BFF* (23 page)

Her
mother
is looking forward to having me stay? I thought. I guess that proved Mrs. Robinson hadn't discussed Rachel's weekend plans with her, either.

“And don't forget …” Alison said, “on Saturday we're going shopping for the Ground Hog Day dance.”

“I won't forget,” Rachel said. “I'm going to get something really wild!”

“What do you mean by wild?” I asked.

“You know,” Rachel said. “Wild!”

Like Mom's earrings, I thought.

Getting Even

Dad called. “I got your letter and essay, Steph.”

“Just forget about it,” I told him.

“I don't want to forget about it,” Dad said. “It took me a while to digest everything you said but now I think I understand.”

“There's nothing to understand. I was in a weird mood that day … that's all.”

“No … it was foolish of me to expect you and Bruce to accept Iris on such short notice,” Dad said.

“You mean on
no
notice.”

I could hear Dad sigh. “I should have told you about her before you came.”

“It doesn't matter,” I said. “I understand now that you and Mom have to have your flings.”

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing … just that after this weekend you and Mom will be even.”

“What are you talking about?” Dad said. “What's this about Rowena having a fling?”

I could tell from the change in his voice that he didn't like the idea at all. So I added, “You should see the earrings she got for Carla's party. They're really wild!”

“Put Mom on the phone,” Dad said.

“She's not here.”

“Where is she?”

“She drove Bruce over to Aunt Denise's. Uncle Richard's taking him and Howard to a hockey game.”

“Ask her to call as soon as she gets back,” Dad said.

“She might be too busy packing for the weekend,” I told him.

“Well … tell her I called.”

“Okay.”

“And Steph …” Dad said, “about your birthday …”

I was glad to hear he remembered.

“I'm thinking of flying in for the weekend.”

No! I thought. I don't want him flying in for the weekend. Look how excited I had been about Thanksgiving and then he came home and spoiled everything with his news about the separation. I
don't want any bad news over my birthday weekend! So I said, “I'm going to be really busy. We're having a dance at school on Friday night and on Saturday Gran Lola and Papa Jack are taking Rachel, Alison and me to a play. And on Sunday Mom's having the family over for cake. She's already ordered it … it's going to have purple roses …”

“Maybe I should wait until spring break,” Dad said.

“That would be better.”

“But I'm sending your birthday surprise now.”

“What is it?”

“If I tell you it won't be a surprise.”

Probably another sweatshirt, I thought.

Sleep-over

On Friday morning at the bus stop Dana held out her arm and the bracelet was gone. “This time it's for good!” she told us.

“What happened?” Alison asked.

“He says he wants to be free to go out with other girls … like Marcella.”

“Don't worry,” Rachel said, “it's probably just sexual attraction.”

“Please don't say that!” Dana started to cry.

“All she means is that Jeremy's had a lot of experience,” I said, trying to make Dana feel better.

“How do you know that?” Dana stared at me.

“Because he's got …” I was going to say “hairy legs” but Rachel kicked me.

“What Stephanie means,” Rachel said, “is that some boys are so interested in sex they forget about everything else. He'll come to his senses one of these days.”

“I don't know,” Dana said, blowing her nose. “I'm very confused. My friends tell me he's trying to make me jealous. They say he's trying to pressure me into going further than I want to go.”

“You should never allow yourself to be pressured into having sex,” Rachel said, sounding like an expert.

“That's right,” I added, as if I knew all about it, too.

“Absolutely,” Alison agreed.

“Your generation is just amazing!” Dana told us. “When I was your age I didn't know anything.”

That night at the movie theater I bought a small container of popcorn. So did Alison but she got hers with butter and I didn't. As soon as we sat down I found out that popcorn without butter is very dry. It sticks in your throat. I started choking on the first piece I ate. So I excused myself to go back to the lobby for a drink of water. The people in our row had to stand to let me out. After I got a drink I stood on the
refreshment line again, this time to have my popcorn buttered. It's probably not real butter anyway, I told myself, remembering my promise to Mom—that I'd watch what I ate over the weekend. It's probably just something to wet down the popcorn so you can eat it without choking to death.

