Cici Reno #MiddleSchoolMatchmaker

by Kristina Springer

  “She likes him too. Actually, she liked him first. But I know him better. We talk more. We’d make a better couple, but she has dibs.”

  “Hmm. All I can tell you is that good friends, best friends, are hard to come by, and there will be many boys in your lifetime. Sisters before misters, you know?”

  Sure. But this mister is different.

  Bonnie walks in. Class is about to start.

  “I’m not sure if I’ve helped you with your problem at all,” Claire says, slowly getting to her feet.

  “I’ll think about what you said. It helps to talk to someone who’s not involved.”

  “Just remember, everything gets better with time. Even if a situation seems horrible today, tomorrow will be a bit better.” Claire gives me a hug, tucks her mat under her arm, and heads for the door.

  There should be a state law that school cannot begin until noon on Mondays. An eight AM bell is way unfair.

  “Cici!” I hear Aggie scream after I’ve walked about ten steps into school. I look around trying to locate her. She pushes through a mob of sixth graders and is in front of me a moment later. “I made the volleyball team!” she yells, hopping up and down.

  “Congratulations,” I shriek and join her in the hopping. “I knew you would! You were the best one at tryouts. I’m so happy for you!” And I really am. I thought about it a lot last night, and Claire was right. Aggie’s my best friend and you don’t come by best friends easily. I said I was going to help her get Drew and I did, so everything is right. I just need to squash my feelings and be happy for them. They do look perfect together.

  “I can’t believe it,” she continues. “I thought I had a good chance after tryouts. I mean, it felt good, you know? But wow, I really made it. I have to call my mom. Our first practice is after school today.”

  “Hey, Aggie,” a male voice says. We look up and see Drew, my brother Luke, and their friend Austin. Luke is looking around like he wants to be absolutely anywhere else in the world right now besides standing in a hallway with his sister.

  “Drew, hi! I made the team!” Aggie squeals, hopping up and down again.

  “Wow, congrats!” he says. He leans over and gives her a big hug.

  She hugs him back, an enormous grin on her face.

  My stomach lurches. I can’t take my eyes off her face. She says something else, and he responds, but I’m not really listening. Seeing them together just … hurts. Drew and the guys walk off, probably on their way to the eighth grade hallway and I’m still staring at Aggie.

  She gives me a puzzled look. “You okay, Cici?”

  I speak slowly, thinking about how I want to say this. “Yeah, I’m fine. You two just … really look like a couple now.”

  “All thanks to you!” she says. “We probably would have never had said two words to each other if it wasn’t for you.”

  I’m trying hard to smile like everything is fine but the pain is swelling up so much inside that I have to get out of here, away from Aggie before I say the wrong thing. “Sure. I’m always here for you. But right now I need to get to class, if I’m late one more time I’ll get detention, and …” I turn and practically run toward English.

  “Cici, got a second?” Tina Smith, another seventh grader, calls out to me, leaning against a row of lockers.

  “Later,” I yell. “I’m in a hurry.” I can’t help anyone else right now. I can’t even help myself.

  20

  Today was so weird. I was upset and then okay and then upset again. I don’t know why this whole situation with Drew keeps getting to me. I keep reminding myself that I created this. It’s not like my best friend is stealing my boyfriend. Drew isn’t involved with me. But still, it feels like he is.

  Aggie asked me at lunch what was wrong and I told her “Nothing,” of course, but she could sense it. And when Madison and Alexa came to our lunch table all giggly and asking Aggie if it was true she was dating an eighth grader, I felt like I was punched in the gut. Aggie glanced at me and then told the girls she wasn’t sure if they were labeling their relationship.

  Labeling THEIR relationship.

  That night after I finish dinner and my homework I go to my room and check my messages, though I don’t expect there to be anything there, now that I’m not needed anymore. Aggie and Drew are together, and I’m alone.

