Another wave of the hand. “Like I already told you, you have to get over that. Plus, this will be great for your social standing at Central Falls Middle School, trust me. The kids will be all over it. This will make them forget all about the harvest dance nonsense.”
She stared at him, half-furious, half-fascinated.
“Look: It’s in G major. One sharp. What could be easier?” He began to play the piano part, smoothly, effortlessly. It was really quite a pretty piece.
“I didn’t know you still played,” said Lindsay, fascinated in spite of her outrage.
He shrugged. “I can play just about any instrument I set my mind to. But right now, I need to concentrate on clarinet. I believe I mentioned before that I have a crush on a girl in the band? Her name is Tiffany Riggins. She plays oboe and sits two seats away from me. This will definitely get her to pay attention. So you’ll be helping out an old friend in the process.”
Lindsay surrendered to his infectious, offbeat, way-too-confident charm. “Let me try it,” she said gruffly, and sat down next to him, shoving him over on the bench.
She was a good sight reader, and the piece wasn’t too difficult. After a few stumbles, she had the first two lines down pretty well.
“Excellent,” said David. “Next week I’ll bring my clarinet to school and we can try it as a duet. We’ll meet after school.”
“What if I have something to do after school?”
He gave her a mildly disappointed look, exactly the way her mom used to look when Lindsay assured her she’d washed her hands, when her mom knew she hadn’t. “Come on. We both know you don’t have an after-school activity. It will be a great excuse to hang around and take the late bus. You might even see that soccer stud of yours.”
Lindsay’s mouth dropped open.
“Make sure you watch your dynamics.”
“Yes, sir,” she said in her most sarcastic voice. “I hope it will meet with your satisfaction.”
“I’m sure you’ll be great after a few days of practicing,” he said, completely missing—or ignoring—her tone. “And now, a little advice?”
She braced herself for what he might say next. Who was this kid? Where did he get the confidence to dole out advice to her? They hardly knew each other, and he was a mere sixth grader. Didn’t he understand his place in the social order of things? She was way more popular than he was, or at least she had been until yesterday.
“Stop being so proud. Stop worrying about what everyone is going to say or think. Just be yourself, because that’s all any of us can really be. That’s what my grandmother used to tell me, anyway, and you just looked like you could use that advice. Just guessing, of course.” David got up from the piano bench. “Well, gotta run. I have a music lesson at the academy in forty minutes. They think I’m a child prodigy.” He grinned. “See you at school.”
And he walked out, leaving Lindsay staring after him in amazed disbelief.
She spent the next hour practicing her part of the duet.
chapter 15
IT WAS STILL RAINING, BUT LINDSAY MADE THE long walk anyway, not wanting to wait until the weather let up.
Rosie opened the door. She stared at Lindsay, aghast. “Lindsay! What are you doing here, standing in the pouring rain? Come in quick! Are you a nutcase?” She peered outside, looking for a car in the driveway. “Did you walk all the way here from your house? That’s like, two miles!”
Lindsay stepped in and set down her dripping umbrella, but did not unzip her raincoat. She didn’t want Rosie to think she was assuming she could stay for long. But Rosie insisted she take it off, so she hung it on the doorknob of the hall closet door.
Lindsay peered down the hall toward the kitchen, wondering if Rosie’s family was around.
“They’re not here,” said Rosie in answer. “They all went to the mall. I have to babysit later, so I couldn’t go.”
Lindsay nodded. “Rosie, I came over to say I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, Linz, I—”
“No, but listen. I really need to tell you this. You were right that I went and flirted with Troy. I was awful to pretend to Troy that I liked him. I only did it because I was trying to make Nick jealous. See, I know this won’t be a surprise to you because I know everyone’s talking about it, but the rumors are true. I really do like Nick. I seem to be the last one on earth to realize it. I didn’t even really know I liked him until, well, until I finally admitted to myself that I liked him more than just as a friend. Even though he’s going out with Cassidy, and he hates my guts. And it was really lame of me to fake that I was interested to Troy. I feel terrible about it.”
“Linz, it’s fine. I totally get it. I understand. And anyway I don’t even like Troy anymore.”
