by Nancy N. Rue
Gill was obviously into the whole thing, which meant Harley was too.
“The question is — ” Fiona looked at Darbie.
“Why would an eleven-year-old girl be wanting a boyfriend?” Darbie said.
“So much that she would break the pact,” Sophie put in. “We made a promise to each other that we wouldn’t go to the dance with a boy — any of us.”
“Did Kitty agree to the promise?” Dr. Peter said.
“Yes!” Fiona said. “She pinkied up like the rest of us.”
Dr. Peter looked bewildered. Sophie and Darbie linked pinky fingers, and he nodded. “Gotcha,” he said.
“But then today she’s telling us she never wanted to make the promise in the beginning,” Darbie said.
Dr. Peter ran his finger up and down his nose. “Something is really strong in her to make her break a promise. Maybe the Bible can show us what that something is.”
“No way,” Gill said.
“That’s what I’m thinking,” Fiona said.
“Don’t take my word for it,” Dr. Peter said. “Let’s go in.”
Sophie was squirming in the purple beanbag, but Dr. Peter’s eyes were still dancing, the way they did when there was a juicy problem to solve.
“Turn to Ecclesiastes 3 — that’s in the Old Testament, Fiona. There you go.” Dr. Peter glanced around the circle as they thumbed to the right place. “This isn’t the most uplifting book in the Bible, but I think you’ll like this part. Now, I want you to close your eyes and imagine that you have come to a wise teacher, someone you look up to.”
Sophie chose Dr. Peter and pictured him in her mind with a beard down to his chest and wearing a long robe that touched the tops of his rope sandals.
“Imagine you have come to this teacher with your question about Kitty, and you know he or she will give you the right answer.”
“What’s the question again?” Gill said.
“What is so strong in Kitty that she would break her pact with her friends? What does she think is so important that she would do this? Now picture yourself asking this wise person that question. Hear it coming out of your mouth. Be aware of how you’re sitting and what you’re feeling. Be there.”
Sophie was already there, sitting at Dr. Peter’s feet, looking up at him with begging eyes, wanting so much to know the answer before they lost Kitty to some boy who would never be as nice and loyal to her as the Corn Flakes were. She could even feel the knot in her throat.
“Now,” Dr. Peter said, “I want you to hear these words as if they are coming from the teacher’s mouth — the answer to your question.”
“ ‘There is a time for everything,’ ” he read, “ ‘and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build.’ ”
He went on to read about weeping and laughing, mourning and dancing, scattering and gathering, hugging and not hugging. Sophie listened, waiting for the part where she would have the oh-I-get-it feeling. So far what he was reading was only making the knot in her throat bigger, and she didn’t know why.
“ ‘A time to search and a time to give up’ ” Dr. Peter read, “ ‘a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend.’ ”
She heard an impatient sigh from Fiona.
“ ‘A time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.’ ”
It was quiet, except for the sound of someone trying not to cry out loud.
“You okay, Loodle?” Dr. Peter said.
“No,” Sophie said. She smeared her arm across her wet eyes. “Everything is changing. It doesn’t ever stay the same. Next year we’ll be in middle school, and all the Corn Flakes might not be together. And it might be harder, and I might start doing bad again and get the camera taken away. And maybe Kitty really will decide a boy is better than us, and she’ll go away because it’s her time to do that.”
“That’s what those verses mean, isn’t it?” Darbie said. “That there’s a time for every different thing.”
“When is my time to kill?” Fiona said brightly. “There are a few Fruit Loops I’d like to take out.”
Dr. Peter grinned. “I doubt that time is now, so hold off.”
Harley and Gill looked disappointed.
“Sometimes change is hard,” Dr. Peter said, looking at Sophie. “Especially when you like things the way they are right now. It’s okay to feel bad over that for a while, as long as you know another time will come with its own set of good things.”
“So let me get this straight,” Fiona said. “It’s Kitty’s time to start liking boys.”
“That could be part of it,” Dr. Peter said.
“I’m not in that time yet,” Fiona said.
