Studying Boys

by Stephanie Rowe

  Seemed like quite a lot of torture to go through to return to status quo, but I wasn't going to worry about that. The important thing was to get my parents to say no.

  "At the library tonight?" my dad asked. He was still wearing his blue work shirt, complete with grease spots. Ever since his garage had expanded the hours of the service department to nine o'clock, he never got home early enough to change before dinner.

  Not that my mom ever got upset with him for it. If I, however, dared grace the dinner table with a speck of dust, I'd be sent back to my room. Being presentable at all times was part of the burden of being the oldest child of parents who wanted me to break the cycle of generations of blue-collar workers.

  "Um, no I wasn't at the library." I got up from the table and served myself some of the chili and grabbed some chips.

  My mom looked startled. "You weren't studying?"

  "No." Might as well raise the drama to make them more agitated so they'd forbid me from even thinking about The Homework Club, let alone running the stupid thing.

  "Where were you? With Blue?" my mom asked.

  "No." I sat back down at the table and started to eat, intentionally making them suffer so they would be too aggravated to even consider letting me do anything so deviant as join a school newspaper and run a homework club.

  "Frances!" my dad snapped.

  I looked up innocently as I took another bite of chili. "What?"

  "It's past ten," he said, as if I didn't know that. "Where were you tonight?"

  Parents. So predictable. "At some office building near here." Was that vague enough to freak them out? A random office building until ten at night? Yes, that should work well to upset them.

  "What? Doing what?" My mom put down her spoon and glared at me. "You weren't vandalizing it, were you? Because there's no way we're going to tolerate you—"

  "Mom! I wasn't vandalizing anything!" Geez. Talk about melodramatic. "I was at a meeting. I'm on the school newspaper."

  Both my parents stared at me; then they erupted at the same time, shooting out question after question about the newspaper: who was running it, when it met, who was on it. You know, parent-type questions designed solely to find a reason to tell me I couldn't do it.

  As I said, parents are so predictable.

  I answered the questions to the best of my ability, and threw in some guesses when I didn't know. But it was when I started telling them about The Homework Club that everything really blew up.

  "So, you're telling us that not only do you have to meet with an unruly group of kids who don't take work seriously, but you have to do it several times a week, plus you have to organize and recruit for it, and then you have to write an article on it?" My mom's face was all twisted up. Big surprise. "So, when are you supposed to get your own homework done?"

  I shrugged. "I don't know." Of course I knew. I'd get it done. No need to tell my parents that.

  "No." My dad picked up his spoon and started eating again, ending the conversation.

  "No? Just like that?" I asked. Wow. They were easy, weren't they? A little part of me had been worried that a school newspaper and a homework club were actually on their list of approved activities.

  "No," he repeated. "You're on scholarship, Frances. You can't afford to throw away your future on some...some..."

  "Excuse for sex and drugs," my mom finished.

  I choked on my milk. "Sex and drugs?"

  "Of course. We weren't born yesterday. The Homework Club is just a cover for kids getting into sex and drugs. You can't do it. Earn your scholarship, get into college and be the first member of the Spinelli family to wear a suit to work." My mom pointed at my dinner. "Now eat."

  Victory!

  Tomorrow I'd e-mail Mr. Walker and tell him I couldn't do it.

  One question: Why didn't I feel excited now that I'd been banned from the newspaper and the homework club? I should be relieved, right? But I wasn't. In fact, I felt totally bummed out. What was up with that?

  * * *

  It was Sunday night, and I still hadn't e-mailed Mr. Walker to tell him I couldn't be on the newspaper. What was wrong with me? Why hadn't I emailed him yet?

  "I think it's because you actually want to do it," Blue said.

  We were at Blue's house working on homework. Usually I'm done with mine by Sunday night, but not this weekend. Obviously, I didn't get any done on Friday, and I'd spent the weekend feeling sort of annoyed and I hadn't been able to concentrate. Of course, that might've been because my five-year-old twin sisters had gotten the flu and had been throwing up all over the house and I'd had to clean everything up because my mom had to work overtime and my dad was at his security job. Then my eight-year-old sister, Dawn, had started a screaming fight with my ten-year-old brother, Kurt, and had scared the baby, who is only six months.

