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
AFTER SCHOOL I WAITED for Ruthie to do her flirty goodbye thing with Val before we took off. Isaac walked up to us flashing his commercial smile."Hey, Ruthie," said Isaac, "can you give Phoebe and me a lift to our mom's shop?" His mom ran a jewelry counter inside a clothing store that was kind of on the way home for Ruthie."Sure, but it'll be tight because I've got Tru, too.""No prob," replied Isaac. "And here's Phoebe, right on time."Phoebe glared at Isaac, who just stared back. It was like they were having a silent conversation. Ruthie leaned over to me and whispered, "It's a twin thing, I think. They do that all the time. Used to freak me out."Whatever the problem was, it seemed to be over in seconds. When we looked at them expectantly, thinking they might clue us in to whatever had been going on, Isaac just smiled and herded us down the hall, saying, "Come on, ladies, let's go!"As we got close to the car, Phoebe yelled, "Shotgun," unenthusiastically."Oh, come on," I
RUTHIE PEELED AWAY FROM the curb, ranting about her parents' stupid rules before moving on to complain about her teachers and the mountain of homework they'd given her. According to her, that should never be allowed the first week of school. I didn't disagree. When she got like this, it was better to just let her vent. It was a Ruthie bubble that just got bigger and bigger until it popped and then she could see everyone else again.When we arrived at my house in record time, I frowned with disappointment because I had yet to hear the whole scoop about her and Val. I had no idea that she'd been carrying a torch for him all these years. I wasn't exiting the car until I found out what was going on."So, what's up with you and Val?" I asked, giving her a look that I hoped told her I wasn't leaving without an answer.She squeezed her eyes shut, as if she could block out my question."Ruthie," I prompted. "What are you thinking?"With a long sigh, she wrinkled her nose and peeked at me.
BEFORE I KNEW IT, I was opening my eyes to Friday morning. For a moment, I felt something was amiss. Then I realized what it was - no nightmares! They had been plaguing me on and off this week. Fortunately, they hadn't been bad enough to wake Dad.I sent a heartfelt thank you out into the great unknown to whomever or whatever had helped me, because I was really grateful for the uninterrupted night of sleep. Sure enough, the mirror reflected that sleep really could do miracles. By the time I headed downstairs, Dad had been long gone. He had left early so he wouldn't be stuck in the traffic that wound through the mountains toward Silicon Valley, where his office was located. It was a horrible commute. A Post-it note stuck to the front door:"Have a great day, Tru! Lunch in the fridge! Love, Dad"I smiled and grabbed breakfast. Ruthie chatted all the way to school about lame little brothers and how late she had stayed up to finish homework. She was still stuck in her bubble.