Rule 27: You must not allow yourself to develop any new crushes for at least three months after the breakup.
After school the next day, Kelly came straight home and dropped her homework in her bedroom. She’d do it later. She went into the den and signed on the Internet, going to Yahoo mail.
She typed in her email password and hit enter.
You have 1 new message.
Was it from Will?
It doesn’t matter, she thought. I’m not going to answer it even if it is. I’m so over him.
She clicked on her inbox. It was from Drew. The subject of the email said, “I need your help.”
Kel,
I need your help. Kenny is flaking on poker tonight and I need another player asap. I already told your brother you were doing it. Please tell me you can fill in.
—D
Hanging out with Drew sounded like fun, but playing poker with her brother did not. She hit the reply button.
Hey, Drew! I don’t know about…
“Kelly?”
Kelly turned around in the desk chair. The base squeaked with age. “Hi, Mom. What’s up?”
Mrs. Waters came into the room and shut the door. She clutched a piece of paper in her hand. Sitting on the sofa, she leaned forward, her elbows propped on her knees. “We have a problem.” She held up the piece of paper as if presenting evidence.
Kelly took a closer look at it and winced. It was mid-semester grades. Crap. Suddenly, several missed assignments ran through her head. Chapter seven in geometry. A failed pop quiz in Spanish 2. An unfinished assignment in history. Hopefully those missed and failed assignments would only add up to a C. She had to get at least a C to pass.
It was just that she’d been so stressed lately, what with the breakup. She hadn’t felt like studying or doing any homework. It didn’t seem like that much at the time, but now she wondered if her lack of ambition had finally taken its toll.
“How are the grades?” Kelly asked.
Mrs. Waters inhaled through her nose and then looked down at the paper. “You’re failing Spanish and geometry and you’re in jeopardy of failing history, too.”
Kelly’s face instantly reddened in embarrassment and shame. It was that bad? Her Spanish teacher was the only one who’d recently pulled her aside about her grades, but her history and geometry teachers hadn’t said a word. Of course, her geometry teacher had suggested she find a tutor. Kelly had forgotten about that.
“I’ll make the missed assignments up,” Kelly said. “And I’ll ask my teachers if I can do anything for extra credit. They’re usually pretty good about that stuff.”
Mrs. Waters shook her head and looked at the grades again. “You promised me you’d do your work the last time we had this conversation.”
Kelly bit her lip. “Mom. Please let me try harder! I’ll get a tutor for geometry, and history and Spanish will be a breeze.”
Her mom crossed an arm over her chest. “If it was a breeze, then why didn’t you do it the first time around?”
Kelly shrugged. She didn’t have a good excuse for that. She couldn’t say she’d slacked off because of a breakup. “Stress,” she finally said, hoping that would suffice.
“You have three weeks to prove to me that you can bring your grades up. I expect to see some improvement.”
“You will. I promise.” Kelly jumped up and wrapped her arms around her mom’s neck. “You’re the best.”
“You probably won’t be saying that if you don’t do your homework.”
“No. I will.”
Mrs. Waters nodded and left the room.
Kelly went back to the email to Drew.
Tell you what, I’ll play poker tonight if you help me with my geometry. Let me know. I’m in way over my head and I desperately need your help.
˜Kelly˜
Alexia threw the dirty, wet sponge in the bucket of water beside her when she heard her cell ringing in her bedroom. She tiptoed over the newly clean bathroom floor so as not to smudge it.
She grabbed her cell off her dresser and flipped it open. “Hello?”
“It’s your favorite person in the world.”
Alexia smiled, clutching the phone harder. “Ben. Hi.”
“So, what are you doing?”
“Well, I was just finishing cleaning the bathroom floor.”
“Are you serious?”
“Very.”
“That doesn’t sound like fun.”
Alexia sat on the edge of her bed and brought her legs up, crossing them Indian-style. “It’s not, but someone has to do it.”
“I guess. So listen, what are you doing after you clean the bathroom floor?”
“Not sure yet. I should maybe vacuum.”
