AJ understood algebra. I didn’t know why she hung around, other than to nag me and maybe spend a few more hours each week away from her mother.
I was seven weeks into school and so utterly confused in my algebra class, I felt like I was falling off a cliff in a nightmare, only I couldn’t wake up.
“I don’t think I’m getting through to you.” Mrs. Stein exhaled deeply and sank into her chair. “Maybe you need a peer tutor.”
“I can tutor her, Mrs. Stein.” AJ tossed her ponytail and smiled.
“No, you two are too close,” Mrs. Stein laughed. “No offense, but I don’t think you’d get any work done.”
She was right. As much time as we spent goofing off in class, I couldn’t blame Mrs. Stein for wanting a different tutor. “Who can tutor me, Mrs. Stein? I’m hopeless.”
“Just hang on.” She patted her book like a baby. “You’ll get it.”
“No, really, everything was so easy in pre-algebra, but when it comes to algebra, I’m brain dead.”
Mrs. Stein jumped up from her chair and shook her finger in my face. “Don’t say that. Don’t ever say that.” Clutching her book to her chest, she rushed out the door.
“Now you’ve done it.” AJ nodded to the door as it slammed shut.
I stared helplessly at AJ. My favorite teacher, my mentor, just threw a tantrum. Was it something I said or did this have to do with whatever was plaguing her mind during class? I was overwhelmed by guilt. Caught up in my own problems, I hadn’t realized Mrs. Stein’s situation was worse than I’d imagined. “What’d I say?”
AJ shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know.”
Just as quickly as she exited, Mrs. Stein returned, smiling as usual, still clutching her book. My teacher was trying hard to mask her feelings but there was something underneath the happy façade. I sensed her dark inner turmoil. Through her frozen smile and glossy eyes, deep into her soul, she hid a hollow, aching pain and it took every scrap of willpower for her to hold back the flood of tears.
She kept smiling, her knuckles turning white from the firm grasp she had on the algebra book. “I’m sorry, Sophie, it just pains me to hear my students speak that way about themselves.”
No, that wasn’t the problem. She was lying. But what was it? Then I remembered how mad AJ got at me the last time I pried into someone’s mind. I wasn’t trying to be nosey. I just wanted to help her. I thought about closing my eyes and tuning in Mrs. Stein’s inner thoughts, but AJ was beside me and she’d know what I was doing.
I decided to let the issue rest—for now. There would be a better day to fight my teacher’s inner demons. For the present, I decided to focus on fighting my algebra-challenged brain. “Who will you get to tutor me, Mrs. Stein?”
She sat at her desk and faced her computer screen. “He’s in Mrs. Hamilton’s honors algebra class. He’s very gifted.”
He…sounded interesting, but he couldn’t be Jacob. He was in regular algebra, like me.
“Who?”
“Frankie Salas.”
Frankie Salas, the hottest guy in school? Not him. Anyone but him. I didn’t want him to know how stupid I was and not just because he was hot. He could tell Jacob I was a moron. “Isn’t there anyone else?”
Mrs. Stein stared at me like I’d just grown an arm out of my head. “What’s wrong with Frankie? All the girls like him.”
Exactly. I didn’t want to be added to his flock of drooling dimwits. “Not all the girls.”
“How about someone from our class?” Mrs. Stein suggested.
I hesitated, conducting a mental inventory of the possible losers I’d get stuck with if I agreed. I couldn’t think of anyone too repulsive. “Okay.”
“Cody Miller understands algebra pretty well.” Mrs. Stein pointed to Cody in the far corner of the room. Unaware we were watching, he tutored some of his nerdy friends while simultaneously picking a wedgie.
How could I have forgotten Grody Cody Miller? He stunk to high heaven. It was rumored Cody only washed his underwear once a week and I believed it. “Maybe Frankie won’t be so bad.”
“Great.” Mrs. Stein tapped her keyboard. “I’ll email his math teacher and set it up before school since Frankie has football practice after school.”
“Of course.”
