How To Be A Perfect Girl by Mary Williams Page A

understand if I said I didn’t wanna talk about it?”
    “I suppose. But I don’t really want to talk
about last year either, so—“
    Val was torn; she really wanted to find out
why the simple reminder Alex had given Dylan had made him shut up,
and if there was anyone in the school she could trust to keep her
private problems private, Keenan was the one she had the most faith
in. But she would be seeing Alex in a bit anyway, so Val decided to
wait and see if she could get the story from him and avoid
revealing what had transpired with Mckayla the night before.
    “I guess we don’t need to talk after all,”
Val concluded.
    “Guess not,” Keenan started to walk
away.
    “Wait,” Val said before he could take a
step, “You know you’re like one of my favorite people at this
school, right?”
    “I know.”
    “I really like you, and it was nice of you
to stand up for me this morning.”
    “You don’t have a big nose, by the way, it’s
just about perfect.”
    Val smiled, “Thank you. Well—“
    “Will you go out with me?” the words came
out so fast Val wasn’t sure she’d heard them correctly.
    “Sorry?”
    “I asked if you wanted to go out with me,”
Keenan said, looking straight at her.
    Val’s eyes seemed glued to the ground—she
couldn’t look up, “Oh. Oh. Um, I’m not allowed to date anyone yet.
Not until I’m old enough to drive. Sorry.”
    It occurred to her she’d never seen Keenan
truly hurt, until now. He swallowed hard, “Ok, I get it. Well, I
better get going. See you around.”
    “Bye,” Val whispered. She
felt horrible, but had no idea why; after all, it wasn’t her
rule. Why did he have to ask me
out ?
    After Student Gov, Val went home; by the
time she hopped out of Dad’s car it was three-thirty. “I’m gonna go
practice,” Val announced; she changed into a pair of athletic
shorts and a sweat-wicking shirt, and traipsed out to her family’s
back yard.
    One, two, three,
four, Valentina counted each time she
kicked the soccer ball up into the air; when she was younger she’d
used knees, head, and feet to “juggle”—the practice of keeping a
soccer ball in the air for as long as possible without breaking any
of the rules of soccer—but she had since graduated to juggling with
only her feet. It required more concentration and skill, and Val
enjoyed the temporary break from her daily concerns; also, she
needed to practice, seeing how tryouts for Palm Lake’s team were a
little less than a week away. The first day of tryouts was next
Wednesday, and if things went well practices were every day but
Friday.
    “Val, some of your, ahem, friends are here,”
Dad called from the back porch, “They said something about wanting
to study algebra.”
    “They—what?” the ball hit the ground; Val
picked it up and walked over to Dad.
    “They said they wanted to know if you wanted
to come study algebra with them. It’s the two boys who gave you a
ride yesterday.”
    “Oh,” Val doubted they really wanted to
study algebra.
    “Well, what should I tell them?”
    “Tell them—“ Tell them I really ought to take a shower before I
do anything else, Val thought. She felt
self-conscious about the sweat seeping from her body. “Tell them
I’ll be a few minutes.”
    “Alright.”
    Dad walked back to the front door while Val
changed quickly into fresh clothes. She went with the most readily
available outfit—a lime green shirt and a pair of ‘stressed’ jeans;
as a last minute decision, she decided to put her hair up in a
quick ponytail.
    When Val arrived at the front door it was to
find Dad in the midst of a staring contest with Keenan and Alex;
Alex was smiling, as per usual. Keenan looked nervous, however.
    “Well, here she is,” Dad said, “What was it
that you wanted to study again?”
    Keenan gulped; “Algebra,” Alex looked from
Dad to Val and back, “We—uh, that is, I—am not doing so well and so
we’re forming a study group.”
    “Uh huh,” Dad continued