There’s A Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom (16 page)

Bradley turned pale.

“Just do whatever I do,” said Jeff.

A large dog dashed out through the back door and jumped up on Bradley, putting his muddy paws on his clean shirt. Bradley nearly fell over.

“Chicken, get down!” scolded Colleen’s mother.

Chicken had wiry red hair and a square face. He got down, but stayed by Bradley’s side.

“Chicken’s usually afraid of everybody,” said Colleen.

Bradley patted his head, glad Chicken liked him.

Mrs. Verigold split the group into two teams for a relay race. She put Jeff and Bradley on separate teams because she said it wouldn’t be fair for the two boys to be together.

Bradley lined up with the other members of his
team. He was in the middle. Amie and Betty were in front of him. Judy and Dena were behind him.

On the other team, Jeff was talking to Colleen. Bradley wondered if he should talk to one of the girls on his team, but he didn’t know what to say. Besides, they were all talking to each other. He petted Chicken.

“On your mark,” said Mrs. Verigold, “get set … 
go!”

Suddenly the race started and everyone on his team was screaming. “C’mon, Amie!” “Go!” “Run, Amie!” “Faster!”

He watched Amie run and touch a tree at the end of the yard, then turn around and come back. She slapped Betty’s hand, then Betty ran toward the tree.

“Run, Betty!” everyone except Bradley shouted. “Slow down, Betty,” he whispered to himself, hoping his turn would never come.

He turned around. Judy was behind him, yelling to Betty. “Do you want to go next?” he asked her.

“Stick your hand out!” she hollered back.

He spun around and stuck his hand out just in time. Betty slapped it and he took off. He ran as hard as he could to the tree.

“Go, Bradley!” he heard someone yell. “C’mon, Bradley!” It made him want to run faster than he’d ever run before. Chicken barked at his side.

Melinda was running for the other team. She had started before him, but he beat her to the tree. He almost
slipped and fell, but caught his balance and charged back toward his cheering teammates.

“C’mon, Bradley!” they all yelled.

He slapped Judy’s hand, then bent over to catch his breath. He turned and shouted louder than anyone, “Go, Judy! Run!” then, “C’mon, Dena!”

Dena crossed the finish line and everyone on his team jumped up and down.

“What happened?” he asked.

“We won!” said Betty.

He jumped up and down too.

“That means we each get two points,” said Judy.

That was something new. Jeff hadn’t told him anything about points.

Judy explained it to him. “Everybody on the winning team gets two points, and everybody on the losing team gets one point.”

Betty interrupted. “It would come out the same if they just gave one point to the winners and nothing to the losers,” she said, “but this way the losers don’t feel as bad.”

“I’m
telling him!” said Judy. “After each race we trade teams, and then at the end of all the races, Colleen’s mother counts up the points and the girl with the most points gets first pick from the basket of prizes. Then the girl with the second most gets second pick, and so on.”

“Colleen’s mother has a chart with everyone’s name on it to keep track of the points,” explained Betty.

“I’m telling him!” said Judy. “Colleen’s mother has a chart.”

Bradley laughed with delight. “Are all birthday parties this much fun?” he asked.

Judy and Betty looked at each other. The only thing that made this party special was
the boys
, but they couldn’t tell that to Bradley.

“Haven’t you ever been to a birthday party before?” asked Betty.

“Not for a long time. I got kicked out of the last one I went to.”

“Well, if you have any questions, just ask me,” said Betty.

“Or me,” said Judy.

“I’ve been to more birthday parties than you,” said Betty.

“You have not!” said Judy. “She hasn’t.”

“What about Holly’s birthday party?” asked Betty. “You didn’t go to that one.”

“That’s because we were on vacation,” said Judy.

“So, you still didn’t go.”

They had to switch teams for the next relay race. This time Bradley was with Betty, Amie, Karen, and Melinda. For this race, everyone had to hop on one foot.

“On one foot!” Bradley exclaimed.

He rooted loudly for everyone on his team, and when it was his turn, he heard them all cheer for him. His team won again.

