Too Good to Be True (6 page)

I can't wait!

I keep thinking about my conversation today with Brynn. I'm glad we talked, but one thing still bothers me. Why did Brynn have to talk to Billy about me behind my back?

At the end of seventh grade, when I kissed Matt, she said she didn't see how I could kiss Matt after Billy had kissed me and that Billy is the cutest guy in our grade and that any girl would want him as her boyfriend. It made me think
she
would want that, but then she didn't act like she did, so I stopped thinking it.

But now, I'm thinking it again. I can't help it. I think about her calling Billy to come over and watch us dance and how she danced right in front of him. I think about her hanging out with him all day yesterday and talking about me.
I should be fine with them hanging out, right? Billy and Brynn and I have all been best friends since third grade, and I know they've done stuff together in the past without me. But I don't like that they did stuff without me yesterday.

The truth is . . . I don't like it at all.

I just called Billy and told him I'm sorry I haven't been around more lately. “I miss spending time with you. Maybe we can do something fun together next weekend?” I said.

Billy seemed to like hearing that. “It's a date,” he said.

It was such a Billy thing to say.

—Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”

Our costumes came in for the dance competition, and Ms. Baumann had us try them on this afternoon to make sure we all had the right sizes. They were tank leotards in red or white, which are our school colors, and matching tights. My costume was all white, and when I put it on, the first thing I noticed was how small my boobs looked compared to lots of the older girls. I looked like a kid they would get paid to babysit.

“Do you think I should wear a padded bra with my leotard? I asked Mady.

She shook her head like that wasn't a good idea. “Ms. Baumann is really strict about straps showing,” she said.

“Stick your boobs out,” said Emily, who
obviously overheard what I had asked Mady. When she said it, she stood up super straight and stuck out her chest, which is much bigger than mine, like she was demonstrating what she meant.

Everyone laughed. It was pretty funny the way she did it. Even though she was kind of making fun of me, I laughed too. For some reason, I didn't really mind. I guess I was happy to be part of the group that was laughing.

Billy just called to remind me about our “date” on Saturday.

“I have the dance competition on Saturday, so we have to go Sunday,” I said. I couldn't believe I had to remind him, since the competition is pretty much the only thing I've been talking about lately.

But Billy said he didn't realize the competition was this Saturday, and he seemed kind of annoyed that we had to go on our date on Sunday instead.

So I changed the subject. “Rat wants to know what the President of Faraway Middle
School thinks about the new bench tables in the cafeteria.”

Billy's mood seemed to change when I said that. “Tell Rat they're too hard and they give me a sore butt,” he said. Then he laughed.

I'm almost too tired (and definitely too sore) to write much, but I have to.

Today was such a good day. The competition was this morning, and it was amazing. When I woke up, I wasn't sure it was going to be. I was a wreck. My hands were shaking so much I couldn't even put my hair up the right way. Mom had to do it for me.

But when I got to the auditorium and everyone on the team was helping each other put the finishing touches on our makeup, I started to get more excited than scared. Ms. Baumann gave us a really nice pep talk about how we were all ready, and the older girls on the team were really sweet and reassuring.

Walking onstage for our first dance was terrifying. But once the music started, I focused on each step, and before I knew it, we were done. The second dance seemed a little easier. While we were waiting for the results to be announced, I felt like such a part of the team. Everyone was complimenting each other on our performance. Mady told me I danced great and that she was really proud of me.

The best news is that we came in second place in jazz and first place in hip-hop! When our first-place win was announced, Ms. Baumann was all smiles. I'm not even sure I'd ever even seen her smile before that. We went up onstage as a team to get our trophy, and afterward, the whole team was hugging. It was like a scene in a movie that the director would have to shoot a bunch of times to get just right, but in this case, it was perfect without even trying.

Today was my first real date, so I had no idea what to expect. Billy called this morning and
told me to get ready to go on a bike ride. Honestly, my legs were so sore from extra practices this week that going on a bike ride was the last thing I wanted to do, but I didn't tell Billy that.

“We're going to ride to Oak Lake Park,” Billy said when he came to get me. I must have made a face like I wasn't up for that ride, which is really long, because Billy just laughed.

“I have some surprises for you, April Sinclair,” he said. Billy knows how much I love surprises, so even though I didn't want to go on a long bike ride, I was excited to see what he had.

When we got to the park, we rode our bikes around the lake until we got to this hidden-away area with a bunch of huge rocks. We left our bikes against some trees, and Billy adjusted his backpack, which was pretty full, on his back.

“What's in there?” I asked him in a teasing way. But all Billy would say was that I would find out soon enough.

Billy took my hand, and we walked across the rocks. It was cool because the rocks were big enough that they actually stuck out above the water and formed a line that led out into the lake.
It was kind of like walking on water. We walked out to the farthest rock, which was mostly flat, and sat down on top of it. It was just Billy and me, surrounded by the waters of Oak Lake, a few stray ducks, and some chirping birds. (That sounds kind of weirdly poetic, but it was actually nice.)

“Picnic time!” Billy said when we sat down. He brought out cheese and crackers, grapes and strawberries, turkey sandwiches, and two bottles of lemonade. It was so cute. We ate our lunch sitting next to each other on the rocks. When we were done, we threw the leftover bits of our sandwiches to the ducks on the lake. Then Billy brought out a piece of cake on a plate and two forks. “It's a little smushed from being in my backpack,” he said.

