Chapter 19
Saturday, January 2
Today’s Horoscope: Get ready to be surprised.
Since all my friends are all MIA, I spend a lot of my free time practicing on my skateboard. I can now roll down my driveway, do a kick-turn and head back the way I came. I am on the grass working on my Ollie when Jason walks up.
“Hey.”
“Hey, yourself,” I say.
“Looks like you are getting pretty good.” Jason motions to the skateboard.
“Yeah, I’ve been practicing.”
“So where are all your girls?” Jason asks. “I didn’t see them at Ralph’s house on New Year’s.”
“I know, they are being totally lame. Alex is still depressed, Rowan is actually dating Jimmy, can you believe? And Riley is dating that guy Winston.”
“Looks like you are all alone,” Jason says. Thanks for pointing out the obvious. “So why is Alex depressed?”
“Hello, because of what you said about you guys setting Dylan up with a girl. You know Alex likes him.”
“Whatever, dude. He’s just having a good time up in Tahoe. It was Ralph’s idea, he just knew of a super hottie up there and suggested they hang out. Tell her not to trip over it.”
“But what an asshole. You guys knew they were hanging out.”
“Whatever, Leah, it’s no big deal.”
Boys are so retarded.
Jason pulls out his phone, I continue to practice my Ollies. I guess the conversation is over, except the curiosity is getting to me.
“Who are you texting?” I ask.
“I just told Ralph to come down.”
“Are you kidding?” I am flabbergasted.
“What?” Jason asks like he has done nothing wrong.
“Jason, he’s such a… such a…” I can’t even think of a heinous enough word for him.
“Come on, Ralph’s not such a bad guy.”
Not that I care but I take off my helmet and pads and shake my hair out of my ponytail. Jason grabs my board and starts practicing his kick-flips while I sit down on the grass.
Ralph walks down the street and, don’t tell anyone, but he looks super hot with his jeans, tight t-shirt and no shoes. I try not to look him in the eye.
“What’s up?” He says as he approaches.
“Not much," Jason says, “We were just hangin’.”
I run my fingers through my hair. “So what are you up to?” I ask Ralph, trying to be kind.
“I am packing. I head back to school tomorrow.” Good riddance.
“Well, I gotta get going.” Jason says. Wait, what? But he just called Ralph to come down. Ralph and I both look at him like he is insane. What is he doing leaving the two of us alone together? The boys seem to have a little conversation with their eyes. I can’t imagine what the hell is going on. Jason hands Ralph my skateboard and walks off. “You two, be good.”
Ralph and I stand there. I keep waiting for him to head home. I am so confused about the whole thing I don’t quite know what to do. Ralph just stands there and picks at the grip tape on my skateboard.
I start to say I should probably go in, but Ralph interrupts me, “Leah, there is something I want to ask you.”
I am reaching for my skateboard but stop my hand mid-way.
Ralph looks down at it and goes on.
“I know we don’t know each other very well, but I was thinking, even though you are in seventh grade and I am in eighth, that, well, maybe we could go out.”
I am in total shock. I can’t move, speak, or breathe. Finally, I blink. Did Ralph just ask me to date him? It has to be a mistake. It must be some boarding school thing meaning he wants to go out down the street or something.
“Go out where?” I ask.
Ralph looks terribly uncomfortable. “I mean, you know, like go out, go out. Like boyfriend/girlfriend.”
What the what? Is this guy nuts? I mean, I would never. And why does he keep pointing out the fact that I am a seventh grader? I mean, in the great scheme of things, we are practically the same age.
“You are not so superior, being an entire grade ahead of me.” I say. Clearly this is not the answer Ralph is looking for.
“Um, sorry, I just meant, that, you know, the fact that we are in different classes, some people will talk,” he says. What an ass.
“Oh, yeah? Because you are sooo mature,” is the best I can come up with.
“No, forget it. That’s not what I wanted to talk about…it’s just you are different then the other girls I know…” he is stammering.
