“Ouch,” said Jessi sympathetically.
“Since Dawn was in her own little world, it was the only way I could get her attention,” Mary Anne said, defending herself. “I did all I could to help her, but it was no use. I fixed her hair, she wrecked it. I picked out a great outfit for her, and she turned it into one of these bizarre new getups she’s been wearing lately.”
Everyone looked at me. I’d spent Sunday tie-dying a pair of white tights and some of Richard’s old T-shirts. Today I was wearing the dyed tights, my new sweat skirt, and one of the T-shirts belted over a leotard.
I’d spent the rest of the afternoon putting my hair in tiny braids all over my head. Then I gelled the braids. This morning I’d unbraided my hair up to about chin-length. I left in the braids along my head. It looked cool. The top was in braids and the bottom was all crinkled and frizzy.
“Ask Dawn what happened to her eye makeup during the movie,” added Mary Anne.
“What happened to your eye makeup?” Kristy asked me.
“Mary Anne deliberately picked the saddest movie of all time so that my makeup would run,” I said flatly.
“Ask Dawn who advised her not to wear so much eye makeup,” Mary Anne countered.
“Ask Mary Anne who moved up the time of the date so that I didn’t have time to take the eye makeup off,” I shot back.
“Ask it later,” said Kristy. “We have club business to discuss right now.”
Mary Anne shot me a nasty look and then opened the record book on her lap. “I’m ready,” she said huffily.
“I’d like to talk about the Hills,” said Stacey. “Should one of us speak to Mr. or Mrs. Hill about Norman? They’re making him feel terrible, and they don’t even know it.”
“They might take it the wrong way,” suggested Jessi cautiously.
“I agree,” Claudia said. “We would be butting into their personal life.”
“But we can’t just sit back and do nothing,” objected Stacey.
“Stacey’s right,” I spoke up. “Mr. and Mrs. Hill are making Norman feel worthless. Somebody should say something.”
“Who?” Kristy asked.
That was the big question. Nobody volunteered. I certainly didn’t want the job. The Hills weren’t the kind of people who put you at ease.
“Anybody?” Kristy asked. “I don’t know them. Besides, I’m not sure we should interfere.”
“It’s my idea, so I should be the one,” Stacey conceded. “But I’m too chicken. As it is, the Hills make me feel like I’m bothering them whenever I ask them anything.”
“I know what you mean,” agreed Claudia. “It’s like they’re always too busy or something.”
“I think Norman feels the same way,” I added.
“Let’s think about it more before we do anything,” said Kristy. “Maybe somebody will come up with a creative solution.”
“I hope so,” said Stacey.
Just then, Mr. Hill called. He needed a sitter for Tuesday afternoon. “I’m the only one free,” Mary Anne told Kristy, consulting the book. “So I’ll check out the situation at the Hills’. Maybe I’ll come up with an idea.”
“Huh,” I snorted doubtfully.
Mary Anne glared at me.
We received two more phone calls. The first was from Mrs. Prezzioso. Kristy took that job. The second was from Mrs. Barrett. “Would someone please tell Dawn that the job is hers if she wants it,” Mary Anne said stiffly.
For a moment there was silence. Then Kristy sighed loudly. “Dawn, would you like to sit for the Barretts?” she asked.
“Fine with me,” I answered.
Mary Anne stared into space as though she hadn’t heard me. Kristy sighed again, even louder this time. “Fine with her,” Kristy told Mary Anne.
“Thank you.” Mary Anne wrote my name in the record book.
The rest of the afternoon didn’t go any better. Once we got home, Mary Anne and I would have simply gone on avoiding each other — but our friends had other plans for us.
The first phone call came from Kristy, just before six-thirty. Both Mary Anne and I were in the kitchen, helping with supper. Mom answered the phone and handed it to Mary Anne.
“Uh-huh … Okay … Uh-huh,” Mary Anne spoke into the phone. Then she frowned. “Why do we have to do that?” she asked, sounding annoyed.
I pretended not to pay attention, as I set out the silverware. But, truthfully, I was dying to know what Kristy was saying. Normally Mary Anne would have stopped her phone conversation to tell me. I wondered if I’d ever find out what they were talking about.
