Free Playing the Field by Janette Rallison Page A

when I haven’t done my hair?
    He looked over at me. “I can explain it to
you later if you’re busy now.”
    Which meant: What is McKay doing here?
    Serena glanced at me. “That’s okay. McKay and
I were just working on algebra, but we’re ready to take a break
now.”
    Which meant—well, I wasn’t exactly sure, but
I was afraid it meant: Sit down Brian, I’d rather flirt with you
than talk to McKay. You’re much cooler, and besides, you’ve never
plowed over me in PE class.
    I stood up. “Actually I ought to be going.
Thanks for the help with algebra, though.” I looked around for my
belongings, then realized I hadn’t brought anything but the
flowers.
    “It was really nice of you to come,” Serena
said. “Stop by again and tell me what’s going on algebra
class.”
    Meaning: “My mother raised me to be polite,
and I must say something to you as you’re leaving.”
    I smiled at her. “Sure,” and then in an
attempt at a joke, “Don’t bother seeing me to the door.”
    Serena smiled. Brian did not. He sat down by
Serena and opened his social studies book. Right before I went into
the hallway, I turned one last time to look back at Serena. She was
watching Brian. He was telling her something, but from the smile on
his face I didn’t think it had anything to do with social
studies.
    The next day at school while I got books out
of my locker, I told Tony that I’d gone over to Serena’s house.
    He turned and gave me a big grin. “Way to
go!”
    When I didn’t say anything else he nudged me
with his elbow. “Well, was she nice to you?”
    I shrugged. “She’s nice to everyone.”
    “Did you ask her to help you with math?”
    “We went over the first two chapters of the
book.”
    He gave me the thumbs up signal. “Home run.
Didn’t I tell you it would work out? Didn’t I?”
    “Yeah, yeah,” I said. “And we’ll call our
firstborn Tony. That is, if she doesn’t want to call him Brian
instead.”
    “Brian?”
    “He came over to give her the social studies
homework.”
    “Really? Mr. Jet Engine himself stopped by?”
Tony considered this for a moment, then nodded solemnly. “I guess
that’s good news and bad news. The bad news is you’re going to have
to work even harder to get Serena to like you.”
    When he didn’t say anything more, I asked,
“So what’s the good news?”
    “He doesn’t like Rachel so I’m home
free.”
    I shut my locker door and gave him a dirty
look. “The next time you go mountain climbing, I hope the bear gets
more than your camera.”
    “Oh come on, you can take the guy on.”
    “Uh, right.” I wasn’t exactly sure what Tony
meant by “taking him on.” It sounded vaguely like I was supposed to
punch him out in the school parking lot. I wasn’t about to do that,
but I did have my own ideas about seeing Serena again. She’d told
me to come over to her house again and tell her what was going on
in algebra class. I needed help with the assignments. What better
way to accomplish both than to record the math class? It gave me an
excuse to see Serena, and hopefully she’d help me out with the
assignment at the same time.
    I’d brought a recorder to school for this
purpose and was now carrying it around with my books.
    Tony and I walked down the hallway to our
first class. As though he’d just thought of it, Tony said, “I
called Rachel last night and we talked for over an hour. I think
I’ll ask her to go out with me.” He paused for a moment to say
hello to some guys we’d just passed, then returned his attention to
me. “Maybe it would help your chances with Serena if we all, you
know, went out together and did something.”
    “Like what?” I said this not so much as a
question, but as a protest. The fact which I had not forgotten, but
apparently Tony had, was that we were only thirteen years old.
Anywhere we went, we would have to walk, bike, or have our parents
drive us. I was not thrilled about any of these options. I mean,
how impressed