He Loves Me Not by Caroline B. Cooney Read Free Book Online

was an Elks’ Club Dance, the Women’s Clubs Annual Combined Awards Dinner, and a thirtieth wedding anniversary. I doubted very much that Ted would be at any of those.
    I bought every issue of The Register that week. I didn’t read many of the articles, but I checked out all the by-lines. If they had a reporter whose first name was Ted, they weren’t mentioning it.
    He was a mirage, I thought. I’ve got a crush on a cloud.

6
    “S AW YOU THE OTHER day,” said Mike MacBride. “All red ribbons and glitter going into the country club.”
    I nodded. That outfit has too many spangles for my taste. But as Ralph points out, the customer isn’t paying all that money to watch a bunch of post office clerks at work. I have a long dark cape I wear over it during the winter, to sort of hide beneath.
    “And that cape!” said Mike. “You looked like Superwoman, all right. Ready to swirl off and save the world.”
    Evidently the cape wasn’t too good for camouflage. My cheeks went as red as the spangled costume. “It was just the Women’s Clubs Annual Combined Awards Dinner,” I said.
    “Hey,” said Mike, laughing. “Sounds exciting.”
    “No—stodgy.” I smiled up at him. He was just about the same height as Ted. I could tell by the distance between our noses. And Mike’s eyes were definitely brown, dark deep brown.
    “You ought to rev things up with a little hard rock,” said Mike.
    “They don’t want to notice anybody but themselves,” I told him. “We’re just background.”
    “Background?” said Mike. “In that red outfit? Not likely.”
    He was cornering me on the third floor and I had to get to gym in the basement. Ms. Santora had told me if I came in late one more time, she’d knock my grade down. I tried to decide whether a good gym grade was more important than small talk with Mike McBride.
    If it had been Ted, there’d have been no question.
    It was so ridiculous to be talking with a real, live, interested, handsome boy right there in the hall—just the daydream I’d always had—and be comparing him with a boy I didn’t even know. “Could you walk down toward the girls’ gym with me?” I said. “I’m really worried about being late again.”
    Mike hesitated. He’s pretty large, as football players tend to be (successful ones, at least), and when Mike hesitated the whole corridor of passing students hesitated with him. “Okay,” he said smiling, “fine. I guess I can be late to Trig instead of you being late to gym.”
    I actually argued with him. I told him that Trig was more important than gym, I shouldn’t have asked him, he should go on to Trig.
    “Pick up your feet, will you?” said Mike. “At least one of us should get to a class on time.”
    I picked up my feet. From the direction he was propelling me, I could tell that I was going to be the one getting to class on time. I wished it could be summertime, when nobody had to go anywhere, and Mike and I could just wander around and talk. No, it had to be school—and gym, of all things—and we were going into a hall that smelled of old unwashed gymsuits and sweaty sneakers. If there is anything less romantic than that, I don’t want to hear about it!
    Mike, like Ralph and Ted, had very long legs. I had to trot beside him. I thought how terrible it would be if I fell over with Mike the way I had with Ted. On the other hand, maybe it would lead to something interesting.
    Mike was talking about a ball game. I had been paying a lot of attention to Mike, but absolutely no attention to what Mike was saying. I hadn’t any idea whether he’d been in the game, or seen the game, or read about it in the sports pages. I didn’t even know what sort of ball was involved. Surely not football, this time of year. “Mmmmm,” I said, trying to sound understanding and interesting.
    Mike gave me a peculiar look. “Who was the guy whose van you got out of at the country club?” he said.
    “Ralph. He runs the combo.”
    “Ralph ever get