DAY
17
The next day, I left for school at my usual time. When I saw Cindy coming up the block, I rushed toward her. I’d forgotten my friends.
“What happened to you yesterday?” she asked.
“I was sorta sick. Did you come to get me?” I worried aloud.
“No, but I tried to call. No one answered. I had a dentist appointment.”
I felt a twinge of regret. My stubbornness had cost me time with my friends. Shaking my head clear of this thought and vowing never to let revenge get me again, I asked, “So how’d it go?”
“Oh, it was fun!” Cindy said, but she didn’t sound like she meant it. “I’ve got three cavities, and my mom said that I’m not allowed any more sweets until my next check-up.”
We talked all the way to school. As the day progressed, I noticed that I paid less and less attention to Toby. He was truly just becoming a ghost that followed me around. I had friends, and I liked them. I was still escorted to each of my classes, and even if I wasn’t completely comfortable, I enjoyed it, and we all laughed a lot… It felt nice to be able to have fun.
Arriving in the office for my lunchtime detention, Miss Rose looked surprised to see me. “Oh,” she exclaimed over her sandwich, “Ms. LaKey thought you were home sick again, so she didn’t leave anything for you to photocopy.” I was able to go to lunch with my friends.
I bolted from the office and ran up the hall to catch up with them. Everyone celebrated my small victory. Sitting at our table, surrounded by my friends, I felt like nothing could go wrong. Then Toby tapped me on the shoulder. I turned a bit to see what he wanted. He pointed out a scene across the cafeteria. It made my heart race.
“Who’s that?” I asked Rayla as I watched a girl I’d never seen before being invited to sit at Effie’s table by Sara.
The girl had square-shaped glasses that were too big for her face and made her whole head look boxy. Her hair was a mousy brown and fell limply about her face. But what I noticed most was the way she walked and held herself like she didn’t want to take up too much space.
Toby leaned close to me and said, “She reminds me of you the night we met.” I shivered; I had looked that pathetic, that hopeless. The way she acted was better than any “kick-me” sign someone could have taped to her back. And that’s just the way I had been. No wonder! Was I still like that? Before I could try and ask, Toby said, “You have come a long way!”
“That’s the new girl,” Rayla answered, “Mary? No. May… May something.” She joined me now as we watched Effie’s game played out.
They had snubbed May yesterday at lunch hour, I was told, so today was the day to degrade her. Sara had invited her to come and sit, but as May sat down, Effie and all her hyenas stood up and moved to sit at the next table. Tomorrow would bring outright hostility. I remembered it well. That’s how they made sure you knew your social status in the school. You knew it, and so did everyone else. Toby shook his head. May was the loser with no friends, and now no one would ever think of trying to be nice to her. It would mean them risking their own social status!
I was sickened. May was now sitting at an empty table, trying not to look too panicked, while kids from the tables all around her quietly laughed. I stood up.
“What are you doing?” Cindy exclaimed as I climbed to my feet.
“This isn’t right,” I answered and started over to where May sat. I was glad I had Toby beside me, because I didn’t feel as brave as I was pretending to be.
When I got to May’s table, I said, “Come and sit with us.”
“No, thank you,” May replied, and I could tell that she thought it was another trick.
“Really,” I insisted, “me and my friends would be glad to have you at our table.”
But she wouldn’t budge. I didn’t blame her! So I sat down with her. I hadn’t planned on doing that; this side of the lunchroom was way out of my territory, but I just felt compelled to be with her. It didn’t take long for Rayla and the rest to figure out what I was doing, and they came over to sit with May and me. Each one looked almost as nervous as I felt. However, we had stopped Effie in her tracks. Though we sat victorious, we weren’t as loud or buoyant as we usually were at our usual table. Effie leered at me once or twice, trying to intimidate me, but I glared back. After all, she still thought I knew that secret about her.
It turned out that the girl’s name was May-Sue, but she hated it. So we dubbed her “Just May.” That made her laugh, and it was contagious. By the end of the day, we all had a new friend. After school we headed to the ice cream parlour and ordered an Earthquake for our victory celebration: ten scoops of ice cream with ten toppings!
“That’s so cool the way we annihilated Effie today!” Teb said. “You know, I think we could take her! We could really get her back! After all, there are eight of us now and only three of them!”
