The Secret Crush

by Tina Wells

  Zee and Chloe handed theirs to her. “Where are you taking them?” Chloe called out. But the woman just smiled and walked away.

  “Great!” Missy’s cheerful voice came into the room as she half skipped, half walked toward Zee and Chloe. “Everyone’s here.” Kathi and Jen followed behind. Then Mr. Vasi and Missy’s younger twin brothers, Zane and Steven, came into view.

  “Welcome!” Mr. Vasi said, greeting the girls. “We were just about to show everyone the rest of the house.” He began to walk toward the twisting center staircase. The girls walked behind him.

  “I’ll show you my dad’s video studio and screening room later,” Missy told Zee and Chloe.

  “Where’s your mother?” Chloe asked Missy.

  “At the hospital,” Missy said.

  “Is she sick?” Zee asked.

  Missy giggled. “No, she’s a doctor. She got called into emergency surgery today and she’s not home yet. Sometimes brain surgery lasts ten hours.”

  “Brain surgery? Get out!” Chloe said. “I thought that was just an expression. You know, ‘It’s not brain surgery.’”

  “Someone’s got to do it,” Missy said, “like my mom. I’ll show you where she keeps the jars with brains in them.”

  Zee’s stomach flip-flopped. “Really?” she asked.

  “No.” Missy tossed her head back and laughed. The others joined in. Had Missy purposely embarrassed her? Zee wondered.

  Upstairs, Missy’s bedroom was as fancy as the rest of the house. She had a plasma HDTV on the wall above her dresser. A desktop computer and the latest Mac laptop sat on her desk. Strings of beads hung around Missy’s canopy bed. And a large wall hanging embroidered with huts, animals, people, and cacti decorated a wall.

  “This room is so awesome!” Chloe said. She looked at the blue, orange, red, and yellow wire-and-bead bird statues that stood on top of Missy’s dresser. “Where did you get these?”

  “I brought them back from South Africa,” Missy said. “One of the women in the village where we lived used to sell them by the side of the road. That’s how a lot of the people made money. I bought one nearly every week. They only cost about a dollar, but that was a lot of money to the people who came to my mother’s clinic.”

  “You’re so lucky to have lived somewhere with such cool crafts,” Chloe told Missy. “Isn’t she, Zee?”

  “Yeah,” said Zee. Even though Missy’s room definitely qualified as fantabsome, and she’d love to be able to make crafts like Missy’s one day, for some reason Zee couldn’t bring herself to tell Missy that.

  “It must have been so amazing to live in Africa,” Chloe went on. “Did you see any elephants?”

  “Lots,” Missy told her. “In the Addo Elephant National Park.”

  “A whole park for elephants?”

  “There’s also a park for zebras—the Mountain Zebra National Park.”

  “Get out!” Chloe said, her mouth opening wide.

  While everyone else was listening and touring Missy’s cavernous closet—with an entire alcove for shoes—Kathi changed into her new thrift-shop jeans.

  “Aaaaah!” Jen was the first to see her best friend. Chloe gasped out loud, and Missy just looked confused by all the excitement. Zee couldn’t believe how easily Kathi made a $1.00 pair of ripped jeans look like Armanis.

  “Where did you get those?” Jen asked Kathi.

  “They’re part of her costume,” Zee volunteered.

  “But I love them so much, I’m going to wear them to the International Skate Center tonight!” Kathi explained.

  “Did you get them on Rodeo Drive, in New York City, or in Paris?” Jen rattled off Kathi’s favorite shopping spots.

  “Actually, they’re from Brookdale Thrift Shop,” Kathi said. “Zee and I went together.”

  Jen looked like she would faint right there, and Zee wondered if it was because Kathi was wearing someone else’s old clothes or because Kathi and Zee were bonding.

  “You know you can’t do it. You’ll make a mistake.” The Beans girls circled the ISC roller rink in a group, singing the chorus to one of the songs Mr. P had helped Kathi write. “’Cause love can be hard, and you’ve got just one take.”

  “Then comes the part where Conrad raps while we dance,” Kathi said.

  “Oh, my gosh!” Jen said. “He’s so good.”

  “Ooooooh!” Kathi teased, and the other girls joined in.

