Putting Boys on the Ledge (3 page)

That was my arm! Not mine as in
mine
, but mine as in, it was supposed to be around
my
shoulder.

"Nice job." Allie appeared on my other side. "I didn't know you could act."

He was leaving.

With that girl.

And she was giggling at something he'd said.

What guy liked a girl who giggled?

Frances touched my arm. "Blue? You there?"

"He didn't take my number."

Allie and Frances both stared at me as if I'd lost my mind. Then Allie grinned and nudged Frances. "Blue's in love."

"I'm not in love." That was ridiculous. No one fell in love in seven minutes.

"No? Have you ever cared whether a boy had your phone number?"

Heath disappeared out the door with that girl, and I finally focused on my friends. "He smells amazing. He shaves."

Frances lifted her dark eyebrows. "He has a nice voice too."

Allie grinned. "His name is Heath Cavendish. He's a senior. He doesn't have a serious girlfriend at the moment. And he has a car."

I gaped at Allie. When it came to boys, she was a serious asset. "How'd you find that out?"

"While you were gazing into his gorgeous eyes, I was working." She winked. "It's amazing what kind of information a little cleavage can get you."

Frances scowled. "Did you use your body to get information?"

Allie tossed her hair with a sparkly grin, giving us a looksee of how she'd done it. "Of course. Boys are so easy to manipulate."

"That's immoral. Or unethical. Or illegal. Or something." Frances donned her schoolteacher look. "You should get ahead on hard work alone."

Frances's parents were very hard workers, and they'd made it their mission to instill that work ethic in Frances. Personally, I thought Frances needed to lighten up a bit. Allie and Natalie agreed, and we'd been working on a plan. Or we were going to work on a plan. It'd been a little crazy with the start of school and stuff.

And now that I'd met Heath Cavendish, how was I ever going to concentrate on anything else?

I had to find a way to run into Heath again. Only this time I was going to make sure my nails were done and that I was coherent enough to persuade him that my brain actually functioned. And I needed to get bigger breasts.

Not sure which of the last two was going to be tougher. They were both going to be a challenge.

* * *

A half hour later Allie and I stopped at the end of my driveway. "Nearly seven-thirty." I grimaced. "Dinner was at seven."

"Your mom will flip," Allie said.

Understatement of the year.

My parents believed that all of the world's problems, including poverty and war, stemmed from the breakdown of family. This social disaster included parents who don't have time for their kids, bad parents in general, and kids who weren't taught the value of family. Therefore, in the Waller household, family dinners were required. Period. The only acceptable excuses for missing them were death or coma, neither of which applied in this particular case. And since Allie had been a fixture at our family dinners ever since her parents got divorced and her mom hit the dating scene, she was going to be in just as much trouble as I was.

Six years ago, Allie's mom got a divorce and moved into a "me" phase. Translation: she had no time for Allie or Louisa, leaving them home alone most nights while she went out and worked on her social life. The instant my mom found out that Allie was eating by herself a lot because her mom was off on another date, she ordered Allie to attend our family dinners any evening her mom was out. Obviously bringing Allie into our family circle was the only way to ensure Allie didn't become a mass murderer, which was what her fate would have been without regular family dinners.

Have I mentioned that my parents are eccentric?

The front door slammed open.

I jumped. Allie grinned.

Allie loves my parents. She has actually admitted to being jealous of me because I have people who keep track of everything I do. She has no appreciation for how lucky she is that she can do anything she wants anytime she wants. Well, except for when my mom interferes in her life. Then she's subject to the same strictures as I am.

"Hi, Dad." He was wearing a tie-dyed shirt and a pair of flowy pant things that were all poofy around the knees. Why couldn't I have a dad who worked at a law firm and wore suits every day?

"Inside." He held open the door and tried to look stern.

My dad is a terrible disciplinarian. He's too much of a softy. My mom has even bought him books on tough love, but they didn't really make a difference, thankfully. Unfortunately, it isn't a problem my mom has.

Allie and I slinked past Dad, but Mom was waiting. Hands on her hips, a legit scowl on her face. She was wearing black. She always puts on black when she's in a bad mood.

Have I noted that my parents can be total freaks sometimes? What do you expect from parents who could name their child Blueberry? I had no chance from the start.

"To the table."

My seventeen-year-old brother, Theo, and my little sister, Marissa, were already at the table. Marissa looked worried—she idolizes me, so no doubt she was worried for my safety. Theo, on the other hand, looked very pleased. He probably figured Mom would be too mad at me and Allie to notice his latest escapade.

I stuck my tongue out at Theo as we sat down, but he just grinned.

Dad appeared behind Mom. "Can we eat now? I'm starved."

Oh, great. She held dinner for us. No doubt trying to rally the troops against us. That's another one of my mom's theories about effective parenting. Teach kids to think about how their actions affect others. By making the entire family suffer because I was late, I should feel even worse about my actions and never do it again.

As if I'd ever feel bad about making Theo suffer. That's what brothers are for, aren't they?

"Yes, you can eat."

It took less than five seconds after dinner started for Mom to go on the offensive. "I thought you two were dead," she said.

Guilt trip ahead. I shifted in my chair. "Sorry about that. I'm not dead," I said. "Neither is Allie."

Allie just smiled, no doubt thrilled that a parent had noticed her absence enough to worry about her being dead.

"School got out hours ago," my mom said. "Where were you?"

"Tryouts," Allie announced.

Guess I should have told her I wasn't going to tell anyone about the tryouts. No need to have to explain when I didn't get the part

"For what?" my mom asked.

