Eleanor & Park

sometimes.

Eleanor must have been acting too happy when she got home because her mom followed her to the back of the house like she could smell it on her. (Happiness smelled like Park’s house. Like Skin So Soft and all four food groups.) ‘Are you going to take a bath?’ her mom asked.

‘Uh-huh.’

‘I’ll watch the door for you.’

Eleanor turned on the hot water and climbed into the empty bath tub. It was so cold by the back door that the bath water started cooling off before the tub was even full. Eleanor took baths in such a hurry she was usually done by then.

‘I ran into Eileen Benson at the store today,’ her mom said. ‘Do you remember her from church?’

‘I don’t think so,’ Eleanor said. Her family hadn’t gone to church in three years.

‘She had a daughter your age – Tracy.’

‘Maybe …’

‘Well, she’s pregnant,’ her mom said. ‘And Eileen’s a wreck.

Tracy got involved with a boy in their neighborhood, a black boy.

Eileen’s husband is having a fit.’

‘I don’t remember them,’

Eleanor said. The tub was almost full enough to rinse her hair.

‘Well, it just made me think about how lucky I am,’ her mom said.

‘That you didn’t get involved with a black guy?’

‘No,’ her mom said. ‘I’m talking about you. How lucky I am that you’re so smart about boys.’

‘I’m not smart about boys,’

Eleanor said. She rinsed her hair quickly, then stood up, covering herself with a towel while she got dressed.

‘You’ve stayed away from them. That’s smart.’

Eleanor pulled out the drain and carefully picked up her dirty clothes. Park’s photo was in her back pocket, and she didn’t want it to get wet. Her mom was standing by the stove, watching her.

‘Smarter than I ever was,’ her mom said. ‘And braver. I haven’t been on my own since the eighth grade.’

Eleanor hugged her dirty jeans to her chest. ‘You act like there are two kinds of girls,’ she said.

‘The smart ones and the ones that boys like.’

‘That’s not far from the truth,’

her mom said, trying to put her hand on Eleanor’s shoulder.

Eleanor took a step back. ‘You’ll see,’ her mom said. ‘Wait until you’re older.’

They both heard Richie’s truck pull into the driveway.

Eleanor

pushed

past

her

mother

and

rushed

to

her

bedroom. Ben and Mouse slipped in just behind her.

Eleanor couldn’t think of a place safe enough for Park’s photo, so she zipped it into the pocket of her school bag. After she’d looked at it again and again and again.





CHAPTER 44


Eleanor


Wednesday night wasn’t the worst.

Park had taekwando, but Eleanor still had Park, the memory of him, everywhere. (Everywhere he’d touched her felt untouchable.

Everywhere he’d touched her felt safe.) Richie had to work late that night, so her mom made Totino’s Party Pizzas for dinner. They must have been on sale at Food 4 Less, because the freezer was stuffed with them.

They

watched Highway to Heaven while they ate. Then Eleanor sat with Maisie on the living room floor, and they tried to teach Mouse ‘Down Down Baby.’

It was hopeless. He could either remember the words or the clapping, but never both at once.

It drove Maisie crazy. ‘Start again,’ she kept saying.

‘Come help us, Ben,’ Eleanor said, ‘it’s easier with four.’

Down, down, baby, down by the roller coaster.

Sweet, sweet, baby, I’ll never let you go.

Shimmy, shimmy, cocoa puff, shimmy . . .

‘Oh my God, Mouse. Right hand first – right first. Okay. Start again …’

Down, down, baby . . .

‘Mouse!’





CHAPTER 45


Park


‘I don’t feel like cooking dinner,’

his mom said.

It was just the three of them, Park, his mom and Eleanor, sitting on the couch, watching Wheel of Fortune. His dad had gone turkey hunting and wouldn’t be home until late, and Josh was staying over at a friend’s.

‘I could heat up a pizza,’ Park said.

‘Or we could go get pizza,’ his mom said.

Park looked at Eleanor; he didn’t know what the rules were, as far as going out. Her eyes got big, and she shrugged.

‘Yeah,’ Park said, grinning, ‘let’s go get pizza.’

‘I feel too lazy,’ his mom said.

‘You and Eleanor go get pizza.’

‘You want me to drive?’

‘Sure,’ his mom said. ‘You too scared?’

Jeez, now his mom was calling him a *.

‘No, I can drive. Do you want Pizza Hut? Should we call it in first?’

‘You go where you want,’ his mom said. ‘I’m not even very hungry. You go. Eat dinner. See movie or something.’

He and Eleanor both stared at her.

‘Are you sure?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, go,’ she said, ‘I never get house to myself.’

She was home all day, every day by herself, but Park decided not to mention it. He and Eleanor stood up cautiously from the couch. Like they were expecting his mom to say ‘April fools!’ two weeks late.

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