Megan Meade's Guide to the McGowan Boys

by Kate Brian

  Megan felt like she had been slapped. A few of their teammates twittered and a few others looked at one another uncomfortably.

  “You know, if I were you, I’d take a look at your own skills and stop coming after me,” Megan snapped. The moment the words escaped her lips, she felt a rush of adrenaline. Had she really just said that?

  “My skills are just fine, thanks,” Hailey shot back.

  “You think so? ’Cuz I think today’s practice tape would prove otherwise.”

  “Ooh,” her teammates said under their breath.

  Megan’s heart hammered inside her chest. She could hardly believe what she was doing. Hailey opened her mouth to retort, but suddenly everyone was looking past Megan. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Evan walking up to them, twirling his keys around his finger.

  “Hey, Kicks. We gotta go,” he said, barely glancing at Hailey.

  Megan flushed slightly over the triumph of the moment.

  “Go where?” Hailey asked.

  “We have to pick up dinner for the family,” Evan said tersely. “I can give you a ride, but you’re gonna have to wait at Bamboo House.”

  Hailey was clearly fuming, but she managed to keep her voice under control. “Thanks anyway,” she said. “Aimee, I’m coming with you.”

  “Oh. Okay,” Aimee said. Hailey walked off and Aimee shoved her notebook back in her bag. “See you later, Megan.” She glanced quickly at Evan, confused, then scurried off after her sister.

  Evan stared after them stoically. Megan’s heart went out to him, even though she had no idea what he was feeling. Was he disappointed that Hailey was such a jealous nut? Was he sad because they were breaking up? What?

  “Let’s go,” he said finally, managing a tight smile. “We don’t want the runts to get hungry. Trust me.”

  Megan folded up the address for the party and shoved it in her back pocket. She could hardly wait to get home to her computer. Megan Meade had finally, finally stood up for herself. Tracy was going to be so proud.

  TooDamn-Funky: u told barbie off???? go Megan!!!

  Kicker5525: I KNOW! I ROCK!

  TooDamn-Funky: I have never been so proud.

  Kicker5525: Really? Also going to a party tonight!

  TooDamn-Funky: !!! mcg’s have created a monster!

  Kicker5525: Well I THINK Im going. . . .

  TooDamn-Funky: YES YOU ARE! as ur immersion program adviser I demand it!

  Kicker5525: ALL RIGHT all right I’ll go.

  TooDamn-Funky: and wear pink!

  Kicker5525: Don’t push it.

  Eight

  “Who’re you texting?” Evan asked.

  “Friend from home,” Megan said, turning off her phone. She shoved it into her bag. “So . . . are you going to this party tonight?” Megan asked Evan, emboldened by the encounter with Hailey as well as Tracy’s silliness.

  He pulled to a stop at a four-way intersection and sighed. “Yeah, I guess. Are you?”

  “I think so,” Megan said, reaching back to touch her braid. “Could be fun, you know, get to know some more people.”

  Evan looked at her and smiled. “That’s good. You should go.”

  “You think?” Megan asked. “You think I should go?”

  “Absolutely,” Evan replied. “It’ll be cool.”

  He moved through the intersection and turned onto Oak Street. Megan fiddled with a thick string hanging from the hem of her white T-shirt. He was going to the party. He wanted her to go to the party. This was all good.

  “So what was going on with you and Hailey back there?” Evan asked.

  Good question, Megan thought. “Nothing,” she said. “We just had a rough practice.” She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “Is everything okay with you guys?”

  “Why? Did she say something?” Evan asked, his eyes flashing.

  “No. I just . . . I guess I got that vibe,” Megan replied.

  “Actually, I don’t really feel like talking about Hailey right now,” Evan said. He pulled into the driveway and stepped on the brake. The car stopped, but Megan’s heart was in overdrive. Definitely trouble in paradise.

  “We have to tell somebody to get Finn out of the shed,” Evan said as he reached around into the backseat for the food.

  “I’ll go!” Megan jumped out of the car.

  “Great! Don’t mind me. I can carry all this by myself!” Evan called after her jokingly.

