Gilbert and Louis Rule the Universe: First Impressions (6 page)

“Oh yeah.
Hey, this is Alex.”

Gilbert and Winston nod to one another, but he never takes his eyes off me.

“What are you girls doing down here?” he asks us.

“Oh, just some shopping.”
I was deciding that I could overlook the
spazzy
dancing.

“Cool,” he says as he sits down next to us.

“You’re a good skater,” Gilbert comments.

“Thanks, I’m
kinda
beat.
I’ve been out here like an hour already.”

“Want to walk around with us?” I suggest.

“Sure,” he says. “Let me just go tell the guys.”

When he gets up to tell them I give Gilbert my best “Oh my gosh, this is actually happening” look.
Her look says, “I am so stoked for you!”
We are, like, totally telepathic.

We walk up and down the street looking in windows and making jokes.
When I go to throw my vanilla blended cup away Winston stops me.

“Don’t you know that is recyclable?”
he says and throws it in the recycle bin.
A friend to the environment?
I have totally decided if he asks me out I will say yes.

“Those puppies are so cute.” We coo into the window of the pet store.
Winston and I agree on everything.
Like that the cutest dogs are Wheaton terriers, Porsches are the coolest cars, and that Verizon totally has the best service in our area.

“Hey guys, what’s up?”
We look up and Jason and Ralph skateboard up behind us.

“Oh, hey.”
I am surprised to see Ralph again, considering he is taking off the next day.
My hands start to sweat.

“Do you guys know Winston? He goes to Dixon.”
I introduce them.
He and Jason shake hands.
But Winston and Ralph give each other a cold stare.

“What’s up, Ralph?”
Winston says.
His voice is icy.

“
Nothin
’,” Ralph answers. “We
gotta
go.” Ralph says, jumps on his skateboard and rides away.
Jason gives us a shrug and a wave and follows after him.

That was weird.

“Hey, you guys
wanna
grab something to eat?”
Winston asks.
Um, yeah, totally.

“Sure,” we say, and head over to the food court.

Gilbert and I order salads.
There is no way we are eating what we normally order, a cheeseburger, in front of a boy.
The salad tastes like lettuce.
Ew
. I noticed something green stuck between Gilbert’s teeth.
I give her the universal food-in-your-teeth sign and she delicately tries to dislodge it, but it isn’t moving.
She keeps looking over to me and giving me a smile.
I keep shaking my head.
Finally, she gets up and excuses herself to go to the bathroom.

“So, how do you know Ralph?” I ask Winston once Gilbert is gone.
I think maybe he might open up to me once we are alone, and I need scoop.

“Oh yeah, it’s a long story.
We used to go to school together.”
Oh, this I need to hear.

“Really, that’s cool.
I mean, he seems like kind of a jerk, but I just met him.”

“Yeah, he totally is.
Did you hear why he is at
Havenhurst
?”

“No, why?”

“He is like a total druggie.
I was there when the Vice Principal busted him with pot.”

“You mean, marijuana?” I am shocked.
I had learned about the effects of marijuana in science class and know that high school kids sometimes smoke it, but really?

“Yeah,” Winston says and laughs at me like I am such a baby.

“Wow,” is all I can think to say.

“Well, there is other stuff too,” Winston went on.

“Like what?”
Now I am totally curious, this is getting better and better by the minute.

“I used to date his sister but he broke us up because he didn’t think I was good enough for her.”

“No way.”
This seemed to fit along with Ralph’s personality perfectly.
He is such a
pompous
jerk and now a druggie.
Good riddance.
But wait, does this mean Winston is still in love with Ralph’s sister?

Winston continues, “It was probably a good thing in the end though, I don’t think she was really my type.”
Whew!
Alex returns from the bathroom with perfectly white teeth.

“What’d I miss?”