“You can tell her yourself,” Mary Anne said to Kristy. After a few more minutes she said, “Oh, all right.” Putting aside the phone, Mary Anne turned to me. “Get on the extension. Kristy wants to talk to both of us at once.”
I picked up the phone in the living room. “Hi, Kristy. What’s up?”
“I can’t stop thinking about the Hills,” she said. “Mary Anne is going over there next, and I was wondering — since you’ve already been there — if you had any suggestions for her. I haven’t sat for the Hills, so I really don’t know.”
Do you want to know why Kristy is the president of our club? This is why. She knows how to get things accomplished. I was now in a spot. If I refused to talk to Mary Anne it meant I was refusing to help Norman. Plus, asking Mary Anne and me to talk over the phone (even though we were just one room apart) was brilliant. It’s always easier to talk on the phone.
“I’m not sure,” I said slowly. “Maybe Norman has a teacher he likes. You could suggest that he talk to the teacher, and maybe the teacher could talk to the Hills.”
“Would we have to get in touch with the teacher?” asked Kristy.
“Maybe,” I replied.
“The Hills might get angry if we go to the school behind their backs,” Mary Anne pointed out.
“Well then, what if we just encourage Norman to talk to the teacher himself?” Kristy said.
“Do you think he’d do it?” Mary Anne asked.
“I don’t know,” I replied. There. I’d spoken to Mary Anne. Kristy sure is clever.
“Why don’t you guys talk about it some more,” said Kristy. (Okay, so she’s not too subtle sometimes.) “I’m going to call Stacey and see what she thinks.”
When Kristy hung up, Mary Anne and I didn’t talk. We went back to silently setting the table. In less than five minutes, the phone rang again.
This time I picked up. It was Stacey. “Hi,” she said. “I had this idea about the Hills I wanted to talk about.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“Put Mary Anne on the extension. Since she’s going there next, she should hear this.”
I couldn’t do that without talking to Mary Anne. “Pick up the extension,” I said, staring at the ceiling as I spoke.
In a moment, Mary Anne joined the conversation. “Hi, Stacey.”
“Hi. Here’s my idea. When I was at the Hills’ the last time, I noticed that Sarah was interested in the exercise tape. And Mr. and Mrs. Hill were on their way out to a health club. I was thinking that if we could get them all to exercise with Norman, it would be more fun for him. They’d also spend some time as a family. They could use more of that. I think part of Norman’s problem is that he’s lonely.”
“That’s a great idea!” I said sincerely.
“But who’s going to tell this to the Hills?” asked Mary Anne. “They don’t even know me. I can’t just walk in there and start making helpful suggestions.”
“Claudia got along well with Sarah. Maybe she can think of something,” I said.
Darn! I realized I’d just spoken to Mary Anne again.
Stacey hung up, and in few minutes Claudia called. Once again Mary Anne and I both got on the phone. Claudia suggested that Mary Anne encourage Sarah and Norman to do something together. “It would be a first step. And keep their neighbor Elizabeth out of the picture if you can.”
“Don’t be too pushy about it, though,” I
said. “Everybody in the Hill family is always giving Norman advice. Maybe if they just left him alone he could go about losing weight in his own way. If we’re too pushy, we could wind up being as bad as Mr. and Mrs. Hill.”
“That’s a good point,” agreed Mary Anne.
Ha! That time she’d slipped and spoken to me.
Later that night, Mal called and suggested working on making a picture book with Norman about an overweight kid who had super powers. “That might boost his self-image,” she said.
Jessi called, suggesting that Norman might like dancing better than exercising. “It’s just as good for you, and more fun.” She had a dancercise tape she said Mary Anne could bring to the Hills’ with her.
You have to admit, when the BSC tackles a problem, we do come up with a lot of good ideas.
And speaking of good ideas — I had one just as I was falling asleep that night. In my mind, I was replaying all the things that had been said that evening. I remembered saying that maybe everyone should leave Norman alone.
Then I thought of Lewis.
If Mary Anne had left me alone, I could have conducted my date with him my way. I was pretty sure it would have worked out a lot better.
