Cici Reno #MiddleSchoolMatchmaker

by Kristina Springer

Drew’s never paid any special attention to Aggie though, aside from helping her up that night in fifth grade. And he certainly never noticed me. To him, I’m probably just Luke’s little sister and nothing else. Just a gawky and kind of small, more disregarded than desired from a boy’s point of view. Which I guess is true, visually, if you’ve only seen me and never spoken to me. I like myself well enough. But that thing about looks being deceiving is totally true in my case. My outside just hasn’t caught up to my inside yet. On the inside, I’m heading toward high school, and on the outside, I’m just starting fifth grade.

  Not that it matters at all what Drew thinks of me. Aggie called dibs long ago, and girl code states that you can’t like a guy your friend likes. But maybe she wouldn’t like him anymore. Maybe she prefers the shorter, pudgier-faced Drew of last spring. She’s been gone all summer. Maybe her type has changed. Ah, who am I kidding? He’s gorgeous. She’ll definitely notice.

  Luke and Drew leave, and Mom tiptoes back to the front of the room, trying to keep the disturbance to a minimum, but it’s useless for me. It’s hard to act dead when my heart is racing. Endless possibilities are running through my mind. If Drew and Luke are friends, he might start coming to family dinners or for ice cream. A family miniature golf outing or movie night. Will he sleep over? Oh my gosh, I might see him in his pajamas! Aggie will definitely want to hang out at my house even more if Drew’s around.

  The class empties out, and Mom and I begin wiping down the yoga mats. We pass the bottle of disinfectant back and forth while we talk.

  “So, Mom,” I begin. “Who was that with Luke? He looked sorta familiar.” Haha, sorta familiar. You know, in that my-best-friend’s-been-stalking-him-from-the-stands-for-two-years sorta way.

  “That was Drew from hockey. Your brother went to his house to do some land drills. I wish he could have waited five minutes for class to end, though. He knows I hate having class disturbed.”

  “I didn’t think it was too disturbing,” I reply.

  “Thanks for helping, Cici. I always get done cleaning up so much faster when you’re here,” Mom says.

  “I like helping,” I say.

  “So tell me, was it great seeing Aggie again? How was her summer? I bet it was wonderful. Three months on the beach in Florida sounds glorious.” Mom breathes in the warm yoga studio air like she’s taking in a beach breeze rather than old sweat and cleaning solution.

  “Um, yeah. It was good. She had a great time,” I say, my voice suddenly mellowing out.

  Mom stops wiping abruptly and tilts her head, studying me. “Hey, what’s wrong? You two didn’t get into a fight already, did you?” The worry wrinkles between Mom’s eyebrows pop out.

  A fight? No, Aggie and I don’t fight. Well, almost never. There was that one time in sixth grade when we didn’t talk for a whole week because she thought I was spending too much time with a new girl, Sabrina. I was just being nice, not looking for an Aggie replacement. It was torture having Aggie mad at me, and we promised we’d never let anything like that come between us again.

  “No, no fight. It was great catching up,” I say.

  Mom doesn’t look like she believes me. “Are you sure there isn’t something wrong?”

  Just your genetics, I think, and then mentally slap myself. Yikes, that was rude for me even to think. True, but rude. Mom’s small-chested, which I guess is great for yoga. But I can see where this tiny train is headed, and things don’t look good for me on the development front. It’s not like I can say any of this to Mom, though. I can’t tell her I’m jealous of Aggie without sounding silly, like the little kid I appear to be.

  “I’m sure,” I say.

  4

  Cici Reno @yogagirl4evr • 10m

  On the way to AWMS back-to-school bonfire! #AWMS #bonfire #soexcited

  Cici Reno @yogagirl4evr • 5m

  Longest car ride ever. #ugh #smoresdeficient

  Cici Reno @yogagirl4evr • 10s

  Annoying older brother trying to dampen my #bonfirebuzz. #wontwork #savemeahotdog

  I close Twitter and slip my phone back into my pocket. It’s near dusk when Mom pulls in the parking lot of Alton T. Wright Middle School. Luke’s sitting shotgun and I’m in back as usual. Mom says even though technically it’s almost legal for me to sit in the front she still feels better if I sit in the back for awhile longer, since I’m so tiny and all. Being small sucks.

