Forever for a Year(14)

I was planning on taking the late bus home, but when I finally had the energy to stand up, and after Pasquini had given the team a cornball pep speech, I saw my mom’s Infiniti SUV waiting in the parking lot. Unfortunately, it had not driven itself.





9

Carolina will stop boy obsessing tomorrow

“I-have-to-call-Peggy-I’ll-be-right-back,” I said to my mom exactly one second after I saw the request from Trevor Santos. I went to the basement laundry room because my room was too close to the living room and no way did I want her to hear my conversation.

“He sent me a friend request!” I said, except I probably screamed it, as soon as Peggy answered. Why was I screaming this? This is not a big deal. Not. At. All.

“Who?” she said.

“The new boy!” I screamed again. I was out of control. I didn’t know who the heck I was anymore. “His name is Trevor Santos.”

“I can’t hear you, hold on.” In the background, I could hear Katherine yelling at their mom. They were always yelling at each other. Peggy found someplace quiet, then said, “So what’s his name?”

“Trevor Santos.”

“That’s a sexy name,” she said.

“I know,” I said, even though I hadn’t thought about it and didn’t even know what would make a name sexy. “What should I do?” my voice felt almost normal. I was starting to calm down instead of acting like some hysterical girl in love with a boy band.

“About what?” said Peggy, who was having a “space-out night,” which sometimes happened. Especially when her sister and mom were yelling a lot.

“About the friend request he sent, Peggy.”

“Accept it, right?”

“But … Okay. Yeah. But…” Should I admit it? I had to. Even though it completely ruined my vow. Just ruined it. So I said, “What if I like him?”

“Then for sure accept it, right?”

“But … maybe I should wait.”

“Maybe you should,” Peggy said, not really listening. Or listening but not really thinking. Peggy was the greatest friend, except sometimes she just told you what you wanted to hear instead of real advice. So I changed the subject to talk about homework, and then about her sister’s party, and then we said good-bye. After I hung up, I really wanted a new friend. Not to replace Peggy, but a second friend, so I could have someone else to call when something so major was happening, like now. With Trevor Santos. Maybe his name was sexy.

I said it out loud—“Trevor Santos”—but I felt like the silliest person ever and couldn’t bear to spend one more second alone with my own brain.

So I called Kendra, because I had her number, and because I talked to her the second most today.

“Hello,” she said, her voice very quiet, like always.

“Kendra, it’s Carolina.”

“Hi.”

“So what did you think of our first day of high school?”

“It was good.” Kendra spoke her words really fast, like she didn’t like the way they tasted and wanted to get them out of her mouth as soon as she possibly could.

“You ever have a boyfriend?”

She didn’t say anything. I almost said my mom was calling, which would be a lie, it’s just that Kendra was not easy to talk to like Peggy, even when Peggy was being space-out Peggy. But then she finally said, “No, I’ve never had a boyfriend. Have you ever had one?” Which was the exact question I wanted her to ask.

“No. Never. But this boy I met today. I might like him. And he sent me a Facebook friend request. What do you think that means?”

“He likes you.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“REALLY?”

She was quiet again. I felt stupid for getting so excited. Which I should. Because it was stupid. The stupidest. Definitely. Then Kendra said, “Why are you so excited?” And I felt one hundred times more stupid, until Kendra somehow said the most amazing thing ever. “It’s just that you’re so pretty. Lots of boys must have liked you before.”

I couldn’t breathe for a second, and my eyes got watery, not sad but happy, so not tears, just so emotional because no had ever called me pretty before. I mean, my mom and dad had, and my brother, Heath, but no one else, ever. Even though Kendra was a girl, it’s almost better to come from a girl, because boys can be morons a lot, but girls are usually very smart. Then I said, because I didn’t want her to think I was conceited, “You’re so pretty too.” And this was TOTALLY true! You should see Kendra. She has skin with no pimples, and lips that old actresses have to pay for, and big, bright eyes, like they could be white suns, but smaller. Duh. But I worried she wouldn’t believe me because I said it right after she said it to me, and then I worried she thought I liked girls in a romantic way, and then I was silent.

But she said, fast but nice, “Thank you,” and then changed the subject, which was great, by saying, “So are you going to accept his friend request?”

“Yes. I don’t know. Maybe. What do you think?”

“If you just want to be his friend, do it right away. But if you want to be more than friends, then you could wait. Boys like girls more when you make them wait. That’s what my dad says. But it makes sense.”