I knew this all too well, as Lara and I had been to the field twice to take pictures of practice. Both times Jacob sat the bench, completely oblivious to my presence. Frankie had kept looking at us and twice he made me miss a good shot because he’d distracted me with his penetrating eyes. He’d made some impressive plays, but I think he was just showing off for Lara.
Just the thought of the hottest guy in school as my private tutor caused butterflies to form in my stomach. Even though I liked Jacob, not Frankie, something about that boy made girls melt in his presence. How could I survive such a close encounter with Frankie Salas without making a fool of myself?
****
“Isn’t Rose Marie in the middle of her semester? Why is she coming home?” I sat with my legs crossed on top of my mom’s huge bed and snuggled one of her pillows.
I had gone into her room to get advice. Tomorrow morning, I was supposed to meet with Frankie, and for some reason, my stomach was doing flips. I didn’t like Frankie. I liked Jacob. Everybody liked Frankie. Why would I want to be like everybody else? Besides, Frankie would never be interested in me.
As usual, my problem wasn’t important and the topic strayed to one of my perfect sisters. “She didn’t say why she’s coming home.” My mom chewed nervously on her lip while she paced the floor. “She just said she had something important to tell us.”
My sister, Rose Marie, was five years older than me, beautiful and brilliant, everything I wasn’t. As the valedictorian of her class and the state debate champ, colleges had lined up at our door for her. Why she chose to go to a public university in Arizona when Dartmouth and Harvard offered her full tuition was beyond me.
My mom suspected Rose Marie’s decision had something to do with Chad, Rose Marie’s loser boyfriend. The family had hoped she’d dump him after high school. No such luck. He moved to Arizona to work for his uncle’s trucking company and Rose Marie had followed.
“I’m so worried about her.” A deep line formed in the middle of mom’s forehead. She was way tense.
“She’ll be fine, Mom. Rose Marie’s smart.”
“She’s good with books, Sophie, not life.” Mom pointed to Rose Marie’s homecoming picture. “Look at her boyfriend. What did he do with himself after high school?”
I studied the picture. Rose Marie, adorned in her crown and velvet robe, was the model of elegance and beauty. Her escort, on the other hand, was clad in a tuxedo jacket, denim shorts, high-tops with holes in the toes, and a lopsided, unshaven grin. He looked like he lived out of his car. The funny thing was Chad actually was living out of his car when he took that picture. His parents kicked him out of the house after he’d thrown an all-night party when they went away for the weekend.
“He didn’t do much with himself in high school,” I quipped.
Mom sighed and put her hand on her hip. “You’re not helping.”
“Sorry.”
Waving her hands in the air, Mom looked like a woman on the edge. “What does she see in him?” This question has nagged my mother’s poor brain ever since Rose Marie came home her senior year of high school with Chad’s rock on her engagement finger. My mom cried, my dad made her take it off, but I saw her wearing it when my parents weren’t looking.
“Maybe she’s coming home to tell us she broke up with him.”
“She could do that over the phone.” My mom crossed her arms over her chest and chewed on her thumbnail. “She’s missing school. She must have dropped out.”
“Now, Mom, don’t jump to conclusions.” I got off the bed and put my arm around her. “You’re getting yourself worked up for no reason. Try to stay calm until she can explain herself.”
“If Rose Marie only had your common sense. I ne
ver have to worry about you, Sophie.”
I hadn’t heard my mother say anything like that before. I always thought I had been the dorky disappointment, the problem child. I backed away to get a good look at my mom. “Then why’d you put me in private school?”
“It was a precaution. You’ve proved us wrong, Sweetie. Look at my baby, growing up into a beautiful, mature young lady.” She cupped my chin in her hand and stroked my cheek.
Never had I received such warm praise from my mom. Sure, she gave love in abundance, but she’s my mom and I’m the baby. This was the first time Mom saw me as someone other than her fat little munchkin. Or maybe just the first time I knew she did.
I smiled at my mom and savored the moment. Lately, I’d been too busy with my friends or school to spend time with her. Rose Marie had been out of the house for over three months. With my oldest sister, Lu Lu, in med school, I was the only child and I needed to soak up some of Mom’s affection more often. I made a mental note to do more things with my mom as soon as Rose Marie went back to college. Hopefully, my sister would only be home for a few days.
