Okay, Jeffery may be my boyfriend, but Conner's the one who really needs me right now.
Jeffery's just going to have to understand that.
Even if I'm spending time with Conner, it doesn't mean there's anything going on between us . . . does it?

"I'm hanging out with Conner later," Tia said. "He just broke up with Alanna, and our normally stoic friend is kind of a basket case."
Elizabeth's heart took an unexpected lurch. She couldn't believe Conner and Alanna had broken up. She'd thought everything was great between them. Not that she knew firsthand. She and Conner hadn't spoken to each other in weeks. But whenever her friends talked about the couple, it was like they were discussing Romeo and Juliet. Without the tragic ending.
"I probably shouldn't be telling you any of this," Tia continued. "I mean . . . I'm sure you don't want to discuss Conner's love life."
"No! No. It's okay," Elizabeth said, hoping the blush in her cheeks would come off as redness from the exertion of gym class. Why was the fact that Conner was single getting to her so much? She'd buried that relationship a long time ago. A long time ago.
"But you're with Jeff now now anyway, so I don't know why I thought this news would, you know, affect you," Tia said.
"It doesn't," Elizabeth replied with a shake of her head. "Not at all."
There was no reason for her to care that Conner and Alanna had broken up. So why did she? It was probably just that this was the first time since she'd broken up with Conner that he was single and she had a boyfriend. It felt kind of nice, in a weird way.
But like Tia said, she was with Jeff now. And she was happy that way.