Oh, Brother!

by Cochran, Peg

Amber had written across the bottom with a red marker.

  If you don’t do what I want, I will hang a whole bunch of these pictures all over school.

  Chapter 14

  Dear Lucy Love,

  I did something really stupid, and now everyone is talking about it. What should I do?

  Sincerely,

  Embarrassed

  Dear Embarrassed,

  Join a convent or run away with the circus.

  Yours,

  Lucy Love

  “I think Alex likes you.” My mother was standing at the kitchen sink with her back to me. I made a face. Grown-ups are always saying stupid stuff like that. What could they possibly know about it.

  My mother and Mark were going to the movies, and Travis was out with Kristen. As usual. You’d think they were already married or something the way they are always hanging around together.

  Anyway, it would give me a chance to put my plan in action since it seemed like I had no choice. I couldn’t let Amber post those pictures of me and Mathew Tacy—I just couldn’t. It would be the end of my life. I’d have to go to another school or maybe move to another state. Or even a whole different country. Like Canada or something. My mother would have to get a new job and so would Mark. Travis would have to leave his band behind. I couldn’t make them do that, so I really had no choice. I had to do it for them.

  Besides, once Travis explains to Kristen that the email wasn’t really from him, they will get back together and everything will be just like it was before.

  Only I am never, ever going to have anything to do with Amber again.

  Alex was sitting at our kitchen table finishing his second bowl of ice cream. I don’t think his mother feeds him. He says she is into all this health food stuff like wheat germ and the kind of yogurt that has live cultures in it. Why anyone would want to eat a food that has something living in it, I don’t know. But they never have any real food in the house like ice cream and chips and cookies.

  “Is there any way to get someone’s password to their email account?” I asked when he finally put his spoon down.

  “Sure. But that would be like illegal or something.”

  “This sounds really dumb, but I’ve forgotten my password.”

  Alex kind of raised his eyebrows like my mother does when she doesn’t believe me. “Didn’t you pick something easy to remember like your cat’s name or something?”

  I shook my head. “No, I heard you should pick a bunch of numbers and letters and stuff. You know, for security reasons. And now I’ve lost the paper where I wrote it down.”

  I had my fingers crossed behind my back although why anyone thinks that makes a difference to God when you’re telling a lie, I don’t know.

  “Let’s take a look at it then.”

  Alex fiddled around with the computer for what seemed like hours. Needless to say, I pulled up Travis’ email account, not mine. I was really glad he hadn’t used a screen name that would be too obvious like “Travis” or “Cooper”. Then I would have been in trouble.

  Alex was frowning at the computer. I could feel my palms getting sweaty, and my stomach felt really weird. I really didn’t want to do this. But if I didn’t, my life would be over.

  Alex fiddled a bit more, and then turned around and looked at me. “It’s Rufus,” he announced.

  “What is?”

  “Your password. It’s Rufus.”

  I could feel my face getting red and hoped he didn’t notice. I made a big show of smacking myself on the forehead. “That’s right. I changed it. No wonder I didn’t remember it.”

  “I thought you didn’t like Travis’ dog.”

  I shrugged. “He’s okay, I guess.”

  Alex was looking at me kind of strangely so I quickly suggested we go watch TV or something.

  “Dear Kristen, I really don’t think things are going to work out between us. I’m going to be a famous musician someday, and I don’t have time for girlfriends right now. I am sorry if this upsets you.” I heard the backdoor slam as I was typing, and I jumped so hard I banged my shin against the desk leg. The computer is at the end of the hallway now that Travis is using the spare room. I didn’t want anyone to come up behind me and see what I’d written.

  I could hear someone rummaging around in the kitchen. Rufus wasn’t barking so I assumed it was Travis. Although that dog will never win any prizes as a watch dog.

