BY THE TIME I got downstairs, Dad had my lunch packed and a box of cereal on the table. You'd think I could make my own lunch by now. "Hey, Sunshine!" Dad said, looking up from his newspaper and peering over the rims of his glasses.I was certainly not feeling sunny. First-day-of-school butterflies were swarming in my stomach. I was excited and terrified at the same time. No. Blustery or scattered thunderstorms seemed more appropriate."How'd you sleep?""Great," I lied, raising my voice an octave. Dad lowered his newspaper, revealing an ugly scratch along his face. The butterflies in my stomach stopped flying and got sick. What kind of freak attacks her dad? Frowning, I joined him at the table. "Oh man, Dad. I'm sorry about your face." I poured some cereal into the empty bowl set out for me, not feeling hungry but knowing he'd feel better if I ate something."What, this ol' thing?" He ran his finger down the ugly scratch. "The guys at work are gonna love it! I'll tell them I w
MY HEART SQUEEZED AS I realized anew how much I'd missed Ruthie's enthusiasm over the summer. She'd spent most of it at church camps, family reunions, and her grandma's farm up in Idaho. Right now, she was checking me out from head to toe. From anyone else, it would be creepy. I just rolled my eyes at her as she continued."I give you one week before you have a boyfriend. That's about right. You look fine!" She drew out the word "fine" like the last note in a song, emphasizing it with her hands. I couldn't care less about a boyfriend. I'd never really been boy crazy like Ruthie; however, it didn't prevent me from enjoying all the gossip she threw my way. High school traditions meant a lot to her, and a boyfriend was definitely on her list of high school expectations. Last year was a wash, but I could see that she was going to make me a personal project this year. My goal, however, was to reach normal status, and anything beyond that was icing on the cake. I just hoped she didn't bec
BY THE TIME RUTHIE and I rolled into the school parking lot, we were back to discussing the most important things in a teenage girl's life - clothes and boys. Just like old times."You have to show me where you got those jeans! The pockets rock!" Ruthie gushed. "Okay, how's the makeup?" She pursed her lips and gave me her most seductive look. I rolled my eyes."Are you kidding? You look perfect, as usual," I assured her. "You remind me of Jennifer on 'Court of Palms.'" "Court of Palms" was Ruthie's favorite teen soap, and she considered Jennifer the hottest girl on the show. I only watched it when we were hanging out. Ruthie commentated each episode with paparazzi-like detail. A spontaneous giggle bubbled up inside me at the memory, but it was pierced with a happy cry at the fond memories and sudden gratitude that I had my best friend back.She stared at me, wide-eyed, moisture welling up in them. "Oh, Tru!" She started fanning herself. "You've been watching our show!"I gave her
I LAUGHED HARD, THE sound erupting like Mt. St. Helens. She had pronounced Isaac's last name wrong to make it rhyme with "hottie." It was going to hang around my brain like the chorus to a good song. But that was so Ruthie. "You go, girl!" I said. "I may have to amend your boyfriend projection. Who needs a week?" Laughing, we hurried out of the car to cut a path toward the twins, who were about to turn the corner around the first building.Ruthie cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, "Hey, Phoebe! Isaac!" Despite the jabbering students all around, they heard her and froze.Phoebe swung around and screamed, "Ruthie!" The twins trotted toward us. When we caught up, Phoebe grabbed Ruthie in a tight hug, practically making her eyes pop. They pulled back and started jabbering fast about stuff I had no clue about. Once again, I wondered why I hadn't noticed this friendship before. I sighed and looked to the ginormous form next to them. Mr. Hottie Efoti.He must have been six an
RUTHIE AND I DIDN'T have any classes together for the rest of the day. We had already compared our schedules over the weekend. I knew most of the kids in my classes, but they didn't seem to recognize me. The guys looked me over with interest, the girls with curiosity, at least until my name was called for attendance. Then people really looked at me. They stared and whispered. Awkward. My attempt at "normal" didn't seem to be working out this year. With each ensuing class, I shrank deeper and deeper into my seat, hoping to get the day over as fast as possible. I practically ran from my Physics class. I headed out the door and planned to keep walking until I walked through my front door, but something turned me toward the quad, where everyone hung out for lunch. It made me pause enough to rethink my situation.Dad would probably make me see the shrink if I skipped school today. With a resigned sigh, I changed my mind and decided to stake out the usual place that Ruthie and I liked, near
AS OUR DRAMA TEACHER went over the classroom rules, I had to keep my hand over my mouth so that I didn't burst out giggling. Isaac mimicked the teacher with amazing accuracy. If he didn't go anywhere with his singing, he definitely had a career in acting. But apparently, the rest of the class wasn't as talented. Their reactions eventually tipped off the teacher."I'm glad to see that we have such a natural entertainer in our class this year," said Mr. Romano, looking pointedly at Isaac, a small smile tugging at his lips. "Perhaps Mr. Efoti can put that charm to good use and begin our game of charades." Thankfully, Mr. Romano seemed to know how to handle Isaac's playfulness. The rest of the period showed us who the real hams were in the class. I was not one of them, and thankfully the bell rang before my turn arrived.As I started to rise, Isaac blocked me by crouching down beside my desk. His face was so close to mine I could see every eyelash surrounding his golden brown eyes. He
AHHH! SERIOUSLY, WHAT WAS wrong with me? Had I reached some weird teen hormone stage where I reacted this way to every good-looking guy? I shook my head and I looked over my English class. There must be another hunky guy here for me to get flustered about. I spotted Hugh Lawson off to my right. He wore his blond hair overly long, curling around his neck and ears. And he cutest freckles dusted his tanned face. His sky blue eyes and thick eyelashes were the talk of many girls, and I'd seen quite a few comments about him written on the stalls of the girls' bathrooms, which automatically had me glancing down at his butt. I wrenched my eyes back up to his face and gasped. He was looking back at me! He saw me looking at his butt! My face flushed with embarrassment. He did that head nod thing guys do that seemed to say, "Hey, babe. Yeah, come and get me." Oh my gosh! I quickly turned away. Okay. There was definitely no attraction for me there. I turned back toward the front of the classroom
THE NEXT FEW DAYS moved along slowly for me. And the sole reason was that Zander seemed to be avoiding me. I kept seeing him around campus, but he slipped away before I passed him. In class, he sat as far away from me as possible and avoided my gaze. I couldn't help but assume he had heard about me, the "me" from last year. It was inevitable, I guess, but it like that unexpected sliver under the skin that you couldn't get out. Examining it made it worse and not removing it allowed it to fester. He had been a knight in shining armor the first time I met him, as stupid as that sounded, and I had hoped he was going to be different than everyone else.We didn't see him at lunch, either. My friends wondered where he was, too, except Isaac, who seemed rather pleased about it. Phoebe and Isaac were continually bombarded by hopefuls, and Val took up permanent residence next to Ruthie. Isaac kept edging closer to me, making me think perhaps Ruthie had it right and he did like me, but then with