by Denise Vega
“You could if you practiced,” Blake said. “You’ve got a natural delivery; you just turn your wrist at the last second. That’s why the ball goes off to the side.” He reached for my wrist and held it in both of his hands, flicking it back and forth. “See, if you can keep it straight all the way through,” he said, pulling my hand back, “you’ll have a straighter aim at the pins.” He carried my hand forward to demonstrate, then brought it down to his side.
“That makes sense,” I said, waiting for him to let go. He didn’t. He held onto my wrist as we walked and I wondered if it looked as weird as it felt to have someone holding your wrist instead of your hand. And then suddenly his hand was around mine, squeezing gently. I squeezed back, feeling the sweat between our palms—was it his or mine?
“Want some gum?” I asked.
“Sure.” He looked relieved and I wondered if he was feeling as awkward as I was. But how could he? He was a hot blond high school boarder boy and I was just a middle school computer geek.
I handed him a stick of Doublemint before taking one for myself. He told me he had been bowling since he could hold a ball—“like you with foosball”—and I told him how I had to learn soccer and basketball to avoid being creamed by my brother.
Blake laughed. “I see your brother at school sometimes. He seems pretty cool.”
“He can be,” I said. “If you’re not related to him.”
We walked a little further, our pace slowing so that the distance between us and Jilly and Bus Boy grew. As we passed a house with a lot of overgrown bushes and trees, Blake grabbed my arm and pulled me off the sidewalk and behind a hedge. My heart bounced wildly in my chest as he gripped my shoulders, his eyes peering into mine. We stared at each other, our noses and lips several inches apart, before Blake closed his eyes and leaned toward me.
I felt his lips—slightly rough and chapped—against my own. I kissed him back, hesitantly at first, unsure of what I was doing. But when he didn’t pull away, and instead wrapped his arms around me, I relaxed. I reached my own arms around his neck and kept kissing him, moving my mouth with his. Then our mouths opened at the same time and I smelled his breath, Doublemint fresh with just a hint of the candy bar he’d gotten from the vending machine at the bowling alley.
Our mouths opened wider and I felt his tongue roam over mine. But before I could respond, I started gagging and choking.
Blake pulled away quickly. “My gum!”
I nodded, hitting my chest to release both wads from the back of my throat. They popped forward and I gasped, sucking in a few breaths and coughing.
“Are you okay?” Blake looked concerned as he patted my back awkwardly.
I nodded and pulled out the gum, holding it up between us. We both stared at the connected wads for a moment, then looked at each other and busted out laughing.
“Want your gum back?” I asked between gasps.
Blake shook his head. “You keep it,” he said. “Consider it a gift.”
“How thoughtful.” I rolled the gum wad into a dirty ball and wrapped it in one of the gum wrappers I’d stuffed into my pocket.
“Are you two going to eat with us or get a room?” Bus Boy’s voice startled me. He and Jilly stood on the sidewalk; Jilly had her hands on her hips, eyebrows raised.
Bus Boy glanced at the bush. “Oh, I see that instead of a room, you got a hedge.”
My cheeks warmed and I pushed past them all to the sidewalk. “I’m hungry.”
“Worked up a little appetite, Erin?” Jilly asked as she fell into step beside me. She grabbed my arm and leaned toward me so her lips were practically inside my ear. “Were you guys making out?”
“Jilly!” The boys were only a few feet behind. Couldn’t we talk about this later? But she was looking at me with such eagerness, I had to give her something. “We kissed,” I whispered.
She squealed and squeezed my arm. “I knew it!”
“But not for long,” I said. “I practically choked on his gum.”
Jilly looked at me. “What?” Then she laughed and shook her head.
“I know,” I said. “Only I would choke on the guy’s gum the first time we make out.”
“At least you’ll remember it,” Jilly said, tucking her arm through mine.
Saturday , September 13
THINGS THAT ARE WEIRD
Weird #1: My mom totally wanted me 2 dish about Blake… not since the BN have we talked abt boys.
