Bending Over Backwards (12 page)

“Standing O!” she mouthed to me, raising her arms into a circle above her head.

I gasped. They were giving us a standing ovation. Shrimp and I were a hit!

I leaned against the planter outside the front doors to the school. All the buses had left, the walkers had scattered, and the car line had dwindled to one or two late parents. Alex still wasn't here. He'd texted that he had to talk to someone at his school, so I'd have to wait.
Must be a teacher thing,
I figured.

Now I was the last kid at school on a Friday afternoon.

I bent down, unzipped my bulging duffel bag, and pulled out a sweatshirt with a cool camouflage print. The sky was heavy with gray clouds, and a chill weighed down the late September sky. I shivered in my black tank. I'd had no choice but to put the Onyx outfit back on after the talent show. I couldn't walk around school in a leotard.

Everything had changed after Shrimp and I exited the stage. All day, kids came up and congratulated me.
The weird thing was that Shrimp and I hadn't even won. A girl who played the piano and sang a song from
Wicked
won. But Shrimp and I were clearly the audience favorite.

“You looked like you were having so much fun up there,” Morgan, my partner in my math class, said wistfully.

“I was,” I confided. “Lots of fun.”

“We should hang out sometime after school,” she suggested. “If that's okay.”

“That's great!” I told her. I liked Morgan. She always had the coolest designs on her nails. She drew the flowers and snowflakes herself with special polish. She promised to do them on mine.

Morgan wasn't the only one who'd noticed me. I had met more kids today than in the past couple weeks. I felt, in a strange way, as if today was my first day.

I didn't see Roseann or Shrimp for the rest of the day. During lunch, I didn't go to the cafeteria, and I realized I was missing out on Sweets Friday. I'd forgotten to bring a treat anyway.

Instead, I found Mrs. Murphy eating a tuna sandwich in her classroom. I sat across from her and told her that I wasn't going to the Olympics. I apologized and tried to explain the best I could. She was really understanding.
She encouraged me to stay on the newspaper staff and even shared her potato chips. I showed her how to crumble them and put them inside her tuna sandwich. The crunchiness balanced the mushiness of the tuna. She agreed. She was going to see if her little son liked it when she got home.

I heard footsteps on the walkway behind me.

“Have a good weekend, Molly,” Ms. Fairley said as she left the school with Miss Plaza, my science teacher. They both waved.

“Thanks! You too!” I called. The teachers now knew me here.

I pulled on my sweatshirt and zipped my duffel. Packing seemed like a lifetime ago. I watched as a girl about my age climbed out of the backseat of a blue car that had pulled into the parking lot a few minutes earlier. A man and a woman exited the front seat. I guessed they were her parents. She gazed around with a bewildered look.

Instantly, I recognized the look. I'd had that look too. She was new.

The front door pushed open behind me, and Mr. Sabino emerged.

“Hello, Molly,” he said. “Is someone coming for you?”

“Yes, my brother's on his way.”

“Excellent. Good job up there today with Sheila.”

“Excuse me?” Maybe the principal didn't know who I was after all. “I did the talent show with Shrimp.”

“That's right. Sheila O'Shea does go by Shrimp. Cute nickname for her.” He chortled. “She doesn't much look like a Sheila, does she?”

Could Shrimp be the Sheila whose mom my mom had met in the bathroom at work? The girl my mom had been trying to set me up with all along? Was that even possible?

“Enjoy your weekend.” He turned his attention to the new family. “Welcome to Hillsbury Middle School. I'm the principal, Mark Sabino.” He thrust out his hand to shake with the parents.

The girl's eyes clouded with nervousness. I smiled at her. She smiled tightly back. I wished I could tell her not to worry. I would, I decided. I'd go right up to her on her first day.

The way Shrimp had welcomed me.

Mr. Sabino moved the group closer to the door. I edged my way to the other side of the planter and searched the long driveway for Alex's car. No brother in sight.

“And this is Roseann Bleeker,” Mr. Sabino said. “Roseann is one of our special student ambassadors.”

Roseann appeared at his side. Her green star pin gleamed from the pink crew neck sweater she'd pulled over her black tank. The preppy pink sweater made the outfit so much more Roseannlike.

