I pick up a mini grilled cheese and survey the room. Sophie is there with the Super Six. They are all totally ignoring the other guests and seem to be vying for attention from the cute DJ. I think he is a local high school student. Melinda is seated on the couch with some of her friends petting Sophie’s cat. Some of the boys in our grade are outside sliding across the dance floor in their socks. As I pick up my second mini grilled cheese I see Jimmy walk through the door. He sees Rowan and lights up. He walks over to us.
“Hi,” he says to her. He looks at her and his face kind of squinches up like he is thinking about something really hard. “You look different.”
Rowan looks nervous. “Different, bad?” Rowan asks and starts to play with her hair.
I go into full panic. Oh, no, oh, no, oh, no.
“No, good. You look….” He is searching for the right word. “Pretty.”
Whew. Jimmy really is a sweet guy.
He finally took his eyes off of her and looked at the rest of us. “Oh, hi.”
“Hey, Jimmy,” we answer. “What did you bring her?” Riley asks, gesturing towards the present he was holding in his hand. You can tell he wrapped it himself. It is an odd shape and there seems to be more tape on it than there is wrapping paper, and the paper has Chanukah menorahs on it.
“I got her a model of the Hubble space telescope because I once overheard her say she likes stars.”
I am sure that she meant movie stars, but whatever, that is still pretty thoughtful. “Great gift idea,” I say. Jimmy looked at me to see if I am being serious. I really am and I give him a smile. He smiles back.
“Let me show you where to put it,” Rowan says, and they walked off hand in hand.
After they leave we go back to grazing over the food table. I pick up a sushi roll and eye it suspiciously. Just as I am about to put it into my mouth Maddy says, “Hey Riley, Winston’s here.”
Riley is right in the middle of taking a bite of a red velvet cupcake, and she turns to look. Sure enough there is Winston talking to someone in the corner. His back is to us and he is blocking our view of his companion. Winston takes a step back and we can now see the person he is standing with is a girl. In fact, they are talking suspiciously close. The girl is petite and blonde; she isn’t in our grade so she must be one of Sophie’s sister’s friends. Sophie’s sister is a year older. We see Winston pick up a strand of the girl’s hair and gently tug on it. What the…?
Riley puts the half eaten cupcake back on the tray and starts to head over. She looks pissed. Gilbert, Maddy and I look at each other. We don’t know what to do so we follow her. I grab a handful of pretzels on the way.
Riley stomps over to Winston and the girl. “Um, hi,” Riley says, but it isn’t a friendly hello. It is more like a hi that says, “What the hell are you doing?” Winston turns and looks to see who is interrupting him.
“Oh, hey, Riley,” Winston says coolly, like Riley is just a girl he knows from school and talking to this new girl was no biggie. He doesn’t even look embarrassed or sorry.
He turns his back on Riley. “Where was I?” Winston says to the blonde.
Oh, no you didn’t.
This time Riley taps on Winston’s shoulder hard. “Excuse me.” She says a little too loud. You can see her clenching her fists. Rowan and Jimmy are now behind Gilbert, Maddy, and me.
“What’s going on?” Rowan asks.
“Shhh,” I say and nod over towards Winston and Riley. Rowan looks just as Winston turns to face Riley again, clearly annoyed.
“Winston, can we talk?” Riley says through gritted teeth.
“In a minute,” Winston says and turns around again.
Riley, and really all of us, are floored. She looks to us and we look back at her. None of us are sure what to do or say. Out of shock, Riley starts to walk back towards us. But then I can see her eyes narrow. Riley isn’t the kind of girl to back down from a fight. Dealing with four brothers and sisters, Riley is used to being in conflicts for many different reasons. Like, one time when she was little, her older brother stole her Barbie doll and Riley kicked him so hard in the you-know-whats that he had to stay home from school for two days. She turns on her heel and walks right back over to Winston.
From behind his back Riley seethes. “No, now,” she says.
The blonde is clearly getting uncomfortable. “I’ll talk to you later, Winston,” she says and takes off.
Winston finally turns and gives Riley his full attention. “What?” Winston says all innocent. I am ready to kick his ass myself.
“What are you doing flirting with that girl? I thought we were going out.” Riley’s steely veneer is cracking. Her lower lip is beginning to quiver.
“Come on, Riley, we were just having fun, you knew we weren't exclusive.” From the look on Riley’s face she clearly didn’t know that. Her eyes are getting glassy.
“But I thought you were my boyfriend,” she whispers. The tears are starting to fall.
“Please, Riley, you wouldn’t even let me get to second base.”
I breathe a sigh of relief. I am so glad she hadn’t done that with him, especially now that he is turning into such a dirtbag.
Winston goes on, “You and I didn’t mean anything. Did you honestly think it did?”
Tears are rolling down Riley’s cheeks. I want to look away or kick Winston’s face in, but I just stand there. Gilbert grabs my arm for support. Winston just looks disgusted and starts to walk away. We all begin to move towards Riley to gather her up when we hear a male voice close by yell “Hey!” Not a nice “hey.” A stop you in your tracks “hey.”
I look up to see where the voice is coming from and there is Ralph walking up behind Winston. “Hey!” he says again.
