I didn’t know what to say.
Just then, Pete came over and grabbed the phone from my hand. Zachary stood beside me. He kind of smelled like cheese.
“You’re Laney, right?” Pete said into the phone.
She must have said yes.
He started speaking really loudly. “Well, Laney, this is Pete Harding, Kate’s brother. If you had a half a brain, you would definitely not be mean to my little sis! You may be some kind of a Miss Popular Chick right now, but I know a lot of people who can make your life rotten once you get into high school. So maybe instead of spending all your time trying to ruin someone else’s life, why don’t you take some time to grow up a little! Don’t be hatin’! Start deflatin’!”
When Pete hung up the phone we all stared at him.
Then it started. My dad began chuckling a little. Then Pete and Zachary started. Then me. Finally Mom joined in, and we all laughed until we were in tears. I ended up on the floor holding my gut because I was laughing so hard.
After we all regained control, Mom said, “You know, Pete, you might have been a little harsh.”
Dad said, still laughing, “I think it was perfect!”
“Dude! That was crazy-awesome! It was like a scene in a movie! You totally went to bat for your sis! That rocks!” Zachary was majorly impressed.
I asked if I could be excused, but before I went upstairs, I gave Pete the biggest hug I’ve ever given him.
“Thanks, Pete. You’re the best,” I said.
“No problemo, little sis. Let me know if she gives you any more grief,” he said.
Dear Diary,
Another thing that’s great about my family is we stick up for each other, like Pete just did with Laney Douglas on the phone. I’m not sure Zachary ever gets the chance to stick up for his family since he’s never home. He’s been talking a lot lately about how amazing our family is. Maybe he doesn’t hang out at our house all the time just because he likes to play video games with me.
School on Friday was a lot better. Laney wasn’t mean at all. I think she even smiled at me once.
Toni was really impressed with what Pete said to Laney. Toni seems to like it when people are tough. I think she wants people to think she’s super-tough, but I know she’s super-sweet. I mean, she’s definitely tougher than I am, but she’s turning out to be a great friend, too.
“Hey, Toni, do you wanna come over to my house after the football game tonight?” I asked. Her brother plays football, too, so I figured she could just ride home with us. “Maybe you could even spend the night.”
“That sounds cool. Sure,” she said.
“Don’t you have to ask your parents first?” I said.
“No. I’m kind of grounded, but since you’re in the Secret Keeper Girl Club and your dad’s a pastor, they’ll probably be cool with it,” Toni said.
“All right. There is just one thing we’ll have to do, if it’s okay with you,” I explained. “My family has a movie night every once in a while where Mom makes a ton of popcorn and we all sit and watch something together. It’s kind of like required, you know. Anyway, tonight’s the night and since Zachary’s going to be there, Mom said I could ask one of my friends, too. I know it’s kind of cheesy to have to hang out with my family, but … ”
“No, it’s not.” She cut me off. “It’s cool. I wish my family did stuff like that. Sounds like fun … besides, popcorn rocks!”
We stayed up until like 3:00 in the morning talking and IMing Danika and Yuzi. When Toni was in the bathroom brushing her teeth, I pulled out my journal:
One more thing that’s cool about my family is that we have Family Movie Night sometimes. Toni’s family doesn’t really do stuff together but she wishes they did.
NOTE TO MYSELF: Not every family is just like mine.
Tonight Zachary was with us, too, for movie night. It was the first time I ever hung out with him and I wasn’t just thinking about being his girlfriend someday. I actually watched the movie.
It seems like every time I finish one of Mrs. V’s journal assignments, I’m not thinking about Zachary as much. Maybe this journal really is helping me to not be so hung up on crushing on boys.
When Toni came out of the bathroom, she plopped down onto her sleeping bag and said, “Thanks for having me over, Kate. You’re a good friend—a friend to the end!”
We linked pinkies and said it together, “Friends to the end!”
