Studying Boys Read online

  "Oh." That was a good point. Why waste time chatting when we could be studying? I hadn't thought about what to do if everyone didn't arrive on time. How would I know when to rotate people between rooms if they all started at different times? "I... um ..."

  Allie walked around the corner. "Go ahead and start studying, Frances. I'll guard the door and direct people."

  "Well, okay." I hated to relinquish control, but George did have a point. It was ten minutes after six, and we were losing precious studying time. We might as well get started. I handed Allie the chart. "Make sure you send people to the right rooms. And write down their start time, so we know how long they are in each room."

  She rolled her eyes. "I think I can handle it."

  "Can we get started?" George said. "I only have fifty-five minutes now."

  "Right." I grabbed my book bag. "What do you want to work on?"

  He eyed me. "You and I are going to study together?"

  Did he see anyone else, besides my friend in the spiked heels? "Yeah. That's the point. Study groups."

  He didn't look too certain about the idea of talking with someone during homework time. "You're a freshman?" he asked.

  "Uh huh."

  He nodded. "Me too. Want to do some biology?"

  "Sure." I thought about the rotation. "So, we'll go in the living room. Remember, Allie, science goes in the living room."

  She saluted me. "Right, Chief."

  I took George into the living room and we set up our stuff. Our classes were on different topics, but I'd already covered what he was working on, so we sorta chatted about the life cycle of plants and compared notes.

  George was actually pretty smart, and I could tell he was really into the discussion. Which was cool. See? This concept could work.

  About five minutes later, the doorbell rang again. "I'll get it!" I yelled.

  Way cool. The crowds were coming now!

  I abandoned George in the middle of explaining a diagram in his book and rushed to the front door. Allie had already opened it, and she flipped me a look. "It's George's mom."

  "Why?"

  Allie raised an eyebrow. "It's been an hour."

  "No way." I looked at my watch. An hour and five minutes actually. Cool. Studying flew by. This rocked.

  George appeared next to me with his bag all packed up. "So, um, Frances. It was a good night. If you have it again, let me know." He handed me a piece of paper with his e-mail address. "And if you ever want to study with me again, e-mail me." He grinned, his braces catching the light of the hall chandelier. "Seriously."

  "I had fun too." I took the paper. "I'll definitely e-mail you."

  He sort of ducked his head. "And I'll try to get some of my friends to come next time. If you think there will be more girls here, I mean."

  "More girls?" Oh my God. No one else had come. I'd been so caught up in studying with George, I hadn't even thought about it.

  He turned red. "Not that there's anything wrong with you. Like I said, I'll study with you anytime. I just meant that my friends might not come if there aren't more people. Let me know, you know?"

  He sort of waved and then ducked out the front door, to where his mom was already back in the car waiting for him.

  Allie gave a friendly wave, then pushed the door shut.

  "Girlfriend, we have got to talk." She shook her head at me, and I know that it was because no one else had showed up. George Moon and I might have been productive, but as a whole, the homework club was a failure of monumental proportions. "Natalie! Blue!" she yelled. "Get down here!"

  * * *

  "So, um, where exactly did you put the signs?" Blue asked.

  I grabbed another piece of pizza and shoved it in my mouth. "Everywhere. I put them on every bulletin board at school."

  "And I went over to Field and put 'em up there too." Allie shook her head. "I timed it wrong, unfortunately. It was after school so there were no boys around. What's the point in going to Field if you don't get to talk to boys?"

  "And I put a little blurb thing in the newsletter for both schools," I said. Unbelievable. Only one person had shown up. One!

  Blue picked some pepperoni off the pizza and dropped it into her mouth. "My parents would kill me if they knew I was eating meat."

  "And mine would kill me if they knew I tried to have a Homework Club meeting tonight." So, lying to my parents, stressing all week, it had all been for nothing. Total and utter failure. "I suck."

  "Hey." Natalie threw a pillow at me. "You're the practical one. The planner. If this was one of us, you'd be all over us with theories and plans about how to fix this situation. So start talking."