Winston turns to him, “What do you want, Ralph?” He asks, all cocky.
Ralph turns to Riley. “Is this guy being a jerk to you?” he asks. We are surrounding Riley now. The tears are still falling and a little snot is coming out of her nose. Riley nods.
“What are you going to do about it?” Winston sneers back at Ralph.
“This.” And with that Ralph makes a fist and hits him hard right in the face.
I can hardly keep myself from cheering. Riley looks so surprised she starts laughing.
Blood is coming out of Winston’s nose. One of Winston’s skate buddies comes over too see what all the fuss is about.
“You asshole! What is your problem? Why do you give a crap?” Winston says while trying to wipe away the blood.
Winston’s skater boy stands by his side trying to look tough in case anymore punches are going to be thrown. On Ralph’s side, Jason and Dylan show up and are standing behind him.
“You don’t treat a lady that way,” Ralph says.
Where does he get this stuff? It is just like in a movie. I nearly swoon.
Sophie’s mom and dad walk in the room and see Winston’s bloody nose, Riley’s tear stained face, and the boys trying to look tough.
“What is going on here?” Sophie’s mom says. “Winston, are you alright?”
Winston uses the back of his hand to wipe some of the blood off and sniffs. “Yeah. We’re all cool.”
“I think you boys had better go.” Sophie’s dad says to Ralph, Jason, and Dylan.
“But…” I start to protest. Ralph had saved the day. He is the hero and here are Sophie’s parents throwing them out of the party. Ralph turns to me. His eyes silence me. “No problem, sir.” Ralph says. Ralph, Jason and Dylan start walking away.
I watch the boys head over to the door. My heart is beating fast. I know I should stay and help Riley but as Ralph walks away it is getting difficult to breath.
“Riley, are you alright?” Gilbert asks.
Riley, face still wet with tears, says, “Can you believe he punched him?”
As the boys walk out the door I feel an emptiness in my chest and my stomach hurts. I turn to the girls, “I’ll be right back.” And before anyone can stop me I run out after them.
&n
bsp; “Ralph!” I call after the boys.
Ralph stops and turns around to face me.
I run up to him, but I don’t know what I am going to say. I stand on the sidewalk in front of Sophie’s house at a loss for words.
“Did you send that text to Alex from Dylan’s phone?” I don’t know why I choose this moment to ask that question, but it is all I can think of.
“Yeah.” Ralph says. My head is spinning, I have so many thoughts and emotions running through me. I want whatever I say to be just perfect, but my brain is a muddled mess.
“Cool,” is all I can get out. We stand there, his eyes on me, my eyes on the sidewalk.
“Alright,” Ralph says, and turns around again.
“Wait,” I plead.
“What?” Ralph says just to make me even more anxious.
“Nothing,” comes out before I can stop it. I can’t get the words out. I can’t tell him how stupid I have been, and that I want to take it all back.
“Alright then, later.” He turns his back and goes to rejoin his friends who are now waiting for him at the end of the block.
I start crying.
“I’m sorry!” I yell after him. “I was wrong about you.” Ralph pauses but he doesn’t turn around.
Somehow my courage is coming back to me. “I, I got this completely wrong idea about you, and I was just so, so stupid. You are so nice and cool and cute and I blew it. I blew my chances with you.”
Ralph turns around but I still can’t read his face.
“So now what?” he says and starts walking back towards me.
I stand there waiting for him and wipe at my nose with the sleeve of my sweater.
He is standing close to me now. I can smell him. A nice smell, a cute boy smell. I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t know,” I pause. “I just wish…” I can no longer look him in the eye. He is so cute and I am a hot mess.
“I just wish I could have a do-over. That you would ask me out again.” I manage to get out.
“Is that what you want?” Ralph asks. I am not looking at him, but I can tell by his tone that he is smiling.
I nod, my eyes still on the sidewalk.
“Leah, will you go out with me?”
I look up at him to make sure he is serious. “Really?” I ask but his soft brown eyes already tell me that he is.
“Really,” he says.
I throw my arms around his neck.
“Is that a yes?” Ralph teases.
I nod into his shirt collar.
Chapter 26
Wednesday, February 3
Today’s Horoscope: Love comes to those who wait.
Ralph has to go back to boarding school the next day, but we hang out with each other all morning. My mom invites Ralph over for breakfast. I knew she is doing me a solid when she makes French toast instead of the muesli or some other nonsense that we normally eat. She really is on her best behavior; she only embarrassed me once when she told Ralph how I used to make these cute little farting noises with my mouth against my arm when I was a kid. Don’t even ask how it came up. But after breakfast Ralph calls my mom “cool,” which is a relief. At least she didn’t blow it for me. We spend the rest of the morning sitting on his lawn picking at the grass and talking before he has to go. When his dad goes in the house to get his last bag, Ralph gives me a quick kiss on the cheek. I nearly die.
At school everything is back to normal. Gilbert and I are totally BFF. We have this new thing where when we are bored in class we write each other’s names and decorate the letters. Don’t worry, I am still getting good grades in all my classes, but science is soooo boring. Gilb and Dylan are still hanging out and happy as ever. He finally asked her to be his girlfriend on Monday. When they were in math he passed her a note that said:
Will you be my girlfriend?
