Playing Cupid

by Jenny Meyerhoff

  I opened the note back up.

  I knew she was going to ask that question, and I was prepared. There weren’t many things, but there were enough. And besides, I reminded myself, just about anyone could like anyone. If I told them they were perfect for each other, they’d start seeing evidence for that everywhere.

  I casually tossed the note back onto Emily’s desk, and she tore into it. Then she read it for a really long time. Like, way longer than it should take to read two sentences. So long I almost started to pay attention to the movie. They were talking about some kind of special squares that you filled up with capital and lowercase letters. It looked confusing, and I realized I was going to have to study extra hard tonight to figure out what those were because they seemed exactly like the sort of thing a teacher would put on a test.

  Finally Emily wrote something else and passed the note back to me. She didn’t even look around when she passed it.

  I scribbled the answer.

  Emily again read the note about a million times before she replied.

  I wished Emily could see how awesome she was. But maybe having a guy like Logan by her side would be just the thing to show her.

  This time when Emily read my note, she looked at me in disbelief. I nodded at her so she’d know it was true. And it was! I’d asked Logan if he thought she was cute and he’d totally said yes. Emily bit her lip and smiled.

  “Both our labs this week will be on material related to this video,” Mrs. Fox announced to the class, or maybe just to me and Emily. “I sincerely hope you are paying attention.”

  I read Emily’s note and smiled. I knew she would say that and I’d come prepared. Actually I wanted her to say that. It gave me a chance to work on part two of my business.

  I passed the note to Emily just as Mrs. Fox turned the lights back on in our classroom. Whoa. I had missed the entire movie. And I’d been planning on paying attention after that last note too. Oops.

  “For tonight’s homework, I want a one-page paper explaining Mendel’s experiments and then thinking about a trait you have and where it might have come from,” Mrs. Fox announced. “Any questions?”

  I thought about raising my hand and asking her if she would summarize the whole video for me, but Mrs. Fox was one of those teachers who’d probably give me extra homework if I did something like that.

  The bell rang, and Emily grabbed my arm as I walked toward the door of the classroom.

  “I’m so nervous,” she said. “Do you really think this whole thing will work? I never would have thought to go for a guy like him.”

  I boinged one of Emily’s loose blond curls. “Trust me,” I told her. “You’re going to have the best Hot Chocolate Social ever.”

  Emily giggled nervously as we walked into the hallway.

  “I’ll see you at lunch?” she asked.

  “I might be a few minutes late,” I told her, patting the front pouch of my backpack. “I’ve got some Cupid Clara business to take care of.”

  Logan’s locker was, thankfully, far from the cafeteria. Not too many people hung around there when it was lunchtime. I hid in the doorway of one of the classrooms until the hallway was completely empty. Then I pulled the handmade heart-shaped card out of the front pouch of my backpack. It had taken me an hour to make, placing layer after layer of tissue and then sandwiching them between two cardboard heart-shaped frames. It looked like rainbow stained glass. I hadn’t meant to spend so much time on it. I’d barely had time to finish my math homework. But the heart was for Cupid Clara, which was also a school project.

  This morning, when I was sure the glue on the tissue was dry, I wrote a message in fancy lettering.

  Using removable tacky dots, I stuck the heart on the front of Logan’s locker. At first, I was going to slide it through the vents, but then I thought it would be much better for my business if everyone saw the Cupid Claragram (that’s what I decided to call it).

  When it was done, I took a step back, admiring my work. It looked great.

  I had an extra bounce in my step as I turned to walk down the hall and nearly had a heart attack when Logan tore around the corner and nearly knocked me over.

  “Hey!” I shouted, picking my bag up off the floor.

  “Sorry!” Logan picked up a couple pens that had flown out of my front pocket and handed them to me. “I’m late for lunch because I had to get extra help in language arts and my mom made me bring a lunch today.” Logan scowled. “So I had to come all the way to my locker to get it even though LA is right next to the cafeteria.”