“Oh! You—you don’t? Did something happen?”
“Yes. I’ll tell you what happened. I finally realized—duh!—that Kevin Avery, the striker, is, like, to die for gorgeous.” She put a hand to her heart and then fanned herself. “Have you noticed?”
Lindsay smiled, overcome with relief. “No, I hadn’t. I guess I should get to a game one of these days.”
“Yes, you should,” said Rosie. “I really appreciate the apology, Lindsay. I think I kind of overreacted and didn’t let you tell me what happened, and I feel bad about it. But it’s done, so now let’s move on, okay? Come into the kitchen and I’ll heat you up a cup of hot cocoa. My mom made it this morning and it is soooooo good.”
She linked arms with Lindsay and led her into the kitchen.
Lindsay sat down at the Pereiras’ cozy kitchen table, feeling better than she’d felt in days. Rosie turned on the gas burner, which whooshed into flame below the pot of cocoa on the stove. Then she turned it down to low.
“So I have to ask. How was the party last night?” asked Lindsay cautiously.
“It was pretty fun,” said Rosie. “There were a lot of kids there but they were mostly all soccer players. Sasha and Jenn and Chloe were not there . . . they weren’t invited, it turns out. There was a ton of supervision—like five caterers and a DJ and there was even a lifeguard supervising us in the pool.”
Lindsay nodded, hoping Rosie would get to talking about Nick and Cassidy.
“And the house was crazy nice,” Rosie went on. She ladled some cocoa into a cup and set it down in front of Lindsay.
It smelled amazing. She took a sip. It tasted delicious.
“It belongs to Cassidy’s grandparents, I guess. They have a huge pool and a huge backyard and the house is huge with a ginormous kitchen and down in the basement they have a movie theater room and a game room that’s better than a lot of arcades I’ve been to!” Rosie’s words were tumbling out. “I guess Cassidy has a ton of cousins so the grandparents decked out the basement for when they all come to visit, but Cassidy said they don’t even visit all that often.”
“What was her family like?” Lindsay said, no longer pretending she wasn’t dying of curiosity.
Rosie furrowed her brow. “I don’t think her parents were actually there,” she said. “The only one I saw was her grandmother, but she was all dressed up to go out to some fancy party herself. Anyway, it was really fun but I wished you were there.”
“Did you see Nick there?”
“Yeah, he showed up late, though,” said Rosie.
Of course he did. He’d been with Lindsay at her parents’ party, getting mad at her. “Was he, like, hanging out with Cassidy all night?”
Rosie set down the ladle on a plate and turned to look at her. “Not really. He mostly was hanging out with his teammates. I talked to him a little bit. You know what, Linz? I am really glad you came over. But I think you also need to talk to Nick.”
Monday morning Lindsay’s dad had an early meeting, so he gave her a ride to school. As she headed toward the area near the playground, where kids tended to congregate and socialize before school, the first person she saw was Cassidy.
Should I walk past her and pretend not to see her? wondered Lindsay. But she didn’t have the opportun
ity. Cassidy spotted her, waved, and hurried over.
“Today’s my day,” she said.
Lindsay looked confused. “For what?” she asked. “Do you have some big game or something?”
“Duh, no. It’s my day for the All About Me presentation!”
“Oh!” Lindsay looked surprised. She had been so busy noticing when she herself was going, and when Nick was going, that she’d totally not even noticed that Cassidy was presenting right in between the two of them.
“I ran through it for Nicky on Saturday, and he thought it was pretty good,” said Cassidy. “But he’s always so nice, who knows if he really meant it.”
Again, Lindsay felt the jealousy roil around her, thinking about Nick and Cassidy being so chummy like that. Again with the Nicky. And when had they gone through it? Had he gone over to her house after the party? Maybe they’d spent the whole weekend hanging out together.
“Okay, well, good luck with that,” said Lindsay, moving on. And then she saw Claudia leaning against the building, looking down at her notebook.
A thought suddenly struck her.
“Can you wait here for one sec?” she asked Cassidy.
Cassidy’s perfect eyebrows arched upward in surprise, but she shrugged and nodded.