  “Do you guys need anything?” Mom asks. “Here, Luke, take a $20 for you and Cici in case you want food or something. Or do you two want me to hang around for a bit?”

  “No way. It’s bad enough that you’re dropping us off in front of the school in the minivan,” Luke says. “I wanted to get out and walk a block ago.”

  It’s the back-to-school bonfire, and absolutely everyone attends. It’s a chance to swap class schedules, dish on teachers, and catch up on summer drama before class actually starts on Monday. Luke’s an eighth grader this year, so he thinks he’s a super big shot.

  “True, sweetie, but then Mommy couldn’t get a shot of you and Cici in front of the bonfire for the scrapbook,” she replies.

  Luke audibly gasps. “Mom!”

  I giggle. She’s totally teasing and I know it.

  “Fine, fine. Just give me a kiss and be on your way,” Mom says.

  “Good bye, Mother,” Luke says, popping open the passenger door and getting out. No kiss for Mom.

  “Be out front by nine-thirty,” Mom manages to yell just before the door is slammed shut. “What about you, Cici? Do I embarrass you to death too?”

  I lean through the front seats and kiss Mom on the cheek. “Not yet, but you’ll get there eventually.”

  The blacktop is packed. I head in the direction of the bonfire, which I can barely make out through the crowd, scanning for my friends. Aggie told me she’d meet me here. There’s music blasting from an iPod speaker somewhere, and small groups of friends are clumped together. Everyone seems giddy. Far away from the fire are a group of boys kicking a soccer ball around. Closer to it is a huddled group of what appears to be sixth graders assembling s’mores and shooting around nervous looks at the crowd. A bunch of boys to my right start chucking marshmallows at each other.

  While I dodge a rogue marshmallow, I spot my friends Emma and London. We got close working on sets for the sixth grade play last year, and we spent a lot of days lying out at the community pool this summer.

  “Cici!” London yells, throwing her arms around my neck. “I missed you!”

  I give her a squeeze back. She’s so funny. It’s only been two days since I last saw her. “Yeah, you’ve changed so much,” I reply jokingly.

  “Okay,” she says, grasping my shoulders and suddenly sounding serious. “Casually, turn your head and look toward the bonfire. But don’t let anyone see you looking!”

  I smirk. “How do I do that?”

  She smiles. “Okay, fine. Just look. But be quick. Do you see him?”

  “Who? Adam?” I say, drawing out his name. London has a monster crush on a tall, lanky boy named Adam. He hung out at the pool all summer too. We spent a good chunk of our time finding reasons to walk by his lounge chair.

  “Shh! Someone might hear you,” she says. “Of course I mean Adam. What’s he doing?”

  I take another look at him and he’s squatting near the fire. “Making a hot dog, I think. Actually, it looks like he’s burning it.”

  London looks concerned. “Maybe I should go over and offer to help?”

  “Yeah, do it,” Emma says, and I nod.

  “No,” London says, shaking her head. “I couldn’t do that. God, it’d be so obvious.”

  Emma and I look at each other and crack up.

  “Did you come alone?” Emma asks.

  I nod. “Aggie’s meeting me here, though.”

  “Cici!” someone calls out and I look around to see who the voice belongs to. It’s a girl from my gym class last year, and I wave. As I spin back around to talk to my friends, my eyes pause on my b
rother. He’s talking to someone and laughing. Is it Drew? I stretch to the side to get a better look. I can’t quite make out the profile but it definitely looks like Drew.

  Madison pushes her way through the crowd, Alexa in tow.

  “Hey, Madison, Alexa. Having fun?” I say.

  “Yeah, we already saw Mel, Anna, and Tony. Tony has a crazy haircut, wait until you see it,” Alexa says.

  Suddenly, our attention turns to a group of eighth graders counting loudly. “Eight, nine, ten,” they chant.

  “What’s going on?” Emma asks.

  “I think that big kid in the middle, the one with the creepstache, is trying to see how many marshmallows he can cram into his mouth,” Alexa says.

  “He has a mustache?” London asks in awe.

  “Twelve!” the eighth graders scream and a group of girls starts clapping. They’re looking at the marshmallow eater like he’s a celebrity. He bends over and spits, and marshmallows fly all over the ground.

