Studying Boys (6 page)

She let out a whoop and held her arms over her head in a sign of victory that caught the attention of everyone at the table. Even Theo was looking at her.

"Blue? You have something to share with the rest of the family?" her dad asked. There were no secrets in Blue's family. Her parents were into the family bonding thing. As Blue's friend since we were babies, I also fell under the Waller Family Rules. No secrets.

"Yeah." Blue quickly launched into a description of The Homework Club, thankfully leaving out the mortifying details of the terrible first meeting. "So, I'm going to call Colin and tell him to come."

Theo snorted. "To a Homework Club? Sorry Blue, the dude may be whipped, but there's no way he's going to join anything called The Homework Club. And there's no way he's going to get his friends to go."

I felt myself shrink in my chair.

"Nonsense, Theo, it's a marvelous idea," Mrs. Waller said. "Frances, you girls can have it here if you want. I'll make some desserts and take care of all the food."

I exchanged nervous glances with Blue. Her mom's desserts would end all chances of a successful event. The health food thing didn't mesh well with food that tasted good. Especially when it came to dessert. "Um, that's okay, Mrs. Waller. We're doing it at Allie's house."

"Allie's?" Blue's mom frowned. "But isn't her mom always gone?"

"Yeah." I glanced at Blue, who shrugged.

"So, how are you going to keep all the kids under control if there aren't parents around?" Mrs. Waller asked.

"That's not what this is like," I said. "It's just about homework."

"As I said, sounds fun," Theo said. "Sure wish I could go."

Mr. Waller looked at Theo. "Why don't you go? Then you could help the girls keep everyone in line."

My stomach immediately did a triple flip and I felt like I was going to fall off my chair.

Theo laughed. "Yeah, Dad, I'll be all over that. Babysitting my sister's friends? Sorry, but that's not going to happen."

Baby-sitting? He thought of me as someone who needed baby-sitting?

"Oh, now look, Theo, you've made Frances cry," Mrs. Waller said."

What? I wasn't crying! How could she say that? There weren't even tears in my eyes! Yeah, sure, I was totally humiliated and wanted to crawl under my chair, but I absolutely was not crying!

Theo shot me a look of apology, like I was some little kid with hurt feelings. "Sorry, Frances. Didn't mean it like that."

OMG. Could this get any more embarrassing? "I'm not crying!"

Mrs. Waller patted my hand. "It's okay, Frances. I can tell you want to. You don't need to hide anything from us."

"Don't be ridiculous," Blue scoffed. "Theo could never make Frances cry. She's just upset because one of her sisters is very sick and she's worried about her."

Oh… that was a fantastic explanation for why I was upset! I was so impressed with Blue's quick thinking. I have the best friend on the planet.

Of course, then I had to launch into a detailed story about how my younger sister, Dawn, was sick, and I felt really bad about lying, but it wasn't my fault. Blue had brought it up and I was just protecting her from being exposed as a liar. So, since I was doing it to help Blue, then there was nothing wrong with it, right?

Right.

First, lying to my parents about The Homework Club.

Second, lying to Blue's parents about Dawn being sick.

What was happening to me?

* * *

Forty-five minutes later, Blue hung up the phone after talking with her boyfriend, Colin. Colin was a senior at Mapleville High, and he was totally hot and he adored Blue. He would so help us.

Blue shook her head. "He says he'll come, but he's not bringing any friends."

"What? Why not?"

She grimaced. "He said he can't ask his friends to come."

"But why?"

"Because ... well... it's a Homework Club. It's not very cool."

"But if they come, then they'll make it cool." How could he be doing this? "I thought he'd do anything for you."

Blue laughed. "Well, I think I've found out his limit."

I sat down on the bed. "Well, this sucks. I mean, totally."

"Let's call Allie. See what her sister said." Blue put her phone on speaker and dialed Allie, who answered on the first ring. "Allie, it's Blue and Frances. What did Louisa say?"

"She laughed in my face and told me there was no way on this planet she'd ever be associated with a homework anything." Allie sounded morose. "I even told her Colin was going to come, and she said that didn't matter because Colin has a girlfriend already so he's hardly eligible meat."

I flopped back on the bed and groaned.

"Yeah, Colin won't bring his friends either," Blue said.

Allie swore. "Well, what now? We've used all our connections."

This was my payback for lying to my parents. They'd always told me that dishonesty didn't pay, and now I was suffering because of it.

"There's one more person with the social power to make this thing fly," Blue said.

"Who?" Allie asked.

I sat up. "Yeah, who?"

Blue looked at me. "Theo."

My heart literally stopped in my chest and Allie howled in protest. "Blue! Are you kidding? The entire point of this exercise was to get Frances to think about anything other than Theo!"

"You have any other ideas?" Blue asked, still looking at me.

Oh, God. I felt like I was going to faint. I was afraid to say anything, afraid to make Blue change her mind. Breathe, Frances, breathe.

Allie was silent, and the only sound I could hear was my heart whooshing in my ears.

"You better call Natalie," Allie said finally.

"Fine." Blue grabbed her cell phone and dialed Natalie, quickly explaining the situation while Allie made disapproving noises and I tried to keep from throwing up. When Blue finished, she listened to Natalie for a sec, then nodded. She leaned the phone against her chest to report what Natalie had said. "She agrees with Allie that bringing in Theo would be detrimental to Frances's emotional well-being. But she also agrees that there's no other option if we want the homework club to work. She thinks we should go for it, and just make sure that George Moon keeps coming so Frances can date him."

"Ohhh... that's a good idea. I forgot about George," Allie said. "You liked George, didn't you, Frances?"

"Actually, yeah, I did." I could actually speak to him coherently and not pass out when I was in his presence, which was always a good thing. "He'll come back."