“Hi, I'm Roseann.” Her voice was bright and perky.

“I'm Avani,” the girl said quietly.

I felt Avani drawn to Roseann's warm smile. She couldn't help herself. Roseann had the sparkle. I listened in fascination as Mr. Sabino gave Avani and her parents the same speech he'd given me and Mom weeks earlier.

“Why don't we come inside and go over Avani's schedule?” he suggested. The parents followed him into the school. Avani lingered a moment alongside Roseann.

“You were really good out there,” Roseann said suddenly. She looked directly at me. Her blue eyes showed no anger.

“Thanks.” I hesitated. “You guys were too. The dance really came together. And you looked so pretty.”

“Thanks.” She also hesitated.

“Listen, I didn't mean to keep hiccupping.” I fiddled with my silver ring.

“I know.”

“I didn't mean any of it,” I said.

“I know.” She turned to Avani. “This is Molly Larsen.”

“Hey!” I greeted Avani.

“We need to get inside,” Roseann said. “Avani, you're going to love our school. And definitely sit with me tomorrow at lunch.”

Relief flooded Avani's face. “Are you sure?”

“Sure I'm sure. You look like you could use a friend at lunch. Maybe we even have a class together. Let's go see.” Roseann ushered her through the door.

I stayed behind on the pathway, going over Roseann's offer to Avani. The same offer she had made to me when I didn't have a partner in social studies that scary first day. Did Roseann do this because of the green star on her sweater? Or was she just kind?

I hoped it was the latter, but I decided I didn't care.

Roseann and I would never be the best of friends. I could finally see that now. I'd had to work way too hard. I wasn't upset, though. Not at Roseann. She gave me a group and a place to sit at lunch, which was a big deal. If I was upset at anyone, it was myself. Why had I thought I could plan a friendship? Friendship should just happen, without steps and strategy sessions.

I had to tell Eden. Our plan had been flawed from the very beginning.

I hoisted my duffel onto one shoulder and my book
bag onto the other as I spotted Mom's gray car pull in with Alex at the wheel. He slowed, then stopped at the curb. I reached for the door handle.

Chrissy Bleeker sat in the passenger seat.

I whirled around to look for Roseann. Were we taking her home too?

She wasn't outside. Why was beautiful, popular Chrissy in my shy, awkward brother's car?

Chrissy rolled down her window, and Alex called, “You coming or what?”

“Hi, Molly,” Chrissy greeted me. Like her sister, she wore a preppy pink sweater, and her hair hung over one shoulder in a long, loose braid.

I slid into the backseat and eyed Chrissy uncertainly.

Alex reached to shift the gears into drive and slyly touched Chrissy's hand. She didn't flinch or jerk away. Instead, she smiled at him.

“Okay, what's going on?” I demanded.

“What do you mean?” Alex pulled away from the curb, both hands now firmly on the wheel.

I poked my body forwards, stretching my head in between them. “Where are we taking Chrissy?”

“Alex is giving me a ride home,” Chrissy said.

“But first we're driving you to the airport,” Alex added. “I can't believe you're going. We just got here.”

“You're coming with us to the airport?” I asked Chrissy.

Her cheeks turned faintly pink. “If that's okay. Alex and I were going to grab something to eat after we bring you to the gate.”

“Hey, maybe we'll fly off somewhere. You know, pick a random place,” Alex joked to Chrissy.

“I pick Paris. Do you like Paris?” Chrissy asked.

“Yeah, sure, totally,” Alex replied. “I'd go there.”

“You're not going to Paris,” I told him.

“You never know.” Alex's goofy grin was back. “Maybe we'll fly off. Travel the world. Eat foreign foods.”

Chrissy smiled at him, as if he were saying something really funny. She liked him!

“Is this a date?” I demanded. “Did you make my airport drop-off into a first date?”

“Ignore her,” Alex told Chrissy.

“It's not a
first
date,” Chrissy admitted quietly.

“Whoa!” I widened my eyes at Alex. “So you two? When?”

“We met first at the library. He was studying at a table next to mine. We talked some more that day he picked you up at the park,” Chrissy supplied. “Then we got together at the library a bunch of times after that.”

“I thought you were going there to study!” I swatted Alex's shoulder.

