The next day, Mr. Zimmer dropped Thalia off with her sleeping bag. We decided to sleep in the living room so we could watch the ball drop at midnight on TV. We defrosted a chocolate cake we found in the freezer and made up New Year's resolutions, while we watched the Hot Videos Now countdown to the New Year.
"Okay, my resolution for this year is that I'm going to stand up for myself when people treat me like crap," Thalia said.
I felt weird as she wrote that down. Everyone knew people made fun of her sometimes because it was like she had no filter on her mouth — she just said what she felt, when she felt like it. And the boys made fun of her school supplies, which were kind of kid-ish with cartoon characters on them. My friends and I stood up for her, but it seemed strange for her to bring it out in the open like that. If it were me, I'd have just pretended it never happened at all.
"Your turn," she said, chewing on the end of her dark braid.
I didn't want to say that I wasn't going to let Ericka, Tori, and Devon walk all over me, and I didn't want her to know that India had been making me uncomfortable. Instead, I said that I was going to work harder in math class. She made a face.
"That's a dumb one. Pick something good, like this year you'll find a boyfriend," she said.
I guess she didn't think that Vladi wanted to be my boyfriend. He had never come out and asked me to be his girlfriend, but I kind of hoped it was because he thought it was so obvious that I was his girlfriend that he didn't need to utter the words, "Will you go with me?" Of course, that was the same mistake Carrington had made with Renaldo on my favorite soap opera, As the Days Roll On. She assumed that Renaldo was her boyfriend, but he was in love with Holiday La Laine, an heiress from Austria. Well, no matter what, I just hoped the new year was going to be awesome and not as confusing as the last one.
Thalia started talking about what it would be like to be in high school next year. I didn't like thinking about it. I always heard horror stories about how people got split up from their friends and never saw anyone they knew in any of their classes — or worse — during lunch. They made no friends and were social outcasts. There was a girl who graduated from Hillcrest who had become completely different in high school and dyed her hair strange shades of purple to fit in with this one crowd because they were the only people who would give her the time of day. What if no one wanted to hang out with me? I didn't want to have to completely change who I was just to have friends, even if on some days I sort of felt like I was doing that already. I thought I had gotten better about that, but there were still some days I walked on — what did Dad always say about my mom? — that he would walk on eggshells around her so she wouldn't get upset over something he said or did.
Thalia never worried about that sort of thing. She just said what she was feeling and did what she liked and she wasn't popular for that reason, but at least she was true to herself. Arianna and Yasmin always did what everyone thought was cool and they would always say things like, "Oh, she is so fake," whenever they were mad at someone, but both those girls seemed fake to me. They pretended to be nice to each other's faces and then went behind each other's backs. They would make fun of Thalia, but at least Thalia wasn't fake. I wished I could be more like Thalia sometimes and not care so much. She seemed a lot happier than someone like Yasmin, who seemed anxious all the time. I guess I would have been, too, if my so-called "best friend" had dated my boyfriend two seconds after he and I broke up.
****
Wednesday morning I got up early to get ready for the first day back to school. I put on the new silvery-blue sweater Grandma gave me and used Mom's curling iron to do my hair. But I couldn't figure out how to curl the back part of my hair, so I ended up pulling it half-up with a little clip. Then I gave myself a once-over in front of the mirror and felt like I could even fit in with Arianna and Yasmin's crowd. I couldn't wait to get my friends' reactions when I went to the bus stop.
"Hey, Devon," I said and waited for her to notice how hard I had worked on my hair. Devon's long, dark, curly hair was always perfect, and just once it would have been nice to have someone compliment mine, even if it wasn't anything like hers.
"Hey, how was your New Year's Eve?" she asked, not looking up from her phone.
"Pretty good. Thalia came over, and we hung out."
"A whole night with Thalia? You poor thing," she said.
I started to say I liked Thalia when Tori walked up and I figured she'd say something about my hair since I never curled it.
"Oh wow, Landry," she said as I started to smile. "I don't think we're allowed to wear that shade of blue."
