The Perfect Couple

24

When I left the house the next morning I intended to take the bus to school, but I saw Marcus on the next block, starting out on foot and I ran to catch up with him.

"Hey, Marcus, wait a minute, will you?"

If he were really mad at me, my hopes of getting anywhere with Alan were extinct, but that wasn't the reason I felt so anxious as I dashed down the street, my semi-heels feeling like nails I was driving into the pavement. My denim miniskirt was tight, too and I could only hope the zipper that ran all the way down the front wouldn't give way.

For a minute I was nostalgic for the days of sneakers and jeans and Marcus and me being pals instead of would be sweethearts.

In those days he would have told me if something was bothering him and if he hadn't I would have asked him right out what was eating him. Even when I caught up with him I couldn't seem to say what was on my mind.

"Hi," I said, giving him a half-flirty smile even though there was no one around to see it.

"Hi," he said in a tone that told me nothing. "Where's Kim?"

For some reason, I resented him asking me where Kim was, especially when I wanted to talk about us. He knew I was worried about something, so why didn't he ask me what was wrong?

"I guess she took the bus. You know she's no hiker."

"Yeah."

He was still dressing up more than he used to. Suddenly I was sure he'd been with a girl the day before.

"I went by your house yesterday," I said. "Did Megan tell you?"

"No. She only talks when you don't want her to." He gave a little smile and even though it was Megan that inspired it, I felt slightly encouraged.

"She told me you were out. She didn't know where."

"That's because I didn't tell her."

This was ridiculous! Marcus and I didn't keep secrets from each other. I was going to put an end to it even if it wrecked my whole scheme to get Alan interested in me. I stopped and grabbed Marcus's arm.

"What's going on here, Marcus Lopez? Yesterday when I told you I hadn't pulled that trick on Alan yet acting like what Mrs. Cole said to us was a big joke you didn't seem to care one way or the other. You just shrugged and walked away and had lunch with your friends. Then after school you went off some place and you won't tell me where and now you're mad about something. You haven't even looked at me this morning."

"I'm not mad!" Marcus denied. "Why should I be?" But his eyes still didn't meet mine.

"If you're not mad why don't you look at me? And why won't you tell me where you were yesterday afternoon?" I hated how shrill my voice sounded, but I'd never been so upset with him.

"I wasn't anywhere," he muttered. "I just biked out to the country the way we used to do. I wanted to be alone."

"Then everything is all right between us?" I asked on a big sigh of relief. What I really meant was then you weren't with another girl.

"Sure it is. But, Kelly about you and Alan . . . "

He was looking at me now, right into my eyes and I'd never seen his eyes so dark and stormy. My heartbeat fast as I wondered if he had some special reason for being troubled because I wanted to go out with Alan. I knew how I'd felt when I thought he might have gone out with another girl.

Being good friends could make a person feel possessive toward another person. Did Marcus feel that way about me? Was he beginning to get jealous of Alan?

All at once he gave a little smile. "I've been wondering if that trick you pulled on Alan yesterday worked. You went through with it, didn't you?"

I laughed. "He loved it when I pointed out that Mrs. Cole only picked on the top kids, like me and him."

Marcus blinked. "He did? You know, a person would have to have an ego the size of Texas" he caught his breath, looking at me as if he thought I'd be mad, but I laughed again.

"Alan does have a giant sized ego. That's the whole idea. There's nothing wrong with it it's just the way some people are." It's why they're number one at what they do. "He just smiled at me and that was it."

"Umm." He turned around and began walking again. "How's soccer?" He asked abruptly.

"Fine. We beat the Z's yesterday. That transfer Mary Logan is their captain."

"You mean the girl whose mother picks her up in the Cadillac Seville with the Texas plates?"

Marcus was inclined to identify people by the cars they drove or rode in. "Probably," I said. " I haven't noticed the kind of car her mother drives, but I'm sure it's a big expensive one."

"We have a transfer on the football team. Nobody likes him much. He acts like he's better than anyone, probably because his dad's a big wheel engineer."

"They do act snobby," I agreed.

We didn't say anything for a minute, then Marcus said, "speaking of football, Coach Barnes is working with me on my passing. He says I have the right stuff to be a good quarterback if I could only learn to move around in the pocket more."

"You would be," I encouraged him. "You'd be great!"

We caught up with some other kids then and there was a lot of laughing and talking.

When we got to school, though, Marcus and I broke away from the others as we had before.

"Time to go into our act," he said as soon as we were alone. He took my hand and because we were a little early we strolled around the campus.