  I’m shocked to see a message waiting for me from Drew. I should probably call Aggie and tell her; let her handle it. But I can’t resist. I open the message.

  Are you mad at me?

  Mad at him? Why would he think Aggie would be mad at him? She was just hanging all over him at school.

  I’m sure she’d want me to say no. It wouldn’t hurt to respond this one time.

  No, why?

  There’s no response for a full minute. How long does it take him to type? Finally a message pops up.

  You blew me off today, after school.

  What? No way. Aggie wouldn’t do that. And she didn’t tell me anything about seeing Drew after school. How did she blow him off? I don’t know how to respond.

  I did?

  Yeah. When I stopped in at your first volleyball practice to wish you luck.

  Oh yikes. She must have blown him off then. I’ll just fix this for her. She’d want me to.

  I’m sorry. I was really nervous.

  You didn’t look nervous.

  Well, you know what they say about looks being deceiving.

  Boy, ain’t that the truth.

  So you’re not mad?

  Uh-uh.

  Got time to chat?

  I think about this. I desperately want to talk to Drew. I love talking to him. We have a special bond.

  Yep.

  Hey, guess what I just got?

  Book five of The Last Token?

  No, but good guess. I have that on hold at the library. I got a light up Minecraft torch! It’s so cool.

  Oh wow, where’d you get it?

  My mom got it online somewhere. It’s hanging over my bed now.

  Nice!

  I settle back in my chair, ready for a long chat with Drew.

  At school the next day, I invite Aggie to take a yoga class with me when she’s done with practice. I think we both could use it. We’re both feeling stress from our current situation, and yoga should help at least a little with that. Before school, I had filled Aggie in about my chat with Drew last night. I didn’t want her to think I was doing something sneaky. And I was curious why Drew had thought she blew him off. She said she didn’t exactly mean to, but she didn’t want her new volleyball friends to think they were together. Which is odd.

  I’m walking out to my mom’s car in the parking lot when I see my friend Grace from English in the pickup line, looking teary.

  “What’s wrong, Grace?” I say when I approach her.

  She looks startled. “Just a bad day.”

  “Do you want to talk?” I ask.

  Grace looks around before she responds. “Sophie and I got into a fight in gym class. A really stupid one. I tried to apologize, but she’s mad at me now and wouldn’t say anything. Just stormed off.”

  I shake my head. Fights with your best friend are no fun, I know it. I can totally sympathize. Aggie and I aren’t in a fight but our friendship is feeling some obvious strain. “She probably just needed to blow off a little steam,” I tell Grace. “Give her some breathing space and see how things are tomorrow. She can’t stay mad for long.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Grace says, a worry line creasing her forehead.

  “I’m telling you, things will look different in the morning. If she still won’t talk to you when you see her before school, then try to apologize again. I know how close you and Sophie are. I don’t think she’ll be able to stay mad at you.”

  “I hope you’re right.” Her chin quivers.

  “You need to relax. Come to yoga with Aggie and me tonight. We’re taking a five PM class at my mom’s studio. You’ll feel much better, I bet. And if that doesn’t wor
k, we’ll get something chocolaty at Beanies.”

  Grace considers this. “Okay, I’ll ask my mom to drop me off.”

  “Great,” I say. Not only will this help Grace’s mood, but having her there will be a good buffer for Aggie and me. Things are still a little weird between us.

  I’m sitting in the lobby at Peony Lane doing my homework. It’s about four o’clock, so I have another hour before Grace and Aggie show up for class. I’m checking my assignment notebook again when Luke and Drew walk in.

  “Hang out with Cici for a minute while I run in back and talk to my mom,” Luke tells Drew.

  Drew nods and sits down right next to me on the sofa. “Hey, Cici. What are you working on, math?”

  “Yeah, algebra,” I say. “Math is dependable. There’s always a right or wrong answer. No guessing or trying to interpret what something means.”

  “Like in literature?” he asks.