  She was right. I always had plans. I set my pizza down and tried to think, but the only thought circulating in my head was the fact I'd totally failed. I couldn't get past that. I'd never failed at anything in my life, especially not something that had to do with school. It was not a good feeling. "I have no idea what to do."

  Natalie rolled her eyes. "Frances! Think!"

  "I have a thought," Blue said. "When I told Colin about it, he said it sounded boring. Said no one in their right mind would go to anything called The Homework Club."

  "I second that," Allie said. "The only reason I was here was for the boys."

  "But it's not a social thing," I said. "The whole point is to do homework."

  "Wake up, Frances. You're the only one who would think homework is fun," Blue said.

  "And George Moon," Allie said. "I think he's your perfect match, Frances."

  "Well, he was cute." And he studied hard. And he was very smart.

  "Yeah, in a dorky sort of way," Allie said. "You two should have seen him. I think he might have been even more serious than Frances."

  While my friends made fun of poor George, I chewed my pizza and started thinking about how I was going to tell Mr. Walker I was a total failure.

  "What's that look for?" Allie pushed me. "You're giving up?"

  I looked at Allie, who was staring at me in dismay. I guess when you've been friends since you were three, you can't hide your thoughts. "Yeah, so?"

  "You can't give up." Allie set her pizza down. "It's simple. All you have to do is get Mr. Walker to let you have Mapleville High involved. And then we can get Colin to bring hot senior guys and my sister will bring some of her friends, and then we'll be the coolest thing around, and we'll be the only freshmen who get to hang with seniors."

  "Yeah! And then we can come," Natalie said. "It's really the only way, you know. None of us know anyone influential at Field School to get those boys to come."

  "George said he'd bring more friends," I said.

  Allie raised an eyebrow. "Only if you got more girls. And what girls are going to come if the only boys are freshman geeks like George?"

  "Hey! He was nice."

  "But is he the kind of guy who's going to draw a crowd?"

  I thought of the way his hair was plastered sideways across his forehead in a part that was a little too neat, and the way the cuffs on his shirt had been so perfectly starched. Maybe not. Definitely not.

  I was doomed.

  It was time to give up and admit failure. But even as I thought that, my fists bunched into little balls. My parents had never let me give up on anything. They'd told me repeatedly that I'd never go to college if I started believing I wasn't good enough.

  Of course, their advice would probably be different if they knew it was The Homework Club.

  But... what if I could make this work? I mean, how cool would that be? I'd be a legend at North Valley forever, as the girl who got the exchange program started.

  Think what that could do for a college resume.

  And maybe... just maybe ... if kids from Mapleville could participate, then maybe Theo would come… Now, that was an idea. "All right, I'll e-mail Mr. Walker."

  And I had to do something about my parents.

  * * *

  The e-mail from Mr. Walker was on my computer when I got home from school on Mond
ay.

  Dear Frances, I think your proposal to expand The Homework Club to Mapleville High has merit. You may go ahead and invite a select few students to attend. I will look forward to seeing the article in about seven weeks and I expect regular updates in the meantime. Mr. Walker

  Oh my God. I could invite Theo!! But he would never come if other cool kids weren't coming to, would he? I'd make it impossible for him to stay away!

  I immediately e-mailed Allie to go talk to her sister, and then I decided to go over to Blue's house to discuss her inviting Colin. You know, because then maybe Theo would overhear us talking and want to come too.

  I walked into Blue's house right when her family was sitting down to dinner. A family dinner. With her parents, Blue, her little sister Marissa ... and Theo.

  Theo's dark hair was sort of messed up, and it was getting long. He was wearing a torn black T-shirt and looked utterly adorable. Dangerous and a little bit of attitude, but so cute.

  "Frances! We didn't know you were coming! Please come join us." Blue's mom jumped up from the table and pulled up a chair.

  OMG. She was putting me next to Theo! I nearly ran over to the chair and grinned at him as I sat down. Unfortunately, he didn't even glance at me, just kept eating his tofu lasagna. I knew it was tofu even without looking at it. Blue's mom would never serve real meat.