  Megan ignored him and jogged around the house. She was feeling so giddy her head felt light. She was starting to feel a bubble of excitement about the party. She had friends to hang out with and Evan and Hailey were on the rocks. The possibilities for the evening ahead seemed endless.

  She knocked once on the door of the shed and walked in. Finn had started a new painting. A pair of slim arms were crossed at the bottom of the canvas. The outline of an angular face and a delicate neck hovered above. There was no mistaking the subject.

  “Hey,” Finn said, glancing over his shoulder. “What’s going on?”

  “Kayla Bird, huh?” Megan said, carefully sliding onto the stool.

  Finn stopped painting. “How do you know Kayla?”

  “I don’t, but I heard all about her at lunch today,” Megan said. “You like her, right?”

  Finn turned his back to her and shoved both hands through his hair. When he faced her again, there was a streak of blue reaching up from his forehead and wilting one of his curls.

  “I wasn’t aware this was common knowledge,” he said.

  “Oh, please. It’s so obvious,” Megan replied, rolling her eyes. “Have you asked her out yet?”

  “Not exactly,” Finn said.

  “What does that mean?” Megan asked.

  “It means no,” Finn said with a smirk.

  “Well, there’s this big party tonight. You going?” Megan asked, fiddling with her new bracelet. “Because I think you should ask her to go.”

  Finn stared at her for a moment and squinted. “Who are you?”

  Megan laughed. “What?” she said, suddenly self-conscious. She rubbed at a kink in her neck and looked up at him through her lashes.

  “No, seriously. You’re all hyper and stuff,” Finn said, taking a step closer to her. “Are you having an allergic reaction to something?”

  “No!” Megan said. But she could see where he was coming from. She wasn’t acting like herself. She was telling Finn what she really thought. She was even telling him what to do. Kind of like Tracy always did to her. Kind of like something she had never done to another person in her life. Weird.

  “Look, I’m just in a good mood,” Megan said, sliding off the stool. “And I guess I want to . . . spread it around or something. I’m going to the party and a bunch of people from the team are going. . . . I just think you should come too.”

  “And you think I should ask Kayla,” Finn said.

  “Why not? You never know until you try, right?” Megan said, her eyes shining. She reached out and slapped the side of Finn’s arm, which was surprisingly taut. For a long moment he looked at the spot where her hand had been.

  “You sure you’re okay?”

  Megan shrugged and shoved her hands into her pockets. “Actually, I’ve never felt better.” She turned toward the door and paused. “Come on. We got Chinese.”

  “I’ll be there in a sec,” Finn said, pulling his cell phone out of his back pocket. He tipped it toward her and smiled. “I have a phone call to make.”

  Megan grinned and walked out. Tonight was going to be the first night of the rest of her life.

  * * *

  “Yes, Dad, I’ll be careful. Don’t worry,” Megan said into the phone, glancing over her shoulder into the kitchen, where the entire McGowan clan was dishing out dinner. Doug was fighting with Miller over the container of spicy shrimp and Ian was beating his plate like a drum with his chopsticks.

  “I know you will, Kicker,” her father said. “And we’re glad you’re having fun and making friends. These girls sound like
good people.”

  “They are,” Megan replied with a smile.

  “Are any of John’s boys going with you?” her dad asked.

  Megan watched as Evan served up some sweet-and-sour chicken for Caleb and felt her heart flutter. “Yeah, Evan’s going to be there. And I think Finn, too.”

  “Good. They’ll look out for you, I’m sure,” he said.

  “Dad—”

  “Not that you need any looking out for,” he backtracked. “I’m just being your father.”

  “I know, I know,” she said, gazing at the floor. “Listen, we’re about to eat, so I better go.”

  “Okay. Have fun,” he said.

  “I will. Love ya,” Megan told him.

  “You too,” he replied.

  Megan clicked off the phone and hung it on its cradle before dropping into her chair at the table. Finn passed her the fried rice and Megan took a heaping spoonful. At the end of the table, Caleb slurped up a wad of mai fun noodles and Ian stopped drumming with his chopsticks long enough to attempt to eat with them. Doug was shoveling down food with his head bent toward the plate as if he were in a dumpling-eating contest. Sean leaned back in his chair, blindly lifting forkfuls of rice to his mouth while he read from a paperback book.

