#GoodGirlBadBoy

by Yesenia Vargas

  I turned to Tori. “What about you? Are you going to be pining over Noah for the next month?”

  Tori sighed. “Totally. He’s…the best.” For someone who had held in everything she felt for so long, Tori sure gave off all the puppy love vibes lately, but I was also super happy for her.

  Those two definitely belonged together.

  “I’m gonna miss all of you guys so much,” Rey said.

  Lena nudged her. “Just promise me you’ll get one guy’s number when you’re on your trip.”

  Rey scoffed and opened up her notebook. “No way. My dad would kill me. And what’s the point if I live here?”

  Lena smiled. “The point is to have a little fun. You never know. I, for one, hope to break a heart or two this summer. That’s why it’s called a summer fling. It doesn’t have to be serious.”

  Maybe for Lena it didn’t. But I definitely wasn’t Lena. I was hoping for the kind of guy who wanted more than to have a little fun. I wasn’t sure my heart could handle the risk otherwise.

  Ella’s gaze on me caught my attention. “You sure seem pensive today.”

  I tried to shrug it off. “I just love seeing you guys so happy.”

  But that wasn’t good enough for Tori and Lena.

  “You need a little love in your life, Harp,” Lena said, leaning forward and resting her arms on the table. “We need to find you somebody.”

  Tori peeled the liner off her cupcake. “I agree. Maybe the possibility of a cute boy is just what you need to make your summer a little more interesting.”

  I looked around the table, ready to invent some excuse, but I couldn’t come up with anything. Even Ella and Rey seemed to like the idea. “I don’t really like anyone at school,” I said, even if it wasn’t completely true.

  Lena didn’t miss a beat. “You still don’t know nearly everybody at school. Like the guys on the soccer team. Some of the varsity boys are pretty cute. I should totally set you up on a blind date.”

  And just like that, everybody chattered about how fun it would be to go on a blind date.

  I tried to intervene. “I don’t know, you guys. Going out with a stranger?” I had a feeling it didn’t quite work like in the movies.

  Rey looked up from her latest journal entry. “How bad could it be?”

  It turned out that a blind date set up by Lena could go very, very wrong.

  But who could say no to Lena? Definitely not me. Saying no was hard enough most of the time for a people pleaser like me.

  Lena had found someone in record time and called my blind date her going-away present. I just wondered who the heck had agreed to give up their first Saturday night of the summer for a blind date when most of the school was getting ready to jet off for the beach.

  The rest of the girls wished me luck after getting me to promise to text them details ASAP. Saying goodbye to them this morning hadn’t been easy, but at least I’d managed not to cry.

  I distracted myself by trying on my new makeup and getting ready for tonight. Then taking my time getting to the meeting spot Lena had sent me. When seven o’clock finally rolled around, I was already waiting outside the specified restaurant downtown.

  Then it was 7:15, and I wondered if I had gotten the time wrong. I checked my messages again. No, Lena had said 7 p.m., in front of Luigi’s. This wasn’t the fanciest place in town, but it was a step above fast food, and they served pretty good pizza.

  By 7:30, I texted Lena that this guy was a no-show. I stood up to head home when a tall lanky guy walked up to me.

  Putting my phone away, I stood up from the small bench I’d been sitting on the past forty minutes.

  “Hannah?” he said.

  Huh? “Um, I’m Harper,” I replied, wondering if this was indeed my blind date for the night.

  “Oh, right,” he said with a laugh. “I knew it started with an H.”

  I cringed and gave him the best smile I could.

  He had dirty blonde hair and wore a wrinkly button-up with some jeans. He seemed nice enough, but I had to admit I wasn’t very impressed so far.

  Maybe I was wrong, though. I reminded myself that he deserved the benefit of the doubt.

  “Sorry, I’m late,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I, uh, lost track of the time.”

  Both of my hands clutched my purse in front of me. “That’s okay.”

  “Anyway, I’m Patrick,” he said.

  “Nice to meet you,” I said, holding out my hand. “I’m Harper.”