I had no idea that she and the other SKG Club members were about to help me with my very last assignment from Mrs. V the next day.
CHAPTER 9
My New Favorite Number
“So, what do you think is great about being twelve years old?” I asked my SKG Club girlfriends while we ate lunch.
Yuzi said, “What is the purpose of that question? Is it another assignment from Mrs. Velasquez?” She totally speaks like an adult sometimes.
“Yeah,” I said. “I need five answers. I thought you guys could help me out.”
“What does that have to do with your Zachary dilemma?” she asked.
“I’m not sure yet. It probably has something to do with ‘embracing my youth.’ So does anyone have any answers for me?” I said.
Danika answered right away. “I do. Being twelve is cool because you don’t have to pay for lots of things because your parents do … like food, the house … stuff like that.”
“That is pretty great. I hate it when my parents make me save my money for something. It takes forever,” I said, knowing that Danika has never had to save up for anything in her life.
Yuzi said, “How about twelve-year-olds don’t have jobs—especially jobs that move you all over the place.”
“I’ve got one,” Toni joined in. “When you’re twelve, you can still have fun. Like, you can take a whole Saturday to play ball or something. The older you get, you don’t get to have as much fun … you know, just to play around.”
I thought of one. “I’ve always thought it’s cool that I don’t have to cook and stuff. My mom cooks the best food. I hope she cooks for me for the rest of my life.”
Danika said, “Don’t you think you’ll have to cook when you get married someday?”
“I guess so. From watching my brother and Zachary, I’m pretty sure guys are only great at eating food, not making it. But I think if my husband and I live close enough to my parents, we could just go to their house every night for dinner, don’t ya think?” I said.
“That’s a good idea,” she answered.
I wrote everyone’s ideas down in my journal:
ASSIGNMENT: What’s cool about being 12?
I don’t have to pay for stuff.
I don’t have a job.
I don’t have to be boring yet.
I don’t have to cook meals.
During our math quiz, I got my fifth answer. Evan Lingle raised his hand at the beginning of the test and told Mr. Milton that his stomach hurt. This is something Evan does all the time to get out of taking tests. Mr. Milton told him he could go to the nurse as soon as he was done with the quiz.
About five seconds later, Evan barfed all over his desk. He sits kind of close to me, so it was pretty gross. After Mr. Milton took Evan to the nurse, he came back with Mr. Peeples, the janitor. I watched as Mr. Peeples sprinkled some orange powdery stuff around and cleaned everything up. I never realized how old he was before. I noticed that he only had seven little hairs on the top of his head. He also had ginormous earlobes. They kind of flapped around like elephant ears when he moved. I saw that his hands were really wrinkly and kind of baggy looking.
Since we had some time, I took out my journal and finished the assignment:
5. I don’t have a bald head, gigantic flappy earlobes, and wrinkly skin.
At our next SKG Club meeting, I read Mrs. V my list of great things about being twelve.
“I think you did a great job with all of the assignments, Kate,” Mrs. V said.
“What do you mean? Aren’t there any more?” I asked hopefu
lly.
“Nope. That’s it,” she said.
“But I don’t get it. What did they mean? Why did you have me do them?” I said impatiently.
“Kate, I wanted you to see that the very best thing you can do is enjoy who you are right now. There’s plenty of time to grow up and have a boyfriend and all sorts of things. But right now you’re an amazing twelve-year-old girl with a great family and great friends and big dreams. Don’t you think so, girls?” she said as she turned toward the other three Secret Keeper girls. They all nodded their head and agreed.
“I have to admit, I haven’t been as ‘Zachary crazy’ lately. I guess I’ve been thinking more about my friends and stuff. It feels kind of good,” I said.
Danika said, “Kate, you’re so great just like you are. Zachary’s cute and everything, but he’s a ton older than you are and he’ll be going to college next year. So, like, what’s the point of obsessing about him all the time, ya know?”
