by Cari Simmons
One of the things Alice loved most about Cassidy was that she was such a great listener. The time Alice had informed Cassidy that her parents were taking her on a totally boring Civil War battle-site road tour during what was supposed to be a perfectly normal summer, she had widened her eyes so huge in disbelief that Alice could see the whites all around. She asked, “Are you being punished for something?” And Alice immediately cracked up. Cassidy always knew how to make Alice laugh about something that seemed terrible at first.
The day that Alice complained to Cassidy that Mrs. Koshy was making her run laps in gym class for not showing enough “hustle,” Cassidy shook her head like she was a tired old woman and replied, “Mrs. Koshy wouldn’t know hustle if it kicked her in the booty.”
When Alice and Cassidy did their post-Christmas rundown last year and Alice moaned about her aunt serving fruitcake and nothing else for dessert, Cassidy pursed her lips and grunted in disapproval (before sending Alice home with some leftover Christmas cookies from her family holiday).
She always made Alice feel like she was telling a really interesting story, instead of just griping about some girl in class. This particular time, with each story about Nikki’s mean comments, cold shoulders, and dark looks, Cassidy widened her eyes twice, shook her head once, grunted twice, and finished with an “Oh no she didn’t!”
“I can’t believe she was so mean to you, not to mention that nice boy of yours,” Cassidy said. She was determined to get Alice and Aaron together, even though Alice had told her a million times it would never happen—this year, anyway.
“Well, he’s not mine, remember,” Alice said. “But yes. You should have seen his face, Cassidy—she was so mean!”
“You need to steer clear of that girl,” Cassidy said. “Don’t talk to her—don’t even look at her again. She’s bad news.”
“I know,” said Alice, who was doing her best to carve her last bite of cheesecake into a thousand tiny bites in order to make it last.
“No, seriously, she’s totally stuck-up,” Cassidy said. “In ballet on Monday we were working on this one routine, where you have to go like this—” Cassidy jumped up and demonstrated six or seven tiny precise moves.
“So it’s pretty complicated, right?” said Cassidy. “On my second try, instead of going like this”—she crossed her ankles a particular way—“I went like this,” she said, doing what seemed to Alice like exactly the same move, but apparently wasn’t.
“I mean, it was just practice, right?” said Cassidy. “But instead that girl Nikki says, ‘You’re not supposed to do it like that! You’re messing everything up! Blah blah blah!’” Cassidy stood with her heels together, rolling her eyes and using her hand as a puppet to imitate Nikki.
“That’s awful,” Alice said. “Why couldn’t she just say something to you quietly?”
“Or just let it go?” Cassidy said. “She’s not Madame Bernard. She’s not the teacher. She’s not my mom. She’s not the boss of me! I don’t need her to tell me what I’m doing wrong. Especially not in front of everyone!”
“Maybe she wants to be a teacher someday,” Alice reasoned. “A mean one, like Ms. Garrity.”
“It was totally embarrassing,” Cassidy said. “Everyone was looking at me. And Madame Bernard was like, ‘Thank you, Nikki, for your gentle guidance,’ and Nikki smiled, but I think Madame Bernard was sort of hinting to her not to be such a know-it-all.
“And,” Cassidy said, “that’s not even the end of it. She still is too good to hang out with us after class. I even made a point of asking her, ‘Nikki, do you want some pretzels and hummus?’ but she just looked at me and said, ‘I have to go,’ and left. No ‘thank you’ or anything.”
“Would you even want to hang out with her after class?” Alice wondered. “Since she’s so mean?”
Cassidy snorted. “Definitely not. But you’d think that maybe she could take five minutes to say, ‘Hey, Cassidy, sorry I was totally rude to you during class, I’m just having a bad day,’ or something like that. It’s like she totally hates being in class with all of us.”
“She seems so mad about everything,” Alice agreed.
“Maybe her brain is full of bugs,” Cassidy said. “Like, maybe a really angry spider crawled into her ear while she was sleeping one night and it laid eggs and now a hundred angry baby spiders are running around in there. And they’re not just angry, they’re pooping.”
“Oh my god!” Alice said, covering her eyes and laughing. “Cassidy, that’s so gross.”
