"Heya Derek." She turned her head to the other boy. He was a little shorter than the blonde, but not by much, and he was much cuter.
Cute boy grinned back at her. "Hey. Nice shirt."
"Thanks." Kaia jumped down off the fence and backed up a couple paces and put her hands on her hips. "NOT ALL CHEERLEADERS ARE BITCHES" stretched across her chest, but with the size of her boobs, a few of the letters got lost on either end. "My cousin made it for me," she said, nodding at me.
"You have family?" Liam said.
"Of course she does," I snapped.
Was Liam an idiot or what?
"I guess I never pictured you with relatives, Keeks. Minions, sure. Family? No way." Derek’s eyes flicked over to me and gave me a long look up and down. I wished I'd worn something cuter than these holey old jeans and beat up t-shirt, given how hot he was, with his dark wavy hair and his crooked nose that had obviously been broken more than once.
"So not all cheerleaders are bitches, huh? I'm disappointed." He flashed his grin at me, and it was all I could do not to breathlessly smile back as he put his helmet back on, wiggling it down over his longish hair. "You might not want to spread that around. It's bad for your rep."
"Yeah, it's true," I said. "Not all cheerleaders are bitches." Wanting to regain my footing, I executed a lazy—but perfect—back walkover then looked him right in the eye. "But some of them are."
Derek's grin stretched wider. "Even better. What's your name?"
I put my hands on my hips, cinching in my t-shirt so that he could tell I had boobs too. Not as big as Kaia's, but I wasn't smuggling raisins either. "You like bitchy girls Derek? We're gonna get along great. My name's Barbie."
"Ba-"
I cut Kaia off before she could call me Baby. "C'mon
Keeks.
Are we here to work out or not? Later boys."
I trotted down the length of the chain link fence to an opening I could slip through and made my way onto the track that ringed the football field. I could feel the guys' eyes on me, but I ran slowly, making it easy for Kaia to catch up.
"What the hell was that all about,
BARBIE?
" she said as she fell into step beside me.
"My name's not Baby."
"Well of course it's not. And I get not wanting to switch to Frances for god's sake, but
Barbie?
"
"My name's not Frances either. And Derek was cute. He said he liked bitches
…
and who's bitchier than Barbie?"
"Wait, what?" Kaia stopped abruptly in the middle of the track. "Your name's not Frances either? Then what is your name?"
I stopped running too. "I don't have one," I said. I stared at her forehead so that I wouldn't have to look directly in her eyes. "My parents never got around to it. I just found out yesterday."
"Oh, Baby."
She took my hand and led me over to the bleachers. We climbed about twenty five rows back, our silence broken by the sounds of the boys practicing on the field and the occasional coach's whistle. I hugged my knees to my chest on the shiny metal bench.
Kaia folded her hands in her lap. "They're such assholes," she whispered.
"I know."
Kaia unfolded her hands and drummed her fingers nervously on her knees. "But Baby, how could you not know? Didn't your parents have to show your birth certificate to get you signed up for school or something? Didn't you wonder why none of the teachers ever called you Frances?"
I shook my head. "I don't know what you need to sign up for school, but I found my birth certificate and social security card in one of the tubs of old mail my parents have out in a shed. And I just remember being really grateful in kindergarten that nobody called me Frances. I've always hated that name. I guess I figured everybody just knew that I went by Baby, so they called me that. I don't know. It seems dumb now, but seriously? Why would I think anything different? Who doesn't name their own kid?"
Stupid rhetorical question. We both knew the answer was Geoff and Jessie Anderson, my parents. We watched the boys slamming into each other on the field for a few minutes.
Finally I broke the silence. "I don't want to be called Baby anymore," I said. "I'm picking a new name."
"Barbie?" Kaia asked, a laugh in her voice.
"That was just spur of the moment. I'll come up with something better later."
A guy trotted up to the edge of the field. With his helmet on, it was hard to tell who it might be.
"Hey Barbie?" When he called up into the stands I recognized Derek's voice.
"Yeah?"
"I forgot to tell you something important," he hollered.
"What's that?"
"My middle name." He tossed the football in his hands up into the air and caught it deftly. "It's Ken."
