Eleanor & Park (12 page)

didn’t have time to die of ecstasy

or embarrassment.

She let her face fall for just a

few seconds against his shoulder,

against the sleeve of his black

trench coat. He squeezed her hand

tight.

‘I missed you,’ he whispered.

She felt tears in her eyes and

turned to the window.

They didn’t say anything more

all the way to school. Park walked

with Eleanor to her locker, and

they both stood there quietly,

leaning against the wall almost

until the bell rang. The hall was

practically empty.

Then Park reached up and

wrapped one of her red curls

around his honey finger.

‘Back to missing you,’ he said,

letting it go.

She was late to homeroom and

didn’t hear Mr Sarpy tell her that

she had an office pass. He

slammed it on her desk.

‘Eleanor, wake up! You’ve got

a pass from your counselor.’ God,

he was a jerk, she was glad she

didn’t have him for a real class.

As she walked to the office, she

trailed her fingertips along the

brick wall and hummed a song

Park had given her.

She was so blissed out, she

even smiled at Mrs Dunne when

she got to her office.

‘Eleanor,’ she said, hugging

her. Mrs Dunne was big on

hugging. She’d hugged Eleanor

the very first time they met. ‘How

are you?’

‘I’m good.’

‘You
look
good,’ Mrs Dunne

said.

Eleanor looked down at her

sweater (a very fat man had

probably bought it to wear golfing

in 1968) and at her holey jeans.

God, how bad did she usually

look? ‘Thanks, I guess.’

‘I’ve been talking to your

teachers,’ Mrs Dunne said. ‘Did

you know you’re getting As in

almost all your classes?’

Eleanor shrugged. She didn’t

have cable or a phone, and she felt

like she was living underground in

her own house … There was

plenty of time for homework.

‘Well, you are,’ Mrs Dunne

said. ‘And I’m so
proud
of you.’

Eleanor was glad there was a

desk between them now. Mrs

Dunne looked like she had

another hug coming on.

‘But that’s not why I called

you down here. The reason you’re

here is because I got a telephone

call for you this morning, before

school started. A man called – he

said that he was your dad – and

that he was calling here because

he didn’t have your home number

…’

‘I don’t actually have a home

number,’ Eleanor said.

‘Ah,’ Mrs Dunne said, ‘I see.

Would your dad know that?’

‘Probably not,’ Eleanor said.

She was surprised he even knew

what school she went to.

‘Would you like to call him?

You could use my office.’

Would she like to call him?

Why would he want to call her?

Maybe

something

horrible

(something
really
horrible) had

happened. Maybe her grandma

had died. God.

‘Sure …’ Eleanor said.

‘You know,’ Mrs Dunne said,

‘you can come use my phone

whenever you need to.’ She stood

up and sat on the edge of her

desk,

resting

her

hand

on

Eleanor’s knee. Eleanor was
this

close
to asking for a toothbrush,

but she thought that would lead to

a marathon of hugging and knee-

rubbing.

‘Thanks,’ Eleanor said instead.

‘Okay,’ Mrs Dunne said,

beaming. ‘I’ll be right back then.

I’ll just go freshen up my lipstick.’

When Mrs Dunne left, Eleanor

dialed

her

dad’s

number,

surprised that she still knew it by

heart. He answered after the third

ring.

‘Hey, Dad. It’s Eleanor.’

‘Hey, baby, how are you?’

She thought for a second

about telling him the truth. ‘Fine,’

she said.

‘How’s everybody?’

‘Fine.’

‘You guys never call.’

There was no use telling him

that they didn’t have a phone. Or

pointing out that he never called

them back when they did have a

phone. Or even saying that maybe

he
should find a way to talk to

them
, him being the one with a

phone and a car and a life of his

own.

There was no use telling her

dad anything. Eleanor had known

that for so long, she couldn’t even

remember figuring it out.

‘Hey, I’ve got a cool offer for

you,’ he said. ‘I thought maybe

you could come over on Friday

night.’ Her dad had a voice like

someone on TV, somebody who

would try to sell you record

compilations. Disco hits of the

’70s or the latest Time-Life

collection.

‘Donna wants me to go to

some wedding,’ he said, ‘and I

told her you would probably

watch Matt. Thought you might

like some babysitting money.’

‘Who’s Donna?’

‘You know, Donna – Donna

my fiancée. You guys met her the

last time you were here.’

That was almost a year ago.

‘Your neighbor?’ Eleanor asked.

‘Yeah, Donna. You can come

over and spend the night. Watch

Matt, eat pizza, talk on the phone

… It will be the easiest ten bucks

you ever made.’

And actually the first.

‘Okay,’ Eleanor said. ‘Are you

picking us up? Do you know

where we live now?’

‘I’ll pick you up at school –

just you this time. I don’t want to

give you a whole house full of

kids to watch. What time do they

let you out of there?’

‘Three.’

‘Cool. I’ll see you Friday at

three.’

‘All right.’

‘Well, all right. I love you,

baby, study hard.’

Mrs Dunne was waiting in the

doorway, with her arms open.