  "So, um, hi, everyone," I said, sneaking another peek at Theo, who was still eating.

  Marissa grinned at me and sucked a noodle off her plate. While her mom was scolding her for poor manners, I looked at Blue, who was across from me. I tried not to notice Theo's arm was only about six inches from mine, and I launched the bait. "So, Blue, Mr. Walker e-mailed me back. He said it was cool to ask some kids from Mapleville."

  She let out a whoop and held her arms over her head in a sign of victory that caught the attention of everyone at the table. Even Theo was looking at her.

  "Blue? You have something to share with the rest of the family?" her dad asked. There were no secrets in Blue's family. Her parents were into the family bonding thing. As Blue's friend since we were babies, I also fell under the Waller Family Rules. No secrets.

  "Yeah." Blue quickly launched into a description of The Homework Club, thankfully leaving out the mortifying details of the terrible first meeting. "So, I'm going to call Colin and tell him to come."

  Theo snorted. "To a Homework Club? Sorry Blue, the dude may be whipped, but there's no way he's going to join anything called The Homework Club. And there's no way he's going to get his friends to go."

  I felt myself shrink in my chair.

  "Nonsense, Theo, it's a marvelous idea," Mrs. Waller said. "Frances, you girls can have it here if you want. I'll make some desserts and take care of all the food."

  I exchanged nervous glances with Blue. Her mom's desserts would end all chances of a successful event. The health food thing didn't mesh well with food that tasted good. Especially when it came to dessert. "Um, that's okay, Mrs. Waller. We're doing it at Allie's house."

  "Allie's?" Blue's mom frowned. "But isn't her mom always gone?"

  "Yeah." I glanced at Blue, who shrugged.

  "So, how are you going to keep all the kids under control if there aren't parents around?" Mrs. Waller asked.

  "That's not what this is like," I said. "It's just about homework."

  "As I said, sounds fun," Theo said. "Sure wish I could go."

  Mr. Waller looked at Theo. "Why don't you go? Then you could help the girls keep everyone in line."

  My stomach immediately did a triple flip and I felt like I was going to fall off my chair.

  Theo laughed. "Yeah, Dad, I'll be all over that. Babysitting my sister's friends? Sorry, but that's not going to happen."

  Baby-sitting? He thought of me as someone who needed baby-sitting?

  "Oh, now look, Theo, you've made Frances cry," Mrs. Waller said."

  What? I wasn't crying! How could she say that? There weren't even tears in my eyes! Yeah, sure, I was totally humiliated and wanted to crawl under my chair, but I absolutely was not crying!

  Theo shot me a look of apology, like I was some little kid with hurt feelings. "Sorry, Frances. Didn't mean it like that."

  OMG. Could this get any more embarrassing? "I'm not crying!"

  Mrs. Waller patted my hand. "It's okay, Frances. I can tell you want to. You don't need to hide anything from us."

  "Don't be ridiculous," Blue scoffed. "Theo could never make Frances cry. She's just upset because one of her sisters is very sick and she's worried about her."

  Oh… that was a fantastic explanation for why I was upset! I was so impressed with Blue's quick thinking. I have the best friend on the planet.

  Of course, then I had to launch into a detailed story about how my younger sister, Dawn, was sick, and I felt really bad about lying, but it wasn't my fault. Blue had brought it up and I was just protecting her from being exposed as a liar. So, since I was doing it to help Blue, then there was nothing wrong with it, right?

  Right.

  First, lying to my parents about The Homework Club.

  Second, lying to Blue's parents about Dawn being sick.

  What was happening to me?

  * * *

  Forty-five minutes later, Blue hung up the phone after talking with her boyfriend, Colin. Colin was a senior at Mapleville High, and he was totally hot and he adored Blue. He would so help us.

  Blue shook her head. "He says he'll come, but he's not bringing any friends."

  "What? Why not?"

  She grimaced. "He said he can't ask his friends to come."

  "But why?"

  "Because ... well... it's a Homework Club. It's not very cool."

  "But if they come, then they'll make it cool." How could he be doing this? "I thought he'd do anything for you."