“Uh, no. You should get out of the house and go to a movie with me.”
It’d been a few weeks since Alexia and Ben had their first kiss. They hadn’t kissed since then, mainly because 1) Alexia was afraid that even though her first kiss hadn’t been so bad, her second might be disastrous, and 2) she didn’t want her friends to find out about Ben yet. Part of her worried that Kelly would see Alexia and Ben together as a direct violation of the girl dating rule. Ben was Will’s twin brother. It would almost be like she was going out with Will.
“Come on,” Ben said, “say yes.”
What were the chances that she’d see one of her friends at the theater? Sydney was at home. Alexia knew that because she’d just talked to Sydney not that long ago. Kelly was catching up on homework, and Raven was working.
“What would we go see?” Alexia asked. Besides, even if she did see someone, she’d tell the truth: that she and Ben were just friends. He hadn’t officially asked her to be his girlfriend.
Yeah, that’s exactly what Raven said about her and Zac, and you got on her case about it, she thought. Alexia groaned at her internal critic. This was different. She wasn’t going through a breakup, so the rules didn’t completely apply to her.
“We’ll see whatever you want,” Ben said.
“What about Kiss and Tell?”
There was a long pause, then, “Well, if that’s what you’re into…”
“I’m kidding!”
Ben let out a prolonged sigh. “Thank God. I wasn’t going to say anything, but I really didn’t want to see that movie.”
“Not a fan of love stories?”
“Not on the silver screen, because nothing is that perfect.”
“How about When They Collide?”
“I like humor,” Ben said. “How about the seven o’clock show? I’ll pick you up?”
“That sounds good. See you then.”
Laughter filled the movie theater all around them. When They Collide, a comedy about a man and a woman butting heads in the corporate world and then falling in love, was hilarious.
As she and Ben walked out, people recapped their favorite scenes, repeating the funniest snippets of dialogue. On the sidewalk, the amber glow of streetlights lit the way as they headed for the car they’d parked on a side street.
“I had fun,” Ben said, bumping shoulders with her.
“Me, too.”
He grabbed her hand, threading his fingers with hers. A smile graced her face as Ben’s thumb ran up and down the side of her hand. How was a gesture so small so thrilling?
When they reached Ben’s car, he unlocked the passenger door first and held it open as Alexia climbed inside, out of the cool breeze. Hands trembling with excitement, she folded them into her lap, not wanting Ben to see. He’d probably think she was an inexperienced dork. Maybe he held hands with a lot of girls he took out on dates. Did he take out a lot of girls?
Engine now running, the heat blasted out of the vents, warming Alexia’s face. She turned to Ben and caught him staring at her, the car still in park.
“I like you,” he said, the candor surprising Alexia, even coming from Ben.
The smile on her face turned nervous. “I like you, too.”
“So if you like me, and I like you, why aren’t we officially together?” He grinned. “I want you to be my girlfriend, Alexia.”
Alexia’s mouth dropped open and she quickly snapped it shut.
His girlfriend?
Did she hear him right?
“Say something,” he coaxed, reaching across the center console to take her hand again.
“I’m just surprised.”
“Is that good or bad?”
“It’s good,” she clarified. “I…uh…”
The well of excitement in her chest made it hard to breathe. She looked over at Ben in the driver’s seat. This was what she’d been waiting for. The last two years, her friends had had boyfriends and she was always single. Up until this point, she’d worried she’d always be alone and she’d graduate from college sans boyfriend. Either that, or she’d have to settle for someone she didn’t really, really like.
But she liked Ben, if the butterflies in her stomach were any indication.
“Okay,” she said, thinking only of the moment and nothing in the future, namely, what would her friends say? Would they shun her now because she had a boyfriend and they didn’t? She didn’t want to lose what they had now, all of them together, hanging out.
“Okay what?” Ben asked, looking diffident.
“Okay, I’ll be your girlfriend.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Leaning over, he threaded his fingers into her hair and kissed her, sealing the deal.
I have a boyfriend!