Sometimes Danika makes a lot of sense. Since she isn’t with the popular crowd anymore, she’s not so stuck on herself. That’s awesome.
“Fine, but if being twelve is so great and wonderful, why are some things so hard?” I asked. I felt a lump in my throat.
Mrs. V said, “Kate, can you go over there and pick up that pottery wheel and bring it over to me, please?”
“Are you serious? By myself?” I looked at her like she was crazy. “It’s way too heavy!”
“Just try,” she said.
I tried and it wouldn’t budge.
“I can’t, Mrs. V,” I said.
“Okay,” she said. “Girls, let’s go over there and help Kate move that pottery wheel.”
We all got around it and on the count of three, we lifted it up and moved it to the front of the room and set it down.
We were all kind of out of breath, even Toni. We smiled at each other. It made us all feel strong.
Mrs. V said, “Some things in life are kind of heavy. That’s why we need to have friends like the Secret Keeper Girl Club to help us carry the weight sometimes.”
“Mrs. V, sometimes you say things that I don’t get at all, but I think I understand what you’re saying this time,” I said with a big smile.
Yuzi, Danika, and Toni all agreed. We ended up giving each other a big group hug. Toni had us all shout, “Go SKG!” like football players do before a game.
We all had so much to gab about after that meeting, so we grabbed our stuff and headed out the door. Danika said that since her mom was taking us all home, she would ask her to stop for ice cream cones on the way.
We would definitely help Mrs. V move the pottery wheel back in the morning. Right now, we had chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream waiting for us! Yum-o!
CHAPTER 10
Happy Me
Yuck. Homework in every subject?! I sat at the dining room table, surrounded by books. I dropped my head and landed facedown on my open notebook. Even though it was so close, I could see Zachary’s name scribbled everywhere. Every time I looked at that notebook, all I could think about was Principal Butter standing over me at lunch the day before he gave me detention.
Mom walked by on her way to the kitchen to start getting dinner ready. “Hey, Mom,” I called.
“Yes?” she answered.
“Can I get a new notebook?” I asked.
She came into the dining room. “But what’s wrong with the one we just bought you before school?”
“Nothing, I guess. It’s just that, I think maybe I shouldn’t have written Zachary’s name all through it. It’s kind of … distracting sometimes,” I said, looking up at her.
“Oh. Yes. I see. Well, I think I saw some on sale down at the store. I can pick one up for you tonight when I pick up my allergy medicine prescription, if you would like,” she said.
“Really? That would be the best, Mom. Thanks!”
I stuck on my headphones and started with my science homework. It was all about earthworms. Thrilling.
I was listening to one of my Alayna Rayne CDs. I really hope I get an MP3 player of some kind for Christmas this year.
Mom says she likes to hear me sing, so I sing right out loud when I have my headphones on, even if she’s close by.
“I’ve got to slow down, wa-a-y down.
This earth is spinnin’ round and round,
Don’t wanna miss this moment’s sound
Gotta be who I am now;
Who I am right now.”
I stopped and put down my book. The song was saying the same thing we just talked about with Mrs. V at the SKG Club meeting! Crazy of all craziness! I put it on repeat and played it over and over while I did the rest of my homework. I was blown away by how fast I got everything done.
Zachary came over for dinner. Mom made this amazing buffalo chicken salad. Dad was telling us about some lady who asked him to do a funeral service for her poodle that died. As I listened to him, I was trying to get one of those little tomatoes on my fork. I kept stabbing at it and it kept rolling away from me. Finally, I took one more big stab and POP! I definitely hit it, but all the juice and seeds shot clear across the table and hit Zachary right in the eye! I stopped and stared at him, wondering what he would do.
As he wiped his blue eye with a napkin, he said, “Well, I think I’ve got another nickname for you, little dudette. ‘Kate the Salad Plate!’” He picked up a huge piece of lettuce and threw it right at me. Since it was covered with blue cheese dressing, it stuck to my hair.