“You’re an excellent hopper, Melinda,” he said
after the race. “You hopped twice as far as Colleen on each hop.”

Melinda beamed. “You’re a good hopper too,” she said.

Colleen’s mother marked the points on the chart, and they switched teams for the next race. This time they had to hop on both feet.

“On both feet!” Bradley exclaimed.

They continued changing teams for each new race. He and Jeff were never allowed on the same team, and since Colleen always made sure that she was on Jeff’s team, Bradley was never with her either.

He was glad about that. He felt comfortable with everybody else, but he was still a little scared of Colleen. He was afraid she might ask him another question he wasn’t supposed to answer.

Lori was on his team for the backward race. She stood behind him in line and screamed in his ear the whole time. He loved it. He had to shout twice as loud just to hear himself.

His ear was still ringing when Mrs. Verigold announced that the next race would be a somersault race.

The smile left his face. He didn’t know how to do a somersault! He looked anxiously at Chicken.

But as it turned out, nobody on his team could do a somersault! It was hilarious. Everyone was laughing. When it was his turn, he rolled and flopped in every direction except the way he was supposed to go. And every time he hit the ground, Chicken tried to lick his
face. Perhaps he would have done better if he could have stopped laughing.

Everybody on the other team was good at somersaults. The teams just worked out that way. Karen was the best.

“You should be in the Olympics!” he told her after the race.

She smiled and blushed.

Bradley smiled too. Even though his team lost, he thought it had been the most fun race of the day.

Plus, when the girls somersaulted in their party dresses, he could see their underwear.

Colleen’s mother told everyone to find a partner for the three-legged race. Jeff and Colleen looked nervously at each other.

Judy and Betty paired up. They stood side by side with their arms around each other’s shoulders as Mrs. Verigold tied their inside legs together.

Lori and Melinda became another team. Bradley thought they looked funny since Melinda was almost twice Lori’s size.

Amie and Dena looked even funnier. Since they were both dressed the same, they looked like a two-headed monster. Except, of course, he didn’t believe in monsters.

Karen suddenly realized what was happening. If Jeff and Colleen became partners, it meant she’d have to be partners with Bradley!

“So, um,” Jeff said to Colleen. “Who’s your partner?”

“No one, yet,” said Colleen. “Who’s yours?”

“No one, yet.”

Colleen’s mother stepped in and paired up the final two teams. She didn’t think it would be proper for a boy and a girl to have their legs tied together, so she made Jeff and Bradley one team, and Colleen and Karen the other.

Bradley was glad that he and Jeff were finally on the same team. Colleen and Jeff were happy with the teams too. As much as they liked each other, they weren’t quite ready to put their arms around each other and tie their legs together. Karen was the only one who was disappointed. She thought it would have been exciting to have been partners with Bradley.

The five teams lined up. It wasn’t a relay race. Each team would go at the same time. They had to run past the tree to the fence, then back.

“Don’t try to run too fast,” Jeff cautioned. “The most important thing is that we keep together so we don’t fall down.”

Bradley nodded.

“On your mark,” said Mrs. Verigold. “Get set … 
go!”

They took two steps, then tumbled to the ground.

As they tried to get up, they kept pulling each other back down. At last they stood up together and started after the others.

“Inside, outside, inside, outside …” Jeff directed as they moved their legs in unison.

The other teams took a long time turning around at the fence. When Jeff and Bradley reached the fence, they simply fell down again and stood up facing the other direction. It was quicker that way.

Amie and Dena were just ahead of them. Amie tried to go to the left of the tree as Dena tried to go to the right of it. They smashed into it.

“Inside, outside, inside, outside …” said Jeff as he and Bradley charged around them.

Karen and Colleen were in the lead when they suddenly stumbled and fell on their faces. Judy and Betty tumbled over them.

Lori and Melinda had to stop and turn to avoid the pile.

Jeff and Bradley charged past, now in first place. “Inside, outside, inside, outside …” called Jeff, but they must have missed a beat somewhere because when he said, “Inside,” they moved their outside feet, and when he said, “Outside,” they moved their inside feet.

“Hey, Bradley, you’re going the wrong way!” yelled Lori.

