Anatomy of a Boyfriend

by Daria Snadowsky

  “Yes, but the dorm wasn’t quite the same without you around terrorizing the female freshman student body,” I joke. Truth is, I’d all but forgotten about Calvin, but it’s still good to see him after all this time. I tell him I’m on my way to the library to meet with my study group. He offers to walk with me.

  “So?” I prod him. “How was Paris?”

  “France rocked so much that I won’t demean it by trying to summarize the whole experience during one short walk. I’ll require an entire evening to regale you with my stories.”

  “Uh-huh. Didn’t you promise to IM me with some of those stories while you were gone?”

  “I wanted to, but I felt bad about coming on so strong before, so I thought I’d keep my distance while I was at a distance.”

  I’m not sure how to respond to that, so we walk in awkward silence for a few seconds.

  “Anyway,” he goes on, “you still premed?”

  “Yep. In fact, over spring break my best friend’s mom introduced me to a surgeon friend of hers, who let me shadow him in the hospital. It got me really psyched for it, so I’ll be here over the summer too, taking more bio classes.”

  “Will your guy be coming down?”

  “Who? Oh…”

  The fact that it takes me a whole second to register who he’s talking about stops me in my tracks. I glance down at my watch: : a.m. I woke up at :. I’d absolutely no thoughts of Wes until Calvin mentioned him just now. That’s twenty-seven whole minutes! My previous record was eleven.

  “Uh-oh,” Calvin says hesitantly. “I said something I shouldn’t have.”

  “Huh? Oh, no. Not at all.” We resume walking. “He and I are kaput, just as you predicted, Oh Wise One.” I smirk at him, knowing this is probably music to his ears. Weird how the cause of my misery could be good news for someone else.

  “I’m really sorry to hear that.” He looks at me seriously.

  “Yeah, it sucks…. In all fairness he’s not a bad person, and we had some good times. He wanted to stay friends, but it’ll be a while before I’m ready for that, if ever.”

  “Hmm.” He nods his head sympathetically. “So, sorry if I’m insensitive for asking, but have you dated anyone since?”

  “Well, I sort of swore off guys. Not for forever or anything. I just wanted to get used to being by myself again.”

  When we arrive at the library, Calvin asks, “So…when do you think you’ll be ready to break your man fast? Tonight too soon?”

  I laugh at how he hasn’t changed at all. “Well, the thing is I’m sort of having a girls’ night out. One of my friends from chemistry just broke up with her high school boyfriend, coincidentally enough, so a bunch of us are taking her to the Quarter.”

  “How about tomorrow, then? Remember I mentioned how some friends and I meet every week to play team trivia? I can tell you about France then too.”

  “Actually, yeah, that sounds really fun. I’ve been craving Science Quiz lately.”

  “Wow, that’s the nerdiest thing I’ve heard all year. I love it. So I’ll—”

  “But Calvin…” I redistribute my books so I can lay my hand on his arm. “Just so we have everything out in the open from the very beginning…I honestly don’t know if I’m ready to go out with you or anyone yet. This isn’t a brush-off, I swear to God. I still haven’t totally moved on, so I don’t know if—”

  “Hey, hey, don’t get all worked up. We can just be friends. I mean that.”

  I nod. “Okay. Cool.”

  “For now.” He winks at me.

  “Whatever.” I smile and roll my eyes at him. “Just make sure to be in touch about when and where to meet up with you tomorrow.”

  “You can count on it.” He turns around, but then he looks at me over his shoulder. “By the way, that’s a nice ring, Cruella,” he says before taking off. “Matches your eyes.”

  “Thanks!” I yell out after him. “It’s an heirloom.”

  As soon as he walks away, I take out my phone to text Amy:

  min! GO ME!

  When I pressSEND I well up with pride. After a torturous winter break and a lonely semester, I still managed to achieve twenty-seven whole minutes of Wes-free tranquility. That’s one thousand six hundred and twenty seconds! I might even have gone longer if Calvin hadn’t brought him up. It’s

  miraculous I was able to check e-mail this morning without hoping for the “come back to me” message I’ll never get.

  And who knows? If Wes had never stopped loving me, maybe, just maybe, I would have eventually stopped loving him. Then the burden would have been on me to end the relationship. I would hate to have to hurt someone I once loved. This couldn’t have been easy for Wes either.

  After ascending the steps to the library, I look behind me and gaze at the verdant campus, brimming with friends, potential friends, and potential loves. I close my eyes and raise my face to the sky, letting the sun’s silken rays bathe my cheeks and eyelids. I breathe deeply, savoring the aroma of freshly cut grass and newly bloomed magnolias. A cool breeze sweeps by, sending my hair into wild cascades behind me.

  Suddenly it’s as if my heart is fluttering about my chest. I really am starting to get over him! I can feel it!

  Caitlin’s fast asleep by the time I get home that night. I change into my pajamas and set my hair in curlers by the light of our computers’ screen savers. Before going to bed, I tiptoe to my desk chair and log on to the Internet. I’m about to check e-mail when Instant Messenger’s “invitation to chat” window suddenly appears.

  I don’t recognize the screen name, but I have a pretty good hunch. I’m grinning as I accept the hail.

  Published by Delacorte Press

  an imprint of Random House Children’s Books

  a division of Random House, Inc.

  New York

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © by Daria Snadowsky

  All rights reserved.

  Delacorte Press and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  Visit us on the Web!www.randomhouse.com/teens

  Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us atwww.randomhouse.com/teachers The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition of this work as follows: Snadowsky, Daria.

  Anatomy of a boyfriend / Daria Snadowsky.

  p. cm.

  Summary: In her last semester at a private school in Fort Myers, Florida, seventeen-year-old Dom finds her life transformed by her first boyfriend, Wes, a track star at the public school her best friend attends.

  eISBN: ----

  [. Dating (Social customs)—Fiction. . Sex—Fiction. . Family life—Florida—Fiction. . High schools—Fiction. . Schools—Fiction. . Florida—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ.SAna

  [Fic]—dc

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