Boy Friend?

by Meredith Badger

  Mrs Bonacci looked around. ‘What does everyone think?’ she said.

  ‘We could dig it up on our last day of primary school,’ suggested Shae.

  Mrs Bonacci nodded. ‘Perfect.’

  ‘Can we decorate our tributes?’ asked Jamie.

  ‘Definitely!’ said Mrs Bonacci. ‘And you can include photos, too.’

  Even though Mia was nervous about having to read in front of everyone, she was excited, too. It was going to be cool doing this time capsule. And she could tell by looking around that everyone else felt the same way.

  At recess, Mia, Shae and Michiko grabbed their drinks and snacks and went to their favourite bench by the oval.

  ‘I’m sooo excited about the time capsule,’ said Shae, peeling her mandarin and offering the wedges around. ‘Let’s put in heaps of photos.’

  ‘Hey!’ said Michiko suddenly. ‘We don’t have any photos of us together from this year yet! Only that blurry one from when Mia tried to teach us to surf in my backyard.’

  ‘You’re right,’ Shae nodded. ‘We need some new ones. Who’s got a camera?’

  ‘Ours is broken,’ sighed Michiko.

  ‘We’ve got a digital camera,’ said Mia. ‘But I’m not allowed to bring it to school.’

  Shae shrugged. ‘That’s OK,’ she said. ‘Can we come to your house on Saturday? The time capsule isn’t being buried until Monday, so we’ve got heaps of time.’

  ‘Sure!’ said Mia, feeling excited. It felt like ages since Michiko and Shae had been to her house. ‘Maybe we could dress up for the photos. You know — like a proper photo shoot?’

  ‘Great idea!’ said Michiko. ‘We could dress up like clowns — I’ve got some cool wigs we could wear, and some face paint.’

  ‘Maybe,’ said Shae doubtfully. Then she started rummaging around in her pocket. ‘Actually, why don’t we ask … this!’ She pulled out what looked like a piece of paper folded into triangles.

  ‘What’s that?’ asked Michiko. ‘It looks like origami.’

  ‘It’s a fortune teller,’ explained Shae. ‘My sister showed me how to make one last night. It helps you make decisions. And it can predict the future!’

  She poked her thumbs and forefingers up into the points of the four triangles. Mia noticed that written on the outside of the triangles were the numbers one to eight.

  Shae held the fortune teller out to Michiko.

  ‘Ask it a yes or no question, Mich,’ she instructed.

  ‘OK,’ said Michiko. ‘Should we dress up as clowns for the photo shoot?’

  ‘Now, pick a number,’ said Shae.

  Michiko picked three.

  ‘One, two, three,’ counted Shae, moving the triangles back and forth with her fingers. Then she held the fortune teller out to Michiko again. Written inside it were the words red, blue, orange and green. Michiko picked red.

  ‘R, E, D,’ said Shae, moving the triangles again as she spelt out the colour. Now the choices were yellow, purple, pink and aqua. Michiko chose aqua.

  Shae unfolded the flap to read what was written underneath. ‘It says Bad idea!’ she laughed.

  Michiko didn’t seem to mind. ‘That thing is so cool!’ she said. ‘Ask it something else.’

  Shae thought for a moment. Then she smiled her cheekiest smile. ‘Does Mia have a crush on Jack?’ she said. She passed the fortune teller to Mia.

  ‘I keep telling you. I don’t have a crush on him!’ laughed Mia. But all the same she felt her cheeks go pink. Jack and his gang were playing nearby. She really hoped they hadn’t heard Shae!

  ‘Let’s see what the fortune teller has to say,’ said Shae. ‘If you don’t have a crush, it’ll tell us.’

  Shae picked four, and Mia moved the fortune teller in and out, four times. Then Shae picked orange, then blue. Mia felt her heart skip a beat as she opened up the flap.

  But before Mia could read the answer Michiko grabbed it out of her hands and read it with Shae. Then they both burst out laughing.

  ‘Come on! Tell me what it says!’ said Mia. ‘Do I have a crush on him or not?’

  ‘It says There’s no doubt about it!’ giggled Shae.

  ‘Now ask it if Jack has a crush on Mia,’ said Michiko.

  So Shae asked the question. She chose two, then yellow. Then she chose yellow again, and Michiko opened up the flap.

  ‘It says, It’s looking good!’ she laughed. ‘You love Jack, Mia, and he loves you!’