  Sometimes being the oldest sucks.

  My lack of concentration certainly hadn't been because I was upset that I couldn't join the newspaper and do The Homework Club thing, because I really didn't want to. Really.

  "I agree with Blue," Natalie said. "Once your parents said you couldn't do it, you realized you wanted to."

  "I don't want to." Did I? No. Ridiculous.

  "Liar." Allie didn't even look up from painting her toenails metallic purple. "How could you not want to? Hang with boys and get to do homework at the same time? That's like your perfect night."

  "It's not as if I like doing my homework all the time," I said. I mean, sure, I did it, but I wasn't a total loser. I didn't think it was the best thing ever. I had to do it, so I did it. Didn't mean I thought it was fun.

  "Tell your parents you want to do it," Blue suggested. "It'll help your college application. They'll like that."

  "I don't know," I said. "They said it was a front for sex and drugs."

  My friends all laughed. They know my parents. "If my mom thought it was about sex and drugs, she'd probably invite herself along," Allie said.

  "That's because your mom is cool," I said.

  Allie tightened her lips and said nothing.

  "So, what are you going to do?" Blue asked.

  "They won't agree. I know they won't." It was partly my fault, of course. I'd pretty much presented it in a way to ensure they'd forbid me from participating. It wasn't as if I was going to get them to change their minds now.

  "Does that mean you want to do it?" Natalie asked. She was reading Runner's World magazine instead of doing her math homework. She never did her math homework. It was too hard for her and she had given up. I'd tried to tutor her, but she wouldn't let me. So, she read Runners World instead.

  Did I want to do it? "Um ... I guess... maybe ..." Who was I kidding? Of course I wanted to do it. I was also terrified and everything, but how could I not want to do it? Meet boys, become solely responsible for creating an exchange program between North Valley and Field, become a total diva that everyone knew and admired, and pad my college application while I was at it. Even I had to admit it was somewhat appealing.

  "Then you'll have to lie," Allie announced.

  We all stared at Allie. "You think I should lie? To my parents?"

  "Of course. They won't agree, so how else are you going to do it?"

  Whoa. Lie to my parents. I had never lied to them about anything. That wasn't the kind of relationship we had. "I can't lie to them."

  Allie rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, Frances. All kids lie to their parents about something."

  I looked at Blue and Natalie. "Do you guys lie to your parents?"

  Blue shrugged. "No, but I don't need to. I can talk them into anything."

  Natalie pursed her lips. "Only about little things. Like that I got a bad grade on a math quiz or something. And then, it's more like I just don't tell them, so it's not really lying, right?"

  I looked at Allie. "Do you really lie to your mom?"

  Allie snorted and put the cap back on the nail polish. "Are you kidding? She could care less what I do. As long as she doesn't have to cancel one o
f her hot dates, she doesn't give a rip. I don't have to lie to her. I just do it, and she doesn't care."

  I sighed. "You're so lucky."

  Allie grunted.

  I looked at all my friends. "So, none of you actually lie your parents, and you want me to lie to mine about this huge project that will take massive amounts of time for two whole months? How exactly am I supposed to lie about that?"

  They all looked at each other, and Allie shrugged. "You have a point," she said. "It would be a difficult one to pull off."

  "Okay, so then what you have to do is not exactly lie," Natalie said.

  I couldn't believe I was actually having this conversation. "What do you mean?"

  "When you're working on The Homework Club, just tell your parents you're doing homework. It'll be true, right?"

  I frowned. "Yeah, I guess."

  Allie stopped blowing on her toenails. "I know. You can have The Homework Club at my house. My mom's never home anyway, and then if your parents ask you where you're going, you can say you're at my house. Which you will be. And then if they call you there, you'll be there. No lies at all. Simply some omissions."

