my head I knew it had to be some weird mix-up, but what if it wasn’t? What if someone actually did like me? Tina liked me. Could lightning strike twice?
Sorry I really don’t know who u r.
Its todd
No freaking way, positively no freaking way! I didn’t think there was more than one Todd at our school but it was just too coincidental. I had to be sure.
Todd who?
There was a long pause this time.
Gracie, ur killing me. I w8t 2 yrs till yr brothrs out of the way to finally get up the nerve to ask u out and u say todd who?
I gave this some thought. I’d always thought there was bad blood between Todd and my brother. Could this have been why? Did Todd want to ask me out and Kyle didn’t want him to? But why? Kyle wanted me to have a social life. He was always bugging me to be more sociable. He’d even tried to drag me to a couple of his cool-kid parties. I’d chickened out, of course, but that wasn’t his fault.
“What do you think, Bosco?” I gave him a questioning look, only to discover he’d dozed off. “Some help you are.” I ruffled his ears. He opened an eye and closed it again.
None of it made sense, but what if it was true? Guys can be weird about other guys. Maybe Kyle thought Todd was too old for me. Todd was a jock, and from the little I knew he’d had a number of girlfriends. Maybe Kyle thought he was too experienced for me, or a bit of a player. I felt the tiniest flame of annoyance as I considered the possibility that Kyle was being overprotective. It wouldn’t have surprised me. No one in my family trusted me to do anything on my own.
Why would Kyle stop u? I had to ask.
Dunno u hav 2 ask him. What music u listening 2?
Crap! The truth was, I listened to angry indie girl bands. I didn’t want to tell him that. It’s not that I was trying to impress him. I just didn’t want to un-impress him so quickly.
What music do u like? I was pleased with myself that I’d managed to dodge his question without lying.
U listen to indie doncha?
Crap again! Another message came in before I could figure out how to respond.
U want to watch me play sometime? We hav r 1st match nxt Sunday.
I tried to remember what season we were in. Cricket, maybe?
Wat u playin? I decided to be honest. Perhaps he’d find it charming.
Ha! Wat u do for fun?
Read, swim, movies. I was honest again.
Want 2 see a movie sometime?
He couldn’t begin to imagine how much I wanted that. Ever since Tina left, the only people I’d gone to movies with were my parents. Even Kyle never wanted to go with just me, and I refused to go with his gang of boisterous friends. I’d had some hope at first that Madison’s group might invite me some weekend—they often talked about going to movies right in front of me—but the invitation never came. After today, it wasn’t likely it ever would.
Was I doomed to spend the rest of my high school years with no one to hang out with but my parents? Was Todd offering me an alternative? If so, it couldn’t have come at a better time. As bad as I’d felt when Tina left, today had been a new low. It was one thing to miss my best friend but quite another to feel like a social pariah.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to date Todd. The fact that Madison was under the impression they were starting something gave me serious qualms. I had no desire for revenge. Quite the contrary, I still clung to the faintest hope we could somehow make up. At the same time, she couldn’t have been clearer that she had no interest in being friends. And Todd did. Maybe I didn’t have to spend the year lonely and bored.
I needed to clear up a few things though.
R u goin out with anoosha?
No! Not since last year. Why, do u want to go out with me?
R u asking?
I looked at the screen. I wasn’t really going to send that, was I? Of course I only meant it as a joke. I added a happy face.
R u asking? I typed
It still looked like an invitation. From a desperate girl. Who had no friends. I deleted it.
Maybe to a movie sometime … I hit