Isn’t if funny how you can see things about someone else that you can’t see about yourself? I knew Norman needed everyone to stop interfering. But I hadn’t realized it was exactly what I needed, too.
I made up my mind. I had to find some way to see Lewis again. Alone.
Mary Anne started by trying to interest both Sarah and Norman in Jessi’s dancercise tape. “That’s not the correct tape,” Sarah objected. “My father says Norman has to exercise to his tape. It’s a special tape for fat boys.”
Mary Anne ignored Sarah’s comment. “Come on, Norman,” she said, as the dancercise tape came on. “We can try it this once. It’ll be fun.”
Norman folded his arms. “I don’t dance,” he insisted.
“I’m a little shy about dancing, too,” Mary Anne admitted. “But no one is around to see us.”
“No way,” said Norman. “Dancing is for sissies.”
“Then you should love to dance,” said Sarah. “Because you’re the most enormous sissy there is.”
“That’s not nice,” Mary Anne said.
Sarah shrugged. “He is a sissy and he is enormous. It’s not my fault.” With her nose up in the air, Sarah turned and went to her room.
Next, Mary Anne tried Mal’s picture book idea. At first, Norman was excited. But the idea hit a snag because Mary Anne isn’t the greatest artist in the world. “Why are you drawing a balloon with a head?” Norman asked suspiciously.
“Ummm … I guess I was just drawing a cloud,” Mary Anne said. She decided to drop the idea before she unintentionally hurt Norman’s feelings.
While Mary Anne and Norman sat at the kitchen table, putting away their colored pencils, Sarah came in. She taped onto the refrigerator a picture she’d drawn. It was a drawing of a pig. Over it were written the words, “I’m Fat Becuz I Eat Two Much.”
“Sarah, please take that down,” Mary Anne scolded gently.
“I’m trying to help Norman,” said Sarah. “Every time he goes to the refrigerator, he’ll see the fat pig and it will stop him from eating.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” said Mary Anne.
“I think it is,” Sarah replied. “My mother says our family has to work together to help Norman with his problem.”
Sarah left the kitchen, and in a moment she came back and taped up another drawing. This one was of a big hill with two eyes. The words “Enormous Hill” were written on top.
“That’s not helping, Sarah,” said Mary Anne.
“Yes, it is,” Sarah disagreed. “Norman has to learn not to be a glutton. That’s what my father says he is. A glutton.”
Mary Anne became really mad. “Norman, why do you let her say such mean things to you?” she asked, when Sarah had left the kitchen.
Norman shrugged. “What can I do about it? I tell my parents. They tell her to stop, but she doesn’t.”
“Why don’t you tell her to stop?”
“She wouldn’t listen.”
“Make her listen,” Mary Anne urged him. “Show her how mad you are.”
“I’m not allowed to hit her,” Norman said.
“You don’t have to. But you can stand up to her.”
“How?”
“For starters, you can rip up these pictures.”
Norman’s eyes grew wide. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Slowly, Norman got up from the table. “Which one should I rip?” he asked.
“Do you think either of them should be on the refrigerator?” Norman shook his head. “Then get rid of both of them,” said Mary Anne.
Norman approached the pictures cautiously. Keeping his eyes on Mary Anne, he ripped in half the picture of the pig. A big smile crossed his face. He ripped it in half again.
Just then, Sarah returned with another drawing in her hand. “My picture!” she shrieked.
Norman took the other one off the refrigerator. Rip! He tore that one in two.
“Norman! I’m telling!” Sarah cried.
Rip! Ripripripriprip! Norman tore the picture into shreds. “And if you draw any more stupid pictures of me, I’m going to rip them, too!” he yelled.
Sarah’s jaw dropped.
She looked at Mary Anne. “Did you hear what he said?”
“I guess you’d better not draw any more pictures of him,” said Mary Anne, fighting down a smile.
Sarah folded her arms tightly across her chest. Turning with a flourish, she stormed off and slammed her bedroom door loudly behind her.
Norman was still red-faced and heaving with anger. “How did I do?” he asked Mary Anne.
“You were great! You were greater than great!”