  I finished the email but couldn’t hit “send”. I had this terrible feeling. I suppose it is my conscience. Having a conscience is so annoying and makes life really difficult. A conscience should not be given to you until you are at least twenty-one and finished having fun and just plan to be grown-up for the rest of your life.

  Then I thought of that picture of me and Mathew Tacy.

  I hit “send”.

  I saw Kristen at school, and she looked terrible with these dark circles under her eyes. And it looked like she hadn’t even washed her hair which is hard to believe. Normally she is so perfect.

  It made me feel terrible, and I wanted to run up to her and tell her everything, but then I saw Amber and knew I couldn’t do it.

  Amber motioned me over to her locker.

  “Did you send the email?”

  “Yes.”

  She clapped her hands and jumped up and down. Her hair sure has a lot of bounce.

  “Now it will be easy to get Travis to notice me.”

  I nodded. I was feeling kind of sick. Not the barfing kind of sick, but the kind where you know you have done something wrong, and you’re just waiting to be found out.

  Travis was already home when I got there. He has his own car and doesn’t have to take the stupid bus like I do. He’s offered to bring me home, but then I would have to sit in the back while Kristen sat up front in the passenger seat. No thanks!

  He was sitting at the kitchen table kind of staring at the wall. Usually he has a huge snack when he gets home. I didn’t know boys ate so much, and I certainly hope Mark has a good job to pay for all the ice cream, chips and cookies. But today he wasn’t eating anything which was really strange.

  “Can I ask you something?” He turned around when he heard me come in. “I mean, you’re a girl, right?”

  Well, he had finally noticed. I nodded and leaned against the kitchen counter.

  “Why would a girl you had been dating suddenly just stop talking to you? I mean, if you hadn’t done or said anything to make her mad?”

  I shook my head. I could feel my cheeks burning.

  “I just don’t get it. Everything was going so well. We really liked each other...I thought.”

  “Er, maybe you’ll find someone else?”

  “I don’t want anyone else.” His shoulders slumped, and I thought he might be crying because he wiped his hands across his eyes like they were wet or something.

  I had never seen a boy cry before except maybe if they got hit in the head in gym class back when we were in elementary school. I had never really thought much about boys having feelings and things like that. I thought that stuff was just for girls.

  I really didn’t know what to do so I got a bag of chips out of the pantry and went up to my room.

  I missed the bus the next day, but it wasn’t my fault. My mother has decided that I need to wake myself up in the morning to prepare for adulthood which is, let’s face it, still a gazillion years away so why she had to start today, I don’t know.

  She bought me this alarm clock which makes the most horrible noise when it goes off, almost like the air raid sirens they use at school for fire drills. I am surely going to be deaf by the time I get to be an adult, and then I won’t be able to hear any alarm clocks at all, and all my mother’s work at getting me to wake up in the morning by myself will have been for nothing.

  Besides, I didn’t set it right, and it went off at four in the morning. I turned it off and went back to sleep.

  But then it didn’t go off again when it was supposed to, so I overslept, and my mother was all upset with me.
She didn’t have time to drive me to school because of some bank meeting or other. I am practically an orphan with my mother spending so much time at work and not caring about me at all.

  Fortunately Travis said he could take me, so she was able to make her precious meeting and go on and possibly become president of the bank someday which would not have happened had she missed this meeting.

  If Mark’s Volvo is prehistoric, I don’t know what you’d call Travis’ car. It doesn’t even have electric windows or door locks or anything like that. You actually have to crank the window down and pull up on the locks yourself. You’d probably burn a ton of calories driving this car and get really, really thin. I suppose it’s why Travis is in such good shape.

  It’s hard to imagine that a couple of weeks ago, I would have killed to be riding in a car with Travis. Now I just feel guilty whenever I’m around him because of what I’ve done. Although I wouldn’t have had to do it if it hadn’t been for Amber, so it really is Amber’s fault, not mine.

  Travis looked like he hadn’t slept in a million years. He can’t be that upset over Kristen, can he? She is basically a stuck-up, pretty girl. There are lots of them at our school. Travis can just go out with one of the other ones.