  After a stiff handshake, we walked toward the restaurant.

  Dinner was okay, even if it was a little awkward, but I looked forward to the movie, where we could just sit and spend some time engrossed in the latest blockbuster.

  It wasn’t To All The Boys or Sierra Burgess, but it was interesting enough.

  At least until Patrick tried to hold my hand. The first time, I automatically pulled it away and brushed some hair behind my ear, hoping he’d get the hint.

  But then, a few minutes later, he took my hand in his again, and I wondered how I was going to get it back. Within minutes, our hands were super sweaty, and I didn’t know if it was him or me.

  I wondered how much longer the movie could go on. Then I had the idea of excusing myself to go to the bathroom.

  Scooting past him, I exhaled in relief and wiped my hand on my dress as soon as I was out of sight.

  Once in the lobby, my phone vibrated with a new message.

  It was from the #BestFriendsForever thread.

  Lena: Hey, hot stuff. How’s the date going? ;)

  A winky face?

  Harper: Um, not great TBH…

  Lena: ???

  Rey: What she said.

  Ella: Is he a dud?

  Tori: Oh no.

  How to explain, I wondered.

  Harper: Well, he was 30 min late. He got my name wrong. He did pay for my food and movie ticket, but I just wasn’t feeling it, you know? I thought he got that, but then he held my hand in the movie just now. And I’m in the bathroom wondering if I can just leave.

  Tori: OMG.

  Ella sent an emoji with a blank facial expression, and Rey sent an emoji of Forrest Gump running away.

  Lena: …

  Lena: Wow.

  Lena: Um, well the bright side is that it’ll be over before you know it! Gotta run :)

  Ella: Lol. Hang in there. Maybe it’ll get better.

  Rey: *shrugs* good luck

  Tori: Can’t get worse, can it?

  Three

  It did get worse.

  A few minutes later, Patrick found me near the concessions, and I mumbled something about being in the mood for some candy.

  He took a step closer, his gaze going between me and the long line, where I clearly wasn’t standing. I shoved my phone in my back pocket.

  Pursing his lips, he said, “I think I know what’s going on here.”

  My stomach sank. “You do?”

  He nodded all-knowingly, slowly blinking. Then he met my eyes and said in a low voice. “You want to get out of here?”

  I almost choked on my own spit. “Wh—what?”

  “Like to the bowling alley next door? I don’t know about you, but this movie sucks.”

  I almost laughed in total relief and somehow said yes before thinking things through.

  Patrick led me to the bowling alley, and I wondered how much longer this not-so-great date would last. My body ached for flannel pajamas, and my heart pleaded for Peter Kavinsky, even if he was just on TV and not here IRL.

  But I sucked it up and tried to be nice. If you asked Lena or Tori, they’d say nice was my middle name, but I also didn’t want Patrick to feel bad about cutting the date short.

  After tonight, I’d go home, and Lena could let him down gently for me. I hoped.

  Unfortunately for me, Patrick wasn’t very good at bowling so our date didn’t get much better. The thing was, I wasn’t sure if Patrick knew he was bad. He just kept saying he was having an off night, but on
e could only accidentally throw the ball into the wrong lane so many times.

  “Oops,” Patrick said, abashed. “I’ll go grab that.”

  But the ball was gone.

  I picked up another one. “That’s okay. Here.”

  He must have not been paying attention because, the next thing I knew, the ball slipped from our hands, and my foot erupted in colossal pain.

  Trying not to yelp out in pain, I hobbled over to a chair and sat down.

  Patrick followed me, and I made sure there was not another bowling ball in the vicinity.

  He pulled up another chair and sat down. “Hannah, I am so sorry.”

  My foot throbbed too much for me to care that he’d gotten my name wrong again—yet he’d thought it was okay to grab my hand earlier.

  I took in deep breaths. It had been an accident. No big deal. It’s not like my toe was broken or anything. I hoped.

  I gingerly slipped off the bowling shoe and my sock. “It’s okay,” I assured him, unable to meet his eyes.

