Playing the Field by Janette Rallison

Vanders was also there. He was a linebacker on the football
team and a decent player at that, but I bet he couldn’t hit a home
run to save his life. Still, all the girls sat listening to him
talk, and from the looks on their faces it seemed he was doing a
pretty good Mr. Right impersonation himself.
    Tony was not daunted. Using his cool walk, he
strolled up to the table and sat down. I followed, but not quite as
smoothly. When I pulled my chair back, I rammed it into my shin. I
sat down anyway and tried not to wince.
    “Hi guys,” Tony said.
    Everyone returned his greeting except for
Brian. He just scowled in a smiling sort of way.
    “We’ve been talking about concerts,” Rachel
told us. “Do your parents let you go?”
    “Maybe if it were a Pavarotti concert,” I
said. The girls all looked at me blankly so I said, “My parents
don’t like rock music. They listen to classical.”
    Anna wrinkled her nose. “You don’t get to
listen to rock?” Apparently this was a Mr. Wrong thing to do.
    “I listen to it sometimes,” I said. I liked
country better, but I wasn’t about to say anything else until I was
sure it wouldn’t cause any more nose wrinkling.
    Tony leaned back in his chair. “My parents
don’t worry about me at concerts. They’re more worried about the
other stuff I do, like mountain climbing.”
    Brian looked skeptical. “You’ve been mountain
climbing? Where?”
    Tony glanced at his notebook. “Oh, lots of
places. Like Mount McKinley.”
    Serena’s eyes widened. “Wow, you’ve been to
Alaska?”
    Tony glanced at his notebook again. “Yes I
have, because that’s where Mount McKinley is.”
    “When did you go there?” Rachel asked.
    “A couple of summers ago. My uncle took me.
He’s really into climbing.”
    I said, “You’re talking about your uncle
Orville, right?”
    “Right,” Tony said.
    “Weren’t you really cold?” Anna asked.
    “Sure, but it was worth it. Besides we had on
really thick coats and boots and a lot of other technical mountain
climbing stuff you’ve probably never heard of before.”
    “Did you take many pictures?” Serena
asked.
    “Tons,” Tony said. “I was so mad when that
bear ate my camera and ruined them all.”
    Rachel gasped. “A bear ate your camera?”
    Tony nodded solemnly. “You run into a lot of
wild animals in the mountains.”
    “How scary,” Anna said.
    “How exciting,” Serena added.
    “How far did you get up the mountain?” Brian
asked.
    Tony hesitated. I could tell he hadn’t
researched this question. Finally he said, “Further than most
people get.”
    Brian leaned back in his chair and gave a
casual shrug. “Why do it the hard way? If you want to see the top
of the mountain why not just do what I’m going to do? Fly.”
    Tony raised an eyebrow. “You’re sprouting
wings soon?”
    “No, my dad has his own plane, a Beechcraft
Bonanza. He’s been giving me lessons. When I turn sixteen I’ll get
to fly solo.”
    All three girls cooed and then asked him
things all at once. “What’s the plane like?” “How hard is it to
learn to fly?” “Where are you going to go?”
    Brian happily answered their questions until
the bell rang. Then when everyone got up to go, he walked next to
Serena out of the library. He smiled over at her. “Who knows,” he
said, “maybe after I get my pilot’s license I’ll be able to take
someone up with me.”
    She looked back at him admiringly. “That
would be so neat.”
    “Remember to bring a parachute,” I said, but
only Tony heard me.
    The two of us headed down a different hallway
than the others, but none of them told us good-bye.
    As we walked, Tony shuffled his feet. “Dang.
I knew I should have gone with the scuba diving.”
    “It isn’t fair,” I said. “I bet Brian doesn’t
even need an algebra tutor.”
    Tony glanced over at me. “Brian did seem to
be zeroing in on Serena, didn’t he?”
    I didn’t answer.
    “Well, you’re just going to have to be cooler
than he