  Huh. It sounded like it might work, and I wasn't actually lying. But still, if my parents found out, they would be totally crushed that I'd misrepresented myself, and they would consider it lying, big time. "I don't know. It doesn't feel right."

  Allie sighed. "Loosen up, Frances. After you finish and publish this great article and get all sorts of recognition, then your parents will realize what a good thing it was for you and they'll forgive you. Sometimes they don't know what's best for us."

  Natalie nodded. "I agree. I think it sounds cool." She sighed. "I wish Blue and I could come, but it's only for kids from North Valley and Field, right?"

  Blue looked up from her Algebra II book. "What? We can't go?"

  Allie shook her head. "Don't be ridiculous." She turned to me. "Frances, first thing you need to do is e-mail this Mr. Walker and inform him that it isn't sufficient just to do it between two private schools. To truly test this project, you need to also include a coed public school."

  "What? I haven't even decided whether I'm going to do it!" But the thought of having Blue and Natalie come as well was awesome. If all three of them were with me, then I wouldn't have to feel like such an outsider.

  "Of course you're going to do it. If you weren't, you would've e-mailed Mr. Walker already," Allie said. "Go e-mail him now about including Mapleville High."

  "Now?" I swallowed. Was I really going to do this? This was a huge rebellion from my parents, and I was definitely not the rebellious type.

  "Yeah, do it now." Natalie sat up eagerly. "Come on. You can't leave Blue and me out of this."

  "But..." I wanted to, I did. I really did. I could feel it in every cell of my body. But I couldn't lie to my parents. I just couldn't.

  "Oh, come on, Frances," Blue said. "You and Allie will be spending so much time on this, we'll never get to see each other if we can't be part of the club. And maybe I'll even convince Colin to come and he can bring some of his friends."

  I stared at her in shock. "Colin?" Whoa. If Blue's boyfriend could come, then so could Theo. After all, Theo went to Mapleville High too. A glimmer of excitement raced through me. What if Theo came? It would be totally worth lying to my parents. A chance to have Theo part of the club? I was all over it. "Okay, I'll do it."

  Ten minutes later, courtesy of Blue's computer, I'd sent an e-mail off to Mr. Walker accepting the assignment and proposing the addition of Mapleville High.

  The second I hit send, I felt this weird nervousness in my stomach. Excited, scared, and terrified of how I was going to deal with my parents on this one.

  Too late now.

  I was committed.

  And I was psyched.

  And absolutely terrified of my parents.

  Chapter Three

  It was Thursday night at five fifty-five, and we were all at Allie's house. Waiting.

  The first meeting of The Homework Club was scheduled to start in exactly five minutes.

  I hadn't told my parents.

  And I was freaking.

  Blue and Natalie were sitting on the stairs in Allie's front hall and they both looked annoyed. "I can't believe Mr. Walker didn't respond to your e-mail yet. Did you try again?" Blue asked. "Did you send him another e-mail asking him if you could invite Mapleville students?"

  "I didn't e-mail him again, and no, he hasn't responded," I snapped. Why were they bugging me with that stuff? I had people due here in five minutes and I was supposed to be in charge and make things happen. I could barely keep my head on, let alone deal with whether Mr. Walker had emailed me back.

  "Frances just doesn't want us to come," Natalie said, using her foot to poke me in the butt just as I was pulling out my room assignment list. "I don't think she likes us now that she's going to have all these other cool people in her life."

  I spun around. "Stop it!" I screamed it, and my friends all stared at me, Allie on her way down the stairs in a micro-mini, Natalie with her water bottle halfway to her lips, and Blue looked up from the love note she was writing to Colin. I know, I never lost it. I never got emotional. And I never screamed. Well, apparently, that was no longer the case when I was responsible for an entire social event and dealing with the guilt of lying to my parents.

  "Whoa. Frances. Chill," Allie said. "I've never seen you like this."

  "Well, of course not. I've never had to arrange and host a Homework Club before. If you guys are going to complain, I'm going to lock you in the basement until this is over." I glared at them. "Got it?"

