Annie Oakley and Scoop Jackson: Best Friends?

Hey, stop thinking what you're thinking. Car Guy and I were still an item and I'm no cheater.

Still, Scoop and I spent a lot of time together near the end of our senior year. He was a sports writer for the local paper, so he was always at the area high school games. And, since we both enjoyed sports, we enjoyed each other's company.

Together, with the larger group of friends we had in common, we always met up at basketball games to cheer on the home team - or at least heckle the referees. We even went to a few away games together - I would sit in the stands and watch the game while Scoop took notes and pictures for the paper.

After one of our high school's away games, Scoop and I stopped at Steak N Shake for a little bit of dinner. Shortly after we sat down and ordered, our high school's fan bus stopped at the same Steak N Shake for a bite to eat.

Scoop and I sat in our own little booth with several of our high school friends and acquaintances surrounding us in the restaurant. Being that we got there first, we finished our meals first and got ready to head out the door. Then, Scoop had an idea.

"Hey. You want to try a little experiment?"

"Sure. What do you have in mind?"

"Let's just see if we can start a rumor at school tomorrow. I'll get up and pay for dinner - you just stay here at the booth."

"Um, okay....." At this point, I had no idea what kind of experiement we were working on.

"Seriously. Then, I'll come back to the booth, put a tip down on the table and we can leave. You get up first and I'll escort you out the door. Then, tomorrow, we'll just see how many people want to know if we're dating."

I was still dating Car Guy, but since we were all friends, I knew he would be okay with it. Plus, I would have a chance to let him in on our little experiment during our nightly ritual of talking on the phone.

Sure enough, the next day at school everyone was buzzing about how I was out to dinner with Scoop and not Car Guy. As I was sitting in the commons before the first bell rang (Scoop, Car Guy and I - and several of our friends - always chewed the fat of a morning before the first bell rang. What can I say, I grew up in a farming town and that's what people do), a girl I knew ran up to me and said, "Hey...um, so, are you and Car Guy still together?"

"Well, sure. Why?" I had to giggle.

"Well, we were just curious. We saw you last night with Scoop."

"Yeah. I know. We're friends and we went to the same basketball game you did. Then, we were hungry."

Scoop was right. We had started a rumor. And, luckily for me, both Scoop and Car Guy thought it was exceedingly funny.

And, that's how it went. Scoop and I were the best of friends and I continued to date Car Guy - even though I knew the end of the school year would require some tough decisions be made.

And, I wasn't wrong. I had spent my senior year as the Section 16 FFA President - and, after having made it through the selection process, I had plans of running for a state FFA office. If things went as I hoped they would, I would get elected and spend the next year of my life not in college, but traveling the state with the other four state officers, teaching high school kids about FFA and agriculture.

On the other hand, Car Guy had plans of his own. He was headed to Indianapolis for school. I knew we would never see each other. I would be on the road constantly and he would be hours away in a big city.

The time had come.

We talked it over and came to a mutual agreement: it was time to end things. Much to my surprise, we ended things amicably. He knew that we would both be meeting new people and doing new things and it would just be easier for both of us if we made a clean break.

We continued to spend time together right up until I was elected to a state FFA office in June. In fact, Car Guy even came to the elections to support me.

So did Scoop.