Lindsay was by Claudia’s side a moment later. “Hey, Claudia. Can you, um, come over there with me? I just want you to talk to someone.”
Claudia, too, looked surprised, but she nodded and shoved the notebook back into her backpack. Slinging the heavy bag up onto her shoulder, she followed after Lindsay.
“Cassidy, do you know Claudia?” asked Lindsay when the three girls were standing together.
“Um, yeah, hi,” said Cassidy. “You’re in our homeroom, right? Aren’t you from, like, Morocco or something?”
“Mexico,” Lindsay and Claudia corrected her at the same time.
“Hello,” said Claudia. She looked sideways at Lindsay as though she was wondering where this was going.
“Claudia here is a soccer player,” said Lindsay. “And I was thinking maybe she might be able to come to one of your practices? Maybe practice with the team, to see how she plays and stuff? Her brothers are professional soccer players, if you remember from her presentation.”
Claudia’s eyes widened with surprise, but she didn’t say anything.
“Sure!” said Cassidy. “Practice today is at three thirty. I’ll tell Coach. I’m sure she won’t mind if you practice with us.”
“But I do not want my host family to need to drive me too much,” said Claudia.
“There’s a late bus after practice,” said Cassidy. “You just have to sign up at the office.”
“And the shoes. I don’t have the shoes with the bumps for the soccer.”
Lindsay started to explain to Cassidy that Claudia was talking about cleats, but Cassidy was already nodding her head. “What size are you?” she asked Claudia.
“In Mexico I am four and a half. I don’t know in the United States.”
Cassidy and Lindsay both put their feet up alongside Claudia’s.
“She looks the same size as me,” said Lindsay. “Like a seven and a half.”
“That’s my size, too,” said Cassidy. “I have an extra set of cleats and shin guards in my locker. We’ll get you set up.”
Lindsay was amazed. This was the friendliest she’d ever seen Cassidy before. What had come over her?
The first bell rang.
“The moment of truth!” said Cassidy. “I need to go to the bathroom to brush my hair and stuff. Wish me luck!”
Lindsay and Claudia both smiled.
“I’m sure you’ll do fine,” said Lindsay.
As Cassidy hurried inside, Lindsay and Claudia made their way more slowly into the building along with the throngs of other kids.
“Thank you, Lindsay,” said Claudia, her eyes shining. “Even if I only play today, I am so happy to play again.”
Lindsay smiled. “You’re welcome,” she said. “I’m sure you’ll be awesome.” She thought about how confusing and bad the past week had seemed. Imagine if all that confusion was happening and you were far from home, too. Lindsay hoped Claudia wasn’t too homesick. “I’ll come to one of your practices to watch,” she said. “And one night you can come home for dinner with me.” And before Claudia could protest she said, “And don’t worry, I’m sure my mom will drive you home.”
“Thank you!” said Claudia. “I’d like that.” The girls smiled at each other and headed inside to hear all about Cassidy.
chapter 16
“MY NAME IS CASSIDY SINCLAIR.”
The class had settled down after the morning announcements, and now Cassidy was up at the front of the room.
Lindsay looked at Nick. He was leaning forward in his seat, listening raptly to Cassidy, his strong arms looking fantastic in his polo shirt.
Does he have to look so perfectly amazing? Does she? Lindsay thought. Cassidy was wearing a slim-fitting T-shirt over a flippy pleated skirt with adorable patent flats. She wore multiple strands of silver necklaces, and she’d pulled back her blond hair and twisted it into an intricate bun in the back. It looked like she’d been to a salon to have her hair done.
Cassidy was doing the usual bit that everyone else had done, showing slides of herself as a baby. She flashed a slide of her parents, which looked like it had been taken a long time ago. Her mother wore a long evening gown, her father a tuxedo. They looked really young, almost like teenagers, except for their fancy clothes. Lindsay wondered if they were about to go to the opera or something. Cassidy looked a lot like her mother, who in the picture was blond and slim and beautiful.
“These are my parents, but I don’t really get to see them very much. I, um, saw my dad two Christmases ago and I saw my mom, um, the last time, when I was four.”