“Me either,” Sophie said.
Harley and Gill were shaking their heads. “I’m not ever having that time,” Gill said. “No way.”
Dr. Peter cocked his head at Darbie. “You want to tell us what you’re thinking?”
“I’m thinking it seems to me it’s a bit early for Kitty to be having this time,” Darbie answered.
“I definitely don’t like this pairing-up thing in the sixth grade,” Dr. Peter said. “But there’s nothing wrong with discovering that there is more to boys than nose-picking and smelly socks.”
“That’s so FOUL!” Fiona said.
Darbie was studying Dr. Peter’s face like she was following a map.
“So how do we know when it’s OUR time?” she said. “When it’s okay to really like a boy and maybe want to dance with him or something.”
Fiona looked at Darbie in horror.
“That’s a great question,” Dr. Peter said. “You’ll know it’s your time for boys when being around them takes you closer to God, not farther away.” He rubbed his hands together. “And getting closer to God is what we’re going to learn how to do, using the Bible as our guide.”
I wish Kitty were here, Sophie thought as she flipped through the Bible to the next verses Dr. Peter called out. I’m not sure she’s close to God at all.
Kitty always bowed her head and closed her eyes when the Corn Flakes prayed together, but Sophie wasn’t sure it was always God she was thinking about.
Right now, she was pretty sure it was nobody but Nathan Coffey.
Six
Over the next few days, Sophie was more and more sure she was right about Kitty’s concentrating on Nathan and not God. When the Corn Flakes met before school and between classes and during lunch, and even when they got together outside of school to rehearse for filming their movie — Secret Agents at the Ball — all Kitty could talk about was her “boyfriend.”
“If he’s your boyfriend,” Fiona said to Kitty on Thursday in the hall, “why aren’t you ever with him?”
“I’m with him!” Kitty said. Sophie wasn’t surprised to hear Kitty’s voice winding up as she continued. “We talk on the phone every night, and he writes me notes, and this Sunday my family and his family are going to the beach.”
“But that’s not really a date,” Maggie said.
“So?” Kitty folded her arms up under her green poncho. “We’re still going to be together.”
“Just don’t be holding hands or any of that,” Darbie said.
Kitty turned a guilty red, like she’d already been considering it. The very thought made Sophie’s own palms go sweaty. Ew, she thought.
But at least Kitty’s liking Nathan wasn’t as bad as Anne-Stuart and B.J. going after Jimmy Wythe. The day of the spelling bee in Mr. Denton’s class, B.J. actually shoved Anne-Stuart into a bookcase so she could stand next to Jimmy.
Sophie tried not to grin too big at Fiona when B.J. missed the first word Mr. Denton gave her, which obviously happened because B.J. was so busy playing with the belt loops on Jimmy’s khakis that she didn’t even think about it.
“Opportunity without the t,” Fiona whis
pered to Sophie. “How could she make a lame mistake like that?”
When B.J. had to sit down, Anne-Stuart wasted no time in getting as close to Jimmy as she could, whispering who-knew-what into his ear, while on the other side of Jimmy, Ross and Ian — the moon-faced twins — both looked like they were going to explode if they weren’t allowed to laugh soon. Jimmy’s cheeks practically turned purple, Sophie noted. Mine would too if Anne-Stuart was that close to ME with her drippy nose, she thought. Sophie didn’t blame him for misspelling his next word so he could get away from her.
I think “B.J.” stands for “Boy Jumper,” Sophie thought. As soon as the bell rang, B.J. was on Jimmy’s trail, unzipping his backpack and sticking a note inside.
Even if I liked Jimmy as much as she does, Sophie told herself, WHICH I DON’T — I wouldn’t be all in his space all the time.
In Ms. Quelling’s class, when Jimmy said hi to Sophie on the way to his table, she ducked behind Traditional Spanish Food — after she smiled back.
It was Friday morning before Sophie noticed that Darbie was being unusually quiet. When Maggie had to tell her twice that the bell had just rung and she needed to get to class, Darbie said that she hadn’t heard it. But when Darbie didn’t go to the restroom with the Corn Flakes between first and second periods — which she always did — Sophie got the feeling that she was keeping something from them.
