“Go ahead, take ’em,” his lips say. I can’t think. I am mesmerized by his lips. They are so…close. What was I asking him, anyway? Suddenly I just push him away and go for the bikes. He quickly grabs the packaged rope out of my hand, which I completely forgot I even had. I reach for the rope, but he pulls back.
“What’s wrong with you, boy? Give me the rope,” I demand. Melissa joins in and tries to grab it from the boys, who are now passing it away from us.
“Stop acting like a dumbass and give it to me!” Melissa almost scares the pants off this one boy who is half her size, but he tosses the rope before she can get to him. Suddenly we girls are forced into a game of monkey in the middle. The boys taunt us with every throw. After a few rounds of them making us look like fools, I spot their football. I go for it.
“You wanna play?” I taunt. They all turn and look at me like I’m crazy. Now I have their ball and their attention. “We win and you give us our rope and we’ll give you your ball back. We lose and you keep the rope. Deal?” I propose with attitude. The boys snicker. “Our ball.” I smile.
“Charlie, what’s up with this, man? We can’t hit girls,” one of the boys says with a lisp.
“Of course not,” Charlie says. “No worries, fellas, this is going to be a cakewalk.”
“Mmm…cake,” one boy says.
Sally runs over to me in a panic. I turn to face my team, who’re looking at me like I’m crazy.
“What are you doing?” Sally whispers. “We don’t know how to play football.”
“Hold on, let me think,” I say as I contemplate my plan.
—
Even though my dad isn’t my favorite person right now, I do remember him giving me a lesson about boys over dinner one time when I was in fourth grade. This boy kept pulling my hair and tapping me on the shoulder and then hiding. My dad said that boys will do foolish things to get a girl’s attention. And that since boys have a hard time expressing themselves, it’s up to the girl to show that she’s a lady and that foolishness is unacceptable. My mother said that a girl can get a boy to do anything she wants if he really likes her. It’s part of our “girl power,” she explained.
My dad said the trick for the girl is to see how far a boy is willing to keep making a fool of himself, because when she finally does give him the time of day, she will feel that he’s earned it.
Well, I know that it was all Cute Boy Charlie’s idea to take our bikes, so this might be Charlie’s foolish thing.
“If he wants my attention, he’s got it,” I say aloud.
“What are you talking about?” Sally is clueless.
“You’ll see,” I assure her. “Come on.” The boys look at me incredulously, as do Sally and Tina. But not Melissa; she looks like she’s ready to go.
“I don’t know how to play football,” Tina insists.
“Neither do I,” Sally says.
“Neither do I,” I add. “But I’ve watched enough football with my dad and little brother to know that all you gotta do is—”
“Get the ball and put it in the end zone!” Melissa interrupts. “I have four brothers and a gridiron in my backyard.” Melissa is seriously ready to take some guys out. “Let’s do this!” She smashes her fist into her hand. Okay, she’s scaring me now. “Come on, huddle up!” We grab each other at the shoulders and huddle almost out of fear of Melissa.
“So what are we going to do?” Sally asks.
“All right, listen up,” I tell them. “Melissa, I want you to help me get the ball, and then I’ll get it to Sally.”
“Why me?” asks Sally. “Why do I get the ball?”
Melissa sizes Sally up. “Because you’re the smallest and you can probably run really fast.”
“Well, I did run track in fifth grade,” Sally admits.
“Be ready when I hike the ball,” Melissa says to me.
“Gotcha!” I say. “And while Melissa and I block two of the boys, Tina, you do something to distract the other two.”
“Like what?” asks Tina. “I don’t know what…wait, I know what to do. I got this!” Tina seems like she can figure her way in or out of anything.
“Good,” I say, reassured.
“And, Sally, as soon as you get the ball, run like hell! Capisce?” Melissa pats Sally on the back harder than she can stand. Sally squints in pain. I hold back from laughing.
“Are you guys going to have a pajama party or are we going to play football?” Charlie yells from the other side of the field.
“We can do this, you guys!” Melissa says with encouragement.
“Girl power on three,” I say. “One-two-three!”
“Girl power!” we exclaim.
We hear the boys laughing at us as we get into formation—maybe not so neatly, but it is good enough. I look into Charlie’s big brown eyes as Melissa leans over for the ball.
“You guys are going down,” Melissa says, staring at the boy facing her. He pretends to shake a bit, then smiles sarcastically.
“Ready, hike!” I yell.
Melissa throws the ball high, but I quickly catch it and run until Charlie grabs me around the waist. Hey! Can he do that? I toss the ball to Sally, who bounces it around like a hot potato. Once she gets a good grip, she runs while Melissa tries to tackle two boys at once, but one gets away and chases after Sally. Melissa wrestles the other to the ground and holds him with all her might. I look up to see Tina just talking to one boy while she loosens her hair and flips it back and forth. The boy has on a goofy smile and seems hypnotized. Way to go, Tina! I guess she’s already learned how