  “I don’t like him like that,” Jen protested. “I just think he’s a good rapper.”

  Out of nowhere, a body whizzed by, so close it nearly knocked all of them down like a row of dominoes. Conrad! And following close behind him were Landon and Marcus.

  Chloe turned around. “Is Jasper here, too?”

  “He’s over there!” Zee said, pointing. A few feet back, Jasper slowly skated toward the group. He couldn’t stop his feet from rolling in opposite directions.

  Zee and Chloe waited for their friend. When he finally caught up, Zee grabbed one of his arms while Chloe held on to the other. The girls held him up and dragged him along. “I thought this was just going to be girls’ night,” Chloe said to Jasper. “Did you know the guys were coming here?”

  “I think not,” Jasper said. “We were all going to go bowling. When I mentioned to Conrad that you guys would be here, he decided he wanted the lads to come, too.”

  Ahead, Zee saw Landon grab Missy to keep her from falling. Without thinking, Zee immediately let go of Jasper to try to hurry to Landon and Missy. But Jasper lost his balance without Zee’s support.

  “Criiiiiikey!” Jasper cried.

  “Zee! Help!” Chloe held his arm tight and began to zigzag awkwardly to keep both of them standing.

  “Oops!” Zee said, grabbing Jasper’s arm, which was flailing off to the side.

  When the girls managed to steady Jasper, Zee told him, “Maybe you could sort of hang out near the side for a while—until you get used to the skates.”

  “Yes, I suppose I could use a rest,” Jasper agreed.

  As Zee and Chloe guided their friend to safety, Zee watched the others. Kathi, Jen, and Missy whizzed around in a group. Conrad, Marcus, and Landon stuck together, too—except each time they passed the girls, Conrad pretended to try to ram into them. Kathi and Jen always managed to steer out of the way, but he surprised Missy each time, and she wobbled. While Conrad and Marcus raced off, Landon steadied her before catching up with the others.

  “I need to get over there,” Zee said, although she’d only meant to think it.

  “Go on, then,” Jasper said. “Both of you.”

  “Are you sure?” Chloe asked.

  “Of course, I am. Frankly, it was getting quite embarrassing being dragged along.”

  “Let’s go,” Zee said, looking at Chloe and gliding into the crowd.

  “Look out!” Chloe warned.

  Zee turned just in time to see Conrad heading straight for her. “Oh, no!” Missy called. Zee swerved out of Conrad’s way, but Missy grabbed her arm anyway. Down Zee went—right on her butt.

  Conrad raised his arms in the air. “That wasn’t my fault. I didn’t even touch her.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry,” Missy apologized to Zee. She reached out her hand to help Zee up. But when Zee took it and began to stand, she just landed on the floor again. Missy let go to keep from falling, too.

  “Ohmylanta!” Zee was glad she’d worn a pair of cropped leggings with her short flared skirt. She didn’t need the entire ISC to know she was wearing her “Wednesday” underwear on Friday.

  Other skaters began to gawk.

  “Here!” Missy held out both palms to Zee. “Maybe if you use both hands.”

  “No, I’ve got it!” Dodging other skaters, Zee crawled on her hands and knees to the side, right next to where Jasper was still standing. He helped her up.

  When Zee looked up, Landon was headed right for her. Please, please, please, she silently begged. Please tell me Landon didn’t see that whole humiliating scene. “Hi,” Zee said when he
reached her.

  “Are you okay?” Landon asked. “I saw what happened.”

  “It figures,” Zee said.

  “What does?” Landon asked.

  “Oh, nothing.” By now, the rest of the Beans had come over to make sure she was all right. “I think I just need a break.”

  “Me too,” Missy agreed. “Let’s go get some pizza.”

  The girls left to return their skates and get dinner while the boys headed to the arcade.

  “It feels so strange to start at a new school so late in the year,” Missy said once the girls sat down.

  “But thanks to you, I’m not the new girl anymore,” Chloe pointed out.

  “You were the new girl?” Missy sounded surprised. “You look like you’ve been going to Brookdale forever.”

  “I moved here from Atlanta over the summer.”

  “That explains your accent,” Missy said. “It’s really cute.”

