“It’s nice of you to ask, but it might not be much fun if you have to look out for both of us.”
“Of course. How silly of me! You’d probably rather come with your friends. How much fun can you have with a little brother tagging along? Let’s do this: You and some of your girlfriends come on this excursion, and then we’ll take David and some of his friends on another outing, another time. Now let me talk to your mother and fill her in on the details. You’ll have to miss school on Friday because Bob’s golf tournament begins that morning. We’ll pick you and your friends up on Thursday right after school. Does that sound good to you, dear?”
“It sounds great, Aunt Marti. I hope my parents will let me go.”
“Of course they’ll let you go. Here, put your mother on the line.”
“Okay, here she is.”
Christy went back to the sink and began rinsing off the dinner dishes.
“Really, Marti,” she heard her mom say, “I don’t think you have to do this.” She was quiet for a moment; then she handed the phone to Dad.
He listened to Aunt Marti and threw in a “Well, really” and then a “You folks don’t need to.”
But when he said, “All right, then,” Christy knew she was going to Palm Springs. She felt like jumping up and down. They’re going to say yes! My parents are going to let me go.
Suppressing her excitement, Christy wiped her hands off and tossed the dish towel on the counter. She turned to face her parents. They both looked the way they had months earlier when they said she could spend the summer with her aunt and uncle. That night they had made her promise that she wouldn’t do anything that summer in California that she would regret telling them later.
Tonight their approach was a little different. “You can go,” her dad said, “as long as you have all your homework done.”
“No problem,” Christy said lightheartedly. She felt as though they really trusted her, and it felt great.
“Now, Christy,” her mom said, “this is awfully nice of them. I hope you realize that.”
“I do,” Christy said. “Thanks for letting me go.”
“Marti said you could bring several friends. Why don’t you invite Brittany?” her mom suggested.
“Okay. I thought I’d invite Janelle and Katie, too.” Christy’s imagination spun wildly as she pictured herself having an all-weekend slumber party with her new friends.
“Don’t be disappointed if Janelle and Katie aren’t able to go with you,” her mom said.
“Why wouldn’t they?”
Mom picked up the dish towel, folded it neatly, and placed it back on the counter. “Well, from what you’ve said about them, they seem to be very popular girls.”
“They are.”
“What I’m trying to say is that you don’t have to try so hard to become friends with these popular girls. Sometimes the best friends can be the quiet, less popular ones. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“I think so,” Christy said.
“Give it some thought,” her mom said.
Her mother’s words rumbled around in Christy’s mind. Is Mom saying that I’m not popular or that I shouldn’t try to be popular? These girls really like me. They want me to be part of their group. Of course they’ll want to go to Palm Springs with me. Why can’t my mom see how important this is?
The next day at lunch, Christy waited for Katie and Janelle in the spot where they all usually ate together. But neither of them showed up. She spotted Brittany across the grass, surrounded by four guys and too absorbed in them to notice Christy standing off by herself.
I can’t believe this. Was Mom right? Are Janelle and Katie snubbing me? Christy sat down alone and yanked a pear out of her lunch sack. The fruit had so many bruises on it she couldn’t find a spot to bite into without hitting mush.
Around her clumps of people gathered. They were all talking and laughing, wrapped up in their private worlds. Christy felt like an alien. No, worse than that. She felt invisible. Like somebody could walk right through her and wouldn’t even disrupt her molecules.
Why did Janelle and Katie leave me like this? What’s wrong with me? I thought they liked me. I hate eating all by myself.
What made everything worse was that Christy could picture Paula, right now, eating lunch at their old high school. Paula would be sitting on the edge of the table, never on the bench, drinking her daily can of kiwi-strawberry juice and laughing. Except now it was Melissa, not Christy, who shared Paula’s secrets and laughed at her antics.
Christy let herself drift off into the Land of If Only and for the rest of the lunchtime felt sorry for herself.
The shrill bell came as a welcome, nudging Christy to gather her things and wander off to Spanish class. She expected Janelle to come flying in and take the seat in front of her, but Janelle never showed up. She found out later from Brittany that both Katie and Janelle had gotten special permission to paint signs all afternoon for that night’s football game.
They could’ve asked me to help, Christy thought. I know how to paint.
When Christy got home from school she hid out in her bedroom. She threw herself on her bed and mentally listed all the reasons nobody seemed to like her.
She decided to try something. Standing up straight, she peered into the oval mirror above her dresser and projected her best “I’m too good for the rest of you” look. No good. Her eyes had too much natural sparkle.
Next she tried a bright “Everybody look at me; I’m a fun person” look, but that didn’t work either. When she smiled real big, all she saw were her large teeth. She didn’t look full of carefree abandon, the way Janelle did when she smiled.
As she studied her next look, the “I’m so lonely; won’t somebody please feel sorry for me and be my friend” one, David barged into her room without knocking.
“What do you want?” she hollered, spinning around. “Get out of my room!”
“Okay, okay,” David said, stepping back two giant steps. He was officially “out” of her room.
“Would you close my door, please?” She preferred to have her pity parties in private.
