underwear for Ben. Cans of tuna fish and bags of flour. Things that could be hidden in drawers and cupboards.
Her mom had become some sort of genius double agent since she hooked up with Richie. It was like she was keeping them all alive behind his back.
Eleanor tried the jeans on before anybody else got home.
They were a little big, but much nicer than anything else she had.
All her other pants had something wrong with them – a broken zipper or a tear in the crotch – some flaw she had to hide by constantly pulling down her shirt.
It would be nice to have jeans that didn’t do anything worse than sag.
Maisie’s present was a bag of half-dressed Barbies. When Maisie got home, she laid all the dolls out on the bottom bunk, trying to put together one or two complete outfits for them.
Eleanor climbed onto the bed with her and helped comb and braid their frayed hair.
‘I wish there’d been a Ken in there,’ Maisie said.
On Friday morning, when Eleanor got to her bus stop, Park was already there waiting for her.
CHAPTER 23
Park
His eye went from purple to blue to green to yellow.
‘How long am I grounded?’ he asked his mother.
‘Long enough to make you sorry about fight,’ she said.
‘I am sorry,’ he said.
But he wasn’t really. The fight had changed something on the bus. Park felt less anxious now – more relaxed. Maybe it was because he’d stood up to Steve.
Maybe it was because he had nothing left to hide …
Plus nobody on the bus had ever seen anybody kick like that in real life.
‘ I t was pretty
fantastic,’
Eleanor said on the way to school, a few days after he came back.
‘Where did you learn to do that?’
‘My dad’s been making me go to taekwando since kindergarten … It was actually kind of a stupid, show-offy kick. If Steve had been thinking, he could have grabbed my leg or pushed me.’
‘If Steve had been thinking …’
she said.
‘I thought you’d think it was lame,’ he said.
‘I did.’
‘Lame and fantastic?’
‘Those are both your middle names …’
‘I want to try again.’
‘Try what again? Your Karate Kid thing? I think that would be less fantastic. You’ve got to know when to walk away …’
‘No, I want you to come over again. Would you?’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said.
‘You’re grounded.’
‘Yeah …’
Eleanor Everybody at school knew that Eleanor was the reason Park Sheridan kicked Steve Dixon in the mouth.
There was a new kind of whispering when she walked down the halls.
Somebody in geography asked her if it was true that they were fighting over her. ‘No!’ Eleanor said. ‘For Christ’s sake.’
Later she wished that she would have said ‘Yes!’ – because if that had gotten back to Tina, oh my God, it would have made her furious.
On the day of the fight, DeNice and Beebi wanted Eleanor to tell them every gory detail.
Especially the gory details. DeNice even bought Eleanor an ice cream cone to celebrate.
‘Anyone who whups Steve Dixon’s sorry ass deserves a medal,’ DeNice said.
‘I didn’t go near Steve’s ass,’
Eleanor said.
‘But you were the cause of the ass-whupping,’ DeNice said. ‘I heard your boy kicked him so hard, Steve cried blood.’
‘That’s not true,’ Eleanor said.
‘Girl, you need to learn a lesson about standing in your own light,’ DeNice said. ‘If my Jonesy kicked Steve’s ass, I’d be walking around this place singing that song f r o m Rocky. Nuh-nuh, nuhhh, nuh-nuh, nuhhh …’
That
made
Beebi
giggle.
Everything DeNice said made Beebi giggle. They’d been best friends since grade school, and the better she got to know them, the more Eleanor felt like it was an honor that they’d let her into their club.
Granted, it was a weird club.
DeNice was wearing her overalls today with a pink T-shirt, pink and yellow hair ribbons and a pink bandana tied around her leg. When they were standing in line for ice cream, some boy walked by and told DeNice that she looked like a black Punky Brewster.
DeNice didn’t even flinch. ‘I don’t need to worry about that riffraff,’ she said to Eleanor. ‘I got a man.’
Jonesy and DeNice were engaged. He’d already graduated and was working as an assistant manager at ShopKo. They were getting married as soon as DeNice was legal.
‘And your man’s fine,’ Beebi said, giggling.
When Beebi giggled, Eleanor giggled, too. Beebi’s laugh was that contagious. And she always had a manic, surprised look in her eyes – that look people get when they can’t keep a straight face.
‘Eleanor wouldn’t think he’s fine,’ DeNice teased. ‘She’s only interested in stone-cold killers.’
Park
‘How long am I grounded?’ Park asked his father.
‘That’s not up to me, that’s up to your mother.’
His dad was sitting on the couch, reading Soldier of Fortune.
‘She says forever,’ Park said.
‘I guess it’s forever then.’
It was almost Christmas break.
If Park was grounded during Christmas break, he’d have to go three
weeks
without