Bingo Brown's Guide to Romance by Betsy Byars Read Free Book Online Page B

cleared his throat. She looked at him with quick hope, so Bingo said, “Maybe he should send it off again. There are other—lists.”
    â€œI couldn’t suggest it.”
    â€œMom, if you bomb out, you have to try again quickly or you’ll go bonkers.” Now Bingo was quoting Wentworth.
    â€œBingo, he just lies there like he’s in his coffin, with his hands folded like this.”
    She folded her hands pitifully at her waist.
    Bingo sighed. “How long will you be gone?” he said because it seemed to him his mother was sinking into depression, too. Then the whole family would be depressed—except for Jamie.
    â€œTwo hours. Is that too long? Can you watch him for two hours?”
    â€œI guess.”
    â€œNow I’ve got to convince your dad to go out—and that’s not going to be easy. Where can we go? Bingo, I can’t even think of anywhere we can go!”
    â€œI can’t help you there.”
    â€œIt’s got to be somewhere vital. I can’t just say the store or the movies or the laundromat. Well, I’ll think of something.”

El Bingo, the Gringo
    B INGO WAS WALKING SLOWLY down the hall toward English class when he heard someone call his name.
    â€œBingo, wait up!”
    Bingo glanced over his shoulder.
    â€œWait!”
    It was Mamie Lou, and Bingo did not like to talk to Mamie Lou even when he was feeling his best—which he definitely was not.
    He tried to slip into class, but in one quick move she was in front of him, blocking the way. Since Mamie Lou had him by twenty pounds, he had no choice but to stop.
    â€œYes, Mamie Lou?”
    â€œDid you see Melissa?” she asked excitedly.
    â€œYes, I saw her Saturday—and briefly Sunday, but I didn’t get to really talk to her.”
    â€œNo, I mean now,” Mamie Lou said. She pointed down the hall as if she were thumbing a ride. “Did you just see her in the hall?”
    â€œNo, no, I didn’t. She’s here? At school?”
    â€œYes, but there were about two hundred people around her. You’d think she’d been to the moon instead of Bixby, Oklahoma. I barely got to say hi.”
    â€œI didn’t get much past that myself.” Bingo turned. “Where exactly was she? Maybe if I—”
    â€œMamie Lou, you and—who’s that behind you?” Mr. Rodrigo called from his desk.
    Bingo peered around her.
    â€œAh, El Bingo, the Gringo,” Mr. Rodrigo said. “You two come on in, we’d like to get started.”
    â€œMr. Rodrigo.” Bingo paused in the doorway. “I have a compelling errand. I wouldn’t use the word compelling, which means to drive or urge irresistibly, if I weren’t being driven and urged irresistibly.”
    â€œ No comprendo, Bingo.”
    When Mr. Rodrigo switched to what he called his “native tongue,” even the correct use of a word wouldn’t divert him.
    Bingo proceeded reluctantly into the room. He sat at his desk. He wanted to put his head on his desk, because the wood would be cooler than his flushed face, but Mr. Rodrigo didn’t allow siestas.
    Bingo was ashamed of himself. Only yesterday he had sworn that he would never, ever care about Melissa again, that he would not so much as go to the door if she rang the doorbell, and here he was with his heart leaping out of his chest because she was in the same building with him.
    This decision that he would never care again had come yesterday. He and Wentworth had returned to Weezie’s only to find the house locked.
    â€œMaybe Weezie and Melissa are hiding inside,” Bingo had said.
    â€œMaybe Melissa’s hiding from you. She did that yesterday. But there’s no way the Weez would hide from me.”
    Wentworth had continued to punch the doorbell for some time, even after Bingo had begged him to stop. Finally Wentworth had said, “Okay, okay, I give up.”
    They had turned and started down the