  “Exactly,” I reply. Or like in relationships. Boys. You. Aggie. You know, everything. Not that I say this. “So have things gotten better with you and Aggie since last we talked?”

  He sighs heavily. “Well, I guess. I mean, our whole relationship is really strange. She’s hot, then cold, then hot, then cold. Something is off but I can’t figure it out.”

  “What do you mean?” I ask, tentatively.

  Drew smirks. “You’re going to think I’m such a whiner. And I shouldn’t complain. I don’t know what I’m expecting really.”

  “Tell me,” I urge.

  “Okay, so like, remember when I was telling you Aggie’s so cool when we’re chatting online and then acts like she hates me in person?”

  “Right, but then you guys went on a date …” I lead. He gives me a surprised look. “Oh you know, best friends talk,” I say. “I heard the date went great.”

  “It did … I guess,” he says. “No, I mean, ugh. I can’t believe I’m telling you this stuff. Promise me you won’t say anything. I could just be misinterpreting things.”

  I motion crossing my heart.

  “When we’re together it’s like we don’t quite click. It feels forced. Not natural, you know?”

  “That’s strange,” I say.

  “I know,” he says. “When we’re chatting online she talks so freely and we have a lot of common interests. Then when we’re together she’s reserved or holding back, and it feels off. And she doesn’t talk about the same stuff either. Like, she never talks about volleyball online, but in person she talks about it constantly. I told you it’s crazy. Just a random feeling I get. Don’t tell her I said anything, okay?”

  “I won’t,” I reassure him. How bad is it that I feel relief to hear him say these things?

  “I don’t know why I’m even so invested. It’s like I keep waiting for her to be the girl I talk to on Twitter, and she just isn’t. The Aggie I talk to every night is perfect for me.”

  I smile.

  “Ahhhh, I’m such a sap. You’re too easy to tell all of this stuff to, Cici. Promise me you won’t let it get around what a loser I am. Don’t tell your brother either; he already thinks I’m being a moron. He doesn’t get why I’m trying so hard with Aggie. He said all he sees when he looks at her is the girl who picked her nose all through second grade and carried around a Barbie head collection everywhere she went.”

  “Oh yeah,” I say. “She did have a great Barbie head collection. And Luke should talk. I could tell you disgusting stories about him all afternoon.”

  “I bet,” Drew says.

  “All right, we’re out of here,” Luke says, walking back into the lobby.

  “Cool,” Drew says, standing up. He bends toward me and gives my shoulder a quick squeeze. “Thanks for the talk,” he whispers.

  I feel my cheeks blush at his touch. “No problem,” I reply.

  21

  Mom rarely lets me work the front desk at Peony Lane, but I sure love it when she does. You can see everything from up here. All the people walking back and forth in front of the studio, going shopping with their moms, or on dates with cute boys. There’s just so much living going on just past this window and I love watching it all. Not that there isn’t a bunch of living going on inside of course. People coming out of yoga are always very chill and Zen. I’ve heard more than one client refer to it as life-altering. There’s definitely some important stuff happening in here. I once asked Mom what she would be if she hadn’t become a yogini and opened her own studio. She said, “Crabby.”

  Yoga with Aggie and Grace ended up being fun yesterday evening. Grace looked ten times cheerier when she left, and Aggie and I goofed around like everything was completely fine. Drew’s name didn’t come up even once and I’m glad of that. When we’re not talking about him everything feels normal between us. I tried to get the girls to do some partner yoga with me and get into a Triple Down Dog with Grace doing a downward dog on her mat, Aggie doing a downward dog with her feet on Grace’s back, and me doing a downward dog with my feet on Aggie’s back. We mostly just kept giggling and falling over though. We’ll have to practice more if we want to pull that one off.

  “Your mom’s got you working, eh?” Peg asks as she comes through the door, mat tucked under her arm; she’s wearing a sleeveless white shirt with “I woke up like this” written in black sequins.

