Playing Cupid

by Jenny Meyerhoff

  “Sure, anytime.” I was starting to think this whole secret-advice thing was just a crazy game Mateo was playing with my mind or something.

  But he gave me his huge, sparkly smile. “Thanks!” he called as he jogged off.

  “No problem,” I said, grabbing a bag of Hershey’s Kisses from under the table and refilling the bowl. “Do you guys want some free chocolate?” I asked a group of eighth-grade boys from the debate team. “All you have to do is fill out a questionnaire.”

  They looked up at my sign, and then at each other. “No thanks,” one of them said. Then they headed over to Alivia’s table and bought a dozen mini cinnamon rolls.

  “Hey, there!” I beckoned to a group of girls I knew from my Skills for Life class. “Do you guys want to find out who your perfect match is?”

  As soon as the words left my mouth, the girls scattered around the lobby, avoiding my table like the plague. I didn’t understand. Last week, Cupid Clara had been one of the most popular businesses in the school. Today, I could barely get a customer to look at me.

  Alivia kicked Danielle under the table. Danielle gave her a look and held up one finger. Alivia kicked her again.

  “Clara,” Danielle said to me, “what’s up with your business today? It seems like no one wants you to make them a match anymore.”

  Danielle was asking me a question, but her voice sounded flat. Like she wasn’t really looking for an answer. And Alivia was busy selling someone a blueberry scone, but I could tell that she was listening to us. A little smile tugged at her lips.

  “I don’t know.” I tried to act as casual as possible, but inside I was worried. “I’m sure it’s no big deal. Maybe people don’t like thinking about matches first thing on a Monday morning.”

  “Maybe.” Alivia handed Logan a scone and adjusted the giant stack of silver bracelets on her arm. “Do you think people are worried about the quality of your matches?”

  I looked back and forth between Alivia and Logan, wondering what she was really trying to tell me. Logan had obviously told her about my mix-up. But how many other people had he told?

  I shrugged. “Nobody’s perfect.” I picked up the pile of questionnaires and tapped the edges of the paper on the table to make them even. “But I’ve still made lots of good matches. Hey, Danielle, I have a great idea. Why don’t you let me connect you and your match? I’ll do it for free. It can be part of my advertising budget. I just need to you tell everyone how happy you are if it works out.”

  “That would be awesome!” Danielle exclaimed. Alivia kicked her again. “Sorry!” Danielle told her. “But every time I try to talk to him, my mouth gets all dry and my lips start sticking to my teeth. I look like I’m wearing dentures. How am I supposed to tell him I like him if I look like I’m wearing dentures?”

  “Awesome,” I told her. “I’ll get right on it!”

  At lunch, Alivia, Kacy, Danielle, and Emily weren’t sitting at our usual square table. Today they all sat at a long rectangular table with Logan, Mateo, and a bunch of other boys from the basketball team. Perfect. It would be just the right time to put my Danielle and Connor plan into action.

  I unwrapped my sandwich, ham and cheese rolled in a tortilla, and took a bite, chewing as I listened to Alivia tell everyone that she sold over three hundred cookies and brownies today and was thinking of adding blondies to her menu.

  “Those are our favorite, right, Logan?” Alivia said, smirking.

  “I like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups,” he started to say, when Alivia elbowed him. “Oh,” he said. “Right. Blondies.”

  I swallowed and looked down the long table at Alivia and Danielle. “You guys have so many more pastries today,” I said. “You must have been baking all weekend. Will they last all week, or do you have to do more?”

  Last week, they had been running out every day.

  Danielle twirled a strand of brown hair around her finger. “That’s the great thing about working with a partner. Alivia decided it would be faster if she did all the baking herself, so now I just have to do the other stuff.”

  “I had a few glitches starting out, but now that I’ve figured out the secret, I’m sure I’ll have plenty of treats,” Alivia said, smiling.

  I looked at Alivia and couldn’t help feeling impressed. “I hope you don’t have to spend all your free time baking,” I said. “It takes me forever to collage my Claragrams. I barely have time to do homework anymore.”

