Mia the Melodramatic (23 page)

“Great!” Eric’s mouth split into a wide grin as he headed back to his car. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

I watched Eric drive away and a feeling of complete happiness
flowed through my insides. It was kind of funny that I’d spent the whole summer hanging out with Eric feeling nothing but friendship and now, after one kiss, all that had changed. I smiled. It
was
a nice kiss.

Turning to head back into my house, I saw Tim standing in his front yard watching me. “Were you spying on me?” I asked, wondering how much Tim had just seen.

“Not spying,” Tim said. “Waiting.”

“Waiting for what?”

“Waiting for Eric to go home so I could talk to you.” Tim walked across the lawn to join me in my driveway. “We need to talk about us.”

“There is no us. Look, I really appreciate you helping me get back at Chris tonight, but that’s it,” I said. “You and I are over. Maybe we can try to be friends, but nothing more. I just can’t trust you enough to date you again.”

“But you can trust Eric?”

“Yeah.” I smiled. “Eric’s a good guy. I don’t think he’d ever hurt me like you did.”

“So,” said Tim, looking at his feet, “are you guys, like, dating now?”

“No,” I replied. “I’m not like you. I don’t have to be dating someone to be happy. I’m just going to keep hanging out with him and see what happens.”

Tim sighed. “You’ll miss it, you know.”

“Miss what?”

“The excitement we had together,” Tim said. “Eric might be a great guy and everything, but with him you’ll never feel what you felt with me.”

“That might be true, but then maybe it won’t hurt so bad when it ends,” I said, walking toward my house and leaving Tim standing in my driveway—all alone.

I’d just crawled into bed when Chris appeared in my doorway and said, “Mia?”

“What is it?” I sighed. I felt totally exhausted from everything that had happened that night and needed some time to sort it all out.

“I just wanted to say...” Chris hesitated. “... I wanted to say I’m sorry about what I did to you tonight.”

“You’re apologizing to me?” I asked in amazement. “What? Is this some kind of a joke?”

“No, I mean it,” Chris said as he walked into my room and sat on the end of my bed. “I thought I was doing you a favor tonight.”

“What favor did you possibly think you were doing me when you asked Tim and Cassie to come to the Flying Squirrel and ruin my first date with Eric?”

“All right, this is kind of complicated, so use the two brain cells you’ve got and try to follow along.” Chris took a deep breath and said, “I knew Eric liked you, and he’s a nice guy and everything, but he’s such a wimp. I mean, he used to hide under his bed, for God’s sake. So, I asked Tim to come to ruin your date with him. But, I also think you shouldn’t get back with Tim after everything he did to you. Like, come on. He made you listen to Kenny G when you broke up. So, I invited Cassie to keep Tim occupied. I just wanted what was best for you, and Tim and Eric aren’t it. You can totally do better than those two guys.”

I shook my head, trying to understand everything Chris said. “So, every twisted thing you did tonight was for my benefit?”

“I guess.” Chris shrugged.

I got out of bed and gave him a hug. “You are human after all!”

“Get off me.” Chris shoved me away. “I swear, if you tell anyone I was nice to you, I’ll seek revenge.”

“Don’t worry,” I said, putting my arm around his shoulder. “Your
secret is safe with me.”

The next day, Eric, Henry, and Zoë showed up at my doorstep. When I opened the door to let them in, Zoë said, “Hey, Preppy, want to come watch an improv show with us?”

“Improv
?
”
I asked, “What’s that?”

“It’s when the actors call up people from the audience to be part of the show,” Henry explained. “But don’t worry. They don’t make you perform if you don’t want to. You can stay in the audience with me.”

“Sounds fun. My parents aren’t home, so let me write them a note and I’ll be back in a second,” I said, heading into the kitchen, where Chris was eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

“Was that Zoë’s voice?” he mumbled, his mouth full of peanut butter.

I bit back the insult that was on the tip of my tongue and instead said, “Yeah, we’re going to an improv show. Want to come with us?”

“Me?” Chris choked on his sandwich.

“Yeah, you.” I handed him a napkin. “Come on, Zoë’s going to be there. And who knows, maybe you’ll even get a chance to make fun of me if I get called up on stage.”

“Like anybody would ever be able to get you to act in front of a bunch of people,” Chris replied, wiping off the blob of jelly smeared on his shirt.

“I don’t know,” I said, scribbling my note to Mom and Dad. “I don’t really mind the whole acting thing. I think I might even kind of like it.”

“You?” Chris raised his eyebrows. “An actress?”

“Yeah, me an actress.” I smiled at the sound of the words on my lips. “Now, come on. Henry, Eric, and Zoë are waiting. I don’t want to miss my chance of getting up on stage.”

Chris gave me a strange look. “Are you sure some alien body snatchers didn’t come in the middle of the night and switch you with a new Mia?”

“Don’t let your mind wander—it’s far too small to be let out on its own. Of course I’m the same Mia,” I said, glancing at the picture of me from the newspaper Mom had taped to the front of the refrigerator. “Only different.”

I got my first taste of acting in eighth grade when I enrolled in the Junior Theatre Program in Davenport, IA. After my debut performance as Queen Snooty, I was hooked!
Mia the Melodramatic
wouldn’t have been possible without all the experiences Mary Flueher Nighswander and Bonnie Gunther provided me, first as an actor and later as part of the stage crew. There aren’t many people who can say their high school jobs allowed them to hang out with their friends while painting sets, building props, sewing costumes, directing children’s plays, and dressing up as a clown!

I would also like to thank my incredible writers’ group: Jan Blazanin, Becky Janni, and Sharelle Byars Moranville. Their encouragement and critiques have saved me time and time again. I also have a secondary writers’ group that consists of my husband and two children. Their insights and honesty are invaluable to me, too.

The Society of Children’s Book Writer’s and Illustrators (SCBWI) continues to be a wealth of information, and I would like to give a special acknowledgement to the amazingly talented members in the Iowa chapter.

Thank you to my friends and family, and to dedicated readers of the Mia Fullerton series. Your wonderful comments and praise have brightened my world in ways you will never know.

Lastly, I would like to thank Bruce Bortz, publisher of Bancroft Press, and his incomparable assistant, Harrison Demchick, for their help with this book, and with their continuing belief in Mia and me.

Born and educated in Iowa, Eileen Boggess earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, IA.

Her first job after college was as a teacher for St. John/St. Nicholas Catholic School in Waterloo, Iowa, where she taught a combined class of fifth and sixth graders. She later moved to Urbandale, IA, where she taught middle school language arts and gifted education for St. Pius X School. While there, she coached Mock Trial, Future Problem Solvers, Destination Imagination, and speech and debate, and started a quarterly newspaper written and designed by students.

In 2002, she branched out as a freelance writer, covering, among other things, education and business for the Press Citizen newspaper. In 2003, she won a writing contest sponsored by Writer’s Digest Magazine.

She’s an adjunct faculty member for Upper Iowa University and currently teaches a children’s literature course. She also supervises student teachers for the university.

She’s an enthusiastic member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators and a frequent participant in the Iowa chapter’s activities.

Mia the Melodramatic
is the second published installment of her Mia Fullerton series. She’s presently working on several young adult manuscripts, including
Mia the Mooch,
the planned third part of the series.

She enjoys spending her days traveling to schools for author visits, where she laughs and learns with the students.

(To learn more about her school visits and forthcoming books, please visit her website,
www.eileenboggess.com
.)