Norman’s face beamed with delight. “I think I’ll just rip this list of Norman-No Foods off the refrigerator, too,” he said boldly.
Gently, Mary Anne caught his hand as he went for the list. “I think you should wait until your parents get home for that.”
“But they won’t let me do it then,” Norman objected.
“How about this? Why don’t you tell your parents that you want to rip this stuff down. Tell them that it makes you mad. Could you do that?”
Norman looked at the shredded picture on the floor. “Maybe I could.”
“I know you’re brave enough,” said Mary Anne, stooping to pick up the pieces of the picture. “Look how you stood up to Sarah.”
“That’s true,” Norman agreed, as he helped pick up the pieces and threw them in the garbage.
“Are you in the mood for that dancercise tape now?” Mary Anne asked. “We don’t have to do it exactly the way its shown. We can just goof on it.”
“All right,” Norman agreed.
Norman and Mary Anne were both feeling pretty good. They jumped up and down to the beat of the tape, not really dancing, but having fun.
After about five minutes, Sarah came out of her room. She stood in the doorway and watched Mary Anne and Norman as they jumped and laughed. Without saying anything, she joined them.
“Hey, look at me!” Norman said. “This is a helicopter step I invented.” Spreading his arms, he spun around the room.
Sarah grabbed one of her ankles and hopped across the room on one foot. “This is the pogo-stick dance,” she said, giggling.
Mary Anne kept hopping as she watched Norman and Sarah invent one silly dance after the other. She loved seeing the two kids getting along so well.
Mary Anne told me later that I had been right. Norman needed some space so he could enjoy who he was. With everyone harping on his faults, no one — not even Norman himself — could see his good points.
Suddenly Mary Anne stopped hopping. Another thought had occurred to her. Was that what she’d done to me?
She hadn’t meant to. But maybe she had done it, just the same.
I knew Mary Ann
e would be baby-sitting for the Hills on Tuesday afternoon, so that was the perfect time to try to see Lewis alone. No way could Mary Anne pop up and ruin things all over again.
The trouble was, I didn’t have the nerve to call. But I was working on it.
Hoping that Lewis would agree to see me after school (if I ever called), I took a lot of time dressing on Tuesday morning. I wore my sweat skirt, my tye-dyed tights, and one of my off-the-shoulder tops. My makeup was perfect, and I revived my braids and frizz hairdo with some gel. With my rubber bracelets and feather earrings in place, I was ready to see Lewis again.
Or maybe I wasn’t.
It was just so hard to make that call. I didn’t expect Lewis to be thrilled to hear from me. Not after Saturday’s dating disaster. But I didn’t have anything to lose.
Before lunch, I stopped at the pay phone in the school lobby. “Just do it,” I muttered to myself, as I dropped the money in the slot and punched in Logan’s phone number.
Mrs. Bruno answered and she called Lewis to the phone. “Hi, it’s Dawn,” I said. My voice was actually shaking. It was so embarrassing.
“Hi, Dawn,” said Lewis. (I could almost see him giving me that quivery smile over the phone.)
“Look, Lewis, I know that our date on Saturday didn’t go very well,” I said, speaking quickly. “But I think things might be better if we met alone. Just the two of us.”
“Well, umm … sure … I guess,” Lewis stammered. (He didn’t sound as if he thought this was a super idea.) “Sure. Why not?”
This wasn’t the enthusiastic reaction I’d hoped for. But it would have to do.
“Meet me at the coffee shop by the movie theater,” I suggested. “You know, the one we were supposed to go to after the movie. Do you think you can find it?”
“I think so,” he said. “What time?”
“Three-fifteen.”
“All right. See you then.”
That hadn’t been so hard. (My heart was only pounding a million beats a second.) At least it was done. And now I’d get a second chance to make Lewis like me.
I joined my friends (and my ex-friend, Mary Anne) at lunch. I was dying to tell them about Lewis, but I couldn’t. Because then I’d have to tell Mary Anne. If I did that, I was sure she would find some way to foul things up. She’d probably drop by with Sarah and Norman, or tell Logan to trail us. I wasn’t taking any chances.