Chris and Jo by Desire Scheepers (books for 7th graders txt) 📖

said. She had just told Chris what she had been trying to hide for the last week or more.
“I’m sorry Chris. I never wanted you to know that I like you. I started to feel something for you ever since you basically saved my life that first day. You talk to me like I’m normal. You don’t judge me about how I look and I have never had so much fun with anyone.”
Chris was totally taken aback. Where was this coming from? She liked him? He had never had an inkling that she even thought about him like that.
This presented a major problem on Chris’ side, because he had a girlfriend. Even though Jessie had been away for the last two weeks, helping her parents with a family crisis.
“I’m sorry Jo. I wish I could tell you that I feel the same way, but you know I have a girlfriend. I had a lot of fun with you too and you are a wonderful person. I don’t know what else to say.”
“How am I supposed to know that you have a girlfriend? You never mentioned her. Anyway, I think I’ll leave now, before I do anything else to humiliate myself further.”
With those words still floating in the air, she once again turned to the door intending to rush away so that she could nurse her wounded heart in private.
She felt so stupid. This was not what she wanted to remember. What had made her do that? Now she would never be able to face Chris again and on top of that he had a girlfriend in any case, so even if there had ever been the slightest chance that he might have liked her that was not possible at all anymore.
“Wait Jo, don’t go. Let’s talk about this. Jo!” Chris tried to stop Jo from leaving but she was very quick and had the door open and was gone before he could even get out of bed.
He lay awake for the rest of the night waiting for her to come back so that they could discuss the situation, but she never came back. With a heavy head and tired eyes, he got ready for class the next morning, waiting until the last minute, hoping that she would be back, but the waiting was in vain.

Jo watched Chris walk away from the dormitory and head towards the main building, so she knew he was going to class. She stepped away from the tree where she had been hiding and walked to the entrance of the dormitory. When she had left last night, she had no idea where she was going, so she ended up staying in the bathroom for most of the night. While the sun was rising she had left the dormitory to get some fresh air and to clear her head before going back to fetch her things. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to face him again, so that meant she would have to watch the building and get her things when he left.
She opened the door and saw her bundle of things standing by the door, ready to be picked up and taken to her new room. She sat down on her bed and couldn’t stop the tears from running down her cheeks. She had been able to withstand the urge up to now, but the realisation that she would never see Chris again and that they would never share a room again, made the tears too heavy to resist and so she gave in and let them come. She sat and sobbed for the better part of an hour before she could control herself enough to stop. This was not getting her anywhere. She would have to pull herself up by her bootstraps and show the world that nothing would get her down, otherwise this whole college experience would have been for nothing. She couldn’t let the fact that the first boy she met and broke her heart drive her away from her dreams.
She stood up and started lifting the bags and things to take to her new room. If she didn’t hurry up, she would run into Chris when he came back from class.
She left the room with almost everything, but she would have to return one more time for the last few things. As she struggled to carry everything, she resolved to bring less stuff next time, because this moving thing was really annoying.
By the time she reached her new room in the dorm next door, she was breathless and fighting muscle cramp. She opened the door and scanned the room to see what was awaiting her. The room looked quite inviting, with more feminine things around than the one she had shared with Chris.
“That must be my bed over there.” She said and realised that she had spoken aloud with no one else in the room.
She dropped her stuff on the bed and left the room to fetch her other things from Chris’ room. She felt slightly distanced from her life, like she was looking in on someone else. Guess that happened when you were in transit.
She picked up the rest of the things and returned to her new room where she started unpacking.
By the time she had finished, she was exhausted. Moving and emotional ups and downs had taken their toll, so she decided to lie down and catch a few winks before her new roommate arrived, but she slept straight through the night.
She woke up the next morning feeling very refreshed. As she stretched she noticed that her new roommate was still lying in bed, but was awake and looking in her direction.
“Good morning. I’m sorry that I slept straight through, but I wanted to be awake to meet you. I must have been more tired than I realized. I’m Jo.” She said and sat up to pick up her glasses so that she could see better.
“I’m Liz. Morning. I could see you were quite wacked, so I left you to sleep. I’m glad that I can finally meet you. Things have been very quiet the last few days. I’m studying as a beautician but with a business twist so that I can manage my own business. I don’t want to be someone else’s lackey. This girl takes orders from no one but herself.”
Jo could see that Liz was quite talkative and she liked her openness and frankness.
While they weere getting acquainted and discussing things in general, they were dressing and getting ready to go to class.
“Well, I’ll see you later. By the way, I noticed that you have some serious wardrobe and hair issues. I hope you don’t mind my being so forward, but I want to use you as my project for my end- of- semester assignment.”
Jo was so speechless that she could only nod her head. Wardrobe issues? What was wrong with her hair?
Before she could ask, Liz had left, making her wonder what the next few months had in store for her.