  “Soda, Megan?” John asked, holding out the bottle toward her glass.

  “Sure,” she said with a smile. She was up to about six glasses a day. This place was great.

  “So, what’s everyone doing tonight?” Regina asked, tucking her skirt under herself as she sat down next to her husband.

  “Party,” Doug said, a piece of rice dropping from his lips as he lifted his head.

  “Nice. Napkin, please,” Regina said. Doug rolled his eyes as Sean handed him a napkin from across the table, never looking up from his book.

  “Whose party?” John asked.

  “It’s Christian’s,” Evan said. “You know, he has it every year.”

  “Ah, Christian Todd’s party,” Regina said, spearing a piece of broccoli. “Wasn’t that broken up by the police last year?”

  “Yeah, but it’s gonna be a lot smaller,” Evan said. “He’s only inviting seniors and juniors.”

  “Then why is Doug going?” Regina asked.

  Everyone looked down the table at Doug, who paused in his shoveling. “I got connections.”

  Regina shook her head and glanced at Megan. “So, are you going too, Megan?” she asked.

  “Yeah. Some girls from the team asked me,” Megan replied. “Actually, I was going to ask you if you could possibly give me a ride. I have no idea where this place is.”

  “Sure. I’ll drive you,” Regina replied.

  “Hang on. Is that really necessary?” John asked, setting down his fork. “If Doug and Evan are going, I’m sure someone can give Megan a ride.”

  Doug let out a sarcastic, high-pitched laugh. Evan shifted in his seat.

  “Is that funny for some reason?” John asked.

  Doug looked up at Megan, then at his father. “No. It’s just G-Mart’s driving and his car’s already full up,” he said. “So latah, hatah,” he said, laughing again.

  “Whatever that means,” his father said. “Finn, are you going?”

  “Oh yeah. But I kind of have a date,” Finn replied, glancing at Megan with a smile.

  Megan felt a rush of warmth. She had put that smile on his face. Well, her and Kayla Bird.

  “You do? With whom?” Regina asked.

  “Dude, did you finally snag Kayla Bird?” Evan asked.

  “Yeah. Apparently,” Finn said, flushing.

  “It’s about freakin’ time, man!” Evan said gleefully. “What made you finally grow the balls to—?”

  “Evan,” his father said reproachfully, glancing at Megan.

  “Sorry,” Evan said. “Just proud of my little bro.” He lifted his hand for a high five, and Finn whacked it with a grin.

  “Okay, then, Evan, looks like you’ll be driving Megan to and from,” John said, taking a sip of his soda.

  Evan stopped chewing and looked at Megan. Her stomach dropped.

  “Actually, Dad, I—”

  “You have a car, you’ll drive her,” his father said. “Is that a problem?”

  The noisy table grew a lot quieter as everyone watched and waited for Evan’s answer. Even Sean stopped reading, though he kept the book in front of his face. Evan wiped his palms on his jeans and swallowed.

  “No. I guess not,” he said finally, averting his gaze from everyone else’s.

  Megan’s food turned into an unappetizing lump in her mouth. Why was Evan suddenly acting so weird? Hadn’t he told her in the car that he wanted her to go to the party?

  “Good. Now, you all remember the new curfew?” John asked, looking around the table at all of them.

  “We do,” Doug, Finn, Evan, and Megan droned.

  “Glad to hear it,” John said, taking a bite of his food. “And Evan, you’re responsible for Megan. Anything happens, you get her outta there.”

  Interesting, Megan thought, hiding a smile. Now, by parental decree, Evan would have to hang out with her all night. Unfortunately, when she checked for his reaction to this news, Evan looked like he’d just eaten a piece of bad fish. Megan forced herself to breathe against a lump of disappointment in her throat.

  “That’s okay, John,” she heard herself saying. “I don’t need anyone to—”

  “Megan, please. That’s what brothers are for, right?” John said.

  Megan slid a glance past Finn at Evan. He had pressed himself back in his chair and was staring at his half-full plate.

  “Yeah,” she said. “I guess.”

