The words swirled around as the three girls blabbered and scolded, each trying to out do the other with scathing remarks.
They sounded like the geese on the pond at the edge of town. When they were upset their squawks could be heard from quite a
distance.
Felicity
’s
face
turned
red and her eyes
got
teary.
Her hands sh
oo
k when she
reached for the cello
.
Mercy helped her guide it to
where Greg stood holding her books and backpack
.
“Why are they always so
mean
?”
Felicity
asked. “I
t’s not like I
mean
t
to step on her.”
Mercy shook her head. “
You didn’t. S
he
tried
to trip you.
She got what she deserved.
”
She
caught her breath. That was exactly what she was thinking before
Lindy
fell on her backside. Wouldn’t it be great if
wishe
s could really come true
?
She helped
Felicity
wedge the cello case
against the flagpole
and realized that Greg
was waiting for her
.
She turned back and reached for the books
,
but he held on to them.
He took a step closer and cleared his throat. “Um…there’s something I wanted to ask you.”
Mercy’s
throat
sort of closed up.
She couldn’t say anything
,
so she just
leaned against the
base of the
flagpole for support
.
Felicity
looked wide-eyed
, surprised
to find Greg s
tanding
between them.
Q
uietly
, she
took a step back and busied hers
elf by pawing through her bag.
“I was thinking,” he said. “
Are you
go
ing
to the dance
a week from
Friday?”
She couldn’t breathe.
Her heart throbbed in her ears like a drummer jamming out.
“I hadn’t thought about it,”
she stammered
.
“I mean, with me. Would you like to go to the dance with me?” Greg st
ood
staring at her
,
his big brown eyes looking like an eager puppy.
Is he joking? Boys like Greg don’t date girls like me
.
Mercy could see
Felicity
nodding her head up and down and mouthing the word, “yes”. She wondered briefly if she was dreaming or having a hallucination. Greg Lambert was asking her to go to a school dance. All the reasons to say no were swirling through her head. She had nothing to wear. She
’d
never had a real date with a boy before. And she wasn’t sure what her grand
mother would say. “Sure, Greg.
” It was as if someone else
w
ere
speaking
the words.
He
grinned as though this was the best news ever. “Great.
I
can pick you up just before seven.”
Mercy nodded, her st
omach clenched like a fist. “Okay
.”
She managed to return his grin.
He
released his hold on her books and
went back
to
stand
with
the other ball players.
He glanced back to give her a wink, then turned to his buds.
Lindy
glared at her, sendi
ng hate messages with her eyes.
Felicity
clasped her hands together. “Oh, this is
fabulous
.”
She enunciated each syllable:
fab-u-lus.
Yeah, right.
She jumped when a horn tooted
nearby
.
“Here’s
Kelli
!” Felicity announced.
H
eft
ing
the cello case
, she
headed t
hrough
the gate
and stuffed her instrument in the back seat before climbing in beside it
.
Mercy gathered her
backpack
and shifted the books so she could manage her load. She climbed into the
front
seat of
Kelli
’s car and turned to gaze at Greg as they drove away.
“Guess what?” Felicity squealed. “Mercy has a date!”
“What?” She threw on the brakes dramatically, sending Mercy lurching
forward
against
the seat
belt
and her books onto the floorboard.
“With who?”
Kelli
turned around in the seat, oblivious t
o the horns honking behind her.
“With whom,” Felicity corrected automatically. “You will never guess in a ka-zillion years!”
A horn blared again.
“All right, all right. I’m going.”
Kelli
inched the car forward at a maddening pace. “Someone better spill it or I’m pul
l
ing over.”
She shook her head, sending her b
right red pony tail to wagging.
Mercy drew a breath, not sure how to inform Kel that the hottest
gu
y in school had asked her for a date,
but she needn’t have bothered.
“Gr
eg Lambert!” Felicity screamed.
Kelli
screamed. They
all
screamed i
n unison.
“What happened? Did he lose a bet?”
Kelli
glanced back
at her in the rear-view mirror.
My thoughts exactly.
Mercy slipped the backpack onto the floor
beside
he
r
strewn
books.
Felicity made a scoffing sound. “Don’t be ridiculous. He came up and asked her to go to the dance, just as nice as anything.
”
Her voice went all gooey.
“It was so romantic.”
Kelli
shoved her glasses up on her short freckled nose. “Are you sure? Maybe he was just asking if you planned on going to the dance.” She pressed on the gas pedal and
the honking stopped.
“That’s what I thought at first,” Mercy said. “But he asked me to go to the dance with him and said he would pick me up.”
