Suddenly the bedroom door flies open. It’s Uncle Larry.
“Heeey!” he whispers loudly. “I’m happy you two are finally getting along, but y’all got the dogs barking in the neighborhood.” We stare at him blankly. “Now get some sleep.” We drop to the bed and giggle as he shuts the door.
“It looks like Charlie really likes you,” Sally teases.
“No, he doesn’t,” I deny, only wishing those butterflies I felt for him were mutual.
“He does, and you know it,” Sally insists. “Well, consider yourself lucky. There are a lot of girls at school who would love to be his girlfriend.” Girlfriend? Hmm, could he possibly think of me as his…girlfriend? Sally pulls the covers over herself and suddenly falls silent.
I tiptoe to my room and try to fall asleep, but I just can’t. I keep wondering, Me? Charlie’s girlfriend? I find my diary as if it was waiting to hear something juicy. I smile as I feverishly write about this new boy, Charlie, and how I keep dreaming of his lips close to mine. I wonder if I’ll see him tomorrow at camp and will he even say hi….I hope so. Then again, we did kick their butts in football. Ha ha!
—
I wake up with a pen print and a silly grin on my face. I must’ve fallen asleep on my diary, thinking, What if Sally is right? What if Charlie really likes me? Could it be I have a crush on him? His glowing, dark tanned skin and big brown eyes, the kind that match his skin perfectly, are just so, so…ugh! Butterflies. He’s so cute! I jump up, excited to get myself ready for the day. Wait a minute. I’m excited? Well, I did put together a double Dutch team, and there’s a cute boy at my camp who my cousin thinks likes me, and my cousin seems to be cooler than I thought. Crazy. This summer can’t get any better…can it?
—
As I get dressed, I can’t help feeling like Beyoncé and JLo in the posters are staring at me, compelling me to check myself out in the mirror. I wonder if I have anything of what they have….Uh, no. I wonder how they got so, so confident with their…stuff? Maybe because they have “stuff”? Were they always proud, or did they ever do like I’m doing, checking my reflection as I poke out my chest to see if there’s a curve anywhere on my hips, thinking, Am I sexy? What boy is going to go crazy over this? I suddenly feel stupid and snap out of it. I’ve never stopped to think about how my body looks except for when my feet are hitting the floor in double Dutch. What does it matter if I don’t have any curves? I then imagine Bey and JLo saying something like, Maybe it’s that boy you like. I imitate their poses in the mirror, thinking, Yeah, cute boys like girls with gifts. Well, I may not have all the “boom-boom-pow” body parts that get a boy’s attention, but if one boy likes me, I guess maybe he already likes what he sees. And if he doesn’t, so what? We can’t all be Beyoncés or JLos.
Suddenly I overhear my uncle Larry having a conversation with Sally as he works around the hole he and his crew dug for the pool. By Sally’s body language I can tell she’s down about something. What’s wrong now? It seems she has a better bond with her dad than she does with my aunt Jeanie. I can understand, because Aunt Jeanie’s attitude is cut-and-dried, and she doesn’t like a whole lot of whining over anything. I guess I get my attitude from her and not from my mom, who’s always so emotional.
I start eavesdropping a bit; okay, a lot. Anytime I hear the words “double Dutch,” my ears just tune in automatically.
“I know Kayla is trying, but I don’t think we have a chance at the double Dutch contest,” Sally confesses to her father.
“Oh, stop that worrying,” Uncle Larry says as he continues working. “Just give it your best shot.”
“Dad, it’s not about double Dutch.” Sally sulks. “It’s about when summer’s over. It’s…forget it.”
“Is this about when you see those girls at school?” Uncle Larry stops for a moment. “Do you need me to go down there?”
“No, Daddy!” Sally’s voice is filled with fear.
I thought she was over this and on to redeeming herself, but obviously not. Those double Dutch divas must have picked on Sally so bad that it’s really put the fear in her. Well, that’s got to change. Even if my cousin acts like a square princess sometimes, she doesn’t deserve to be hated on or bullied by anyone.
“You know, when I was your age, if someone had a beef with me, it was me and that guy going mano a mano at three o’clock,” Uncle Larry says.
“Dad, fighting is so barbaric,” says Sally.
“Yeah, well, fighting never solved anything anyway,” Uncle Larry says. “All we did was let off some steam, then later we’d become friends, and before you knew it we were down at the creek fishing like nothing ever happened. Besides, you shouldn’t be fighting no ways.” Sally smirks at her dad. “You never know, things can change. Look at you and your cousin,” Uncle Larry continues. “I thought you two were going to kill each other before the summer was over, but you’re getting along, right?”
“I guess.” Sally sighs. “At first I didn’t want her here, but she’s been really cool, acting kind of like a big sister. But she’s going to leave, and then what?”
“Well, at some point, you’re going to have to stand up for yourself, honey,” Uncle Larry says as he continues to clear debris. “Or else I’ll have to make a few personal calls to some of them parents, you hear me?” Sally just sighs again