  They all shrugged and nodded and looked afraid of me. Good. That was exactly as it should be. I needed to get back in control of the situation. I couldn't deal with feeling so out of control.

  I took a deep breath and glanced around the front hall. "Okay, so we've got refreshments. Adequate lighting to read. Tables set up. Outlets available for laptops. Everyone studying science will be in the living room. English goes in the kitchen. Math in the den."

  "Who's in the bedrooms?" Allie asked. "I'll join that group."

  Natalie and Blue giggled while I yelled at Allie. "This isn't a social thing! You have to study! Go change your clothes! No boy is going to be thinking about homework if you wear that!"

  "That's the point," Allie said. "Remember? The entire point of this was boys, if you recall."

  Natalie wiggled her eyebrows, and Blue grinned.

  "Maybe it was about boys to you, but this is about the fact that I have an assignment to do!" Could I feel any more guilty that my parents didn't know what I was doing? Guilty. Stressed. Surrounded by unsympathetic friends. It was a nightmare. I actually felt really bad about yelling at my friends, but since they didn't seem to be taking it personally, I decided not to worry about it. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself. "Okay, look, it's six o'clock now. You guys have to go upstairs." I tried to pull Blue and Natalie to their feet. "You haven't been approved by Mr. Walker so you can't come."

  Blue looked offended. "You're kidding."

  "How's Mr. Walker going to know if we're here?" Natalie narrowed her eyes. "You can't keep these private school boys to yourself. We're worthy. I'm so sick of all the boys on my track team. I need to meet some guys who don't smell."

  "You're just annoyed because none of them asked you to the fall dance," Blue said. "You're friends with all these hot guys and none of them took you."

  Natalie scowled. "I don't care about that. I don't want to date them anyway."

  "Hey!" I waved my hands. "Go away!"

  "Fine." Blue stood up. "Let's go upstairs and call Colin. Maybe we can go out with him and his friends."

  "What?" They were going to go out without me? That wasn't fair.

  Blue flipped a look over her shoulder as she and Natalie walked up the stairs. "If you'd gotten permission for Mapleville High to come, then maybe Colin would've brought all his friends here."

  I was about to die
from stress and they were trying to make me feel worse? What kind of friends were they?

  Allie put her arm over my shoulder. "Don't worry about them, Frances. They'll raid my mom's makeup cabinet and be fine." She glanced at her watch. "Five minutes after five. People should be arriving any minute. Let's go get the food ready."

  "You get the food. I'll review the rotation schedule."

  Allie shook her head. "You're way too serious. No one's going to come back if you don't lighten up."

  "Said by the woman who doesn't have to write an article that both schools are relying on to change policy."

  "Better you than me." Allie hiked up her skirt still farther. "You really should borrow some of my clothes sometimes. Those baggy clothes really don't do you any justice."

  "Allie!"

  "Fine. I'll go get the food. Relax."

  Phew.

  Okay.

  This was under control.

  I was ready for everyone to arrive.

  My first guest arrived at precisely ten minutes after six. I opened the door to find a guy about as tall as me, and about as skinny as Natalie, which meant he was basically all skin and bones. He was wearing a pair of ironed beige pants, a button down shirt and plaid shoes. He looked studious and intent, and I knew he would be perfect! I beamed at him. "Hi."

  He shifted on the step and fixed his glasses. "So, is this The Homework Club?"

  "Oh, yes. Come on in." I stepped back and waved him inside. I was pleased to see his backpack was full of books and he was carrying two others in his arm. I liked him already! "I'm Frances Spinelli."

  "George. George Moon." He glanced around, his light brown eyes squinting as if his glasses were the wrong prescription. "Am I the first one here?"

  "Yep." I peered past him into the street, but no one was there. "Did you walk?"

  "My mom dropped me off. She'll be back in an hour. I didn't know how long it would go, and I didn't know if it would be productive, so I'm only going to stay for a short time."

  "Don't worry. We'll be productive. As soon as the others arrive, we can get started."

  George looked concerned, with his black-rimmed glasses and red hair that didn't quite lie flat. "Why can't we start now?"