LOVE STORY LITTLE DID SHE KNOW . . .

Mary was relatively new in town. Although she had made a few friends and had a few dates, she still felt like an outsider.

She knew transferring to Youngstown State University at the start of her junior year would be difficult since most girls had already formed their own little cliques by now.

When, out of the blue, Evie, one of the most popular girls, invited her to “come over tonight and help me make fudge,” she was absolutely delighted.

The evening went well, although the fudge wasn’t all that great. Not wishing to overstay her welcome, Mary was nearly ready to leave when Evie urged her to stay.

“I want you to meet my boyfriend,” she said, “and he is bringing someone we thought you might like to meet.”

As if on cue, the doorbell rang and in stepped Evie’s boyfriend, Kenny, and another young man he introduced as “my best friend, Mike.”

It turned out to be a fun evening. Mary and Mike seemed to hit it off from the start.

When Mary finally insisted she had to start the long walk back to the Lyden House dormitory, she was pleasantly surprised when Kenny and Mike offered to accompany her.

They hadn’t gone more than a block or two when Kenny said he had forgotten something and went running back to Evie’s.

Little did Mike and Mary know, Kenny and Evie had set the whole thing up because they thought the couple were a good match.

And they were right.

It may not have been love at first sight, but as the two walked on, they found they had a lot in common. They discovered they shared a mutual interest in the outdoors, sports and music, and, best of all, neither was dating anyone seriously.

But, as the days following that wonderful walk went by, Mary’s initial excitement soon turned to disappointment when Mike didn’t call. Although they smiled and exchanged pleasantries whenever they ran into each other between classes, Mary finally convinced herself that Mike really wasn’t interested in her.

She soon found out, though, that life can be full of surprises.

The first came after two weeks of not hearing from Mike, when he unexpectedly invited her to a party at Mr. Anthony’s.

He explained that with his workload at school, football practice and his part-time job, he had just been too busy to date. Then, shyly, he admitted he had really enjoyed being with her that night and wanted very much to see her again.

As they spoke, Mary instinctively knew that he liked her as much as she liked him. Everything was suddenly wonderful!

On the night of the party, Mary got a different kind of surprise when Patti, one of the popular YSU Penguins cheerleaders Mike had dated, cornered her and hissed, “If you think you’re going to take Mike away from me, you better think again!”

Mary was stunned but never told Mike about the incident. She tried to brush it off since each time they were together she realized Mike had grown to love her as much as she loved him.

But it was obvious to her that Patti was determined to end their relationship.

To others, she was as sweet as sugar, while managing to make Mary’s life miserable in many little ways. She even resorted to starting vicious rumors that could cause Mike to have doubts about Mary.

Predictably, as Mike became more and more committed to his relationship with Mary, Patti — like the proverbial woman scorned — continued to wage her battle for his affections.

But Mary knew Mike was the love of her life and he was worth fighting for, which she did in her own quiet way.

Although overjoyed when Mike surprised her with an engagement ring and asked her to marry him in the near future, Mary couldn’t help but wonder about what the future would hold for them.

If this didn’t put an end to Patti’s vendetta and she continued to try to tear them apart, would their love be strong enough to keep them together?