Studying Boys (5 page)

Blue looked offended. "You're kidding."

"How's Mr. Walker going to know if we're here?" Natalie narrowed her eyes. "You can't keep these private school boys to yourself. We're worthy. I'm so sick of all the boys on my track team. I need to meet some guys who don't smell."

"You're just annoyed because none of them asked you to the fall dance," Blue said. "You're friends with all these hot guys and none of them took you."

Natalie scowled. "I don't care about that. I don't want to date them anyway."

"Hey!" I waved my hands. "Go away!"

"Fine." Blue stood up. "Let's go upstairs and call Colin. Maybe we can go out with him and his friends."

"What?" They were going to go out without me? That wasn't fair.

Blue flipped a look over her shoulder as she and Natalie walked up the stairs. "If you'd gotten permission for Mapleville High to come, then maybe Colin would've brought all his friends here."

I was about to die from stress and they were trying to make me feel worse? What kind of friends were they?

Allie put her arm over my shoulder. "Don't worry about them, Frances. They'll raid my mom's makeup cabinet and be fine." She glanced at her watch. "Five minutes after five. People should be arriving any minute. Let's go get the food ready."

"You get the food. I'll review the rotation schedule."

Allie shook her head. "You're way too serious. No one's going to come back if you don't lighten up."

"Said by the woman who doesn't have to write an article that both schools are relying on to change policy."

"Better you than me." Allie hiked up her skirt still farther. "You really should borrow some of my clothes sometimes. Those baggy clothes really don't do you any justice."

"Allie!"

"Fine. I'll go get the food. Relax."

Phew.

Okay.

This was under control.

I was ready for everyone to arrive.

My first guest arrived at precisely ten minutes after six. I opened the door to find a guy about as tall as me, and about as skinny as Natalie, which meant he was basically all skin and bones. He was wearing a pair of ironed beige pants, a button down shirt and plaid shoes. He looked studious and intent, and I knew he would be perfect! I beamed at him. "Hi."

He shifted on the step and fixed his glasses. "So, is this The Homework Club?"

"Oh, yes. Come on in." I stepped back and waved him inside. I was pleased to see his backpack was full of books and he was carrying two others in his arm. I liked him already! "I'm Frances Spinelli."

"George. George Moon." He glanced around, his light brown eyes squinting as if his glasses were the wrong prescription. "Am I the first one here?"

"Yep." I peered past him into the street, but no one was there. "Did you walk?"

"My mom dropped me off. She'll be back in an hour. I didn't know how long it would go, and I didn't know if it would be productive, so I'm only going to stay for a short time."

"Don't worry. We'll be productive. As soon as the others arrive, we can get started."

George looked concerned, with his black-rimmed glasses and red hair that didn't quite lie flat. "Why can't we start now?"

"Oh." That was a good point. Why waste time chatting when we could be studying? I hadn't thought about what to do if everyone didn't arrive on time. How would I know when to rotate people between rooms if they all started at different times? "I... um ..."

Allie walked around the corner. "Go ahead and start studying, Frances. I'll guard the door and direct people."

"Well, okay." I hated to relinquish control, but George did have a point. It was ten minutes after six, and we were losing precious studying time. We might as well get started. I handed Allie the chart. "Make sure you send people to the right rooms. And write down their start time, so we know how long they are in each room."

She rolled her eyes. "I think I can handle it."

"Can we get started?" George said. "I only have fifty-five minutes now."

"Right." I grabbed my book bag. "What do you want to work on?"

He eyed me. "You and I are going to study together?"

Did he see anyone else, besides my friend in the spiked heels? "Yeah. That's the point. Study groups."

He didn't look too certain about the idea of talking with someone during homework time. "You're a freshman?" he asked.

"Uh huh."

He nodded. "Me too. Want to do some biology?"

"Sure." I thought about the rotation. "So, we'll go in the living room. Remember, Allie, science goes in the living room."

She saluted me. "Right, Chief."

I took George into the living room and we set up our stuff. Our classes were on different topics, but I'd already covered what he was working on, so we sorta chatted about the life cycle of plants and compared notes.

George was actually pretty smart, and I could tell he was really into the discussion. Which was cool. See? This concept could work.

About five minutes later, the doorbell rang again. "I'll get it!" I yelled.

Way cool. The crowds were coming now!

I abandoned George in the middle of explaining a diagram in his book and rushed to the front door. Allie had already opened it, and she flipped me a look. "It's George's mom."

"Why?"

Allie raised an eyebrow. "It's been an hour."

"No way." I looked at my watch. An hour and five minutes actually. Cool. Studying flew by. This rocked.

George appeared next to me with his bag all packed up. "So, um, Frances. It was a good night. If you have it again, let me know." He handed me a piece of paper with his e-mail address. "And if you ever want to study with me again, e-mail me." He grinned, his braces catching the light of the hall chandelier. "Seriously."

"I had fun too." I took the paper. "I'll definitely e-mail you."

He sort of ducked his head. "And I'll try to get some of my friends to come next time. If you think there will be more girls here, I mean."

"More girls?" Oh my God. No one else had come. I'd been so caught up in studying with George, I hadn't even thought about it.

He turned red. "Not that there's anything wrong with you. Like I said, I'll study with you anytime. I just meant that my friends might not come if there aren't more people. Let me know, you know?"

He sort of waved and then ducked out the front door, to where his mom was already back in the car waiting for him.

Allie gave a friendly wave, then pushed the door shut.

