Stacey vs. Claudia

  I had to run upstairs to the offices to ask my mom for permission. I caught up with her just as she was about to leave. “I don’t even know this boy,” Mom said.

  “He’s right outside, calling his parents on the pay phone,” I said. “You can meet him right now.”

  She walked into the hall with me. Jeremy was just getting off the phone. “Dad can pick us up,” he said, turning. He smiled at Mom. “Hi, Mrs. McGill. I’m Jeremy Rudolph.”

  I could tell the introduction went over well with Mom. She seemed to like Jeremy instantly. They talked for a little while and seemed very comfortable.

  “All right, kids, have fun,” Mom said as she left.

  We went to the Rosebud Café. It’s not too fancy, but it’s nice. Talking to Jeremy was so easy. “I’m used to moving all the time,” he said after we ordered. “But I don’t think Dad ever gets used to it.”

  “What does he do?” I asked.

  “He’s a painter. Abstract stuff.” My mind flashed on Ethan for a second, another painter. “Sometimes he sells his work, but my mom makes the real money, so we go where her career takes her.”

  Too soon, Jeremy called his father to pick us up. I spotted him right away. Jeremy and his father looked so alike.

  When we arrived at my house, Jeremy walked me to the door. “I had a great time,” he said. My heart leaped. “Want to go out on a real, official date soon?”

  “Definitely,” I answered without hesitating. “ ’Bye.”

  He backed down the walkway, beaming a smile at me.

  I waved and went inside. In the hall, I did a little dance of happiness. Yes! Yes! Yes!

  This had been great, worth all the trouble.

  I felt wonderful, as if I might float to the ceiling from pure happiness.

  “That you, Stacey?” Mom called from upstairs.

  “I’ll be right there,” I called back. I couldn’t wait to tell her about my afternoon. I charged up the stairs. I was eight steps up when I noticed the blinking light on the answering machine.

  I hoped Claudia had called. Maybe she wanted to talk, to tell me she’d calmed down and everything was all right.

  I ran downstairs and played the messages.

  Message one: Hi. It’s Ethan. Just wanted to say hi.

  Message two: It’s Ethan again. Hey, Stacey, are you mad? I hope not. Call me back.

  I still didn’t see the point of calling Ethan back.

  Besides, I was disappointed that the messages had been from him … and not from Claudia.

  By Wednesday I was deeply disappointed that Claudia hadn’t called. Was it unfair of me to expect her to take the first step?

  Maybe it was.

  Enough time had passed. She’d probably calmed down, at least a little.

  Our friendship was too important to let this fight go on any longer. That was what I intended to say as I headed for her locker before homeroom.

  But as I neared it, I slowed down. Someone else was there talking to Claudia.

  Jeremy.

  Hmm. That was interesting. Jeremy was probably telling her what a great person he thought she was. That’s what a great guy he was. The best.

  I turned and went to my homeroom. Jeremy would make Claudia feel better about things. By the time I spoke to her she’d be ready to hear me. I’d talk to her at lunch.

  After homeroom, I hurried to Jeremy’s locker, hoping he’d be there. He was.

  “Hi,” I said cheerfully.

  He didn’t return the smile. “Hi,” he replied, not meeting my eyes. “I’d better get to class. See ya.” He rushed away.

  “What —” I began, astounded. Was this the same person I’d had such fun with the day before?

  Then I remembered how great Claudia thought their time together had been. Was that some strange routine with him — act enthusiastic and then lose interest the next day?

  For the rest of the morning I felt very uneasy. I couldn’t wait to see Jeremy again, to find out what was going on.

  I spotted him at lunchtime, in the hallway outside the cafeteria. This time he hurried to me. “We have to talk,” he said seriously, touching my elbow.

  I nodded.

  “Not here,” he said. “Somewhere private.”

  This was making me nervous. “How about the music room?” I suggested.

  “Okay,” he said, heading for it.

  The music room was empty. I stopped, folded my arms, and steeled my nerves for whatever it was he was about to say.

