Chapter 8

First, we went down town, and we "Robbed the mall." In other words, we stopped at the mall to say hello to Jarod's friend Rob. He works at the Mall Information Desk, and Andrea thinks that he is really cute, so we try to find a reason to stop at the mall every time she and I go out together.

Of course, Rob likes Andi too. I mean, he's a guy, right? I have never yet met a guy who doesn't have a crush on my little sister. Rob is definitely not an exception to the rule, even if she does keep insisting that he is "obviously" hooked on me. I don't think that it is very obvious! Not that I want him to be interested, of course. Rob is nothing more than a friend.

Rob is in my chemistry class this year. We have exactly one class together every year. This year, it's chemistry. Last year, it was world history. Before that, it was algebra. It's kind of funny how it always works out that way, every single year.

In fact, we almost didn't have any classes together this year. On the first day of school, I was surprised to find that Rob wasn't in a single one of my classes. But as luck would have it, they accidentally put Rob in the wrong math class, and he had to change his entire schedule to fix the error. When they finished rearranging everything, lo and behold, Rob was in my chemistry class!

Of course, I had to tease him about it. "Gosh, Rob, are you stalking me or something? I think it's pretty fishy that the one time we didn't have a class together, you had to change your schedule and suddenly here you are in my chemistry class!"

Rob grinned. "Yeah, you've got me. It was all an elaborate scheme so that I could make sure I had some chemistry with you." He laughed. "I mean, so that I could have chemistry class with you." He winked at me, and I felt myself blushing. Why do I get embarrassed so easily?

"It's entirely your fault you know," he teased. "Last year, you wouldn't tell me what classes you were going to sign up for this year, so I had to take drastic action. I purposely signed up for the wrong math class so that I would have an excuse to change my schedule after I found out what classes you had this year."

"Really?" I asked. I couldn't believe that he would actually go through that much trouble just to make sure that we had another class together!

Rob laughed loudly, and the entire class stared at us. "What? You thought I was serious?" He grinned. "Man! You've got quite an ego, little girl!"

Rob always teases me about being stuck up and egotistical. Usually, I shrug it off and ignore him, but sometimes, it bothers me. Am I really as self-absorbed as Rob says I am? Is that why I'm so unpopular? Is that why no one ever asks me out on dates?

I guess Rob's opinion shouldn't really matter to me, but it does. You see, he is good friends with Shane, and I know it's important for a guy's friends to like you, or you never stand a chance. Since Rob and Shane are such good friends, it's imperative that I don't completely alienate Rob.

I don't know how close Rob and Shane are, but I figure that it's better to be safe than sorry. I know that Rob and Jarod and Shane all used to hang out together back before the big fight between Jarod and Shane. I don't know how much time they spend together anymore.

I never see Shane and Rob together outside of class or anything, but they are practically inseparable in chemistry. In fact, they team up to pick on me absolutely mercilessly every single day! I managed to snag Shane as my lab partner, and Rob sits at the table right in front of me, so the three of us have lots of opportunities to talk.

We usually have some pretty fun conversations, but sometimes, I really wish that I wasn't such a geek. I always wonder what they're saying about me after the bell rings. Of course, they probably don't even think about me at all, and I suppose that's a good thing.

Rob and Shane like to steal my diary out of my bag and try to read all of my innermost thoughts. Usually, I can get it away from them before they read too much, but they have managed to read enough that now I write my most personal thoughts in code. At least, that keeps me safe from the biggest embarrassments, but sometimes, it is absolutely humiliating!

A few weeks ago, I spent my entire lunch period watching Shane with Rachel and writing in my diary about how I wished that she would disappear. Luckily, I didn't really mention Shane's name that time, because Rob managed to steal my diary in chemistry, and he read that page to Shane before I could get it away from him. Shane spent the rest of class trying to find out what I had against Rachel. Of course, I couldn't tell him the truth!

"I don't know," I hedged. "I guess I just feel like such a nobody next to Rachel. She is so pretty and perfect. I could never compete with that. So sometimes, I wish that she would go away."

