Playing the Field (12 page)

“She looks at him?”

“Yeah, you know, the way girls look at a guy
when they want to be noticed.”

“She looks at him?” Serena repeated.

“You’re a girl. You must know ‘the
look.’”

Serena’s eyes narrowed. This was not the look
I had in mind. “Tony is not only a two-timing jerk, he’s an
egotistical jerk too. He thinks just because a girl looks at him,
she’s interested?”

“Come on, you can’t tell me Anna isn’t
interested in Tony.”

“This isn’t Anna’s fault. Tony is just using
her to get Rachel upset.”

I leaned forward over my math book. “Anna was
practically chasing Tony. If you’re going to be mad at him, you
have to be mad at Anna too.”

Serena shut her math book with a slam. “I
don’t think I feel like studying algebra today.”

“Or,” I said, “you can just be mad at me.” I
picked up my book and shoved it into my backpack. Then I stood up
so quickly that I nearly knocked over the chair. I was halfway
across the kitchen when she called after me. “McKay, I’m sorry. I
didn’t mean to take it out on you.”

She ran one hand across her hair and gave me
a half shrug. “I know it’s not your fault Rachel and Anna are
fighting. I mean, you didn’t tell Tony to go after both of them.”
Then, a little less certainly, she added, “Did you?”

“Like I could ever tell Tony what to do.”

“Are we friends again?”

“Sure.”

She looked at me—and it was that girl look I
was talking about earlier. “I still don’t want to study
algebra.”

“What do you want to do then?”

She raised her shoulders, then relaxed them,
but didn’t say anything.

“Let’s go outside and play catch,” I
suggested.

“Don’t you ever think about anything besides
baseball?”

“Remember, I promised I’d help you learn to
play, and this is the perfect time to practice.”

She smiled, so I knew she didn’t mind catch
so much after all. “All right, Coach, I’ll work on it.”

We found an old tennis ball in the hall
closet then went to her backyard. I instructed her on throwing
balls overhand with proper form.

“It feels funny,” she said as she flung the
ball at me.

I caught the ball with one hand. “You’ll get
used to it. I mean, you don’t want to go through life throwing like
a girl, do you?”

“I am a girl.”

“Really?” I tossed the ball back to her. “I
hadn’t noticed.”

“Yeah, I figured as much.” She nearly caught
the ball, but it bounced from her hands onto the grass.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

She picked up the ball and tossed it to me.
“Nothing.”

When a girl says, “Nothing,” it probably
means something, but I wasn’t sure what.

We threw the ball for a few more minutes and
this time she caught them all.

“See,” I told her, “it’s not so hard.”

“Well, it’s not hard with you, but it’s a lot
harder in PE when I’m playing an actual game, and the ball is
coming toward me and everyone stares at me.”

“They’re not staring at you, they’re staring
at the ball.”

“And everyone always moves up when I come to
bat. It’s totally embarrassing.”

“You’ll surprise everyone next game.”

We played for a while longer and then
Serena’s mom came outside. “I thought you two were supposed to be
doing homework,” she said.

So we went back inside and got out our books
again. We ate chips and did the problems by ourselves, then checked
our answers. We came up with different numbers for two of the
problems so we reworked those together. It was basically Serena
showing me where I’d messed up, but I understood it once she’d gone
over it with me, so I felt good about it.

“See,” she said. “Algebra isn’t so hard.”

“Well, it’s not hard with you. It’s a lot
harder in math class when I’m doing an actual problem and everyone
is staring at me. Everyone looks up when I go to the chalk board.
It’s totally embarrassing.”

Serena picked up a chip and threw it at me,
overhand, which just goes to show she was taking my throwing
lessons to heart. We goofed off for a little while longer, then I
told Serena I’d better go or my parents would get after me. She
walked me to the door. Right before I left, I turned back to face
her and gave her a studious look. “Hey,” I said, “You’re a
girl.”

She tilted her head at me in mock surprise.
“You noticed.”

“Yeah, I guess you could say I did.” I gave
her a half wave and went out the door.

I walked home slowly. For the first time in
my life I thought that “No-dating-until-you’re-sixteen” rule was
really stupid.

