Lindsay's Surprise Crush (10 page)

“Duh, no. It's my day for the All About Me presentation!”

“Oh!” Lindsay looked surprised. She had been so busy noticing when she herself was going, and when Nick was going, that she'd totally not even noticed that Cassidy was presenting right in between the two of them.

“I ran through it for Nicky on Saturday, and he thought it was pretty good,” said Cassidy. “But he's always so nice, who knows if he really meant it.”

Again, Lindsay felt the jealousy roil around her, thinking about Nick and Cassidy being so chummy like that. Again with the
Nicky
. And when had they gone through it? Had he gone over to her house after the party? Maybe they'd spent the whole weekend hanging out together.

“Okay, well, good luck with that,” said Lindsay, moving on. And then she saw Claudia leaning against the building, looking down at her notebook.

A thought suddenly struck her.

“Can you wait here for one sec?” she asked Cassidy.

Cassidy's perfect eyebrows arched upward in surprise, but she shrugged and nodded.

Lindsay was by Claudia's side a moment later. “Hey, Claudia. Can you, um, come over there with me? I just want you to talk to someone.”

Claudia, too, looked surprised, but she nodded and shoved the notebook back into her backpack. Slinging the heavy bag up onto her shoulder, she followed after Lindsay.

“Cassidy, do you know Claudia?” asked Lindsay when the three girls were standing together.

“Um, yeah, hi,” said Cassidy. “You're in our homeroom, right? Aren't you from, like, Morocco or something?”

“Mexico,” Lindsay and Claudia corrected her at the same time.

“Hello,” said Claudia. She looked sideways at Lindsay as though she was wondering where this was going.

“Claudia here is a soccer player,” said Lindsay. “And I was thinking maybe she might be able to come to one of your practices? Maybe practice with the team, to see how she plays and stuff? Her brothers are professional soccer players, if you remember from her presentation.”

Claudia's eyes widened with surprise, but she didn't say anything.

“Sure!” said Cassidy. “Practice today is at three thirty. I'll tell Coach. I'm sure she won't mind if you practice with us.”

“But I do not want my host family to need to drive me too much,” said Claudia.

“There's a late bus after practice,” said Cassidy. “You just have to sign up at the office.”

“And the shoes. I don't have the shoes with the bumps for the soccer.”

Lindsay started to explain to Cassidy that Claudia was talking about cleats, but Cassidy was already nodding her head. “What size are you?” she asked Claudia.

“In Mexico I am four and a half. I don't know in the United States.”

Cassidy and Lindsay both put their feet up alongside Claudia's.

“She looks the same size as me,” said Lindsay. “Like a seven and a half.”

“That's my size, too,” said Cassidy. “I have an extra set of cleats and shin guards in my locker. We'll get you set up.”

Lindsay was amazed. This was the friendliest she'd ever seen Cassidy before. What had come over her?

The first bell rang.

“The moment of truth!” said Cassidy. “I need to go to the bathroom to brush my hair and stuff. Wish me luck!”

Lindsay and Claudia both smiled.

“I'm sure you'll do fine,” said Lindsay.

As Cassidy hurried inside, Lindsay and Claudia made their way more slowly into the building along with the throngs of other kids.

“Thank you, Lindsay,” said Claudia, her eyes shining. “Even if I only play today, I am so happy to play again.”

Lindsay smiled. “You're welcome,” she said. “I'm sure you'll be awesome.” She thought about how confusing and bad the past week had seemed. Imagine if all that confusion was happening and you were far from home, too. Lindsay hoped Claudia wasn't too homesick. “I'll come to one of your practices to watch,” she said. “And one night you can come home for dinner with me.” And before Claudia could protest she said, “And don't worry, I'm sure my mom will drive you home.”

“Thank you!” said Claudia. “I'd like that.” The girls smiled at each other and headed inside to hear all about Cassidy.

“MY NAME IS CASSIDY SINCLAIR.”

The class had settled down after the morning announcements, and now Cassidy was up at the front of the room.

Lindsay looked at Nick. He was leaning forward in his seat, listening raptly to Cassidy, his strong arms looking fantastic in his polo shirt.

