THE MONICA SOLIS PROJECT

There’s this girl in my French class who seems kind of nice.

Her name is Monica Solis.

Right after we played the prank on Mr. Bivic, she came up to me at my locker and said she thought the prank was really funny, and she couldn’t wait to see the video.

But even before I could say “Thanks,” Dalton Cooke butted in, put his arm around Monica, and said:

Then he led her away, bragging about himself all the way down the hall.

A couple of days later, I saw Monica again.

By that time, I had prepared exactly what I was going to say to her. A bunch of guys (and girls, too) from school were going to go bowling on Saturday night, and I was going to ask Monica to go with me.

As my date.

“Hi, Monica,” I said.

“Hi, Larkin!” She seemed glad to see me.

I decided to lead with Miss Sadie’s advice and I said, “Nice earrings.”

“Thanks,” she said.

Then I actually took a good look at her earrings and saw a big hickey on her neck. Wow.

“Larkin?” she said.

“Oh, uh, yeah,” I said. “I was wondering if you’d like to go with me to the bowling party Saturday night.”

Then she started talking, but all I kept thinking was, Who gave her that hickey?

Victor? Shaun? Pony Boy?

And I didn’t hear a word she said, which was: “Sorry, but I’m going with my mom and dad to Overton, because they’re putting my grandma in a nursing home.”

And I’m thinking: Tyler? Or was it DALTON?

Then I looked more closely and realized it wasn’t a hickey at all. It was a birthmark. What a relief.

“Larkin?” she said.

So I finally said:

And that’s how I ruined my chances with Monica Solis.