  But if this was the way Evan was going to act all night, she wasn’t sure she wanted to be around him at all.

  * * *

  Tracy always said that pink was Megan’s best color, but Megan was nothing if not an anti-pink girl. Still, last year for her birthday, Tracy had bought Megan a pink T-shirt that she swore worked perfectly with Megan’s ankle-length forest green canvas skirt. “In case you ever want to look like a full-on girl” Tracy had said.

  So when Megan took the braid out of her hair and it fanned out around her shoulders in gorgeous, never-before-conceived-of waves, she decided she was already halfway there, so why not? It was a new house, a new town, a new set of friends. Maybe it was time for a new look.

  Or maybe I should have just made it a ponytail-and-sweatshirt night, Megan thought, glancing at Evan as he parked his car behind a dozen others in front of Christian Todd’s tremendous stone house. She didn’t feel like herself, which made it even harder to deal with Evan’s coldness. When she had come downstairs to meet him, he hadn’t said a thing about her hair or her outfit. He had barely said one word to her since they left the house—had hardly cast a glance in her direction. If she could rub the scuffed glove compartment and have a genie pop out of it right then and there, her only wish would be to know what Evan was thinking.

  He cut the lights and for a moment there was silence. Then a few people breezed by the car, talking and laughing. Evan unhooked his seat belt and turned toward her.

  “I know this is going to sound lame, but I don’t think we should walk in there together,” he said.

  “Huh?”

  “Okay, look.” Evan cleared his throat. “Um, so Hailey’s been kind of freaking out the past few days and it’s sort of all about you.”

  “What?” Megan blinked in the dark. “What does that mean?”

  Evan looked at the ceiling and took a deep breath. “Here’s the thing. Hailey and I have been together for over a year and you’d think that would be long enough for her to, you know, trust me, but ever since you got here, she’s been acting like I’m public enemy number one.”

  “I think that’s my role, actually,” Megan said, looking away.

  “Anyway, she’s always been kind of jealous, but with you actually living in my house? It’s pretty much pushed her over the edge,” Evan said.

  “So . . . ?”
Megan wanted to say, Well, how is that my problem and what the hell am I supposed to do about it? but of course she didn’t.

  “So I just think it would be better for everyone involved if we didn’t . . . if there wasn’t a scene tonight,” Evan said hopefully. “Do you know what I’m saying?”

  “Yeah, I get it,” Megan said, trying to sound sympathetic.

  She gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. Didn’t he see how crazy Hailey was? How could he just give in to it?

  So much for an evening of endless possibilities. The only possibility she faced now was an awkward night of flying solo.

  “You’re thinking what a total loser I am, huh?” Evan said, looking away, sounding sad.

  Megan had to bite her lip to keep from shouting out, “Yes!” but still, it kind of touched her that he cared what she thought.

  Megan shoved open the car door. “You know what? It doesn’t matter,” she said. “Have fun tonight.”

  She slammed the door and hurried up the hill to Christian’s front door as fast as the small circumference of her skirt would allow. Up ahead, a few people were walking into the house, and when the door opened, the sounds of laughter and shouting voices and seriously loud music flowed out onto the lawn. Megan’s heart pounded. She was suddenly filled with a wave of anxiety so strong it actually made her nauseous. But she wasn’t going to let Evan see that. She swallowed hard, squared her shoulders, tossed her newly waved hair back, and walked right inside.

  From: Kicker5525@yahoo.com

  To: TooDamn-Funky@rockin.com

  Subject: Boy Guide

  Megan Meade’s Guide to the McGowan Boys

  Entry Six

  Observation #1: Boys are moody.

  Like PMS moody.

  Observation #2: Boys are fickle.

  Like Tracy-Dale-Franklin-at-the-MAC-counter fickle.

  Observation #3: Boys are hard to read.

  As if we didn’t know that already.

  Nine

  “Omigod! Tessa! You came!”

  Megan walked into the foyer and immediately a girl threw her arms around her, enveloping Megan in an entirely too tight hug. She stank of musky perfume and one of her crunchy blond curls flew directly into Megan’s mouth. It tasted sour.