  Alivia waved her hand like she was brushing my words away. “It’s no big deal. I’m a fast worker.”

  I was about to say something else, like, she had to have more than one oven, when Eli stood up and shouted, “Mateo’s in love with the lunch lady!”

  All of the boys at the far end of the table laughed.

  “Shut up,” Mateo said, staring at his lunch.

  “No, it’s the principal,” Ryan screamed. “He’s dreaming of Dr. Bingley.”

  All the boys laughed again.

  Danielle leaned forward and whispered to me and Emily. “I think he’s too embarrassed to say who he really likes.”

  Emily nodded. Her fair cheeks flushed a pretty shade of pink, and her eyes flashed over to the tables by the door of the cafeteria where Joey and his friends usually sat. Emily blushed more than anyone I knew. Just thinking about being embarrassed made Emily feel embarrassed.

  I glanced back over at Mateo. His usual goofy self seemed to shrink and disappear as the boys named even more and more unlikely crushes. I knew how terrible it felt to have a group of people ganging up on you. Even if Mateo’s friends were more friendly than mean-spirited.

  “Hey, you guys,” I said. “I learned this really fun game.”

  Everyone at the table stopped talking and looked at me. Mateo took a deep breath and finally straightened up. Alivia scooted closer to Logan and stole one of his potato chips.

  I’d been thinking about using this game in my matchmaking business for a while but hadn’t found the perfect couple for it yet. Danielle and Connor were just right.

  “First I need two volunteers. Danielle and Connor, would you help me?” I asked before anyone else could even think about volunteering.

  They both stood up next to our table, and I pulled two long pieces of colored yarn out of my backpack. Thankfully the art teacher had been willing to help me out this morning. Each piece of yarn was tied in a loop at either end. I hooked the strands of yarn around each other, then put the two ends of the blue yarn around Connor’s wrists and the two ends of the orange yarn around Danielle’s wrists.

  “Okay, you guys, here’s your challenge. You have to unhook from each other, but you can’t take the loops off your hands and you can’t cut or destroy the yarn. And you have to stay attached to each other until you figure it out. Or until lunch is over.”

  “That looks so easy,” Logan said.

  I smiled. “That’s what makes it hard.”

  Danielle and Connor were standing about a foot apart next to our table. Danielle was giggling, but she looked happy. Connor was smiling at her. “I’ve got an idea,” he told her. “I’ll hold my arms out and you step over my yarn, okay?”

  Connor held his arms as wide and low as possible, and Danielle stepped over his yarn so they were standing even closer. But they were still tangled. The only difference was that now Connor practically had his arms around Danielle.

  “I think you need to go under the yarn,” Logan called out.

  Danielle reversed her steps and climbed back over Connor’s yarn and then went under it. They were still tangled, but now they were both laughing. I didn’t think they cared if they solved the puzzle.

  “I’m going to the lobby,” I said, standing up. “I need to get the store ready for lunch hours. But I have one more set of strings. Kacy and Ryan, want to play?”

  “I got this!” Kacy said, grabbing the strings and slipping the loops onto her and Ryan’s hands.

  “Want help?” Emily asked me, not looking up from the game on her phone. “I already
refilled the Kisses and questionnaires after I passed out the Claragrams.”

  “That’s okay,” I told Emily. “You stay and hang with everyone.” Business hadn’t been busy at all today, so there wasn’t that much to do. But maybe now with two new happy couples in the works, things could go back to normal.

  It was impossible to go to my locker in between every class. I usually went first thing in the morning, before and after lunch, and once more in the middle of the afternoon right before social studies. But on my way to the Cupid Clara table, I realized I left my red folder in my backpack, so I had to detour to get it. When I arrived at my locker, it was covered in mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Someone—all right, not someone, my secret admirer—had taped the little gold foil cups all over the front of my locker so they spelled out:

  HI, CLARA.

  U R SWEET.

