She picks up the pile of clothes lying on the floor and throws them at me one by one as she sings. “Leah and Winston sitting in a tree. K-i-s-s-i-n-g. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage.”
We both crack up.
* * *
I jump into the backseat of the car with Gilbert and her mom on Monday morning.
“Morning!” I say.
“Morning,” Gilbert’s mom answers.
“Hi,” Gilbert says unenthusiastically.
Gilbert isn’t always a morning person and can be a little cranky on the way to school.
“I can’t believe only a week until the Christmas Tree Lighting.” I urge her on.
“Yeah,” She answers and keeps on looking out her window. That is weird. Gilbert always talks to me about boys and weekend events. Maybe it makes her uncomfortable because her mom is in the car and Gilbert isn’t allowed to date yet. I decide not to push it. I sit back and we are quiet all the way to school. As we pull up to the school, Gilbert says, “I have to get to class early. Bye Mom. I’ll see you later.” As soon as the car stops rolling she jumps out of the car and slams the door without even looking at me. Gilbert is down the hall before I even collect my book bag.
By the time I get to history class that day Gilbert is already in her seat.
“Hey,” I say.
“Hey,” she answers back and continues to retrieve her notebook and pen out of her backpack. This is getting fishy. Is she bummed out about something?
“Is anything wrong?” I ask her.
“No,” she says, but she barely looks at me. She is concentrating really hard on printing the date on her paper, like she is writing down the most important thing in the world. Dylan walks in, she looks up, and her face lights up. He sits down in the seat in front of her and they start talking.
Huh, she doesn’t seem upset anymore. That’s weird.
Jimmy walks into class with his eyes on the floor. He slips into his seat without making eye contact with anyone. I am glad. I don’t know what I am going to say to him. Seeing him makes me feel uncomfortable and feel kinda sick. I am not sure why.
Gilbert and Dylan pass notes back and forth during class, but she doesn’t say a thing to me. Even when I ask her what page the homework is on, she either doesn’t hear me or just ignores me. By lunchtime I need to know what is up. I catch up to her in the cafeteria line.
“Are you mad at me?” I ask Gilbert once we have gotten our chicken fillets and French fries. We are walking over to our table. The other girls are still in line getting their food.
Gilbert is silent until we sit down, then she says, “I don’t know, Louis. You’ve just been kinda stuck up the past couple weeks.”
What is she talking about?
“What are you talking about?” I ask her.
“I just feel like you are always thinking of yourself first.”
“What do you mean? I think about lots of other people.”
“It just seems like it is always about you.”
“Whatever.” I am floored. Is she kidding me?
“And you were really bitchy the other day.”
“How?” How can she be doing this to me? What have I done to deserve this kind of treatment?
“You guys were so mean to Jimmy. You know, he’s not that bad a guy,” Gilbert says.
“But he totally embarrassed me in front of everyone!”
“That’s exactly it. You are always so worried about yourself. Don’t you think it was more embarrassing for him than it was for you?”
“Gilbert, I can’t even talk to you about this anymore. You are being ridiculous.”
I get up and look around the room. Now what? I take my chicken fillet over to the table with the Fab Five. They all look up in slight surprise when I sit down, but basically ignore me and go back to their conversation about something called a Birkin bag. I have no idea what the hell they are talking about. I just sit there and eat my sandwich in silence. I can’t believe Gilbert is abusing me like this. She is talking crazy. There must be something in her water.
For the rest of the day, I put what Gilbert said out of my mind and focus on my date with Winston. I am going to be fine. Everything is going to be fine. I just need to let Gilbert cool off.
* * *
When I arrive home from school, I see my father’s car in the driveway. That’s weird. My dad works in the city during the week. What can he be doing at my mom’s house in the middle of the afternoon? I walk in the door and both my mother and father are sitting in the living room waiting for me.
“Hi, Dad,” I say rather
apprehensively.
