Authors: Paula Chase

That's What's Up! (8 page)

BOOK: That's What's Up!

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Reluctantly, Mina exited the chat and let the Spanish vocabulary words roll off her tongue in hopes that saying them aloud would help her understand their meaning.

“Just yes or no ... do you wanna go?”

“Forget yesterday, we'll make the great escape.”

âBoys Like Girls, “The Great Escape”

T
he chat marched on without Mina for another half hour, talk bouncing between a possible sleepover at Kelly's and Kelly and Angel's second attempt at the boyfriend/girlfriend thing, before endingin a loose plan, but strong vow, to make this the “least-suckiest-spring-break-ever-even-though-we're-the-only-ones-not-going-to -the-Extreme.”

After signing off Jacinta fumed.

She was going to get Angel. Him and his big mouth, telling Kelly about her and Raheem.

It wasn't that she was hiding her weekends with Raheem from the girls ... okay, she was. But in her defense, she'd been struggling from day one to keep her two worlds from colliding. Being in The Cove wasn't like being in The Woods. She felt right at home in both neighborhoods. But sometimes clicking over from one mind-set to another was unsettling, like traveling from the earth to the moon's zero gravity.

After all the advice she gave her friends about life, love and the pursuit of a decent boyfriend, she'd look like a hypocrite, not to mention weak, to go back with Raheem after he'd shamed her by kissing another girl the night of the party while she was only a few feet away.

That's exactly why she wasn't going home over spring break. She'd decided for sure as soon as her father's Navigator crossed the DRB Bridge Sunday morning.

Fridays and Saturdays were hard enough. She wasn't about to spend four days at home, tempted to race out of the house each time Angel called. She knew exactly where she wanted to be during breakâO.C. And not because of the cheer competition either.

The idea had come to her on Sunday afternoon when Mina hyped over JZ's flirting. Jacinta laughed aloud at the thought of Mina's nagging.Sometimes she and JZ flirted just to set her off. Jacinta was surprisedMina hadn't figured that out yet.

It was all in fun.

JZ wasn't interested in doing the exclusive thing with anyone. And Jacinta wasn't looking for a new boyfriend. They made the perfectflirt match. She liked hanging out with him because, ironically, he reminded her a little of Raheem, only without the drama.

The more Jacinta thought about trekking down to O.C. with the guys, the more it made sense.

It would be the perfect distraction. A whole weekend away, no Raheem, no slipping back. It's just what she needed to prove, once and for all, that she and Raheem were really over.

All she had to do was convince Lizzie and Kelly to roll with her. Kelly would be easy. Since going out with Angel, Kelly was down for more than people might assume from someone so quiet.

Lizzie's going to be the tough one,
Jacinta thought. She hopped into bed knowing exactly how to get Lizzie on board.

The next afternoon, she texted Lizzie and waited by the auditorium until she emerged. As she expected, Lizzie balked at the idea.

“Come on, Lizzie,” Jacinta said, her voice coming as close to pleadingas it ever got. “Do you really feel like sitting home doing nothing the whole break?” Her eyes flashed skepticism in her honey brown face.

“I thought we were just going to hang at Kelly's,” Lizzie said. She scanned the empty hall nervously, as if expecting someone to pop their scheming right then and there.

Cinny immediately pounced, anticipating Lizzie's reluctance. “Well, change of plans.” She pulled Lizzie into the dark auditorium, where only minutes before Lizzie had been helping to pack away props and costumes.

They sat in the last row of the huge auditorium, cloaked in darkness.The busy stage was the only brightly lit area. Trunks were opened, closed and pushed across the stage as the heavy period-piece costumeswere stored. No one from the stage even looked their way.

“What are you still doing here, anyway?” Lizzie whispered.

“Track,” Jacinta said. “We ended early.” She rubbed absently at her sore thighs, savoring the pain even as she winced. Before Lizzie could say another word, Jacinta blurted, “If you want to go to the Extreme, I know how we can roll.” She lowered her voice more as it echoed softly back. “Before you make up excuses ... just yes or no, do you wanna go?”