I didn't care. It still tasted good.

After we ate the cake, Billy said he had a real surprise for me. He took a little box out of his backpack. It was wrapped in the comics section from the Sunday paper, and it had a pink bow around it. It looked so cute. “I like your wrap job,” I told Billy.

He smiled. “I hope you like what's inside too.” He handed me the box.

I opened it slowly. Inside was a black cord bracelet with a little pink glass heart on it. My heart started beating faster when I saw it. The bracelet was just the right mix of sweet and tough. “I love it,” I said the moment I saw it.

Billy slid the bracelet out of the box and tied it around my wrist. I held my wrist up so we could both see it. Then something happened that I hadn't expected.

Billy picked up my hand and kissed my wrist right where the heart fell.

We were on a date, so I thought he would kiss me, just not on my wrist. He's kissed me lots of times before, but always on my cheek or my lips. It felt kind of weird to be kissed on my wrist. I guess I made a face like I didn't like it.

Billy was quiet for a minute. It was kind of awkward. “What are you thinking?” he asked.

I didn't want to say what I was really thinking, which was that it seemed weird to kiss my wrist or that I hoped it didn't taste salty from riding my bike so far and sweating like a pig.
Instead, what I said was that I thought it was really sweet that he gave me such a nice gift.

The bracelet felt all right, but to be honest, something about the kiss on the wrist felt wrong.

—Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz

Ms. Baumann might have been happy when we won the competition on Saturday, but today she was all business when she went through the homecoming schedule.

“Homecoming is October 18—that gives us less than three weeks to prepare!” She said it like three weeks was the same thing as three days. Then she talked about the dance we'll be doing at the pep rally that Friday and the routine we'll be performing during halftime of the game on Saturday.

When she was done, some of the girls started cheering like they were showing their school spirit a little early, but Ms. Baumann stopped them and said there would be time to
cheer later. She called out Emily, Vanessa, Kate, and me. “Girls, you will be given permission to leave the middle school for the pep rally. As we get closer, we'll coordinate your schedules.” Emily and I high-fived. Then Ms. Baumann told us to get ready to work on our dances for both performances, and that's what we did.

When I got home, I called Billy. I was excited to tell him about performing at the homecoming game and the pep rally. “You can come to the game and see us dance!” I said.

“That's cool,” Billy said, but I kind of got the feeling he didn't really share my enthusiasm.

I haven't written anything all week because I haven't had time. All I've done is wake up, go to school, go to dance practice, come home, do my homework, and go to bed. Ms. Baumann has made our practices even longer than usual so that we're ready in time for homecoming. All we do is go over and over and over our dances.

If someone gave Ms. Baumann a page in the
yearbook, her quote would read: “Take it from the top.”

I called Brynn, Billy, and Emily today to see if they wanted to do something, but they were all busy so I let May and June play beauty shop on me.

BIG MISTAKE.

Before study hall, Brynn invited me over after dance practice. “I want you to see my Halloween costume before I order it,” she said.

“Sounds like fun,” I told her, and it does. I have a test next period in social studies that I should be studying for, but who can think about the three branches of the American government with Halloween around the corner?

Going to Brynn's house to help her order her costume was a lot less fun than I thought it would be. In fact, it was pretty annoying. When I got there, Brynn said, “I'm going to be Dorothy from
The Wizard of Oz
.” Then she showed me the costume and all the accessories down to the ruby slippers she was planning to order.

“Wow! That's a supercute costume,” I said. Then I told Brynn that I'm coming as a flapper girl. “Mom is making a really cute minidress with fringe on it for me. She said I can order some gloves and a headpiece and some fake pearls to go with it.”

Brynn frowned. “Actually, I was thinking that we could both go as characters from
The Wizard of Oz
. You can either be the Scarecrow or the Tin Man. I'm going to talk to Heather and see if she wants to be whichever one you don't want to be, and Billy can be the Lion.”

I didn't want to dress up as a scarecrow or a tin man. “Mom has already started on my costume,” I told Brynn. But that didn't seem to make any difference to her.

“You can save it for another time.” She shrugged like it was really no big deal. Then, when I didn't say anything for a few seconds, she crossed her arms across her chest and looked at me. “April, I think it would be really fun to all wear costumes from
The Wizard of Oz
.” She bent down and scooped up her dog, Riley, and held him up in front of me. “Riley can be Toto,” she said like it was all decided.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Just because it's Brynn's party doesn't mean she can decide what people are wearing. It's really babyish, in my opinion, to all wear
Wizard of Oz
costumes. Plus, I already have a cute flapper costume.

Brynn tapped her foot like she was waiting for my answer, so I just said, “Whatever.”

After practice today, Emily and I walked home together. She said there was a cute store just off our route that she went to with her mom and her little sister yesterday, and there was something in the store she wanted to show
me. When we got there, she had two matching Dance On graphic tees on hold behind the counter. “One is for you, and one is for me!” she said.

We tried them on, and they were supercute. “When I saw these, I knew we had to have them, so I got my mom to buy them yesterday!” she said.

“I love it!” I said.

“I'm so glad!” said Emily. Then she hugged me and said, “April, you're like my new best friend.”

For some reason, it made me really happy when she said that.