Jo was completely taken under Liz’ wing. She had her hair styled and coloured, her nails done, her glasses changed with contact lenses and her whole wardrobe was thrown out. The only thing still left to change after Liz was finished with her was her self- confidence. Even though Chris had helped her to climb out of her shell, she still had a way to go before she realized what a good looking person she had developed into.
“Tonight is your debut. We will introduce the new Jo to the world. There is a party at one of the dorms and the whole campus will be there, so we need to make sure that we dress you to stun the male population into submission. I have just the dress for you.”
All the while that Liz was talking, Jo’s heart was tripping.
Would Chris be there? Would his girlfriend be there with him? What would she say if she saw him again?
If she was honest with herself, she was actually looking forward to seeing if he would be there, so that she would be able to see what his reaction would be. She was a changed person. No longer the shy little girl who couldn’t say boo to a spider, but a full- grown gorgeous woman who could hold her own against any female on campus.
With a toss of her golden mane and squaring her delicate shoulders, she adjusted the green silk dress and pulled her handbag strap over her shoulder.
“Let’s go. I’m ready.” She said to Liz and together they left the room for the party.

Everyone was enjoying the party by the time that Jo and Liz arrived. To be fair, most of the girls there had really gone to a lot of trouble to look good, but the moment that Jo entered, you could hear the hush falling.
“Who is that? She must be new.”
“I haven’t seen her before.”
“She looks good. Wonder if she’ll be interested in me?”
Some comments were starting up as they made their way into the centre of the party.
Chris was becoming aware of the reaction of the people around him. He hadn’t really wanted to come to the party, but his friends had insisted, saying that he had been very anti- social the last few weeks.
“What’s going on, John?” he asked one of his friends, but his attention couldn’t be moved from where he was looking.
“John?”
As he tried to get John’s attention, his was diverted by a sight that took his breath away. He couldn’t believe who he was seeing.
It was Jo, but a different- looking Jo. She was dressed in a very sexy dress, with actual heel shoes and her hair was in a hairstyle other than messed- for- success.
Without realising it, he had started moving towards her, being drawn like a moth to a flame.
Before he knew what he was doing, he was standing in front of her.
“Jo.”
As she looked towards him, he saw her face and her eyes and knew that she was the same sweet, generous Jo that he had fell in love with. It had never mattered what she had looked like, but he only realised that now, when he saw her again, when he knew that he would never be able to live without her in his life. The last few weeks melted away as he stood there.
“Jo, I’m so glad to see you. I’ve missed you so much.”
“Hi Chris. How are you doing?”
“I want to talk you please.”
“Ok, let’s go into one of the other rooms where it’s less noisy.”
They made their way to the study and Chris closed the door. He was not taking any chances. He wanted to tell her how he felt and how much he had missed her. He also wanted to tell her that he was sorry for the way that he had reacted when she had shared her feelings with him.
“Hi Jo.”
“Hi Chris. So, what do you want to talk about?”
“ I actually want to apologise for the way I behaved when we last saw each other. I haven’t been able to cope normally since then. I never understood why until I saw you this evening. I also fell in love with you but never realised it.”
“You only realise this now? After all this time? Are you sure it’s not just your hormones talking? I mean, I left a while ago, remember, and you told me that you had a girlfriend. So, suddenly she has disappeared? You really hurt me a lot back then Chris. I have never been so upfront with anyone before and you just pushed me away. How can I trust you? How do I know it’s not