Perfect Shot

by Debbie Rigaud

  “Oooh! Are you all right?” I asked. “Because you know I can’t crack up at how hilarious that looked until I know you’re okay.”

  He rolled from his side to his back, holding a hand out to me. I tugged but he tugged harder. I tumbled on top of him in a fit of laughter. He rolled me over to his side, laughing.

  I dragged out my giggles for longer than he did. Brent sobered up and pulled me closer to him. My laughter faded to a chuckle and then to a smile.

  That’s when Brent cupped the side of my face with his hand, lowering his head to mine, and kissed me.

  Right there under the net.

  About the Author

  Debbie Rigaud began her writing career covering news and entertainment for magazines. She’s interviewed celebs, politicians, and social figures, but enjoyed interviewing “real” girls the best. Her writing has appeared in Seventeen, CosmoGIRL!, Twist, J-14, Essence, Trace, and Heart & Soul. Debbie’s novella Double Act is featured in the YA anthology Hallway Diaries. A total Jersey girl, Debbie now lives in Bermuda with her husband. For more information, visit www.debbierigaud.com.

  LOL at this sneak peek of

  Hard to Get

  By Emma Carlson Berne

  A new Romantic Comedy from Simon Pulse

  “I would’ve asked for this in a sippy cup if I’d known you were going to be driving the Saab,” Becca said the next morning as we headed for the Sunporch Café. She attempted another sip of her caramel latte just as I wrestled the car into second. A wave of amber liquid baptized her Seven skinny jeans. “Damn, Val!” she exclaimed.

  “Hey, at least we even have a car to drive today,” I said, fighting with the clutch. “Mom was threatening to take it grocery shopping, but I talked her out of it.” At the next red light I remembered to press the clutch before stomping the brake and gingerly easing the Saab into neutral.

  “Yeah, I feel so lucky the Beemer’s in the shop,” Becca muttered. She had a blob of whipped cream on her upper lip. It made her look like a transvestite Charlie Chaplin.

  The light turned green and I took a deep breath. Foot on clutch and brake, then off brake and on the clutch, shift into first, press on accelerator, then foot off clutch but carefully. A fire truck began wailing just behind me and roared past as I slammed my foot on the brake, forgetting the clutch, of course. “Shit!” The Saab jolted across the intersection in big bronco bucks.

  “Hel-help, hel-help,” Becca jerked out, holding on to her coffee with both hands.

  “Hang on, I’ve got it now,” I said just as the motor stalled.

  “Val, get us the hell out of here!” Becca yelled, staring at the line of cars forming on either side of us. I could hear a few ominous honks.

  “I’m trying!” I forced myself to breathe before I shifted into neutral again and carefully eased into first. Bing. The Saab crept smoothly across the intersection as if it had never stalled in its life.

  “So,” Becca breathed. “Are you going to tell me about that madness online last night?”

  I grinned. “No, wait until we get there. Then I can explain it to both of you at once.” I braked hard as the green awning of the Sunporch suddenly loomed in front of me. The car slewed sideways and wound up in a parking space, bumper first. “Hey, look, right in front!” I chortled as I climbed from the car.

  “You’re three feet from the curb!” Becca protested. She stared at the wide gap of asphalt in dismay.

  “Whatever! Let’s go, I’m starving.” I could see Kelly through the window waving to us from a table. “I need some eggs Benedict, like, right now.”

  The steamy fragrance of frying bacon hit me full in the face as we pulled open the glass doors. Sunlight flooded the little restaurant, pouring in the big front windows and spreading in pools on the gleaming wooden floor. All around was the pleasant murmur and clink of breakfast, punctuated by the ring of the cash register up front.

  “Okay, talk, you,” Kelly ordered the moment we slid into our seats. Her wet hair was pulled back in a loose braid, and her skin was fresh and rosy. Three orange juices stood at our places.

  “Oh my God, please don’t tell me you’ve already been running,” Becca moaned as she opened the huge plastic-covered menu. “It’s ten o’clock on Saturday!”

  Kelly shrugged. “I only did five miles.”

  Becca rolled her eyes and looked up as a waitress with a shaved head and big plastic plugs in her earlobes appeared by our table. “I’ll have the banana chocolate-chip pancakes with whipped cream, a side of bacon, and two eggs, scrambled. Thanks.”

  “Just oatmeal for me and a grapefruit,” Kelly said. “And coffee with skim milk.”

  Becca’s glare practically burned a hole in the booth behind Kelly’s head. “You know, I think I’ll have a side of hashbrowns also,” Becca said to the punked-out server.

  Kelly smiled sweetly. “Actually, no milk with the coffee. Black is fine.”

  I sighed. Another morning with passive-aggressive food competition. “Eggs Bene dict,” I said. The waitress nodded, blank-faced, and scribbled on her pad before walking away.

  “Okay!” Kelly turned to me like a woman on a mission. “Talk, crazy lady.”

  I grinned and took a leisurely sip of orange juice. The girls leaned forward across the table.