The bus came before I could say anything. At least Peyton said she liked my hair when I got on the bus. Her thick, dark red hair was in a side braid. I could never have pulled off that look, but I told her how pretty it was.
Naturally, Ms. Ashcroft, the least fun person on the planet, gave us a vocab quiz on our first day back. She said she had warned us about it before the break, but it wasn't like anybody was paying attention on the last day before vacation. I got a sixty-five percent on it and then, to add to my crappy day, we played kickball in gym. Jay Crane kicked the ball, and I thought Stuart was going to catch it, but it flew over him and hit me in the head. It hurt, and it messed up my hair. Now instead of looking voluminous, it was static-y and needed to be brushed, which would take out any wave. Of course, Stuart yelled at me for not catching the ball. If I hadn't been seeing double, I would have smacked him in the back of the head with the ball. Coach Daly let me sit out the next game, and Thalia tried to fix my hair. It was beyond repair, and I had to take it down and brush it, which made it flat. I was mad because Kyle, who I used to have a crush on, hadn't even seen me with my hair curled, and the chances of me getting up early enough to do it again weren't good.
Later, Ms. Ashcroft stopped me in the hall to mention she wasn't sure if my sweater was "in the realm of acceptable blue shades per the school uniform requirements." Huh? Did that mean I couldn't wear it anymore? So I told her my grandmother had bought it for me for school. I didn't know if it was that my grandma had bought me a pretty sweater to be nice and Ms. Ashcroft was telling me I couldn't wear it, or maybe it was the fact I was about to get in trouble, but my eyes started welling up. I felt guilt and anxiety rising in me.
Ms. Ashcroft pursed her lips and didn't say anything, and I stood there trying to keep it together. I could tell she was thinking about what to do next, but then some kid in the hall barfed, and she had to deal with that instead of me and my, as she called it, "insubordinate" colored sweater. Thank you, puking kid.
Devon started being sweet to me at lunch and asked me if I'd go to the basketball game with her. I wondered why she didn't invite India, but then I remembered that Doug, the guy Devon liked, had asked for India's phone number after one of the last games. Guess I wasn't a threat, since Doug didn't even notice that I was alive. After school, I e-mailed Vladi to tell him I was coming to the game, but he didn't write back.
****
The night of the game, Devon wanted to sit by the gym door so we'd be sure to see Doug when he walked in. And we sure saw him when he walked in — with another girl. He nodded at Devon and kept walking as if he didn't care she saw him with another girl. Devon tried to pretend it didn't bother her, but it had to hurt her feelings. We went to sit with Jeremy, who had a crush on her. Devon didn't like him, but she flirted with him anyway. I had to go to the bathroom, but she wouldn't leave Jeremy to go with me, so I went by myself. I was coming out when I walked into Cristian. He and I had been e-mailing each other for a while when he suddenly stopped writing to me.
"Hi, Cristian," I said.
"Uh, hi," he said with his dark brown eyes darting around.
"How was your vacation?"
"It was okay. I've gotta go. See ya," he said and walked away.
Devon came up behind me. "Jeremy is driving me crazy. Let's call your mom and get out of here."
I said I wanted to stay and see Vladi after the game,
and she asked if I was supposed to meet him.
"No, but I told him I was coming…"
"Did he write back?" she asked.
"Well, no…"
"Then he's probably not interested," she said. "You don't want to be too pushy like you were with Cristian."
"Wait! What?"
She started walking toward the stairwell and pulled out her cell phone. I grabbed her arm to stop her.
"What do you mean about me being pushy?" I asked, my eyes widening.
"Oh, Cristian said something to Jeremy about you writing him a lot and, I dunno, I guess it creeped him out or something," she said. "He just liked you as a friend, and he thought you were super into him or something."
"But I just e-mailed him back whenever he wrote me. I didn't even like him that much 'cause I was interested in Vladi."
"But Vladi's in high school. C'mon, maybe your mom will let us stop for ice cream." She took my hand and tried to pull me back into the stairwell.