“The spider is gonna get ya!” Cassidy said, creeping towards Alice with a single finger stretched out. She poked Alice in the stomach, making her shriek. The girls laughed uproariously, making Bagel go nuts outside Cassidy’s door, running around and yipping louder. Alice would never understand dogs.
“Oh, Nikki,” Cassidy said. “Why do you have to bring us all down?”
“Ah, let’s not talk about her anymore,” Alice said. She felt so good right now. She had made the right choice to come over to Cassidy’s. I’ll get my work done later, she promised herself, and then instantly regretted even thinking about her homework, because it brought her happiness down just a few notches.
“Hey,” said Alice, nodding over at the flip camera resting on Cassidy’s desk. “Let’s make a movie.”
“Oh my god, we haven’t done that in so long!” Cassidy said, jumping to her feet to grab the camera. The girls spent nearly an hour narrating sketches they made up about the silly photos in fashion magazines.
“Hey, Susie, what on earth are you wearing?” Alice asked a photo of a model who was proudly strutting around in flowy floral pants under a white crocheted vest. It might have been fashionable somewhere else, like Mars, but it would never fly on the North Shore.
“I got it from my grandma!” Cassidy narrated on behalf of the model. “She’s the coolest girl I know. She’s eighty years old and her name is Agnes and sometimes when we’re feeling feisty we eat mashed-up bananas together!” Alice put her hand over her mouth so she wouldn’t laugh out loud during the take.
“What’s going on with you, Petunia Poutyface?” Cassidy asked a model who looked out of the page sadly, wearing a cropped blue leather shirt and crunchy, side-swept hair, and sat on the floor with her feet twisted towards each other.
“I was so busy doing my hair today that I forgot how to walk!” said Cassidy in a baby voice.
“Um, also, where are your pants?” asked Alice.
“Silly girl, everyone knows that not wearing pants is the new pants!” said Cassidy.
“Looking ridiculous is the new looking awesome!” added Alice.
Mrs. Turner knocked softly on Cassidy’s door and opened it. “Alice, honey? Your mom just called. She says it’s time for dinner.”
“Ah, man!” said Cassidy. “Can’t Alice stay for dinner?”
“She’s always welcome, but not when her mom has cooked dinner for her already,” said Mrs. Turner. “And I heard it’s lasagna night too,” she said, knowing Alice’s favorite.
“All right,” said Alice, scrambling to her feet. “I guess I better go.”
“Okay, well, listen.” Cassidy stood up and drew an invisible box around Alice. “This is your force field. Don’t let Negative Nikki enter it. If you stay inside your force field, you’re golden,” Cassidy said. “I’ll see you tomorrow!”
“Don’t forget to write!” Alice said, heading out the door, pointing at the notebook. Cassidy blew her a kiss.
Sometimes Alice wished the walk home to her house was slightly longer than just across the street. The air smelled like a wood-burning fire, and the setting sun was throwing gorgeous purple and orange light behind the clouds. It had turned out to be a great day. And now Alice got to eat lasagna!
“How was your day?” Alice’s dad asked as the family sat down to a big, crunchy first-course salad. Alice tucked one leg beneath her at the table and excitedly told them all about the cool discussion they had had in Mr. Nichols’s class and how mu
ch fun she had with Cassidy.
“That sounds great!” said Mr. Kinney. “Do I dare say that you had fun and were learning at the same time?”
“Maybe!” said Alice.
“And you start reading Island of the Blue Dolphins tonight?” Mrs. Kinney asked. She had little ways of checking in on Alice’s homework without actually standing over her daughter’s shoulder.
Normally Alice didn’t mind a question like this, but she instantly grew irritated. Her mom just had to remind her about her homework, bringing her down from her best-friend-and-lasagna high.
“Yes, I’ll start reading the book,” Alice said testily. “After I have dinner. Is that all right with you?” Her red hair slipped from behind her ears, forming a curtain around her face. She felt like Nikki, who always seemed to use her dark hair like a wall.
“Uh, yes, Ms. Touchy,” her dad said, eyeing her. “Take it down a notch. Your mom was just asking.”
“As long as I know you’re working and parent-teacher conferences are pleasant, I can sleep at night,” her mom said.