It is my mom who answers. “Hi, honey. We need to talk to you. Sit down.”
My dad looks like he is fuming a bit. What the hell did I do?
I put down my book bag and walk over to the couch. I am terribly afraid of what is coming.
“Leah, we received your mid-term report card in the mail today,” my dad says as he hands it to me. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
I look it over. There are a few Bs and a couple of Cs. There is even a U (unsatisfactory) for my citizenship grade in P.E. Could that be because I always forget a change of clothes so that I can sit out? I don’t know what to say. It certainly wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. I thought they had found out about the time I took a sip of the
Crème de Menthe in my dad’s pantry.
“Young lady, you are grounded until you bring these grades up,” my mother says. Wait, what the…. Is she kidding? I have never been grounded in my life.
“But Mom, I…”
My dad cuts me off, “Leah, these grades don’t reflect your intelligence. You need to spend more time on school work and less time concentrating on clothes and boys.”
I am suffocating. The room begins to spin. What does this mean about Winston and Saturday? I am going to faint.
“You will come home straight after school and will only be allowed out of the house for dance class and studying. No TV, no phone, no computer except for school work. Is that clear?” My mother asks.
“What about weekends?” I whisper.
“Same goes for the weekends,” my dad answers.
“But I am supposed to go to the Christmas tree lighting.” In my head, I am thinking about my date with Winston, only the most important event of my whole life.
“Well, I am afraid that is not going to happen,” is my dad’s response.
That is it, the tears start pouring out. I run up to my room and slam the door. I want to die.
I can’t believe this is all happening in the same day. Gilbert tells me I am being stuck-up and now I am grounded. Why me? I hear my dad leave and my mom comes up and knocks on the door. I don’t answer.
She whispers in. “Leah, you need to focus on your school work. Prove to us that you can do better and we’ll see about everything else. Okay?” I still don’t answer and continue to weep. No Winston on Saturday, I am totally crushed.
In my mind, I have created a whole fantasy. The night of the Christmas tree lighting, I am wearing that gorgeous cashmere sweater with my hot new jeans and super high black heels (even though I never wear heels; I can’t even walk in them. How do ladies do it?). I might even be smoking a cigarette—no, scratch that, cigarettes give you lung cancer. But I look totally hot and mature. Winston can’t resist me. We are holding hands then at the end of the night as we are just about to part, he whispers to me, “Leah, you are incredible. Will you be my girlfriend?” I bat my eyelashes at him and say yes and then turn to walk away. Just as I am leaving he calls my name, “Leah!” I stop and turn around. He walks up, puts his hands around my waist, and kisses me.
On the mouth.
With tongue.
Now none of that would happen. I am grounded and can’t even go to the stupid Christmas tree lighting. And what am I going to tell him? I can’t tell him I am grounded, that is so lame.
I go over to the comp
uter. I want to IM Gilbert but we are in a fight. Maddy is online. I will tell her.
LeahLouis: u there?
Artgirl11: hi
Artgirl11: wuts up?
LeahLouis: grades came
LeahLouis: im grounded
Artgirl11: $%#$%!!
LeahLouis: i know
My mom called from the other room, “No instant messaging!” Damn.
LeahLouis: got to go
Artgirl11: so sorry
Artgirl11: l8er
I stay in my room the rest of the day; I don’t even come down for dinner. I fall asleep still crying.
Chapter 10
Tuesday, November 17
Today’s horoscope: Get your head in the game if you want to win.
“Agh!” I slam the door as I get into Gilbert’s mom’s car the next morning.
“I got grounded,” I complain as I fasten my seatbelt.
“Really, that sucks.” Gilbert says, but it doesn’t sound like she thinks it sucks, in fact, it kind of sounds like she thinks I deserved it.
Her mom seems far more interested.
“Why were you grounded, Leah?” She asks.
“They saw my mid-term grades and want me to do better.” I tell her.
“Oh, well, I can understand that. How did you do?” She asks.