  “Yep,” I reply. “Bonnie and Jackson are out, and Wendy’s teaching a hot yoga class at the same time as Mom’s class tonight, so I get to run the desk.”

  “Well, you are just cute as a bug sitting back there, looking so grown-up,” Peg adds.

  And this is the reason why Mom doesn’t like me running the front desk. She thinks it looks unprofessional to clients coming in to see a kid working. But I’m practically thirteen and besides, no one cares!

  “Hey girls,” Claire says, walking into the studio.

  Peg high-fives Claire, then bends to start stretching. “So what’s the update with Aggie? Things settle down?”

  I smile. “Yeah. She’s going to be fine. Really I’d say things are almost back to normal.”

  “And the boy?” Claire asks.

  The boy. Hmm. There’s still that. I don’t know what to do to fix the situation with Drew. I would kind of like the whole thing to just go away. For him to not like Aggie and Aggie to not like him, and for them to never speak or date or even be aware of each other’s existence. But without losing our nightly chats that I love so much. I’d hate to lose that. If only Drew could like me back the way that I like him.

  “Um,” I say to Claire, “I’m just sort of stepping aside for now. Our friendship is the most important thing, and I don’t want to wreck that.”

  “That’s so good to hear,” Peg chimes in. “You’re restoring my faith in humanity.”

  “Thanks,” I say.

  “Well, I better get into class now before I get stuck in the back with a bunch of rear ends in my face,” Peg says.

  I giggle as Peg and Claire head into their class. Maybe things are finally turning around.

  After Mom and I get home and we all have dinner, I go to my room to do my homework. And check my Twitter, of course. There isn’t a message from Drew waiting for me, which is kind of surprising. I’ve gotten used to him at least sending me a note each night, even if he can’t chat.

  I get a craving for some ice cream and head out to the kitchen to see what we have in the freezer. I come to an abrupt stop when I see Drew sitting at my kitchen counter, his laptop open in front of him and Luke’s laptop sitting opposite his. But no Luke. I briefly panic as I look down at my outfit. Darn it, I’m wearing my old Care Bear pajama pants and a faded “Girls Rock” t-shirt and here’s Drew looking amazing in a black hoodie. Great.

  “Drew,” I say, “what are you doing here?”

  “Hey, Cici,” Drew says, looking up from his laptop. “Nice pants.”

  Ugh. “Thanks,” I say.

  “I’m sleeping over tonight. We have an early morning hockey practice, and my mom can’t drive me, so your mom suggested I sleep over
and she’s going to take us,” he says.

  Sleeping over? Drew Lancaster is spending the entire night in my house? Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.

  “No one told me,” I say. “I mean, not that anyone has to tell me, it’s just, I didn’t know. Want some ice cream?”

  “Sure,” Drew says.

  I busy myself pulling out the ice cream, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and some bowls. “Where’s my brother, anyway?” I ask.

  “Luke went to take a shower,” Drew says.

  So we’re all alone. Yikes. “Want to put your own toppings on?” I ask, pushing a bowl of ice cream toward him.

  “Yeah, thanks,” he says. “Hey, maybe you can help me with something,” he adds.

  “Sure,” I say. I work on scooping ice cream into a bowl.

  “I need you to help me break up with Aggie.”

  “What?” I practically screech, my scoop-holding hand flicking right, sending a ball of ice cream across the room and landing in the fruit bowl on the counter. I look at the blob of vanilla. “Oops.” I rip some paper towels off the roll and work on cleaning up the mess. “I mean, why would you want to break up with Aggie?”

  Drew takes a seat at his laptop, ice cream in hand. “I was going to send her a message tonight and I’ve just been sitting here trying to think of how to say it. I’m not even sure she would care, to tell you the truth.”

  “What do you mean? Of course she cares,” I insist.

  Drew shakes his head. “Nah. She totally blew me off at school again today.”

  “Are you sure?” I ask. I toss out the paper towels and take a seat next to Drew. “I mean, maybe you misread her?”