"She's right," Rob announced. "Man, your girlfriend is hot! No doubt about it – she's a ten! How did a loser like you ever score a babe like that anyway?"

Shane sat back and ran his fingers through his wavy brown hair. "I guess it must be my charm and my rugged good looks. I make all the girls swoon." He winked. "Right, Laina?"

"Oh yeah," I teased, batting my eyelashes and trying to look like I wasn't entirely serious. I guess that is one good thing about the guys reading my diary. Sometimes, it gives me a perfect opportunity to flirt by simply playing along when they make fun of me.

"Shane, you are so gorgeous," I breathed. "I don't know how I will ever survive if I can't make you mine." I leaned on him and pretended to swoon.

Shane wrapped his arm around my waist and laughed. "See, Rob? It's easy when you're a stud like me." He gave me a little squeeze and added, "You know, Laina, what Rachel doesn't know won't hurt her. There's enough of me to go around."

Rob huffed. "Hey, pal, back off." He walked over and pulled me away from Shane, then stood between us. "You already have Rachel. Isn't a perfect ten enough for you? Tell you what," he grinned. "I'll take Laina off your hands. I mean, she's no Rachel, but she's probably got something to offer a guy. Besides, you can't take all the girls. You've gotta leave something for the rest of us!"

Of course, I laughed and played along. I mean, it doesn't really bother me so much when Rob picks on me like that, because he's kind of a casual friend. So it doesn't really matter that he only sees me as some sort of consolation prize for a guy who can't get one of the really pretty girls. Not really.

But I am still hoping that, one day, Shane will see how perfect I would be for him, and then I won't be just his nerdy lab partner. I try to tell myself that the guys don't really mean anything by it when they pick on me, and I guess any kind of attention is better than being ignored, but sometimes I wish I could be like Rob's lab partner, Stella. They never pick on her at all. They are super polite and nice to her. They never tease or make fun of Stella at all – probably because she is so pretty.

 

Chapter7

I giggled. That was so like Andrea - always oversimplifying the issues. "Yeah, that sounds like a perfect plan," I quipped. "That will definitely work. No doubt about it. Oh! Except for one minor detail that you overlooked."

I fought the tears that threatened to spill over and tried to keep my voice light. "I'm not like you, Andi!" I exclaimed. "I don't have a million guys lined up around the block waiting for a chance to date me. I don't even have one guy who is interested in dating me! And somehow, I don't think that it would make Shane crazy with jealousy if I tried to introduce him to my invisible boyfriend, Absolutely NoOne! Even back in 5th grade, when I made him up, I couldn't fool anyone into thinking that I had a boyfriend."

I shook my head and chuckled as I recalled my foolish attempt to make myself seem popular. Kendra and Rachel and Sharon all had boyfriends, and I felt left out, so I pretended that I had my own admirer, an older boy whom I had met at the mall. I covered my notebooks with hearts and doodles, writing A.A.+A.N. all over everything. It didn't fool my friends for long, because I couldn't introduce them to my mystery boyfriend. Kendra hadn't even been fooled for a minute. She had laughed for weeks at the idea that an older boy would be interested in me. But Andi was the only one who ever knew the whole truth. I could only admit to my little sister that I was certain it would be Alaina Andersen and Absolutely NoOne forever.

I sighed and dragged my thoughts back to the present. "Besides," I asked, "even if I could find someone to date me, wouldn't it be cruel to date someone just to make Shane jealous?"

Andi rolled her eyes and giggled. "No, silly. The trick is to get yourself a boyfriend that you like anyway. Then you win no matter what. If Shane wakes up and gets a clue, then you get Shane. If he doesn't, then you still have an amazing boyfriend, and eventually you completely forget about Shane Crawford. You can't lose!"

I laughed. "Andi, you make it sound so easy. It's not like I can decide to have an amazing boyfriend and then have one fall at my feet. Where am I supposed to find this terrific guy in the first place?"

"What about Jarod?" Andi asked. "He's really cute, and you wanted to date him before he introduced you to Shane. Besides, you guys are always together, and I know that he wants you. Make him be your boyfriend."

