Free The Cat Ate My Gymsuit by Paula Danziger Page A

into her at the grocery story. She said Ms. Finney’s going to fight.”
    He stared ahead, and then looked down at his hands. “I’m glad. She’s one of the few people I can talk to. It’s kind of hard. My father’s a neat guy and I can talk to him. But my grandmother doesn’t understand much, and she lives with us.”
    “Where’s your mother?”
    “My parents are divorced. She lives in Denver. She’s remarried. I don’t like her.”
    It seemed hard for Joel to talk about it, so I didn’t ask any questions.
    But he continued, “My dad’s a lawyer. Gets involved in a lot of controversial cases. He gave up corporate law to start his own practice. My mother got upset and said that he should stay where the money was and not always be defending weirdos. But they’re not all weirdos. Some are poor and need help. He’s really a good guy.”
    “So she moved?”
    “Yeah. She likes things to be easy. And she didn’t like a lot of my father’s friends . . .too radical, she said. So one day she decided to divorce my father. She wanted to take me with her, but I didn’t want to go. She cried a lot and said she’d go to court to get me, but I told her that I hated her and refused to go.”
    “What did she say?”
    “She said that she’d let me stay with Dad until she got resettled and then send for me.”
    “Oh, Joel, when’s that going to happen,” I said, feeling panic. What if Joel had to move away? Joel and Ms. Finney gone. I couldn’t stand it.
    “It won’t. One day we got a letter saying that she was getting married to a school principal. I had to go out to Denver to visit her. That’s where she’s teachingand where she met him. He’s just like Mr. Stone. I can’t believe there are two of them. Anyway, I went out there and was so bad that the principal didn’t want me, and she went along with him. I hate her. I really do. I’m glad she gave up after a while.”
    “Does it bother you?”
    “No . . .yeah, I guess it does. Maybe that’s why I don’t trust that many people.”
    “You can trust me.”
    “I know that you’re O.K., but I just want you to know that I’m not the type to go out much or get hung up on anybody.”
    “O.K.”
    “Marcy, let’s be friends.”
    “O.K.”
    I felt very strange. There was a lot to think about . . .Joel being bad . . .his mother leaving . . .a stepfather like Mr. Stone . . .Joel not wanting to get serious but still wanting a friend . . .my own feelings about Joel.
    Nancy and Phil picked that moment to come over and talk.
    “Hey, having fun? Why aren’t you dancing?” Nancy asked.
    “I don’t,” Joel answered.
    “But Marcy spent all week learning.”
    I could have killed her.
    Joel turned to me and said, “Sorry about that,” and we both laughed.
    “That’s O.K. The lessons might come in handy some day,” I said.
    Robert Alexander came over.
    “Hi. Thought your mother wouldn’t let you come,” Joel said.
    “That dope. She’s driving me crazy. I snuck out.”
    “What’ll happen if she finds out?”
    “She won’t . . .Even if she does, I don’t care. She said I have to go to boarding school. I hate her.”
    Phil held up a six-pack and said, “Anybody want a beer?”
    Joel, Robert, and Nancy took cans, so I did. I opened my can and took a sip. I’d tasted beer before and thought it was horrible. It still was.
    I asked Nancy where her parents were. I was kind of nervous about the beer.
    “They went to a movie. I told them I was old enough to not have chaperones. So they gave in. They’re cool.”
    I just nodded my head, then pretended to sip mybeer. A cream soda would have been better. We all sat around talking.
    At one end of the room there was a lot of noise. Andy Moore was putting beer cans on their sides and karate-chopping them. I asked Nancy if her parents were going to be mad because of the beer.
    “Listen,” she said. “They’re so glad I don’t smoke dope that they think beer’s O.K.”
    So I