Max and I

Chapter Nineteen

Ashley told me to play hide-and-seek the next week. I hid behind a table in the far corner of the yard. Ashley didn't find me for quite a long time. Instead, I heard footsteps. I turned around to see a figure, his back turned to me.

"Hey, Ashley?" I called.

"It's not Ashley," the boy said. Immediately I recognized him as Timmy, and my heart began to race fast. Why would Timmy come up to me? Really? Was he playing a prank on me or trying to act goofy, but in a good way?

"Timmy," I said. "Aren't you playing with Sophia? Go away." I motioned for Timmy to run.

"No, I don't have to," Timmy said, smiling at me.

"Is this a prank or what?" I asked him.

Ashley came running to where we were talking as quickly as she could. She began breathing hard and looked scared when she saw Timmy.

"Timmy, go!" she exclaimed. "Don't ruin Meg's life!" She ran after him and I was left alone, thinking. I knew Timmy wasn't meaning to do any harm, but he sure acted weirdly.

Ashley was chasing Timmy everywhere.

I had no idea what Timmy was doing, but had no doubt it was something bad.

Ashley chased him off far enough and then came back to me. "He's acting like a dork," she said.

I had to agree with Ashley, but I had some feeling Timmy was doing it on purpose, and although it looked mean and stupid, he was trying to do something good with it.

I looked across the playground. Timmy was playing kickball with his boys. Sophia was on the grass, watching. She was sucking on a lollipop. I stared at her, but she just looked with no expression at the game. I sat down.

That night, I read a book that Mom had gotten at the library. It was called How to be A Popular Girl. It was somewhat pointless, but I found something cool in there: a person was trying to act silly and smile at a girl he thought was really attractive. Timmy was acting the same so...I had to come to the truth: Timmy could want to play with me.

Thinking of that, I tried to forget about it. I would not be Timmy's friend. Ever. He was such an idiot sometimes.

I fidgeted me fingers. I needed to think or something to do with the Timmy problem before tomorrow. I simply couldn't be his friend. He was not even cute.

Mom came in. "Do you like the book?" she asked.

"It's OK," I said. "But I found out Timmy might like me and I hate him and I don't know how to react."

"Honey, maybe he's just trying to be nice."

"I think he wants to flirt with me."

"Meg, do you know what flirting is? It seems like you think any boy interaction is flirting. That's not true."

"Mom, he's not exactly flirting. But I think he wants to."

"Meg, don't worry about boys so much. Worry about your learning, your friends, hobbies, and such. When I liked this boy in fifth or sixth grade, I couldn't get my eyes off him. Then I started staring at him, talking, acting cool and popular. The boy hated me because of it, and I was sad because I wanted to show off how good I was."

I sighed. Maybe Mom was making a good point, but still, it was hard not to think about Timmy.

When I came to school tomorrow, Timmy acted normally and Sophia didn't say anything to him. It was unsurprising, because they hadn't talked in a few days now. As if they were getting ready for some plan...having to do with me.