While I was waiting Jeremy Dragon came into the theater with Marcella. She was wearing the tightest jeans I'd ever seen, tucked into white cowboy boots. And she was chewing bubble gum. I hoped she'd blow a bubble big enough to get stuck in her eye makeup.

By the time my popcorn was buttered the lights had gone down inside the theater and I had trouble spotting Alison. But I didn't have any trouble spotting Jeremy and Marcella. They were sitting in the last row, over on the side, and they were already making out. I wondered what Marcella had done with her bubble gum. Or did she kiss with it still in her mouth? No, she was the type who'd stick it under her seat.

By the time I found Alison the movie had begun. Everyone in our row had to stand so I could pass. As soon as I was seated I told Alison about Jeremy and Marcella. The woman behind us tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Shush …”

Right after the opening scene Alison whispered, “I'm going out for a drink.”

I nodded. Everyone had to stand again, as Alison made her way to the end of our row.

She was gone for at least ten minutes and when she came back the man on her other side said, “Will you girls either quit running around or find yourselves some other seats!” So the two of us got up and went to look for other seats.

We stood at the back of the theater for a while, watching Jeremy and Marcella, until the usher told us that we either had to find seats or leave the theater. The only seats we could find were in the first row. We were so close to the screen we had to strain our necks to see. The movie wasn't worth it.

After, we went to the frozen yogurt place, where Leon was going to pick us up at ten. I ordered a cup of pineapple yogurt. That's about as simple as you get. Alison had her favorite—a PeachBerry Smoothie. As we were waiting for our orders Jeremy and Marcella came in. “Hey, Macbeth …” Jeremy called, “enjoy the show?”

I was really surprised. First of all I didn't know he'd seen us in the theater. Second of all I didn't know which show he meant—the movie or the show he and Marcella had put on. So I just looked at him and said, “I've seen better.”

He laughed. “I'll bet.”

Marcella ordered a waffle cone with pecan praline yogurt. She didn't speak to either one of us.

When Leon pulled up, twenty minutes later, he asked Alison to run back inside to buy a quart of pistachio to go. “Gena's got a craving for pistachio,” he told me, as I got into the back seat of the car.

Rachel was sitting up in bed, reading, when I got to her house. Her face was covered with some kind of white goo.

“What is that?” I asked.

“It's a mask,” Rachel said. “It dries up your skin so you won't break out.”

“You sleep with it?”

“No, you wash it off after fifteen minutes. So how was the movie?”

“I've seen better,” I told her. “But Jeremy and Marcella were there … making out.”

“Making out in public is
so
disgusting!” Rachel said.

“I know. It was very embarrassing to have to watch them kiss.”

“You actually saw them kiss?”

“Yes, more than once,” I told her. “So how was rehearsal with Stacey?”

“Frustrating. We tried a really hard piece,” Rachel said. “So how did they kiss?”

“The usual way.”

“French?”

“I wasn't
that
close,” I said.

“I'll never make out at the movies for the whole town to see,” Rachel said.

“Me neither.”

“If you feel like reading there's a really good book on my desk.”

I walked over to Rachel's desk. “Which one?” I asked. There was a whole stack.

“It's called
Gone With the Wind”
Rachel said. “You'll like it. It's very romantic.”

“I'm not into romances the way I was last year,” I told her.

“This isn't like some teenage romance,” she said. “This is the real thing.”

I thumbed through the book. “It's very long.”

“But it goes fast once you get into it.”

“I think I'll wait a while to try this one.”

“Okay,” Rachel said, yawning. “I'll wash off my mask … then we can go to sleep.”

I got undressed while Rachel was in the bathroom. If only we were as close as we used to be, I thought, I would tell her about my parents. I wish I could … I wish I could tell her
and
Alison. I hate having to keep secrets from my best friends. I've never kept a secret from Rachel
before and until this year she's never kept one from me. But everything is different between us now. I can't explain it but I can feel it.

I pulled my nightgown over my head, then settled into my sleeping bag, which was spread out on a foam pad on the rug. It would be easy to tell Alison about my parents, I thought. She'd understand, especially since she's been through it herself. But I could never tell her without telling Rachel, too.