I can’t. I’m booked
She left it at that. Let him think she had other tutoring clients. Let him think she wasn’t as excited about their next meeting as she actually was.
Keep practicing
We’ll pick up where we left off
Sunday at 6
She wasn’t about to tell him who she was, but she signed off with a little hint: the words he’d been hearing her say every day for the last four months, but with a little twist.
See ya, SurfSup
She was pretty sure he knew who she was when he replied.
Marcus
See ya, Peach
“Emma!” Allie yelled, waving her arms in the air.
Emma looked over her right shoulder, saw that Allie was open, and passed her the ball. Allie took it, dribbling down the field, dodging green jerseys, heading straight for the goal.
She was almost there when she spotted Maddie darting out from behind another defender. Allie didn’t have to kick it very hard for it to skim across the grass and stop right in front of her.
Maddie moved the ball down the field, in total control as she dodged another defender.
“You got it, Maddie!” Allie yelled.
Maddie lined herself up and kicked it as hard as she could. The ball soared right past the goalie’s hip and slammed into the back of the net.
Maddie took two steps backward. The horn sounded, signaling the end of the game. Final score: 3–2. “Yes!” she screamed, punching her fist into the air.
Allie and Emma were there within seconds, wrapping their arms around her shoulders and hugging her so hard, they lifted her feet off the ground.
The tournament was almost over. Three games down, one more to go, and a two-hour break in between.
The girls collected their things and walked to the sidelines, where their parents were standing in a big circle, trying to decide where to go for lunch. Allie didn’t care; she just couldn’t wait to sit down and throw back the biggest glass of ice water in existence.
Finally, everyone agreed on the deli at the shopping center across the street. The parents started walking. The girls trailed behind.
“Okay,” Emma said as she grabbed Allie’s hand. “Tell us all about the tutoring session with Marcus last night.
“I told you already!” Allie said.
“Over group text,” Maddie said. “That doesn’t count.”
“Details,” Zoe said. “Spill it.”
As they walked, Allie told them all about the list of items, and the bag of stuff she and Nathan had collected for Marcus to pick up at the locker the day before. She told them how cute he sounded, even over text.
They arrived at the deli. They were all about to step inside when Emma stopped and said, “You guys . . . look.”
Allie, Maddie, and Zoe followed her gaze.
Right next to the restaurant was a huge store with a big green sign that read EVERYTHING’S A DOLLAR.
“I need more glitter,” Emma said.
“I need candy,” Zoe said.
“I need cute wrapping paper,” Maddie said.
Allie thought about the remaining items on her Marcus list. She still needed a few things she hadn’t been able to find around the house, like a balloon and a birthday candle. “I need a few things for Marcus.”
“Aw . . .” Emma grabbed Allie’s arm.
“That’s so cute!” Maddie bumped her shoulder against Allie’s. “Soon you two are going to be all cute and couple-y, like Chris and me. The four of us can go to the movies together.”
“Yeah,” Allie said.
She tried to picture going to the movies with Marcus. Or holding hands with him in the hallway, like Chris and Maddie did. She couldn’t see it clearly. The flirting thing was fun, but she’d never really thought about what happened after that.
“I’ll tell our parents we’re making a stop,” Zoe said as she peeled off from the group. “Meet you there.”
The rest of them walked through the automatic doors, grabbed a plastic basket from the stack, and looked around, trying to figure out where to go first.
“This place is gigantic,” Maddie said.
They all stood there, feet rooted in place, waiting for someone to make the first move.
“I wonder where the birthday section is?” Allie asked.
They were about to head off to find it, when Zoe stepped in front of them, basket in hand, and said, “Follow me!”
She led them to the center of the store, where a massive aisle of candy seemed to stretch on forever. Zoe seem unfazed as she began reaching into the bins.
“I’ve made forty bucks, and that’s what I’m spending,” she said as she grabbed ten boxes of twenty-count Snickers bars, ten more boxes of Milky Ways, five boxes of Twix, and five more boxes of Three Musketeers. And then she started filling her basket with bags of Starbursts, Skittles, and Jolly Ranchers.
“That’s a lot of candy,” Emma said.
Zoe shrugged. “It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it.”
“Okay, my turn,” Maddie said, waving everyone over to the wrapping-paper section. “It’s all about the presentation,” she said as they arrived at the aisle full of colorful paper tubes, buckets of bows, and rolls of ribbon. “Give it a few days, and word will get around that when you buy from Fashionista, it’s a lovely experience, beginning to end.” She scrunched up her nose. “Unlike CrabbyPatty, who delivers her clothes wrinkled and doesn’t even bother to fold them first.”
Maddie reached for a tube of white paper with bright orange flowers. “What about this? Too flowery?” Maddie didn’t wait for her friends to respond. “No, it’s perfect. It says fun and classy, don’t you think?” She grabbed a roll of orange ribbon to match and carefully selected five white bows.
“I like this idea. I’m going to make my candy bags cuter, too.” Zoe looked down, considering her options. She decided on cellophane gift bags with pictures of colorful assorted fruits. “See, this is festive. Strawberries. Cherries. Blueberries. Peaches. It’ll make people feel like they’re eating something healthy—”
“Unlike this.” Emma picked up one of the Three Musketeer bags. “What is nougat even made of?”