  “It’s just normal to me,” Chloe said. “Nothing special.”

  “What’s it like living in the South?” Missy asked her.

  Chloe shook her head slightly. “Normal, I guess—like here.”

  “Really?” Missy asked. “It must be totally different.”

  “It’s not,” Chloe told her. Zee detected a not-very-happy tone in Chloe’s voice—the same one she used with Kathi sometimes.

  If Missy heard it, she didn’t let on. Instead she leaned forward and said, “You guys need to tell me who’s hot and who’s not.”

  “You can’t tell?” Zee asked.

  Missy shrugged. “Well, all the guys are cute. I just don’t want to have a crush, then find out he’s a nose picker.”

  The table broke out in laughter. Even Chloe joined in.

  Kathi sighed. “Well, if you’re worried about immature boys, I would avoid all of the students.”

  “Huh?” Zee said. “Then who’s left?”

  “The teachers, of course.”

  “I’m afraid to ask who,” Chloe said.

  “Whatev,” Kathi said. “If you don’t want to know…”

  “We do!” all the girls shouted at once.

  “You have to tell us.” Missy sounded desperate.

  Kathi looked off to each side, then behind her to make sure the coast was clear. “I think Mr. P is cute.”

  “Ooooooooh!” the girls groaned.

  “He’s so old,” Jen said. “He must be thirty!”

  “The word is mature,” Kathi corrected her.

  Mr. P! That explains Kathi’s total lack of interest in Landon, Zee thought.

  “Well, I think Marcus is a total cutie!” Chloe spilled, giggling excitedly.

  Again the whole table erupted. Even though Chloe had never actually confessed her crush on Marcus to Zee, Zee had figured it out a while ago.

  “Marcus?” Jen said indignantly. “You’re not exactly his type.” It was no secret to most of the group that Jen had a crush on Marcus, too.

  Chloe stopped laughing. “What’s his type?”

  “Someone more feminine.”

  “Pull-ease—”

  “Who do you like, Missy?” Zee cut her off. The girls couldn’t fight, or they wouldn’t be able to work together on the musical. Plus, this was the perfect opportunity to find out if Missy liked Landon. Zee took a long drink of soda so she wouldn’t look too anxious.

  “I thought it was obvious,” Missy said. “Jasper.”

  Soda shot across the table before Zee could stop it.

  “You like Jasper?” Chloe asked.

  “Yeah.” Missy got a worried look on her face. “You’re just friends, right?”

  Chloe nodded. “Uh-huh.” She turned to Zee and bit her lower lip.

  “What?” Zee said.

  “You might want to wipe off your shirt,” Chloe said, handing her a napkin.

  Zee took it and dabbed at the soda droplets. “Uh…yeah…Jasper’s a really great guy,” she said.

  “Do you know if he likes anyone?” Missy said.

  “He hasn’t said anything to me,” Zee told her.

  Zee was feeling kind of weird. But why? She was definitely happy that Missy didn’t like Landon that way, so what was bothering her? Am I jealous that Missy has a crush on Jasper?

  “These jeans aren’t the only cool costumes Zee and I found at the thrift shop,” Kathi said, changing the subject.

  Zee was happy to move on. “Yeah, Kathi and I were thinking that she and I could wear hoodies and everyone else would have cool T-shirts in the same color.”

  “We’ll do something similar for the boys, too,” Kathi added.

  “That’s cute,” Missy said. “But don’t you think that’s done too much? At my old school, we put on a play, and everyone put together their own costume.”

  “But Mr. P likes our ideas,” Zee said defensively.

  “You could suggest my way to him,” Missy said.

  “What do you think, Zee?” Kathi asked. “Should we ask Mr. P if everyone could create their own costume?”

  “No!” Zee said loudly. “Everyone has a job. Ours is costumes.”

  “You can still be in charge of coordinating everything,” Jen suggested.

  “That wouldn’t be very interesting,” Chloe said, looking angrily at Jen. “Besides, no one is butting into anyone else’s job.”

  “That’s right!” Zee said. “Because Kathi and I are doing them. No matter what!” First Landon, then Jasper…and now costumes. Was Missy going to take everything from Zee? “I’m leaving!”

  “I’m outta here, too,” Chloe said, glaring at Jen.

