Little Divas (12 page)

Lane Benson
The first girl in our class to stop wearing ponytails. The first to get a training bra (the first to actually have something to train). The first to wear makeup (if you count eyeliner and lip gloss). The first to be allowed to have phone calls from boys. And talk about an entrance. Now Lane Benson was also the first of us to wear a bikini. A black one.

From across the yard, Rikki’s eyes met mine, both of us in shock. A hush fell throughout the yard, and I could see people tapping each other. Boys smiling. Girls whispering. I was ready to leave.

Golden leaned in. “Let me guess. Lane Benson?”

I sighed. “You got it.”

“She tries too hard,” Golden announced. “You’re prettier, Cass.”

Shantal and the rest of the training bra crew went right over to Lane and led her back to the picnic table where they’d been sitting. Lane smiled when she saw them, her dimples like valleys in her round, dark-brown cheeks.

Then she saw me looking at her, which meant it was too late for me to turn away. We exchanged words with our eyes. It was like she wanted me to know that my very presence disgusted her, the way she mocked me with a flutter of her eyelashes. Right then and there I promised myself not to let her ruin this day for me. Hopefully my eyes did what I needed them to do, because I sure tried to look happy.

Soon the moment passed, and people got over the fact that Lane had arrived in a bikini. The water began splashing around us again, and Travis started up a game of Marco Polo.

Golden hopped into the water. “Come on, Cass!”

I was now the only one left on the edge of the pool. Everyone else was having fun. Reluctantly, I lowered myself in.

“Whatever you do,” Golden whispered a quick warning, “make sure Lane sees you having fun.”

“I know,” I said. “That’s just what I was thinking too.”

I peeked over once more. Lane was sitting at a round table with her small group of girls. She was eating a hot dog, laughing and talking in between bites. Yuck. Boy, was I glad that I wasn’t going to have to go to school with her anymore.

But at least now I wasn’t alone. I had Golden, and she was forcing me to have fun. She herself looked to be having a good time, which made me even happier because I had a feeling that didn’t happen too often. Pretty soon I forgot all about Lane.

Rikki and Darwin joined us in the pool. More laughter. More games. Rikki was even being a little nicer to Golden, reaching up once to fix a few strands on Golden’s ponytail as a matter of fact. It was the best day of summer, and it felt great to laugh out loud. None of us wanted the games to end.

All the hot dogs had been grilled and the sun was beginning to set. Darwin’s parents cooled off the coals and went inside to the air-conditioning. By now most of us had thrown on jean shorts over our swimming suits. Soon it would be the last song of the evening.

Rikki was with Darwin, and Golden and I were sitting on the steps leading to the deck, watching as couples started going off to be alone.

“All of your friends are so cool, Cass,” Golden said. “Thanks for inviting me.”

“Sure,” I replied.

We watched as Lane and Nate went to the far end of the backyard and sat on the wooden swing. Shantal and Mario were getting close at the picnic table. Everyone was coupling off except for Whitney and a few other girls who were on the dance floor doing a routine they’d probably been practicing for weeks. My heart sank when Sam came over to Golden with his hand out.

“Wanna dance?” he said.

It didn’t seem to make Golden nervous at all, to reach out and put her hand in his. “Be right back,” she told me. And together they walked up the steps to the deck.

And there I sat, alone.

Travis was wearing a green and white Nike T-shirt and a grin on his face as he walked over to me. “You wanna dance?” he asked politely.

The tightness in my stomach was back. “No,” I replied.

Travis put one foot on the step where I was sitting and listened to the music for a few seconds. With a smile in his eyes, he shrugged. “Not even on a good song?”

I wanted him to leave, to go find somebody else to annoy, but he sat down next to me,
real close,
so close that I could feel his leg against mine. More flutters in my stomach, and even in my
chest
this time. My teeth started chattering.

I was cold, that was all.

“Your hair looks tight,” he said.

“Thanks,” I replied. “Golden did it.”

“She seems cool.”

“She is.”

Travis seemed to be waiting for me to look at him, so I did. “What?”

He just kept smiling, looking like he was going to laugh.

“What?” I said again.

“Why you always actin’ so mean, Cassidy?”

I looked away. “I’m not.”

“And why are you diggin’ your nails into your arm like that?”

I looked down. Travis was right. I relaxed and rested my hands in my lap. But I definitely still had those flutters.

“Your nails look pretty too,” he told me.

“Thanks,” I said. “My cousin Mary painted them to match my suit.”

“For real? I know Mary. She’s cool with my sister.”

“I know,” I said. “Sharee, right?”

“Yeah…”

And then there was more silence. Endless and forever silence. I wanted to get up and run out of the backyard, but where would I go? Silence. Silence. Too much silence.

Finally Travis said, “For real. You know how I like you, right?”

Oh my goodness! I could hardly hear for the pounding in my ears. What in the world was I supposed to say to that?

I couldn’t believe it, but Travis’s face showed no signs of kidding.

“This year I might get to start. You could come to all my games, sit with my moms and pops up in the stands and everything.”

“You’re always playing around, Travis,” I said.

“Straight up,” he said, sounding really sincere. “You should be my lady, Cassidy.”

I remembered that day at the park when Darwin had asked Rikki to go off with him so that Travis could be alone with me. Was Travis really being honest? I could sense him looking at me again, and I tried hard to keep looking right back.

“What?” I said.

He cracked a smile and nudged me. “Mean.”

“I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No,” I said. “And as a matter of fact, I’m also not stuck-up. Since you guys made everybody think that I am, let’s get that straight right now. I’m a very nice person. Golden moved in next door to me and I was nice to her. You’re the one who’s mean, Travis. Let’s talk about who made me drop my goldfish and then laughed when I did.”

Travis was speechless.

