Shaken Up (12 page)

I was on pins and needles the next day when I walked into the cafeteria. To my relief, no marching band or gospel choir greeted me when I entered. But Frida was standing in front of our usual table, looking very serious.

“You and I are eating outside today, Devin,” Frida said. “We're going to need some privacy.”

“Uh-oh,” I said. That sounded ominous.

Frida led me to a small round table in the shade of the school building. We both opened our lunch bags. Mom was making up for all the party food with a salad of grilled chicken, apples, and walnuts, with a yogurt on the side.

“Devin, I'm here to help you with your most sensitive issue,” Frida said.

“Which one is that?” I asked a little anxiously.

“Steven,” Frida said flatly. “If he is walking another girl to English class, then we need to fix that.”

“Well, okay,” I said slowly. “I mean, that's kind of up to Steven, isn't it?”

Frida shook her head. “If there's one thing I learned from filming
Mall Mania
, it's that boys are never in control when it comes to romance.”

“They're not?” I asked, surprised.

“They think they are, but they're not,” Frida assured me. “In the movie there's this subplot where Cassie has a crush on PJ, but PJ gets distracted by this girl named Marnie who works at the pretzel kiosk. So Cassie pretends to like Matt, and then PJ realizes that Cassie is the one he really likes.”

My head was spinning. “What?”

“If you act like you're interested in a boy, they get scared. But if you ignore them and act like you like another boy,
then
they're interested in you.”

That didn't make any sense at all to me. “But I don't like any other boy. I like Steven,” I told her.

“You don't have to actually like the other boy. You just have to
pretend
you like him,” Frida explained.

I was starting to think I would have preferred the marching band to this conversation. “That just seems too fake. How am I supposed to pretend I like someone?”

“It's easy,” Frida said. “First, all you need to do is talk to another boy when Steven is around.”

“About what?” I asked. This sounded completely nuts.

“Let me show you,” Frida said. “I'll be you, and you be some random boy.”

“What?” I didn't know how to be a boy. I was no actress, like Frida. I knew she was trying to help me, so I decided to go along with it, no matter how ridiculous I thought it all was.

“Just follow my lead,” Frida said confidently. “We'll call you Noah.”

“Noah, hi,” Frida said, her voice switching to a high-pitched tone. “Can you believe all this rain we're having? It's been making my hair a mess.”

With that, she flipped her hair over her right shoulder, letting one of her loose auburn curls fall to the front.

I tried to talk like a boy. “Um, it hasn't been raining,” I said in a gruff voice. “It's been sunny.”

“Devin!” Frida hissed, going out of character. “Just pretend!”

“Yeah, the rain stinks,” I said, again trying to use a deep voice. I felt like a complete idiot.

Frida laughed. “Oh, Noah,” she said with a big smile on her face.

“Yeah, rain is really funny,” I said in my boy voice again. I had no idea what she was laughing at.

Frida sensed my discomfort. “Maybe you'll be more comfortable playing yourself. I'll be the boy, and you be the girl. Remember to flip your hair and laugh like I did.”

I groaned. Frida was my friend, and I knew she had the best intentions, but this was starting to be even worse than when I'd made that offsides goal.

“Devin, hi!” Frida said in a deep voice.

“Hi,” I said awkwardly. I sat there feeling like a complete dork, until Frida whispered loudly, “Flip your hair.”

The weather and my hair. I couldn't think of what to say as I tried to imitate Frida's high tones. It came out sounding like a dog's squeaky toy. Then I tried the hair flip. I had my hair up in a ponytail. So I wiggled my head back and forth, swinging my ponytail behind me.

“No, no, no!” Frida groaned in frustration. “Take the ponytail out!”

“But I like my ponytail!” I protested.

“Out,” Frida repeated.

With a sigh I removed the elastic from my hair. Frida stood up and started pushing my hair around with her fingers.

“Perfect!” she said. “Now flip!”

I flipped my hair over my right shoulder.

“Not bad,” Frida said. “But you were frowning when you did it. You can't frown.”

Of course I was frowning. This was a total disaster. I couldn't believe that this would work. My skepticism must have shown on my face.

“Devin, you have to trust me on this,” Frida said. “I was on a movie set. There was a lot of flirting going on. I know what I'm talking about.”

Frida had a point. My experience with flirting was zero. Anytime I talked to Steven, I didn't have to think about hair flips or fake laughs. I was just myself.

“Okay,” I said reluctantly. “What can I do to make this work?”

“First of all, when you're talking to the other boy, you have to laugh at everything he says,” Frida said with confidence.

“Why?” I asked.

“Because Steven will hear you laugh, and he'll think that you think that the guy is awesome and funny,” Frida explained.

“But what if he isn't?” I asked.

“Then laugh anyway,” Frida said. “This isn't about the guy, remember? It's about Steven.”

I nodded. “So, is that it?” I asked, hoping this lesson was over.

“That's the most important part,” Frida said. “Give it a try with Steven and see what happens. It worked for Cassie and PJ.”

“In a
movie
,” I reminded her. “A TV movie.”

