The Encyclopedia of Me (28 page)

“I don't LOVE him,” I said, grinning. I tried to stop smiling, but I couldn't. The smile thing was getting annoying, even to me. But I couldn't stop!

Ruth stopped at her locker and started cramming books and papers onto the top shelf. Just then, I saw Freddie Blue and Stella. I waved halfheartedly. FB waved back, but Stella cut me dead with her laser-beam eyes. I pretended to die, but they weren't paying attention. They were busy giggling and talking really loudly for my benefit, and what they were saying is, “Jedgar Johnston is soooooo cute! OMG! When you asked him to Zetroc, I thought he was going to kiss you SMACK on the lips!” Giggle, giggle.

Ruth went pale. “He's going with FREDDIE BLUE ANDERSON?” she hissed. “That phony?”

“No!” I said. “I'm sure he's not.” I marched up to FB. “Hey,” I said.

“Tink!” she squealed and gave me a big hug.

“FB,” I said, disentangling myself. “Are you going to Zetroc with Jedgar Johnston?”

“No!” she said. “Stella is.”

Stella raised her right hand in a totally dumb, flat wave. “Hello,” she said.

“I'm going to go with Andrew, of course,” said Freddie. “Haven't asked him yet. Besides, why do you care about ­Jedgar? Aren't you going with Kai?”

“Do you LIKE Jedgar?” I said to Stella. She stared at the fluorescent light fixture and sighed. “STELLA,” I said. “Do you?”

“Duh,” she said. “No. It's a JOKE.”

“How is that funny?” I said.

FB giggled. “You used to think stuff like this was funny,” she said. “Now you're all, OH, I AM BETTER THAN EVERYONE AND NOTHING IS FUNNY TO ME.”

“I am not!” I glanced over at Ruth, who was pretending not to listen. “Come on, Freddie Blue, why is it funny?”

“It's just part of a thing,” she said. She flipped her hair. “It's a thing, you wouldn't get it.”

“I don't get why it's funny to ask someone to Zetroc who you don't like,” I said. I was getting mad. “How is it funny? Is it because you think you're so much cooler than him? Or do you LIKE him? What is the deal?”

“It just is,” drawled Stella. “Mmmkay?”

“No!” I said. “Not MMMKAY.”

“Also,” she said. “It's none of your business.”

I was trying to stay neutral, I really was. Like Switzerland, which — as I'm sure you know — doesn't participate in wars, and instead sits quietly in the middle of all the uproar, making chocolate and highly accurate watches.

“You're just mad because now that weird Ruth won't be able to go because she won't have anyone to go with,” said FB. She lowered her voice to a stagey whisper. “She's so weird, Tink. Why do you care?”

I stared at her. “Freddie Blue,” I said. “You just don't get it. You know what? YOU used to be nice. YOU used to be funny. Now I don't even know you at all. And I don't think I want to.”

I was mad. Super mad. How dare they judge Ruth? Ruth was awesome! Even if she did overuse the word “totes”! And exclamation points! And it was a bit weird about the skateboard/side table.

But she was my friend.

So I marched right up to Andrew Young, who luckily walked by at that exact minute, and right in front of Freddie Blue, I go, “Will you go to Zetroc with me?”

He looked at me like, “Um, who are YOU?”

But then he said, “Uh, sure.”

He was pretty cute. Behind the glasses, he had really intense dark eyes. I guess they were brown, but they looked black from where I was standing.

“So, like, what's your name?” he said.

“Isadora,” I told him. I glanced over at FB. Her face said about a thousand things, like “WHAT JUST HAPPENED?” and “I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU STOLE MY BOYFRIEND!” and “YOU WILL REGRET THIS!” plus some other stuff, I'm sure.

Then she stepped close and whispered, “Thanks, I like Kai better anyway.”

Kai!

KAI!

What was I doing?

“Sorry, Andrew,” I said. “I've got to go.”

And then I ran past Freddie Blue and Stella and Andrew and Ruth and everyone to get to Kai. I found him with Wex, sticking something to the water fountain, which was probably chewed gum. Gross.

“Hey,” he said.

Wex opened his mouth and paused, like he was thinking of something horrible to say.

“Shut up, Wex,” I said.

Kai looked at me sideways. “Whoa,” he said. “He hadn't even said anything.”

“Not yet,” I said. “But Wex always has something to say.”

“No, I don't,” said Wex, furrowing his brow. “Sometimes I don't.”

“Whatever,” I said. “Look, Kai, will you go to Zetroc with me? Please?”

Wex snickered. Kai punched him in the arm in a slightly less than friendly way.

“Ouch, man,” said Wex. “Chill.”

“Um, totally,” said Kai to me. “For sure, I'll go with you.”

I forgave him for saying “um” because he looked so cute, and I flashed back to how Andrew squinted at me through his glasses like I was a tiny grasshopper that he was forced to inspect for Bio class.

“I've got to go somewhere and do something,” I said to Kai.

I ran back to Andrew, who was leaning against his locker looking cool in his awesome glasses. I was out of breath completely. I stood there for a minute looking at him, waiting to get enough oxygen to speak. Finally, when I could talk, I said, “Andrew.”

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi,” I said. “Look, I made a mistake. I meant to ask you to the prom for Ruth. My friend, Ruth? Not for me. It was just a . . . I messed it up. Anyway.”

“Oh,” he said. He shrugged. “OK. I'll go with her. She's the babe with the short hair, right?”

“Er, right,” I said.
Babe
? Who says
babe
?

“I'll write it down,” he said. “Lots of girls are asking me. I've said yes to seven. How many can you have?”