“Sorry,” Alice apologized. While she had had so much fun with Cassidy, she also knew that she should have gotten a jump on her homework already. Mr. Nichols expected a lot of input from the class on Dolphins after their discussion earlier today. She swallowed some milk to wash down her lasagna. “May I be excused? I guess I might as well get to work.”
“I’ll save you some leftovers for later,” her mom promised as Alice grabbed her backpack and headed up to her room. I just need to focus up and get everything done and everything will work out, she told herself. She pulled the tall chair up to the drafting table and got to work.
After breezing through her math homework and polishing up her report on DNA for biology, Alice sat at her desk and cracked open Island of the Blue Dolphins. It was fine, but just a few pages in, she realized that the fall evening had cast a chill over the house, and she’d be much more comfortable under the covers in bed. And if she were under the covers in bed, all snuggly and warm, wouldn’t it be a shame to have to get up and get out of bed in order to get ready for bed?
So, even though it was early, Alice put on her cuddliest pair of pajamas (flannel, decorated with cute drawings of purple wiener dogs on them), brushed her teeth, washed her face, and said good night to her parents, who distractedly said good night back. They were lost in an epic Scrabble battle against each other in the living room (whoever won had to make—and clean up—dinner the next day).
Finally Alice climbed into bed with the book, feeling comfy and cozy. But just another few pages in, and she felt her eyelids getting heavy.
No! she told herself, and sat up, pulling her white fluffy comforter down so that she wouldn’t feel too likely to fall asleep. Finish the chapter at least! But her mom’s lasagna and Mrs. Turner’s cheesecake lingered in her tummy, making her feel content and sleepy and full.
You shouldn’t have gone over to Cassidy’s! an annoying voice in her head told her.
Well, it’s too late to think about that now, she reasoned. Plus, all work and no play is no good for anybody, right? She read a few more pages before starting to feel sleepy again. Alice contemplated sitting on the floor in order to get up to page thirty-five, the way she was supposed to. But it’s so nice and warm in bed! one of the annoying voices argued, but the voice slowly turned into a whisper. Alice drifted off to sleep, her book open to page eleven on her chest.
CHAPTER 7
NERD HERD RISING
“That’s an interesting look!” Alice was so busy trying to cram in the last several pages of her Island of the Blue Dolphins reading assignment that she didn’t even see Cassidy sidle up next to her at the bus stop. She looked adorable as usual, in a black kilt with a white dress shirt that looked like she had borrowed from David and a cheetah-print T-shirt layered over that. Alice, meanwhile, was wearing navy sweatpants, a soft-gray T-shirt, a long purple cardigan, and gym shoes.
“Ugh,” she said, putting a finger in her book for a moment. “I fell asleep last night before I could finish my homework, and I’m trying to use every spare second I have to finish up,” she explained. “So this was the first thing I could grab to wear without having to think.”
“That stinks,” Cassidy said. “I mean about the homework, not your ‘outfit,’” she explained, grinning and making quotation marks with her fingers. Alice stuck her tongue out at her. “No, seriously, you look fine. Comfy chic. But do you want me to leave you alone so you can read? I can write funny encouraging things in the notebook while we wait.”
“Yeah, sorry,” Alice said, picking her book back up. She hated to turn down quality time with Cassidy, but if she didn’t get to work, she’d fall behind and be the victim of one of Mr. Nichols’s pop quizzes he was always threatening. So far they had been safe, but Alice didn’t want to find out today if he was just bluffing. She read as fast as she could, feeling better as she spied Cassidy scribbling away in the notebook out of the corner of her eye. Island of the Blue Dolphins was fine, but one of Cassidy’s entries would be infinitely more fun to read—a treat for getting through the homework.
After the bus arrived, Alice huddled over her paperback on the window side of the bus bench. Cassie leaned over and chatted with Tess Sawyer about some posters that had gone up the day before, advertising the school musical.
“Do you think they’d let us audition?” asked Cassidy.
“I don’t see why not,” said Tess. “I didn’t read anything on the poster about auditions being limited to any particular classes. Do you think you’ll try out?”
“Oh, maybe,” Cassidy said in a coy voice. “I don’t like attention that much.”
