Better Off Friends (4 page)

I don’t think I give you enough credit for your positive attitude.

Well, I wouldn’t put it that way.

Really?

It’s called being laid back.

Exactly. Whatever works.

H
ad I known that getting a haircut was going to make me a chick magnet, I would’ve shaved my head the second we arrived in Wisconsin.

I could tell that Emily was acting differently at lunch our first day back. But I assumed it was because Macallan wasn’t around. Then she started doing all that stuff girls do to let you know they’re interested in you. She threw her head back after I said something that wasn’t
that
funny. Then she kept touching my arm and gazing into my eyes. At first, I thought that maybe she’d lost her mind over summer break. Then it dawned on me: Emily was flirting.

It wasn’t that a girl had never flirted with me before. I’d had a few girlfriends back home. But ever since I’d arrived in Cheese Country, I hadn’t had any girls pay any attention to me in
that
way.

I wasn’t sure if I could tell Macallan about Emily. I mean, I knew Macallan and I were just friends, but people always talked about us like we were a couple. And when they did, Macallan usually scrunched her nose or did something that made it clear that the mere thought made her stomach turn. Which was a little harsh, but I knew where she was coming from.

Then when Macallan told me that Emily was interested in me and even helped me ask Emily on a date, it sorta cemented it. Macallan and I would never be like that. We were just friends. That’s how she saw me. And maybe we were better off being only friends.

Which was cool. Especially since she was my best friend here.

I decided to surprise her with a special treat after school. I told Mom not to pick us up so it would be only the two of us.

“Where are we going?” she asked when I took a left turn instead of a right.

“It’s a surprise.” I grabbed her elbow and led her down the street.

“Okay.” She sounded like she didn’t trust me. “Have you decided what you guys are going to do on Friday?”

“Who wants to know?” I found myself asking that a lot that week. Anytime Macallan inquired about my upcoming date, I wasn’t sure if she was curious or if she was getting intel for Emily.

“I am. I wanted to see if you needed any advice on what to do.”

“Oh.” I felt stupid for sounding paranoid. “I figured we’d get something to eat and see a movie. Is that too boring?”

“Sounds good to me. There aren’t a lot of options around here.”

“Yeah, same as back home.”

Macallan’s shoulders tensed. I was about to ask her if I’d done something wrong, but we were approaching our destination.

“Look!” I pointed up at the Culver’s marquee.

Her eyes got wide. “Yes! You know Turtle’s my favorite.”

“Yes, I do. When we drove by this morning and I saw that it was the custard flavor of the day, I
knew
we had to come here. My treat.”

Macallan smiled as we entered the restaurant and got in line. “Well, if it’s your treat, I’m getting four scoops.”

“As I expected. I think I may get a double ButterBurger, too. Gotta get more weight on.” I patted my stomach. I wanted to be able to get onto a few teams next year in high school, but I was still the skinniest guy in our class. “I figured between you becoming a culinary master and all the deep-fried food in this town, I would’ve gained some weight by now.”

“What a hardship.” She shook her head. “Probably not the best idea to bring up in front of Emily the plight that is your inability to gain weight. She’s tiny, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t self-conscious about her weight.”

“That’s so ridiculous. I’ve never gotten why girls have, like, the most messed-up idea of what they look like. Emily’s body is, um …” This was the part where having your best friend be a girl got tricky. I couldn’t really say “sick” like I would to my friends back home. “She’s not fat. Nowhere near it. Neither are you. You’re both, um, like, totally, ah … fine.”

Macallan folded her arms over her chest. I decided it would be best to keep my mouth shut. I knew I made her uncomfortable. Macallan had recently started growing in, um, specific places. I couldn’t help but notice that her shirts were fitting differently.

I was only a guy, and therefore human.

Very, very human.

I shook my head to try to get the image of Macallan in her purple V-neck shirt out of my head. Thankfully, it was our turn to order. Once we got our custards, we grabbed a table.

“So, any other topics of conversation I should avoid on Friday?” I asked while Macallan happily dived into her vanilla custard with caramel, chocolate, and pecans.

She nodded. “It’s best to not talk about next year — she’s really paranoid about going to high school.”

As she explained about Emily’s sister and everything, I made mental notes. There seemed to be a lot of things that I would have to be cautious about on Friday. It wasn’t like with Macallan, where we could pretty much talk about anything.

Well, except current growth spurts.

“Yeah, I know, she —”

I stopped myself as Macallan’s gaze settled on something over in the corner. I looked to see that some older kids were picking on an employee who was clearing off a few tables in the back room. They were pointing and laughing at him. I couldn’t tell why until he turned around and I saw he must’ve had Down syndrome or something.

“Are those guys —”

She cut me off. “It’s ridiculous. He shouldn’t have to deal with this.” Her cheeks became extremely flush.

“Should I go look for a manager?” I offered.

But Macallan had a different idea. She got up and headed over to the corner. I hesitated for a second but realized that I should be there in case she needed some help.

“Is there a problem?” she said to these three guys who were probably sixteen or seventeen.

“Oh, is that your girlfriend?” one of them asked.

I was used to the question being directed at me, but instead it was aimed at the guy who was trying to wipe down the table next to them.

