Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Planet Girl (5 page)

Katie are you there?

Why aren't you returning any of my texts?

Are you mad at me?

If you're mad I'd rather you just said so

Fine be that way

 

11

Okay, so texting
wasn't getting me anywhere.

I waited for Katie after school by the blacktop, before the buses (or the moms) came.

When she saw me, she stopped in her tracks for one quick second, then smiled and kept walking toward me.

“Hey, Charlie Joe!” she said. Her voice was bright, but her eyes were far away.

“Hey.”

She looked past me. “Um, I'm kind of in a rush, I've got rehearsal today and stuff…”

She was talking about her band, CHICKMATE—they are really good.

“Do you guys have a gig coming up?”

She kind of laughed a little. “Since when are you interested in my music career, Charlie Joe?”

“Since always!”

“Yeah, right.”

She looked like she really wanted to go, so I got right to the point.

“I've been texting you.”

Katie made sure her eyes landed anywhere but on my face. “You were? Yeah, um, well, you know I'm not that into texting.” It's true, she wasn't. In fact, earlier in the year, she convinced a bunch of other kids to give up their phones for a whole week just to see if they could do it. Needless to say, I didn't participate.

“Oh, okay,” I said. “I just … wanted to, you know, say hi.”

“We're not supposed to have our phones on in class … so, yeah … well, I gotta go.”

I gave up, and said nothing. She started to leave, then turned back.

“Tell Moose and Coco I say hi,” she said. “Give them a kiss for me.”

Katie had always loved my dogs, which made me feel just a tiny, tiny bit better.

At least she still liked someone in my family.

 

12

You know what
the great thing about dogs is? They don't judge. They don't blame. They don't yell, or pretend to be nice to you when they're really, really mad at you. They just love you. (As long as you feed them delicious treats.)

Which is why Moose and Coco were both dining on small pieces of sausage while I was telling them the whole story.

“And I felt like such a jerk,” I was saying, “standing there, kissing Hannah, when Katie was the one I really liked all along! Can you believe that, you guys?”

They looked up at me, chomping away. They didn't say anything, but I could tell they totally understood.

I was about to get them a few crackers to top off their midday snack when my mom and Megan got home.

“Stop feeding the dogs human food,” Megan said. “They're going to get spoiled and fat.”

“You're going to get spoiled and fat,” I answered.

“That's enough, you two,” said my mom. It was her goal in life to make sure Megan and I treated each other with complete love and respect twenty-four hours a day, three hundred sixty-five days a year. Gotta love moms.

“Where were you guys?” I asked. Usually I kind of liked it when no one was home, but today, I felt like I wanted some company.

“Ugh,” Megan said.

“SAT prep,” my mom clarified.

Megan rolled her eyes. “Like I said, ugh.”

“Yikes,” I added.

As impossible as it seemed, Megan was getting started on the whole college process. That meant tests, applications, essays, interviews, and most of all, pressure.

I'm in no rush for any of that stuff. No rush at
all
.

“What are you doing home?” my mom asked me. “Weren't you supposed to go to Jake's house after school today?”

She was right, I was. But after our conversation during gym, I realized I didn't really deserve to be his friend right then. I'd kissed his girlfriend! And all he'd done wrong was tell his mom that he loved her.

So I'd told Jake at the end of school that I wasn't feeling well.

“Jake forgot he had to do something,” I lied to my mom.

As soon as my mom walked away, I texted Hannah.

Hey I looked for you after school. I need to tell you the deal with Jake!

Two seconds later, I got a text back.

Jake and I talked, he told me everything! Then I told him what happened.

Gulp.

Was he mad?
I texted back.

He was at first but now everything's fine. Stupid misunderstanding! Sorry about today. I hope you're okay. Thanks again for listening.

I texted back.

Okay.

I left out the part about realizing how I liked Katie and then messed it up forever, at exactly the same time.

After cereal, I played a few video games by myself, but that wasn't much fun, so I went up to my room. I lay down on the bed, trying to figure out what to do next—not just that day, but with my life—when I glanced over and saw the book lying there on the night table.

A Communication Guide for Boys and Girls
.

Communicating with girls is overrated
, I said to myself. But I picked up the book anyway and opened to a random page. The first words I saw were these:

You will never know the answer, if you don't ask the question.

And that's when I made the decision.

I was going to do exactly that.

I was going to tell Katie everything.

 

A Communication Guide for Boys and Girls

37

Be direct!

*   *   *

Many children find it hard to communicate directly with members of the opposite sex. Because of nerves, or fear of rejection, they prefer to connect by other means: through other people, perhaps, or by passing notes.

This is not productive.

If you want to pursue a friendship with a boy or girl, or even possibly a romantic relationship, the proper way to act is by asking directly. He or she will have no choice but to answer in a similarly direct fashion, and you will have established a pattern of honesty and respect.

Do not be afraid.

Remember:

You will never know the answer, if you don't ask the question.

 

Part Two

PERSONAL HEROES

 

13

So guess what?
Once people found out that I was writing this book on girls, I started getting a lot of phone calls. It turns out that everyone thinks they're some kind of expert on romance, and, of course, they all want to put their two cents in. So, just to get them off my back, I agreed to let some people offer their own advice on romance. Don't worry, I gave them very strict rules—the first of which was, be quick about it. Anyway, you'll see them scattered throughout this book. Do me a favor and read them. If you don't, I'll never hear the end of it.

 

Timmy McGibney's Guide to Romance