I rolled my eyes. How could Andrea not know that I wasn't the Andersen sister that Jarod was in love with? "Jarod and I are just friends," I reminded her. "That's it. He does not, will not and never has seen me as girlfriend material. Even if I wanted to, and I'm not saying that I do, how in the world would you expect me to make him my boyfriend? It's not like I can wave my magic wand and change his feelings or something!"

Andi picked up Mr. Cuddles. "Laina, I don't think you need a magic wand." She winked and handed me my teddy bear. "Jarod is completely obsessed with you. Why else would he come over here almost every single night to see you? And you guys talk on the phone for hours on the nights when he doesn't come over. He is completely in love with you, and you are the only person alive who doesn't see it."

She frowned. "But if you don't want Jarod to be your boyfriend, then what about Pete? He's cute too, and he likes you. You could throw yourself at him."

Andi listed each of my guy friends in turn as potential boyfriend candidates. Somehow, she has convinced herself that every guy I know is madly in love with me. She insists that they are all too shy to do anything about it. Rob, Josh, George, Nick, Roger, Jim... according to my little sister, the entire senior class at Southbrook high school is in love with me. When she got to Anthony Matthews, I threw up my hands in self-defense.

"Andi, if you're right," I argued, "then Southbrook must have the largest population of shy teenage boys known to man! Besides, I have noticed that not a single one of these 'shy' boys has any trouble when it comes to flirting with you or Kendra or any of the other girls at Southbrook!"

Andi grinned. "Laina, that's my point exactly. It's not that the guys are terribly shy or anything. The trouble is that you are too amazing! All of these guys are intimidated by you. They don't think that they stand a chance with someone as gorgeous and smart and good as you, so they don't even try. Instead, they settle for a second-best kind of option, like me."

I stood up and pulled Andi over to the full-length mirror on my closet door, and we stood side-by-side for a visual comparison. "Obviously, little sister, you have forgotten what you look like," I told her. "You are absolutely gorgeous! Compared to you, I'm pretty plain."

"You're wrong, Laina. And you are way too hard on yourself." Andi turned and grabbed my hands, her eyes twinkling. "Laina, you know what we need? We need a crazy girls' night out! We're going to have a whole night where we don't even think about boys." She grinned. "Remember when we were kids and we had so much fun with just the two of us because boys were yucky and we didn't even want to think about them? Let's have fun like that tonight. We'll go out, just the two of us, and forget about all of these guys."

Andi was so excited that she was actually jumping up and down. "Let's do something completely wild!" she exclaimed.

I laughed. It really did sound like fun, and I needed a distraction. "Okay, Andi. We'll do it. I'm ready to be crazy for a while. Only you have to promise me that we won't go too over-the-top, because I don't want to get grounded or anything!"

"Don't worry, big sister. I'm not going to drag you down the path to the dark side or anything. We'll just have fun." Andi laughed and pulled a sheet of paper out of my notebook.

"Let's make a plan!" She winked. "We have to prove Mom and Dad wrong, and show the whole world that Laina Andersen is just as much a troublemaker as her little sister, Andi!"

Andi's eyes sparkled mischievously, and I couldn't help laughing along with her. When my little sister goes into scheming mode, it's usually best to get out of the way or just go along with her plans and enjoy the ride.

After only five minutes of thought, Andi managed to draft a clever script for our girls' night out, full of puns and word play. "We're just going to have a bit of harmless fun," she assured me, "but it will definitely raise some eyebrows when we tell the story later!"

Kendra would have thought that we were being too silly. She really doesn't approve of Andi, and she always tells me that I don't take life seriously enough when I hang out with Andrea. The disapproval goes both ways. Andi can't understand how I can be best friends with Kendra Smith. They simply can't stand each other, and I realized long ago not to ever try to spend time with both of them at the same time. It always ends in disaster!

To be fair, I don't really like most of Andi's girl friends either. Stacy and Taunya are extremely shallow, stereotypical rich princesses, and Jocelyn is a total flake. I mean, they're nice enough, I guess, but I always feel like I'm losing brain cells when we hang out with them. I prefer not to include them whenever we can get away with it.

