Marcus then tapped me on the shoulder. I let out a big sigh. Everybody else had already partnered up.
“Boys! Two lines! Line up with your partners to your right! Girls grab your partner’s hand!” More stage jostling and then I reluctantly grabbed Marcus’ clammy hand once the line had formed. I was so mad. How could Jason leave me to partner up with Marcus?
It was hard to listen to Denise and pay attention because I was so angry. Or was I hurt? Whatever I was, my lack of ability to focus caused Denise to yell, “Girl with long black hair!” more than once. It was startling to realize that she meant me. Marcus even chided me, “Come on Krista, pay attention!” When the class clown is giving you a lecture about paying attention, you know you’ve lost it. By the end of the class, I was hot with rage and perspiration.
Today was the first day in years that I hadn’t put my hair in a ponytail. Tori said it was time to change things up a little and she had urged me to try my hair loose. Big mistake. I was so hot by the end of PE that I was cursing my sister and her fashion suggestions. I also wore her old booties, again, her suggestion, and my feet were killing me! I would have given anything for my old comfy running shoes.
But after taking a long drink at the water fountain, and splashing some cool water behind my neck, I took five deep breaths. Mrs. June’s breathing exercises were coming in handy, and I could feel my anger die down a little. I thought hard as I walked slowly back to class.
I suddenly remembered that I was the one who had been spending time with other people. Jason had seemed okay about everything, but then I started to remember a few little things over the last week and I realized maybe he wasn’t okay. I had to show Jason that I still wanted to be his friend. I tried my very best not to hold a grudge against him or be mad for not choosing me as his dance partner. But, wow, it was hard. I was stuck with Marcus!
Since Jason and I had missed out on two of our Wednesdays and we hadn’t been spending too much time together at school, I really wanted to make a point of making sure he was coming over today. It was obvious that we needed to reconnect. We needed our Wednesdays back. Before, it would have been a given, we wouldn’t have even have had to talk about it. But today, we had to talk about it.
“Jason, you’re coming today, right?” I asked him in the cloakroom after school as we all got our things ready to go home.
“Oh, is today Wednesday?” he asked. He didn’t seem his usual self. He kept looking at his cloakroom hook, and not me.
“Yes,” I said.
“Yeah, I guess I can come over for a while,” he said. “But I told Marcus I’d go to his house later to help him with his project.” Okay that one hurt a little. He had made other plans.
We walked to my house without saying too much. It was the first time I had ever felt awkward around him. We had been friends since we were three and it had never been so weird between us before. But when we got to the front door, I could see him smile. Jason took a deep breath as he entered the kitchen.
“I smell chocolate chip cookies!”
My mom smiled as she walked over to the fridge to get the milk. “Yes, good timing! Still warm, but not so hot they will burn your mouth.”
She poured us each a glass of milk, and reached for two plates as we sat down. “What’s new today? What were you two up to?” I’m glad she didn’t say anything about not having seen him for a while.
“Krista hung out with Emma, Arden, Cassie, and Madison again today,” Jason said before I took a sip of milk. “Under the cherry tree.”
My mom looked surprised. “Really? I thought they had some kind of no boys rule.”
“I didn’t go, Mrs. Kim. Just Krista,” he answered. He didn’t look at me. I had the distinct impression that he was ratting me out to my mom.
My mom looked even more surprised, and then stared at me and tilted her head to the side.
“So what do these girls do under that tree?” she asked. Jason stopped eating and waited to hear.
“Well…” I started, “they were trying to work out a dance routine, you know, because they were pretty inspired by the whole Celebration of Dance idea.” They both sat quietly listening. “But they couldn’t agree on how to finish. Madison wanted to do a pyramid, and be on top, because she’s the smallest. But Arden and Emma refused to get their knees dirty. So they just wanted a new opinion, you know? Like sometimes you just need fresh eyes. That’s what they said. So, they did the routine for me and asked me what I thought would look good.”
“But you don’t like dancing,” my mom said.
“But I wasn’t actually doing the dancing! I was like the choreographer,” I stated.
“So what did you suggest?” Jason asked.
“Well, Emma and Arden didn’t want to get their knees dirty, that was the big problem, so I came up with a solution. I told them to squat, face each other, because it looked stupid with them squatting and facing forward, put their hands on their knees and one leg a bit further back so it looked good and Madison could be in the middle, standing with her arms in the air. So it looked like the same shape as a pyramid, but it actually wasn’t a pyramid. Get it?”
My mom and Jason didn’t say anything for