Check one:
□ yes
□ no
Clearly, she checked yes. Gilbert and I celebrated later that afternoon with fries and milk shakes. Her parents are still totally in the dark, so if you see them don’t say anything.
Riley successfully got over Winston and now has her sights on a new eighth grade boy. He is a friend of her brother’s and plays baseball. We had Jason check into the situation. Jason said he was sure Riley had a chance, but I don’t think that Riley or the boy are brave enough to do anything about it. And if Riley’s brother finds out he will definitely kick the guy’s ass. So I am not putting any money on it, if you know what I mean. She and I are cool again. We are planning to go over to her house tomorrow to jump on their trampoline. I totally need to work on my back flip skills.
Maddy found out that she is accepted to the summer art program, and she is totally excited. She is trying to talk me into taking art next semester with her instead of drama. I tried to explain that I suck at drawing, but she isn’t having any of it. I guess I will have to ask my mom. I hope she lets me choose for myself, but knowing her she will be thrilled that I am taking an interest in art and sign me up. Great.
Rowan and Jimmy are so funny. We told Rowan that Jimmy could sit with us during lunch, but he refuses. I think he still totally hates me, and rightfully so, but it is pretty sweet to see him with Rowan. Like the other day he brought her a tadpole in a jar. Rowan isn’t really sure what to do with it, but, still, it’s pretty cute. Rowan is keeping up her makeover look. She even asked Maddy to go over to her house this weekend and help her clean out her closet. However, on mornings when Rowan wakes up late, she still throws her hair into a ponytail.
Yesterday the Fab Five decided they aren’t hanging out with Olivia any more, some story involving Olivia borrowing a sweater from Emma and getting a stain on it. We let Olivia sit with us at lunch today and invited her to come to Riley’s tomorrow to jump on the tramp. Who knows with them, they could all be besties by the morning. Girls!
Now that Ralph is back at school we email each other, like, every day. As soon as I got home from dance class that afternoon I check my computer. There is an email from Ralph:
Just saying hi. Another boring day at Havenhurst. I did get an “A” on my English essay that you helped me write, so thanks.
Xo
Ralph
I instantly IM Gilbert.
LeahLouis: OMG
LeahLouis: i just got an email from R
Alex_aka_Gilbert: ooooo
Alex_aka_Gilbert: wha’d he say?
LeahLouis: nothing really
LeahLouis: but he signed it “xo”
Alex_aka_Gilbert: noway
LeahLouis: yesway
Alex_aka_Gilbert: :-)
“XO.” Can you stand it? I am so totally in love.
Glossary
A la Mode: With ice cream (en français=in French)
Accentuate: To emphasize
Accosting: Questioning
Aglow: Glowing
Alibi: Excuse for being there
Alimony: The money my dad is required to pay my mom after the divorce—kinda like an allowance.
Americana: Totally American
Anticipation: Expectation or hope
Appalled: Both disappointed and grossed out
Apprehensively: Worried that something bad is about to happen
Arrogant: Full of himself
Au Courant: Up-to-date (en français).
Audacious: Really brave
Begrudgingly: Didn’t want to, but asked him to come anyway
Beluga Caviar: Fancy and expensive fish eggs; totally gross
Bewildered: Completely confused
Chi: Flowing energy
Crème de Menth: A sweet, mint-flavored alcoholic beverage—It sounds good, but it's gross. Trust me.
Debacle: Total disaster
Distressed: Freaking out
Effervescent: Bubbly
Epileptic seizure: When someone has epilepsy, they have seizures where they can’t control their body and shake and stuff.
Exasperated: Extremely annoyed
Exclusive: Only dating one another
Exie: Expensive
Flabbergasted: Totally surprised
Gloat: Tell people how great everything is
Heinous: Beyond ugly
Ignorance: Act like I don’t know
Intimidating: Scares the crap out of us
Jeff Gordon: Famous Nascar racecar driver—Totally a dad thing.
Jetes: Leaps (en français=in French)
Latch Key Kid: When you need to bring your own key, because no one is home when you get home from school
Luminaria: A lighted candle set in sand inside a paper bag
MIA: Missing in action
Michael Bolton: I hope for your sake you have never heard this totally lame musician. Parents seem to love him.
Mortified: Beyond embarrassed
Mortifying: Beyond embarrassing
Naïve: Clueless
Nonchalant: Super casual, like we don’t care at all
Ollie: Cool skateboarding move where you step down hard on the tail of the board to get some air. Really hard, if you have ever tried it.
Ostracize: When the group decides to exclude another member for a day or so for no particular reason
Pompous: Totally stuck up
Posse: Our group of friends
Reconnaissance: Check out the situation in order to gather information
Saunter: To walk in a really cool way
Skeptical: Like she doesn’t believe me
Snicker: To laugh but try and hide it
Superficial: On the surface
Surveillance: Check out the scene
Swoon: To faint; lose consciousness
TMI: Too much information
Vague: Not clear
Vapid: Totally boring
Gilbert and Louis Rule the Universe: First Impressions Page 11