  “Ew,” I say. My friends and I exchange a look and we all start giggling.

  “I have to fill you in on what happened with Brandy,” Madison says, tugging on my sleeve.

  “Oh, yeah. Be back in a sec,” I say, and let Madison pull me a few feet away, into the crowd of seventh graders.

  “So,” Madison begins. “I did just what you said. I confronted Brandy.”

  “And?” I prompt.

  “She burst into tears,” Madison replies. “She felt awful about spilling my secret. And then I felt awful that she felt awful. She didn’t try to lie or anything. She said it was a stupid thing to do and asked if I’d forgive her.”

  “What did you say?”

  “I said I would. I mean, she came out clean with it and didn’t try to hide it or lie you know? And I love Brandy. We’ve been BFFs forever. I want to believe her.”

  “Good,” I say. “See I told you it would work out. But ease back into things. Don’t tell her where you hid the bodies or anything like that.”

  Madison laughs. “I won’t.”

  We make our way back over to our friends and I see Aggie has arrived. “Hey, lady, we were waiting for you,” I say to her.

  I hold out my phone and my friends and I instinctively group together and pose with the bonfire in the background. “Bonfire selfie,” I say, and we all smile. Snap.

  “My mom almost didn’t let me come,” Aggie says, rolling her eyes. “Drama.”

  “Glad you did,” I say. Her mom is the anxious type—always getting worked up over one thing or another. I keep telling Aggie to send her to Mom’s studio for some yoga. She needs it.

  I’m tweeting out the photo: Love my friends! #AWMS #bonfire when Emma says, “Aggie was just telling us about her summer in Florida.”

  I slip my phone back in my pocket.

  “Yeah, it was weird seeing my dad married and all. But his new wife is really nice,” Aggie says.” We hung out at the beach a lot and she took me shopping a bunch of times. She’s really into fashion. And we wear the same size, which is kind of weird, but cool, because she’d let me borrow cute clothes when we went out to dinner. It was kind of like hanging out with an older friend.”

  “She sounds cool,” Madison says. “And I’m totally jealous that you can fit into trendier adult clothes. I still have to get mine from the kid’s department.”

  “Well, that’s been about the only good part about this, um, situation.” She waves a hand in a circle over her chest. “I really liked my new stepmom. But I’m glad to be home again too. I missed my mom and stepdad and my little brother, Henry. And you guys, of course. I feel like I missed a lot,” she adds.

  “We missed you too!” London throws her arms around Aggie’s neck. “And don’t worry, we can catch you up fast. For example, Adam is still really, really cute.”

  As London goes on about Adam, I casually scan the crowd again and find myself seeking out Drew. I find him easily, a few feet away from the bonfire talking with Luke. And he’s looking right at me. I put up one hand in a wave, and Drew smiles. My stomach flutters a bit at the attention. I smile back, pushing a loose strand of hair behind my ear. I try to catch Drew’s eyes again and notice they’re not quite meeting mine. Actually they’re sorta going right over my head. I glimpse over my shoulder. It’s just Aggie.

  Wait, is Drew’s checking out Aggie? I should tell her. I whip my head back toward Drew, but the moment is gone. They’re gone. Drew and Luke must have walked off somewhere and I can’t see them.

  I cross my arms and sway slightly from foot to foot. Was Drew really just checking out Aggie? Or am I seeing things? He never paid any attention to her before. Thank goodness Aggie wore her North Face jacket to cover up a bit.

  Ack! Did I really just think that? Who am I? What is Aggie supposed to do, wear a parka for the rest of her life? This is just like the time at the beginning of sixth grade when Aggie’s mom got her an iPhone and my mom said I was too young to own such an expensive phone, despite my famous “flip is not hip” speech. I got a lot of retweets after going public with that one.

  I need to squash the jealousy. I think I need a yoga session stat. Some stretching and slow breathing would help me deal with letting go of the things I cannot change. Like a flat chest.

  What I should do, as a good BFF, is tell Aggie that Drew was just checking her out.

  I tug on Aggie’s sleeve, pulling her a few steps away from the group. “Did you see Drew yet?” I ask her. “Doesn’t he look … different?”

  Aggie scans the crowd. “Where is he?”