  “Who’s Ethan?” Jeremy asked.

  Ethan! How did he get into this? I’d never mentioned him.

  “I thought we were really honest with each other yesterday when we were talking. You told me about your parents’ divorce, about being diabetic,” he said, sounding hurt. “How could you forget to tell me you have a boyfriend? If Claudia hadn’t mentioned it, I’d never have known.”

  “Claudia!”

  “Yes, she told me you’re dating some guy in New York.”

  “Was dating!” I exploded. “She knows perfectly well that Ethan and I agreed to cool things down.”

  “Stacey, I don’t just want to be some dating experiment while you’re still seeing Ethan.”

  “You’re not!” I protested. “I haven’t even been answering his phone calls.”

  “Which means he’s still calling you,” Jeremy replied.

  “As far as I’m concerned Ethan and I have broken up. I’ve barely thought of Ethan since I met you.”

  “That’s not what Claudia said.”

  Claudia again! I could not believe what she’d done. “What exactly did she say?”

  “She said she felt pretty sure you two would be patching things up soon.”

  “That’s so not true! He’s taking an art class on the weekends, the only time we can see each other. Does that sound like a good relationship to you?”

  “It sounds like you’re having a fight over the art class right now. Once the class ends everything will return to the way it was.”

  “No! It’s not like that. It’s over.”

  “Then why didn’t you mention him to me?”

  “Because it’s over, in the past,” I answered.

  Jeremy shook his head doubtfully. “I don’t know. It doesn’t sound as ‘over’ as you say. I need to think about it some more.”

  “There’s nothing to think about.”

  Jeremy edged out the door. “Maybe it’s just me, but … I’ll call you.”

  He turned and walked away.

  I’ll call you. That sentence echoed through my head. I’ll call you.

  Did he mean it? Or had he just dumped me before we ever really got started?

  It was strange, but the thought of ending things with Jeremy was much more upsetting than ending things with Ethan had been. Maybe because that had been dying out slowly. But this felt more like a sharp, abrupt break.

  And who did I have to thank for it? My former best friend, Ms. Claudia Kishi.

  How could she do that? Did she honestly think she’d have a chance with Jeremy if she got me out of the way? Or was this plain old revenge?

  I stormed into the lunchroom — on a search-and-destroy mission.

  My target?

  Claudia Kishi.

  The little witch managed to avoid me for the rest of the day. “Where’s Claudia?” I’d demanded of my friends at our lunch table.

  They shrugged.

  “What are you so mad about?” Kristy asked.

  I sat down and launched into my story.

  “Maybe she just mentioned Ethan, and Jeremy took it the wrong way,” Mary Anne suggested.

  “Yeah. Right,” I scoffed.

  I was too furious to eat more than a few bites of lunch. I headed for the art room, but Claudia wasn’t there. I checked her locker and the girls’ room.

  No luck.

  Wherever I was, she wasn’t. She had to know that I’d be out to give her a piece of my mind. Obviously, she was hiding.

  But there was one p
lace where she couldn’t get away from me. And that was in her very own house, at our BSC meeting.

  That afternoon I had a sitting job for the Rodowsky kids. The boys were cute and funny, and usually I like to sit for them. But today my mind wasn’t all there.

  All I could do was mentally rehearse the verbal beating I planned to give Claudia.

  And, boy, would I ever let her have it.

  I had intended to get to Claudia’s early and talk to her before the meeting began. Unfortunately, Mrs. Rodowsky was late coming home. I had just enough time to make it to the meeting by five-thirty.

  The moment I laid eyes on Claudia I wanted to tear into her. It wasn’t fair to Mary Anne and Kristy, though. We’d already ruined one meeting with our fight.

  Instead, I glared at her viciously during the meeting.

  She returned the Look.

  I’m sure Kristy and Mary Anne were incredibly uncomfortable. They had to know something was going on. They did their best to ignore it, though.

  “I’d like to get back to the idea of assigning free time on the weekends,” Kristy said. “I’ve made a chart here.” She held up a large piece of cardboard with times marked on it.