  Blue laughed. "Well, I think I've found out his limit."

  I sat down on the bed. "Well, this sucks. I mean, totally."

  "Let's call Allie. See what her sister said." Blue put her phone on speaker and dialed Allie, who answered on the first ring. "Allie, it's Blue and Frances. What did Louisa say?"

  "She laughed in my face and told me there was no way on this planet she'd ever be associated with a homework anything." Allie sounded morose. "I even told her Colin was going to come, and she said that didn't matter because Colin has a girlfriend already so he's hardly eligible meat."

  I flopped back on the bed and groaned.

  "Yeah, Colin won't bring his friends either," Blue said.

  Allie swore. "Well, what now? We've used all our connections."

  This was my payback for lying to my parents. They'd always told me that dishonesty didn't pay, and now I was suffering because of it.

  "There's one more person with the social power to make this thing fly," Blue said.

  "Who?" Allie asked.

  I sat up. "Yeah, who?"

  Blue looked at me. "Theo."

  My heart literally stopped in my chest and Allie howled in protest. "Blue! Are you kidding? The entire point of this exercise was to get Frances to think about anything other than Theo!"

  "You have any other ideas?" Blue asked, still looking at me.

  Oh, God. I felt like I was going to faint. I was afraid to say anything, afraid to make Blue change her mind. Breathe, Frances, breathe.

  Allie was silent, and the only sound I could hear was my heart whooshing in my ears.

  "You better call Natalie," Allie said finally.

  "Fine." Blue grabbed her cell phone and dialed Natalie, quickly explaining the situation while Allie made disapproving noises and I tried to keep from throwing up. When Blue finished, she listened to Natalie for a sec, then nodded. She leaned the phone against her chest to report what Natalie had said. "She agrees with Allie that bringing in Theo would be detrimental to Frances's emotional well-being. But she also agrees that there's no other option if we want the homework club to work. She thinks we should go for it, and just make sure that George Moon keeps coming so Frances
can date him."

  "Ohhh... that's a good idea. I forgot about George," Allie said. "You liked George, didn't you, Frances?"

  "Actually, yeah, I did." I could actually speak to him coherently and not pass out when I was in his presence, which was always a good thing. "He'll come back."

  "Then it's settled," Allie said. "Frances, go talk to Theo, and do it where Blue's parents can overhear so they intervene and make him go. We really can't afford for him to back out too. He's our only chance."

  "Whoa." My tongue felt so big and thick I was surprised I could speak. "I have to talk to Theo?"

  "Of course you do. It's your event, isn't it? We're behind the scenes," Allie said.

  Blue held out the phone. "Natalie wants to talk to you."

  I took the phone. "Nat?"

  "If you can get Theo and his friends to go, I think I'll be able to get some of the kids on my track team to come. Boys and girls. Theo's the ultimate athlete and people will go where he goes. So go talk to him, and don't think of him as a guy you have a crush on. Just think of him as your brother, which he practically is anyway."

  I handed the phone back to Blue without responding. My throat was so tight there was no way I could talk.

  "Frances! Blue! It's time for dessert!" Mrs. Waller yelled up the stairs, and I jumped.

  "We'll talk to Theo now, at the dinner table. My parents will be there," Blue said.

  Oh, like Theo would dig being forced to hang with me by his parents. That was not the way to get his attention, or at least the type of attention I wanted.

  "Good. And then Frances has to e-mail George Moon. That's the relationship we need to cultivate," Allie said. "Frances? Did you hear me? You're going to e-mail George tonight, right?"

  "Yeah." Gah. Did my voice sound strangled or what?

  Blue hung up her cell phone. "Nat says good luck."

  "Good luck from me too. Call when you finish and let me know how it went." Allie disconnected and Blue hung up that phone too.

  And then she looked at me. "You don't look so good."

  "I think I'm going to be sick. Maybe we should do this another night."

  "Give me a break, Frances. He's my obnoxious brother. I don't know why you have this thing about him." Blue stood up and dragged me to my feet. "Let's go. I'll back you up, but you have to start."