“Does anybody know what’s wrong with Darbie?” she said from her stall.
“Is something wrong with Darbie?” Kitty said from the next one.
Fiona was at the sink washing her hands. “How would you notice, Kitty? All you do is look at Nathan all the time.”
Kitty’s giggle bounced off the tile walls. “He’s cute!”
“Yeah, we know,” Fiona said. “You have it written all over your notebooks.”
“Does she really, Maggie?” Sophie said.
“Maggie’s not here,” Fiona said. “She already left.”
“Without US?” Kitty said.
Come to think of it, Sophie mused, Maggie has been acting funny too. But not nervous-strange like Darbie. More like sad-strange.
As they headed for the social studies room, Sophie wondered if Maggie was strange because Darbie and Sophie and Fiona were all going to Bible study and she wasn’t. Sophie slipped into their table just as the bell rang and leaned over to Maggie in the chair next to her.
“Do you want to start going to Bible study with us on Tuesdays?” she said. “It’s way cool. I bet your mom would let you.”
Maggie looked up from the back of the notebook she was doodling on and gave Sophie a droopy-eyed smile. “I’ll ask,” she said.
Sophie was pretty sure Maggie wasn’t cheered up.
At lunch Sophie wolfed down her peanut butter and pickle sandwich and watched Maggie push her red beans and rice around in their container and then pass it on to Harley.
“Those guys are watching us,” Kitty said.
“What guys?” Fiona said.
Kitty pointed to a table on the other side of the Corn Pops, where Jimmy, Nathan, and Vincent immediately lowered their heads and examined their milk cartons.
“Check out the Corn Pops,” Fiona said. “They thought Jimmy was looking at them.”
Anne-Stuart and B.J. were giggling and going blotchy red. Even Julia rolled her eyes at the boys’ table, although she quickly returned her attention to Colton, who was sitting next to her, tying her ponytail in a knot.
“If anybody else did that, she’d deck them,” Fiona said. “Right, Darbie?”
“Huh?” Darbie said.
“I knew you weren’t paying attention.” Fiona drummed her fingers on the tabletop. “All right — what’s up with you? Come on, you have to tell us. We’re your best friends.”
“Sophie, I believe we have a date.”
Sophie jumped, nearly knocking Ms. Quelling’s soda can out of her hand. Sophie had forgotten she had lunch detention for daydreaming in class that day.
“Yes, ma’am,” Sophie said.
She got up and whispered to Fiona behind her backpack, “Find out what’s wrong with Darbie.”
Although Sophie had to sit in Ms. Quelling’s classroom for only fifteen minutes, it felt like seven hours before the bell rang and she darted out into the hall to meet Fiona and Kitty.
“What did you find out?” Sophie said.
“Nothing!” Kitty, of course, whined.
“She said we’d be mad at her if she told us,” Fiona said. “I said we’d be madder if she DIDN’T tell us, but she still wouldn’t spill it.” She nudged Sophie with her elbow. “I bet she would have if you’d been there.”
“Go talk to her, Soph,” Kitty said.
“Where is she?” Sophie said, heading farther up the hallway at a faster pace.
“Look in the arts room — she SO didn’t want to be around us,” Fiona said. “She’s acting like Kitty before she told us about Nathan — ”
“Not Darbie!” Sophie called over her shoulder. “She’s the one that came up with the pact in the first place!”
“I know what’s wrong with Darbie.”
Sophie turned around. Corn Pop Willoughby stood there, talking out of a small hole she made in the side of her mouth.
“I heard y’all talking,” Willoughby said. “I know why Darbie thinks you’ll be mad at her.”
Sophie’s thoughts flipped back and forth. Listen to her, because you need all the information you can get. Don’t listen to her, because she’s a Corn Pop. Listen to her. Don’t listen to her.
Willoughby grabbed Sophie’s wrist and pulled her toward the wall. The rest of the sixth graders surged past them. “Ross told me that Ian said that Darbie told him not to tell anybody because all her friends would be mad at her.”
