9781250209153

acknowledge her sexuality (“You guys are so brave”) while the queer kids
pat me on the back for swelling our ranks. Even Gino pulls me aside before
economics to admit I have more game than anyone suspected.
Gunther and Kevin seem wary of me. When our physics teacher takes us
outside to launch the catapults we’ve been building this month, the two of
them make a show of examining the grass and the weather conditions
before they finally ask me what’s going on.
“So you’re really going out with her?” Gunther says, loading peanuts
into the catapult.
“Why is that so hard to believe?” I ask. I know I could tell them the
truth if I wanted to, but it seems safer to limit the secret to Danielle.
Gunther shakes his head. “She’s really hot.”
“And I’m not?” I shove him playfully, pretending the insinuation
doesn’t hurt. I think back to the few times Tally told me I was hot. I never
quite believed her.
“You know we think you’re pretty,” Kevin says, bending down to make
notes in our lab notebook. “But wouldn’t it surprise you to hear I was going
out with her? The last person I went out with was Nina Bynes.”
Nina Bynes is a sweet but dorky girl who pulls her books around in a
carry-on suitcase. Gino refers to her as the flight attendant. For the three
weeks Kevin went out with her, people kept telling him to buckle his seat
belt. Gino wouldn’t stop joking that Kevin’s tray table was up.
“I know what you mean.” I sigh, digging my shoe into the dirt. “She is,
as the kids say, ‘out of my league.’”
I kneel down to trigger the first launch. The sun is blinding and I have to
squint across the soccer field to aim for the plastic hoops Mrs. King set up
in the distance.
“I didn’t realize she was into girls,” Gunther says. “I’d heard that rumor,
but I thought it was just Charlotte Pascal starting shit.”
I look up at him. “Wait. What rumor?”
“That she and Charlotte hate each other because Irene made a move on
her last year.”
I’m distracted by this sudden development, but before I can say
anything, Honey-Belle appears at my side.