  We were pulling out of our driveway when Travis turned to me. “Listen, I’m sorry about the other day. You know, saying I didn’t like living with you.”

  I didn’t know what to say, so I kind of mumbled something under my breath.

  “I really do like living with you. Your mom is so nice.” He put on the left blinker and stepped on the brake. “My mom died when I was really little, so I hardly remember her.” He turned the corner smoothly.

  He is a good driver. Not like my mother who is always having people shake their fists at her.

  “Dad really tried, but, well, he can’t cook all that well or anything. We used to call ourselves the microwave kings.” Travis laughed. “The only good thing was I rarely had to eat any vegetables. Lima beans are gross!”

  “They’re practically my mother’s favorite vegetable. Do you think we could get Rufus to eat them?”

  “Why not? That dog will eat anything. Let’s try him next time your mom makes them again. He turned toward me and held out his hand. “Deal?”

  “Deal.”

  Travis was silent for a moment. “You know I used to watch those TV shows where there’s a mom, dad and brothers and sisters and stuff, and I always wondered what it would be like. It’s pretty cool actually.”

  He looked at me out of the corner of his eye. “You’re pretty cool. I thought so the first time I met you.”

  Wow, Travis thought I was cool. How neat is that?

  Travis turned and looked at me again. “What do you think of Alex?”

  “Alex? You mean Alex Woodmere who lives next door?”

  Travis nodded as he pulled up to a traffic light.

  “He’s okay, I guess. We’ve been friends forever, why?”

  “I think he likes you.” Travis honked briefly at someone in front of him. “Every time I see him, he asks me about you.”

  “Really?” The word kind of stuck in my throat the way pills sometimes do if you don’t take them with enough water. Alex likes me? The thought gave me this nice, warm feeling, but my heart didn’t do any of that thumping business it used to do when I thought about Travis.

  Travis pulled into the parking lot and into a space.

  I got out very slowly so everyone could see me. Even though Travis and I are now technically related, lots of girls will be jealous.

  Still, I spent most of first period wondering how I felt about Alex liking me.

  Chapter 15

  Dear Lucy Love,

  Is it ever possible to start over?

  Sincerely,

  Having regrets

  Dear Regrets,

  Yes, with plastic surgery and a new name.

  Yours,

  Lucy Love

  Our French class is making dinner for our parents tonight in the Home Ec room. We will be making something called Bouef Bourginon which my mother says is just a fancy name for beef stew, and why the French have to make such a big deal out of everything, she just doesn’t know. It is supposed to have wine in it, but the school board had a spazz since alcoholic beverages are not allowed within a gazillion miles of school. Of course we are not going to drink it, just put it in the stew, although there are some boys I know who might try to sneak some so perhaps it was a good idea the Veep put a stop to it. It would be really embarrassing to be having dinner with your parents and have someone like Steve Austin or Bob Waldorf come in falling down drunk. Of course if our parents weren’t there, it would be pretty funny and worth staying at school till seven o’clock to see.

  Mrs. Polk, the Home Ec teacher, nearly drove herself crazy running around the room telling everyone to “mind the garbage disposals, mind the garbage disposals!” Of course Jesse Hogg had to stick his hand down one of the sinks and pretend it was caught in the disposal. I thought Mrs. Polk was going to faint, and she was so angry she sent him right down to the Veep’s for detention.

  We are making two desserts, one of which is going to be chocolate mousse. Well, of course all the boys had to go running around making strange animal noises when they heard the word “mousse”. Between that and Mrs. Polk squawking about the garbage disposals, it was a wonder we could even hear ourselves think.

  Alex asked me to help him with the egg whites for the mousse. You have to beat them up with this wire thingie called a whisk until they get all stiff or something although that doesn’t seem even remotely possible since there is nothing runnier and more disgusting than raw egg white.