A whistle sounded and Derek bounced on his toes a couple times before he turned and jogged back toward the field. From the way his shoulder pads shook as he ran, I'm pretty sure he was laughing.
Kaia kicked my foot. "Looks like you're stuck, Barb."
When I finally remembered to tell Kaia I'd gotten my learner's permit, she immediately pulled over and insisted I drive.
"Don't you have to be, like, an adult or something to teach me?"
"Oh, please. If I don't do it, who else will?" she asked.
She had me there. The only person in my family that knows how to drive is my dad, and he's always at work at the casino. Not that he'd necessarily teach me anyway. He might. I'm not sure. Dad's not a bad guy, he's just
…
I don't know
…
even when he's there he's not really there.
I swear to god, I will never make fun of Kaia for killing the car again, because I did it like fifty times in the ten minutes that it took to drive from the high school to the mall.
I hadn't wanted to hang around waiting for Derek to introduce me to any of his friends.
Barbie. Awesome. What the hell was I thinking?
Kaia was pretty good friends with him, I guess. She said he was one of the nicer guys from Hilltop. "I mean, they're all assholes," she'd said, laughing and blowing her hair out of her eyes, "but as far as Hilltop guys go, Derek's definitely one of the better ones. And he throws
huge
parties, so everybody likes him."
When we got to the mall, I parked on the side where we always do, the one closest to the food court. It's also the side where the smokers hang out, which means it smells just like my mom. So I said the same thing I always say. "Oh my god, gross! Tomorrow we have got to park over by Forever 21."
And Kaia wrinkled her nose and said "Totally," but I know we won't. Baskin Robbins is the first shop on the right once we get inside. We're not there to drool over the flavors, even though I swear if there's a heaven it will taste like Gold Medal Ribbon. We're there to drool over Grady Carrico, the guy who works there.
Grady's a senior, and there's no way he got that body scooping ice cream. He's built like a quarterback, all muscular but lean. But he's doling out thirty-one flavors, not practicing on the field, so he's definitely not on the team.
Kaia and I must've eaten five gallons of ice cream each this summer, but neither one of us had gotten up the guts to actually talk to Grady yet. Kaia'd had a crush on him for years, and she was determined to go for the gold today. We waited in line while he scooped some mint chocolate chip for a stressed-out mom and her whiny kid. Grady's straight brown hair fell into his eyes when he reached down, and he blew it out of his face. God, he even made his horrible pink polo shirt look good. Walking through disgusting smoke was worth it with this as my reward. Hell, I'd walk through fire.
"Hi Grady," Kaia said when we got to the front of the line.
"Hey. What can I get you today?"
"Oh, I don't know.
”
Kaia chewed daintily on her thumbnail and walked back and forth in front of the counter, sort of looking at the ice cream inside, but mostly just checking Grady out from various angles. "It all looks so good."
"You two get the same flavor every time. Would you like to try anything else? I can give you a little taste of anything you want."
Kaia pounced on the opening. "I'd love a little taste," she said, shooting him a look that should have melted his entire freezer case.
Grady grinned at Kaia uncertainly. "Okay. What would you like to try?"
Oh my god.
As hot as he was, you'd think he'd be used to getting hit on, but poor Grady was clueless and I felt sorry for him. I stepped up next to Kaia before she could open her mouth again. "Can I try the Quarterback Crunch?"
"Sure." Grady ducked his head into a freezer case a few feet away and scraped a little bit of ice cream onto a tiny pink plastic spoon.
"Dammit," Kaia hissed at me. "Cock blocker."
"That doesn't even make any sense," I whispered back.
Grady popped back up and handed me the spoon. I stuck it in my mouth. "Yummy."
"And how about for you? Did you decide what you wanted?" he asked Kaia.
"Oh, just give me a chocolate cone," Kaia said petulantly. The chocolate was in the case right in front of Grady, so he didn't have to walk away this time. "You want anything?" she asked me.
"Nope. I don't have any money."
"Don't worry about it, I've got it."
"Are you sure?" Kaia'd paid for my ice cream almost all summer.
"Sure I'm sure," she said.
"Could I have a kid's cone of Gold Medal Ribbon?" I asked Grady.
