Free Water Balloon by Audrey Vernick

when I was younger. "I never knew there was a path back here."
    "Ah, there is much you have not yet learned, my friend."
    I get a little jolt at that word,
friend.
    "You want to sit for a while?" Jack asks.
    "Do you?" There is something so new here. It's like figuring out our own means of communication.
    "We could keep walking."
    "Sure."
    Rig trots a little ahead so that we're following him again. "How long have you had Rig?"
    "Since first grade."
    "He's a great dog."
    I know that this isn't just something he's saying; he gets it. When Leah and Jane come over, Rig runs over to greet them, barks his friendly "Ruh," with his tail wagging, and their hands go up around their faces, as far from him as they can possibly get. They don't hate him or anything. They just couldn't care less.
    "Do you have a dog?" I ask. We're rounding the far side of the field, heading toward the playground and tennis courts that divide the soccer area from the baseball fields.
    "We did for a while, but my brother took her with him when he moved out. She's a golden retriever: Scout. She comes over every once in a while, when my brother comes to visit. I miss her a lot. I really miss having a dog."
    "Why'd she go with your brother? Was she his dog?"
    "Not exactly. She was a great dog. To me. She sometimes bit people."
    "Oh, that sucks. So how old's your brother?"
    "Twenty."
    "Are you close?"
    "I don't know. We used to hang out a lot more, but he's been working really hard. You'd like him. A big fan. All year we save our money so we can buy a bunch of Yankees tickets the day they go on sale."
    "So, Scout," I say. "Is that like a Boy Scout thing?"
    "No, my mom named her for some girl in a movie.
To Kill a Mockingbird.
I sometimes think she wishes she had a daughter."
    I'm about to tell him about Rig and the son my father never had, and maybe even clear up the big-time Yankee fan confusion. Something else gets my attention.
    I spot Leah's pink and yellow bike. I lean all the way to my right, try to see behind her, to see if Jane's there too, with a posse of new friends. If anyone else is with Leah, they're following at a great distance. She rides down the path and stops right in front of me. "OH! My God! Marley! Fancy meeting you here."
    "Hey, Leah. How's it going?"
    "It's been an amazing week.
Amazing!
" Her eyes lock on Jack, look up, look down. She shakes out her hair, her gorgeous, wavy honey brown hair.
    "I had no idea CC was going to be so intense. It's, like,
so
intense! This week? We were working on character study because next week we're going to audition? And so Jane and me were up until, like, midnight and—"
    It will be August before she's done if I don't stop her. I feel Jack next to me. "Do you guys know each other?" There's a sort of grunt of nonresponse from Jack. Then I say, "Leah, this is Jack. Jack, well, duh, this is Leah."
    They smile at each other.
    "So anyway, I'm sorry me and Jane haven't been around. We haven't had a minute when we're not rehearsing or practicing or whatever. We'll see you tomorrow, right? At Jane's." Then, to Jack she says, "It was really nice meeting you, Jack."
    "See ya," Jack says. When Leah rides off, Rig turns his big head to watch, then looks back at us.
    Jack walks over to a bench and sits right in the middle, then scoots over to the end a bit and motions for me to sit, too. Rig settles at our feet.
    "She can be weird sometimes, but she and Jane are my best friends," I tell Jack, even though I've already told him. There's something almost defensive in my voice that doesn't make sense.
    "Yeah, she seems cool," he says. He's quiet, just looking at me, and there are those eyes. His brown hair is a little shaggy, not a look I usually like. There's just something. I start to get all fluttery inside. Unable to talk.
    An ugly tan pigeon lands on the back of the bench, a little too close to me. I think for a second about Elsie Jenkins, the monochromatic no-friends girl in her tan windbreaker. I wonder what people