of the other girls. I talked to two beautiful blond sisters - they’re twins. Jen was really unhappy about that.”

“Why does Jen care about it?” Dawson asked.

“I don’t know,” Pacey replied. Then he had an idea. “Maybe she’s jealous,” he said. “Maybe she’s in love with me. Maybe that’s why she hates me talking to other girls.”

Pacey was pleased with this idea. Jen had enjoyed being friends with him - she’d told him that.

“Yes,” he said to himself. “Jen is in love with me! She doesn’t want me to talk with other girls. She wants to be my girlfriend. Why didn’t I guess that before?”

He was pleased and he didn’t see Dawson’s face. Now Dawson was looking angrily at him. But before Dawson could speak, Jen came into the cafe.

“Great, here’s my girlfriend,” Pacey said.

Jen stopped to talk to Joey for a few moments. Joey was happy and friendly and Jen was surprised. Joey wasn’t friendly with her most days. Joey had hated her when Jen had been Dawson’s girlfriend for a few weeks.

“Why has Joey changed?” Jen asked herself.

Then she waved at Dawson and Pacey and she came over to their table. She sat down.

“Hi, Jen,” Pacey said. “I’m sorry. I made you jealous today.”

Jen started to laugh. Then she saw Pacey’s face. He wasn’t joking!

“You made me jealous. What are you talking about, Pacey?” she asked.

“It’s OK, Jen, it’s OK. I know your big secret,” Pacey replied. “You’re in love with me. I’m pleased. That makes me feel good about myself. But I’m not ready to have one serious girlfriend. I need to meet lots of girls.”

Jen stood up quickly. She picked up Dawson’s glass and threw the water in Pacey’s face.

“You’re a fool, Pacey,” she said loudly. “I’m not in love with you. I could never be in love with you!” Then she walked out of the cafe.

Dawson laughed for several minutes. “Well, you were wrong about Jen,” he said, when he stopped laughing. “She isn’t jealous of the blond twins at the pool. Is she in love with you? I don’t think so, Pacey!”

Pacey was angry. Everyone in the cafe had heard Jen’s words. Everybody was looking at him. He got up and walked out.

A moment later, Joey came to the table where Dawson was now sitting alone. She smiled happily at him.

“Nobody wants to sit with you this evening,” she said. “What have you done?”

“I haven’t done anything,” Dawson replied. “Everyone else is crazy. Why are you so happy tonight, Joey?”

“Well, I went to a movie with Jeremy last night,” she said. “I had a wonderful time. Can I tell you about it? We’re good friends, aren’t we? We aren’t in love with each other - you always tell me that. So you won’t be jealous if I tell you about Jeremy. I listened to you talking about Sheila for hours yesterday.”

She was right - Dawson knew that.

“OK,” he said. “Tell me about Jeremy.”

He listened while she talked. But soon he began to feel very sad. He didn’t want to hear any more about Joey and her new boyfriend.

He stood up.

“Joey, I’m really not interested in your boyfriend,” he said. “And I don’t want any food tonight. I’m not hungry any more.”

Quickly, he left the cafe.