Split Decision

Alex Sackett checked her reflection in the screen of her phone.

“Seriously, Alex?” Emily Campbell scrunched her nose. “It's pizza. And studying for science. You look fine.”

“But that's it. It's not
just
pizza and studying.” Alex twirled a strand of her long hair around her finger, then released the chocolate-brown tendril and watched it bounce into place. Should she apply more lip gloss? Or were her lips too shellacked? Maybe she should wipe some off?

“We don't know for sure he'll be here,” Emily said, pulling open the door of Sal's Pizzeria.

“But you said Greg said they were stopping
by—” Alex sucked in her breath. “Oh! Lindsey's here.”

Their friend Lindsey Davis sat in a booth next to eighth-grade baseball player Johnny Morton. Her long blond hair fell over one eye. She reached for a mozzarella stick from the plate between them, laughing at something Johnny said. He laughed too.

Alex felt her stomach twist. “Are they—are they on a date?” she whispered.

“Of course! They're going out, you know that. Hey, Lindz!” Emily waved. Alex raised her hand too.

Lindsey waved but didn't call them over.
It must really be a date,
Alex decided.

Alex and Emily slid into an empty booth on the other side of the pizzeria. Alex couldn't take her eyes off Lindsey and Johnny. He said something. Then she said something. Back and forth. No awkward pauses. And they were both crazy good-looking. It was so unfair! Lindsey made having a boyfriend look so easy!

Alex had met Lindsey and Emily as soon as she'd moved to Ashland, Texas, this past summer. Lindsey was going out with Corey O'Sullivan then. And now she was going out with Johnny.
Last week Emily and Greg Fowler became an official couple. Their other friend, Rosa Navarro, was going out with Ryan O'Hara. Greg and Ryan didn't seem all that special, but still . . . . was Alex the only seventh-grade girl at Ashland Middle School without a boyfriend? It sure seemed that way. Well, her and her twin sister, Ava.

Great,
Alex thought. She didn't need
this
to be a Sackett Twin thing too.

But Ava didn't want a boyfriend. She only wanted to play sports with the guys.

“Oh, wow!” Alex clapped her hand over her mouth. She hadn't meant to say that out loud. But Lindsey and Johnny had just
kissed 
! Right in the middle of the pizza place!

“See?” Emily giggled. “I told you Lindsey was over Corey. He's all yours.”

Alex sighed. Corey O'Sullivan, with his mischievous bright-blue eyes and dark-red hair, was far from all hers. Alex had liked him forever, but he'd been going out with Lindsey. Until now. Until Johnny . . . and that kiss.

Suddenly Alex felt queasy. “Have you and Greg kissed?” she whispered to Emily.

Emily blushed and looked away. “What do you think?”

Alex hadn't thought about it until now. But yes, she
did
think they had kissed. In fact, she was sure that all her friends not only had a boyfriend but had been kissed as well. Everyone except her.

She had been so close, too—and with Corey. They had been at his Christmas party, standing right under the mistletoe. He'd leaned toward her, and she'd closed her eyes, and . . . then it had started to snow. Everyone around them screamed with excitement and ran outside and
poof
! The moment was gone.

Now she wondered if he'd he really been leaning in to kiss her, or if she'd made it up. Maybe he was just going to tell her something. Doubt gnawed at her.

Alex exhaled loudly. When she had a problem, she hated to sit around and mope. Instead she flew into action. And that's what she would do now. She made a mental plan:

Get a boyfriend.

Get kissed.

How hard could that be?

It shouldn't be that hard,
Alex decided.
After all, there are hundreds of boys at Ashland
Middle School.
But she didn't want just any boyfriend. She wanted Corey. Corey was popular, played football, and had the best smile in their grade. Alex shook her head. Her parents said she always aimed high. Of course, they meant with grades and activities.
I guess I aim high with boyfriends, too.