  Mia rolled her eyes. ‘Just because a piece of paper says so doesn’t mean it’s true!’ she said. ‘I’m positive I don’t have a crush on him.’

  ‘Sorry, Mia,’ grinned Shae. ‘There’s no point denying it!’

  Early on Saturday morning, Mia stretched out on the lounge room floor with a notebook and pen. She really wanted to write her tribute before Shae and Michiko came over for the photo shoot.

  But it was hard to concentrate. The house was really noisy and crazy. Nick was practising the drums in his room. Rose was doing her homework and listening to music with the volume turned right up.

  Mia sighed as she looked at her page. She’d barely written anything.

  There was another problem, too. She knew that Michiko and Shae were her friends. But what about Jack? She had been so sure that they were just friends. What if Shae was right, and Jack did have a crush on her?

  I don’t think he has, thought Mia, chewing on her pen. But how can you tell?

  Just then, Rose wandered into the lounge room and flopped onto the sofa. ‘Whatcha doing?’ she asked.

  ‘Homework,’ replied Mia. Then she had a thought. Rose knows all about crushes!

  ‘Rose,’ asked Mia, a little shyly. ‘How can you tell if a boy likes you?’

  Rose looked at her and smiled. ‘Does someone have a crush on my baby sister?’ she said.

  ‘Uhh, it’s not about me!’ said Mia hastily. The last thing she needed was Rose teasing her as well! ‘I’m asking for a friend of mine.’

  ‘Sure, I understand,’ grinned Rose. ‘Well, is this boy nicer to your friend than to other girls?’

  Mia thought about it. ‘I guess so,’ she said. ‘They get along pretty well.’

  ‘Does he pay her lots of attention?’ asked Rose.

  Mia frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Well, does he look at her a lot?’ explained Rose.

  ‘All the time!’ Mia nodded. ‘But mostly to make her laugh while the teacher is talking.’

  ‘Doesn’t matter,’ said Rose. ‘He’s still staring. Does he give her compliments?’

  ‘Um … ’ Mia thought hard. Jack was always telling her how good she was at ping-pong. That was a compliment. ‘Yes, he does,’ said Mia.

  Rose grinned. ‘I’d say the boy definitely had a crush on your friend,’ she said.

  ‘Oh,’ said Mia. Maybe it’s true, she thought. Everyone else seems to think so.

  Then Mia jumped up. She didn’t want to talk about crushes anymore. ‘If anyone is looking for me I’ll be in the shed!’ she called, escaping out the back door.

  The shed was Mia’s favourite place. It was kind of like another lounge room, but just for kids. In one half was the ping-pong table. In the other was an old sofa and a CD player. It was the best place to think.

  When she arrived at the shed she got a big surprise. Jack was sitting on the step, twirling his ping-pong paddle between his hands.

  ‘Hi!’ he said. ‘I knocked at your house, but no-one answered. What’s going on in there?’

  ‘Everything!’ groaned Mia. ‘You can hear Nick and his drums from here!’

  ‘Feel like playing ping-pong?’ asked Jack.

  ‘OK,’ Mia said, racing into the shed and grabbing her paddle. ‘Get ready!’

  Pow! The ball flew over the net and Jack leapt up, just managing to hit it back. This game was super close. Jack would win a shot and then Mia would win the next one. But then Jack hit the ball so that it bounced on the opposite corner to where Mia was standing. There was no way she could get to it
in time, and the ball zoomed past.

  Jack did a pivot and punched the air. ‘Finally!’ he said. ‘I was beginning to think I’d never beat you again. You’re way too good at ping-pong.’

  Suddenly, Mia felt nervous. I should just ask him if he’s got a crush on me, she thought. Then we can sort this out once and for all!

  ‘Um, Jack?’ said Mia. ‘I’ve got a question.’ Her cheeks felt hot.

  Jack had dropped to the floor and was looking under the table for the spare ball. ‘What?’ he asked.

  Mia squirmed. This was going to be hard! ‘Do you —’

  ‘Hey, Mia,’ Nick called, poking his head inside the shed and tapping his drumsticks on the door. ‘Your friends are out the front.’

  ‘Oh! Thanks,’ said Mia, putting down her paddle. ‘See you later, Jack.’

  She couldn’t help feeling relieved. The big question would have to wait!

  ‘Hi, Mia!’ called Michiko.