  I was too busy cutting Claudia down with my eyes to pay much attention. As I held her in my gaze, her face seemed to change. I’d once thought she was so pretty. Now it seemed that deceitful small-mindedness was written all over her face, obvious to everyone.

  Why hadn’t I seen it before?

  The phone rang. Dr. Johanssen called wanting a sitter for Charlotte. Mary Anne offered it to me first since Char and I are so close. It was for Friday night. But I didn’t care. As far as I knew I might be free every weekend night for a long time.

  Thanks to big-mouth Claudia.

  The phone rang continually from then on. That was good, since it made the meeting go fast. The faster the better. I couldn’t wait to get hold of Claudia.

  Finally, six o’clock came. Mary Anne and Kristy left.

  But I didn’t.

  “Why are you still here?” Claudia asked me.

  “Because I have something to say to you. How dare you tell Jeremy about Ethan?”

  Claudia glowered at me. “Why? Was it a big secret that you’re stringing along two nice guys? Everyone in school knows you’re just using Jeremy. Why shouldn’t he?”

  “You are such a jealous liar!” I shouted.

  “Jealous? Of you? That’s a laugh.”

  “You know you’re jealous. You can’t accept the fact that Jeremy doesn’t want to go out with you. Well, deal with it, Claudia! Get it through your brainless head that —”

  “Brainless!”

  “You heard me! What else would you call someone who can’t even spell, who was held back a grade?”

  “I’d call it better than being some stuck-up creep who acts like she’s better than anyone else just because she comes from New York City.”

  “I do not!” I cried.

  “Face it, Stacey — ten million other people live in the city. It’s not exactly a claim to fame. Get over yourself.”

  “I’m not nearly as impressed with myself as you are with yourself. You think you’re such a hot artist that it doesn’t matter if you’re stupid. Well, guess what? Your artwork isn’t that great.”

  “How would you know? You wouldn’t recognize a piece of artwork if it hit you over the head.”

  “Oh, be quiet, Claudia,” I said, turning away.

  “Why should I?” she came back at me. “After the way you’ve treated me I have a perfect right to say what I think of you.”

  “I haven’t done anything to you,” I protested.

  “You let me talk to you about Jeremy, about how I felt. You even said you’d help me get together with him. And all the while you were planning on taking him for yourself.”

  “That’s not how it was. I’ve told you that.”

  “But you’re a big liar.”

  “I’m not. But you’re a big loser. What are you going to do? Follow Jeremy around forever and try to break up his romances? Even if you do, it won’t matter. He will never want to date you.”

  She surprised me by not replying. My last words seemed to have hit their mark. Tears sprang to her eyes.

  “Just forget it,” I said. “Let’s stop this before we say things we really regret.”

  She laughed bitterly, a tear falling down her cheek. “It’s a little late for that, don’t you think?”

  She was right.

  Way too late.

  I walked out of her room feeling numb and empty. The moment I was outside, though, tears gushed from my eyes. I wanted to crawl into a ball and do nothing but cry. I had to get myself home before I could do that.

  There weren’t too many people on the street. I tried not to think about them as I rushed home, head down.

  Mom was coming down the stairs as I pushed open the front door.

  “Stacey!” she cried, alarmed. “What happened?”

  “Claudia and I had a fight. That’s what happened.” I pushed past Mom, ran into my room, and slammed the door behind me.

  A fight with your best friend can be more upsetting than a breakup with your boyfriend. I discovered this pretty quickly after my fight with Claudia.

  Right away, before school even began, I felt lost. Normally, Claudia would have appeared at my locker. Or I’d have gone to hers.

  Of course, I could have gone to see Kristy, Mary Anne, or Abby. I was friendly with other kids at school as well. But they’d know something was weird.

  I didn’t want to make anyone feel like a second choice.

  Then I thought of Rachel. I knew she had no regular morning routine. And it didn’t feel awkward to look for her. So I did.