  “I’ll start, and then you can take a turn.” Alex began to whip up the eggs in the bowl. He had on this chef’s apron that made him look very professional. The muscles in his arms stood out as he whisked the eggs. He has very nice arms. Funny, but I never noticed that before.

  “Here, you want to try?”

  I looked in the bowl, and sure enough the eggs were turning white and shiny like the top of lemon meringue pie.

  Alex went to pass me the wire thingie when a blob of egg white flew off and landed on my nose.

  “I’m sorry.” Alex laughed. His eyes crinkle up at the corners when he smiles, I noticed. “Here, let me.” He grabbed a kitchen towel and wiped the egg white off my nose.

  He had to get quite close to do it, and for a moment he was looking into my eyes. I sort of held my breath for a second. It was strange, but suddenly I was noticing all these things about Alex like his muscles and his crinkly eyes. And just now, for a moment, I felt like I wanted him to kiss me. How weird is that? I have known Alex for a gazillion years and never felt like this before. Maybe it has to do with this French food we are making since everyone knows the French think about nothing but l’amour all the time.

  My mother and Mark were acting all goofy like they were on some kind of date or something. Mark kept saying things like ooh la la and vive l’amour as if he knew French which I know he doesn’t because he’s always said English was more than good enough for him, and he doesn’t know why they have had to make Spanish a second language in this country anyway.

  Alex and his parents sat at our table. They have actually been to France, and Mr. Woodmere and Alex went climbing in the French Alps. My mother said no wonder Alex seems more sophisticated and international since he has traveled.

  Alex and I handed out the little dishes of chocolate mousse, and then Mme. Pacquin got the piece de resistance ready—the Cherries Jubilee. In spite of the Veep, she snuck in one of those airline-sized bottles of liqueur which is not the same as liquor, I think it is a lot more expensive, but it still has alcohol in it.

  She poured it over the Cherries Jubilee and lit it with a match. A huge flame shot up that was colored all blue and yellow.

  Unfortunately Mrs. Polk has obviously never had Cherries Jubilee before and went into complete spazz mode. She started screaming, “fire, fire” and grabbed o
ne of the mini fire extinguishers that hang next to each stove.

  Mme. Pacquin tried to reason with her, but she was having none of it. Fortunately Alex went up to her and was able to get her to listen. She kept shaking her head and wouldn’t put the fire extinguisher down until all the flames subsided and went out just as Mme. Pacquin assured her they would.

  Everyone was talking about it in French class the next day. Mme. Pacquin wasn’t there, and Jesse Hogg said it was because the Veep found out about the liqueur in the Cherries Jubilee, and she had been suspended or something. But everyone knows that only students can be suspended, so I think maybe she was sick or something because I did notice she had had a second helping of the chocolate mousse. But then I saw her in the hall later so I imagine it must have been something else.

  We didn’t have a proper substitute—one of the ladies who works in the office came and sat in the room and told us to do our homework or something just so long as we were quiet. Amber came over to me and commented on how masterful Alex had been with Mrs. Polk over the issue of the fire extinguisher. I guess she was right. If it hadn’t been for Alex, the dinner would have been ruined.

  “Guess who walked me to class just now?” Amber was looking in her mirror, checking on her bangs and slicking them down with some spit on her fingers.

  I shrugged.

  “Travis.” Amber made this noise that I swear sounded like a purr.

  “Oh.”

  “Good work, Mac.” She began to examine her hair for split ends. Which my mother says is very annoying every time I do it. “I noticed that Kristen hasn’t been looking too happy lately.” Amber smiled.

  My stomach did this weird flip-floppy thing, and I felt kind of queasy—as if I had been the one to eat too much chocolate mousse and not Mme. Pacquin. I almost felt sorry for Kristen which is kind of weird since I basically hate her guts. She is way too perfect to be likeable by anybody except boys, and everyone knows they like just about anything, even snakes and lizards and things.