Most of the gang agreed, but I had a swooping sensation in the pit of my stomach. I looked at Toby, who stood next to the table watching me; no doubt fearful I’d give in to this trap of revenge.
“I don’t know, guys,” I said softly. They were all discussing tactics, but they stopped when I spoke.
“What don’t you know about?” Rayla exclaimed. “She’s been miserable to you. She nearly killed you with those poisonous ants!”
“I know,” I said softly. Was I going to lose my friends over this? “If we do this, what makes us better than her?”
“We’d be doing if for the right reasons!” Charlie said forcefully. “The way she is isn’t right! Someone’s gotta teach her a lesson.”
“Yes,” I said, still keeping my voice quiet, “but repaying meanness with meanness may not be the solution.” I was trying not to let this fear of rejection cloud what I knew to be the truth. Toby nodded encouragingly.
Charlie remained adamant that getting even was the only way to truly make her pay. It was Just May who came to my rescue. She was sitting at the end of the booth, and she stood up, picking up her sweater and starting to put it on.
“You’re not leaving so soon?” Cindy said, and I realized she’d been quiet the entire time.
“I’m sorry,” Just May answered, “but if you guys are really meaning what you are saying, I think I’d be better off without you as friends.” Everyone sat in shocked silence. Just May turned towards me. “I’m thankful for your kindness in saving me from that excruciatingly humiliating situation this afternoon, but you’re right; plotting and planning these things makes you no better than Effie herself.”
“So what should we do then?” The question hung in the air.
Elijah turned to me. “Mariah, did you have a solution?”
I paused and sat up taller. “I think we don’t let her push us around. We walk tall, and watch out for each other. She wants to separate, belittle, divide and conquer us. I say we don’t let her. If anything will eat at her the most, that will. She’s trying to make herself feel better at our expense, but if she fails, then she’ll suffer all the more!”
“But what if she tries to attack you again, or for that matter any of us!” Charlie complained.
“We need to be smart,” I said. “We need to stick together and not let our guard down around her. But we don’t need to walk around in fear—just stay alert.”
“That might be easy for you,” Charlie said cuttingly.
I felt shocked. “Easy?” I asked, pulling up my sleeve to reveal the scars of my ant spots. “Fifty-five.” My voice was still quiet. “For not being smart.”
I slid my sleeve back down. “The Effies of this world are never going to go away.” I looked at Charlie. “We can’t change them. But we can make them a whole lot less effective by not playing into their game.”
Charlie’s black eyes screamed out untold sorrows. She was right. Our lives had not been that different, and even though she’d been given new parents, she’d never learned to truly trust and let go of the things of the past. I could see that now. That had been me last week.
My heart pounded. It was screaming to be accepted. Finally, Elijah said, “Then that sounds like our plan.” Everyone nodded. We agreed to stick together and stand up for anyone who found themselves at Effie’s mercies, and most of all encourage each other and stay smart and alert. In that little ice cream shop, it sounded easy, but I was sure in our hearts we all knew it would be a long process.
“Mariah, how can you be so cool about this?” Dan asked.
“I know how easy it is to get stuck where Effie is. All it takes is one act of false righteousness, and we’d be no different than her, and from there it’s easy to justify way more than we’d originally intended.”
“What did I say about her?” Rayla piped in. “She’s wise, so when she talks, we all best shut our mouths and open our ears!”
I blushed. It could have just as easily gone the other way, and I’d be left with no friends… Everyone laughed, and we ate the rest of our rapidly melting ice cream.
As the afternoon progressed, the boys had sword fights with their spoons, while us girls pretended the ice cream was lip-gloss. We were all extra loud and flamboyant as the sugar set in, and then it was time for some of us to leave. Rayla was the first to go; she had music lessons. Teb and Charlie left us for official “date” business, and May’s mother came by to pick her up. Only Cindy, Dan, Elijah and me were left.
“Who was that boy on Monday?” Dan asked.
“Just a friend,” I answered absentmindedly, dipping my finger in the melted remnants of our sundae.
“A friend? Or a boyfriend?” Cindy dipped her finger in too. “My mom would have a fit if she knew I’d come here,” she added sheepishly.
I leaned back; Toby looked at me closely. “A friend,” I repeated.
“So do you have a boyfriend?” Elijah asked, a blush appearing on his cheeks.
“Nope,” was all I said. Toby looked from Elijah to me.
