Free A Match Made in High School by Kristin Walker Page A

Sam on the head. “Don’t get Fiona in too much trouble, Monkey-child.”
    “Sure thing, Ape-man,” Sam said. “Not too much. Just a little bit. Got it.”
    “Guess what? Fiona’s going to introduce you to a friend of hers. Won’t that be nice?”
    “Oooh! Who? Who, Fiona?”
    Before I could answer, Mrs. Pickler strolled down the stairs in a cocktail dress, singing, “’Byyye Sammy. Lovvvve you.” She ran her hands over Sam’s hair to flatten it and then kissed her on the forehead, leaving behind a big old set of

CHAPTER 9
75
    burgundy lip prints. She waved at me as she and Sam’s dad walked out the door. “Hi Fiona. ’Bye Fiona.”
    “Have a nice”—she shut the door—“night. Okay. Whatev.”
    I wiped the lip prints off Sam’s head with my thumb. She swatted my hand away. “Who am I meeting?” she demanded.
    “You’ll see. Get your shoes on.”
    “Why?”
    “We’re taking a little walk.”
    “Walk? You’ve never taken me on a walk in your whole life,” she said. She pulled open the coat closet door and fished around for shoes. “That’s exercise. You hate exercise.”
    “True,” I said. “We’d better go really slowly then. Lumber, even.”
    “We could plod.” She sat on the bottom stair and pulled on her purple canvas sneakers without untying them.
    “Plod, yes. Nicely done! We shall go for a plod.”
    She jumped up. “It is a lovely evening for a plod.”
    “Shall we?” I offered my elbow to her.
    “We shall.” She slipped her arm into mine.
    It was still light out, but the sun was getting ready to set. It was the time of day when the sunlight shines sideways, so everything looks like it has its own special spotlight. That time of day is always hushed. I like to think of it as the planet’s big yawn before going to sleep for the night.
    “Where are we plodding to?” Sam asked.
    “Not far,” I said. If I was lucky, Todd would be out ravaging Amanda somewhere, and not home. But then again, luck was not my thing.
    76 Kristin Walker
    I put my hand on Sam’s shoulders and steered her in a zigzag down the sidewalk. “So what’s our plan for later?”
    Sam spun around to face me and walked backward with one hand on her hip and one hand flitting through the air between us. “Well, I couldn’t decide between a scary movie and a romantic movie, so I got my tarot cards and laid them out. But I don’t know how to read them, so I said, ‘Forget it,’
    and threw them on the floor. And guess what? One with a heart on it landed on top of everything else, so I said, ‘That’s it!’ And so romantic movie it is. Sixteen Candles . Our favorite. Is that okay with you?”
    “Of course.”
    I’d give her anything. I don’t have any brothers or sisters, so I guess I think of Sam as one. Besides, when she gets mad, she’s like a wet cat. I’ve only seen her temper a few times, but never directed at me. I just like to make her happy. She chattered on. “Should we do our nails too? My mom got a new color. Passion Plum. It’s sort of purple, and you know how I love purple. But it’s not really purple, just sort of dark purple, you know?”
    “Sure.” Despite her tomboy look, Sam loved pretending to get dressed up. She was forever trying to glamorize me. One time she’d insisted on giving me a complete makeover with bright red nail polish, matching red lipstick, black eyeliner, and black mascara. She thought I looked gorgeous. I thought I looked like an overzealous vampire after a feeding.
    “Can I stay up till midnight?” she asked.
    “Nine.”
    “How about eleven?”

CHAPTER 9
77
    “Ten.”
    “Okay, deal.” We made these negotiations every time, even though I always let her stay up as late as she wanted. She usually fell asleep on the couch by nine-thirty or so anyway. “Just don’t tell your parents.”
    “ Never !” She laughed.
    “Pinky-swear?”
    “Pinky-swear!” She hooked her pinky through mine and squeezed.
    We turned up Todd’s driveway. “This is the