  I looked up and down the hallway to see if anyone was around, but I was the only one there. I tried to pull off one of the candies, but it was really stuck on good. If I took the time to clear off my locker I’d be late to the Cupid Clara table. I had no choice. I’d just have to leave it up until the end of the school day and hope not too many people noticed.

  When I got back to the lobby, it was already filling up with people. Alivia and Danielle were unpacking more boxes of cookies, and Logan was talking to them as usual.

  “I’m so perfect,” he said in a high-pitched voice. “I know a perfect game that’s really impossible, but I’m going to pretend it’s real.”

  I realized he was making fun of me the same moment Danielle saw me and said, “Hi, Clara!”

  Alivia pressed her lips together like she was trying to stop a smile, and my stomach turned into an icy pit. Why was Logan making fun of me? Did everyone in the group want to make fun of me?

  “Hey, guys,” I said, trying to act casual. I swallowed hard and stepped behind my table, getting set up. As I was checking the questionnaire box to see if any new ones had been turned in, Emily walked up still playing her game and sat in the seat next to me. I sat down and whispered in her ear. “The secret admirer struck again.”

  She finally looked up from her screen. “Tell me,” she said.

  I told her about the Reese’s cups on my locker.

  “So cute!” she said.

  “Who’s cute?” Mateo asked, walking up to our table. “Me?”

  I laughed and handed him a questionnaire. “Didn’t you say you were going to fill one of these out for me?”

  “Yes, ma’am!” He grabbed the paper and a pen and started filling out the form.

  Emily got her phone out and started playing Hoppy Frog again, and a group of sixth-grade boys walked past our table.

  “Hey, guys, if you fill out a questionnaire, you’ll get some chocolate and the name of a girl who might want to dance with you at the Hot Chocolate Social.”

  The boys all looked at one another as if they weren’t sure.

  “You should do it,” Mateo told them. He held up his paper. “I’m filling one out.”

  The boys didn’t look completely convinced, but they all took a paper anyway.

  I pulled out my marketing/advertising plan and read through it trying to see if there were any other things I could do to help fix my slump.

  Hmmm. Maybe it was time to give flyers a try.

  “Hey, Clara,” Mateo said, chewing on the end of his pencil. “What if the girl I like isn’t in here?” He tapped our striped box.

  “If you already like someone, I’m not sure my questionnaire will help you,” I told him. “But you might be surprised by your results. Maybe the perfect girl is out there and you didn’t even know it.”

  “But if I did know my perfect girl, you could still help me.” Mateo gave me a huge smile. “Right?”

  I laughed. “Sure. I guess.”

  I sat down next to Emily while Mateo filled out my questionnaire and Emily played her game. Then I said, “I’m worried no one trusts my matchmaking anymore. That’s why they’re not filling out questionnaires.”

  “I don’t think you even need the questionnaires,” Emily said. “Matches are springing up all around you. Without you even trying.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Emily paused her game, then leaned in, cupping her hand around her mouth. “Mateo totally likes you!”

  “What? No way!” I scratched my head. “Why would you say that?”

  “Didn’t he just say he already knew who he liked? And he wants you to help him?” Emily raised an eyebrow.

  “That could mean anything!” Emily meant well, but she just didn’t have the matchmaking knack the way I did.

  “What about the snow day? You told me he showed up at your house with a dish for Sofia’s mom? That sounds fishy to me. It sounds like the kind of story you’d make up if you wanted an excuse to see the girl you liked.”

  I opened my mouth to say something, then closed it again. Emily did have a point. Now I didn’t know what to think. It didn’t feel like Mateo liked me when we were together, but maybe I hadn’t been paying close enough attention.

  “Here you go!” Mateo announced, handing me his questionnaire. “But I’m not sure that’s going to help you match me. I really think we need to have that talk.”

  Emily kicked me under the table, but I ignored her.

  “Sure,” I said. “You know where I live. Literally.”

  Mateo nodded. Then he shoved his hands in his pockets, like he had something else to say but couldn’t figure out how to say it. He looked around at all the people gathered at my table and Alivia’s table. Then his face brightened.

  “I have an announcement, everyone!”

