The Secret Language of Girls (19 page)

When Mrs. Watson leaves the room to run an errand, Robbie Ballard pulls his desk closer to Kate’s.

“So?” he asks, raising his eyebrows.

“So what?” Kate replies uneasily.

Robbie lets out a little laugh. “You know!”

Kate stares at him. This has got to be the weirdest moment of her life. She is apparently having a conversation with Robbie Ballard, but she has no idea what they’re talking about.

“Come on, Kate!” Robbie exclaims. “What do you say?”

Tell her it’s a joke,
Marylin had told Kate’s mom.
Tell her not to say anything Monday.

Kate raises her eyebrows at Robbie but doesn’t say a word.

“You know what I mean, Kate!” Robbie says. “The movies? Didn’t you read the note?”

What note?
Kate almost asks, but she stops herself. “What about it?”

Robbie shakes his head. “What do you mean, ‘What about it?’ Do you want to go to the movies or what?”

Kate smiles her own hundred-watt smile. “Nope,” she says pleasantly.

“You don’t want to go to the movies with me?” Robbie’s mouth hangs open like he has just been socked in the guts.

“No thanks,” Kate says, opening her math book and pretending to be absorbed in her fractions homework.

A buzz seems to follow Kate for the rest of the day. Everywhere she turns, people are looking at her as though they’ve never seen her before. At lunch Caitlin Moore hands her a slam book. “Sign this, okay, Kate? I just started it today.”

Kate nods. As soon as Caitlin walks away, she turns to her page. She expects to find the usual column of “She’s okay” beneath her name, but to Kate’s surprise someone has written “Cute,” and beneath that, in different handwriting, “Mysterious. Wish I knew her better.”

Kate leans back in her chair and looks around the cafeteria. Smiles sparkle at her like flashbulbs from all over the room.

This is definitely the weirdest day of my life,
Kate decides. She wishes someone would explain why she’s such a star all of a sudden. She wishes she could still talk to Marylin. But what would she say?

When the phone rings that afternoon, Kate answers, “Hello?”

And then, “Hey, Marylin.”

As it turns out, she knows exactly what to say.

Also by Frances O’Roark Dowell

Chicken Boy

Dovey Coe

Falling In

The Secret Language of Girls

Shooting the Moon

Where I’d Like to Be

The Phineas L. MacGuire books

(Illustrated by Preston McDaniels)

Phineas L. MacGuire . . . Erupts

Phineas L. MacGuire . . . Gets Slimed!

Phineas L. MacGuire . . . Blasts Off!

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

ATHENEUM BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

Copyright © 2004 by Frances O’Roark Dowell
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

A
THENEUM
B
OOKS FOR
Y
OUNG
R
EADERS
is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Also available in an Atheneum Books for Young Readers hardcover edition.

Designed by Kristin Smith

First Aladdin Paperbacks edition October 2005

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

Dowell, Frances O’Roark.

The secret language of girls / France O’Roark Dowell.

p.cm.

Summary: Marylin and Kate have been friends since nursery school, but when Marylin becomes a middle school cheerleader and Kate begins to develop other interests, their relationship is put to the test.

ISBN 978-0-689-84421-8 (hc)

[1. Best friends—Fiction. 2. Friendship—Fiction. 3. Schools—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.D75455Se 2004

[Fic]—dc22 2003012026

ISBN 978-1-4169-0717-6 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-4424-9029-1 (eBook)