I walked a while longer and wondered if
Serena would understand if I asked her out on a date, but then told
her she’d have to wait three years for me to come pick her up.

Probably not.

I supposed I could just bend that dating rule
a little. I’d tell my parents I was going out with Tony, and
wouldn’t mention I was also going to be with Serena and Rachel. Or
Anna, depending on who Tony decided on. And we wouldn’t call it a
date. We’d call it, “doing something with friends.” Certainly I
could “do something with friends” before I was sixteen. That is, if
my parents never found out about it.

But then what came next? I couldn’t ask her
out once and then never ask her out again. I’d have to think of
other things to ask her to do with me. How many activities could I
come up with that wouldn’t involve driving, that wouldn’t cost a
lot of money, and that I’d be able to keep secret from my parents?
I’d always been lousy at keeping things from my parents, and the
thought of suddenly living a double life didn’t exactly appeal to
me. It would involve a lot of creatively stretching the truth, a
lot of tense and stressful moments, and most likely some really big
punishment at the end.

The best thing to do was to avoid all the
stress and convince my parents I was old enough to do things with
girls now. I just needed to reason with them. Reason would work.
And flattery always helped.

When I got home I found my mother in the
office typing on the computer.

I went and stood beside her desk. “Hi, Mom,
I’m home.” I waited for a second and then added. “Your hair looks
very nice today.”

She eyed me suspiciously. “And I suppose my
car is always very tidy too.”

“Yes, in fact, it is.”

Mom stopped typing. “Look McKay, I’m almost
finished with Dr. Warren’s transcripts and then I’ll have time to
think about moving the office. Until then you’ll just have to wait
for privacy.”

“I’m sure you’re doing your best.”

“I’m glad you think so.” Mom went back to
typing. I stood by and watched her for a moment. I tried to think
of a logical, reasonable way to put forth my argument.

“You know,” I said, “I think kids these days
are a lot more mature than they were when you grew up.”

Mom’s fingers continued to click away at the
keyboard. “You do, do you?”

“What with all of the technology, and TV
programs, and computers—we grow up earlier.”

“Uh-huh.” She still typed but her pace was
getting slower, so I knew she was listening.

“I guess it’s not surprising that teenagers
have started dating earlier too.”

“I guess not.”

“So although that
no-dating-until-you’re-sixteen rule was a good idea when you were
young, it’s outdated for today’s kids, don’t you think?”

Mom stopped typing and turned in her chair
until she faced me. “No, I don’t. As you said, today’s kids have a
lot of pressures, a lot of temptations, a lot of ‘life’ to deal
with. The last thing you need is to deal with relationships on top
of all of that. I think the no-dating-until-you’re-sixteen-rule is
more important than ever.”

I stared at her in surprise, then abandoned
reason and said the first thing that came to my mind. “But all of
the kids my age are going out.”

Mom returned her attention to the keyboard.
“Sometimes being different is good for you.”

“It’s a stupid rule. Why do I have to wait
until I’m sixteen?”

“Because thirteen-year-olds aren’t mature
enough to date.”

I glared at her for a moment. “You don’t
think I’m mature?”

She didn’t answer.

“You let me go over to Serena’s house to
study. How come I’m mature enough to study with her but not mature
enough to see a movie with her?”

“Because one you do as a friend and the other
you do as a boyfriend.”

I threw up my hands. “Don’t you like
Serena?”

Mom stopped typing and turned towards me. “I
barely even know Serena. That isn’t the point. If you want to be
friends with a girl, that’s fine. If you want to study together,
that’s even better. I hope you study with Serena all through
college—it would do wonders for your grade-point average—but right
now you’re not mature enough to pair off with girls. And that’s the
end of the discussion.” Mom turned back to the computer and began
typing again, quick and forcefully. Which meant the discussion was
over.

It wasn’t fair, but I knew if I said anything
else it would just get me in trouble.

I turned, walked from the room, and slammed
the door behind me. As I went through the family room, I saw one of
Kirk’s stuffed animals on the floor. With a swift kick, I hurled it
into the kitchen. I didn’t see Dad standing in the hallway until he
spoke. “Hey,” he said. “What is this slamming and kicking all
about?”