"A kid's cone?" he asked, smiling. "Are you twelve or under?"
I laughed. "Hardly. But my cousin's not a billionaire, so since she's being such a good girl and buying me a cone—again—I thought I'd save her some money." I laced my fingers together and held them over my heart. "Please?"
"Cousins, huh? I thought you guys were twins. Alright, you've convinced me." Grady grabbed a small cone, leaned into the case and scooped my ice cream. He held it out to me and I reached out to take it, but at the last second he moved it just out of my reach. "Now don't go telling people I'm a pushover, got it?" he said teasingly.
"And don't
you
go telling people I'm a good girl," Kaia interjected, winking at Grady.
Grady gave me my ice cream cone, then leaned against the countertop next to the register, bracing himself so that a couple of extra muscles popped out on his already impressive arms. "There's nothing wrong with being good. My pastor says it's not a bad thing to try and fail at being a good person, because Jesus will be there to lift you up. Not trying at all is where you get in trouble."
Oh no! A Jesus freak. And he was so cute
.
Kaia threw back her head and laughed. "I guess if you want to tell people I'm good I won't stop you. I doubt they'll believe you though."
"What's your name?" Grady asked her.
"I'm Kaia. And this is my cousin, Mary."
I choked a little on my ice cream, and quickly put a napkin over my mouth.
"Mary, huh?" Grady lifted his eyes to mine.
"Yes, like the virgin," Kaia answered, as my choking degenerated into a full blown coughing fit. "C'mon Mary. If you're going to drag me to the Christian store to look at the new Bibles again we might as well get it over with. See you later Grady."
"Come back soon."
"Oh we will," Kaia promised.
We exploded out the mall exit and plowed through the hazy cloud of secondhand smoke. Kaia cackled maniacally while I tried to control my coughing. The smoke wasn't helping.
We got to the parking lot and I was finally able to catch my breath. "What the hell did you just do to me, Kaia?"
"Dude, I totally misread him. But I
hooked you up!
You're so in."
"Mary, Kaia?
Mary?
"
"He wants a good Christian girl. I figured as long as you're in the market for a new name, Mary would be perfect." She collapsed into giggles.
"But he's a Jesus freak! And I don't even believe in God."
Kaia stopped laughing abruptly and her mouth fell open. "You don't believe in God?"
"No." I tilted my head. It wasn't, like, something I really thought about much. "Do you?"
"Of course I do." We reached Kaia's Honda, and she pulled her keys out of her pocket to unlock the door. "So you're an atheist then?"
"I guess."
"Weird. Aren't you afraid?"
"Of what?"
"I don't know." Kaia shrugged. "Dying? Going to hell?"
"A dude with a beard throwing a lightning bolt at me?"
Kaia stuck her tongue out at me. "That's Zeus."
"Whatever. No. I'm just not the religious type, medieval, mythical, or otherwise." Kaia got in her side of the car and reached over to unlock my door. I dropped into the passenger seat and huffed. "This is just great. Grady's a senior. How am I supposed to run around being Bitchy Barbie with one guy and Moral Mary with another? Jeez, Kaia!" But even though I tried really hard, I couldn't keep a tiny smile from stealing onto my face.
Kaia grinned back at me. "It's a huge school. You're a smart girl. I'm sure you'll manage."
"Great, now I'm made of plastic, holier-than-thou,
and
smart. Maybe next I should tell everyone my name's Poindexter."
"Ooh! Can I call you Dex?"
"Shut up."
The last days of summer passed way quicker than I wanted them to. Not that I liked hanging around my house listening to my sisters bitch at each other, but I was actually kind of nervous about starting high school. How would I find my classes? Would I see anyone from Totem Falls, or would I be surrounded by people from Hilltop and Lincoln? The other girls in cheer hadn't seemed too friendly at tryouts. Was everyone going to be like that?
At least I was required to wear my cheer uniform to school for the first week, so I wouldn't look like a total loser in my sisters' worn out hand-me-downs.
I got up extra early on the first day of school so I could get ready without anyone seeing me. A high ponytail was part of the uniform, and I didn't want a single one of my dark brown hairs to get loose. I showered and yanked my still-wet hair into a ponytail so tight it made my eyes look slanted.