Our mother-daughter bonding was cut short by the sound of the doorbell. Mom turned, and without a second glance, raced downstairs.
Dad had already let them in, Rose Marie…and Chad. He was holding her suitcase; she was holding his hand with her other hand resting on her stomach.
I did a double take. Was Rose Marie, my perfect sister, getting fat?
My dad swore. My mom wailed like a baby.
I thought, “Hey, parents, chill, it’s just the freshman fifteen. Lots of students gain weight their first year in college.” Then it hit me.
Chapter Eight
“So now they’re living with you?” Eyes wide, AJ leaned over the bus seat, eagerly taking in my family gossip.
I wanted to tell them last night, but by the time my parents were through with their lecture, it was past midnight. I wasn’t about to miss my sister getting her butt royally chewed. “Yeah. I have to give up my bedroom.”
“That sucks,” AJ complained. “You just moved into that room.”
“You shouldn’t have to move because they’re stupid.”
Krysta was right, but I had no choice. When I refused to give up my room, Rose Marie cried, making my mom sob all over again.
“It’s closest to the bathroom.” I rolled my eyes. “Rose Marie goes at least five times a night.”
AJ narrowed her eyes. “What is she going to do about college?”
“She wants to be a stay-at-home mom.” I said this with bitterness in my voice. I couldn’t help it. The idea of my sister and Chad having a baby was totally absurd.
Krysta laughed. “She doesn’t even have a home.”
“My mother would have sent her packing,” AJ said.
“That’s what my dad wanted to do, but my mom said we must think about the baby.”
“Does Chad still have a job?” AJ’s question was the first thing my dad asked Chad last night.
“Yeah, thank God. He works for his uncle’s trucking company, so he will be gone three weeks, home one.” Getting used to living with my sister again and a baby would be difficult, but the thought of sharing a bathroom with her boyfriend made me sick. “I hope he keeps this job. He lost a lot of jobs in high school because of his stupidity.”
“I thought your sister was perfect, Sophie,” AJ flipped her ponytail and turned up her nose, “but she really screwed up.”
“Remember how we all wanted to be like her?” Krysta shook her head in amazement.
“Not anymore.” We all said this simultaneously, looked at each other with knowing grins, and laughed. It was scary how my friends and I thought alike.
“Well, Sophie,” Krysta sounded optimistic, “this has got to be good for you.”
“How can you say that? I lost my room. I won’t be the baby anymore.”
AJ straightened. “At least you won’t have to compete with your perfect sister.”
“Lu Lu is the top student in her medical school,” I reminded her. Although Lu Lu rarely called because of her hectic school schedule, our living room walls were plastered with certificates of achievement from my brainy oldest sister.
“That can be you someday,” AJ pointed out. “You won’t come home from college knocked up by some loser.”
“No, I won’t.” I didn’t know why, but my mind drew a picture of Jacob at AJ’s loser comment— Jacob sitting the bench, Jacob playing video games in English class, Jacob getting sent to the office.
But it was unfair of me to compare him to Chad, wasn’t it? After all, this was just the ninth grade. A guy can change a lot over four years.
****
He was waiting in Mrs. Stein’s classroom— alone. I didn’t know why I expected Frankie not to show up, but he was there, casually leaning back in his desk with his hands folded behind his head, smiling.
I slipped my backpack off my shoulder and tried my best to smile back as I sat in a desk facing him. Knowing how close I was to Frankie made my insides quiver. His heady cologne slowly wrapped its coils around my senses. I tried to back away from the temptation, but there was nowhere to go. These desks hadn’t been positioned so closely before.
“So.” Frankie grabbed a pencil from his binder. “Mrs. Stein said you don’t get algebra.”
As I stared into those deep, brown eyes, I nodded but said nothing.
He smiled and opened a book. “Let’s start with the basics.”
“Uh, huh.” I couldn’t think, didn’t know how to act around Frankie Salas. Words trickled from my mouth but I was powerless over what I said. I was behaving like a complete idiot. And over Frankie? I needed to get a grip. I didn’t even like the guy.
