“I’m reading it with some friends,” Jenna told her.
“That’s great!” the librarian responded. “I’m in a book club, too.”
“Really?” Jenna asked. “Is it fun?”
“Definitely,” the librarian said happily. “We get together, eat snacks, and talk about books—it’s great!” She laughed, and Jenna laughed with her.
“Well, my book club is over the Internet,” Jenna admitted. “But I’m excited for it to start. I’d better go. I’ll be late to class!”
“Enjoy the book,” the librarian told her.
Jenna stopped by her locker to drop off her bag. She planned on bringing the book to homeroom, so she could get a head start. On her way to the classroom, Nicole ran up to her.
“Hey, Jen!” Nicole said, falling into step beside Jenna.
“Hi!” Jenna replied.
“Did you talk to your mom about this weekend?” Nicole asked, stepping out of the way of some boys walking in a pack down the hall.
“No . . .” Jenna said impishly. “But . . . I did start coughing a lot!” She laughed as Nicole’s eyes lit up.
“You did? Do you think she bought it?”
“Yeah, totally. I told her some of my friends at school were sick.” They stopped outside Jenna’s homeroom. “See you at lunch?”
“Definitely! See you later!” Nicole said. “Bye!”
A strange feeling of guilt crept into Jenna’s stomach. She knew that a few faked coughs weren’t exactly lies, but they weren’t telling the truth, either. Was it worth it, just to go to a party? She hated to lie, but she also hated the idea that everyone would be hanging out without her. Maybe Adam was on to something—not with dropping it, of course, but with thinking of it as just another prank. Pranks were harmless, right? Except for that one at Lakeview that didn’t go exactly as planned. . . .
She pushed the bad feeling out of her mind and walked into homeroom just in time for roll call.
chapter SIX
Natalie> TUESDAY
After school, Natalie found Hannah at her locker. They hadn’t talked to each other the day before, and Nat really hoped Hannah wasn’t still upset about the school dance. “Hey, Han,” she said tentatively.
Hannah smiled and closed her locker. “Hi, Natalie.” She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry about Friday. I didn’t mean to get you in trouble with Kyle. I was just having a bad day.”
“It’s okay,” Natalie said. “I talked to Kyle after you left. So everything is fine with me and him. I just hope everything is okay with me and you!”
“It is,” Hannah said. “Want to walk home together?”
“Of course,” Natalie said, feeling hugely relieved. “Let’s go!”
“I mean, ever since that day when we bumped into each other in the mess hall at camp, Simon and I hung out all the time,” Natalie said as she and Hannah slowly walked up Fifth Avenue. “So I don’t understand why he hasn’t called, or e-mailed, or anything!”
“Yeah, that’s weird,” Hannah said, slowing to peek into a store window displaying lots of colorful bags and shoes.
“I would call him, of course,” Natalie went on, “but I don’t want to be too pushy. And I did send him an e-mail right after we got back from camp, but I haven’t heard anything.”
The girls came to a crosswalk and waited for the light to change. “I don’t think you should worry, Nat,” Hannah said.
As the “don’t walk” signal changed, they stepped into the street. “Yeah. And now that I think about it, Jenna did tell me that her brother talked to Simon—they were in the same bunk—after we got back from camp, and he said that he misses me. Which just makes this more confusing, really, right? If he misses me, why doesn’t he call? And if he doesn’t miss me, why did he say that he did?”
“Why don’t you just call him?” Hannah asked. “Oooh, let’s get ice cream!” She stopped outside the ice cream store’s window. “They have coconut today! Our favorite!”
“Okay!” Natalie exclaimed.
They went into the shop and ordered two small cones of coconut—with chocolate sprinkles, of course—from the man standing behind the counter. While they waited for him to scoop their ice cream, Hannah said, “I didn’t even ask you how the rest of the dance went on Friday.”
Natalie looked at her. “Uh . . . I left right after you did, Hannah,” she said slowly.
“You did? Why?”
“After we had that talk, I didn’t feel like staying,” Natalie admitted. She looked down at the floor.
“Okay, girls, two coconut cones, chocolate sprinkles. That’ll be four dollars,” the old man behind the counter said. He smiled at them.
Natalie pulled a five-dollar bill out of her purse. “You can pay me back later,” she said to Hannah. She handed over the bill and got a dollar in return, which she shoved into the man’s tip jar.
“Good-bye, ladies!” he said.
They left, and the bell over the door jingled as the door swung shut.
In the street, they paused to take bites of their ice cream before continuing to walk uptown along the avenue. “So . . . why’d you leave, Nat?” Hannah said tentatively. “The dance, I mean.”
“Because my best friend left!” Natalie exclaimed.
“Right,” Hannah replied sheepishly. She licked her ice cream. “I guess it was pretty silly of me to get so upset that you were going to ditch me for a boy.”
“It was,” Natalie said, mock-sternly. “And anyway, it was two boys.”
Natalie was home that evening relaxing when her cell phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number on the caller ID.
“Hello?” Natalie said.
“Hi, Nat,” a boy’s voice said on the other end.
“Hi . . . who’s this?”