  “Hi,” she greeted me. I didn’t see any surprise in her expression, just welcome. “How’s the romantic triangle?”

  She looked especially pretty, I thought. Her brown hair was pulled back into a French braid and she wore a short denim skirt under a soft bright yellow sweater.

  “The triangle is smashed to pieces,” I reported glumly. “Claudia and I aren’t speaking to each other. And Jeremy isn’t sure he wants to go out with me anymore.”

  Rachel grimaced. “Wow. Is he going out with Claudia?”

  “Not that I know of. But who knows what she’ll pull today.”

  “What do you mean?”

  I told her what Claudia had done. Then I gave her a replay of my fight with her.

  “That sounds pretty ugly. Did you really mean everything you said to her?”

  I had to think a minute before answering. “Yes and no,” I replied.

  Rachel laughed. “What does that mean?”

  “Well, like when I said she was brainless. It does annoy me that she won’t bother to spell correctly. I’m not sure why. It’s her business. But doesn’t it seem to you that by eighth grade a person wouldn’t want to present herself as a nitwit every time she writes a sentence?”

  “Does it embarrass you?”

  “You know, you’re right. It does,” I said, realizing this for the first time. “Everyone knows we’re best friends. So I guess every time she writes something I think it makes me look stupid too.”

  “It would bother me,” Rachel said.

  “It would?”

  “Yeah.”

  “But even though I’m bothered by it, I know Claudia isn’t brainless. She’s actually pretty smart about things she wants to be smart about, like art. That’s why I said yes and no.”

  “Claudia and I never got along, so I really shouldn’t say anything,” Rachel began as she shut her locker. “But I think telling Jeremy about Ethan was pretty low.”

  I appreciated her opinion. It’s hard to be all alone, wondering if you’re seeing things clearly. “It was low, wasn’t it?” I said.

  “Very.”

  “And she said some pretty nasty things during our fight. She said I’m stuck-up about being from the city. You don’t think so, do you?”

  She smile
d. “How would I know? I’m stuck-up about having lived in London.”

  I laughed. “No you’re not. You don’t seem so to me.”

  “That’s because we’re alike,” Rachel said cheerfully. “Two stuck-up city girls. Hey, we can’t help it if we’ve seen more and done more than some other kids. It’s who we are.”

  I began to wonder about Claudia. She didn’t know much about life outside of Stoneybrook. Even Jeremy had lived all around the country.

  We began walking down the hall together. “What do you think I should do about Jeremy?” I asked.

  “I’m no expert, but I’d give him a little more time, then go talk to him.”

  “What’s there to say?”

  “It doesn’t matter. If you like him so much, don’t let him go without trying.”

  At lunch I faced another dilemma. I didn’t want to have to sit somewhere else. But the idea of sitting with Claudia was sickening.

  I dawdled and got to the end of the lunch line so I could observe what was happening. Jeremy was sitting with the same boys he’d sat with the day before. I waited for Claudia to appear.

  As I moved along the line, I realized she wasn’t even in the lunchroom.

  With that thought, I calmed down. I could eat with my friends after all.

  Still, I found that I couldn’t relax.

  “Why are you staring at the lunchroom door?” Abby asked.

  “Don’t worry. Claudia’s absent today,” Kristy told me.

  Had she made herself sick over this? Or did she want to avoid me so thoroughly that she’d convinced her parents to let her stay home?

  “You look really stressed,” Mary Anne noted.

  “What’s going on?” Abby asked.

  “You don’t want to know,” Kristy told her. “You two looked about ready to explode yesterday, Stacey.”

  “We did explode, right after you and Mary Anne left.” I told them about the big fight and what had caused it.

  Kristy glared at me. “I can’t believe the two of you let a boy come between you. I thought you were smarter than that.”

  I shook my head. “I think it’s become more than Jeremy,” I said. “I’m really hurt that she would try to wreck things for me. And I’m hurt that she thinks I’d try to steal him away, that I’d betray her like that. What does she really think of me if she can believe those things?”