Before the Boys Say No Read online

  “He’s not like them, Bea. You know that.”

  I nodded and turned away to get the coffee pot for refills. I dreaded walking by that group of kids, but I had no choice. I had a pot in each hand and was just about clear of the group when I heard Lanie’s voice say, “Look at her hips jiggle.”

  Even the guys started laughing. I looked back at Brody, but he was talking with another guy and hadn’t heard the comment. If only I could confront those kids like I did others. I ignored them and moved into the restaurant, trying to keep my hips from swaying.

  Moving from table to table with the coffee pot helped calm my nerves. I know Dean would take care of the pizza order with the kids. He knew how much I disliked being around them. It was crazy how just being around them deflated my confidence.

  I had lingered long enough with the coffee. It was time to return the pots to the kitchen. Past those kids again. I kept my head down and marched back toward the kitchen when the door opened. I looked up to greet the customer and just about dropped the coffee pots. It was Tony, the guy I had debated against. He had traded his suit for a T-shirt and jeans.

  I heard some of the girls murmuring about how cute he was. I didn’t know what he was doing in my restaurant, but I couldn’t have looked worse if I tried. Okay, maybe I could, but my frizzy hair pulled into a sloppy ponytail had slipped where a couple of big strands had fallen out over one eye. I had gotten used to Brody seeing me look my worse, but not this guy. I mean, I had a reputation to uphold in debate.

  Tony smiled when he saw me. “I was hoping you were working today,” he said loudly.

  Brody looked at him then at me. He had a weird expression on his face. He turned from the guy who was still talking to watch me, folding his arms across his chest.

  “Hi, Tony,” I said almost apologetically.

  “You look a lot different,” he told me. Oh, great. Now the disappointment would come. “Really pretty.”

  I blinked hard. He called me pretty. The girls had turned their full attention on us and couldn’t believe he had said that either. I saw Lanie nudge one of her friends. The girl rose and crossed to Tony.

  “Are you new at school?” she asked flirtatiously.

  He cast a glance at her, but turned his eyes back on me. “Nope. I just came to see Beatrice.”

  “I can’t really talk right now,” I muttered. I know my cheeks were red because I felt the heat in them.

  “I would have called you, but you didn’t give me your number. Your debate partner told me you worked here, so I thought I’d be able to catch you. What time do you get off?”

  “Oh, I, um, I close,” I said, feeling even more self-conscious with everyone’s eyes on me.

  Good old Dean saved the day. He carried the pizza boxes out to the register. Suddenly, all the attention was off me and on the food. The guys paid for the pizza and started filing out the door. Brody paused by me and touched my shoulder.

  “You know Homecoming is in a couple of weeks--”

  “Yeah. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be gone at a debate tournament, but I’ll bet the team wins. I mean, you should with you being quarterback and all.”

  I don’t know why I was rambling. I just felt nervous with Tony unexpectedly there and Brody and all the popular kids. And why was he telling me about Homecoming? I’d have to be a dufus not to know when Homecoming took place at school.

  “Come on, Brody,” Lanie said from the door. “Pizza’s gonna get cold.”

  “I’ll bet Lanie makes Homecoming queen,” I told him. “You’ll need to polish up on your dancing.”

  He smiled at me with those blue eyes. “Okay. I’ll talk with you later.”

  He disappeared out the door with the chaos. It was just Tony and me at the front. I saw Aunt Roma headed for the kitchen out of the corner of my eye. When she saw me talking with Tony, she stayed on the floor to give us privacy.

  “So,” Tony said with a laugh. “You look pretty busy. Do you still have my number?”

  I nodded, biting the side of my mouth. He seemed as uncomfortable as I was. Dad rounded the corner just then and stopped. I wanted to shoo Tony out of the restaurant before my dad opened his mouth.

  “What do we have here?” Dad crooned with his thickest Italian accent. “A handsome boy, a beautiful girl, and voilà! A match made in heaven.”

  “Stop,” I whispered under my breath. I felt so embarrassed.

  Tony laughed good naturedly. “I’m Tony,” he said, extending his hand for a shake.