Weird #2: I don’t want 2 talk 2 her about boys or anything… not sure why.
HOT— —METER
#1 Blake Thornton—totally gorgeous 9th grade mountain surfer
#2 Dylan Beaumont—taken, but cute
#3 Mark Sacks—the hair, the butt in shorts—need I say more?
#4 Mr. Perkins (drops to #4 because of age gap)
THINGS THAT ARE FREAKING ME OUT IN A GOOD WAY
Blake & I kissed again after we 8 burgers & b4 we got picked up. Right in front of Jilly & Bus Boy. It was AMAZING.
Blake e-mailed me @ least 10 times since yesterday.
Jilly can’t stop talking about it & neither can I.
Mark called & asked where I was yesterday.
.....................................Quiz.....................................
1. If a guy who is 1 of yr best friends asks where u were, u tell him u:
a. were kissing a hot boarder boy behind some bushes & in front of friends (don’t think so).
b. had 2 wash the dog (even if u don’t have 1).
c. had 2 practice your bowling stance (need 2 but didn’t).
d. had 2 help your mom pick out software (lame, but he bought it).
2. If a guy who is 1 of yr best friends asks where u were Fri & u LIED 2 him, u r:
a. a very mature 8th grader waiting until u know 4 sure the BF status b4 making anything public.
b. a good friend protecting his feelings. (He likes Kara. What’s 2 protect?)
c. a total loser who should be banned from the planet.
d. a very confused person who has no idea what she’s doing.
Sigh. All I know is that Blake is cute & fun & I want 2 kiss him again & I don’t want 2 have 2 explain it 2 Mark.
CHAPTER 12
FALLING IN LIKE
SO THIS WAS WHAT IT was like to have someone like you back. I loved knowing Blake was thinking about me and I could also see why Jilly was obsessed with texting. I grabbed her phone whenever I saw her because Blake had started texting me on it. Just little stuff like wassup? and test in lit kicked my butt because of course he couldn’t say other stuff with Jilly able to read it. He saved that for IM and e-mail.
Can’t wait 2 c u again he said in his last e-mail. Let’s do something this weekend. How about DQ? We can ride our bikes.
I was pretty sure I was walking on air, even though my Chucks touched the floor.
When he called after school on Monday to ask about getting together on Saturday, I admitted my parents wouldn’t let me date date until I was older.
“No worries,” he said. “Jon and Jilly are in.”
“Oh,” I said, feeling a little disappointed. Even if I couldn’t, didn’t he want to be with me alone? “Great.”
“We’ll come to your house before we go so I can charm your mom again.”
“You’d do that?”
“Sure.”
Blake Thornton was beyond cool.
After we hung up, the phone rang immediately. Caller ID told me it was Mark.
“How about some hoops this weekend?”
“Sure,” I said, then guilt pricked at me. Should I play basketball with Mark now that I was going out with Blake? Were we going out? No one had used the words “boyfriend” or “girlfriend” but we had kissed so that must mean something, right? I had no idea since this was the first time someone I liked liked me back. Maybe I should talk to Blake about it. But was it too soon to talk about that kind of stuff? We’d only been together twice, and one of those was at Jilly’s when we met. Would he think I
was pushing too hard with the relationship? Or would he be mad if I said nothing and he found out later I was with Mark. Maybe I should—
“Earth to E.” Mark’s voice jarred me back. “Come in, E.”
“Sorry,” I murmured. “I’m a little distracted.”
“I noticed,” Mark said. “Everything okay?”
No, it’s not, I wanted to say. I met this guy and he’s really cute and we made out two times (but who’s counting?) and I really like him and he likes me and it’s amazing to have someone I like like me back and even though I don’t like you that way anymore and you have a girlfriend, it still feels weird to tell you.
“Just—some stuff,” I said finally.
“Stuff,” Mark said. “Anything to do with that guy you went bowling with on Friday?”
“What?” How did he find out? And why hadn’t he said something sooner?
“Jilly mentioned it at school today,” Mark said, as if reading my mind. “I thought you went shopping for software with your mom.”