  “That’s okay. I’ll see you in the caf.” I started walking off quickly when Logan said, “Hang on a second. I’ll walk with you.”

  “Um, okay.” It might give me a chance to talk up Emily some more.

  I stayed where I was and watched Logan jog to his locker. He stared at the heart for a second before looking at me and smiling. Then he opened his locker, grabbed his lunch, and jogged back to me.

  “So, Cupid Clara found me a match, huh? Who is it?”

  I nodded. “She’s great! One of my favorite people.”

  He smiled again. “Mmm-hmm. Any chance you’re going to tell me her name?”

  I shook my head. “Not yet. You’ll just have to deal with your curiosity for now.”

  Logan laughed and shoved my shoulder. “That’s not fair!” he said as we walked into the cafeteria.

  I rubbed the bone where he hit me. Ow. Maybe Cupid Clara could also give boys tips on things not to do when they are hanging out with girls.

  “Oh, look, there’s Emily!” I said when I spotted her waving to me from across the cafeteria. “She’s the best. I love hanging out with her.”

  “Cool,” said Logan. “She seems nice.”

  “Sooo nice! And fun. And cute. So, I’ll see you later?”

  Logan nodded. He started walking toward the table with his friends, then he stopped. “Hey! Are you coming to my game tomorrow?”

  I nodded. “I’ll definitely be there. I’m going with Emily.”

  Logan’s smile stretched practically all the way across the cafeteria. “Cool,” he said again. “See you there.”

  Seventh-grade basketball games weren’t as crowded as eighth-grade basketball games, but there were still plenty of people packing into the gym when Emily and I arrived.

  “Come on. Let’s go watch your future dance partner.” I took her hand and started pulling her toward the bleachers.

  Emily grabbed her hand away and blurted, “I have to go to the bathroom.” She raced off before I could stop her.

  I threaded my way through the crowd and found Emily staring into the mirror in the bathroom of the girl’s locker room.

  “You look awesome, Em,” I told her. “You know, you totally could have started a hairstyling business.”

  “Do you really think so?” Emily asked, checking her hair. She’d braided two sections down the back of her head so that her hair was half up, half down.

  “Absolutely! You look like a medieval princess.” I couldn’t believe how good her hair turned out. “You should wear it like that all the time.”

  Emily wrinkled her nose. “This is how I wore it when I went to my uncle’s wedding last summer. Doesn’t it seem silly to wear such a fancy hairstyle to a basketball game?” She twisted her dress around at her waist. “Plus this itches and no one else is wearing a dress.”

  “I’m wearing a dress,” I reminded her. I wanted Emily to look her absolute best for Logan, and I’d figured it would make more sense if we were both dressed up. “Trust me. You look awesome.”

  Emily bit her bottom lip, and a little crease appeared between her eyebrows. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll trust you, but I still feel stupid. It would have made more sense to wear my Austen Middle School sweatshirt.”

  “Come on.” I led Emily back out the door. “Let’s go watch the game.”

  It was already the start of the second quarter when we arrived in the gym, and the bleachers were pretty packed. I figured
it didn’t matter too much that we were late, since Logan wouldn’t even know if we were there. But as we climbed to our seats, even though he was in a huddle with the coach and the rest of the team, Logan made eye contact with me, then pointed at the giant clock above the basket. He raised one eyebrow at me, as if teasing me for being late. I raised both palms up to the sky and shrugged.

  That was a good sign. He was probably really excited to find out who his match was.

  “Doesn’t he look cute in his basketball uniform?” I asked Emily.

  “Uh-huh,” she nodded. “So cute.”

  I headed to an empty spot at the top of the bleachers but stopped when I saw Alivia, Kacy, and Danielle.

  “Hey, you guys,” I said. “I didn’t know you were coming!”

  “Didn’t I tell you?” Alivia asked. “I’m sorry. I guess I forgot.”

  “That’s okay. We’re here now,” I said. “Can we sit with you?”

  Alivia nodded and slid down the bench and so did Kacy and Danielle.

  “Why are you guys so dressed up?” Kacy asked.

