It's all over and done.

On Tuesday afternoon, around two o'clock, I headed over to Donna's house. It's within biking distance of my own, which is good because I can't drive. (Not old enough.) I got there early on purpose; Donna was going to come up with some plausible reason why I'd be there, so that Luna wouldn't find it suspicious.

Donna greeted me at the door. 

"Hi, Jackie! Come in!" She sounded slightly giddy. As soon as I got inside, she continued. "I just thought of a reason why you might want to come over. Do you like music?"

I've never understood that question. Who doesn't like music? "Yes, why?"

"I've got a big music collection. You could be over to borrow some CDs." She grinned at me like we were co-conspirators, which I suppose we were. "I don't know what kind of music you're into, but..."

"Sure. That works."

It turns out Donna and I have similar tastes in music — alternative, punk, post-punk, grunge. Her collection is still mostly in boxes waiting to be unpacked from the move. I was still looking through the boxes when Luna got home from school.

"Hi," Luna said to me. "What are you doing?" She didn't look that surprised to see me.

"I was going to borrow a few of your mom's CDs. We like the same music."

Luna nodded. "Okay. Then what?"

"What do you mean, 'then what'?" I had a feeling she was going to ask me if I was going to go home after, and I couldn't think of a plausible reason to stick around unless she asked me to hang out with her.

"Then what do you want to do after that?"

"I don't know," I told her. "Do you want to do something?" Please let her say yes, I was thinking, even though in retrospect I ought to have wanted her to say no. She says she doesn't want to hang with me, I get to go home and return to my normal life of not getting paid to befriend little girls.

"I don't know," Luna said glumly. She let her backpack slide off her shoulders to the floor. "There's nothing to do here. It's boring. Where do you live?"

"A couple streets away from here. And trust me, I know it's boring. I've lived in this town my whole life."

"I've lived in this town for most of mine, too." Luna glanced in the direction of the nearest window. The shades were drawn, but I knew if they were open she'd be able to look across the pond at where her old house used to be. Then she said the magic words: "Do you wanna hang out?"

I didn't hesitate. "Sure."

We went upstairs to Luna's room. The upstairs level of the house is absurdly creaky. Luna's room is thickly carpeted, probably to muffle the noise. The carpet is a hideous shade of baby blue. In fact, the entire room looks like it was designed for an infant. There's rocking-horse wallpaper on the walls, faded and discolored with age. Whatever baby used to inhabit this room must have long since grown up and moved away.

Luna's furniture — twin bed, wooden dresser, bookcase, child-size desk — is set up, but Luna's bed isn't made; it's got a blanket and pillow, but no sheets, and no pillowcase on the pillow. The blanket is off-white and ratty; it looks like a comfort item more than a functional one. Cardboard boxes labeled "LUNA'S THINGS" are stacked everywhere.

"So, um, this is my room." Luna gestured around vaguely. "Yeah."

She didn't seem embarrassed. I know that if I were twelve and showing an older kid around my babyish room, I'd be mortified.

"I still have most of my stuff packed." Luna pointed at the boxes. "It's books, mostly. Every time I take one out I start to read it, so that's why I'm not done."

She had a bunch of books on the shelf already, neatly organized according to series: Harry Potter, the His Dark Materials trilogy, and what looked like an entire set of Oz books were among the ones I spotted. At least the kid has good taste.

"So you like to read?" I asked.

"Yeah." She didn't sound like she wanted to have a conversation about it, so I dropped it. 

There was an uncomfortably long silence.

Standing there in her room, with seemingly nothing to do or talk about, reminded me of how bad the entire situation was to begin with. Here I was being paid to be friends with this girl, who apparently doesn't have anyone her own age to hang out with, and I couldn't even connect with her for money. 

I tried again. "So, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know. There's nothing to do here." Luna flopped down on her bed face-first.

Another silence.

"I guess I should go," I told her awkwardly. "I have some stuff to do at home. You know, homework."

"Okay," Luna said, still face-down on the bed. As I was leaving her room, she sat up and smiled at me. "Thanks for coming over, Jack."

I have to say, I love that she remembered to call me Jack. So I smiled back before leaving.

Donna was down in the kitchen, preparing dinner. When she saw me, she asked how things were going, still with that co-conspiratorial look. I thought about telling her that I didn't think this was going to work out, but instead I just told her that I had a lot of homework due and had forgotten to tell her before, sorry. Donna smiled and thanked me anyway. "Can you come over tomorrow?" she asked. I told her probably, but I didn't mean it.

When I got home, I wrote Donna an email explaining that I liked Luna, she's a very nice girl, but I don't think I'm the right person for the job. That was yesterday. She still hasn't gotten back to me. I didn't go over to see Luna today. I hope Donna gets the hint and doesn't ask me back there.

My mother keeps asking me about how it went. I keep telling her that it went fine and Donna and I are working something out. I think Mother suspects something is up. Dad is fine with it, though. I explained the situation to him, and he's on my side. He's promised to talk to my mother about it if need be.

Thus ends the Luna saga. I hope.