“Oops.” Another guy dumped his soda on the floor. “Better go clean that up, retard.”

“EXCUSE ME?” Macallan’s voice boomed through the seating area. Even some people in line started turning around to see what was going on.

“I wasn’t talking to you.” The guy started laughing.

Macallan stood in front of the table. “Well, you are now.”

The guys were snickering and saying some things I couldn’t make out. Then Macallan slammed her fists on their table. The guy who appeared to be the ringleader jumped a little.

“What’s your problem?” Macallan asked, her entire body shaking. “All he’s doing is working, minding his own business, cleaning up after slobs like you. He’s making a contribution to society, which is a lot more than I can say about you. So who’s the real waste of space in this scenario?”

A manager approached. “Is everything okay?”

The guys all mumbled that it was fine, but Macallan wasn’t going to let them off that easily. “No, everything is not okay. These
gentlemen
” — she said the word with such disdain — “were harassing your employee, who is, I might add, doing excellent work.”

“Yes,” the manager, who looked to be around the same age as the guys causing the problem, said. “Hank is one of our best employees. Hank, why don’t you take a break?”

Hank took his towel and trays from the table and walked away.

The manager waited for Hank to be out of earshot before he turned his attention back to the table. “I think I’m going to need to ask you gentlemen to leave.”

They laughed. “Whatever. We were going anyway.”

As they got up to leave, one of them brushed past me and said, “You need to learn to put a muzzle on your girlfriend.”

I had been frozen the entire time. Macallan stood up to those three guys while I’d stood there like an idiot.

Macallan talked a little bit with the manager before he thanked her for stepping in. “It’s great what you did. It’s unfortunate, but it does happen.”

“It shouldn’t,” Macallan said coldly.

Once we were back at our table, just the two of us again, I asked, “Are you okay?”

“No. I hate people like that. They think they’re so much better than Hank. And they probably think they’re better than you or me. What kills me is that those jerks get to walk down the street and nobody ever judges them. I can guarantee you that Adam works a lot harder in one day than those guys ever will in their lifetimes.”

I’d never seen Macallan so mad. I knew she had very little tolerance for crap, but I’d had no idea how much it would set her off. “You’re right,” I told her. “And I’m really proud of you. I also know to never make you angry. That was something else.”

A smile started to warm her face. “Sorry. I can’t help myself.”

“No, I’m serious. That was awesome. I never saw you as the confronting type. Lesson learned.”

“Only when someone’s being bullied, I guess.”

“Let’s get out of here. I think this calls for a
Buggy and Floyd
marathon.”

“And some more custard.”

That
was the Macallan I knew. “Like I’d say no to you now.”

She laughed as we headed back in line. I poked her in the ribs. “I’m telling you, no girl back home is as cool as you.”

Macallan froze again. I immediately looked around to see if the guys were back.

“You know” — she turned toward me — “I understand that you spent your first twelve years in California, but
this
is your home now.”

I wasn’t sure why she was suddenly annoyed at me.

“I don’t know —”

She interrupted. “You keep saying ‘back home’ all the time.”

“I don’t —”

She slouched her shoulders and did this low voice. “ ‘Yeah, my buddies
back home
,
back home
we did this,
back home
was all like this, and
back home
is awesome.’ ” I think she was doing an impersonation of me. But I so didn’t talk with that exaggerated Valley accent she was doing. At least I hoped I didn’t. She fixed her gaze on me. “
This
is your new home.”

She moved forward and ordered her second custard. And I stood there thinking about what she had said.

Maybe I was still living in the past. Maybe I hadn’t realized that this move was permanent. Maybe it was time for me to start living in the present, to embrace my new school and my new classmates. Maybe I hadn’t made enough of an effort.

I had to face the fact that I was now a Wisconsinite.

I stopped looking at everything, especially school, as temporary. I was going to have to find a way to get comfortable at school and with the guys.

But first I had the little matter of my date with Emily.

We were sitting across from each other like we did every day at school for lunch. But this was different. Not just because we were at a pizza place before the movie. This was a date. And it wasn’t
any
date, it was a date with the hottest girl in school
and
Macallan’s best friend. This was a big deal.

Emily always looked pretty at school, but she went all out that night. I almost didn’t know what to do when I met her at the mall. She had on this flowery dress and her hair had one of those sparkly barrettes in it. And every time she smiled at me, I got a little nauseous. Not the
I’m-gonna-hurl
nauseous, the
this-is-exciting
one.

I took an extra big sip of my soda as Emily smiled at me while we waited for our pizza. It was like she was expecting something witty, something more than our usual dissection of the school day.

“So …” She wrapped one of her loose strands of hair around her finger.

“So …” was my witty reply.

She reached her other hand out to me. “I’m so glad we’re doing this.”

“Me too.”

Ugh
. I swore I knew how to talk to girls. I talked to Macallan all the time. But I became worried that I’d used up all my small talk with Emily at school.

“I’m thinking of having a Halloween party,” Emily said as her finger kept twisting her hair. I wasn’t the only one who was a little nervous.

“That could be fun.”

She nodded. “Yeah, especially since I was thinking that I’d invite all the guys, like Keith and Troy.”

“Troy’s cool.” And the only guy who really gave me the time of day.