  She and Shae were walking down the driveway. Shae was carrying a huge bag over her shoulder.

  ‘What’s in that?’ asked Mia curiously.

  ‘Heaps of Georgia’s costumes,’ said Shae. Shae’s sister Georgia did drama, and she had lots of outfits from the plays she’d been in. ‘We can use them for the photo shoot.’

  ‘Where should we go and get ready?’ asked Michiko, looking around.

  Mia thought for a moment. She could hear a game of ping-pong going on in the shed. Nick must have started playing a game with Jack.

  ‘Let’s go inside,’ she suggested. She led her friends through the front door, stopping to grab the camera from the lounge room. Then they walked upstairs to the bedroom Mia shared with Rose. Rose’s music was still blaring from the CD player.

  Michiko and Shae looked around, admiring all of Rose’s things.

  ‘I so love The Veronicas,’ Michiko said, pointing to one of Rose’s many posters. ‘Sometimes when I listen to them I pretend I’m in the band.’

  ‘I do that, too!’ admitted Shae with a grin. She started singing and pretending to play guitar, shaking her head so her long hair swished around. Then she looked at the others.

  ‘I’ve got a great idea!’ she said. ‘We should dress up like a rock band for our photo shoot.’

  ‘Great idea!’ Michiko and Mia said together.

  Shae started rifling through the huge bag of clothes. She tossed a red stripy dress and some black leggings at Michiko. Mia caught a floppy silver mini-tutu as it flew over her head. She pulled it on over her jeans and looked at herself in the mirror. The tutu looked very cute!

  Shae slipped into a black top and a tartan skirt. ‘Now, for the finishing touch,’ she said, pulling a spray can out of the bag. ‘Hair colour!’

  ‘No way … Mum will kill me!’ said Mia, giggling and backing away.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ said Shae. ‘It washes out. And we’ll just do one stripe each.’

  Mia thought for a moment, and figured it would be OK. She let Shae take a small chunk of her hair and spray it with colour.

  ‘Wow, Mia,’ said Michiko, when Shae had finished. ‘It looks amazing!’

  Mia took another look in the mirror. Michiko was right — the pink stripe looked fantastic! She didn’t look like Mia any more. She looked like a rock star! Having the pink stripe made her feel different somehow, too. She felt sort of braver.

  ‘Me next!’ said Michiko excitedly. So Shae gave her hair a stripe, too. Then she looked in the mirror, and added one in her own hair.

  Once they all had a pink stripe, Mia grabbed the camera and held it out in front of them. ‘Squish in tight!’ she said. They all pulled funny faces and Mia took a photo.

  ‘Now I feel like dancing!’ said Michiko, doing a spin.

  ‘Yeah, me too!’ said Mia, turning the music up.

  But just as they started dancing, Rose appeared in the doorway with her friend, Ashley.

  ‘Sorry, guys,’ she said. ‘We’ve got homework to do in here.’

  ‘But can’t you work at the kitchen table?’ asked Mia.

  ‘No, we need privacy,’ Rose replied.

  Mia knew that meant that Rose and Ashley would probably just sit around talking about the boys that they liked. But there was no point arguing with her. Rose always won!

  ‘Come on,’ Mia said to Michiko and Shae, grabbing the camera. ‘Let’s go to the shed. There’s an old CD player in there.’

  Jack and Nick were still playing ping-pong when Mia and her friends opened the shed door. The ball was flying back and forth at top speed!

  Mia put on one of Rose’s CDs and started dancing around. Michiko and Shae joined in too. As she spun around, Mia saw Nick rolling his eyes. She grinned, and then grabbed an old broom to use as a microphone. She swished her hair and sang as loudly as she could.

  ‘Wow, Mia,’ laughed Michiko. ‘If Brooke could see you now, she’d never call you Mouse again!’

  ‘That reminds me,’ giggled Shae, trying to catch her breath. ‘I heard that Brooke and Oliver have broken up. And guess what — she likes Hugo now.’

  Mia realised that the sound of the ping-pong game had stopped. She turned around. Jack and Nick were leaning against the table, listening in.

  ‘Hey,’ called Jack. ‘Would you like to know who I’ve got a crush on?’

  ‘Uh … yes!’ said Shae. ‘Who?’

  Mia looked at Jack. Suddenly she felt a bit nervous. What was he going to say?

  ‘You have to guess,’ grinned Jack.

  ‘Give us some clues then,’ said Michiko, glancing at Mia. ‘Is she sporty?’

