Windmill Windup by Matt Christopher Page A

have to bring her dorky new boyfriend to witness her humiliation?
    Kelly opened the rear door, threw her stuff inside, and climbed in.
    “Hi there!” her mom said chirpily. “How’d it go?”
    “Crummy,” Kelly said. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
    “That bad, huh?” her mom said pityingly. “Sorry, honey. It’ll get better next time.”
    “Can’t get much worse,” Kelly agreed, sinking into the seat.
    But she was wrong. Later that afternoon, her mom called her into the kitchen. “Listen, Kelly,” she said. “You know spring
     break is in ten days, and Ken and I were thinking — well, you’ve probably noticed that we’ve been getting pretty close….”
    Kelly rolled her eyes and sighed heavily to show how she felt about
that
.
    Her mom ignored her reaction. “And we thought we’d like to go away together and spend some quality time in a nice, quiet resort
     —”
    “Forget it,” Kelly quickly told her. “I’m not going anywhere with
him
.”
    “Well, that’s just it,” her mom went on. “We knew you probably wouldn’t want to go, so —”
    “Who said I didn’t want to go?” Kelly countered.
    “But you just said —”
    “I said I didn’t want to go with
him!
”
    “Nora?” Ken’s voice came from upstairs. “Everything okay down there?”
    “Fine, darling,” her mom called back. “Kelly and I are just discussing our plans for spring break.”
    “Oh, good!” came the reply.
    Kelly stared intently at her mom, waiting for what was to come next. “So you’re going away to Shangri-la with lover boy,”
     she said sarcastically. “And what am I supposed to do? Stay home by myself?”
    “Well, that’s just it,” her mom said, trying to put a hand on Kelly’s shoulder. Kelly moved back, shaking off the hand. “We
     thought,” said her mom, “thatmaybe you’d like to spend the week at as softball camp, seeing how much you love the game and all….”
    “Softball camp? Are you nuts? I already know how to play softball!” Kelly felt like throwing something, but there was nothing
     handy except for kitchen knives. So she banged her fist on the fridge instead. Fridge magnets flew in all directions.
    “Kelly, honey —” her mom began.
    “I’m not going to any stupid camp!” Kelly screamed at the top of her lungs. “And you can’t make me! Forget it!”
    She could hear Ken clomping down the stairs. “What is going on down here?” he yelled as he came storming into the kitchen.
     “Nora, are you okay?”
    “I’m fine, sweetheart,” her mom told him. “Kelly’s not happy about our plans, that’s all.”
    “I’m not going to any stupid softball camp!” Kelly repeated for his benefit.
    “You’ll go wherever your mother and I decide,” Ken was quick to reply. “Whether you like it or not.”
    “You don’t tell me what to do!” Kelly shouted in his face. “You’re not my father, okay? I don’t have to listen to you!”
    “Ken…,” her mom started to interrupt.
    “I can handle this!” Ken insisted. “Obviously, shehasn’t got enough respect to listen to her mother. But I’m not going to let her treat you like that!”
    “You can’t stop me, you jerk!” Kelly shrieked. He reached out to put a restraining hand on her arm, but she yanked it away.
     “Don’t you touch me! I wish you’d never met Mom. You’re a stupid twerp, and I hate you!” Turning to her mother, she added,
     “I hate both of you! And I’m not going anywhere! I’d rather die!”
    Now she’d gone and done it. She’d told Ken exactly what she thought of him, and there was no taking it back. She stormed up
     to her room and slammed the door behind her. Then she collapsed on her bed and let all the bitter heartache pour out of her.
    She was a loser, a total loser. She couldn’t hit anymore — her main claim to fame was gone. She was on a team full of fellow
     losers, and her mom had a loser for a boyfriend. And now she was going to have to go to a camp full of losers