Frankie picked up his pencil and scribbled something on a piece of paper. “Mrs. Stein told me you get fractions and percentages, but you get stuck on equations.”
“Yeah.” Why was the sexiest guy in school willing to tutor me? Why was Mrs. Stein nowhere to be found? Was she just going to leave me alone with him?
“Sophie?” Frankie leaned closer.
I was struck with a rush of cool, minty air. Dentyne Ice. The boy was on fire. I jerked up to see Frankie’s lopsided grin. He was facing the paper toward me. I looked at his equation.
S + F = 2
“Mrs. Stein told me you don’t understand why we use letters instead of numbers. So imagine ‘S’ stands for the initial of a person.” Frankie pointed to the equation. “Who do you know whose name begins with an ‘S’?”
Somewhere, in the furthest corner of my mind, I suspected the answer he wanted but was too nervous to give it. “Sally?”
“Sally?” He set down the pencil and rubbed his jaw. “I don’t know a girl named Sally.”
I smiled and bit my lip. “I made her up.” “Alright. Give me the name of someone beginning with an ‘F’.”
His voice was deep for a guy his age, yet so soft, I had to lean closer to hear him. “Fritz.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Fritz?”
I felt the heat rising in my cheeks. I grabbed the pencil and squeezed, as I tried to still my shaking fingers. “You wanted a name.”
“You’re right.” He flashed a teasing grin. “Let’s take Sally and Fritz, for example.” Frankie reached for the pencil.
I jumped at the contact of his skin on mine. I could feel my face redden even before he had time to react.
“I need the pencil.” He waved his fingers. “So I can finish the equation.”
“I’m sorry.” I clenched the pencil and tried to squeeze all the nervousness out of my body. Frankie Salas was flirting with me and I didn’t understand why. I was too nervous to read his mind. Because I was so nervous, I couldn’t even focus on my own thoughts.
His deep brown eyes found mine. “Is there something wrong?” I felt my body tingle at the feel of his penetrating gaze.
“No. I just don’t like algebra.”
A good excuse, but not hardly the truth. Something was wrong with
me and I was feeling incredibly foolish for my nervousness. I wasn’t in love with Frankie. The rest of the female population was. So why did I have to remind myself of this? Frankie was a player and I wasn’t about to be added to his list of love-sick admirers.
He wrapped his fingers around mine and gently pried the pencil out of my hand. I felt heat race through my neck, my cheeks and down my spine.
“Now imagine Fritz asks Sophie, sorry, Sally to go out with him. How many people would that equal?” Frankie winked, not even trying to conceal the mischief brewing in his eyes.
“Two?” I whispered. I couldn’t tear my gaze from his face.
“Great. Sally plus Fritz equals two people.” Frankie scribbled something on the paper.
I breathed out. “Yes.”
“So what number does Sally represent?” “Stupid,” I said it without thinking. This was Frankie’s fault. He had my brain all mixed up.
Frankie’s eyes widened. “What? Stupid’s not a number.”
“Sorry, I don’t know why I said that.” I closed my eyes and pretended to think. I knew the answer but I needed some time to settle my nerves. Unfortunately, Frankie was still there when I opened my eyes, still hot, still tempting me with that playful smile. “One.”
“That’s right, Sally equals one.” Frankie reassuringly squeezed my hand.
I thought about pulling free, but something willed me to squeeze back. I was an idiot.
“So how’s the lesson coming?” Mrs. Stein’s melodic voice broke the spell.
Thank God.
I quickly pulled my hand away and arched back. Now I saw why so many girls had fallen for Frankie Salas. The boy was magic, pure magic.
****
Frankie’s magic worked on me throughout the morning, because I floated through my first and second periods. Not until I reached Mrs. Stein’s class, and I sat in the very seat Frankie used, did it hit me. Was Frankie just flirting or did he like me?
Impossible.
He went to Greenwood in the seventh grade. He should have remembered the fat me. I must have been just flirting practice. He was probably warming up for another girl, a cool girl.
That realization was like a punch to my ribcage. But why did I let it bother me? After all, I liked Jacob, not Frankie.