  Most people looked at Mateo expectantly.

  “Everyone meet on Clara’s front lawn for a snowball fight this Saturday at ten a.m.”

  “What?” I felt a flash of panic, and I tugged Mateo’s sleeve. “You can’t just invite everyone over to my house. I have to have permission from my dad first.”

  “I didn’t invite them to your house.” He grinned at me. “I invited them to your front yard. So get permission.”

  Emily kicked my foot under the table again. “He wants to hang out with you,” she sing-songed out of the corner of her mouth.

  “See you around, Clara,” Mateo said, winking. Then he leaned in close. “Will you meet me after basketball practice today?”

  I nodded, my eyes wide. As he walked away, I glanced at Mateo’s questionnaire. Sure enough, his favorite dessert was Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

  Was Emily right? Could Mateo be my secret admirer?

  I sat on the floor of the hallway sketching my flyer. On the bottom of the page, I drew a picture of a mug filled with hot chocolate and marshmallows with squiggly lines of steam floating from the top. The front of the mug was decorated with a heart with an arrow through it. Then, across the top of the flyer, I wrote:

  I made the lettering on the word perfect curlicue and fancy, and then put down my pen and looked over my work.

  “Hey, Clara. What are you doing here?” Alivia’s voice interrupted my train of thought. But before I could even answer, she pelted me with another question. “What’s that?” she asked, sitting down next to me.

  “A flyer for Cupid Clara,” I told her. Then I figured I might as well take advantage of getting to hang out with her alone.

  “Alivia … are you angry at me?” I asked, feeling nervous. “I’m sorry about Logan. I didn’t realize he was the guy you liked.”

  “Oh, he wasn’t the guy I was talking about.” Alivia’s cheeks turned pink, and I got the feeling she might not be telling the truth. “I just decided I liked him this weekend.” Then Alivia studied my face. “You’re not mad at me, are you? For taking Logan from you? It kind of seemed like you liked him.”

  Did the whole world think I liked Logan? I shook my head. “I only liked him as a friend. Promise.”

  Alivia looked at me like she didn’t believe me.

  “I was trying to fix him up with Emil
y,” I went on. “And now I’m trying to figure out how to get my business back on track.” I pointed at my paper. “I thought maybe a flyer would help.”

  Alivia pursed her lips and looked at me thoughtfully. Then she leaned in and lowered her voice. “I wasn’t sure if I should tell you,” she said. Then she stopped and looked up and down the hallway. “I’m not saying this is true. It’s just what I’ve heard.”

  “What?” I asked, leaning in closer as well.

  “Well, some people are wondering why they should trust you and Emily to make them a match when neither of you are going out with anyone. I mean, if you guys were really good matchmakers, wouldn’t you have made your own matches?” Alivia raised an eyebrow and shrugged one shoulder, like she was apologizing.

  “But I don’t have a guy because I don’t want a guy,” I explained. I could have gone out with Logan. But I decided not to mention that to Alivia. Not when she already seemed to think I liked him.

  Alivia nodded solemnly. Then she said, “I’m just telling you what I heard. Some people, I’m not saying who, think you put those candies on your locker yourself. Just so people would think you had a guy.”

  My jaw dropped. How could anyone think that? “No way!” I told her. “Can you keep a secret?”

  Alivia’s eyes widened, and she made an X across her heart. “Totally,” she said.

  I lowered my voice to a whisper. “I think I have a secret admirer. And I think it might be Mateo. He asked me to meet him after practice.”

  Alivia looked at the locker room then back at me. She nodded in thought. “I mean, I personally always thought you could get a guy. But the thing is, with Emily it’s different. A lot of people think that you can’t get anyone to like her.”

  “That’s not true!” I shook my head at Alivia. “We’ve been focusing on making matches for our business, that’s all. Who’s been saying all this stuff?”

  Alivia looked off down the hallway and squinted her eyes. “I know this seems harsh, but maybe you shouldn’t have Emily sitting at the table all the time. You want your customers to be thinking about happy couples, you know?”