Fine, Eleanor thought as she

walked down the hall. Everything

is fine. Everyone is fine. She

kissed the back of her hand, just

to see how it felt on her lips.

Park

‘I’m not going to homecoming,’

Park said.

‘Of course you’re not going …

To the
dance
,’ Cal said. ‘I mean,

it’s way too late to rent a tux

anyways.’

They were early to English

class. Cal sat two seats behind

him, so Park kept having to look

back over his shoulder to see if

Eleanor had walked in yet.

‘You’re renting a tux?’ Park

asked.

‘Uh, yeah,’ Cal said.

‘Nobody rents a tux for

homecoming.’

‘So who’s going to look like

the classiest guy there? Besides,

what do you know – you’re not

even going – to the dance, that is.

The football game, however?

Different story.’

‘I don’t even like football,’

Park said, looking back at the

door.

‘Could you stop being the

worst friend in the world for, like,

five minutes?’

Park looked up at the clock.

‘Yes.’

‘Please,’ Cal said, ‘do me this

one favor. There’s a whole group

of cool people going, and if you

go, Kim will sit with us. You’re a

Kim magnet.’

‘Don’t you see what a problem

that is?’

‘No. It’s like I’ve found the

perfect bait for my Kim trap.’

‘Stop saying her name like

that.’

‘Why? She’s not here yet, is

she?’

Park

glanced

over

his

shoulder. ‘Can’t you just like a girl

who likes you back?’

‘None of them like me back,’

Cal said. ‘I may as well like the

one I really want. Come on,

please. Come to the game on

Friday – for me.’

‘I don’t know …’ Park said.

‘Wow, what’s up with her.

She looks like she just killed

somebody for fun.’

Park

whipped

his

head

around. Eleanor. Smiling at him.

She had the kind of smile you

see in toothpaste commercials,

where you can see practically all

of somebody’s teeth. She should

smile like that all the time, Park

thought; it made her face cross

over from weird to beautiful. He

wanted to make her smile like that

constantly.

Mr Stessman pretended to fall

against the chalkboard when he

walked in. ‘Good God, Eleanor,

stop. You’re blinding me. Is that

why you keep that smile locked

away, because it’s too powerful

for mortal man?’

She

looked

down

self-

consciously and flattened her

smile into a smirk.

‘Psst,’ Cal said. Kim was

sitting down between them. Cal

locked his fingers together like he

was begging. Park sighed and

nodded his head.

Eleanor

She waited for the phone call

from her dad to go sour on her.

(Conversations with her dad were

like whiplash; they didn’t always

hurt right away.) But it didn’t.

Nothing could bring Eleanor

down. Nothing could drive Park’s

words from her head.

He
missed
her …

Who knows what he missed.

Her fatness. Her weirdness. The

fact that she couldn’t talk to him

like a regular person. Whatever.

Whatever perversion caused him

to like her was his problem. But

he did like her, she was sure of it.

At least for now.

For today.

He
liked
her. He missed her.

She was so distracted in gym

class, she actually forgot not to

try. They were playing basketball,

and Eleanor caught the ball,

colliding with one of Tina’s

friends, a jumpy, wiry girl named

Annette. ‘Are you trying to start

something?’ Annette demanded,

pushing forward – pushing the

ball into Eleanor’s chest. ‘Are

you? Come on, then, let’s go.

Come on.’ Eleanor took a few

steps back, out of bounds, and

waited for Mrs Burt to blow the

whistle.

Annette stayed mad for the rest

of the game, but Eleanor didn’t let

it get to her.

That feeling she used to have

when she was sitting next to Park

on the bus – that feeling that she

was on base, that she was safe for

the moment – she could summon

it now. Like a force field. Like she

was the Invisible Girl.

That would make Park Mr

Fantastic.

CHAPTER 18

Eleanor

Her mom wasn’t going to let her

babysit.

‘He

has
four
children,’ her

mother said. She was rolling out

dough for tortillas. ‘Did he forget

that?

Eleanor had stupidly told her

mother about her dad’s phone call

in front of her brothers and sister

– they’d all gotten really excited.

And then Eleanor had to tell them

that they weren’t invited, that it

was just babysitting, anyway, and

that Dad wasn’t even going to be

there.

Mouse had started to cry, and

Maisie got mad and stormed out.

Ben asked Eleanor if she’d call

Dad back to see if he could come

along to help. ‘Tell him I babysit

all the time,’ Ben said.

‘Your father is a piece of

work,’ her mother said. ‘Every

time, he breaks your hearts. And

every time, he expects me to pick

up the pieces.’

Pick up, sweep aside – same

difference in her mom’s world.

Eleanor didn’t argue.

‘Please let me go,’ she said.

‘Why do you want to go?’ her

mom asked. ‘Why do you even

care about him? He’s never cared

about you.’

God. Even if it were true, it

still hurt to hear it that way.

‘I
don’t
care,’ Eleanor said. ‘I

just need to get out of here. I

haven’t been anywhere but school

in two months. Plus, he said he’d

pay me.’

‘If he has extra money sitting

around, maybe he should pay his

child support.’

‘Mom … it’s ten dollars.