  ‘Well, she loves playing ping-pong,’ said Jack.

  ‘What does she look like?’ asked Shae.

  ‘She’s little and cute,’ said Jack. ‘And her face is really red.’

  Mia stared at Jack. Is he talking about me? She put her hands up to her cheeks. Her face was definitely red right now! And she was the smallest girl in Mrs Bonacci’s class.

  Mia didn’t know what to think. It has to be me Jack’s talking about, worried Mia.

  She couldn’t help feeling that everything would change if she found out that he had a crush on her. Jack was really smart and nice. He was very funny, too. And she knew that other girls thought he was cute. But Mia was happy with things just the way they were.

  I really hope that Jack doesn’t have a crush on me, realised Mia. I just want us to be normal friends!

  Everyone was looking curiously at Jack now, even Nick.

  ‘Is it someone who we know?’ asked Michiko.

  ‘Actually, she’s in the room with us right now!’ said Jack, grinning broadly.

  ‘Just tell us!’ groaned Shae.

  Mia was so nervous about what Jack would say, she felt like running out of the shed. She pretended to be very interested in the silver tutu she was wearing.

  Then suddenly Michiko, Shae and Nick burst out laughing. Mia looked up.

  Jack was holding up his red ping-pong paddle. On it he had drawn a big smiling face.

  ‘This is Paula Paddle,’he said. ‘Isn’t she beautiful?’

  ‘Are you saying you’ve got a crush on your ping-pong paddle?’ giggled Michiko.

  Jack pretended to look hurt. ‘So?’ he said. ‘What’s wrong with that?’

  ‘Yeah!’ chuckled Nick. ‘Jack can like whoever he wants. Even if she’s a ping-pong paddle!’

  ‘But she’s made out of wood!’ Shae laughed.

  ‘I don’t care!’ said Jack. ‘I like her anyway.’ Then he gave the paddle a big smoochy kiss.

  Mia started laughing, too. She couldn’t believe Jack had just kissed his ping-pong paddle! She also felt very relieved.

  I’m so glad Jack doesn’t have a crush on me, she thought happily.

  ‘Wait a minute,’ Shae said, looking at Jack through narrowed eyes. ‘Are you sure you don’t like anyone else?’

  Jack looked surprised. ‘Like who?’

  ‘Like Mia!’ said Michiko.

  ‘Sorry, but no,’ Jack said, shaking his
head. ‘Just because Mia and I are buddies doesn’t mean we like like each other.’

  ‘Yeah,’ added Mia. ‘We’re just really good friends.’

  Michiko nodded. Mia could tell she understood. But Shae still didn’t seem to believe them.

  ‘Let’s ask the fortune teller again,’ said Shae, pulling it out of her pocket and slotting in her fingers. ‘Do Jack and Mia have crushes on each other?’

  ‘This is so dumb!’ laughed Jack. But he sighed, and went along with it anyway. First he chose four, then green, and finally purple.

  Mia held her breath as Shae unfolded the flap.

  ‘So?’ said Michiko. ‘What does it say?’

  ‘It says No way!’ admitted Shae, looking disappointed. ‘But I don’t believe it. I was sure you guys like liked each other.’

  ‘It’s just a silly fortune teller!’ Mia said.

  Jack shook his head, half-laughing, half-serious. ‘It is possible for a boy and a girl to be just friends, OK?’ he said. ‘Mia’s cool and I like hanging out with her. She’s funny and really smart, too. It makes no difference to me that she’s a girl and not a boy.’

  For a moment no-one said anything.

  Then Michiko smiled. ‘That’s so nice.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Shae nodded. ‘Now I believe you. Only a real friend would say something like that.’

  Mia smiled, feeling a bit shy all of a sudden. She knew that Jack liked her as a friend. But she had never heard the reasons why he liked her. It was nice to hear. But it was also a bit embarrassing.

  All the same, thought Mia happily, I’m so glad he’s my friend!

  Michiko reached down and picked up a blue paddle lying on the floor.

  ‘Hey, this paddle is quite cute, too!’ she giggled. ‘Hi, Peter Paddle! Is it OK if I use your head to play ping-pong with?’ Then she made the paddle waggle up and down, like it was nodding.

  ‘You know, I haven’t played ping-pong for ages,’ said Shae.

  ‘Why don’t we play rounders ping-pong?’ suggested Nick.