**

      My friend Diana and I were at lunch one day, talking and gossiping 'bout nothing and everything at once. All of a sudden she stopped talking and stared at something behind me.
      "What?" I asked.
      "Who is that?" breathed Diana, showing no knowledge that I'd spoken to her.
      I turned around. "Oh, that's Peter Tork," I said, turning on my stool (My cafeteria has stools with no backs that don't turn built into the lunch tables. Hypothesis confirmed. All our teachers hate kids.) and looking at the tall boy with dirty blonde hair sitting alone at a corner table. "He's new. He's in most of my classes."
      "You are so lucky!" she said, still staring at him. "He's gorgeous," she sighed.
      "Want to meet him?" I asked, grinning wickedly. "Hey, Peter!," I yelled.
      "NO, Don't!" Diana hissed at me too late.
      Peter looked up and walked over to our table. "Hey Susan," he said good-naturedly, but he wasn't looking at me, he was staring at Diana. She didn't notice he was, and he didn't notice that she was staring right back.
      "This should be interesting," I thought. "Now I can play matchmaker like Diana tried to with me and Mike." (Bad grammar on purpose, that's how I think. And talk) I sighed, thinking of my boyfriend who was now trying to get a break as a musician in California. I looked up and saw they were still staring at each other. I gave Lindsey a scheming grin and said, "Peter, Diana, and verse vicea."
      "Hi," they both said, blushing and looking away.
      "Eat here," I told Peter. "We have room." Diana kicked me then, but I ignored her.
      "Okay," he said. "But let me get lunch." he walked away still looking back at Diana.
      As soon as he was out of sight on the line, Diana snapped at me, "SUSAN! How could you do that?!"
      "He likes you," I said, not listening.
      "I wish," she sighed.
      Peter came back and I introduced him to the rest of our group. Namely, Lindsey and Judd. (Yes, Judd is his real name. It's on his birth certificate, according to his parents.)
      That afternoon I'd just gotten home when the phone rang. "Hello?" a nervous voice asked. "Is Susan there?"
      "Yeah," I said, recognizing the voice. "This is my private line. Howdy, Peter."
      "Oh, hi," he said. "Um, I was just wondering what our math homework was."
      "Page 260, 1-25," I said with a grin, knowing that he'd written it down in class. "Why'd you really call?"
      "Well, um I was, um, wondering if Diana had a boyfriend," He said in a rush.
      "No," I said grinning. "Why?
      "Um, no reason," he hedged. "Listen, don't tell any one I called, okay?"
      "Okay, bye," I said as he hung up. I grinned stupidly and began dancing around my room singing.
      "Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match," I sang. "Find me a find, catch me a catch." The phone rang again and I picked it up. It was Diana. "Howdy!" I said, using my usual greeting.
      "Listen, Susan," she said, skipping our usual gossip time. "Can you find out whether Peter has a girlfriend?"
      "Easier done than said," I chirped.
      "Don't tell him i want to know, "she warned, and then we talked about our usual stuff, like how much we hate our Algebra teacher.
      As soon as I hung up, the phone rang again. "Geeze, what a busy day," I said as I picked it up.
      "Susan?" the beautiful Texan accent still made me shiver.
      "Mike!" I screeched. "It's so good to hear your voice. I miss you so much!"
      "I miss you too," he drawled. "But not for too much longer. I got a new two month long gig and afterwards, I'll have enough money to visit!" We talked happily for a few more minutes, and then I had to remind him he was calling long distance, and he needed to save money.
      The next day at school I taked to Peter, and no, he didn't have girlfriend. Peter and Diana flirted subconsiously at lunch, but neither knew that the other liked them. It went on like that for almost two months, and I got more and more fed up.
      Finaly I blew up. "Peter!" I said one day while Diana was buying lunch. What is wrong with you? "Will you just ask her out, already?! She likes you and you like her! Stop dancing around each other!"
      "I can't," he said. "She'll say no."
      "She won't" I said.
      "She will."
      "No, she won't!"
      "Just shut up!" he hissed. "Here she comes!"
      I shut up and didn't talk to him for the rest of the day. Later, he called me.
      "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm just such a wimp."
      "It's okay, I shouldn't bug you," I said, an idea hatching in my brain. "Tell ya what. To make up for it I'll take you to a movie on Saturday. I won't take no for an answer." After we made arangements and hung up, I called Diana. I to meet me at the theater on Saturday. I made no mention of Peter.
      On Saturday I went to the theater early and bought two tickets to the most romantic movie I saw. When Peter and Diana showed up, I handed them each a ticket wordlessly and left. When I looked back once, they were walking in, arm in arm.
      "She shoots, she scores!" I thought.
      When I got home, the phone was ringing. "Howdy!" I answered it.
      "Susan, hi. This is Mrs. Nesmith," she sobbed into the phone. "Mike's, well, he was in an accident. . On his motorcycle. They say he's gonna be okay, but he said to tell you he can't visit."
      I was crying by then, and since she could do no more, Mrs. Nesmith said farewell and hung up. I cried myself to sleep and didn't wake up until the doorbell rang at eight P.M. I opened it and Diana rushed in, hugging me almost to death.
      "Oh, thank you!" she cried. "Thank you, thank you! He likes me, he wants to go out with me..." she stopped, looking at me really for the first time. "Ohmygod!" She said. "You've been crying. What happened?"
      Her words made me remember, and I started to cry again. "Micheal," I croaked. "Accident. Hospital," was all I could say before I was overcome with tears.
      That was all I needed to say. Diana enveloped me in a hug and walked me over to the couch. "Sh," she said. "It'll be okay. I know Micheal. He'll be fine."
      I sniffewd a couple times, drying my eyes at the same time. "I know," i said. "But I don't even know what hospital he's at, or what happened, or anything!"
      "He knows your number. He'll call as soon as he can. And I have an idea." She picked up the phone and dialed the operator. "I'd like the names and numbers of all the California hospitals. Yes, all of them!"She wrote down the list and then began calling. The first she asked, "Do you have a patient named Micheal Nesmith?"
      I tugged her sleeve. "His real first name is Robert," I said.
      "Excuse me," Diana said into the phone. "I meant Robert Nesmith."
      He wasn't at that hospital, or the next, but on the 15th try, we hit jackpot. He had a broken arm, and a broken leg, but that was all. Because of the time difference, he was awake and i could talk to him.
      "Hello?" he said groggily.
      "Mike!" Hearing his voice releived me tremendously.
      "Susan?" he said, bewildered. "How'd you find me?"
      "It doesn't matter! Are you okay?"
      "Yeah, but I can't play for a while, and I need to use my trip money for bills."
      "I don't care, as long as you're okay. If anthing happened to you, it would kill me. I love you!"
      "I love you too," he replied, sleepily, and then a nurse made us hang up.
      "Do you want to sleep over?" I asked Diana. "You can tell me about your date."
      "Okay," she said. "We went ot hte movie, but we didn't watch it. We just kinda stared at each other for two hours. We were holding hands but nothing else happened. Then we went for pizza and he asked me to the prom."
      "Diana!" I said. "We can't go to the prom 'til next year!"
      "That's what I said. He said he likes to plan things early. I said yes. He kissed me, "she blushed. "I kissed back. It lasted for like 15 minutes. I think I'm in love! Thank you so much!"
      I smiled tiredly. "What a day," I said. "Mike's okay, and my two good friends are happily together."
      "Now if only I could find someone for Lindsey," I thought as I drifted off to sleep. (Hint, Hint. The next story is called Fuzzy Wuzzy.)