Part 8 (1/2)

Liz shrugged. ”She died or something, I think. A long time ago, I guess. I mean, I never heard him talk about her, anyway.”

So Will's mom was dead. He hadn't mentioned that, either, I noticed.

Maybe that's why he liked sitting around by himself in the woods, listening to medieval music, so much. Maybe if your dad had killed his best friend, then scooped up the guy's wife for himself, all the while insisting you have to go to military school to make a difference in the world, you'd feel like you had a lot to think about, too.

I was kind of glad right about then that I had been born Elaine Harrison and not A. William Wagner.

”Why are we talking about Will Wagner, anyway?” Stacy wanted to know, as we piled into her car.

”Harrison here scored an invite to his pool party after the Broadneck game Sat.u.r.day night,” Liz crowed.

”Whoa,” Stacy said. ”Looks like the new girl's doing pretty well for herself. Hanging with the popular crowd already.”

”I'm not popular,” I said, because the way she'd said it made it sound like it wasn't a good thing. ”And it's not like that-”

”Yes, you are,” Liz a.s.sured me. ”If Will Wagner is inviting you to parties at his place, you're part of the In Crowd, big time.”

”And I heard you have Lance Reynolds as your partner on Morton's oral a.s.signment,” Stacy said.

”It's not like I had a choice,” I said. ”Mr. Morton a.s.signed us together.”

”Listen to her,” Stacy said, chuckling. ”So outraged! Don't you know how many girls would die to be in your shoes, Ellie? Lance Reynolds is the school hottie du jour. And he doesn't have a girlfriend....”

”You have got to be kidding me,” I said. ”That guy is a behemoth!”

”Behemoth,” echoed Stacy. ”My, that's a bit harsh.”

”Yeah,” Liz agreed. ”For someone going to his best friend's party on Sat.u.r.day.”

”I can't believe people consider Lance hot,” I said. I couldn't believe it, either. Compared to Will, Lance was like...well, waffles with freezer burn.

”Aw, Lance is all right,” Liz said. ”Kind of dopey, but nice. Like a teddy bear. The problem is, he's chronically single. He just needs the love of a good woman to mold him into the man he has the potential to be.”

”I think that description fits Ellie perfectly, don't you, Liz?” teased Stacy.

”Totally,” Liz declared.

Then both girls had a good laugh at my stricken expression.

I knew they were just teasing. And even if they weren't, it was better that they suspected I had the hots for Lance than the truth...that the form I was warm for was Will. I had spent all day hoping to see him in the hallway between cla.s.ses. I'd even rehea.r.s.ed what I was going to say to him. I hear Broadneck's 2 and 0. Guess you guys better do some serious playing.

Yes, geek that I am, I had looked up Broadneck on the Internet the night before, then practiced the line in the mirror a few times that morning. So it would seem like I knew something about football, when, in fact, I knew nothing.

But I'd never seen him. And now I realized it wasn't just football I knew nothing about. I knew nothing about A. William Wagner-the guy I was apparently falling head over heels in love with-either.

But I did know one thing: Anyone who could joke around with a bunch of kids, the way Will had at that lemonade stand, or defend a geek the way he had that day outside Mr. Morton's cla.s.sroom, would have my good opinion forever, no matter what his dad-or stepbrother-was rumored to have done.

I knew something else, too: that anyone with as dysfunctional a home life as Will's needed a laugh or two now and again. It was no wonder that he'd taken to hanging around me, the Queen of the Yuks.

And no matter what Nancy might think about guys not falling in love with girls who make them laugh, I wasn't changing a thing. Because if that's what Will wanted, that's what I was going to give him.

Even if I broke my heart in a thousand pieces doing so.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

There she weaves by night and day

A magic web with colours gay.

She has heard a whisper say,

A curse is on her if she stay

To look down to Camelot.

I've never been a very girly girl. I mean, I've never collected stuffed animals or cared too much about clothes. I've never had a manicure, and my hair is all one length because I'm too lazy to get it cut or styled regularly. I basically just slap it back into a ponytail most days.

But the night of the game and Will's party, I really made an effort to look my best.

I don't know why. I mean, it still wasn't like Will was available. And even if he were, there was no reason to think he'd like me. I mean, sure, I was the girl who'd made him laugh-who'd sat on a rock in the woods and listened as he'd told me about his problems with his dad.

But he hadn't been totally forthcoming with all the details about his dad. It wasn't like I was his big confidante, or anything. I was just a funny girl he'd met. He obviously liked me: The day after he'd given me the rose-the day I made the track team-I got home to find an e-mail from him.

CAVALIER: Hey! Hope it went well today, and you ran like the wind. You're a shoo-in, don't worry.

He remembered. I'd only mentioned briefly, as he'd been dropping me off at my house the day before, that I was planning to go out for the track team.

And he'd remembered.

Because that's what friends do. They remember things about each other. It didn't, I told myself sternly, mean anything. Anything beyond that we were friends, I mean.

I wrote back at once, of course. Well, it seemed only fitting to share the good news.

TIGGERTOO: Hey, back atcha! I made the team. Thanks for the well wishes.

CAVALIER: See? Told you so. Congratulations. With you on board, the team's actually got a shot at State, for a change.