I didn't want to leave, but it wasn't as if I wanted to stay where everybody thought I was some desperate loser trying to find a boyfriend. My mom didn't pick up the call, so we went back into the gym. I didn't even want Vladi to see me, because he might think I was stalking him. Ashanti always told me to wait to e-mail a guy back, but I thought I was being polite by answering Cris's e-mails. All I did was write him back. It wasn't like I sent him a copy of our wedding registry. What was wrong with showing someone you liked him anyway?
The Cougars won by three points. I jumped up to leave when the game was over. Devon grabbed my arm and pulled me back into my seat.
"What?"
"Doug's by the door with his little girlfriend," she said. "And I am not going over there."
"Do you want to go to the Snack Shack?" I asked. I knew my mom wouldn't be thrilled, but she didn't say I couldn't stay, and a lot of people went to the Shack right after the games. Mom just said to call her when we wanted to come home. Devon bit her lip as she watched Doug and the girl laughing together. I didn't know what she saw in him in the first place. Jeremy came over and put his hands over Devon's eyes.
"Guess who?" he said, nudging her leg. "Hey, what's the matter?"
I was hoping Devon would tell him she still liked Doug so he'd leave us alone, but it was as if he couldn't see that she wasn't interested in him. Maybe in the past I would have felt sorry for him, but since I knew he thought I was a pathetic loser for writing Cristian, I didn't care so much.
"We're gonna go pretty soon," she said.
"Oh, I'll go outside and wait with you," he said.
"Um, Landry wants to talk to Vladi," she said, looking at me for help.
"Yeah, I have to tell him something," I said.
He gave me a look, and I knew he thought that I had some kiddie/stalker crush on Vladi. At least I'd know when to back off if Vladi wasn't interested in me. Wouldn't I?
"Landry, over here." I felt someone touch my shoulder, and Vladi was standing there. He reached over and gave me a hug. I wasn't used to hugging people — especially guys — but it was nice to have somebody want to hug me, particularly when the person was popular, sweet, and in high school.
"Are you guys going to hang out for a while?" he asked.
"I dunno yet. Are you?"
"I have to see if I can get a ride home," he said. He asked some guys on the team, but they were leaving. I knew I had to do something since I wouldn't get another chance to see him for a while.
"My mom could probably give you a ride home," I said. Oh wow, did that just come out of my mouth?
"Cool." He put his arm around my shoulders, and we walked to the Snack Shack.
Devon glared at me for leaving her with Jeremy, but I was so happy to be sitting with Vladi I didn't care. In fact, rabid wolves could have come through the doors, and I wouldn't have noticed. Vladi kept leaning forward to tell me about the game and the players. His spicy cologne mixed with his leather jacket smell and made me dizzy. I couldn't believe we were sitting that close and I kept smiling at Devon, but she was not happy having Jeremy drool over her. She kept sliding farther away from him, but he wasn't getting the message. Then she grabbed me and said we had to go the bathroom.
"I'm going crazy. He's like a leech or something," she said, scrunching her curly dark hair as she stared into the bathroom mirror.
"Isn't Vladi cute? I wonder what kind of cologne he wears. He smells so good."
"You're making me sick," she said.
The guys had gone to the concession stands where Vladi bought me a cherry cola (my favorite) and a box of candy to share. Jeremy bought Devon some malt balls, but she snatched the bag away and kept them for herself.
"Can I have some of your soda?" Vladi asked after he had finished his drink.
I thought it was so cute that he'd drink after me and not even worry about germs. He didn't even take out my straw. I thought I was going to faint from happiness; our lips were touching the same straw. Now, my dad would have given me a lecture on how a billion viruses can be spread through sharing a straw, but I wouldn't care if I got typhoid fever — but not the stomach flu. If there was anything I hated, it was puking, and even Vladi wasn't worth barfing my guts up for. After the game, I called my mom and told her she needed to take Vladi home, too.
"Fine, but he better not live across town," she said. How romantic. Gee, I wonder why my dad wasn't dying to move to Grand Rapids.