"Then it's settled," Allie said. "Frances, go talk to Theo, and do it where Blue's parents can overhear so they intervene and make him go. We really can't afford for him to back out too. He's our only chance."

"Whoa." My tongue felt so big and thick I was surprised I could speak. "I have to talk to Theo?"

"Of course you do. It's your event, isn't it? We're behind the scenes," Allie said.

Blue held out the phone. "Natalie wants to talk to you."

I took the phone. "Nat?"

"If you can get Theo and his friends to go, I think I'll be able to get some of the kids on my track team to come. Boys and girls. Theo's the ultimate athlete and people will go where he goes. So go talk to him, and don't think of him as a guy you have a crush on. Just think of him as your brother, which he practically is anyway."

I handed the phone back to Blue without responding. My throat was so tight there was no way I could talk.

"Frances! Blue! It's time for dessert!" Mrs. Waller yelled up the stairs, and I jumped.

"We'll talk to Theo now, at the dinner table. My parents will be there," Blue said.

Oh, like Theo would dig being forced to hang with me by his parents. That was not the way to get his attention, or at least the type of attention I wanted.

"Good. And then Frances has to e-mail George Moon. That's the relationship we need to cultivate," Allie said. "Frances? Did you hear me? You're going to e-mail George tonight, right?"

"Yeah." Gah. Did my voice sound strangled or what?

Blue hung up her cell phone. "Nat says good luck."

"Good luck from me too. Call when you finish and let me know how it went." Allie disconnected and Blue hung up that phone too.

And then she looked at me. "You don't look so good."

"I think I'm going to be sick. Maybe we should do this another night."

"Give me a break, Frances. He's my obnoxious brother. I don't know why you have this thing about him." Blue stood up and dragged me to my feet. "Let's go. I'll back you up, but you have to start."

Oh, God.

I was never going to be able to do this.

But I had to. This was my big chance to get Theo to notice me. If he saw how smart I was, then maybe he'd realize I wasn't some kid who needed baby-sitting. Yeah, that's right. If I was running this whole thing, then he'd realize I was an adult and worthy of him.

So, all I needed to do was go down there, act totally cool, and ask him to come to The Homework Club and bring all his friends.

No problem.

As long as I didn't pass out on the way down there.

I made it down the stairs without falling and breaking my neck. Unfortunately.

Followed Blue into the dining room.

Sat down next to Theo.

Stared at my strange-looking pastry thing and wished I was anywhere but there.

The conversation started with a casual discussion of Theo's lacrosse team and how they were the favorites to win the state champs even though it was only the end of March.

Then Blue kicked me under the table so hard I choked on my dessert. Spit it all over my plate, in fact. A little bit of my chewed-up pastry landed on the edge of Theo's plate.

Great. Nothing like wanting to die.

He stared at my regurgitated dessert like it was going to jump off the plate and attack him.

"Sorry," I muttered, using my napkin to clean up the mess.

No way could I ask him now. No way!

"Frances," Blue said, with a tone that said she was going to bring it up if I didn't.

I glared at Blue. "Shut up."

"Now, Frances, you know we don't allow that kind of talk in this house," Blue's mom said.

Yeah, yeah. But this was a special circumstance. I had to stop my friend from forcing the ultimate humiliation on me.

Blue eyed me for a second, and I realized she wasn't going to be stopped. I hadn't even gotten my chair pushed back to bolt out of the room before she said, "Theo. Frances has something she needs to ask you."

The entire table turned to look at me. Theo included. With his bright blue eyes, black hair and ratty T-shirt. "What do you need, Frances?"

"Nothing," I muttered, pushing back my chair. '"I have to leave. I have homework to do."

"She wants you to join The Homework Club," Blue said calmly, as if she weren't destroying my world.

Theo laughed. Actually, he snorted. With derision. He snorted with derision at the thought of joining my Homework Club.

Excellent. My humiliation was complete.

"I think that's a great idea," Mrs. Waller said, to which Theo promptly snorted again and drank his purified water.

No reply necessary, apparently.

"Why do you want Theo to join?" Mr. Waller asked me. "He's not exactly studious." He shot Theo a sharp look that told him exactly what he thought of Theo's study habits.

Blue folded her arms across her chest and blinked at me.

She wasn't going to bail me out.

I hate you, I mouthed to her. She shrugged and smiled.

"Frances? Why do you want Theo to help?"

I stole a look to my right, and Theo had stopped eating and was watching me. OMG. Like I'm supposed to be able to talk with him watching me?

Look at Mr. Waller. Right. I turned away from Theo and focused on his dad. "We're not really having a lot of success with people attending The Homework Club." I rushed on before Theo could make another derogatory remark about it. "So we need someone popular to come. Someone who other kids follow. Someone who will make The Homework Club cool."

Theo eyed Blue. "Colin refused, huh?"'

She shrugged. "He said he'd come, but no friends."

"What about Louisa?" Theo asked.

"She said no," I said. "But I'm sure she'd come if you came." Yuck. How pathetic did that sound? Begging. Telling Theo how everyone did whatever he wanted. I shouldn't be feeding his ego!

Oh, who was I kidding?

I was desperate.

I had no social skills.

Theo already thought of me as someone who needed babysitting.

Any chance for pride was already long gone. I was long past pathetic. All I had left was the chance to succeed at The Homework Club, because any chance to win Theo was completely destroyed. But I had my pride and I wouldn't let myself fail at The Homework Club. So I turned to Theo and faced him straight up. "Listen, Theo. I need this to be successful because I have to write an article on it. I don't know anyone else who can help. I need you to come and bring friends. Make it cool. Make it work."