Does he have to look so perfectly amazing? Does she?
Lindsay thought. Cassidy was wearing a slim-fitting T-shirt over a flippy pleated skirt with adorable patent flats. She wore multiple strands of silver necklaces, and she'd pulled back her blond hair and twisted it into an intricate bun in the back. It looked like she'd been to a salon to have her hair done.

Cassidy was doing the usual bit that everyone else had done, showing slides of herself as a baby. She flashed a
slide of her parents, which looked like it had been taken a long time ago. Her mother wore a long evening gown, her father a tuxedo. They looked really young, almost like teenagers, except for their fancy clothes. Lindsay wondered if they were about to go to the opera or something. Cassidy looked a lot like her mother, who in the picture was blond and slim and beautiful.

“These are my parents, but I don't really get to see them very much. I, um, saw my dad two Christmases ago and I saw my mom, um, the last time, when I was four.”

The class suddenly grew quiet. Not a chair shifted. Not a person coughed.

Cassidy took a deep breath and continued. “My parents divorced when I was a baby and my dad lives in France with his new family. I have a little half brother now. I've met him twice. My dad came to one of my games once and brought my half brother.” She swallowed, looked down, and then looked up again with her bright smile back in place. “Anyway, now I live with my grandparents.”

She flashed a picture of another couple. They were also very elegant, but they looked even older than Lindsay's own grandparents.

“That's my grandmother. She's my mom's mom,
but she also hasn't seen my mom in, like, years. She volunteers a lot for her, um, committees and she's always out at an event. And that's my grandfather. He likes to play golf. And he hates the cold weather and wishes he lived in Florida. He works a lot and gets home pretty late most nights.”

The next several pictures were all of Cassidy on sports teams. Group shots of her on soccer teams, softball teams, basketball teams. But there were no pictures of Cassidy at birthday parties or on family vacations. There wasn't even one picture of Cassidy with another kid who wasn't a teammate.

Cassidy flashed a picture of another older woman standing in a fancy kitchen. The woman wore a uniform and an apron.

“This is Anna. She's been my best friend forever. She drives me back and forth to soccer and she comes to a lot of my games,” said Cassidy. “She has a son in the marines and a daughter who lives in New Jersey and three grandchildren that she wishes she could see more often, but she also says I'm like her fourth grandchild.”

There were just a few more slides, mostly of Cassidy
on more teams, and then she finished up. “So yeah,” she said. “That's been my life so far. I hope someday to play professional soccer or maybe be in the Olympics!” She grinned as everyone clapped, and then the bell rang and it was time to go.

Lindsay felt all topsy-turvy. Cassidy wasn't the person she'd thought she was. As everyone filed out, she checked her schedule. Seventh grade had a much more complicated schedule than sixth grade, with her classes in a different order every day. Her first class of the morning that day was a study hall, in the cafeteria.

She walked in slowly and sat down at a table near the door, lost in thought about Cassidy's presentation. What a lonely life she'd led. Lindsay couldn't imagine how hard it must be to never get to see your parents. Where was Cassidy's mom, anyway? And she only met her half brother twice? And her dad lived a whole continent away with another family?
She must be lonely
, Lindsay thought. She pictured Cassidy eating dinner at home alone most nights. Lindsay could not concentrate on her social studies reading as she thought about it. It made her mind whirl to realize that someone as beautiful and popular as Cassidy Sinclair
could have such big problems. She really didn't have the charmed life that Lindsay had always assumed she had.

Lindsay had misjudged her. She thought back on the conversations they'd had, where Lindsay had always jumped to the conclusion that Cassidy was being sarcastic. Maybe she wasn't! Maybe she genuinely was impressed with Lindsay's piano playing. Maybe she genuinely did like that “vintage” skirt she'd worn that day. And that comment about not caring what she looked like? Maybe Cassidy had meant it differently—like, she liked how Lindsay looked nice without seeming to have fussed over her appearance?

