Free Love is a Four-Letter Word by Vikki VanSickle Page A

to table six and try to ignore the sound of Mattie sniffing.

Oops
    After dinner, the music comes back on. People start mingling again. There is less dancing, thank goodness, probably because people are too full to do much in the way of moving. Mattie is sitting in a corner sniffing into a napkin and surrounded by girls. Every once in a while she looks across the room at me with her weepy red eyes. Whenever I catch her glance she bursts into fresh bouts of wailing. Cripes.
    When no one’s looking, I grab Benji and pull him into the women’s washroom.
    “Boy are you in trouble,” Benji whispers.
    “Why? What did I do?” I cry.
    “She thinks you’re trying to steal Josh from her.”
    “What?”
    “Shh!” Benji looks around frantically before pulling me into a stall, locking the door behind us. “What if someone finds us? I’m not supposed to be in here.”
    I make a concerted effort to lower my voice. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Why does she think that?”
    Benji shrugs. “Apparently you said you would only play badminton if Josh plays.”
    “So?”
    Benji looks disappointed, but not all that surprised. “It’s true? You actually said that?”
    “I guess, but I was doing it for her benefit.”
    Benji shakes his head. “Oh, Clarissa, don’t you see? You made it sound like the only reason you’re playing is because Josh is playing, so now Mattie thinks you like him.”
    I am aghast. “What? That’s not it at all! I just said that so Josh would have to play! I did it for her sake!”
    Benji pats my shoulder. “I know that, but Mattie doesn’t, and Michael probably doesn’t either.”
    “I don’t care what Michael thinks,” I say, maybe a little too quickly. Benji says nothing. “Anyway, what do I do now? How do I convince Mattie that she’s being a crazy drama queen and that she can have stupid Josh Simmons?”
    “First of all, I wouldn’t put it that way. Second of all, you should just tell her,” he says simply.
    “That’s what I tried to do before but she stomped off and cried her eyes out to anyone who would listen!”
    Benji smiles sympathetically. “You may have to try a few times.”

    A few times is an understatement. I decide to give her some room for the rest of the party. Even if I wanted to approach her, I’d have to make my way through an army of girls who are protecting her from the likes of me.
    Instead I flop on a chair next to Benji and listen to him rattle on about rehearsal and his new artsy friends. “Charity was telling us about this audition she had once where she had to eat a bowl of pink cereal. It turned out she was allergic to the dye in the cereal and her throat swelled shut and she had to be rushed to the hospital. The casting director sent her flowers and now she gets an audition for every one of his commercials. Isn’t that amazing?”
    “Mmm.” It’s not that I don’t care about Charity Smith-Jones and her fabulous acting career, I just don’t care to hear about it every spare moment I get to spend with Benji. He’s only known her a few weeks. We’ve been friends forever. I wonder if he bores her to death with stories about me. Probably not.
    “Can I sit with you guys?” Michael drags a chair and joins us at the edge of the dance floor. Across the room, Mattie and her bodyguards shake their heads and start whispering furiously.
    “What’s with them?” Michael asks, nodding in their direction.
    “Who knows,” I lie. “It’s probably nothing.”
    “Mattie thinks Clarissa likes Josh,” Benji blurts out.
    I don’t know who is redder, me or Michael. The last thing I want is for him to see me blushing. I shouldn’t have worried, Michael is looking down at his shoes. “Oh,” he manages.
    “But I don’t!” I say quickly. “I don’t like him. Mattie does. I just wanted to make sure he signed up for badminton. For her sake.”
    “Oh,” Michael says. “That’s good. I mean, that’s nice of you to do. For