“Oh yeah, how is that?” I ask.
“You’re just different. Like your family and my family are different.”
“In what way, because we don’t have as much money as your family?” I know we have trouble keeping up with the Deutchmans, as I carry a Jansport backpack and not a fancy leather purse, but please.
“No, that’s not…” Ralph tries to go on.
I blow up. “Ralph, there is no way I would go out with you! First of all, you’re a druggie. That’s why you are at that stupid boarding school.” My voice is rising, but I can’t help myself. “Second, you broke up Winston and your sister. And the worst is that you set Dylan up with one of your “hot” (I used air quotes to
accentuate my point) girlfriends up in Tahoe when you know he is dating Alex! I’m not buying your high and mighty, I’m an eighth grader, richy-rich act!” I am practically yelling now. “There is no way I would go out with you! I can’t believe you even asked me!”
Ralph looks stunned. He opens his mouth but closes it again. He turns around and begins to walk away, but he still has my skateboard in his hands. He walks back and thrusts it at me.
“Here. You know, Leah, you don’t know everything.” I take the board and watch him go. I have done the right thing, I think, so why is my heart beating so fast?
Chapter 20
Monday, January 4
Today’s Horoscope: Stay above the fray.
Gilbert and I meet at the corner on our way to school. Gilbert’s mother had to go to work early and my mom made us walk.
“I am totally over Dylan,” Gilbert declares as we hoof it to school. “I am not even going to mention his name again.”
“That’s great, Gilb. He’s not even worth your time.” We nod our heads in agreement. I have to tell her.
“You are never going to believe what happened to me yesterday.” She gives me a look. “You know Ralph?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, he asked me to be his girlfriend.”
“What!? What did you say?”
“I said no, of course. I mean he is such a jerk.”
“Totally. I can’t believe he asked you out! I mean not that guys shouldn’t be asking you out, but you know what I mean.”
“Totally.”
“Well, thank goodness, you told him no. I mean he is practically the reason that Dylan and I broke up.” She throws her hand over her mouth as she mentions Dylan’s name.
When we arrive at school Riley, Maddy, and Rowan are waiting for us. We say hi, but it isn’t with our usual
effervescent attitude. Too much has gone on over the break.
“Hi, Riley” I say icily, I have decided I would forgive her, but I needed to punish her a little longer.
“Hi,” she says. I can tell she is glad I am speaking to her.
Maddy, who luckily just got back from Florida, is out of the loop. We are all standing around declaring our jealousy for her tan when Dylan walks up.
“Hey, Alex.”
Gilbert turns around.
“I never got a text back from you last night,” Dylan says.
Gilbert does her best to look calm and collected as she says, “I didn’t send you one.” Then she turns back to our group.
Dylan stands behind her not sure what to think. I can tell Gilbert is about to lose it so I say, “Later, Dylan.” He gets the hint and walks away.
“Are you okay?” Rowan asks.
“Tot
ally fine,” Gilbert answers. “I’d better get to class,” she whispers as she heads off. I can see her eyes are glassy.
At lunch, Rowan and Jimmy sit together sharing their PB&J’s, Riley is in with her math teacher getting extra help so it is just Maddy, Gilbert, and me sitting together. Dylan and Jason walk out with their trays of food. I see Gilbert and Dylan make eye contact but then she looks away. The guys walk outside. We are sitting with Maddy filling her in on everything that had gone on while she was away. She is jealous that she wasn’t around for such an eventful winter break.
I pull out the pickles from my chicken sandwich. “Ralph came by my house yesterday,” I admit to Maddy.
“What!?” she practically yells.
“He actually asked me to be his girlfriend,” I say. Gilbert and I look at one another. I continue to wonder if this is something I should be proud of or disgusted by. I mean, we are in full agreement that Ralph is the reason that Alex and Dylan are not together. And other than being a total hottie, he is definitely a conceited jerk.