And then there was Nick. Nick, who whatever else you might say about him, was a very good judge of character. He wouldn't be going out with a stuck-up, mean girl. Clearly he had seen the nice side of Cassidy. Maybe Lindsay shouldn't have jumped to all those conclusions and been so quick to lose her temper with him. She sighed. That quick temper her mother reminded her about wasn't her best quality.

At lunch her old place at her friends' table, next to Rosie, was open again. She started toward it and then
turned toward where Claudia was sitting, at the end of the other table as usual.

“Hey, Claudia,” she said. “Want to come sit with me and my friends today?”

Claudia set down her sandwich and stood up quickly. “Thank you, Lindsay,” she said. “That would be great. You are very kind.”

Lindsay blushed. She didn't feel very kind. Lately she'd been a judgmental, fiery-tempered girl who spent way too much time assuming that the whole world was gossiping just about her. But she knew that wasn't who she was deep down. And that wasn't how she was going to act anymore.

“Hey guys, this is Claudia, in case you don't know her,” said Lindsay. “Claudia, this is Rosie, Jenn, Sasha, Chloe, Ava, and Bella.”

“Hi, Claudia!” they all said, and moved to make room for her to sit down.

Lindsay felt happier than she'd felt in days.

THAT AFTERNOON SHE AND DAVID COSTELLO MET
at the band room to practice their duet. It sounded pretty good, she had to admit.

“Excellent,” said David, after they'd played it through to the end twice. “There are a couple of tricky rhythms here, and here,” he pointed at places in her music, “and you'll need to work on it in some places, but you've got a good ear for accompaniment and a nice touch.”

“Thanks,” said Lindsay. “You're pretty good too.”

“Oh, and I told Mr. Thompson you'd be available for rehearsals for the musical, too,” he said casually. “I think once he hears how good you are, he'll be pretty psyched to have you play for the performances.”

Lindsay stared at him. “Thanks for letting me know!”

“You're welcome. Let's take it from the top one more—oh, hold that thought!” David said as something caught his eye. In one quick motion, he handed her his clarinet and headed toward the door. “Yoo-hoo, Tiffany! Wait up a second!” he yelled as he ran into the hallway.

Lindsay cringed. She remembered David saying that the name of the girl he was crushing on was Tiffany. Did he really just yell her name like that and
run
after her in the hallway? Lindsay crossed her fingers that whatever rejection David was about to endure would be quick and painless. He was a really nice kid, and she didn't want him to be totally crushed . . . especially in public.

But when David returned to the room a few moments later, he was flashing a big purple grin that spread from ear to ear.

“So what was that all about?” Lindsay asked, baffled by David's happy expression.

“I hadn't had a chance before now to ask Tiffany to the dance,” David explained as he accepted his clarinet back from Lindsay.

“Um, what did she say?”

“Please, Lindsay. Did you not notice my smile? She
said yes, of course! How could she turn me down? I'm the best musician in the band. Tiffany is very smart. She knows a good thing when she sees it.”

“She sure does,” Lindsay replied, unable to stop herself from returning David's big goofy grin.

After they'd finished rehearsing and David had left, Lindsay stayed at the piano, lost in thought. She played a thoughtful piece, “Arabesque” by Schumann. As her fingers moved along the keyboard, she thought about Nick. How much she missed him. How she wished things could be back the way they used to be. More than they used to be. She could admit it now: She wanted to be more than just his friend. Unfortunately, so did every other seventh-grade girl at Central Falls Middle School.

She finished the piece and sat there quietly. A tear trickled down her cheek, and she didn't even bother to wipe it away.

“That was awesome,” said a quiet voice behind her.

She wheeled around. It was Nick.

He was still in his soccer practice stuff, his goalkeeper shirt grass-stained and muddy, his black pants clinging to his long legs. Even in that outfit, he looked ridiculously good.

She quickly wiped away the tear from her cheek. Had he seen it?

“I had no idea you'd gotten so good at piano,” he said admiringly. “I was pretty blown away when I heard you playing those kids' songs at the party on Friday, but that piece you were just playing is really . . . amazing. You sound like you could be a professional someday.”

“Thanks,” she said, and stood up, feeling self-conscious. Were her eyes red? Was her face puffy?