“It’s Kyle,” he said. “I’m calling from my mom’s phone since mine is out of batteries.”
“Hey, Kyle, what’s up?” Natalie said, feeling nervous and excited. A phone call from a boy! This was huge!
“Uh,” Kyle paused. “I was calling to ask if you want to go Rollerblading in the park tomorrow, but if you have plans or you don’t want to, it’s okay, and maybe I’ll just see you at school then,” he continued, not taking a breath as he rattled off his words.
Natalie laughed. “I’d love to go Rollerblading tomorrow!”
“You would?” Kyle said, surprised.
“Definitely!” Nat replied. “I love Rollerblading.”
“You do?” Kyle stammered. “Um . . . cool! So, I was thinking we could just go after school, and maybe we could get ice cream or something, and then since I live near you I would walk you home.”
“Sounds great, Kyle . . . I’ll see you at school tomorrow!” Natalie was excited already.
“Cool. Bye, Nat,” Kyle said.
“Bye!”
I can’t believe it! A date with Kyle! she thought excitedly. Better call Hannah to plan my outfit! But as she picked up her cell phone to punch in Hannah’s number, she started to have second thoughts. She and Hannah had just made up that afternoon—the whole dating thing might still be a sore topic. The idea of having to keep her first date—her first date!—to herself was totally depressing, but she knew it was the right thing to do for now.
I’m still waiting from the phone call from Simon, Natalie realized. Was it really worth it?
To: MarissaRox
From: NatalieNYC
Subject: help . . .
hey, marissa—
i am desperate for some advice from someone older and wiser (and cooler!), like yourself. my best friend, hannah, has been acting really weird since i got home. she keeps making snide comments about me liking two boys at once (simon, obviously, and kyle, from school).
on friday at the dance, kyle overheard hannah talking about simon. i smoothed it over, though, and told him i didn’t have any boyfriends at all. and today, kyle called and asked me to go rollerblading with him in central park tomorrow, and hannah got really mad at me and said that i was acting
like she wasn’t important. then she stormed out. i don’t know what to do. can you help?
luv, nat
From: MarissaRox
To: NatalieNYC
Subject: Re: help . . .
Hey, Nat! It’s good to hear from you. Sounds like lots of exciting stuff is happening in your life! How fun to go Rollerblading in Central Park. . . . I’m jealous! I’m up to my ears in homework over here . . .
Here’s what I think is going on with Hannah: She’s afraid you’re growing up faster than she is. If I were in your shoes—I’d have really cute shoes! Just kidding . . . And also, I’d make sure Hannah knows that you aren’t outgrowing her. It sounds like that’s what she’s worried about. Take time to do things with her that don’t involve boys at all. (And I know you already know this, but don’t rush into the boy thing yourself! You’ve got so much time!)
Let me know if I can help any more, hon. Love to hear from you.
Love, Marissa
Alex> TUESDAY
Alex was in a great mood as she entered the locker room and began changing into her clothes for soccer practice. She’d had a pretty good day at school, and it was really warm and sunny outside. She couldn’t wait for the first day of practice to get underway!
As she slipped her jersey over her head and leaned down to tie her shoes, Alex thought about practice, wondering how it would go. She straightened up and pulled her hair into two pigtails, securing them with two purple elastics that she’d had on her wrist. Then she shoved her school clothes into her locker, slammed it shut, and locked it.
As she walked through the locker room to the door that led to the practice field, she passed a group of four older girls. One of them, a girl named Cindy who had short blond hair, snickered as Alex walked by. “Nice hair,” she said.
Alex whipped around, wanting to fire back a retort, but the confident, mean looks on the faces of Cindy and her friends stopped her. The older girls laughed again as Alex slunk out the door red-faced.
Outside, she immediately pulled the elastics out of her hair and pulled it into a long, sleek ponytail. “That was so mean,” she said under her breath. She smoothed down her practice jersey and shook her head to clear it, then walked toward the field.
When she had passed the bleachers, she heard the older girls behind her, snickering and laughing. “Oh look,” Cindy said, “she has grown-up hair now!” Alex wished she was the kind of girl who would respond, but she wasn’t. She just steeled her shoulders and continued to walk onto the field.
There were about ten girls waiting for practice to begin. Alex recognized most of them from tryouts, and walked over to a girl named Trish, who was in her English class. Trish was a tall girl with light brown hair that fell to her shoulders. She’d used barrettes to pull her bangs out of her eyes for practice. “Hey, Trish,” Alex said shyly.
“Hi, Alex,” Trish said. “Could you believe the homework in English today?”
“I know,” Alex replied. “I don’t know how I’m going to get it all done!” Their teacher had assigned the class an essay on someone important in their lives, and it had to be three pages long. To make matters worse, it was due on Thursday, giving Alex only two days to write it. “Who are you going to write about?” she asked Trish.
Trish shrugged. “Maybe my mom? I don’t really know,” she said. “What about you?”
“I have no idea,” Alex said. She sighed. “I can’t believe it’s only the second week of school and I already have so much homework to do.”
“Yeah,” Trish responded. “I guess that’s middle school for you.” They shared a commiserating look.