"Girlfriend, we have got to talk." She shook her head at me, and I know that it was because no one else had showed up. George Moon and I might have been productive, but as a whole, the homework club was a failure of monumental proportions. "Natalie! Blue!" she yelled. "Get down here!"

* * *

"So, um, where exactly did you put the signs?" Blue asked.

I grabbed another piece of pizza and shoved it in my mouth. "Everywhere. I put them on every bulletin board at school."

"And I went over to Field and put 'em up there too." Allie shook her head. "I timed it wrong, unfortunately. It was after school so there were no boys around. What's the point in going to Field if you don't get to talk to boys?"

"And I put a little blurb thing in the newsletter for both schools," I said. Unbelievable. Only one person had shown up. One!

Blue picked some pepperoni off the pizza and dropped it into her mouth. "My parents would kill me if they knew I was eating meat."

"And mine would kill me if they knew I tried to have a Homework Club meeting tonight." So, lying to my parents, stressing all week, it had all been for nothing. Total and utter failure. "I suck."

"Hey." Natalie threw a pillow at me. "You're the practical one. The planner. If this was one of us, you'd be all over us with theories and plans about how to fix this situation. So start talking."

She was right. I always had plans. I set my pizza down and tried to think, but the only thought circulating in my head was the fact I'd totally failed. I couldn't get past that. I'd never failed at anything in my life, especially not something that had to do with school. It was not a good feeling. "I have no idea what to do."

Natalie rolled her eyes. "Frances! Think!"

"I have a thought," Blue said. "When I told Colin about it, he said it sounded boring. Said no one in their right mind would go to anything called The Homework Club."

"I second that," Allie said. "The only reason I was here was for the boys."

"But it's not a social thing," I said. "The whole point is to do homework."

"Wake up, Frances. You're the only one who would think homework is fun," Blue said.

"And George Moon," Allie said. "I think he's your perfect match, Frances."

"Well, he was cute." And he studied hard. And he was very smart.

"Yeah, in a dorky sort of way," Allie said. "You two should have seen him. I think he might have been even more serious than Frances."

While my friends made fun of poor George, I chewed my pizza and started thinking about how I was going to tell Mr. Walker I was a total failure.

"What's that look for?" Allie pushed me. "You're giving up?"

I looked at Allie, who was staring at me in dismay. I guess when you've been friends since you were three, you can't hide your thoughts. "Yeah, so?"

"You can't give up." Allie set her pizza down. "It's simple. All you have to do is get Mr. Walker to let you have Mapleville High involved. And then we can get Colin to bring hot senior guys and my sister will bring some of her friends, and then we'll be the coolest thing around, and we'll be the only freshmen who get to hang with seniors."

"Yeah! And then we can come," Natalie said. "It's really the only way, you know. None of us know anyone influential at Field School to get those boys to come."

"George said he'd bring more friends," I said.

Allie raised an eyebrow. "Only if you got more girls. And what girls are going to come if the only boys are freshman geeks like George?"

"Hey! He was nice."

"But is he the kind of guy who's going to draw a crowd?"

I thought of the way his hair was plastered sideways across his forehead in a part that was a little too neat, and the way the cuffs on his shirt had been so perfectly starched. Maybe not. Definitely not.

I was doomed.

It was time to give up and admit failure. But even as I thought that, my fists bunched into little balls. My parents had never let me give up on anything. They'd told me repeatedly that I'd never go to college if I started believing I wasn't good enough.

Of course, their advice would probably be different if they knew it was The Homework Club.

But... what if I could make this work? I mean, how cool would that be? I'd be a legend at North Valley forever, as the girl who got the exchange program started.

Think what that could do for a college resume.

And maybe... just maybe ... if kids from Mapleville could participate, then maybe Theo would come… Now, that was an idea. "All right, I'll e-mail Mr. Walker."

And I had to do something about my parents.

* * *

The e-mail from Mr. Walker was on my computer when I got home from school on Monday.

Dear Frances, I think your proposal to expand The Homework Club to Mapleville High has merit. You may go ahead and invite a select few students to attend. I will look forward to seeing the article in about seven weeks and I expect regular updates in the meantime. Mr. Walker

Oh my God. I could invite Theo!! But he would never come if other cool kids weren't coming to, would he? I'd make it impossible for him to stay away!

I immediately e-mailed Allie to go talk to her sister, and then I decided to go over to Blue's house to discuss her inviting Colin. You know, because then maybe Theo would overhear us talking and want to come too.

I walked into Blue's house right when her family was sitting down to dinner. A family dinner. With her parents, Blue, her little sister Marissa ... and Theo.

Theo's dark hair was sort of messed up, and it was getting long. He was wearing a torn black T-shirt and looked utterly adorable. Dangerous and a little bit of attitude, but so cute.

"Frances! We didn't know you were coming! Please come join us." Blue's mom jumped up from the table and pulled up a chair.

OMG. She was putting me next to Theo! I nearly ran over to the chair and grinned at him as I sat down. Unfortunately, he didn't even glance at me, just kept eating his tofu lasagna. I knew it was tofu even without looking at it. Blue's mom would never serve real meat.

"So, um, hi, everyone," I said, sneaking another peek at Theo, who was still eating.

Marissa grinned at me and sucked a noodle off her plate. While her mom was scolding her for poor manners, I looked at Blue, who was across from me. I tried not to notice Theo's arm was only about six inches from mine, and I launched the bait. "So, Blue, Mr. Walker e-mailed me back. He said it was cool to ask some kids from Mapleville."