“Mom doesn’t think I’m mature!” I said, and
stomped off to my room.

Once there I lay on my bed, ripped out little
pieces of paper from my science notebook, and threw them across the
room.

Of course my parents didn’t think I was
mature. They probably still thought of me as eight years old. They
made me share a room with my five-year-old brother. They didn’t
believe me when I told them I’d sold a reverse osmosis. I’d done
something even my dad hadn’t done, and he wouldn’t even believe me
about it. Of course they thought I was too young to date. They
would always think I was too young to date.

I took an extra-big wad of paper and hurled
it at the mirror on my closet door.

Just what were my parents afraid I was going
to do if I went out with Serena anyway? Certainly they trusted
me—did they not trust her? Maybe they thought girls were a bad
influence. Hmm. It was enough to make me wonder what my mom had
been like as a teenager.

If my parents got to know Serena, they’d
change their minds about everything. They’d see what a nice girl
she was and realize nothing bad would happen if we went out. The
next time Serena and I studied, I would invite her to my house and
make sure my mother came in and talked to her. Once Mom got to know
Serena, she’d want Serena around. And then it would be no trouble
to convince my parents it was a good idea for Serena and I to go
out.

Then all I’d have to do was convince Serena
of the same thing.

Chapter 10

The next day at school in between every
period, I either delivered a note to Tony or took one from him to
Serena for Rachel. Serena always wore a worried expression during
all this note-passing like she found the whole thing very
distressing.

I had meant to ask her the first time I saw
her if she wanted to come over to my house and study for the math
test we were having on Thursday, but somehow I didn’t. I
couldn’t.

I knew it was silly. After all, Serena and I
had studied together a lot, it shouldn’t have been hard to ask her
to my house. Especially since I was considering asking her out. But
every time I looked at her, the words got stuck in the back of my
throat. What if she said no? What if she didn’t like me after all?
What if she really had a thing for flying football players?

After the third note, I finally got up my
courage. As I handed her the latest “for Rachel” note, I said, “Are
you ready for the algebra test?”

Serena slipped the folded piece of paper into
her notebook. “I think so.”

“Do you want to study anyway?”

“I always study anyway,” she said like it was
a stupid question.

“No, I mean, do you want to study with
me?”

“Ohhh,” she said.

Was that an unhappy oh? Was that an
I’d-rather-not-but-I’m-not-sure-how-to-say-no oh?

“When were you thinking?” she asked.

“I don’t have ball practice on Wednesday. We
could go to my house after school.”

Serena considered this for a moment. “I’m not
sure if I can. I think Rachel said she wanted to go to the mall on
Wednesday.”

“Oh. Okay.” My neck felt hot, and suddenly I
found that I had to gulp, but I tried to act like it didn’t matter.
“Maybe some other time.”

“Let me talk to Rachel about it,” Serena
said, “and then I’ll let you know for sure.”

Great. Another chance to be formally
rejected. “Okay,” I said. I nodded out a good-bye then walked to
Tony’s locker. He was just putting away his science stuff and
getting his English books out.

“Here.” I handed him the note and walked off.
It bothered me, it really did, that even in the middle of all his
girl problems, Tony’s love life was still better than mine.

By the time I got to algebra I’d delivered
two more notes. It didn’t even faze me when the guy beside me
handed me a folded piece of paper and whispered, “It’s from
Serena.”

Without thinking about it, I passed the note
on to Tony. He opened it, gave me a funny look, then leaned over
and handed it back to me.

“I think it’s for you,” he said. “Either that
or Serena is the latest victim of the Manetti charm.”

Not likely. I glanced over at Serena to see
if she’d seen me hand the paper to Tony. She was shaking her
head.

I opened it and read, “Rachel wants to go to
the mall in the evening so after school will be fine to study.”

I turned and mouthed the word okay to Serena,
then I took the paper and put it in my math folder. A few other
miscellaneous notes were crammed inside, and I made a mental note
to take the notes out of my folder and put them in my dresser when
I got home. Now that I was getting notes from girls, I didn’t want
any of them to fall out, or fall into the wrong hands.