So last Friday night, it was just the Andersen sisters, off on a wild and crazy "crime spree" that took us all over town! It was tons of fun, completely harmless, and as insane as you might imagine with Andi calling the shots.

Chapter 6

Andi is always here for me when I need some cheering up. She hates to see me upset, and she pulls out all the stops when she thinks that I need a mood adjustment. A few weeks ago, for instance, I was really down in the dumps, and Andi decided that we needed a serious heart-to-heart.

After school, she dragged me into my bedroom and sprawled on my bed. “Okay, Laina,” she prodded, “what’s going on? You look like you’re going to have a major meltdown or something. Is this about that Shane guy again?”

I nodded glumly and Andi rolled her eyes. “Okay,” she sighed, “what did Shane do now? And why don’t you just forget about him? The guy really doesn’t deserve you.”

I shook my head. “It’s not really anything specific,” I admitted. “I don’t know! Shane Crawford is so confusing! Sometimes, it almost seems like he might be interested in me. He always tells me that I’m pretty and stuff, and he talks to me all the time, even when I don’t start the conversation. But I never know if I’m reading too much into it, you know? He does have a girlfriend, and he’ll probably never break up with her, so I don’t even know why I bother!”

Andi laughed. “Is that all? I can tell you right now that Shane really likes you. He’s just afraid to admit it. Have you seriously never noticed the way the guy looks at you?” She shook her head in disbelief. “I bet he’s waiting to break up with that Rachel chick until he knows if you like him too. All you have to do is give him a signal, and he is as good as yours.”

“I don’t know, Andi,” I flopped back on the bed and hugged Mr. Cuddles, my big, white teddy bear that Jarod gave me for my birthday last year. “How many more signals does a guy need? I think I’ve made it pretty obvious that I like Shane. I mean, I’m not acting desperate or anything, but I have given him all of the obvious clues. I laugh at all of his jokes, even when he’s not really funny. I always wait for him after class so that we can walk to our lockers together. I have come to see him in every single theater production for the past 2 years, and I even bought a card for his birthday last month. He has to know that I am absolutely in love with him!” I buried my face in Mr. Cuddles’ tummy and let out a scream of exasperation.

Andi pulled the bear away from my face so that she could look me straight in the eyes. “Okay, you’re right, Laina. There’s no way that he could miss the fact that you are interested.”

She looked thoughtful. “Of course, Shane is a boy, so we can’t ever be sure that he’s picking up on the obvious. Sometimes, boys can be really, really dense. Remember Valori and Philip last year?” Andi giggled and rolled her eyes. “She actually walked over and sat on his lap on the bus when we were coming home from that boring field trip to the art museum. And Philip actually thought that she didn’t see him there when she sat down! Maybe Shane is simply clueless, like Philip.”

I smiled. I remembered Valori’s frustration with Philip. It was quite comical to watch her trying to get his attention. The funniest part was that Philip was completely in love with Valori the whole time! He used to ask Jarod for tips on how to get her to notice him! I honestly don’t think that those two would ever have gotten together if I hadn’t stepped in to play matchmaker.

I frowned and stared at the ceiling. I could still see the burn mark above my bed from the night that Jarod and I sat in here with the windows open, burning all of the love notes that he had collected from Kendra over the course of their relationship. That was the night that I had tried to talk to Jarod about my crush on Shane. As soon as I had mentioned his name, Jarod had completely flipped out!

He had slammed his fist on the table, muttering something about how I deserved better than a jerk like Shane Crawford. One of the letter fragments flipped out of the dish that we had been burning them in and it flew across the room, landing on the metal blade of my ceiling fan. The letter continued to burn, scorching the ceiling of my bedroom.

Of course, the conversation was forgotten as we scrambled to capture the paper and put out the flame. That was the last time that I tried to talk to Jarod about my crush on his former best friend. Jarod knows how I feel, but I try not to mention it in his presence anymore.