“Have you ever?” Cindy asked. “I’m not allowed to date until I’m sixteen…just three more months.” She smiled widely, and then returned to the bowl of goop.
“No, I haven’t ever, but not because I’m not allowed to…” I felt embarrassed, so I added, “Just haven’t found the right guy, I guess.”
Toby—who sat in the booth now that there was room—shifted so he could sit up straighter just as Elijah jumped. It looked like Dan had kicked him under the table.
Dan shook his head. “Well then, what sort of guy would be the right kind?” He leaned forward and put his elbows on the table.
I shrugged.
Toby piped up. “If you say Elijah, you’d make everyone’s day.” Then he put his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing. I was annoyed; he knew how I felt around Elijah!
“Let’s say,” Dan looked all around the shop, pretending to search for someone. Then he turned in his seat and rested his eyes upon Elijah. “My boy Elijah here—would he be the right type?”
“Told you,” Toby said smugly. I wanted to kick him.
I didn’t know what to say. Cindy looked over at me, anxious to see what I’d do next.
“Just say yes!” Toby gently coaxed. “Come on, Elijah is a nice guy, give him a shot.”
But I didn’t want to, so I stalled by asking, “Well, tell me about your boy Elijah. What’s he like?”
Cindy gasped. Elijah blushed even harder.
“I mean,” I added to try and explain, “I don’t know him in the boyfriend way.” I felt lame! Why couldn’t I say yes?
Dan took it all in stride. “Well, he’s a bit of a soft boy. You know the type; like all those girly movies have in them: thoughtful, passionate. I mean, I’m not saying he’s a wuss or anything like that, but he’s not all muscle and bronze.” Dan scratched his head. “Though he can hold his own…”
“Thanks, man,” Elijah said, giving Dan a shove. Then he took a deep breath and said, “Mariah, would you like to go on a date with me this Friday?”
Cindy let out a squeal.
I looked quickly at Toby, and he nodded his head vigorously.
“Um…” I wondered what the harm would be. “Alright.” I felt weird accepting. What was I doing? I liked Tony; even with everything that I’d been through with him, that only made me like him more than when I first met him, and I felt like I was cheating on Tony by agreeing to go on this date.
Elijah seemed happy enough with my answer. Dan patted him heartily on the back. Then it seemed that it was getting late, and the rest of us needed to go home. Cindy and I took the bus together. She got more nervous; as we neared her stop, she energetically chewed sugarless mint gum and asked three times if I could smell the sugar on her breath. How could you smell sugar on breath? As she got off, she looked green.
At home I cleaned a little, then headed to my room. I had a stack of homework to finish, but I found it hard to concentrate as an argument broke out in my mind over Elijah and Tony…
“What’s wrong with Elijah?” Toby interrupted.
I put the pencil down. “I really like Tony. I like him more and more, and I really only want to be friends with Elijah. Besides, you’ve seen how nervous I get around him; that’s gotta mean something.”
“We talked about your mixed wiring…”
“No, Toby, I think it’s more than that! It doesn’t matter—I don’t like Elijah that way, and I like Tony!”
“But I told you Tony’s not boyfriend material.”
“Well, I think he is!” I argued, and then added feebly, “Or at least he could be.”
Toby sat back. “Mariah,” he started slowly, “Tony’s making a lot of changes.” He seemed shocked at his own words, but a happy grin spread across his face. Then he was serious again. “He’s nowhere near ready to be a boyfriend. It’s just that he’s got a lot of work still ahead of him, and he doesn’t need the distraction of a girlfriend.”
I blinked a few times as his words sank in. “But I really like him.”
“I can see that.” Toby looked sad. “I’d just hate for you to get your hopes up. He’s not going to be ready for a very long time.”
“I’ll wait.” I turned my back to my work, wanting to be done with this conversation.
“Don’t do that to yourself!” Toby tried to argue. “I like that you’re becoming friends with Tony. He needs a friend like you. But don’t close yourself off like this. You’ve waited so long to really start living, so why couldn’t you be Tony’s friend while you are Elijah’s girlfriend? You can do both.” He closed his eyes. I felt him heavy in my mind, and I got a prickly feeling, like he was trying to see my future. “Please keep an open mind.”
I agreed, though I thought it could just as easily go the other way. I couldn’t imagine wanting to be with anyone but Tony. Elijah made me stiff.
Toby didn’t open his eyes, which made my bedtime routine go a lot quicker.