“ANDREW,” I said. “Are you serious? One. It's a prom. You take ONE person to a prom.”

“Ohhh,” he said. “At my old school, we ______.”

I waited. He didn't finish. Just like Lex. I wanted to kick him in the leg, which is what I would have done to Lex, but instead I just walked away. He and Freddie Blue deserved each other.

“Sorry,” I said to Ruth, when I explained later.

“It's OK.” She grinned. “I'm going with Jedgar. Maybe I do
like
-like him, after all! I think he only said yes to Stella as a joke, you know. He said he was going to make a documentary about how annoying popular girls were. But then he changed his mind.”

“OK,” I said.

And I, Tink Aaron-Martin, am going to go to Zetroc, my first ever real dance, with Kai.

SQUEE!

See also
Kai.

Is he black with white stripes? White with black stripes? STARE INTO HIS EYES. Are you slowly getting hypnotized? Are you feeling very sleeeeepy?

I have no new information about zebras. If you are looking for old information, I can tell you that they are horselike mammals that are either white with black stripes or black with white stripes. Which is true? You get to decide because no one knows the answer. Make one up. If you say something with enough authority, people will believe you, whether you know what you are talking about or not.

Mom and Dad's favorite band. You'd think that because my mom is a ballerina-dancing doctor that she'd like sophisticated music, such as Beethoven. But no, both Mom and Dad prefer to shriek along with Led Zeppelin, which is actually one of the few things I think they have in common that they agree on.

I like Led Zeppelin for that reason. Not their music, though. Their music hurts my ears.

The backward prom that is held at Cortez Junior at the end of September, for the eighth graders.

Normally, I would hate something like the Zetroc Prom. But now I don't. Because I have a boyfriend! I won't stand in the corner, waiting for someone to ask me to dance and hoping they don't at the same time! I won't hyperventilate while hiding in the bathroom, wishing I could leave!

Even more amazing, Mom took me shopping for a dress. I don't remember ever shopping with Mom before. Usually, she's at work all week and she'd give me money and I'd go with Freddie Blue. It took a bit of getting used to, to be honest. Her taste in dresses was a little too ballet and a lot not edgy. I wanted something edgy. Something awesome. Something that would make me look pretty but still like ME.

We looked in ten different stores and all we could find was sea foam green and purple with lace. It was malg. Totally and completely malg. Then, just as we were about to give up, I remembered FB's mom's shop. I knew it would be a bit weird to go in there, considering . . . everything. But I somehow just knew what I was looking for would be there.

The store smelled dusty. FB's mom was on the phone, but she waved and smiled. I got the feeling that FB hadn't told her that we'd had a falling out. I waved back.

It took exactly two minutes for me to find it: my dress. The perfect dress. It was my dream prom dress. And it fit.

“Oh, Tink,” Mom said when I put it on. “You look so . . . thirteen.”

I grinned. “Mom?” I said. “I'm thinking of going by Isadora now. Or maybe just Is.”

“OK,” she said. “Is. You look all grown up.”

I looked in the mirror and I couldn't help agreeing. The dress was silk. One side was black and the other was white. It had a square neck, with twisted straps. It wasn't floor length; it went to my knees. It was probably meant to be a mini, but I didn't care. It was just what I wanted. Sophisto. But not Barbie.

Just like me.

It was perfect.

When I got dressed the next night, even Lex said, “Whoa, Tink, you look ______.” Then he paused and mumbled, “I mean, Isadora.”

“Thanks,” I said. Did he just compliment me? AND call me by my real name? Maybe the accident hurt his brain after all. Not that I minded. It was kind of . . . nice.

“Ready, kiddo?” Dad said.

“Yup,” I said.

I snuck one last look in the mirror. My hair was getting long and I did it in a full Afro. Kai knocked on the door and I opened it.

“Oh, hi,” I said. I felt really shy. He gave me a flower and I stuck it behind my ear.

“You look like a Caribbean queen,” said Dad, grabbing his jacket and jangling his keys. I felt super exotic when he said that. I felt
interesting
. He gave me a huge hug. “I can't believe you're old enough to have a boyfriend,” he added in a stage whisper.

“DAD,” I said. I could be wrong, but I think Kai blushed.

The ride to school was kind of awkwardly silent. I stole a couple of looks at Kai. He was looking out the window. Luckily Dad had the music on loud enough that we didn't have to talk.

“You're growing up!” Dad sighed, looking at me in the mirror. Kai pretended not to hear. Dad looked a little choked up and then pretended he wasn't by bursting into a very, very exuberant version of one of his favorite songs.

“Thanks, Dad,” I said as we got out of the car.

“Thanks, Mr. Aaron-Martin,” said Kai.

“It's Bax,” said Dad. He looked amused. “You're making me feel old. Oh, look, there's Freddie Blue. HEY, FREDDIE!” he yelled. I guess I sort of hadn't told him that we weren't BFFs anymore.

“You look really good,” Kai whispered. He grabbed my hand. “You look, um, amazing.”

“Thanks,” I whispered back. Freddie Blue was marching toward us.

“Hi, Tink's dad,” she said.

“You look nice, Freddie,” he said. “Have fun! Do you have a boyfriend now too, suddenly? Where is he?”

Freddie's face dropped imperceptibly. I mean, no one else probably noticed it but me. “Nope!” she said, like she didn't care.

“Oh,” he said. “Well, got to go! Have a good time!”

Freddie Blue stood smiling until the car pulled away, then the smile fell from her face. “Tink,” she said. “I don't think I can ever forgive you.” And she flounced off.