Mom pulled up and Devon got into the back seat, meaning Vladi and I couldn't sit together. He sat in the front and talked to my mom on the way home. My mom seemed to like him, and I realized that I was going to see where he lived. Devon had her arms folded as Vladi told my mom that his family had lived there for eleven years and what it was like coming from another country. In two minutes, my mom had managed to find out more about him than I had in two months.
"Thanks for the ride, Mrs. Albright. Bye, Landry," he said, winking at me.
"So polite," Mom said.
"Isn't he hot? And he's so sweet," I said. "Isn't he nice?"
Devon sighed, and I could tell she was getting annoyed, so I asked mom if she could come over.
"Why is Doug such a jerk?" Devon asked as we walked into my room.
"You could totally do better," I said. "Jeremy's not that bad, you know."
She sat up on my bed. "Please, he drools over me so much that he makes me want to take a shower. And he wears Spice n' Raw cologne. My great-grandpa wears that stuff."
I wondered if she noticed that the girl Doug was with was practically a clone of India with the same honey-blonde hair, aqua-colored eyes, and heart-shaped face. I was afraid to say anything, because Devon was just looking for somebody to be mad at.
"Maybe I should go for that Rick guy I met at the last game. He liked me, and he was cute," she said.
She had called Rick "skinny" and said he wasn't a "real man" because he hadn't asked for her number, but I wasn't about to bring it up, though. Instead, I said maybe Vladi could introduce her to someone.
Chapter Seven
On Monday I went to the bus stop, and Ericka and Tori were already there playing on their phones. I told them all about the game and my time with Vladi.
"Hmmm," Ericka said, playing with her bushy copper-colored hair. "Just make sure you don't come on too strong."
"Am I doing that with Vladi?"
"I dunno. It's just…he's in high school, so…"
So what would he want with me? Was that what she was trying to say? I wasn't sure why he seemed to be interested in me, but I must have done something right since he was still e-mailing me and had put his arm around me in front of everybody at the game.
"I'm not an expert on guys," I said, "but it seems like if he thought I was disgusting, he would ignore me and not want to drink after me."
Ericka shrugged. "Whatever. Just don't be too obvious."
Neither she nor Tori had ever had a boyfriend, but Ericka did have a high school guy like her at the beginning of the school year, so she must ha
ve known something.
"Maybe he just wants to be friends," Tori said.
"Don't be dumb. Guys never want to just be friends," Ericka said. "Remember when that cheerleader told your brother that she wanted to 'just be friends?'"
"Yeah, he was a total jerk for three days, and then he asked her best friend out to make her mad," Tori said.
"Did things work out with the other girl?" I asked.
"No, she started stalking him, and that's why we changed our phone number," Tori said.
"I wonder if Vladi flirts with other girls at school," I said. Ericka didn't say anything, and I nudged her with my toe. She shrugged.
"Um, that was your cue to say, 'No, he's totally and utterly in love with you,'" I said.
"Well, look at Kyle. He flirts with Arianna while Yasmin's in the next room."
"So you do think Vladi's flirting with other girls?" I asked, feeling sick.
She said he was "awfully friendly." I didn't like the way she had said "friendly," so I asked her what she meant. She squirmed, and my stomach dropped a few inches.
"Well, you said he hugged you," she said.
"So? That's a good thing."
"In public? How many guys our age hug in public?" she asked as the bus came around the corner.
I said maybe that was a Russian thing, but she shook her head. "I'm just saying that if he's that friendly with you, then…you know."
However, once I got on the bus and told Ashanti all about what happened, she told me not to listen to Ericka.
"She always has to bring you down. She's still not over the fact you moved on in the American Ingénue competition and not her," she said. Ashanti was convinced that Vladi liked me. I thought of her as the expert because: a) she had a boyfriend, b) she had read almost every e-mail Vladi ever sent me, and c) I also liked the fact that she thought he was interested in me. I asked her if she thought Vladi would flirt with other girls, and she paused, too.
"What?" I asked.
"I don't know him that well, but he is awfully friendly…"
Best Friends...Forever? Page 4