  “Come on!” Becca said. “You’re driving us crazy. What was the deal with all that weird stuff about Violet?”

  “Viola,” I corrected. “Remember, the girl in Twelfth Night?”

  They both stared at me blankly.

  “See, Viola gets shipwrecked and she’s all alone, so—”

  “Whatever!” Becca cut me off. “Are you out of your gourd?”

  I leaned back in my chair. The sun streaming in the window was warm on my face. “I’m one hundred percent sane. It’s just like I said. I’m swearing off guys until school lets out. It’s perfect—for the first time since eighth grade, there’ll be no boys in my life at all. I mean, not romantically. It’s a brilliant plan.”

  “Until school ends,” Kelly said.

  “Right. I want to see how it feels to be totally on my own, instead of always either dealing with a boyfriend or looking for one.”

  “Is this all because of Dave?” Becca asked.

  “Partly. But it’s also everything that’s been happening at school. All the attention from guys is really getting on my nerves. Maybe checking out for a while would give me a new perspective on things.”

  Kelly pursed her mouth up. “What about flirting?”

  I shook my head. “No flirting.”

  “What about just talking?” Becca asked.

  I thought. “I guess talking is okay. I mean, like, my chem lab partner is a guy and I have to talk to him. And telling Willy I can’t go out with him for the gazillionth time, that would be okay.”

  “For a whole semester.” Kelly narrowed her eyes.

  “Right.” The waitress set down our food and I took a bite of my eggs Benedict. The hollandaise was silky and delicious.

  We were silent for a minute, and then Kelly burst out laughing.

  “What?” I asked.

  “This is impossible! You won’t be able to do it. For one thing, no one can go a whole semester without at least flirting. For another thing, you’ve always had a boyfriend, Ms. Valerie M. Rushford, remember? Just like we were talking about at Becca’s.” She pointed her spoon at me like a fencing sword. Little blobs of oatmeal dripped off it.

  “So? A person can change, can’t she?” I said, poking at another piece of egg. It slid out from under my fork and flew off the plate, landing on the front of Becca’s pink cashmere sweater.

  “Val!” Becca dabbed at the egg. “Look, sure a person can change. But why are you being so extreme? Why not just say, ‘I’m not going to go out with anyone for a while?’ Why all the rules?” She dipped her napkin in her water and scrubbed at her front.

  “Sorry about that,” I said.

  “Well, don’t be sorry. I mean, I’m just giving you my opinion—
”

  “No! I meant sorry about the egg.” I leaned forward. “And as far as all the rules, I mean, I have to have a plan if I’m going to do this. If there aren’t any rules, I might screw it up. And you guys know—if I’m going to do something, then I’m going to do it right. No half-assing.” I waved my fork at them. “I thought you guys were my supportive friends, huh? Whatever happened to that?”

  “We are supportive,” Becca soothed. “It’s just that this seems kind of …”

  “Crazy?” Kelly suggested.

  I heaved a disgusted sigh. “Look, just trust me. It’s going to be great.”

  “Yeah, but this is totally out of character for you,” Kelly insisted. “You wouldn’t even know how to do it.”

  “Nuns do it all the time.” Becca ran the last piece of pancake around on her plate.

  “But Val’s not a nun,” Kelly pointed out. They both looked at me.

  “Maybe you should think about becoming a nun,” Becca said.

  “Guys! I’m not becoming a nun. I’m just swearing off dating. Like detoxing. I’m going to get it out of my system so I don’t make another mistake like Dave.” I looked from one skeptical face to the other. Then I slid my plate to one side and flipped over my paper place mat, dotted here and there with hollandaise. I extracted a pen from my bag. “All right. I can see you guys aren’t convinced I’m serious.” At the top of the place mat I wrote, Val’s Grand Dating Plan.

  “What are you doing?” Becca asked. She craned her neck across the table.

  “I’m making it official.” Number 1, I wrote. No dates—not with guys, girls, frogs, or princes. I slid the paper around so the others could see.

  Kelly read it and nodded. “So far, so good.”

  Number 2, I continued. No flirting—arm touches, cute smiles, hair tossing, etc. Number 3, No romance—no gifts, love notes, kissing, holding hands. This plan is binding until the last day of school. I hereby swear to it. I signed my name with a flourish and shoved it across the table.

  Kelly grabbed it. “Wow, a contract! All right, Val, you’re on.” She folded the place mat and stuck it inside a library book in her bag.

  “So, when are you going to begin the GDP?” Becca swiped her finger through the syrup pooling on her plate.

  “GDP?” I asked.

  “ ‘Grand Dating Plan.’ ”

  “How about tonight?” Kelly suggested, a little smile curling the edges of her lips.

  “But your house party is tonight,” Becca pointed out. Kelly always threw the first party after we got back from spring break, and it was always awesome. Everyone from school would be there.

  “So?” Kelly’s voice was tough. She stared at me with one eyebrow slightly raised.

  I stared back and lifted my chin. “Tonight’s fine. Great, in fact. I was just thinking I should get started right away.”