Kelli
grinned, her shiny braces sending a metallic flash. “How’s your grandmother going to take that? I mean, you on a car date with Greg.”
“Oh! I hadn’t thought of that.” The reality hit her like a truck. She didn’t have anything to worry about because Gran probably wouldn’t let her go. She stretched comfortably on the seat, rehearsing how she would tell Greg that she cou
ldn’t be his date to the dance.
“I think we should all go
,” Felicity said
.
“
You know, without date
s
. That way,
we
can keep our options open.”
Kelli
nodded. “I’m in. How about you, Mercy.”
“I think I’ll see what Gran says.”
“Good idea,” Felicity said. “And if she won’t let you go with Greg, tell her Kel and I are going and you can ride with us.”
Mercy nodded
, more to herself than to them
, not sure what would be the best thing
to do
.
Kelli
drew to a stop outside Mercy’s house and threw the car into gear with a lurch.
She was a whole five months older than Mercy and had ju
st recently gotten her license.
Mercy
climbed
o
ut
and waved
goodbye
to
Felicity
and
Kelli
. S
he turned toward
t
he
house she shared with her
grandmother. It was painted a bright blue with yellow shutters.
Gran’s sedan was parked under the carport on the side of the house
and Mercy's bicycle was leaning against the house beside it
.
A neat picket fence surrounded the
yard
and contained a wild profusion of flowers blooming with riotous colors.
Coming home to this
house always made her smile.
It was just a small cottage in a small town, but she felt safe here with Gran. From what, she didn’t know, but coming home was like entering a fortress, a haven where the outside world ceased to exist. The house seemed to have
its own
life force
.
Mercy spotted her grandmother kneeling
amongst
her vegetable beds in the front garden. She had
been pulling weeds and a basket of her fresh b
ounty gave proof of her labors.
Gran straightened when the
gate creaked
and
her eyes lit up w
hen she s
aw
Mercy pushing through
with her load of books
.
"There you are
, dear. I'm
glad you're home."
“Hey, Gran,” Mercy called before turning back to wave at
Kelli
and Felicity
again
. “Need some help?”
“Need some company,” her grandmother returned. She tucked a flyaway strand of hair under her garden hat. Gran always referred to
her hair
as free range hair, and cl
aimed it had a mind of its own.
Gran didn’t look like all the little old ladies in town. In fact, if her hair wasn’t white, she wouldn’t look like anyone’s grandmother. She was tall and slim with clear blue eyes. And her skin was nice, really nice. Not
like some wrinkledy old lady’s.
Mercy opened the fr
ont door and dumped her book
s and
bag inside before joining her grandmother. She dreaded telling her about the dance. She was certain Gran wouldn’t allow it. She was a little strict in comparison with her friend’s parents. But then, she had lost her own daughter, Mercy’s mother
,
along with Mercy’s father in a plane crash. Gran wouldn’t talk about it. When the subject came up, her eyes clouded and she whispered, “They just flew away, and I never saw them again.”
The haunted expression on her face was enough to steer Mercy away from asking too many question
s.
Now Gran was gaz
ing intently into Mercy’s eyes.
She felt exposed under Gran’s scrutiny.
“Well, tell me,” Gran urged.
“Well, I…um…” She wondered how her grandmother always knew when something was on her mind. “I have a date!”
Gran’s blue eyes seemed to flash a little green fire from deep in the
ir
cavernous pool
s. “Indeed?”
The word seemed to hang on air.
Mercy took a deep breath and started over again. “It’s Greg. Greg Lambert. He asked me to go to the dance
with him
a week from Friday.” She gnawed her lip. “I told him yes, but
tomorrow,
I can tell him I can’t go.” She regretted agreeing to go with Greg, but
at the time he asked,
it see
med like the right thing to do.
“And why would you tell him no
? Greg Lambert is a nice boy. I know his parents. Tell him you have to be home by eleven.”
A surge of joy squeezed her insides. She threw her arms around Gran’s neck. “Oh, Gran! Yes!...I mean, yes, I’ll be home by eleven.”
Gran hugged her and patted her back. “I know you will, my darling. You are the very best granddaughter in the universe.”
Mercy drew back, grinning. “And how would you know that?”
Gran chuckled. “I know many things, my d
arling
.” She reached for the basket of harvested vegetables and handed it to Mercy. “Would you be a dear and take these into the house? There’s a snack for you on the table.” She wrinkled her nose, a familiar gesture. “Homework goes better
much
with a snack.”