Sophie shook her head while she tried to sort that out. “Tell what?” she said.
“That she’s going to the dance with Ian.”
“Nuh-uh!”
“Yuh-huh. I know because I’m going with Ross, and he knows because Ian is his twin brother. Well, you knew that.”
Sophie stared at Willoughby, whose very round hazel eyes quickly surveyed the crowd behind them. She drew in closer.
“Don’t tell Julia and them that I’m going with Ross, okay? They think he’s a geek, and they’ll be telling me that every minute.” She tightened her mouth hole. “I don’t think I care what they think anymore, but I can’t tell them that. You know how mean they can be.”
But the Corn Pops were the farthest thing from Sophie’s mind.
Finding Darbie — that was the only thing she could think about.
Seven
Sophie rounded a corner and saw Darbie coming out of the girls’ restroom. When Darbie dived back in, Sophie dived in after her.
“When did he ask you?” Sophie said.
Darbie scowled at Sophie in the mirror. “Who’s the blaggard who told you?”
“That’s not what matters!”
“Yesterday,” Darbie said. “And don’t be asking me why I said yes because I don’t know. He took me by surprise — I never thought any boy would ever be looking at me.”
“I didn’t think you WANTED them to look!”
“I didn’t! Until yesterday when he asked me.” Darbie’s face softened as she turned to face Sophie. “It’s different just talking about it, and actually having it happen. I don’t know, Sophie. It just made me feel special.”
“A BOY made you feel special?”
Darbie nibbled at her thumbnail. “It’s different for me. Nothing special ever happened to me growing up in Ireland. It was all about keeping from getting hit in the head with a brick.”
“Do you think it’s your time to like boys?” Sophie said.
“Maybe it is.” Darbie was almost whispering. “But I’m not thinking more about Ian than I am about God. I even thanked God last night for Ian’s asking me. But I still want to be a Corn Flake.” Her face scrunched up into a knot. “You let Kitty!”
Sophie did
n’t even hesitate. She put her arms around Darbie’s neck. “We’ll let you too,” she said.
Darbie — who wasn’t the hugging kind — clung to Sophie and whispered, “It’s nice to have a boy liking you, Sophie. Just wait till it happens to you.”
But Sophie was sure that was one thing she was never going to experience.
The next morning, Sophie and Fiona talked alone together as they walked to meet the other Corn Flakes on the playground.
“It isn’t our time,” Sophie said. “That’s all there is to it.”
“It’s our time to be best friends forever,” Fiona said. “I don’t see how any boy could be as amazing to hang out with as you are.”
“That’s how I feel about you!” Sophie said just as they joined Darbie, Kitty, and Maggie at the fence. Sophie continued. “Could you even imagine one of the Fruit Loops doing a film with us?”
“Sure,” Fiona said. “It would be a horror film.”
Darbie and Kitty started giggling.
“They would make fantastic monsters,” Sophie said. “We wouldn’t even have to give them masks!”
“All they would have to do is be themselves.” Fiona shuddered. “It would be so heinous nobody would watch it.”
Darbie and Kitty collapsed against the fence.
But Maggie didn’t seem to be enjoying the moment. She dug into her backpack and produced one of Senora LaQuita’s breakfast burritos wrapped in paper.
“Anybody want this?” she said.
“I’ll have a taste,” Darbie said.
“How come you’re not eating it, Maggie?” Fiona eyed her suspiciously. “You hardly eat anything anymore.”
Maggie shrugged. “Not hungry.”
Maggie looked as if she were about to pull imaginary covers over her head.
“Are you coming to Bible study with us tomorrow, Maggie?” Sophie said quickly.
“I wish I could go!” Kitty wailed. “My dad won’t let me though. He says the next thing you know, somebody from the church will be at our door asking for money.”
“What?” Fiona said to her.
But Sophie stayed focused on Maggie. “Will you come?” she said.
“Yeah,” Maggie said. “My mother said I could.”