“Yeah, I do,” Lizzie said. She looked toward the stage to see if anyone noticed them. But Ms. Jessamay was shouting directions amid the general chatter.

“Alright, my aunt is going to New York for her job,” Jacinta said. She leaned in closer to Lizzie and Lizzie leaned in, too. Their foreheadsnearly touched, making them a strange mixed-race Siamese twinâone a natural blonde, the other blonde thanks to the magic of hair dye. “I begged her to let me stay home instead of going to my father's house. And she finally said yes.”

Lizzie's eyes widened. “How'd you do that?”

Jacinta chuckled and waved it off.“I told her that I didn't want to go home and have to be so close to Raheem for four days.” Her eyebrowsjumped as she shrugged. “Which is sort of true. If I went home, it would be impossible not to run into him.” She exhaled softly. “I'm not down for that this weekend.”

Lizzie clucked in sympathy.

“Anyway, so she said it was cool as long as I checked in with my father every night,” Jacinta continued.

“Wait ... how are you going to do that from O. C.?” Lizzie fretted.

“Look, I'll just call him every night from my cell. I have the featurewhere I can get my number forwarded to Aunt Jacqi's home number. When I call it will look like I'm calling from there.”

Lizzie groaned softly. “I don't know, Cinny.”

Jacinta grabbed Lizzie's wrist and shook it firmly. “It can work, Lizzie.Your parents will let you stay over, won't they?”

Lizzie's mouth twisted as she considered the question.

“They don't even need to know Aunt Jacqi won't be home,” Jacintasaid, correctly reading the worry on Lizzie's face. “Look, our parents are so used to us all doing S.O.'s they barely even check anymorewith each other.”

Lizzie nodded slowly, still unsure. “I guess ... but what if they do?” she asked.

Jacinta sat back in her seat, thought about it then shrugged. “They won't.”

“Cinny, my mom will know something is wrong as soon as I ask,” Lizzie said. Her brows knitted in worry. “I can't ...”

“You're an actress. Just act,” Jacinta reasoned.

“I'm not that good,” Lizzie mumbled.

“Okay. I'll call and ask your mother for you. How 'bout that?” Jacinta looked in Lizzie's eyes. “Just let me handle it. Okay?”

Lizzie gnawed at her thumbnail.

Jacinta's smile gleamed through the dimness as she said, “You know you wanna hang out with your boy, T.” She whispered loudly, “You in?”

Lizzie hunched her shoulders to her ears then let them go with a huge sigh as she nodded.

Jacinta grinned. “For real, I'll take care of everything.”

Live a Little

“What you know 'bout me? What you know?”

âLil' Mama, “Lip Gloss”

H
ours later, Jacinta made good on her word.

With her advice, “You're an actress. Just act,” chiming in Lizzie's ears, she blanked her mind of the road trip and hanging with Todd and focused instead on tomorrow's Algebra II exam.

Nothing like a good algebraic equation to numb your brain,
she thought, letting the familiarity of the numbers lull her to the homeworkzone.

She jumped when the phone rang beside her, breaking her concentration.

Frowning at the number shining back at her on the screen, it took a full two seconds to recognize it was Jacinta calling. In the four months they'd been friends, Jacinta had never called her house before.And even though Lizzie had known Cinny was going to call tonight, hearing Jacinta's “Hey, girl” on the other end was still odd. They IM'd all the time, but never talked on the phone.

“Hey,” Lizzie said, dumbstruck, as if the call were coming from another planet.

“You cool, right?”

Lizzie caught herself nodding, then whispered, “Yeah.”

“Okay. Let me talk to your moms real quick.”

Heading for her bedroom door, Lizzie froze when Jacinta's voice hollered, “Hey, Lizzie!”

“What?” Lizzie whispered.

Jacinta laughed. “Why are you whispering?”

Lizzie chuckled. “I did tell you how bad I am about schemes, right?”

“I see. No, I was just going to say, remember to act surprised that I'm asking you to my house.”