“I can’t believe that Ralph asked you out!” Maddy exclaims. “I mean, not that a guy wouldn’t ask you out, but…”
“I know, I know. But weird, right?”
The rest of the week goes on like this. Gilbert and Dylan aren’t speaking. I catch her watching him when he isn’t looking. I know she still has feelings for him. I have her all to myself again, but it doesn’t feel right. We hang out after school and all, but it isn’t our normal plotting and scheming. We are mostly lost in our own thoughts.
I am constantly trying to puzzle out in my mind why Ralph would have asked me out. It so totally came out of left field that I didn’t see it coming at all, and I think of myself as a pretty observant person. I mean, you have to admit that the guy is totally smokin’ hot, but all the stories that I have heard about him do not paint a pretty picture. Winston told me that he was a total druggie, and I am so not into that. I once saw some of the guys in my grade get high at a football game and they acted like total idiots. They just laughed and looked at you like you were speaking a foreign language when you tried to talk to them. I have no patience for that. Then there is the fact that Ralph deliberately hooked Dylan up with another girl—that is just so rude. Plus, he always seems to think that he is so much better than everyone else. It just doesn’t make sense.
Chapter 21
Wednesday, January 13
Today’s Horoscope: Expect the unexpected.
The grey and gloomy weather continues to dictate the mood at school and at home. As for me, I am in total boredom land. No cute boys to crush on, Christmas is over, and January movies totally suck. There is absolutely nothing to do. Out of sheer boredom, I decide to take on some extra credit assignments in my classes. I am turning into a total nerd. Ew.
Apparently, Riley and Winston are totally into each other. She and I are speaking but we never discuss their relationship. I am not sure she even talks much about it with the other girls because they haven’t told me anything either. Monday morning a rumor spread about her and Winston making out behind the movie theater. I heard they even went to second base. Gross. I feel kind of bad for her because all the boys at school are giving her a really hard time. Apparently they posted words like “slut” on her Facebook page, and sent a text around to everyone with her bra size. Even though I am not her biggest fan right now, I still feel like those things are totally uncool.
Rowan came over after school on Wednesday.
“Do you think Riley really let Winston feel her up?” she asks me as we walk home. Rowan is a little naïve and I think the idea of middle schoolers going to second base is more than she can handle, although according to stuff that I have seen on TV, middle schoolers are doing much worse.
“I don’t know,” I am so curious if any of it was true, but none of us dare to ask Riley.
“I guess it’s okay if they are in love,” I continue.
“I heard that he doesn’t even call or text her, that it is always Riley that calls him,” Rowan says.
I think it through, I have seen He’s Just Not That Into You like five times and knew that wasn’t a good sign. “Hmm. That’s not good,” I say.
“No,” Rowan agrees.
When Rowan’s mom comes to pick her up, I walk her to the porch. I wave as they drive away. I pull the mail out of the mailbox. I am waiting on a new Meg Cabot book that I have ordered from Amazon. It hasn’t arrived yet. I flip through the mail. There is a plain white envelope addressed to me with an emblem of Havenhurst School. A letter? I haven’t received a hand written letter since we had a pen-pal assignment in third grade.
I drop the rest of the mail on the dining room table and run up to my room. I shut the door, sit down on my bed, and tear the letter open.
Dear Leah,
I realize we don’t know each other well but I think you have the wrong impression of me. The reason I am at Havenhurst is because last year I got caught with a bag of pot. It wasn’t even mine, it was Winston’s. We were hanging out after school and the Vice Principal saw us and searched our bags. I said Winston’s bag was mine because I know that his dad is a real asshole and that he would get in really bad trouble if his dad found out. Anyway, I took the heat and got kicked out of school. My parents decided to ship me off to Havenhurst. I didn’t mind so much because things at home weren’t so great either. I would rather be here than there, if you know what I mean.