  “I’m Beatrice’s father,” Dad bellowed. “You come to ask me permission to date my daughter?”

  “Dad, stop,” I said and slapped his arm.

  “Yeah,” Tony replied. “I was checking to see if Beatrice wanted to hang out today.”

  “What is this hang out?” Dad asked.

  “Go away, Dad,” I begged, trying to push him toward the kitchen. He refused to budge.

  “What?” Dad asked innocently. “A boy comes to court my daughter and I don’t have any say in the matter?”

  “No,” I retorted. “Go in the kitchen.”

  Dad wouldn’t leave. And it just got worse. “What are your intentions with my daughter?”

  I groaned as Tony’s eyes grew larger. “Uh, well, I was just going to see if she wanted to go out some time--”

  “That’s the problem with the boys today. In my youth, if you asked a girl out, you had the thought of marriage in the back of your mind. You know? You were ready to make a commitment.”

  Shoot me now. Tony’s smile had turned to confusion and then to panic. He backed to the door while my father talked. As soon as my father took a breath, Tony looked quickly at me and waved before escaping out the door.

  I stood in shock. My father shrugged his shoulders and gave me a wry grin. I carefully placed the coffee pots on the counter and slapped my dad’s arm as hard as I could.

  “Marriage? Are you crazy? I don’t even know that guy.”

  “If the word marriage scares a boy, Bea, you’re better off to know that up front.”

  “Dad, I actually had a chance to go on a date with a cute guy. Not some ugly, have to settle guy. A real, cute guy who thought I was pretty cool. You ruined it for me! Wait till I tell Mom.”

  He swallowed hard. He didn’t want to face Mom’s wrath. He knew he had gone too far. “Let’s just keep this between ourselves, Bea.”

  “You owe me, Dad,” I said sternly. “Big time.”

  “All right. I admit, I probably took it a little too far--”

  “A little?”

  My dad scratched his head. “Sorry, honey. I was just having some fun.”

  “Don’t ever have fun with anyone that I talk to ever again,” I warned in a hoarse voice.

  I grabbed the coffee pots and strode into the kitchen, trying to curb the anger. Tony would probably never speak to me again. My one chance to actually go out on a date my senior year. I didn’t blow it--good old pops did.

  Aunt Roma breezed into the kitchen, wearing a look of sympathy. “Sorry, honey. I saw the whole thing. I couldn’t get away from the customers to come to your rescue.”

  “Did you see how cute he was?” I asked her.

  “He was a cute one,” she agreed. “Don’t worry. There will be others.”

  “Really? Because I don’t think so. I mean, this guy drove out here to see me. He actually called me pretty, Auntie. Look at me. Do I look pretty?”

  “Of course you do, Bea. You always look pretty.”

  “You’re my aunt. You have to say that. I look like a train wreck. But that guy--Tony--thought I still looked good enough to hang with.”

  “He’ll be back,” Aunt Roma said firmly.

  “Are you kidding? He couldn’t get out of here fast enough.”

  She patted my arm and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “Let’s get out to the floor, hmm? Make some good tips.”

  I followed her to the grill and grabbed breadsticks from under the warmer. Dean threw me a look of sympath
y, as well. He always heard everything from the kitchen.

  “Why don’t you ask Brody out?” he suggested.

  “Brody? He would never go out with me. Besides, he’s dating Lanie.”

  Dean frowned. “I don’t think he’s dating anyone.”

  “He’s taking her to Homecoming.”

  “I didn’t know that,” Dean said with a shrug. “I’m surprised. He’s always asking about you when he works.”

  “That’s because I work here too. It’s almost mandatory to ask about family members, Dean.”

  Dean raised his brows, but didn’t say a word. He just didn’t understand the situation. Brody was definitely out of my league. He would never ask me out. I mean, a big girl like me going out with a cute, popular guy like him? It would never happen.

  “Table three’s spaghetti is up,” he said.

  I slipped the plate on my tray and headed out to the floor. Marge had come in with a group of ladies. Her loud mouth carried throughout the restaurant. Dad was at the table, talking and laughing with the group. I waved when she saw me.