“Okay. I guess you don’t want to talk to the person on the phone. I’ll go hang up for you.”
“David!” Christy leaped across her room and elbowed her brother out of the way, managing to make it to the phone before he did. “Hello?” she answered breathlessly.
“Queen Christy doesn’t want to talk to you!” David yelled toward the phone.
“David!” Christy covered the mouthpiece. “Get out of here!” She put the phone back to her mouth. “Hello?” she said sweetly.
“Hi, Christy!” Janelle said in her bouncy manner. “Are you going to the game tonight? I didn’t see you today, so I didn’t get to ask you. Katie needed help with some of her mascot duties, so I didn’t go to Spanish. Did I miss anything?”
“Not really. We’re suppose to work on the next dialogue for Monday.” Christy felt a rush of joy. Her friends hadn’t forgotten about her after all.
“Oh, yuck. I still haven’t memorized the dialogue from last week,” Janelle groaned. “Spanish is not my favorite subject, let me tell you. So, are you going to the game tonight?”
“I don’t think so. I’m supposed to babysit my little brother.”
“Well, try to get out of it. We could give you a ride.”
“I’ll have to ask. Could I call you back if it works out?”
“Sure. Wait a sec.… Oh, Katie just said that you wanted to go to church with us sometime. Do you want to go this Sunday?”
“Yes, I do, if that’s not a problem.”
“Of course not. We’ll pick you up around 8:45.”
“I really appreciate it,” Christy said, feeling as though the whole world had changed from clouds to sunshine. Janelle actually included her in her evening plans for the football game! This would be an ideal time to invite her to Palm Springs.
“Janelle,” Christy asked with a smile in her voice, “I was wondering if
you’d like to go to Palm Springs next weekend.”
“Are you kidding? Of course I would! Who’s going?” Janelle answered without a moment’s hesitation.
“My aunt and uncle are. They said I could bring a couple of friends with me.”
“When are you going?”
“Next Thursday. You’d have to miss school on Friday.”
“Oh, wouldn’t that be too bad? Missing school?” Janelle laughed. “I’m sure my mom would let me. I’ve been extra good and helpful around the house because I was hoping Greg would ask me out, and I wanted to be on her good side when he did. I might as well use up my good credit now. Greg may never wake up and realize how ravishing I really am!”
Christy heard someone, probably Katie, laughing in the background. “I was going to invite Katie, too. Do you think she can go?”
“She’s right here. I’ll ask her.”
Christy heard their muffled conversation in the background. When Janelle came back on the line, she said, “Katie can’t go because of the game next Friday night.”
“Oh, I forgot,” Christy said. “That’s too bad.”
“But Brittany’s here,” Janelle added. “She said she’d love to go with us. Is that okay?”
“Sure,” Christy said.
“Oh,” Janelle cut back in. “Katie said we have to leave for the stadium in about half an hour, so hurry up and call me back if you want a ride.”
“Okay. Thanks! Bye.”
It was amazing how energetic Christy felt after that phone call, even though her mom said Christy couldn’t go to the game. At this point it was that they had included her that mattered. She had so much to look forward to—church on Sunday, Palm Springs next weekend. Why did she doubt her new friends’ loyalty? They invited her to the game, didn’t they?
Christy woke up Sunday morning in a great mood. Slipping her best blue dress over her head and adjusting the top, she thought back to when Aunt Marti bought it for her last summer. She hadn’t worn it since the night Todd took her to the Debbie Stevens concert. It made her feel pretty and sophisticated.
After carefully applying her makeup, she hung her head down and brushed her short, nutmeg-colored hair until it was full all around. Then, shielding her eyes, she quickly squirted on some spritz. One last look. One last dab of mascara.
She thought she heard a car pull in the driveway. Christy grabbed her purse and the Bible Todd and Tracy had given her and hurried to the front door.
“Be sure to take your key,” Mom called through her parents’ closed bedroom door. “We might run a few errands while you’re gone.”
“Okay. See you later. Bye.”
David looked away from the TV as Christy swished past and said, “Where are you going?”
“Church. See you later.”
Christy felt a little self-conscious on the way to church. Janelle and Katie kept commenting on her hair and her outfit and how nice she looked. The remarks made her feel uncomfortable in a good way. It was better than being ignored any day.
When they pulled into a huge parking lot, Christy asked in surprise, “Is this your church?”
“Yes. Why?” Janelle said.
“It’s so huge!”
“Not really,” Katie said. “What was your church like back in Ohio?”
“Wisconsin. And our church was, well, like a church. White with a steeple, and the little kids met in the basement. Our high school Sunday school class had about seven people in it—on a good Sunday.”
“Get ready for a surprise, then!” Janelle said. “I think we have 250 in our high school group.”
They walked briskly toward a building Janelle called the “youth facility.” Christy held her breath as they entered a large room with seats set up like a movie theater. Four guys stood in the front of the room playing guitars while another played a keyboard. All the high-schoolers were sitting or standing around, talking above the volume of the upbeat music.
“You okay?” Janelle asked, looking at Christy’s face.
“I’ve never been to a Sunday school like this before!” Christy said over the loud music.