The class suddenly grew quiet. Not a chair shifted. Not a person coughed.
Cassidy took a deep breath and continued. “My parents divorced when I was a baby and my dad lives in France with his new family. I have a little half brother now. I’ve met him twice. My dad came to one of my games once and brought my half brother.” She swallowed, looked down, and then looked up again with her bright smile back in place. “Anyway, now I live with my grandparents.”
She flashed a picture of another couple. They were also very elegant, but they looked even older than Lindsay’s own grandparents.
“That’s my grandmother. She’s my mom’s mom, but she also hasn’t seen my mom in, like, years. She volunteers a lot for her, um, committees and she’s always out at an event. And that’s my grandfather. He likes to play golf. And he hates the cold weather and wishes he lived in Florida. He works a lot and gets home pretty late most nights.”
The next several pictures were all of Cassidy on sports teams. Group shots of her on soccer teams, softball teams, basketball teams. But there were no pictures of Cassidy at birthday parties or on family vacations. There wasn’t even one picture of Cassidy with another kid who wasn’t a teammate.
Cassidy flashed a picture of another older woman standing in a fancy kitchen. The woman wore a uniform and an apron.
“This is Anna. She’s been my best friend forever. She drives me back and forth to soccer and she comes to a lot of my games,” said Cassidy. “She has a son in the marines and a daughter who lives in New Jersey and three grandchildren that she wishes she could see more often, but she also says I’m like her fourth grandchild.”
There were just a few more slides, mostly of Cassidy on more teams, and then she finished up. “So yeah,” she said. “That’s been my life so far. I hope someday to play professional soccer or maybe be in the Olympics!” She grinned as everyone clapped, and then the bell rang and it was time to go.
Lindsay felt all topsy-turvy. Cassidy wasn’t the person she’d thought she was. As everyone filed out, she checked her schedule. Seventh grade had a much more complicated schedule than sixth grade, with her classes in a different order every day. Her first class of the mor
ning that day was a study hall, in the cafeteria.
She walked in slowly and sat down at a table near the door, lost in thought about Cassidy’s presentation. What a lonely life she’d led. Lindsay couldn’t imagine how hard it must be to never get to see your parents. Where was Cassidy’s mom, anyway? And she only met her half brother twice? And her dad lived a whole continent away with another family? She must be lonely, Lindsay thought. She pictured Cassidy eating dinner at home alone most nights. Lindsay could not concentrate on her social studies reading as she thought about it. It made her mind whirl to realize that someone as beautiful and popular as Cassidy Sinclair could have such big problems. She really didn’t have the charmed life that Lindsay had always assumed she had.
Lindsay had misjudged her. She thought back on the conversations they’d had, where Lindsay had always jumped to the conclusion that Cassidy was being sarcastic. Maybe she wasn’t! Maybe she genuinely was impressed with Lindsay’s piano playing. Maybe she genuinely did like that “vintage” skirt she’d worn that day. And that comment about not caring what she looked like? Maybe Cassidy had meant it differently—like, she liked how Lindsay looked nice without seeming to have fussed over her appearance?
And then there was Nick. Nick, who whatever else you might say about him, was a very good judge of character. He wouldn’t be going out with a stuck-up, mean girl. Clearly he had seen the nice side of Cassidy. Maybe Lindsay shouldn’t have jumped to all those conclusions and been so quick to lose her temper with him. She sighed. That quick temper her mother reminded her about wasn’t her best quality.
At lunch her old place at her friends’ table, next to Rosie, was open again. She started toward it and then turned toward where Claudia was sitting, at the end of the other table as usual.
“Hey, Claudia,” she said. “Want to come sit with me and my friends today?”
Claudia set down her sandwich and stood up quickly. “Thank you, Lindsay,” she said. “That would be great. You are very kind.”
Lindsay blushed. She didn’t feel very kind. Lately she’d been a judgmental, fiery-tempered girl who spent way too much time assuming that the whole world was gossiping just about her. But she knew that wasn’t who she was deep down. And that wasn’t how she was going to act anymore.
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