Parallel Parking by Natalie Standiford

shouted.
    “I know, I know,” Lina mumbled. She ambled to the sidelines and sat next to Ramona. Ramona’s other sock hadfallen down, and Lina spotted a blurry skull-and-cross-bones drawn on her ankle in red marker.
    What kind of boy would like Ramona? There had to be one out there somewhere. Maybe the Missed Connections boy was the one.
    Lina wrote:
    Dear Eleventh Grade Boy, I saw your ad. I was at Vineland on the day you mentioned, wearing black, etc., and am curious to
     meet you. How about after school tomorrow—say 4ish—at Vineland? Let me know. –Black-haired Girl.
    She received an answer right away.
    Dear Black-haired Girl, I can’t wait to meet you. See you at Vineland tomorrow. I’ll be sitting at the table next to the fireplace.
    The next day Lina, purposely not wearing black, went to Vineland and scanned the room. A boy was sitting near the fireplace,
     watching the door as if waiting for someone. But no, that couldn’t be the Missed Connections boy.
    His straight, dark-blond hair was cut in a short, side-parted, traditional style, and he wore a white button-down shirt tucked
     into khaki trousers. Those shinyloafers, tassels, no socks. And, yes, a whale belt. Gulp.
    He wasn’t Ramona’s type, that was for sure. He wasn’t even Lina’s type. He was clean-cut and preppy, the kind Ramona hated
     most.
    Lina approached his table. The boy’s face lit up in a moment of anticipation, then settled into a brief look of disappointment.
     He was too polite to let his disappointment show for long, but Lina wanted to see more of it. It was a good sign.
    “Hi.” Lina sat down beside him. “I’m Lina.”
    “I’m Rex,” the boy said. “Rex Atherton.” He shifted his weight. “I have to be honest with you—you’re not the girl I expected.”
    Lina smiled. “I appreciate your honesty. Was the girl you were hoping for a Goth girl? Ramona Fernandez?”
    Rex nodded. “Don’t get me wrong. I think you’re way cute and everything, it’s just—”
    “It’s all right,” Lina said. “I was hoping you’d like Ramona. I already have a boyfriend.”
And I’m so glad
, she thought. She made a mental note to bring Walker a box of Jujubes next time she saw him, as a token of her appreciation.
     Walker loved Jujubes.
    “So what are you doing here?” Rex asked. “Didn’t Ramona want to come?”
    “I think she does,” Lina said. “I just wanted to makesure she was the one you meant in your ad. The description could have fit either of us, you know.”
    Rex laughed. “I didn’t think of that. I was so fixated on her, I didn’t even notice you—what you were wearing, I mean. I’m
     sorry… I’m so rude….”
    “Rex, please, don’t worry about it. I’m happy that you like Ramona.”
    “So—she doesn’t have a boyfriend or anything?”
    “Ramona?” Lina stopped herself from laughing. “Urn, no. She’s between boyfriends just now.”
    “That’s a relief,” Rex said. Lina took him in again, from the crease in his pants to the neatly combed hair, and was baffled.
    “Um, Rex, if you don’t mind my asking, what is it exactly that you like about Ramona so much?”
    “Oh, I know what you’re getting at,” he said. “I probably don’t look much like the type she usually goes for, right?”
    Lina nodded.
To put it mildly
.
    “Well, a few weeks ago I was going through a really hard time. I mean really hard. I had these hamsters, see, Hamlet and Ophelia.”
    “Hamlet the hamster,” Lina said, slightly horrified.
    “Yeah. They had just had a litter of babies. I hadn’t even had a chance to name them yet.” His face clouded. Obviously something
     bad had happened to those baby hamsters.
    “That’s a shame,” Lina said.
    Rex nodded. “One morning I woke up to the sound of the hamster wheel squeaking, squeaking, squeaking, over and over. I got
     out of bed and—well, it was just… carnage.”
    “Carnage?”
    “Hamlet had gone on a rampage,” Rex said. “He’d killed Ophelia and