"Musical," I muttered.

"You can't sing." Theo looked delighted that he'd had the opportunity to share that little nugget.

I really wished I could break out into magnificent tune and show everyone. Unfortunately, this was the world of Blue Waller and that wasn't going to happen. "It's a non-singing part," I admitted.

"Why didn't you tell us?" My mom asked. "I would have loved to come watch. Marissa and I would have cheered you on. Family supports each other, you know."

Oy. I would have died if they'd been there. They probably would have stood on their chairs and given me a standing ovation and screams of admiration when I finished my tryout. My humiliation would have been complete. My reputation as a loser would have been permanently entrenched, and I'd be stuck with it for the next four years. Blue "the loser" Waller. Yes, that's exactly what I've been dreaming my high school existence would be like. "That's why I didn't tell you," I said. "I can't have you guys watching me try out. I'm in high school, Mom. I need my freedom."

She lifted her eyebrow. "Is that what this late-for-dinner thing was tonight? To show your independence?"

"Um..." Of course, I hadn't been late on purpose, but maybe it would be a good opportunity to show my parents that I was an adult now, and that they had to start treating me like one. "Yes, yes, it was. I need more flexibility in my life."

"You're fourteen." She said it like fourteen wasn't even old enough to cross the street by myself.

"Exactly." I said it like fourteen was old enough to move out of the house and abandon all parents forever.

My mom leaned back in her chair and gave me a speculative look. Not exactly mad. More like she was trying to anticipate the next move I was going to make and prepare herself to handle it. "Next you're going to start telling me you want to start dating."

"I should be so lucky," I muttered.

Allie kicked me under the table, no doubt to remind me of Heath. As if there were a chance I would have forgotten about him.

My mom and dad looked at each other. "Your dad and I are going to have to discuss the repercussions from tonight."

Uh-oh. Repercussions were never good. "Listen, I'm really sorry. It won't happen again." I picked up my napkin and laid it across my lap, trying to show them that I wasn't in danger of becoming a morally devoid youth as a result of being forty-five minutes late for dinner.

"If you get the part in this play, will you be missing dinner on a regular basis?" Mom didn't look too happy with that idea.

"Um... probably."

Marissa giggled at me, and gave me a thumbs up, no doubt thinking it was totally cool that her big sister was causing trouble. Marissa adored me, and thought everything I did was awesome. The poor kid was going to be in trouble later in life if she tried to model her life after mine, that was for sure.

My mom tightened her lips and looked at Dad, who was busy picking at some organic vegetable puree on his plate. "Are you listening to this?"

Dad looked up quickly. "Of course."

"She wants to miss dinner on a regular basis," my mom told him, since we all knew that he'd probably tuned out the entire conversation once he'd realized my mom was handling it. As I said, he's a softie when it comes to parenting, but unfortunately, he always supports my mom in her "tough love" approach.

"You let Theo miss dinner for football," I pointed out.

"Only on Friday nights," my mom said. "The rest of the time we hold dinner for him after practice."

"Don't you want me to grow into a well-rounded individual?" Oh, that was a good one. My parents were very into each child maximizing his or her potential.

My mom narrowed her eyes. "What about the animals?"

Oh, right. The animals.

My contribution to the household was taking care of our four cows, two horses, one donkey, seventeen chickens, two pigs, and one very obnoxious goat. Plus the dogs and the cats. It took about two hours a day, and it was a major chore. Lucky me inherited the job when Theo became a three-sport star athlete. At eight years old, Marissa was too young to take over.

"I don't have time," Dad said. "I have to work at the store."

"As do I," Mom said.

Mom and Dad ran an organic herb and food shop in the town center. It actually did quite well, but didn't do wonders for my reputation as a cool and happening diva.

"Why don't we hire someone?" Allie chimed in. "I mean, why don't you hire someone?"

Mom patted Allie's knee. "You're definitely part of the family, Allie. No need to correct yourself." Then she turned to me. "You can't miss dinner because of some musical that you don't even want us to see, and then expect us to hire a replacement for you. Your dad and I will be discussing this. We'll let you know our decision on Friday."

No doubt off to consult some of those good parenting books to determine how to proceed. Not that it really mattered whether they decided to ground me or refused to hire a new person to clean the stable.

It wasn't as if I were going to get the part.

"I got the part!" Oh, my gosh. No way. It was impossible. I read the list again, my heart crashing so loudly I barely heard Natalie's scream. I peered at the nicely printed list, a plain white paper on the drama bulletin board. I checked for my name yet again. Still there. Blue Waller. "I got the part." Time to throw up.

"You're 'Vladimir's mother," Natalie said. "Who got the part of Vladimir?"

We both leaned forward to stare at the sheet, and then my stomach literally dropped right out of my body. "Heath Cavendish?"

Natalie whistled. "That's the Heath I heard about? The one you met at tryouts?"

We'd been trying to spot Heath all week at school, but it was as if he didn't even go to school there. Except that Theo knew who he was, and he'd admitted that Heath was cool. Apparently, during the winter, Heath was one of the star basketball players, but during the fall he always did the musical.

A well-rounded individual, as my mom would say.

My mom.

Uh-oh.

"Is your mom going to let you accept the part?" Natalie asked.

I grimaced. "I don't think so. She's been wearing black all week."

Natalie lifted her brow. "All week?"

"Every single moment."

"That's not good." Natalie knows all about my mom and her black clothes. Black clothes mean bad news for the kids in the family. Which meant the odds of me being able to hang out with the boy of my dreams were not in my favor, not at all.