  I gave her a mysterious smile. “It’s a Cupid Clara thing.”

  Alivia shot me a curious look. “A Cupid Clara thing that has to do with basketball?”

  “With a certain basketball player,” I said, wagging my eyebrows. But Alivia must not have been able to hear me over the crowd because she turned back to the game and didn’t answer.

  For the next forty-five minutes, Emily and I cheered as Austen Middle School battled our biggest rival, Brighton Middle School. With less than a minute to go, the score was tied. Logan scored a game-winning basket just before the final buzzer.

  Emily and I both leapt to our feet and cheered.

  Alivia stood up and clapped too. Then, when the cheering died down, said, “I didn’t know you guys were such big basketball fans.”

  “We’re not,” I said, smiling. “That was just really exciting.”

  Alivia tilted her head at me, like I was speaking in some secret code she was trying to understand.

  “Should we go wait in the hallway to tell the guys ‘good game’?” I asked.

  “Sure,” she said.

  We all walked out of the gym, but instead of turning right and going home, like everyone else, we went left and stood opposite the doors of the boys’ locker room.

  I was hoping it wouldn’t take too long for the players to come out so I could get this fix-up over with. My plan was to pull Logan and Emily aside and tell them they were a match right away. Then I’d give them some time alone. I had to get home and catch up on my science anyway. Plus I still had all my other homework, and it was my turn to cook dinner tonight. If I started ordering out on my days, Papi might think I couldn’t handle everything in my life right now. And even though my father hadn’t mentioned my mother’s plan again since the other night, that would probably be the first thing out of his mouth.

  I was running through my mental cookbook, when I heard Emily let out a tiny gasp. I looked up and saw Joey and Evan walking right toward us.

  “Hey, Clara,” Joey said. “What are you doing here? I thought the only sport you could stand to watch was Ping-Pong.”

  I stood up straighter, away from the wall, and noticed Alivia scanning Joey from head to toe. She leaned over to Kacy and whispered something.

  I turned my body sideways so I couldn’t see Alivia and Kacy, and said, “What are you doing here? You’re not the world’s biggest basketball fan either.”

  “We just had a math tournament,” he said. “We crushed it, and Evan rocked the lightning round.”

  “That’s awesome!” Emily gave Evan a high five. “I can’t believe you guys can solve problems in your head so fast. I’d be super nervous.”

  “You’d be great at it,” Evan said.

  “We always need more members if you guys want to give it a try.” Joey gestured to me and Emily. Behind me, I was certain Alivia was still watching me, and probably wondering if I wanted to be a Mathlete.

  “Actually I’ve always wanted to try it,” Emily said. Then she glanced back at Alivia and looked at the ground. “But, um, I don’t know.”

  “We’re both kind of busy right now,” I said, then I just stood there awkwardly for a second. A mental earthquake was splitting my brain into pieces. Part of me wanted Joey to leave as quickly as possible. Logan was about to come out, and I didn’t want him to see Emily hanging out with other guys. But I also didn’t want Joey to feel like I was embarrassed to talk to him. Even though I knew Alivia and Kacy were thinking all kinds of mean things about him. I wanted to crawl out of my skin. If only there was a real earthquake. It would be nice to be swallowed up by the ground right about now.

  I was frantically trying to think of something to do when I heard somebody shout my last name.

  “Martinez!”

  Logan bounded over to where I stood with Emily, Joey, and Evan, little drops of water spraying from his freshly showered hair and landing on my face. I tried to wipe them off my cheek without being too obvious about it. Joey didn’t try to be subtle. He picked up the edge of his T-shirt and wiped his whole face. He gave Logan a disgusted look too.

  “Refreshing,” Joey said sarcastically.

  I tried to swallow my laugh.

  “Hi, Logan.” Alivia came and stood right next to me. “Great game.”

  “Thanks,” he said, barely looking at her. Then he turned to me. “You came! I was starting to worry.”