“Don't think that's gonna be a problem,” Lizzie muttered. “Okay, I'm heading downstairs. Hold on.”

Her voice was still tinged with surprise when she walked into the family room and handed over the phone. “Mom. Cinny wants to ask you something.”

“Cinny?” Her mom's eyebrows caterpillared together in confusion.She took the phone. “Hi Jacinta. It's Mrs. O'Reilly.”

Lizzie sat beside her on the couch and continued playing dumb, gazing at her mom throughout the one-sided conversation.

Lying she was bad at. Acting, she could handle.

Blank. Blank. Keep your mind blank, she chanted to herself.

“A sleepover huh?” her mom said into the phone. She trained her deep green eyes on Lizzie when she said, “I swear, you girls never get enough of each other.”

Lizzie smiled and shrugged. Her mom ran her hands through Lizzie's hair. “Well Cinny, you're proof that Lizzie isn't the
only
personin the world not going to the Extreme.”

Lizzie's cheeks flashed pink.

“Should we drop her over to your house on Friday?” her mom said, making Lizzie's heart stop for a second. It galloped on when her mom said, “Oh, I guess that's fine. He's going to drop you guys straight to your house, right?”

They talked on for a few more seconds before her mom said, “Okay. I'm sure you girls will have a good time. Do you want to talk to Lizzie? Hmm ... oh, okay. Bye, sweetie.” She hung up. “Cinny's going to call you back in about ten minutes.”

With a mix of skepticism and hope in her voice Lizzie asked, “So I can stay?”

“Yes. I'm glad you have some plans for the weekend.” Her mom folded her arms. “See, now this won't be the worstspringbreakever, Miss Drama Queen, USA.”

“Maybe not the worst,” Lizzie agreed.

Her mom laughed. “Well, how does Mina feel about you guys sleeping over without her? Does that break one of her friendship rules?”

“This has all met her approval,” Lizzie assured her. “She even gave us some suggestions. We'll probably go see the new Nick Cannon movie.”

“Well don't run Miss Jacqi to death, Friday night,” her mom warned.

“We won't.” The phone rang and Lizzie picked up before the second ring. She went to her room, taking two steps at a time as Jacintagave her an update.

“Okay, I still need to call and ask Mrs. Lopez,” Jacinta said. “But I think she'll let Kelly go.”

“To O.C.?” Lizzie scowled.

Jacinta sucked her teeth. “To my house, Liz.” She emphasized every word, hammering the story into Lizzie's head. “Remember, we're having a sleepover ... right? A sleepover at my crib.”

Lizzie nodded along, trying to keep the truth separate from the lie.

“Sleepover, sleepover, sleepover,” she chanted under her breath. She took a seat on the carpet in her room. “Next time, you guys just kidnap me so I won't know the truth about where we're going. Makes it easier for me to play dumb.”

“I'll keep that in mind,” Jacinta laughed.

Lizzie hugged her knees to her chest. “I can't believe I'm doing this.”

“Live a little, girl,” Jacinta teased.

Lizzie rolled her eyes. “If we're caught, I won't be living at all.”

“We won't get caught,” Jacinta assured her.

To Lizzie's surprise, Jacinta's confidence was infectious. She made the whole plan seem so innocent and logical. “And we're gonna surpriseMina, okay?” Jacinta said. “So don't tell her you're rolling down there.”

A happy chill tap-danced down Lizzie's spine. This was just the type of action Mina would love a piece of. She couldn't wait to see Mina's face when they burst into the arena Friday night.

“Oh my God, she's going to freak.”

“I know. Until then just chill,” Jacinta instructed. “Just plan it like a regular sleepover. Right?”

“Right,” Lizzie said. She twirled a strand of hair around her fingersand let it unfurl on its own as she declared, “Man, the things we do for love.”

Jacinta chuckled wryly. “Puh ... trust, I've done dumber things for it.”

Lizzie didn't argue. But in her mind she thought,
dumber than sneaking away for the weekend without anyone knowing?

Doubtful.

BOOK: That's What's Up!

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