“Well, I was going to and then this came up and—” I stopped. I was digging a hole. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I guess I just felt weird talking about it.”
“Why? I talk to you about Kara.”
“I know,” I said, “but I don’t really know what it is yet.”
“You like this guy?” Mark asked. “What’s his name—Blaze? Bronze?”
“Blake,” I said, laughing. I couldn’t tell if Mark was goofing up his name on purpose or not but it was nice to have it out there. “I don’t know. I just met him.”
“Are you going out with him again?”
“What’s with the twenty questions?”
Mark laughed. “Just giving back some of what you do to me. ‘How’s Kara? Did you guys get together over the weekend? What color was her lip gloss?’ ”
I snorted. “I never asked you about her lip gloss,” I said. “I’m surprised you even know what that is.”
“It’s that stuff you put on your eyelids, right?”
“You’re hilarious, Sacks. Why don’t you put some lip gloss on your big toe.”
“I just might, Miss I-Have-a-Boyfriend.”
“I don’t,” I said quickly. “At least, not yet.”
“Kara’s calling on the other line,” Mark said. “I can let it go to voice mail.”
“No, go ahead and talk to her. I need to get off anyway.”
After I hung up, I headed downstairs to find my mom. I hated the way my stomach clenched every time I needed to ask her something now. It never used to be like this. But then again, she never used to be like this—worried, a little suspicious. I didn’t know what her problem was but I wished she’d get over it so I could have some fun.
“You’re riding your bikes?” She said it as if I’d told her we were going to skydive to get to DQ—without parachutes.
“Yeah,” I said. “You know, those things with two wheels I’ve been riding since I was six?”
She gave me her don’t-get-smart-with-me look.
I sighed. “They’ll come here first so we can all ride together. Blake wants to say hello.”
Finally, a smile. “Well, that’s nice. I think it’s fine but no stopping along the way. Straight there and straight back. All right?”
What did she think we were going to do, head to California? “All right.”
CHAPTER 13
CLUB COOL
JILLY WOULDN’T HAVE BELIEVED IT, but I was more excited about starting I-Club than I was about the DQ double-date on Saturday. As I stepped into the familiar computer lab that Thursday after school, I couldn’t help grinning. The clusters of computers, the glowing monitors, the trackballs and mice neatly positioned beside each keyboard—it all gave me a jolt of excitement. Even though we had our computers and technology elective in here twice a week, the room looked different somehow. Soon we’d be creating web pages, links, and animated stuff, and all of it would go out on the Internet for everyone to see. I couldn’t wait.
“Okay, people, settle down.” Ms. Moreno stood in front of her desk, a stack of papers clutched in her hand. Mr. Arnett, who helped with I-Club, was flipping through software discs. I glanced around the room. Most of the old faces were back, including Serena. Reede sat near the back, Tyler on one side of her, Steve on the other. She raised her chin in greeting and I nodded.
Mark appeared in the doorway, talking to someone over his shoulder. A hand clutched his and I pictured Kara just outside the door. He said something to her and smiled. The hand released and he waved good-bye before coming inside, grinning at me as he dropped into a seat at one of the computer clusters.
There were about five or six seventh graders huddled in the corner beneath the Rules for Safe Surfing poster. Behind them was the familiar row of shelves holding books, manuals, and discs, all neatly stacked because I’d organized them myself last year.
“Find a seat, everyone,” Ms. Moreno said. She rapped on the desktop and we quieted down. “We need to get our groups and get to work. We have a lot to do if we want to have a fully functioning website on the Internet by February or March.”
“What about the Intranet?” someone asked. “Will that go away?”
“We’ll have both,” she said. “And we’ll need to maintain both. Some of what we have for the Intranet can be used on our Internet website, which will help.” Her eyes fell to the back of the room. I glanced over my shoulder. The seventh graders were still in a group, eying the empty seats, none of which were together. “You’ll have to split up,” Ms. Moreno said to them. “Most of the eighth graders don’t bite, though I can’t vouch for all of them.”