I am expectin
g my dad to pick us up at 3:15 P.M.
in front of The Bean, so around 3 o’clock Gilbert and I say goodbye to Winston.
Winston pulls his cell phone out of his pocket and I quickly give Gilbert the hard stare for her to beat it.
Thank goodness she gets the message and pretends to look in the window next door.
“Hey, can I get your number?” Winston asks.
I am so excited.

“Sure, I’ll just program it in for you.”
He hands me his phone and I punched in my numbers.
“There.”
I hand it back to him.

“I’ll call you.
I think there are some good Dixon parties coming up,” Winston says.
Oh my gosh, cool parties.
I am in heaven.
Just then my dad pulls up in his convertible with Bonnie in the front seat and
Michael Bolton
blaring.

They are early.
I am mortified.

“Leah!” Bonnie yells over the music and waves hysterically at me.
This is so embarrassing.

“Well,
gotta
go.” I say to Winston, and run to the car to get my psycho parents out of there as quickly as possible.
Gilbert follows me and we jump in the back seat.
My dad screeches out; he totally thinks he is
Jeff Gordon
or something.
I grab my hair as it starts whipping in the wind. I don’t even look back to see if Winston waved goodbye.

Chapter 6

Monday, November 9

Today’s horoscope: Neither believe everything you hear nor dismiss it entirely.

I can’t wait to get to school on Monday morning.
Not because of my classes—what kind of girl do you take me for?—but there is so much to discuss.
Ralph has gone back to boarding school and I need to get more scoop on Winston from Sophie ASAP.
Gilbert’s mom finally pulls up to my house and I jump in the car.
She drives us towards school.
We meet Riley,
Maddy
, and Rowan outside.
We have five minutes before the bell rings to discuss the dance, boys, and Mr. Homer’s pre-Algebra assignment.
Gilbert and I tell the girls about Winston, confirm that Gilbert likes Dylan, I spill about Ralph’s drug use, and just before the bell, I get the answers to two math problems I didn’t understand.

Breathless, I sit down in English.
Ms. Sanders is standing in front of the class next to a pretty blonde girl with long, straight hair and bangs that are cut straight across her forehead.
She has on a blue cashmere sweater, the most stylish jeans and instead of a backpack, she is carrying a fancy leather purse.
As soon as the bell rings, Ms. Sanders says, “Class, I would like to introduce you to a new student.
This is Kate
Deutchman
, she just moved here from Dixon Middle School.
Let’s all welcome her.”
The kids all give half-hearted hellos and welcomes.
Deutchman
,
Deutchman
.
This must be Ralph’s sister.
Yeah, you can see it in the shape of her eyes.
I wonder if she is as much of a snob as her brother.

“Kate, why don’t you sit right here.” Ms. Sanders gives her a seat in the front row.
Poor girl.

After class is over, I decide to be a good ambassador and welcome her.
Okay, I have to know what she is like; after all, she had dated Winston.

“Kate?” I catch up with her. “Hey, I am Leah.
I think I met your brother, Ralph, this weekend.”
Kate looks me up and down.
Is she going to be a total bitch?
Recognition seems to hit her.

“Yeah, my brother told me about you.
It’s so nice to meet you.”
She seems nice.
Damn.
But wait, Ralph told her about me?
Why?
That is weird.

“Nice to meet you, too." I say.
"Welcome to Piermont Middle School, affectionately known as PMS, where you can look forward to six periods, cranky teachers, and general pre-menstrual bloating.”

Kate laughs.

“What class do you have next?” I ask her.
She looks at her schedule.

“It looks like I have math with Mr. Livy.”

“He’s pretty cool.
I had him last year.
Just go down the hall, make a right and look for room 222.”

“Hey, thanks a lot.
It’s so nice to meet you.”
She says as she heads off.
I brush against the leather on her bag as she walks past me.
Damn, it is soft.

I run off to my history class.
Gilbert is there.
As we sit down I lean over.
“I just met Puke’s sister.”
I decided this was my new nickname for him.
“What?”
Gilbert asks.