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.

* * *

During dinner that night, I announced my study arrangements. “It’s not a date,” I told my mother pointedly. “If we were planning to do anything fun, you could veto it, but we’re just studying algebra.”

Mom took a drink from her glass. “Ah, this subject again.” She looked over at my father. “It’s your turn to tell him the reason why he can’t date. He obviously doesn’t listen to me.”

Dad cut through his piece of chicken and took a bite. When he’d finished chewing, he said, “You can’t date because I said so, and I don’t need a reason because I’m your father.”

Mom cut a piece of her own chicken. “Thanks. I’m sure that cleared it up for him.”

“She’s a really nice girl,” I said. “And she’s a straight-A student. That means she’s a good influence on me.”

“All good qualities in a friend,” Mom said.

“You’ll probably think she’s wonderful once she comes over and you get to know her. I mean, I bet she’ll remind you of your old friends, or your sisters, or someone you liked a whole lot.”

Mom took another drink.

“Did I mention she was a straight-A student?”

Mom glanced over at Dad with an exasperated look, but he quickly took another bite of his chicken so he didn’t have to say anything.

Mom tapped a finger against the table for a moment, then looked over at me with that parent-lecturing look. “You want to be Serena’s friend for the long run, right?”

“Sure.”

“Then don’t date her now. At your age that’s the fastest way to ruin a friendship.”

“Why?”

“It just is. You’ll understand when you get older.”

I hated it when my parents said that. I was convinced it was something old people said when they couldn’t think of any reasons to defend their point view. They figured we’d forget about all these explanations as time went by. I decided to start making a list.

The telephone rang, and Dad went into the kitchen to answer it. I ate my chicken silently and let Kirk jabber on about kindergarten. It was pointless to push the topic any farther with Mom. I was going to have to wait until Serena came over to my house and mom got to see what an intelligent, mature, and responsible person she was.

Dad came back to the table, smiling and shaking his head. “Well McKay, I have to admit it. You were right. Mr. Manetti just called and volunteered to buy a reverse osmosis from me.”

I smiled back at him. “See. I told you he would. When do you get the two hundred dollars?”

“Well, I didn’t actually sell him a Hendricks RO.”

“That’s true. So when do I get the two hundred dollars?”

Dad laughed. “No, I mean I told him to go down to Home Depot and pick up one there. They’re not quite as fancy as the Hendricks systems, but they do the job. No sense in paying twice the money for one.”

I stared at him as though he hadn’t said this, as though in a moment he’d tell me he was joking. “You told him what?”

“He was a little worried he wouldn’t be able to install it himself, so I told him I’d come over and put it in for him.”

“You told him what?”

“What are you surprised about, McKay? You’re the one who told him he should get an RO in the first place.”

“But not a Home Depot RO,” I said. “He was supposed to buy a Hendricks RO so you could get the bonus.”

Dad cocked his head. “You wouldn’t want your coach to pay extra for something just so I can make a few bucks, would you?”

Yes, I would. Only I didn’t say it. Saying it out loud would make me sound as selfish as I suddenly felt. The truth was the Manettis had plenty of money, and we didn’t. Why shouldn’t they buy a Hendricks RO?

I looked over at Mom to see what her reaction to this. Mom, who always complained there wasn’t enough to account for in the bank account, didn’t seem disturbed that Dad had just thrown away two hundred dollars. She calmly took another bite of her salad.

Dad picked up his fork and cut into his chicken. “You don’t make money off your friends. Friends help one another out.”

“I know,” I said. “And Coach Manetti was helping us out.”

“We don’t need that kind of help,” Dad said.

I looked over at Mom. She nodded in agreement. Two hundred dollars would have bought a lot of paint and curtain material for the office, but she was still nodding.

All right. My parents didn’t want to feel like a charity case. I could understand that. But still, all was not lost. “I guess I can see why you don’t want to sell an RO to Coach Manetti, but that doesn’t mean you can’t sell ROs to anyone else, does it?”

“Nobody else has called for one.”

I kept my voice even to make Dad realize I was serious. “It wouldn’t be that hard for you to sell a few ROs every once in a while, would it?”

Dad put his fork down. “Why is it you suddenly want me to sell ROs?”

“So you can get the bonuses.”

“And why do you think I need those?”

“So you and Mom will stop worrying about money all of the time.”

Dad looked over at Mom. She blushed a little. “We don’t worry about money all of the time.”

Now Dad and I both looked over at her. She sat up a little straighter in her chair. “What?” she said.

Neither Dad nor I answered.

She put down her fork. “All right, I admit I talk about wanting more money sometimes, but everyone does that. It doesn’t mean I think we’re destitute.”

“Well, apparently our son thinks it,” Dad said. His brows furrowed together for a moment as though something had just occurred to him. “McKay, would these worries of yours have anything to do with the fact that Grandma just sent us a check for two hundred dollars in an early birthday card?”

“Uh, well, maybe. I did try to sell her a Reverse Osmosis a while back.”

Dad put his face in his hands, then looked over at my mother. “I told you we should have called and insisted she tell us what that was all about.” He shook his head. “You get to call and tell her we’re not homeless yet.”

“Don’t blame me for this,” she told him. “I’m not the only one who complains about money. You’re the one who makes an issue every time I buy anything.”

“You’re doing it again,” I said. “You’re fighting about money.”

Dad ran his fingers over his head and then sighed. He glanced over at Mom, then back at me. “Maybe we do argue about money sometimes, and maybe we wish we had more. But nobody has enough money for all of their wants. We have enough for our needs, and that’s what’s important.”

I pushed a piece of chicken around on my plate. “It wouldn’t hurt to have a little more every once in a while, would it? Tony’s dad could teach you how to sell stuff. He’s really good at it.” And then to prove the point, I added, “He drives a BMW.”

Dad shook his head. “I’m not a salesman. I could never do it. I hate to feel like I’m pushing something on someone that they don’t really want. That’s just not me.”

“And I’m glad it’s not you.” Mom smiled over at him. “You’re the type of person who is always genuine, and I love you for it.” Now she smirked at him. “Even if you don’t drive a BMW.”

Dad grunted. “It would be a little awkward to lug all my tools around in a luxury car.”

And then they both laughed. It was nice to see them that way, and I told myself to remember that for every time they fought about money, there were also these times they joked about it. It made me feel better, even though I knew we would never have a BMW or bigger house.