The class chuckled and the seventh graders made their way to available seats.
“Okay, these are the group leaders.” Ms. Moreno glanced down at her paper. “Erin Swift, Rosie Velarde, Mark Sacks, Jonathan Parker, and Zach Lucas. Could each of you make sure you’re at a separate computer cluster and then—”
“Ms. Moreno.” Steve waved his arm high in the air.
“—when I read off the groups, please—”
“Ms. Moreno!”
Ms. Moreno sighed. “What is it, Steven?” She was the only one who called him Steven. I thought it was because she was trying to make him sound older and more mature so he would act older and more mature. So far, it wasn’t working.
“You forgot to call my name to be a group leader.”
All the eighth graders broke out laughing.
“What?” Steve looked around at us, raising his hands in a question.
“Leader of what?” Rosie said. “Ways to get in trouble?”
We all laughed.
“Thank you, Steven,” Ms. Moreno said, “but I’ve already chosen the leaders.”
Steve pretended to pout while she had one of the seventh graders hand out the papers.
“I’ve divided up the categories for each group,” she said. “Group leaders, when I call your name, raise your hand so people know who you are. Erin Swift, home page and look and feel of the site, and some miscellaneous pages. Erin’s group will be Reede Harper, Scott Jensen, Joe Monahan, and Serena Worthington. Next leader is Mark Sacks, faculty and staff pages plus—”
I stopped listening. I had Reede “Silicon Valley Hot Makeover” Harper AND Serena in my group? I was feeling more comfortable around Reede, but what if she knew way more than I did and thought I was a total idiot? She grew up with a techno guru. She probably had a memory card embedded in her brain and wireless capabilities through her earlobe. And Serena? Well, even though things seemed okay between us, I still wasn’t sure about her.
I scowled before turning back to my circle of computers where Reede, Scott, Joe, and Serena were gathering.
“So, Team Leader.” Serena plopped down next to Reede, leaning her face around the monitor. “What will it be this year? Baring your butt instead of your soul?”
Scott shifted in his seat, staring down at his keyboard. He was an eighth grader and knew what Serena was talking about. Joe was a
seventh grader so he just looked clueless. Reede smirked at me and I raised my eyebrows in response.
“Funny, Serena,” I said, but she was looking at Reede and suddenly I got it. She wanted Reede to like her. She was using the YOHE to get in good with Reede. I had an odd wave of pity for her. “I don’t think anyone wants to see my bare butt,” I said, and everyone laughed. “And I’ll try to keep my soul to myself this year.”
“Except when you want to give it to a high school guy,” Reede said, jiggling her shoulders in an ooh-la-la gesture.
Serena whipped her head in my direction. “What high school guy?”
“It’s nothing,” I mumbled, wondering how Reede had found out about Blake.
“That’s not what I heard,” Reede said.
Serena was about to say something else when Ms. Moreno called us to attention.
“Let’s go over the handouts first,” she said, holding up a copy of the stapled papers we all had in front of us. We spent the rest of the meeting discussing our game plan and making lists of the things we needed to do to get the website up and running.
After the meeting, Mark, Tyler, and Rosie hung back while I got my stuff together.
“Some group you’ve got, Swift,” Mark said.
“Tell me about it.” I said. “I need to talk to Ms. Moreno.”
“Don’t worry,” Tyler said, “You’re Erin Swift, Webmaster of the Universe.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Is it Opposite Day?”
He smiled. “It’s actually opposite of opposite day,” Tyler said, pointing at me. “You rule, Erin P. Swift.” He grinned wide.
Huh. Where did that cute dimple in his right cheek come from? How come I never noticed it when I had a crush on him at computer camp?
I smiled and pointed back at him. “Thanks, Ty. I’ll catch you guys later.”
The room emptied, leaving Ms. Moreno and I alone. “Before you say anything, may I say something first?” she asked. Obviously she knew why I’d stayed after everyone else was gone.
“I guess,” I said.