  “Beatty, come join us, darling,” she yelled to me.

  “I’m working, Marge,” I yelled back.

  “How’d your debate go yesterday?”

  “I won,” I said nonchalantly.

  She smiled at me. “I knew you would, honey.”

  She turned her attention back to the ladies at her table and I dropped off the plate of spaghetti at table three. An older man and woman sat at the table. They were both dressed in suits and seemed stiff in the fun atmosphere.

  “You debate?” the man asked me quietly.

  “Hmm? Oh, yeah,” I said politely and was about to walk away, but he stopped me. Oh, great, I thought. He was going to be a talker, and frankly, I didn’t feel like engaging in a conversation today.

  “I did debate in high school and college. Now, I’m a lawyer.”

  “Really? I think I want to pursue law, too,” I told him.

  “He was amazing at debate in school,” his wife said sweetly. “That’s how I met him.”

  The man chuckled. “I pretty much won everything,” he said. “I was quite prideful in those days. Winning does that, you know. Make you prideful. People don’t want to be around pride.”

  “Yeah, but if you’re good, you should be proud,” I said. I felt a knot of conviction in my stomach.

  “Oh, I agree,” he replied. “But if the pride becomes self-serving where you treat people less than you, then it’s inappropriate. I’m sure you don’t have that problem though.”

  “Did someone send you in here to talk to me?” I asked suspiciously. I had good instincts about people.

  A look of surprise crossed his face. “Why, no. Why would you ask that?”

  “I’m not stupid, mister,” I replied bluntly. “Everyone on the debate squad has it in for my title. Why don’t you go back to whoever sent you in here and tell them that I have reason to be proud? I work harder than anyone else--that’s why I win. Why don’t you ask them why they’re so jealous? Maybe that’s the problem that needs to be resolved.”

  With that, I turned on my heel and walked off. They started whispering as soon as I left. I just knew they had been planted in the restaurant to make me change my strategy. I looked back to see my father talking with them at the table. Great. He would think I was overreacting. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before my father approached me in the kitchen.

  “Bea, how many time do I have to talk to you about your rudeness?”

  “You don’t understand, Dad. Those people were sent in to try to get me to change my debate technique--”

  “Do you hear how paranoid that sounds, Bea? Not everything revolves around your debate.”

  “It does to me,” I said passionately. “Debate is everything to me right now, Dad.”

  He sighed and reached out to touch my cheek tenderly. “Debate this, debate that. I should have known your big mouth would lead you down that path. You were always arguing with me, even when you were just barely able to talk.”

  “That’s because you were trying to feed me lima beans and wouldn’t listen to how much I hated them.”

  He chuckled. “What am I going to do with you, Bea?”

  “How about support me, Daddy? Believe me when I tell you things.”

  His big arms wrapped around me and I snuggled my head into his shoulder. I was never too old to enjoy a hug from my dad.

  “You want me to kick that man and his wife out of my restaurant?” he asked with a gangster lisp.

  I had to laugh. Dad always made me feel good--at least, when he wasn’t trying to get me married off. “No, it’s all good. I’ll try to be better, Daddy, I promise.”

  “That’s my girl,” he said.

  I watched to see when the man and woman left. Something was weird about them. I know, I know. I’m paranoid about some things--like boys, for instance. But I had a hunch about the man and woman. I crept out the back door and around to the side of the restaurant. The man was on the phone with someone.

  “Sorry, Bill, I tried,” he was saying. “She caught onto me. Somehow, she knew.”

  I couldn’t hear anything else when he climbed into the car. I just knew he was talking about me. Who was Bill? One thing was for sure. Debate was getting very interesting this year.

  CHAPTER 7

  I can’t stand Mondays after a debate tournament. The principal always gets on the loud speaker and announces who has won. If I happen to be in a class where other kids know me, they always say stupid stuff, like call me a brainiac or Einstein. After too many of those announcements, the kids start looking at me like I’m an alien.