I groaned and sat up to look at my little sister. “Well what do you expect me to do about it, Andi? Even if Shane did like me and was too clueless to notice my signals (which, by the way, is not the case), who would I get to fix me up with him? Besides, I’m sure that Rachel would object!”

Andi chuckled. “So? Let her object. This guy obviously wants you. I mean, who wouldn’t? We just have to find a way to make him take action.”

I rolled my eyes and nuzzled Mr. Cuddles. “You’re wrong, Andi. Shane is in love with Rachel. He always talks about her. It doesn’t even matter if Shane sometimes flirts with me. Maybe he’s not even really flirting. I think I’m reading too much into it because I want him to be interested in me.”

“Laina, stop it. You’re being ridiculous.” Andi reached over and took Mr. Cuddles from me. She tossed him across the room to my overstuffed reading chair in the corner. Then she grabbed my shoulders and looked me straight in the eyes. “Okay. I want you to tell me about the latest case of Shane’s possible flirting, and I will tell you whether or not you are reading too much into it. Trust me; I recognize flirting when I see it.”

I squirmed out of her grasp and retrieved Mr. Cuddles before sitting cross-legged on the bed. I leaned against the wall and sighed. “Andi, you aren’t really an expert on flirting. You still haven’t noticed all of the guys who are falling at your feet and trying to make you notice them. But I’ll tell you anyway.”

I set Mr. Cuddles back in his proper place of honor on my pillow, folded my hands in my lap and began. I felt like a little girl, reciting my lessons for my teacher. “Okay, so yesterday, after chemistry, we were talking as we walked back to our lockers. We hadn’t finished our conversation by the time we both had our books, so he walked out to my car with me. I was paying attention to Shane and our conversation, and I forgot to watch where I was going. So I tripped over that uneven patch of pavement between the 2nd and 3rd rows of cars in the parking lot. I almost went down, but Shane caught me and steadied me.”

“So, did you trip on purpose so that he would have to catch you, or was this normal, everyday Laina klutziness?” Andi asked.

I blushed. “No, I just tripped. And I’m really not that klutzy, you know. I’m not the only one who trips up on that patch of uneven pavement! The school really should do something about fixing it before someone gets hurt or something.”

Andi raised one eyebrow. “Mmmm hmmm…. Go on. What happened next?”

“Well, okay, here’s where I think that he might have been flirting. Maybe. Probably not, though. He was probably just making fun of me or something. Who am I kidding? Shane Crawford thinks I’m a complete loser!”

I flopped back on my bed and buried my face in Mr. Cuddles’ soft fur, but Andi grabbed me by my shoulders and shook me hard, forcing me to sit up and look at her. “Will you stop it and just continue with the story? You’re driving me crazy, sis!”

I had to laugh. Andi always gets a little bit melodramatic about these things. “Okay, so after Shane saved me from falling, he kept his arm around my waist the rest of the way across the parking lot. He said that he had to make sure that I didn’t fall again. And then, even after we got to my car, he didn’t let go of me until we finished our conversation and he helped me into the car. He said that he couldn’t let go, because I’m such a klutz that I would probably manage to fall over even while standing still. He’s probably right about that, but I don’t know, I guess it almost seemed like maybe he actually enjoyed being close to me or something…”

Andi covered her eyes with one hand and shook her head. “Laina, I’m starting to think that you are as dense as any boy. How could you not know that Shane was seriously flirting with you?” She looked up. “That was almost as obvious as Valori sitting on Philip’s lap! Shane Crawford is so in love with you that it’s not even funny!”

“No, he’s really not,” I shrugged. “It wouldn’t really matter, though, even if he was interested in me, would it? Shane has Rachel, and they have been together forever. He’s never going to break up with her. What boy in his right mind would ever dump the head cheerleader for a band geek like me?”

“Well, you know, Laina,” Andi looked at me mischievously. “Boys usually want whatever they know that they can’t have. Someone who is unattainable becomes a challenge, and you know how much guys like to win. They will turn anything, even dating, into a competition. You should get a boyfriend. Shane will be so jealous that he will do anything it takes to win you over!”