“Magic,” Zoe said. She took it from Emma’s hand and tossed it back into her basket. “I’m going to fill these little bags with three dollars’ worth of candy and sell them for ten. By this time next week, I’m going to be rolling in cash. Roll-ing, people!”
“Okay, my turn,” Emma said as she led everyone over to the crafts section. She added purple, gold, and green glitter to her basket, along with a big container of Elmer’s Glue. Then she stopped and looked around. “I need to find something to put all my slime in.”
Everyone followed Emma to the kitchen section and peeled off down different aisles, looking for storage containers. Zoe found some glass jars with cute lids, and Emma put ten in her basket.
“What do you need, Allie?” Maddie asked.
Allie looked at the picture she’d taken on her phone. “A balloon. A candle.” She shook her head. “I don’t even know how I’m supposed to get all this stuff to him before our next tutoring session tomorrow.”
“We’ll deal with that later,” Maddie said. “First, let’s get the stuff you need. This way.” They ran around the store, gathering up the small list of items, until they were down to the last one.
“A chair.” Allie looked at her friends. “How am I supposed to give him a chair?”
They were all quiet for a minute. And then Zoe’s head snapped up. “My little sister has a dollhouse! Come over after the game. You can all spend the night. We’ll make slime together, fill the candy bags, and wrap Maddie’s clothes.”
Allie pictured them in a circle on Zoe’s bedroom floor, working together on their auction items for Monday. And then she had an idea.
“Marcus only lives a few blocks away,” Allie said. “We can sneak over after it gets dark and drop the bag at his house. I’ll be right back!” Before her friends could say anything,
she took off for the wrapping-paper aisle. She picked out a red gift bag and a colorful bow and returned to the register.
“For Marcus,” she said, playing with the bow. “I figured he deserved something better than a plain old grocery bag.”
Later that night, Zoe and Allie left Maddie and Emma watching a movie and slipped away to deliver the bag. They grabbed their jackets off the coat rack, lifted the hoods over their heads, and slid out the front door. Two blocks later, Zoe stopped behind a tall hedge. “That’s it,” she said.
Allie looked up. It was one of those old Victorian houses, with blue shingles, white trim, and a big turret window on one side. She peered around the shrub, checking to be sure they were alone out there, and gathering her nerve. Before she had time to overthink it, she stepped into the walkway, climbed the front stairs, set the bag down in front of the door, and ran back to her hiding place.
Her fingers were trembling as she typed.
Allie
Check your porch
They waited. A minute later, they heard the dead bolt unlock and the door open. Zoe squeezed Allie’s hand. And then they heard the door close again.
“Let’s go.” Allie tightened her jacket around her waist, and they started walking back to Zoe’s house. But right before they turned the corner, she slowed her steps and stole a glance over her shoulder.
Marcus was standing at his window with his hands cupped to the glass.
“Shoot!” Allie pulled her hood around her head. “He just saw us!”
Zoe started to turn around to look for herself, but Allie grabbed her arm and pulled her out of sight.
“Even if he did, he couldn’t tell who you were,” Zoe said. “It’s too dark out here.”
Allie hoped she was right.
Allie checked the clock above the kitchen sink.
“Do you have somewhere you need to be?” her dad asked.
“Me? No. Why?” She stole another glance at the time.
“Because you keep checking the clock,” he said.
“And you’re not eating,” her mom added.
“I’m eating.” Allie stabbed her fork into a piece of chicken, popped it into her mouth, and forced it down. She didn’t have room in her stomach for food—not with all those annoying butterflies.
Her dad returned to the story he’d been telling, and Allie returned to her dinner, but it was impossible to eat when her legs were jittery, and her heart was racing, and she couldn’t stop shifting in place.
“What is with you tonight?” her mom asked.
“Big test.” It wasn’t a total lie. She didn’t have a big test, but Marcus did. “May I be excused?”
“Not until you eat something.”
Allie stabbed a bite of chicken and waited until her dad started talking again. Then she lowered the fork to her side and held it there, letting Bo clean it. She gave him another, and another. She checked the clock again. Ten minutes to go.
“Now may I be excused?”
Her mom checked her plate and said, “Fine.”
“Come on, Bo,” she called, and the two of them raced up the stairs.
She paced her room. She studied her notes. She rehearsed what she was going to say. And at 6:00 p.m., she typed:
Allie
¡Hola!
Marcus
¡Hola!
Allie
Are you ready for lesson #2?
Marcus
Let’s go
He sent a photo of all the items, the ones they’d studied on Friday night, mixed in with all the new stuff she and Zoe had delivered the night before. It was so strange to see all those things that belonged to Nathan, Zoe, and her, just lying on Marcus’s bedroom rug.
Let’s start with the items we worked on last Friday
They flew through the first ten the same way they had before. But Marcus was much faster that time. And then they moved on to the second ones.
El helado
Allie thought back to the night before, when she and her friends sat on the floor in Emma’s bedroom, passing around the carton of ice cream so they could help her empty it.