“Mostly Bs and a few Cs.”
“You can do better than that. You girls are so smart,” Gilbert’s mom says into the rearview mirror.
“I got all As and Bs,” I hear Gilbert mumble.
“I guess,” I say to Gilbert’s mom and slouch back into the car seat.
Parents are so lame.
When we get to school the girls are all waiting for us. Maddy, Riley, and Rowan are much more sympathetic about the whole grounding thing. Again, Gilbert runs off to class early.
“I can’t believe that you are grounded,” Rowan says.
“That is so messed up,” Maddy agrees.
“Are you so upset about your date with Winston?” Riley asks.
“Oh my God, totally. I cried myself to sleep last night. Don’t my eyes look puffy?” They all go in for a closer look and agree that they do look a little puffy.
“We will do surveillance for you,” Maddy says.
“Yeah, we’ll see if he talks to any other girls or anything,” Rowan adds.
“You guys are awesome, thanks,” I say as the first bell rings. I feel slightly better as we all run off to class.
At the end of history class Mr. Jeffries calls me to stay back. I stand there shifting my weight from one foot to the other while the rest of the kids empty out of class. A few of the boys snicker at me as they walk by, assuming that I am in trouble.
As soon as everyone had left, Mr. Jeffries says, “Leah, Jimmy has requested to change partners.”
“Oh,” is all I can say.
“Is there anything you want to tell me?” Mr. Jeffries asks. Mr. Jeffries is always trying to talk to kids like he is on our level. He always uses dated expressions like “I am down with that” and “that’s totally dope.” Like he is so sure he understands what we are going through. Please.
“No,” I mumble, shake my head and keep my eyes on the floor.
“Well, I don’t normally do this, but he was pretty upset, so I partnered him up with Allison. That means that Charles will be your partner.”
Charles is like the dumbest kid in class. I mean, he doesn’t believe in global warming. I am so screwed.
“Okay. Thanks.” I want to get out of there before I start to cry. Life is totally sucking.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Mr. Jeffries asks.
See what I mean?
There is no way I am confiding my problems to my history teacher so I eek out a “No.”
“Alright,” he says but looks at me like he knows I am about to lose it. Before he can say anything else I walk as quickly as I can out the door and bee-line it for the girls bathroom. I make it into one of the stalls before the tears start to roll down my cheeks. I start making those choking sobs, and quickly flush the toilet so no one can hear me. I mean, I don’t know why I am so upset about changing partners. Jimmy is so lame. But somewhere inside hurt. It is like nothing at all is going my way.
That evening at home, when my mom is in the shower, I find my phone (she always hides it in her bedside table drawer) and secretly text Winston to say that I can’t go to the Christmas tree lighting because my grandma is going to be in town.
I wait a few minutes and then hear a ding.
“Bummer,” is all it says.
* * *
The next week is the worst of my whole life. Alex and I still have to carpool, but the most we say to one another is “Hi,” when I get in the car and “Bye” when we arrive at school. Gilbert has been eating lunch these days outside with Dylan so at least I can sit in the cafeteria with the girls. The five of us still hang out together between classes and at Nutrition, but when Gilbert and I are forced to be with each other we only talk to the other girls, never to one another. When Gilbert and I are in the same place at the same time there is this weird tension in the air and it makes me kind of sick to my stomach. The girls know something is up but haven’t said anything. I am sure they talk about it among themselves, but they haven’t approached me, and I am not sure what to tell them. Gilbert and I have never really been in a fight before. Except that one time in fourth grade when her dog chewed my Barbie’s hand off, but my mom bought me a new one and then it was all better. I play out all these conversations in my head where Gilbert and I confront one another and we yell all kinds of things, but then we end up hugging and forgiving one another. But I can’t bring myself to say any of the things that I am feeling. Like, I can’t believe she is ignoring me at such a sucky time. I mean, how can she think that I was being snotty and stuck up? I was just acting the way I always act. She is the one ignoring our friendship. She is the one who is spending all her time with her new boyfriend. Argh, it makes me mad just thinking about it.
