Free The Banana Split Affair by Cynthia Blair Page B

keep.
    But she said, “Oh, sure. Later on, when we’re upstairs, doing our homework.” She was tempted to hold some of the detail back, as if to tell everything was some sort of betrayal. But that was ridiculous, she knew. After all, Susan had had her eye on Keith West for ages. She deserved to know everything that had gone on. Especially since Chris had been posing as Susan!
    Promptly at eight, the doorbell rang. Susan, who had been hanging around in the living room to make sure she would be the one to answer the door, called, “I’ll get it!” and quickly flung the door open.
    “Hiya, Chris!” Jason grinned.
    “Hi, Jason.” Once again Susan was taken aback by the warmth and friendliness that he emanated. “Um, you don’t mind if I don’t ask you in right now, do you? My mother is sick....”
    “Oh, no. That’s okay. I mainly wanted to get these back to you.”
    He thrust a pile of books at her, the texts and notebooks that she had forgotten on the backseat of his car
    “Thanks, Jason. I appreciate you driving all the way over here with these.”
    “To tell you the truth, there was another reason I wanted to talk to you, besides your books.”
    “Really? What?”
    “Well, I’ve been thinking about what you said before.”
    “What do you mean?” Susan couldn’t remember having said anything out of the ordinary to Jason.
    “About me wanting your phone number so I could call you and ask you for a date.”
    “Oh, that.” Susan could feel herself turning red. But then she remembered that she was supposed to be Chris. Confident, flirty Chris. What would she say in a situation like this?
    “And you decided it was a terrific idea, right?”
    Jason was a little taken aback. But he stuttered, “Well, uh, as a matter of fact, I did! So how about it? Would you like to go out with me Saturday night?”
    Susan couldn’t believe her ears. Jason was asking her out! Here she had met him only today, and he was so interested in her that he wanted to see her again on Saturday. And she had been convinced he thought she was brash!
    Then again, it was really Chris that he wanted to go out with. She would be the one to go out on the date, but she would have to pretend she was her sister. Her bold, teasing sister. Would she be able to pull it off? And would she be disappointed, somewhere in the back of her mind, that it was the outgoing Chris’s personality he was attracted to, not the shy, quiet one of Susan, the one she really possessed?
    Well, she wasn’t about to start worrying about that now. She flashed on her widest smile and, in her most Chris-like manner, exclaimed, “You’re on, Jason! I’m already counting the minutes until Saturday night!”
    Once again Jason looked a little surprised by the tone of her response. But Susan was so excited over the prospect of dating Jason that she didn’t notice. No matter what role she was playing, she would be the one to enjoy Jason’s company. She was beginning to see just how much fun it was to be popular with boys. At least, with one she liked as much as Jason Simms!
     
Chapter Nine
     
    “Hello again!”
    Chris glanced up from the watercolor painting she was working on and found herself face-to-face with Keith West.
    “Oh, hi, Keith! I’m sorry I didn’t notice you standing there. I got so absorbed in what I was doing ...”
    “So I see.” He grinned. “I’ve been standing here for almost five minutes watching you work.”
    “You’ve been watching me work? Whatever for?” Chris was pleased that Keith was taking such a sudden interest. No, silly! she reminded herself. It’s Susan he’s taking a sudden interest in. And don’t you forget it!
    “It’s fascinating,” replied Keith. “You get so wrapped up in your work, it’s as if you’ve completely forgotten that the rest of the world even exists.”
    “That’s because I’m concentrating so hard.” If he only knew! Chris couldn’t help smiling to herself. I have to concentrate as hard as I