I blinked a couple of times and, without removing the lettuce from my head, I picked up my roll and hurled it as hard as I could at his chest. It hit him with a light thud.
A flurry of salad and bread followed. By the time Mom finally got us to stop, vegetables were everywhere except in the salad bowl.
It was pretty funny. It felt so good just to go crazy like that. Pete said, “Whoa! Stop the planet, folks! I really wanted some more greenery for my meal tonight!”
Zachary said, “Well, dude, I’ve got some tasty spinach in my ear! You can have it, if you want it! ” Then he and Pete started laughing pretty hard. Zachary’s laugh didn’t bother me as much. Maybe I can handle it in small doses.
Then Zachary said, “Kate-ster, you are definitely the coolest little sister I never had! For a sixth grader, you totally rock!” and he put his hand up for a high five.
I reached up and hit his hand and laughed, with his words ringing in my ears: “little sister I never had.” Huh. So that’s what he thinks of me. I’m like a little sister to him. How come I’m not upset?
Dear Diary,
Tonight after a food fight at dinner, Zachary basically said I’m like a little sister to him. I can’t figure out why I’m not bawling my head off right now. I mean, like a week ago, I was doing everything I could to try and get him to see me as something different than “Pete’s kid sister”, but now, I don’t really care. Actually, it’s kind of cool. Like Danika said, Zachary’s probably going off to college next year, so what’s the point of crushing on him? What’s the point of crushing on anyone? It’s not like I can go on dates or anything. Besides having another big brother might be kind of cool, right?
I stopped writing to rub Sharkey’s head. He looked up at me and meowed.
Can I do this? Can I really be me and NOT be crazy over some boy? With the help of the Secret Keeper Girls and Mrs. V, I think I can.
I called Danika, Yuzi, and Toni to fill them in on everything that happened. They all told me how proud they are of me.
When I got to school the next morning, Yuzi came flying up to me waving a paper in her hand like a crazy person.
“Kate! Kate! You have to see this! You have to see what I have in my hand! Look! Look! I could be your campaign manager!” she said in a high-pitched, almost screaming voice.
I took the paper from her hand. It was a sign she had taken off the bulletin board.
Do YOU have what it takes to lead your class?
Run for CLASS PRESIDENT!
My mouth
fell open and I sat down on the floor right there in the hallway. Yuzi sat beside me.
“This could be the perfect thing to get my mind off Zachary! You really think I could do this, Yuzi? You think I could be the sixth grade class president? Like, for real?” I asked.
She looked at me with her big brown eyes and said, “Absolutely, Kate. Or should I call you President Kate?”
I bet when I run for president of the United States someday, it will be really helpful if I was president of my sixth grade class.
Hmmm. Maybe it’s time to start going by Kaitlin.
Girl Gab About Boy Craziness
Whoa! Kate was totally obsessing about Zachary Donaldson, wasn’t she? But thanks to her Secret Keeper Girlfriends and Mrs. V, she learned a great lesson about her boy craziness. Let’s dive in to the Bible together and find out some more!
Gab About It:
That is a totally heavy verse, isn’t it? But I think it actually tells us a lot about girls obsessing over boys. Answer these questions on the next pages to see if you can figure out just what God can say to you about boy craziness through Romans 1:25.
One thing Kate learned is that her family is a really good thing and she needs to soak up all she can from her mom, dad, sister, and brother (and even her cat!). Wouldn’t it be great if you and your mom or dad prayed about this boy-crazy thing together? Just talk to God like He’s sitting across from you in a blue fuzzy beanbag chair. Tell your Heavenly Father you want to worship just Him and that you trust Him to take care of you now and forever.
Now … go clean your bathroom wall, Secret Keeper Girl!
Other books in the
Secret Keeper Girl Series
Yuzi’s False Alarm
Secret Keeper Girl Fiction Series Page 4