Free That's What's Up! by Paula Chase

girls think, she suddenly thought to herself, the idea giving her needed comfort.
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    Later, she chatted online with Jacinta, Lizzie and Kelly and IM’d with Carla about Spanish homework. Although the worksheet with fifty vocabulary words was getting left in the dust amid the cyber convos, it was getting done ... sort of.
    How in the world did people multitask before the invention of Instant Messaging, Mina wondered.
    She couldn’t imagine trying to do this back in the day, when dialingsomeone up on the telephone was the only way to go. First of all, her mother would come running the second she heard Mina’s chattering. Second, unless you wore an earpiece with a mic, holding the phone between the shoulder and chin was so 1990s.
    She laughed aloud as Carla asked for the answer to number thirty—the same word Mina was having a problem with. Instinctivelyshe looked it up on a free translation site, and keyed in the answer.She cracked up at Carla’s response.

    Imacutie: did u get that frm spanish4dumes?
    BubbliMi: YUP
    Imacutie: I went to another site and got a totally different answer

    â€œShoot,” Mina exclaimed. The sites were horribly unreliable. When she’d first discovered them she’d sworn she’d sail through Spanish with ease. Then Ms. Cortez, her Spanish teacher, had chosen Mina’s paper as an example of how not to translate. And that had been the end of that ... well, that had been the end of using it regularly. She still used it for simple vocab words. And the sites were still, obviously, the worst solution ever for foreign language slackers like her and Carla.
    She responded to Carla and saw that the chat with the clique was getting interesting. The truth was, they could have been debating the merits of paint drying and it would have been more exciting than her homework. She tapped off a quick “l8r” to Carla, barely giving her a chance to get in her own goodbye, before pushing the homework aside and placing herself comfortably in the middle of the ongoing chat.
    She muted the loud ringing of each IM to preempt any parental intervention.

    Liz-e-O: so r u guys down 4 hooking up over break? Pls say
yes. I cannot sit home w/the ‘rents for 3 days!
CinnyBon: mos def’ I don’t see whas the big deal about the
Xtreme anyway
K-Lo: I’m in
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    Mina jumped right in defending the event.
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    BubbliMi: don’t get it twisted the Xtreme is THE biggest cheer event in MD but I think the hype is cuz its during spring break. Been years since that happened.
    CinnyBon: where u been Princess?!
    BubbliMi: Spanish HW. Sry I had 2 keep dippin out
    Liz-e-O: hello this is about the Losers NOT going to Freak Fest err ... I mean the Xtreme LOL
    BubbliMi: not 2 rub it in ... but I think it’s definitely gonna be some wildin’ out
    CinnyBon: Lizzie u gon’ stop all that loser talk or we gon’ throw some bows up in here.
    Liz-e-O: ;-)
    K-Lo: we could get 2gether at my place. Grand wouldn’t mind CinnyBon: hanging out at the mansion again? So boring. j/k

    Mina snickered. They never tired of chilling at Kelly’s big house with the theater room, tennis courts, swimming pool and music studio.With so much to do, right there, it was the ideal sleepover spot and not just because Kelly lived in the most exclusive nabe in Del Rio Bay. Kelly’s grandmother welcomed them with open arms. She was so excited that Kelly had such a nice group of friends, Mina suspectedthe girls could stay over every weekend and Mrs. Lopez would be swazy with it.
    Every now and then they’d walk to the country club for “teen” night or the park located in the center of the neighborhood and bump into Jessica and Mari-Beth, who lived one street down from Kelly. There were always a few tense, awkward minutes as the girls teetered on the edge of indecision—say hello or ignore one another—beforeMari-Beth said something snide and uncalled for,