  The girls got up and walked away from the group.

  12

  Don’t Kiss—and Tell

  “Now what do we do?” Zee looked around the noisy ISC. She was so upset, the strobing lights and loud music made thinking hard.

  Chloe planted her fist on her hip. “I’d like to go back and give them a piece of my mind.”

  “I think you already did,” Zee told her.

  “Well, I don’t feel like skating anymore. And we can’t go to Missy’s house now,” Chloe said, taking her phone out of her pocket. “I guess I should call my parents to come get us.”

  Zee suddenly had an idea. “Wait!” she said. “You don’t want to bother your parents in the middle of their dinner.” Zee felt horrible, but she knew who could make her feel better. Landon.

  Chloe slipped her phone back in her pocket. “You’re probably right. What now?”

  Zee peeked into the arcade. Conrad and Marcus were playing a video game. Jasper sat at a table reading a book. Landon was watching cartoons on the TV in the corner of the room.

  “Can you hang out with Jasper while I talk to Landon for a minute?” Zee asked.

  “But you’re not supposed to be alone with Landon,” Chloe told her.

  “I’m not breaking my parents’ rule at all. You’ll be right there with me,” Zee pointed out.

  “That’s true,” Chloe agreed. “Okay, I’ll do it. I’d rather be with Jasper than those girls anyway.”

  “Thanks!” Zee didn’t know what exactly she was going to say to Landon, so she was a little nervous. She walked to the corner of the room and sat down next to him.

  “Hi,” he said, surprised.

  “You looked kind of lonely sitting here all by yourself,” Zee said.

  “What?” Landon said, leaning closer.

  “How’s the party?” Zee tried again.

  “I’m not really having fun,” Landon said.

  Nearby an air hockey puck clacked against the sides of the table, and a group of boys playing foosball shouted.

  “It’s kind of noisy here,” Zee said. “Do you want to go somewhere quieter?”

  “Okay. Sure.” Together Zee and Landon walked out of the arcade, right past Chloe and Jasper, who were playing Ping-Pong and didn’t see them leaving. As soon as they passed through the door, it got quieter. Missy, Jen, and Kathi were still sitting at the table in a huddle. Gossiping about me, probably, Zee figur
ed.

  “Why don’t we go outside?” Zee suggested. “I’m done skating anyway.”

  “Sure,” Landon said.

  They headed out the front door. Suddenly surrounded by quiet, Zee breathed a sigh of relief. Now she could think more clearly. “We can sit on that bench,” she said, pointing to a spot slightly around the corner of the building.

  Landon and Zee sat down. “So why aren’t you hanging out with the girls?” he asked.

  “We had a fight,” Zee said.

  “No way! About what?”

  “Well, mostly about the costumes,” Zee told him.

  “Really?” Landon turned to face Zee. “With Kathi?”

  “No, she’s being cool about it,” Zee explained. “But Missy just wants us to do it her way.”

  “Missy? I didn’t know she was like that.”

  “Well, she is.”

  Landon scooted closer to Zee. “But it’s your job.”

  “I know,” Zee said. “But it’s not only her. Everyone wants to tell me what to do.”

  “Like who?”

  “My parents. And my brother.” Zee sniffled. She could feel tears puddling in her eyes.

  “What are they saying to you?” Landon asked.

  “Being a singer is my dream, but they’re always telling me it’s not as important as other things.”

  “Yeah, your mom can be pretty intense,” Landon agreed.

  Tears rolled down Zee’s cheeks. “Except for you, no one thinks the musical is as important as I do. Even Chloe and Jasper don’t get it. I feel so lonely.”

  “I know what you mean—you know, when your best friends aren’t there for you.” Landon put his arms around Zee. A hug was just what she needed.

  Zee looked into his blue eyes. Her heart pounded as they moved closer to her face. Before she knew it, his lips were nearly touching hers.

  “There you are, Zee!” Chloe said, coming around the corner.

  “With Landon!” Jasper said.

  Wiping her tears, Zee quickly stood as Landon slid back to the other end of the bench. “Chlasper and Joey!” Zee shouted. “I mean, Jaspy…uh…Chlosper. I mean, you surprised me.”