“Girl, please!” Tess said. “Were you or were you not the girl singing ‘Let It Go’ in the locker room at the top of your voice yesterday after gym?”
“I can’t help it if it’s got great acoustics!” Cassidy said, and she and Tess laughed. Alice, meanwhile, tried to keep her ears shut and her mind on her reading.
“All done?” Cassidy asked as they exited the bus once they got to school. Alice had temporarily put the book away so she wouldn’t trip on the way in, although falling on her face and going to the nurse’s would be a good way to avoid a pop quiz.
“Almost there,” Alice said. “I’ll get the rest done in homeroom.”
“Okay, well, take this for when you’re done,” Cassidy said, slipping the notebook into Alice’s backpack. “I’ll see you at lunch. Good luck!” Alice flashed a grateful smile to Cassidy, whose big brown eyes were warm and understanding.
Just five pages to go, Alice told herself once she got to homeroom, but as the class filled up, she had a hard time concentrating. It was like everyone in the class had taken energy pills, aside from Alice (and of course Nikki, who was gloomily examining her hair for split ends).
“Guys, I’ve decided we need to come up with a name for ourselves,” Christy Gillespie announced to the room before the bell rang. “My sister and I got into a fight last night because she said that I’m on dork patrol. I think she was just jealous because my parents like that I’m in honors. But it got me thinking . . . why not have a name for ourselves, like we’re a team? Like Geek Squad or something.”
“I don’t think we’re geeks,” said Aaron Woolsey thoughtfully. “Geeks make me think of people who wear glasses. And none of us wear glasses, except for Todd.” Todd proudly took off his specs, breathed on them, and polished them with a corner of his plaid shirt.
“The Brainy Bunch?” suggested Ashley Dawson.
“That’s the way we became the Brainy Bunch!” a few of the girls sang to the tune of The Brady Bunch theme song before laughing.
The class went back and forth until Alice couldn’t take it anymore. The answer was so obvious. She put her book pages-down on her desk and said, “Guys. We’re the Nerd Herd.”
“Nerd Herd!” Christy clapped her hands with glee. “That’s it!”
“You did it again, Kinney.” Aaron extended his pal
m for a high five. He began a chant. “Nerd Herd! Nerd Herd! Nerd Herd!” Everyone in the room gathered steam as Alice tried not to blush. It was so silly, but she had to admit she was having fun. The only person who seemed like she wasn’t in on it, of course, was Nikki, whose nose was now deep in her math textbook. She was acting like she was wearing invisible earplugs.
“All right, simmer,” said Ms. Garrity, allowing herself to crack a small smile as she entered the room.
Alice had a few short minutes to spare before the bell rang, and so she scanned, as quickly as she could, the last few pages of the last chapter of the reading assignment. She sent up a quick prayer that this wouldn’t be the day that Mr. Nichols decided to quiz them all on the assignment. She hid a yawn behind her fist: not only was she not totally one hundred percent sure what she was reading, but she was exhausted too from all the morning cramming.
After homeroom wrapped up (Ms. Garrity confirmed that, indeed, the school musical was coming and that students were encouraged to try out), Alice lingered a second to write a quick note to Cassidy. She opened it up and was touched to see an encouraging collage Cassidy had put together the night before. She had cut out words like “inspiration” and “determination” from some magazines, along with a photo of a cute boy giving the thumbs-up sign and a picture of a sandwich in a panini press (which Cassidy had explained by writing next to it, “I know you’re going to crush your class today! Get it? Let me know if you don’t.”)
The only way it could have meant more to Alice was if it had summed up the reading from the night before. Alice decided to take a quick second and write a reply back to Cassidy before class.
Thanks for the note! Here’s hoping I don’t totally flunk the quiz, or, even better, that there is no quiz. I think I got the reading done okay, but we were pretty distracted in homeroom deciding that we’re going to call ourselves the Nerd Herd. I mean, how cheesy is that? But it’s fun. Of course you can guess who did not want to have anything to do with it. She who must not be named. (Her name is Nikki, in case you couldn’t guess!) It’s not like we’re excluding her. It’s like she’d rather be anywhere else! It must be exactly like what goes on after ballet. Okay, I gotta jam across the hall. Nerd Herd out.