  “He was by the bonfire talking to my brother. Let me see.” I slowly spin around, eyeing the crowd. And then I spot him and Luke buying pops from a teacher sitting in a sports chair by a huge cooler. “There,” I say and nod in their direction.

  Her eyes land on Drew and she lets out a “whoa.”

  “He’s even cuter than I remember,” she says. “His hair is longer and blonder. And he’s so tan. He looks like a surfer.”

  “You should go talk to him. I just saw him checking you out.”

  “No way, he was?” Aggie looks shocked.

  “Totally. Come on, I’ll go with you,” I tell her.

  “I-I don’t know. I mean, I want to, of course, but what if he doesn’t like me?”

  “Oh, he’ll like you. Let’s go.” I march straight toward Drew, pulling Aggie by the hand. I stop in front of him, giving Aggie a final yank to join me. My brother glares at me, obviously not wanting to be seen talking to his sister. But we’re not here for him anyway. I wait for Aggie to say something.

  And wait. And wait. But she’s not saying a thing. Drew looks from Aggie to me and back to Aggie. Awkward. I give Aggie a light elbow to the ribs and plaster a big smile on my face.

  Finally she opens her mouth to speak. “I, um, I …” she trails off.

  Drew smiles warmly. “Hey.”

  Aggie looks frozen and her jaw hangs open slightly.

  I clear my throat loudly. She quickly turns toward me, her eyes blinking rapidly. I give her an encouraging nod. Just say hello, I mouth to tell her.

  I can feel my brother shooting daggers into the side of my face. But I ignore him.

  Aggie turns back to Drew and wets her lips. “I mean, hi? Heh heh,” she lets out in a nervous giggle.

  “Having a good time?” he asks.

  Aggie looks at me, and I motion with my eyes for her to look back at Drew. “Uh, fire, huh?” she says.

  Well, this isn’t going well at all. Drew’s giving her a concerned look now, probably because she sounds like she’s having some sort of stroke. I have to save her.

  “You’re … tall,” she adds.

  Drew looks four or five inches taller than Aggie. So maybe around 5′9′′.

  “Yeah,” Drew says. He shifts uncomfortably.

  Okay, time to step in. “Hey,” I say. “Actually we just came over to talk to my brother.”

  “Sup?” Luke says, annoyed at my mere existence.

  “Can I have some
money for a pop?”

  I can feel Aggie nervously fidgeting next to me, spreading her gaze around everywhere, anywhere to avoid looking at Drew again.

  Luke reluctantly gives me some crumpled up and slightly damp-looking bills from his pocket.

  “Thanks.”

  I quickly flip around, hooking my arm through Aggie’s. I’ve got to get her out of here before she says anything else weird.

  As we walk away I hear Drew say to Luke, “Is your sister’s friend okay?”

  “Who cares,” Luke replies.

  Ah, that sweet brother of mine.

  Aggie covers her face in her hands.

  I put an arm around her back as we walk. “It wasn’t that bad,” I lie to her.

  5

  Cici Reno @yogagirl4evr • 15m

  Mountain-Salute-Fold-Half Fold-Plank-Chaturanga-Upward Dog-Downward Dog-Half Fold-Fold-Salute-Mountain #goodmorning #yoga #firstdayschool

  The first day of school came too fast. I certainly did not miss waking up at 7 AM.

  As I step into the shower after finishing my morning Sun Salutation, Luke pounds on the door, telling me to get out of the bathroom. Now that he’s an eighth grader, he needs to spend twenty minutes staring at himself in the mirror, I guess.

  I finish getting showered and dressed, taking my sweet time, and then head to the kitchen. I’m determined to grow a minimum of two inches this year, so I pour myself an extra-large glass of milk and fill a sandwich bag with granola for the car ride.

  Dad comes in and pours himself a cup of coffee. “Did you brush your teeth?” he asks.

  I roll my eyes at him. “Seriously?” Being a dentist, he’s slightly obsessed with my teeth. But I’m in seventh grade now; I think I have tooth-brushing under control.

  Dad mimics my eye roll and in an ultra-dramatic voice he says, “Like ohmigod, my Dad is such a loser. He, like, totally cares about my dental hygiene. As if, gag me with a spoon, ohmigod.” He takes a sip of his coffee and looks at me expectantly, smiling.

  “I’m sorry, what language was that?” I ask him with a chuckle.