Just then, Coach Gregorson walked onto the field, followed by Henry and Lisa. Alex could already tell that she was going to look up to Lisa a lot. The older girl seemed so calm and confident. As she walked onto the field, her ponytail swung from side to side, and she was smiling.
Coach blew on her whistle. “All right, team,” she said. “We’re going to start warming up now. Please stretch out, and then we’ll get moving.”
Alex and Trish sat down on the field and stretched out their legs. As Alex reached for her toes, Trish whispered, “Are you going to get to start, do you think? In the games?”
Alex whispered back, “No. I don’t think so.” She looked over at Trish. “What about you?”
“They said I could if I learn some stuff,” Trish confided.
“Me too,” Alex said. She switched legs, stretching her left leg out and reaching toward it with her arms.
“Okay,” Coach Gregorson said. “Let’s start with some running. Henry, please go stand midfield,” she said, pointing. “Everyone, when I blow my whistle, run to Henry, and then run back, five times.”
Alex stood up next to Trish and shook out her arms, jogging in place for a moment. When the coach’s whistle blew, she took off toward Henry, running fast enough to keep up with the group but not so fast that she’d lose too much energy. As she ran, sweat began to form on her forehead. She pulled ahead of Trish after the first lap, and heard Henry call, “Nice pace, Alex!”
After the five laps, Lisa had brought out a big bag of balls that she handed out to the group. “Okay,” she said. “Everybody, please pair up, and let’s practice some passes.”
Alex looked at Trish, who nodded at her happily. Lisa threw Trish a ball, and she and Alex walked a few paces away to begin kicking the ball back and forth to each other.
As Alex ran around, returning the ball to Trish every time, her worries about not being able to play in the games started to dissipate. She didn’t notice Cindy and one of her friends watching her, and so when she missed one of the kicks Trish had passed to her, she thought nothing of it. That is, until Cindy laughed. “Oops!” Alex said with a forced laugh, trying to make light of the situation.
“Oh, she’ll never get to play,” Cindy said to her friend, just loud enough for both Alex and Trish to hear.
“Ignore them,” Trish said.
But Alex’s feelings had already been hurt badly enough in the locker room; having Cindy witness her making a mistake was too much to bear. She could feel the tears forming in her eyes.
“Uh-oh,” Cindy’s friend said loudly. “She’s totally going to cry.”
Cindy laughed. “Oh man. If she cries about missing a pass, what’s she going to do when we’re actually playing?” she said. Then she snorted. “Oh. Right. She’s not going to get to play.”
Alex looked furtively for the coach, but Coach Gregorson was on the other side of the field, giving pointers to another set of girls. Still laughing, Cindy and her friend moved away from Alex and Trish.
The rest of practice was okay—they did a few more exercises with the balls, and then were split up into two teams for a scrimmage. Alex didn’t score, but she did feel like she was learning a lot. She couldn’t shake the memory of Cindy teasing her, though. For the first time in her entire life, Alex wanted to quit soccer—what was the point if she wasn’t going to get to play, and if her teammates were going to be so unfriendly?
Alex had been playing soccer for a long time. At her elementary school, she’d been close friends with all of the girls on her team. So it was strange to be on a team where not only did she not know anyone else, but some girls were mean to her. She was used to a supportive, fun team . . . this was totally different.
Alex and Trish walked to the locker room together after practice. “Try not to get too upset about her,” Trish said quietly. “She’s just stupid.”
Alex sighed. “Yeah, I know,” she said. “But it still stinks, getting made fun of.”
They reached the school building and Trish pulled the heavy door open. “Just try not to worry, Alex,” she said. “And just don’t listen to her.”
“Okay,” Alex said. “I’ll try not to let her bother me.”
To: BrynnWins
From: SoccerLover
Subject: Soccer Team
Hey, Brynn—
How are you? It’s been so long since we talked! I hope sc
hool is going well for you—middle school is way different for me. I made the soccer team . . . barely . . . and even though the coach said I wouldn’t get to play much this year, I was really excited to be on the team and to learn enough to be able to play next year.
There’s one bad thing, though: this girl Cindy. She and her friends were laughing at me before practice, and I thought maybe I was being paranoid. But then she called me a crybaby while we were practicing. And in the locker room after practice, while I was getting dressed, I heard her say my name. I don’t know what she was saying, because she was talking quietly. But it really bothered me. It sounded like she was planning to do something mean. I hope I’m wrong about this.
Other than that, school is okay, I guess. What’s up with you? Hope to hear from you soon!
Love,
Alex
To: SoccerLover
From: BrynnWins
Re: Soccer Team
Alex, I am really mad at that girl for making fun of you. I’m sure you’re just being paranoid, though. Who would do something really mean just for the sake of it? And if it’s really bad you should talk to your coach or something.
Love you. Hope you’re feeling better.
B.
chapter EVEN
grace> WEDNESDAY
Grace sat down at a chair near the front row of her English classroom and slid her books onto the desk. She smiled sweetly at the girl next to her and opened her pencil case, taking out one freshly sharpened yellow pencil. The girl next to her, Cate, leaned over. “Pop quiz today,” she whispered.
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