“Oh, hell no.” Lauren leaned back in her seat and glanced over at me with a hollowed look of disbelief in her eyes.
“That’s exactly what I said to her,” Mike added.
“So, that’s why I don’t like Bernita. She’s bad news and will do anything to get a boyfriend. My grandmother used to tell me about girls like Bernita. The ones with a pretty face and ugly ways,” Sabrina said.
“She’s crazy,” I said as the waiter reappeared. We all took a quick glance at the menu and placed our orders. I made a mental note to myself to shoot Jeremy another text message, warning him of how treacherous Bernita could be.
On Saturday evening I was in the family room lounging in my favorite chair with my laptop. I was watching the YouTube channel of a girl at my school named Allison Rivers. Allison’s mom is a local television reporter named Angela Rivers, who had come to our school for career night last year. Allison took it upon herself to create a reality video blog about life at our high school. A lot of kids relished the idea of having a brief starring role in the happenings at Thornwood High. She had posted various videos of her friends doing obnoxious things like scribbling a smiley face with a Magic Marker on the cheek of a student who had fallen asleep on a school bus. Another video showed a bunch of students dancing while waiting for the school bus to arrive. I had seen several of those students around school, and one of them was even in my psychology class. I clicked the link to another video and watched as Allison videotaped her boyfriend at a local park going down a sliding board on his stomach. When he got to the end of the ride, he inadvertently tumbled off of it. I could hear Allison in the background laughing as he pretended to be injured.
“Hey.” I looked up from my computer screen and saw my cousin Viviana, who now lived with me, my sister and my younger brother, Paul.
“Hey,” I said back and noticed how great she looked wearing a patchwork denim top with matching jeans. “Where are you going?”
“Out with Red,” she said, stepping into a nearby bathroom.
“Are you guys dating now?” I asked. I knew that Red liked her, but I wasn’t sure that she was all that crazy about him.
“Yeah, we’re dating. We made it official a few days ago. He’s not such a bad guy. I’m glad I took a chance and got to know him. Maya, Misalo, Red and I are going out to a movie. Would you like to go?”
“No. I would be the only one there without a boyfriend. I don’t want to be the fifth wheel of the group,” I said, feeling awful about being single.
Viviana exited the bathroom and said, “It’s okay. We won’t make you feel awkward.”
“No. I’m cool with just hanging out at home. Say, are you going to the holiday dance at school?” I asked.
“Of course. Everyone is going. In fact, now that you’ve said that, I need to send myself a reminder to pick up Red’s Christmas present.” Viviana removed her phone from her back pocket and typed in a reminder notice.
“What are you buying him?” I asked.
“You know where the T-shirt place at the mall is, right?” Viviana asked.
“Yes.”
“Well, I’m having his and hers T-shirts made with a photo of us.” Viviana smiled proudly.
“That’s so sweet.” I felt my heart swell with envy. “I hope he likes it.”
“Sure he will. Red likes everything I do for him.” Viviana laughed. I heard a car horn blow, followed by the voice of Maya calling for Viviana.
“Viviana, Misalo and Red are here. Are you ready?” Maya called out from the top of the staircase.
“Yeah. I’ll be right there,” Viviana said.
“Have a good time.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to come along?” Viviana asked sympathetically.
“I’m positive,” I assured her and clicked the link for another video. I watched several more of Allison’s videos. One was about how to make up with your best friend after an argument and another showed her stopping random guys and asking them why they think girls are more attracted to drama than guys. One boy said that he believed it was because girls felt that if they didn’t have drama in their lives, they would die. That’s a real dumb answer, I thought. Another guy said that girls like drama because they’re complicated.
“Anna, can I ask you a question?” Paul, who was in eighth grade, sat down on the sofa near me.
“Yeah, what’s up?” I asked. He turned the bill of his baseball cap in the opposite direction so that it was at the back of his head. His eyebrows, which were thick like my own, were knitted in frustration.
“I want to buy something for this girl at school that I like, but I don’t know what to get her,” he said.
“Wait, you have a girlfriend?” I asked, utterly shocked that he pulled himself out of skateboarding and video games long enough to notice a girl.
“Something like that. I really like this girl and I want to do something nice, but I don’t know what girls are into,” he said sincerely.
“Well, what does she like?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” He slouched back against the sofa and placed his feet on the nearby coffee table.
“Have you asked her?”
“No. Then it would seem like I wasn’t paying attention to her,” he said.
“Well, were you paying attention?” I asked.
“No, but I don’t want her to know that. Come on, Anna, help me out here. If you had a boyfriend, what would you want him to get you for Christmas?” Paul wanted me to give him a quick answer to a complex question.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.
“What’s what supposed to mean?” He looked confused by my question.
“You said if I had a boyfriend. Do you think that I’m not cute? Do you think that guys aren’t interested in me? Are you making fun of me because Maya and Viviana both have boyfriends?”
“Wait. I thought we were talking about my issue and not yours,” Paul said cautiously. He then shrugged his shoulders and turned the palms of his hands toward me.
“Get her whatever you think she’ll like, Paul,” I said. I was done talking and listening to him. I wasn’t mad at him; I was just trying to navigate the thoughts and feelings that came with not having a boyfriend to share the holidays and spend time with.
“Geez.” Paul stood up and headed back upstairs. “Why are girls so complicated?”
* * *
A week had gone by since I had last spoken with Jeremy for any length of time. When I saw him at school, I wanted to have a face-to-face conversation with him about Bernita and what I had heard about her. But she seemed to have Jeremy radar because the few times I got to see him passing in the hallway, she’d magically materialize like a witch appearing from behind a cloud of green smoke. She’d come over and try to act friendly with both of us, but I could see right through her phony ways. Jeremy was totally oblivious to the tension between Bernita and me. He actually suggested that we all hang out sometime. When he said that, I thought, Are you freaking kidding me? Please tell me you’re not that blind. Bernita and I are two totally different types of girl. Heck, we’re not even in the same