me.
“Do I get a preview?”
“Not yet,” I said. “Not until it’s perfect.”
“Well, just as long as I’m the very first person who gets to hear your creation. Mom wants to know if Saul’s staying for dinner.”
I looked over at him, but he was shaking his head and putting his guitar back into its case.
“Thanks a lot, but I’m afraid I can’t. I have to get going.”
“Maybe some other time?” I said hastily.
“Yeah, that’d be great.”
“Okay. I’ll tell Mom.” Jenny ran off.
As Saul got his stuff together to leave, I started feeling all shy and weak-kneed again. “So when can we get together again? I mean, to work on this song.”
“I guess we didn’t get very far today, did we?” Saul grinned at me, and I knew I was going to have another night full of dreams about that beautiful, honest face. “When do you want to get together?”
Anytime. I was tempted to say, “Take me—I’m yours.” But instead, I cleared my throat and said, “How about Tuesday night?”
“That sounds fine. Only next time, we work!”
“Okay,” I agreed, smiling. “Why don’t you come over around seven-thirty?”
“Right. See you then. And if you come up with anything inspired, be sure to write it down. We’ve still got a lot to get done on this prize-winning song that’s going to guarantee us both a Grammy Award!”
On the way out Saul had to pass through the living room, where my parents had discreetly placed themselves. He met them both, and I got the impression that they approved. Jenny, too, continued hanging around him as if he were some movie star or something.
When he had gone, I started back to my bedroom. I could hear Jenny saying to my parents, in a voice that was intentionally loud enough for me to hear, “Well, I don’t know if Sallie is falling in love with Saul Rodriguez, but I can assure you that I am!”
I was glad I was safely inside my bedroom by then, so that no one could see me blush.
Chapter 5
Because Rachel and I are best friends—as well as soul mates, blood sisters, and spiritual twins—I usually tell her everything I do, think, say, and feel. Even though we see each other at least once a day in school, we generally end up spending an hour or so on the phone together every night. Sometimes it seems that the best part about having something exciting happen to me is telling Rachel about it later on. When I found out that I was going to win the Most Musical Award at the end of my sophomore year, when Mike Ferguson, an old crush from a million years ago, asked me to the junior prom, when I finally got permission from my mom to get my ears pierced, my thoughts were always the same: “I can’t wait to tell Rachel!”
For some reason this was not the case with one Saul Rodriguez. It’s not that I was hiding anything from her; it’s just that there was something so sacred, so fragile, about having discovered Saul so unexpectedly in the middle of Sharon Burke’s duller-than-dull party that I was afraid to talk about it. Even to Rachel. It was like betraying a confidence, in some strange way.
Ordinarily I would have felt guilty about holding out on Rachel, especially about something as important as budding love. But as it turned out, the next few days were pretty busy ones for both of us, and the only conversations we had were hasty and superficial.
“How was Sharon’s party?” she called to me on Monday morning as I was running to music theory and she was trekking over to the language lab.
“It was okay.”
“Good. I’ll call you later.”
But she never did, because of some last-minute quiz that was scheduled for Tuesday. I was relieved, in a way, that things were ending up that way. I preferred to be left on my own, to daydream, to plan, and to moon over this new stranger who had wandered into my life from Brooklyn, of all places.
So lost was I in my own little world, in fact, that I was actually surprised to hear Rachel’s voice when I answered
“Do I get a preview?”
“Not yet,” I said. “Not until it’s perfect.”
“Well, just as long as I’m the very first person who gets to hear your creation. Mom wants to know if Saul’s staying for dinner.”
I looked over at him, but he was shaking his head and putting his guitar back into its case.
“Thanks a lot, but I’m afraid I can’t. I have to get going.”
“Maybe some other time?” I said hastily.
“Yeah, that’d be great.”
“Okay. I’ll tell Mom.” Jenny ran off.
As Saul got his stuff together to leave, I started feeling all shy and weak-kneed again. “So when can we get together again? I mean, to work on this song.”
“I guess we didn’t get very far today, did we?” Saul grinned at me, and I knew I was going to have another night full of dreams about that beautiful, honest face. “When do you want to get together?”
Anytime. I was tempted to say, “Take me—I’m yours.” But instead, I cleared my throat and said, “How about Tuesday night?”
“That sounds fine. Only next time, we work!”
“Okay,” I agreed, smiling. “Why don’t you come over around seven-thirty?”
“Right. See you then. And if you come up with anything inspired, be sure to write it down. We’ve still got a lot to get done on this prize-winning song that’s going to guarantee us both a Grammy Award!”
On the way out Saul had to pass through the living room, where my parents had discreetly placed themselves. He met them both, and I got the impression that they approved. Jenny, too, continued hanging around him as if he were some movie star or something.
When he had gone, I started back to my bedroom. I could hear Jenny saying to my parents, in a voice that was intentionally loud enough for me to hear, “Well, I don’t know if Sallie is falling in love with Saul Rodriguez, but I can assure you that I am!”
I was glad I was safely inside my bedroom by then, so that no one could see me blush.
Chapter 5
Because Rachel and I are best friends—as well as soul mates, blood sisters, and spiritual twins—I usually tell her everything I do, think, say, and feel. Even though we see each other at least once a day in school, we generally end up spending an hour or so on the phone together every night. Sometimes it seems that the best part about having something exciting happen to me is telling Rachel about it later on. When I found out that I was going to win the Most Musical Award at the end of my sophomore year, when Mike Ferguson, an old crush from a million years ago, asked me to the junior prom, when I finally got permission from my mom to get my ears pierced, my thoughts were always the same: “I can’t wait to tell Rachel!”
For some reason this was not the case with one Saul Rodriguez. It’s not that I was hiding anything from her; it’s just that there was something so sacred, so fragile, about having discovered Saul so unexpectedly in the middle of Sharon Burke’s duller-than-dull party that I was afraid to talk about it. Even to Rachel. It was like betraying a confidence, in some strange way.
Ordinarily I would have felt guilty about holding out on Rachel, especially about something as important as budding love. But as it turned out, the next few days were pretty busy ones for both of us, and the only conversations we had were hasty and superficial.
“How was Sharon’s party?” she called to me on Monday morning as I was running to music theory and she was trekking over to the language lab.
“It was okay.”
“Good. I’ll call you later.”
But she never did, because of some last-minute quiz that was scheduled for Tuesday. I was relieved, in a way, that things were ending up that way. I preferred to be left on my own, to daydream, to plan, and to moon over this new stranger who had wandered into my life from Brooklyn, of all places.
So lost was I in my own little world, in fact, that I was actually surprised to hear Rachel’s voice when I answered
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