I continued, “So, maybe I don’t always want to talk to you because maybe you haven’t always been so nice to me, Travis. Ever thought about
that?”

Wow. It sure felt good to speak my mind for a change.

After a moment he said, “Well, we really were just playin’.”

“Well, it wasn’t much fun.”

“I tried to catch up with you to tell you, but you—”

“And
you
laughed the loudest,” I pointed out to him.

“Look. It’s not because I didn’t like you, all right? Like I said, we were just—”

“You could’ve just come over and said, ‘Hi,’ Travis.” I was on a roll now. “How about that? If you like somebody and want to be friends, sometimes you can just go over to them and say, ‘Hi.’ You could have asked me about my fish, what his name was going to be.”

He looked a little uncomfortable. “Can we just forget about that day, pretend it never happened?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because it did, Travis.”

He sighed. “Well, all I can say is that I’m sorry then. Dang.”

I felt my face start to cool off. “Well, that’s a start.”

“Let’s just go for a walk.”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t wanna leave.”

“I’m just talking about away from the speakers and everybody.” He stood up and waited.

I shook my head. “No thanks.”

“Man, Cassidy, come on. Stop trippin’.” He held his hand out for me to hold. “Come on. For real.”

I stared at his hand, waiting for
me
to hold, and my heart fluttered,
hard
this time.

Rikki and Darwin. Golden and Sam. Mary and Archie.

Me and Travis?

“Cassidy,” he said. “Come on.”

But what else were we going to talk about? I’d already said all the things that I’d ever wanted to say to Travis.

“Fine,” I replied. And my heart rippled again.

thirteen

Travis looked like
he couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. He was even
more
shocked when I reached out and put my hand in his. He squeezed it tight, like he wanted to make sure it was really there, but then he relaxed, which made me do the same.

After we started walking, he said, “You cold?”

Actually, I was only shivering because I was nervous, but I didn’t admit that. “No,” I said. “I’m okay.”

As we walked past the shed I caught a glimpse of Rikki, her arms reaching up, wrapped snug around Darwin’s neck, his hands on her butt, right there in plain view. Uncle Lance and Aunt Honey would have had a fit!

Suddenly I planted my feet right there in the grass. Travis better not try to touch my butt.

Travis looked confused. “What?”

“Nothing.” I shook my head. No matter what, there was no way I was going to let that happen. No. Way.

Once we were around the side of the house, Travis leaned up against the house and took my other hand in his. I felt my face burning again as I saw both of our hands together.

He asked, “Will you wear your hair like that to my games?”

I looked away. To his games? Was he serious? He was really serious. This was really happening. He gave my hands a squeeze and laughed. “What? You don’t think I’m cute?” he said jokingly.

I couldn’t help but laugh a little too.

He laughed some more. “What? My breath stinks? I got bad BO?”

I laughed a little louder now. Laughing sure does help when you’re nervous.

And then Travis was quiet for a minute. “For real, Cassidy. My bad about your fish.”

I started to pull my hands out of his, but he felt me doing so and gripped them tighter.

“Do you forgive me?” he wanted to know.

I shrugged.

And then I wondered, why
didn’t
I like Travis? He wasn’t anywhere near as silly as he used to be, he was much cuter now, and he did seem genuinely apologetic about what happened to Goldie.

He asked me, “When is your birthday?”

“October.”

“October what?”

“Twenty-third.”

“All right,” he said. “And what’s your favorite color?”

I sighed. “Purple. Why?”

“You like Starburst, Skittles, or Snickers?”

“I don’t know. Why?”

“For your birthday,” he suggested. “How about I’ll buy you a new fish, something purple, and some candy. Cool?”

That all sounded pretty nice, but wait a minute. If I said okay, did that mean I was his girlfriend? Just in case, I didn’t say anything.

He asked, “What else?”

“Travis, look.” I sighed.

“S’up?”

“You don’t have to buy me another fish. That was never the point.”

“Okay.” He shrugged. “So now what?”

“Are you really serious?”

“T. Money don’t play,” he said.

I gave him a look. “Yeah. Right.”

He laughed. “Well, not like I used to. On the real, though. On everything, you gonna let me get those seven, or what?”

I smacked my lips, reminding myself of Rikki. “I’m not even sure if I can
have
phone calls from boys.” This was true. Daddy and I had never talked about it.

“Oh.” He sounded disappointed.

“Well, I just need to ask my dad,” I said.

His face brightened a bit, and he shrugged. “All right then. Cool. How ’bout I’ll just give you mine?”

“I guess,” I said.

“So what time you gonna call?”

“I don’t know,” I said. I couldn’t believe it. Was I actually going to pick up the phone and
call
Travis Jones?

He thought for a minute. “Better call before ten. After that, you have to let the phone ring once, then call back five minutes later. I’ll hurry up and call somebody and be on the other line so the phone won’t ring. Cool?”

I was so nervous that my voice came out shaky. “All right.”

He squinted his eyes. “So, do you think I’m cute?”

“Travis…” I managed to say through my giggles.

He put on a playful face, and kept waiting, and waiting.

I smiled. “I guess.” I let the
s
sound linger for a moment. “But only now, since you’re nicer.”

“Come here,” he said, trying to pull me closer.

But I plastered myself right where I was. “For what?” I asked.

“Just to chill,” he said. “Come on.”

I waited for a long time, so long that his smile dissolved and he started biting his bottom lip. “What? What’s wrong now, Cassidy?”

I swallowed real hard, and I still couldn’t move. Travis’s eyes were so hopeful, and his hair was still glistening with pool water. He really did look harmless.
And
cute.

“Cassidy.” He reached out and held my hand again. “I really do like you.” Then, very gently, he pulled me toward him. This time, I let him.