“Come on, let’s find a seat.”
They found three seats together, and Christy sat on the end, looking around her blankly as Janelle and Katie continued their nonstop conversation. A pretty girl with flawless skin and perfect white teeth tapped Christy on the shoulder.
“Hi. Welcome!” she said brightly. “Would you mind filling this out for us so we can put you on our mailing list and let you know about upcoming activities?”
She smelled fresh, like baby powder.
Christy quickly filled out the small card with her name and address. The last line said, “Hobbies.”
“What should I put?” Christy asked Janelle. “I don’t have any hobbies.”
“I know,” said Janelle. “That’s so dumb. Do you like to ski or swim or sew or anything like that?”
“Not really.”
“I know!” said Katie with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “Put down ‘toilet papering.’ ”
“Yeah, right!” Christy said.
“No, do it! It’ll be funny,” Janelle urged.
Oh, well. The girl said they just needed it for their mailing list. So she wrote it down.
“Thanks,” said the girl, who had patiently waited for Christy to fill out the card. “We’re really glad to have you here visiting us. Hope you’ll come again!”
“She’s nice,” Christy said.
“Who, Wendy?”
Christy nodded and looked toward Wendy. Her blond hair, pulled back in a French braid, looked as if gold threads had been carefully woven into it by the sun.
“Wendy’s our model,” Katie said. “She’s so perfect. We all wish we could be like her by the time we’re seniors.”
“She’s also Rick’s girlfriend.”
Christy’s heart froze. The mention of Rick made her feel squeamish.
“They’re not going together,” Katie said bluntly.
“I heard they went out twice already, and she was at the game Friday night. They probably went out after the game, too.”
“So they’ve gone out two, maybe three times, huh? I suppose in your opinion, Janelle, they’re practically engaged.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“But that’s what you insinuated.”
“Katie, I hate it when you use all your big words,” Janelle said.
Christy ventured to disrupt their play-fight. “What’s ‘insinuate’?”
Katie looked at Janelle and then turned toward Christy, her shiny hair doing its little swishing fan motion. “It means, maybe that’s not what Janelle said, but that’s what she meant. It’s the same as ‘intimated.’ ”
“Intimated?” Christy questioned, scrunching up her nose.
Janelle and Katie looked at each other, and then they both burst into laughter. Christy couldn’t tell if they were laughing at her or at each other or what. All her self-conscious feelings began to rise. She considered ducking out, finding the rest room, and hiding there for a while.
A guy in his late twenties with brown hair stepped to the microphone in the front of the room: “Good morning, everyone!” People started quieting down and finding their seats. The guy at the microphone ran through some quick announcements and then said, “We’d like to take a minute now to introduce our visitors.”
Suddenly, Rick Doyle stepped up to the microphone. Tall and smiling, dressed in dark slacks and a white shirt, he held a few cards in his hand. He scanned the room for a second, and then, as if he found what he was looking for, his gaze stopped at Christy and stayed there as he spoke to the group.
“Okay, listen up everybody. We have four visitors this morning, and I want you guys to make them feel welcome. First one here is Christina Miller. Would you stand up, Christina?”
Christy froze in her seat. Her heart pounded. She couldn’t move.
“Stand up,” Katie urged, pulling her up by the arm.
“Come o
n,” Janelle nudged. “Stand up!”
“She’s kind of shy,” Katie said loud enough for the whole room to hear.
Everyone turned and looked at her. With every ounce of nerve, Christy fought the panic that paralyzed her and stood, trembling. Why didn’t they tell me I was going to have to stand up and be introduced? I never would’ve filled out that card! And why is Rick the one doing the introductions?
“Christina is a sophomore at Kelley High,” Rick read from the card, “and it says here that her hobby is ‘toilet papering.’ ”
The whole room burst into laughter.
“At least she admits it!” Rick said loudly into the microphone. He was looking right at her and smiling broadly. “We’re real glad to have you here, Christina.”
Christy dropped to her seat and kept looking straight ahead, her teeth clenched, her face burning with embarrassment. Janelle and Katie giggled beside her as if they’d planned this little prank all along. Rick introduced the other three visitors.
Christy wanted to melt into her seat or somehow evaporate into the air. This had to be the most embarrassing moment of her entire life.
In a few minutes the group was dismissed to go into separate classrooms. Christy kept her head down, staring at her feet, reluctantly following Janelle and Katie to their elective class on First Corinthians.
Suddenly someone stood before her, blocking her exit. She looked up hesitantly, holding her breath. It was Rick!
“So,” he said, smiling broadly, “your name is Christina.” He stood there, tall and confident, completely overwhelming Christy. She could barely make her head nod and her mouth form a light smile.
“I’m Rick.” He stuck out his hand to shake hers.
Christy forced her sweating palm into his strong grip. She tried to push the word Hi from her throat, but it wouldn’t come.
Rick let go of her hand. “I’ve been telling everybody about the night you popped out of the bushes at my house. That was incredible. And then didn’t I see you in the hall at school last week?”
Christy forced out a breathy laugh and nodded her head ever so slightly.