“THERE HE IS!” Ashley said, poking me. We were in between classes and Kevin Malloy was walking down the hall straight toward us.
“Say something!” Ashley whispered.
“Shhh!” I whispered back.
He was getting closer.
We had been doing the stalk and gawk all week in school, and Ashley and I had Kevin’s schedule down pat. We knew which hallway he’d walk down when. Ashley had convinced me that the time had arrived to get serious.
I had practiced clever pickup lines all morning.
“Where’s your yellow jacket?” I could ask him.
Or: “Back off. I’ve got more wooden legs where that one came from.”
Or: “Hey there, Private. Still got the zingers from the stingers?”
And now, here he was, directly in front of me. In the flesh. Ashley gave me one more pinch.
“Hey!” Kevin said. “It’s the girl who almost killed me! Or was it saved my life? I can’t remember!”
“S’up,” I managed to say.
“You doing battle this weekend?” Kevin asked, referring to yet another upcoming reenactment.
I tried to speak but my mouth was ice and the words froze. I could only nod.
“Leave the leg at home,” Kevin said. “One concussion is enough!”
I smiled. At least I think I smiled. It may have been more of an awkward grimace. It’s hard to smile with a frozen face.
“Later,” Kevin said.
“S’up,” I said.
“Well,” Ashley said, trying to be supportive. “That went well.”
“Stop, Ashley. That was a total disaster and you know it. ‘S’up’? That’s all I could say. ‘S’up’? He probably thinks I’m a special-needs student.”
Ashley put her arm around me. “Chill, Cyndie. It went great! He, like, asked you out!”
“He did not ask me out!”
“Sure he did! He asked if you were going to the Civil War thingy!”
“That was not an ask! And ‘s’up’ was definitely not an answer!”
“Well, look on the bright side,” she said. “At least you didn’t beat the crap out of him!”
“S’up,” I said. “I mean, stop. I mean, whatever!”