As for Alex and Dylan, you were there at the movie theater when she said she didn’t like him. Now I understand that she made that up, but I knew how much he liked her and didn’t want to see him hurt. He is a pretty cool guy. So I set him up with a girl I know up in Tahoe. I don’t think they even did anything.
And as for Winston and my sister, I know first hand that he is a total player and treats girls like crap, I overheard him at a party bragging about how he made out with two girls in one night. I just didn’t want to see my sister involved with someone like that.
I am sorry that I asked you out. I realize now you don’t have any feelings for me. Maybe I will see you around sometime.
Ralph
My stomach drops just like on The Edge at Magic Mountain. Can all this be true? Is Ralph actually a totally cool guy and I have fully blown my chance with him? I am nauseous and need to sit down. Wait, I am sitting. Maybe I should lie down. As soon as I lay down on my bed I feel the tears start to come. I know I have made a huge mistake.
I have been sobbing for about ten minutes when my mother knocks on the door. She sees me lying on my bed, the balled up letter in my hand, and the envelope discarded on the floor.
“Leah, what is going on?” she asks.
“I had him all wrong,” I say between sobs.
“What are you talking about? Who is that letter from?”
“That boy, Ralph, from up the street.” I hide my face in the pillow.
“But I thought you hated him,” she says as she strokes my hair.
“I thought I did.” I began to pull it together.
“Did he say something mean to you in the letter?” she asks.
“No, he was perfectly nice.” My mother would never understand.
“I am afraid I don’t understand," she says.
“He asked me out over Christmas and I said no and now he will never go out with me.” That is it, I start bawling again.
“Never say that, you don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do.” I continue to cry into my pillow.
“Do you want to go to for frozen yogurt?” My mom asks, knowing this always cheers me up.
“No,” I sob.
I can tell she is floored, because she doesn’t say another word, and just continues to stroke my hair. That makes me feel a little better, but not really.
Chapter 22
Friday, January 15
Today’s Horoscope: Others may see clearly what you cannot.
I mostly walk around in a daze for the next few days. I don’t know what to do. I look up the address
to Havenhurst online and think about writing Ralph back, but what to say? I think of talking to Kate, but she keeps giving me the evil eye. I don’t tell anyone about the letter, not even Gilbert. I need to clear my head.
To top it off, Riley’s reputation is getting out of hand. The kids at school whisper when she goes by and the Fab Five don’t make a secret of how
appalled they are by her behavior. Yesterday, when I was in the bathroom I saw “Riley is a slut” written on the bathroom wall. It was in pencil, so I unzipped my backpack and took out one of my little Japanese erasers shaped like a sushi roll. I had to scrub at it for like five minutes to make it disappear—those Japanese erasers are cute but they don’t work very well. In the end you could still see the writing if you looked really close, but I had mostly removed the offense. I didn’t mention it to anyone. I hope Riley didn’t see it.
Everything is so messed up. My group of friends is all out of whack, and I am not ready to talk about the letter from Ralph yet. Everyone thinks I hate him. And I am no longer sure how I feel. Could everything he said be true? I think back about Gilbert and Dylan, the way Gilbert acted at the movies to protect their relationship from her mom. I could see Ralph’s point. I definitely believed Ralph about Winston. I am convinced he is a total scam artist. But, I would need to do a lot of explaining before I can convince the girls, especially Riley, to take Ralph’s word. I just am not ready to open that whole can of worms. To top it off, my emotions are totally all over the place. I had so convinced myself that I hated Ralph that my whole body is slightly confused. Butterflies flutter in my stomach every time I think about the letter, and every time I read it over (I have read it like 20 times) I start crying.
I am sitting in English class, staring at the back of Kate’s head. Does she know? Ms. Sanders is lecturing at the board talking about haikus. 5-7-5, yeah, I get it. But I can’t concentrate, I am thinking back to all Ralph and my interactions.
Ralph is so gorgeous
Gilbert and Louis Rule the Universe: First Impressions Page 9