“I was helping Chrissy with world history.” Alex smiled broadly now.

“Your brother's supersmart.” Chrissy smiled back at him.

“Eyes on the road,” I reminded my brother. Settling back, I couldn't get over that Alex had found a girlfriend. Not any girlfriend, but Chrissy Bleeker! I'd never seen him so happy.

If I hadn't gone after Roseann to be my friend, I realized, Alex might never have met Chrissy on the field hockey sidelines. Pretty cool!

“Don't ever complain about driving me again,” I teased him. “I got you two together.”

“Did I complain today? I'm driving you all the way to Newark airport!” Nothing would shatter Alex's good mood now that Chrissy sat by his side.

Chrissy fiddled with the radio, and I stayed silent for a while, thinking.

“Alex,” I said, suddenly making up my mind, “I don't want to go.”

“What?”

“It's too soon,” I said.

“So no airport?” he asked, gazing at me in the
rearview mirror. “Are you sure?”

“No airport,” I agreed. “Not this weekend. Maybe next month.”

Visiting Arizona happy instead of escaping there because I was sad would be so much better, I realized. I was just beginning to figure out my world here.

“Mom and Dad are going to be surprised,” Alex said.

“Eden too,” I added.

“Got to make a U-turn.” Alex switched lanes. “Sorry, Chrissy, we can't do Paris today.”

“That's okay. I have a field hockey game tonight anyway. There's a crepe place in the strip mall by Andover Boulevard,” she said. “We could do that. It's kind of like Paris, if you don't sit by the window and see the parking lot.”

“I love crepes,” Alex said.

I snorted. My brother had never eaten a crepe in his life.

“I'm dropping you home, Molly. You need to call Mom and Dad,” Alex said.

“About that.” I popped my head between Alex and Chrissy again. “Andover Boulevard is near Top Flight, right? How about you drop me off at the gym instead?”

“You're going back there?” Alex sounded surprised.

“There's something I need to do.”

“I'm not a taxi service.” Alex's grumbling had returned. “I'm taking you home. Chrissy and I are going out.”

“Pretty please?” I begged.

“Why don't you drop her off and then pick her up after we have our crepes?” Chrissy suggested.

“Okay, fine,” Alex agreed. Anything for Chrissy!

“Thank you,” I mouthed to her. A girlfriend for Alex would be good for me too, I decided. Especially a girlfriend as nice as Chrissy.

I waited by the door with the sign
TOP FLIGHT GYMNASTICS
until Alex and Chrissy drove off. Once I was sure they were out of sight, I shouldered my duffel bag and walked across the parking lot.

I wasn't going back to Andre's gym. My good-bye yesterday had been final.

At the opposite end of the huge warehouse building, I found what I was looking for. Another door.

Another door with a small sign.

TOP FLIGHT CHEER.

I pulled open the door and stepped inside. The roar of the cheerleaders was deafening and thrilling. For a moment, I hung back, taking it all in. The bright lights. The tumbling. The stunts. The formations. The excitement.

“Move on up . . . up to the top . . . move on up . . .” A familiar chant started nearby. A group of girls my age stood in a line, clapping and stomping their feet to the rhythm. The tall cheer coach rapped her hand against a clipboard to keep the beat. She wore the same orange warm-up jacket.

I hummed along without realizing it. Then I began to chant too. “Move on up . . . up to the top.”

Shrimp stood at the end of the line. When she spotted me, she snuck a wave with her pinkie. The cheer coach caught her. She turned towards the door and noticed me.

Oh no!
This wasn't such a good idea,
I thought. I didn't want to get Shrimp in trouble.

“Hello again.” The coach came to stand in front of me. “Using the front door today, I see.”

“Yeah.” I craned my neck to look up at her, realizing how truly tall she was. “I didn't mean to bother anyone.”

“One more time, girls,” she called over her shoulder when the cheering stopped. She completely blocked my view of Shrimp. “No red leotard, either.”

“Nope.” I wasn't going to say anything more, but then I noticed the skin around her eyes crinkling as she smiled down at me. My mom's eyes did that too. “That gym wasn't the right place for me,” I blurted out. “I'm
done. Well, if my mom can get her money back.”

“Want to try some pom-poms today? We've got a spare pair. One size fits all.”