A minute later, her phone chirped, and up popped a picture of Marcus, hiding behind the empty mint chip container. Allie laughed.
Allie
Excelenté. Now show me la silla
Marcus replied with a selfie of him from the forehead up, the tiny dining room chair perched on top of his head. Allie smiled. Zoe’s little sister had demanded an entire tub of slime as payment for letting her borrow it.
Now show me el globo
Allie started cracking up when she saw the picture. He’d blown up the purple balloon and used it to block his face.
The two of them went through all the items three times, until it was clear Marcus knew them cold. Then she asked him to use each one in a sentence. Like before, he was faster than she’d expected.
Allie had been hoping to put off pronunciation until the final lesson, but they still had twenty minutes left and there was nothing else to do. She had no choice. It was time.
Allie
I think you’re ready to work on pronunciation
Marcus
How?
I’ll call you
Her stomach started doing these uncomfortable flip-flops as she dialed his number. He answered on the first ring.
“Hey.” Allie made her voice lower. She thought it would make her sound more serious, but it made her feel ridiculous.
“Hey.” The phone was silent. “So . . . how am I doing?”
“Great!” Allie said nervously. “Really great.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. You’ve got this.”
More silence. Allie shifted in her chair, trying to think of something to say. But Marcus beat her to it. “So,” he said. “Are you going to tell me who you are now?”
“Nope.”
“Well, clearly you know who I am, since you know where I live.”
Allie hadn’t thought about that part. “True,” she said.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me,” he said. “I think I’ve already figured it out from the clues.”
She let out a shaky breath. “What clues?”
“Like . . . I know you’ve been to Hawaii.”
Allie had never been to Hawaii. “How do you know that?”
“The shampoo bottle is from the Kona Hilton.”
The bottle she’d taken from her mom’s bathroom drawer must have been from her business trip last summer. “Interesting.”
“I thought I knew where you lived because of the train schedule, but now I’m stumped.”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s a map with a little circle around the corner of Twenty-First and California. I thought that was where you lived, but then, last night, you dropped off the stuff on my doorstep. So I figure you must live within walking distance. . . .” He paused, waiting for her to say something, but Allie didn’t reply.
The whole thing was getting way too dicey.
“Okay, so now we’re going to practice pronunciation and conversation,” Allie said, shaking off their previous topic. “Like before, I want you to come up with a sentence using each of the twenty items, but this time, you have to say it, okay? And remember, if you don’t know what to do, just say, ‘No lo sé.’ ”
Marcus didn’t speak right away. She wondered if he was going to go back to guessing her identity. But then she heard the sound of paper shuffling in the background, and she realized he was trying to come up with a sentence.
“¿Te gusta el pastel de manzana?”
He said the words slowly, and a little awkwardly, but he got everything in the right order. “That was really good.” She helped him with the pronunciation on manzana, and then said, “Okay, next—”
He cut her off. “Wait a second . . . You have to answer my question. You said we were working on pronunciation and conversation, didn’t you?”
He was right. And it reminded
her of what Zoe had said on the bus the week before. This was why Allie had auctioned off tutoring sessions in the first place: to have a real conversation with Marcus Inouye.
“Yes, I like apple pie,” she said. And then she got right back to business. “Next sentence. Take your time.”
Marcus kept going, creating sentences from each of the twenty items. Allie helped him along the way. He finished all twenty sentences just a minute before their time was up.
“Is there anything else you want to work on tonight?” Allie asked.
She was waiting for him to answer, when her mom knocked at the door. “Allie! Come down and empty the dishwasher.” She covered the phone and hoped Marcus hadn’t heard her, but it didn’t matter, because now Bo was barking at the door.
“Quiet, Bo!” And then she cupped her hand over her mouth.
“Bo, huh?” Marcus asked. Allie squeezed her eyelids shut. “Another clue.”
“So I have a dog,” Allie said. “Everyone has a dog.”
“Not me,” he said. “I can’t stand them.”
Allie forgot all about her slipup and zeroed in on this new information. “You don’t like dogs?”
“I got bit when I was little. They’ve terrified me ever since.”
“Well, you’ve never met Bo. He’s the cutest, sweetest, most adorable dog in the world. He’d never hurt anyone.” She reached down to pet him, and he rolled over to one side so she could rub his tummy.
“I’ve met adorable dogs before. I still don’t like them.”
The alarm went off, and Allie pushed her disbelieving thoughts aside. “Time’s up,” she said.
Marcus was quiet on the other line. “Hey,” he began. “I’ve been thinking . . . maybe we should meet in person for our last lesson. You already know who I am. Shouldn’t I know who you are?”
But then I’d have to see you, Allie thought. And talk to you. In person. She cringed at the idea alone.
“Besides . . .” he continued. “I think I already know who you are.”
“Do you?”
“I saw you the other night.”
“Oh,” she said.
“Oh,” he echoed. She could hear the smiley-sounding lilt in his voice. Allie waited for him to say her name. He didn’t. Instead he said, “So . . . tomorrow? In the library after school?”
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