“Whoa, ahhh blbph!”

Amie and Dena dived across the finish line in first place, just ahead of Lori and Melinda. Jeff and Bradley crawled across in third. Judy, Betty, Karen, and Colleen remained tangled together on the grass.

After everyone got untied, they gathered on the grass next to the patio. “Now what?” Bradley asked nobody in particular.

“Colleen’s mother is adding up the points,” said Betty.

“Then we’ll get to pick our prizes,” said Judy.

“He asked
me!”
said Betty.

Everyone hushed as Mrs. Verigold prepared to announce the winner. “The winner is …”—she paused suspensefully—“… Bradley!”

He was shocked. He had been on the winning team every time except for the three-legged race and the
somersault race, but he had been having too much fun to notice.

Everyone clapped their hands as he walked to the front. Mrs. Verigold gave him a blue ribbon that said First Place on it. No one had told him about the ribbon. Then he got to pick a prize.

He looked through the basket. There were lots of good things from which to choose: dolls, makeup, perfume, earrings, hair ornaments. He chose a harmonica.

Melinda came in second. Then Amie, Judy, Dena, Karen, Lori, and Betty, and Jeff was last.

Jeff knew he’d be last, since he was never on Bradley’s team. The only race he won was the somersault race. Actually, he had tied for last with Colleen, but Colleen didn’t get a prize because she’d be getting all her presents later.

Jeff took the only prize left in the basket, a doll’s dress. “Thank you,” he said politely.

“Now what?” Bradley asked.

“We have ice cream and cake,” said Melinda.

“Oh boy,” said Bradley.

Melinda laughed.

They sat at the picnic table. Colleen sat at the head of the table. Bradley sat between Jeff and Melinda. Judy and Betty sat across from him.

“Mrs. Verigold’s going to bring in the cake now,” said Judy.

“With candles,” said Betty.

“I’m telling him!” said Judy. “With candles.”

Mrs. Verigold brought in the cake and suddenly everyone started singing. Bradley was caught by surprise. He didn’t have time to remember the words, though he tried. He sang:

He suddenly realized he was the only one still singing.

Everyone laughed.

“It’s not his fault,” said Judy. “This is his first birthday party in a long time.”

“There are ten candles because she’s ten years old,” explained Betty.

“Oh, I get it!” said Bradley.

Lori laughed.

Colleen blew them all out.

“That means her wish will come true,” explained Melinda.

“But she can’t tell you what she wished for, otherwise it won’t come true,” Lori explained.

Bradley carefully ate his cake and ice cream, without making a mess. Then everyone went into the living room, where Colleen opened her presents.

“Open mine!” “Mine first,” they urged. “That one’s mine!”

“Open mine, Colleen,” said Bradley.

After each present was opened, everyone said, “How neat,” and “Ooh,” and “I wish I had one of those.”

Bradley said those things too, and he meant what he said, although most of the gifts were things he never would have wanted.

Colleen picked up the next present.

“That’s mine!” he shouted.

Colleen read the card. On the front of the card there was a picture of a baseball player swinging a baseball bat. It said, “Here’s hoping your birthday is …” On the inside of the card it showed the bat smacking a ball and it said, “a big hit!” Under that it said, “Happy Birthday,” and it was signed,
Love, Bradley
.

Everyone went crazy. “Love!” exclaimed Amie. “Love?”

Bradley’s heart sank as he realized he had made a terrible mistake.

“Bradley’s in love with Colleen!” said Dena.

“Oooh, Bradley,” said Judy.

“When are you getting married?” teased Lori.

“Shut up!” Karen shouted.

Everyone stopped talking and looked at her very surprised.

“Big
deal!” said Karen. “You’re all so immature.”

Colleen tore off the wrapping paper and looked at Bradley’s gift. Her mouth dropped open. She showed it to everyone.

“Wow!” said Lori.

“Let me see!” said Amie.

It was a replica of the human heart. They could see all the blood vessels, the aorta, and all the capillaries. The heart valves opened and shut. It could be taken apart and put back together again.

“How neat!” said Melinda.