Max and I

Chapter Two

Anne let me in.

"Hi, Margaret. Would you like to talk to Wayne? She's with her friend right now, down the hall," she said.

Can I talk to you, perhaps?" I shrugged my shoulders.

"OK. Sure. I'll get out some juice and cookies, Meg. Make yourself at home."

I walked into the warm building. It was indeed cozy. I sat onto the green sofa. Anne put cookies and apple juice on the coffee table, but I ignored it.

"Do you need to adopt Wayne to a parent?" I asked.

She nodded. "I love Wayne. I don't want our dear Wayne to stay here. This is not the best place for Wayne to stay."

"But who'd adopt her?" I asked, worriedly.

"Oh, I'm not sure. Maybe Mr. and Mrs. Lorie."

"Those are my parents!" I said. "Adopt Wayne to them? I don't think they'd like to!"

"Oh no, Meg. They are willing to do it, if needs be."

I felt uneasy, with nothing to stop me from feeling that way. "I don't really know how I will adapt to that," I stammered. Then I thought of Brunetta. I remembered her saying, now he seems part of the family. Still, new and unsettling thoughts raced around my head.

"Meg, I know the huge step your parents and we are taking, but the living quarters here are not what a five year old should be experiencing. And we don't want to give her to some parent who doesn't care. And Mr. and Mrs. Lorie are the perfect match because they're responsible, caring, and good friends of ours," said Anne, when Wayne suddenly came in.

"Hi, Margaret." She smiled. "Did you come for dinner?"

I shook my head. "Nope. I'm going home. I just was talking to Anne. Thank you for the invitation."

"Oh, please, you can stay," Anne said. "We'd love you to stay over."

No, I'm OK. My mom wants me to be home soon."

They both nodded in understanding.

I walked outside, down the pathway, onto the road, and all the way to my house. My legs ached when I came in through the front door.

"Where were you?" was the first question Elli asked. "Playing with your friends?"

"Yup," I lied. "We played the piano."

"Nice."

Mom, however, was suspicious. Brunetta never has guests on Saturday, Meg. You know that."

"Oh, her mother was not home, so she let me in. And his father always works on Saturday."

"Huh. I'll have a word with her mom," said Mom.

"Mom, please don't. I'm positively sure about all of this."

"OK, Meg. If you say so."

I went into my room. I sat on my bed and pulled the covers around me. It was horrible I lied, but I didn't know what would happen if I did tell about Anne. It wasn't my job to be thinking about grownup matter.

It was soon dark in my room, and I turned on the light. Elli had already finished his dinner and when he saw the light on in my room, he peeked inside.

"Hi, Meg. What ya doin'?" he said.

"Oh, I want to share a secret with you, Elli. Come here and I'll tell you."

"Yeah? So what is it?" he asked, once near me.

"So you know how I said I was at Brunetta's house today?"

"Of course."

"So listen. I didn't go over to her..."

"Why?" interrupted Elli.

"Listen to me first," I said. "I went over to Annemarie's orphanage instead. I found out that we might be adopting Wayne. Don't dare tell anyone. You know that it's not my business."

"Sure I do."

Elli went out of the room.

"Gotta do some stupid lab report," he said. "And Mr. Pop needs us to do it. If we don't we get an F." He was munching on a cracker.

"Um, Elli, listen, now this is about a crush I have on another boy. He's cute, with short hair and blond hair, blue eyes, freckles, and pale skin."

"Who is it?" he asked. "I want to know."

"I'm gonna tell who. It's Max."

"Max! Margaret, have you gone crazy? He's so much older than you!"

I frowned. I actually knew Elli was social and would tell any secrets to everyone. Now I told him about this boy. Soon he'd tell his friends at school.

"I'm hungry," I said. I headed down the hall. Really, I wasn't hungry at all. I wanted to get away from Elli.

I knew that Max went to drama club at my school in the afternoon. Therefore, I pretended to hang out with some shy girls that had to stay at Fun Care. My mom and dad were at work, and Elli wouldn't mind.

Max walked to the side of us, holding something. An iPod Touch. No, a notebook. I squinted. It was black and had girls on it. Somewhere it said "Miley Cyrus." I didn't like her.

I stared at him. He was beautiful, or cute, as I would say.

"Meg, what has caught your attention? We're talking about ballet here. You're interested, or what?" asked a tall black girl.

"Ah, no. I'm still engaged." I partly lied. I was interested, but that boy caught my attention, and I stared at him. When he glanced back, I looked back at the girls.

"Meg, now what about that thing?" asked the same girl. Her name was Maeve.

"Nothing," I said meanly. "I need to go to the bathroom."

It didn't need to use the bathroom. I just went down the hallway, and looked at Max. Then I walked all the way to the drama room. He was laughing and smiling with boys his age. But I was terrified to greet him. I walked past him.

"Look, what is that girl doing there?" asked one of Max's friends.

"Oh, that's Meg. She's in seventh grade. She's kinda pretty."

I listened to the conversation. Me? Pretty? I thought silently.

"What?" I asked quietly.

"Max, she asked you something," said a short fat kid.

"What did you want, Margaret?" asked Max.

I stared like an idiot. I had no other choice. Max had just called me pretty, and I couldn't help smiling. Of course, Max stared back. His long dark eyes met mine. Pretty, I thought, repeating Max's words.

"Oh, let's go. We're late," the short kid told everyone. "No need to talk to her." Every one of the boys left. Except him. Max.

Max went to the boy's bathroom. I went behind a large water fountain and waited for him.

Amazingly, he came out as quickly as he arrived at the bathroom. He paid no attention to me, and I saw the notebook again. But I didn't see Miley Cyrus. I saw the green lettering, "Girls Are Cool."

He put the notebook in his left pocket. He got out a small slip of paper. I watched him go down the hall. Then he disappeared around the corner.

And I smiled. Then I went out the school doors, and decided to walk home alone.