  Slowly moving my big toe, I exhaled. I was fine. The pain was already mostly gone. Even if my dignity was no longer intact. Talk about embarrassing. I’d gone on a few bad dates before, all back in Wisconsin, but this night was shaping up to be the worst of them all.

  Patrick poked my big toe, and I winced in pain. I looked up at him in disbelief.

  “All better?” he asked.

  Why was he touching my toe?

  I quickly put my sock back on, not bothering with the shoe. “I’ll be okay.” I made sure to throw in a smile. He genuinely seemed to feel bad about the whole thing. Besides, leaving in a huff wasn’t exactly my style.

  Patrick stood up with me, and we almost bumped into each other. “Let me make it up to you,” he tried.

  Now my smile was forced, and I wondered what else he had in store for me. “That’s okay,” I said. “It’s no big deal. I should really get home anyway. I can’t miss my curfew.”

  I glanced away, hoping my face didn’t give the fib away. My mom didn’t get off until midnight, not that I even had a curfew.

  Patrick checked his phone. “But it’s only nine o’clock.” He sounded just as confused as he looked.

  I made a point of hobbling off, but he followed me. “Uh, yeah, my mom is kind of strict about it. If I’m not home and in bed by ten, she’ll ground me for like a month.” I made sure not to make eye contact with Patrick, handing my bowling shoe over to the attendant on the other side of the counter. I took off the other shoe.

  “Oh,” Patrick said. “That’s too bad. I’ve had a great time with you tonight.”

  I finally met his gaze. “Me too! But I should really get going.”

  I got my shoes back and put them on in record time.

  When we got outside, I turned to face Patrick. His eyes slid down to my lips, which meant he probably didn’t notice my bulging eyes. Then he started to come in, his glistening pink tongue clearly visible from this angle.

  I leaned away. “Whoa!”

  He stopped, confused again.

  I pulled out my phone. “Look at the time. 9:40. If I’m not home in twenty minutes… I should go.”

  Patrick started to protest, and I stuck out my hand. He offered his too, and I shook it for half a second before saying goodnight and making my way to the bus stop like there was a buy one get one free deal on lip gloss.

  When I rounded the corner, I grabbed my phone out of my pocket.

  Harper: Lena, who the heck was that guy? He definitely doesn’t look like he plays any sport. And he tried to kiss me! After dropping a bowling ball on my foot! So just in case you’re wondering how tonight went, NOT GOOD.

  Tori: OMGGGG hahahaha.

  Ella: Wow. Times a million. Is your toe okay??

  Rey: The short story writes itself.

  Lena: Um. Promise you won’t be mad at me?

  Harper: ???

  Lena: Um, he’s the…younger brother…of one of the soccer players. Sorry! No one was available. And I thought you could really use a night out with a nice guy. I didn’t realize it would bomb so spectacularly.

  Harper: Younger brother??? What grade is he in?

  Lena: Um, ninth grade?…

  Tori: I’m sorry but HAHAHAHA.

  Harper: You set me up with a freshman????

  Lena: HE SEEMED NICE, OKAY.

  I tried to put last night’s horror of a date behind me, but it was tough when my mom asked how it went the next day.

  “So your blind date was a bust, huh?” she asked, slipping on some dangly silver earrings to match her knee-length black dress and heels.

  I could see her reflection from where I lay on her bed. “Yep. Definitely a gigantic fail.”

  My mom turned around and gave me an emphatic smile. “Sounds like Lena’s not matchmaker of the year.”

  I laughed. “Definitely not. That girl should stick to soccer.” And breaking boys’ hearts, I wanted to say. Like me, she didn’t have a boyfriend. Hadn’t had one in a while, but that didn’t stop her from kissing boys from time to time.

  For funsies, she called it.

  I definitely didn’t kiss boys for funsies. If I kissed a guy, I really wanted it to be special and with the right person. Lately, I wondered if that special guy even lived in the same state. Maybe he was back in Wisconsin.

  Or Australia. Or Japan.

  Asian guys were pretty cute. But so was an Australian accent. Any accent, really.

