I was making a sundae when the phone rang. Ashanti usually calls me around four o’clock so we can talk about As the Days Roll On. I licked the ice cream off my spoon and answered the phone, and it was a guy calling… for me. It wasn’t too hard to narrow it down since no guys (other than my dad) ever call me. I swallowed too fast and tried to ignore the ice cream headache taking over my brain.
“Uh, hi. How are you?” I said. Ugh, so unoriginal.
Lucky for me, Nikolas likes to talk, and he took over the conversation telling me about his new computer game. I hit the mute button as I ate so he wouldn’t hear. Then he did it—so fast I almost missed it. He asked me if I wanted to meet him and his friends at the mall on Saturday. I didn’t know what to say. Did he mean I should come with my friends or did he mean it like a date? Did he like me, or did he just want to hang out at the mall? I said I’d check with my friends and told him I’d e-mail him.
I got off the phone and freaked out. Nikolas was the first guy who had ever asked me to do anything, and I might not be able to go because I had no one to go with me. My mom would never let me meet a group of guys by myself. I called Ashanti to see if she was free, but she wasn’t home. I wanted Ashanti to go, but I was afraid she might already have plans. She was probably out with Halle and Maggie right now having a great time. I tried to focus on my math homework, and Mom brought home Chinese food for dinner. I cracked open my fortune cookie, but all I got was, “Patience is the greatest virtue.” Not exactly fame and fortune there. The phone rang, and I almost knocked my mom over to answer it.
It was Ashanti. “Hey, my mom said you called. Are you eating dinner?” she asked.
My mouth was half full, but I managed to swallow and say I wasn’t. Mom tried to get me off the phone so I could finish eating, and I hit mute so Ashanti wouldn’t hear her. I tuned mom out and told Ashanti how Nikolas wanted to meet at the mall this weekend.
“Are you gonna go?” she asked.
I said I wanted to, but I didn’t want to go by myself.
“I’ll go with you if you want,” she said. Happiness. I asked mom if she could drive us to the mall on Saturday, and she said she would if I got off the phone and finished my dinner. I got off the phone and dug into my food.
“I bet it’s cold now,” Mom said. It was, but I didn’t want to admit it to her. “Put it in the microwave,” she said, sighing.
Dad called after dinner, and I told him Nikolas asked me to meet him at the mall. He asked a million questions about Nikolas, his family, and his plans for the future.
“We’re just going to meet up at the mall,” I said. “It’s not a date or anything.”
“It better not be,” he said. “So all’s right in the world then? How’s math class going?”
I didn’t want him to know I was barely squeaking by in math, so I focused on the “A+” I got on my English lit journal.
****
I was at my locker on Friday when Ashanti yelled to me from across the hall that she had to stay after, but to call her about this weekend. Ericka and Tori were standing nearby at their lockers.
“Okay, I’ll let you know if Nikolas wants to get together earlier.”
I knew Nikolas wouldn’t change the time, but I wanted Ericka and Tori to hear I was going to meet a guy at the mall. They just stared at me.
****
Saturday afternoon couldn’t come fast enough. Ashanti and I decided what we were going to wear the night before, and we promised to call each other if either one of us changed our outfits. Ashanti had decided to wear the new jeans she had gotten for her birthday with a Franciszka T shirt. I was going to wear my jeans and a dark pink sweater.
****
I was having another bad hair day Saturday morning and ended up sticking it back in a bun. We picked Ashanti up ten minutes late and Mom lectured me about the importance of being on time up until Ashanti got in the car, and then Mom became all sweet and friendly.
Mom dropped us off, and we met Nikolas and his friend in front of the arcade. I thought we were just meeting there, but he wanted to go inside. The guys went to play a game which involved shooting the living dead. They thought it was tons of fun. The worst part was you couldn’t just shoot a zombie and be done with it, you’d just shoot part of its face off or knock half a limb off and it was disgusting. Ashanti and I had a good time playing air hockey, even though Nikolas never paid any attention to us.
Ashanti and I told Nikolas we were going to the food court and he nodded, but kept his eyes on the screen. We bought tacos and tried to find a place to sit, but the food court was nearly full. We found an empty booth over near the Corn Dog Hut. Ashanti didn’t talk much at lunch, and I was worried I was boring her. I asked her if everything was okay, and she said she was just tired. After we ate, we went back to the arcade, but Nikolas and his friend were still playing games, so we decided to ditch the guys and go shopping. We walked around until she said she was exhausted and called her mom to pick us up.