Frida didn't get that I was criticizing where she'd gotten her advice. Or if she did get it, she acted like she didn't. She was a great actress, after all.

“Exactly,” she said solemnly.

Thankfully, that was all the advice Frida had for me, and we spent the rest of lunch eating and talking about regular stuff in our normal voices.

“Let me know what happens,” Frida said when the bell rang, and I nodded, but I wasn't sure if I had any intention of following her advice.

I figured I would maybe just try to walk to English with Steven and Hailey, and then my problem would be over. But when class was over, Steven didn't even give me his usual smile or wave. He and Hailey kind of hurried out, and I didn't race to catch up to them.

Then, when I sat down in English class, something weird happened. Finn Jackson, who was also in my science class, had a seat next to mine. He was a perfectly nice boy, and cute in his own way, kind of tall and lanky with light brown hair and green eyes.

Anyway, as soon as I sat down, Finn started talking to me! I gulped. Now it looked like I would have to try Frida's advice.

“Hey, so did you read the chapter last night? Pretty crazy, right?” he asked.

“Um, yeah,” I replied, my voice coming out all squeaky as I tried to imitate Frida. When she talked like that, it sounded like tiny bells chiming. When I tried it, it sounded like a creaky door opening.

“Are you getting a cold?” Finn asked.

I cleared my throat. “Um, no,” I said lamely. Great. Some flirting. He thought I was sick instead.

During all this, Steven, whose seat was two rows in front of Finn's, looked back at us. Maybe Frida was onto something.

Oh well,
I thought.
Here goes nothing!

I tossed my head way back to get ready for a really
fabulous hair flip. I was so enthusiastic that I swung my head into the aisle, and I banged it straight into the backpack of a student who was walking to her desk.

“Ouch!” I said, rubbing my head. She must have been carrying bricks in that backpack, not books.

“Are you okay?” Finn asked.

“Yeah, fine,” I said, so embarrassed that I was hoping a giant hole would open up and suck me inside. Had Steven seen that? I didn't even dare look at him, I felt like such an idiot. I tried to change the subject back to the book. “So, do you like the book so far?” I asked.

I was mentally preparing myself to laugh at Finn's answer. So I wasn't really listening when he replied.

“Yeah, it's interesting. It was kind of sad when Sadie went missing, though.”

“Ha, ha, ha!” I laughed, way louder than I normally would.

I saw Finn looking at me like I had three heads. And then I realized my mistake.

“Did you think that was funny?” Finn asked.

“No, no!” I said quickly. “That was really upsetting, and I, um . . . I sometimes laugh when I'm upset.”

Finn nodded, and thankfully the bell rang. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Steven turning to face the front of the class. So he had seen the entire thing. I felt like melting into my seat.

Frida's plan might have worked in
Mall Mania
. And
maybe it would work for a good actor like Frida. But not for me. So my Steven problem was still unresolved. In fact, I felt like it was even worse now!

As I sat there totally mortified, my mind drifted over the previous week. The Devin Is Divine party. How all my friends had taken time to help me. I would live through this embarrassment. My friends would be there for me. After all, they'd helped me learn how to relax. To be confident. And to have faith in myself. I was thinking they'd cheer me up about this flirting fiasco. Then it slowly dawned on me. My friends had already helped me with this! If anything, Frida's lesson had taught me there was no point pretending to be someone I wasn't. I could only be myself. I knew exactly what to do.

As soon as the bell rang, I walked up to Steven's desk, remembering to relax, be confident, and be myself.

“Hey, can I talk to you?” I asked.

“Sure,” Steven said, and I was relieved to see Hailey leave the classroom without waiting for him.

We walked out of the classroom together.

“So, I've been meaning to ask you something,” I began. This was hard! “We used to always walk to English class together, and I kind of miss it. I guess I was wondering if there's a reason why we don't walk together anymore.”

Steven cringed, just a little bit. “Oh, man. I didn't even think of that, Devin. I'm sorry. Hailey's parents are good
friends with my parents. My mom and dad made me promise that I would show Hailey around school until she got settled in and stuff. So I just started walking her to class—you know, as a friend. I should have asked you to come with us.”

That made a lot of sense. I wished I had talked to Steven about this right away. I could have saved myself a lot of needless worry. “No, that's okay! I completely understand,” I said, relief washing over me.“Hailey seems nice.”

Steven nodded. “Yeah, and I think she's going to try out for the Kicks next season. Maybe you could help her with that.”

I nodded. “Sure.”

Steven grinned. “She'll be psyched. Everybody knows you're one of the best players in the school.”

I blushed, and then we started talking about other stuff as we walked back to our lockers. Steven even made a point of walking me to my locker and then doubling back to go to his. So everything was back to normal!

“How did it go?” Frida asked, rushing up to me once Steven walked away.

“It's all good,” I said.

“Aha! I knew it!” she cried triumphantly.

I didn't bother to tell her that it was me being me that had worked things out with Steven, not me pretending to like someone else. She would have been too disappointed.
And anyway, it was the push from Frida that had gotten me talking with Steven.

My confidence was getting stronger every day. Now I just had one more mountain to conquer—the next Griffons game!