  “Oh, Emily and I had to take care of something first, but of course we came!” I took a tiny step backward as I spoke and pushed the small of Emily’s back so she’d take a step forward. I wanted her to be the most featured girl in Logan’s vision.

  “What did you think of the final shot?” Logan asked me, peering around Emily.

  “They should always pass to you at the buzzer,” Alivia said. “You were so calm, you seemed like you were taking a practice shot.”

  “You were great,” I agreed. “Emily, what did you think?”

  “Oh, um, it was super exciting.” Emily’s pale skin turned fiery red. She almost looked like she was breaking out in hives. Her eyes kept darting back and forth between Logan and Evan. “I’d be so nervous having all that pressure on me. Doesn’t it freak you out?” Emily said. I wasn’t sure which boy she was talking to.

  Evan wasn’t either, because he started to say, “You get used to it,” but Logan cut him off.

  “I don’t have time to be nervous during a game. I stay in the moment and do what I have to do. But it did help knowing there was a girl in the stands I was trying to impress. I’d have to say that shot was for her!”

  I reached behind Emily’s back and squeezed her arm where no one could see. Alivia moved to stand by the drinking fountain, and she looked kind of upset. Joey kept looking back and forth between me, Logan, and Emily like we were a particularly fascinating math problem.

  “Whoever she is, she’s one lucky girl!” I squeezed Emily’s arm again. “Don’t you think so, Emily?”

  “Oh, um, yeah.” Emily nodded, the red skin spreading down her neck. “So lucky.”

  “Evan and I are heading over to Scooper Dooper. Do you want to come?” Joey asked me, breaking into the conversation. Talk about terrible timing. I was just about to suggest Logan, Emily, and I go have a talk in the parking lot. I pressed my lips together and gave him a serious look.

  “What?” Joey shrugged.

  “Hey! The team is going there too,” Logan said, punching my shoulder. “You should come.”

  “I have a lot of homework,” I told him. “I’m not sure.”

  “Come on,” Logan said. “Emily wants you to go with us. Right, Emily?”

  Emily’s face practically turned purple. Her eyes bulged like a teacher had just called on her but she couldn’t remember the question.

  “I really think you should come, Clara,” Emily squeaked. Then she leaned forward and whispered under her breath. “Please.”

  I really wanted Emily and Lo
gan to have some time alone. But if Emily was too freaked out to talk to him, then being at Scooper Dooper together wouldn’t do any good. And thanks to Joey and Evan, I couldn’t do my big reveal just yet. I’d have to go along if I wanted Cupid Clara’s first match to be a success. I guessed my other homework would have to wait.

  “Okay,” I said. “If you guys insist.”

  Two minutes later, a group of about ten of us headed out the gym doors of the school and down the icy sidewalk. Joey and Evan walked a lot faster than our huge mob, and pretty soon they were way ahead of us. Part of me felt relieved that they weren’t still trying to hang with us, but another part of me wanted to catch up with them and apologize. I wasn’t even sure what for.

  I tried to keep myself one step ahead of Logan and Emily, but every time I went a little faster, they matched my speed. Finally I gave up and fell into step beside them. Alivia sped up and joined us too.

  “That was so weird,” she said to Logan. “What was with those math guys?” Her voice carried in the freezing air. I hoped Joey couldn’t hear her. “They were totally acting like their math contest was the same as playing a basketball game.”

  Logan laughed. “Foul! Illegal use of the decimal point.”

  Alivia cracked up at his joke. I wanted to tell them all that even with half a brain Joey would be smarter than they’d ever be, but I kept my mouth shut. Even now, when I was New Clara, the idea of being one versus an entire group was enough to make my throat dry up and my heart start racing.

  I checked the time on my phone. It was already five thirty. I had time for thirty minutes of matchmaking at the ice-cream shop and then I’d head home to start dinner and homework.

  “So, Logan,” I said, moving to avoid an icy patch on the sidewalk, which also made it so that Emily was walking between us, “are you liking Austen Middle School so far?”

  He nodded. “It’s a lot bigger than my old school, but that’s cool. It makes it easier to meet people.”