Also, I didn’t I tell the girls about my text from Winston as he didn’t seem to express the same level of despair that I am feeling. Nor did he ask me out again. I know because I still check my phone every day. Somehow that piece of information doesn’t seem worth sharing with everyone else.
My social life is non-existent. My parents have decided to move the computer into the living room so that that can make sure I don't use IM or Facebook. The only person I am allowed to hang out with is my mom. She makes me go everywhere with her. Apparently, now that I am a “groundie” they think leaving me home alone is some kind of risk. Like I will be on the phone and IMing while smoking cigarettes and drinking alcoholic beverages. I have to go to the grocery store, post office, hardware store… I have to take part in whatever errands my mom has. It is so boring. The night of the Christmas Tree Lighting I was so miserable that my mom finally gave in and let me watch TV. She said I was getting on her nerves.
Back at school it is a short week before Thanksgiving. Gilbert has already left for the East to celebrate the holiday with her grandparents. To tell you the truth, it is kind of a relief. When I get to school on Monday morning I corner the girls.
“How was it?” I demand.
“What?” Riley asks. “Oh, the Christmas tree lighting?”
“Um, yeah!” I say. No duh.
“It was fine. It was kinda cold out,” Maddy says.
Right, like I give a rat’s ass about the weather. I am trying to remain cool.
“Did you see him?” I question.
“Winston?” Rowan asks.
Of course, ladies. Get to the good stuff.
“I didn’t see him,” Rowan continues. “Did you?” she asks the others.
“No, I am not sure if he was there,” Riley says.
”Maybe he was bummed you couldn’t go that he didn’t go,” suggests Rowen.
From the attitude of his text I doubt it, but whateves, I don’t say that.
“Maybe,” I say. “Well, I be
tter get to class.” As I walk away I can hear the girls talking excitedly about their weekend. I know they are trying to downplay the Christmas tree lighting so as not to hurt my feelings, but I still feel like crap.
I tried to get more information about the weekend’s festivities out of the other kids. I was busy eavesdropping on any conversation so I could to try and get the details. I even went so far as to stalk Sophie.
“Sophie!” I called after her in the hallway as she walked from one class to the next.
“Oh, hey Leah, what’s up?” Sophie gave me a look like why was I bothering her.
“Um, hi, yeah, so did you go to the Christmas tree lighting this weekend?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she sounded both bored and annoyed by the question.
“Was it fun?” I was really trying.
“It was okay. Weren’t you there?” she asked.
“No, I, um. I, um, had to see my grandma,” I lied.
“Bummer. Yeah, it was cool. Same as last year.”
“Anyone cool there?” Please Sophie, please, please give me some information.
“I don’t know, the usual.”
Should I ask? Should I bring up his name or is that too desperate?
I didn’t even get the chance.
“Well, see you.” We had already made it to her next class and she walked in the door. The late bell rang. I was tardy.
* * *
The next three days are totally uneventful. Thursday is Thanksgiving and this year I have to go with my dad and Bonnie to Bonnie’s parent’s house. They are, like, some kind of health nuts. They have free-range turkey, whatever that is, and grain stuffing. They even made homemade cranberry sauce, which they are all raving about. I can’t see the big deal, it is totally gross. I like the stuff straight from the can with no lumps in it and the funny can markings on the side. On the way over, I try to tuck a can of Oceanspray into my bag but my dad catches me and says that would be rude. To top it off, I don’t get to eat my aunt’s sweet potatoes with marshmallow topping. In fact, there isn’t a marshmallow in sight at Bonnie’s parent’s house. During dinner I borrow my dad’s phone and text my mom that the food totally sucks and to bring home left-overs. The only thing that is any good are the homemade buttermilk biscuits. I eat ten.
Gilbert and Louis Rule the Universe: First Impressions Page 5