  The sound of the doorbell brought me out of my stupor.

  My mom grabbed her purse and phone. “I’ll probably be back late, so don’t wait up if you don’t want to. I’ll call you, okay?”

  I nodded, getting up and following her to the living room. I found a good spot on the couch as she rummaged in her bag.

  “Keys, keys, keys…ah. Got them,” she said.

  She looked nice. It’d been a while since her last date, but she looked excited. “So what’s his name?”

  “Jake,” she said with a smile.

  “Cute?” I asked.

  Her eyes lit up. “Very.” She gave a quick spin. “How do I look?”

  I stood up and gave her a hug. “Like a million bucks. Have fun.”

  The doorbell rang again, but she stopped before opening it.

  “Oh, by the way, Ms. Moreau called yesterday. I completely forgot to tell you,” she said.

  My mom forgetting to mention that wasn’t a surprise, but I wondered why Ms. Moreau had called in the first place.

  “Your old transcripts finally came in. And it turns out some of your academic credits didn’t transfer, sweetie.”

  My mouth fell open. “What? I’m still graduating on time, right?”

  She opened the door, and a middle-aged man with a slight belly stood at the door with some flowers.

  I waited for an answer to my question.

  She smiled at the man and turned to me one last time. “Of course, you will, hon. But you will need to make up the three missing credits during summer school. You start on Monday. It’s only six weeks. It’ll be over before you know it. Oh, and don’t forget to lock up behind me.”

  “What?” I yelled. I ran toward the door, but she was already gone. The door closed behind her.

  My mom had a knack for forgetting stuff and not being very good at telling me bad news, but summer school?

  I’d spend my whole summer making up credits I had already done back in Wisconsin?

  I let myself fall on the couch, completely crushed inside. As if my summer wasn’t bad enough.

  All my friends were traveling, meeting people—probably meeting boys—and I was stuck here. But to top it all off, I couldn’t even sleep in every day and watch mindless TV to make things a little better.

  No. I had to go back to school on Monday. How much worse could this summer get?

  Four

  Lena’s tan face stared back at me on my phone. “Summer school? Are you serious?”

  It was the first #BestFriendsForever video chat since my frie
nds had gone off on their travels, and already I had bummed everyone else out. Or maybe it was just me.

  “Yep,” I confirmed. “I have to be at school by eight o’clock tomorrow.”

  “That’s even earlier than the regular school year,” Tori noted.

  I nodded. “By fifteen minutes. I have three credits to make up. An elective, like P.E. or something, a math credit, and a social studies credit.”

  Ella offered a smile, but it came out more like a grimace. “At least you get out early?”

  An hour earlier than usual. It was something.

  Rey’s face appeared on my screen next. “And it’s only six weeks, so it’ll be over before you know it.”

  That’s what my mom had said.

  Lena piped up. “Yeah, and summer will be pretty much over by then too. That stinks.”

  Tori gave her signature eye roll. “Thanks, Captain Half-Empty,” she said with a smile. “Hey, maybe you’ll meet a cute new guy or something.”

  I thought about that, not fully convinced.

  “At summer school?” Lena replied. “Only the students who fail too many classes to make up during the year go to summer school.”

  I groaned.

  Now Rey grimaced. “Yeah, maybe not the best place to meet someone new.”

  “I just wish one of you guys was here with me,” I said.

  Life hadn’t been easy when I’d first moved to Westwood High. It had been really hard to make new friends. Even back in Wisconsin, I hadn’t had many friends, especially not a best friend. More like someone I talked to the most.

  Her name was Kaylie, and she had someone else she considered her best friend. Which had hurt because, up until her confession, I had thought of her as my best friend.

  But meeting Ella, Rey, Tori, and Lena had been the best thing that happened to me since I found out we’d be moving. I was going to be miserable without them for two months.

  “You’ll be fine,” Ella said. “I bet those classes will be super easy for you, and if for some reason they’re not, we’re a text away. You know I love math.”

  Lena pretended to barf, and Rey snorted as she laughed.