  This year was no different. I had just settled into the back of English class. As always, I was one of the first to arrive. I don’t think Brody was even aware that he was in the class with me. He always arrived late with his friends and was forced to take the empty desks at the front.

  Ms. McEnroy was writing on the white board when the loud speaker went off. The principal’s voice came on, congratulating the debate team on it’s superior performance at the debate tournament. When my name was called as the winner of the tournament, Brody jumped to his feet, clapping loudly.

  “That’s my girl,” he shouted.

  His friends looked at him like he had lost his mind. I slunk down into my seat. I was so quiet in the class that no one knew who I was. Ms. McEnroy frowned at Brody.

  “I appreciate your enthusiasm,” she said, “but sit down.”

  Brody sat back down. I couldn’t believe he had done that. For me, of all people. He endured a few jokes from the guys around him, but he seemed to take it in stride.

  I waited until everyone had filed out of the classroom before I left. Ms. McEnroy caught my eye as I tried to slip past her desk.

  “Congratulations, Beatrice,” she said warmly. “Looks like you have a cheering section.”

  I gave her a short laugh and mumbled, “Thank you.”

  Outside, I got a few “congratulations” from some kids I knew. I wondered how Jared was doing with his Aggie friends. I would find out soon enough in debate class.

  I waved to Johanna when we met in the hall between classes. She grabbed my arm to stop me. “I feel like we don’t see each other any more,” she complained.

  “We don’t,” I said bluntly. “You dropped me for your new friends.”

  Her face fell. “Sorry about that, Bea,” she said in a soft voice. “I was so caught up with Dale that I--”

  Her voice broke and tears filled her eyes. A couple of kids jeered as they went by. I grabbed Johanna’s arm and pulled her to the side of a vending machine--those evil machines filled with junk food tempting my tastebuds.

  “What’s going on?” I asked her. I was in a hurry to get to debate class, but I could tell she was upset.

  “Dale just dumped me. He’s taking Missy to Homecoming now.”

  I patted her shoulder as she fought to keep the tears from falling. Her nose started running and
she wiped it on the edge of her yellow sweater.

  “You won’t have a problem getting a date for Homecoming,” I encouraged her. “You’re so pretty and smart. Dale Jerry is just an idiot to dump you.”

  She smiled through her tears. “Thanks, Bea.”

  “I gotta get to debate, but do you want to meet for lunch?” I asked her.

  She nodded. I gave her arm a squeeze and made a dash to the debate room. My boobs were shaking up and down. I raised my notebook over my chest so no one could see. I was out of breath when I reached the door. I paused just outside so I could catch my breath before entering. I could hear Leslie’s voice inside.

  “She’s such a drill sergeant. Isn’t it hard for you to be on her team?”

  “Are you kidding?” Jared’s voice answered. “It’s easy being on her team. I just do what she tells me.”

  They were trying to turn Jared against me. I flung open the door and surprised all of them. I couldn’t believe Mr. Robarb was listening to all that smack without defending me. Everyone grew quiet as I entered the room. They could tell I had heard them talking.

  “What’s going on?” I asked in a loud voice, planting my hands on my hips.

  “Calm down, Beatrice,” Mr. Robarb said.

  “How do you expect me to act, Mr. Robarb, with my partner being interrogated?”

  “Oh, please,” Leslie said with a roll of her eyes. “Why are you always so dramatic, Beatrice? We were just talking.”

  I looked at Jared with accusing eyes. Was he turning on me too? His eyes were wide and he swallowed, making his adam’s apple bob up and down in his throat.

  “Jared, do you have any second thoughts about being my partner?” I asked him.

  “Nope,” he said. “I gave my word and I’m seeing it through.”

  I nodded. I cast a look at the others. After four years of being on the team, I couldn’t call any of them friend. Maybe that man at the restaurant was right. Maybe my pride was getting in my way of making friends. Then, again, who was I kidding? I didn’t like anyone on the debate team. They were the biggest babies and fakes I had ever met. They talked behind each other’s backs all the time; why would I think they wouldn’t talk about me when I wasn’t around?