Emily had promised to help her. They were at Sal's Pizzeria on a Monday night, pretending to study, because Emily heard Corey would be here. Alex knew Corey liked her. He'd been hanging around her locker, and laughing when she made jokes that she knew weren't funny. But maybe she'd completely misread things. Or maybe things had changed. It had been a while since his Christmas party, and she'd been so busy organizing and eventually performing in the school Variety Show that she hadn't spent much time with him.

The bell above the door jangled, and Corey, Greg, and Tim Fowler hurried in, shaking off the late February rain from their jackets. At the sight of him, Alex wished she'd had time to make a more detailed plan. How exactly was she supposed to get Corey to be her boyfriend? She'd
never been a on a date before. Were there some magic words girls like Lindsey knew? A secret look? An emoji to text?

“Showtime!” Emily whispered to Alex. Then she waved the boys over.

Alex smiled brightly at Corey. Was she grinning like a demonic clown? She rearranged her face into a cool,
hey there
look and tried to lean casually against the back of the booth. Emily expertly maneuvered the boys so Corey had no choice but to slide next to Alex, while Greg and Tim squeezed in next to Emily.

Corey barely glanced at Lindsey and Johnny, Alex noticed. That had to be a good sign, right? Her heart beat so loudly she was sure the others could hear it.

Corey touched the cover of her textbook. “Do you have that science quiz tomorrow too? I can never remember that whole class, order, phylum thing.”

For a moment, Alex thought about pretending that she didn't know it either. But she
did
know it. She wasn't going to play dumb. “I can help,” she offered. “It's kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species.”

“Oh yeah, you're a big help!” Corey raised
his arms in surrender. “How am I supposed to remember all that?”

“Use a mnemonic,” Alex said. “I love making up mnemonics.”

“Okay, you've totally lost me,” Corey joked.

“Alex is always using big words to impress us,” Emily said.

“I'm not trying to impress anyone,” Alex insisted. She collected words the way some kids collected snow globes or postcards from faraway places. She loved the way so many different words could all mean the same thing. She loved certain letter combinations. How cool were the
m
and
n
together in mnemonic, especially since the
m
was silent?

Would Corey think this was cool too? Alex wasn't so sure. She knew he was smart, but she didn't know if he was as nerdy deep down as she was. She suddenly felt nervous. And when she was nervous, she talked. A lot.

“A mnemonic is when you take the first letters of each word and make a sentence to help you remember something,” Alex explained to Corey. “Here's one: Kevin's Poor Cow Only Feels Good Sometimes. Or you can use King Phillip Cried Out For Good Soup.”

Corey nodded vigorously. “Give me a sec.” He thought a moment. “Keep Purple Cats Off Football Game Socks!”

“Wow, that one's hilarious! Totally ingenious!” Alex cringed. Why hadn't she just said “funny” and “smart”? She was messing up royally.

But soon Emily, Tim, and Greg were making up silly mnemonics too. Corey gave her a playful shove as he recited another one, and her heart sped up again. He was so close she could smell the fabric softener on his faded blue shirt—it was the same one her parents used. If they went out, he would sit even closer. He would hold her hand. And maybe kiss her.

“Alex? Hey, Earth to Alex!” Emily waved her hand in front of Alex's face.

Oh no! She'd been sitting there with her mouth hanging open. She hated how weird and awkward she got around boys, and she thought things had been getting better now that she was getting to know Corey a little more. But here she was, unable to speak and having a silent heart attack.

“What?” Alex asked. She fidgeted, readjusting her stretchy hot-pink headband.

“I was talking about that new movie,
Escape
from Dark Woods
. Aren't you dying to see it too?” Emily asked.

Alex wasn't dying to see it. She hated horror movies. Emily knew that.

“Well—” Alex started.

“Corey wants to see it,” Emily interrupted. She shot Alex a meaningful look.

Alex brightened. “Yes! I do want to see it.”

“You two should see it
together
.” Emily grinned.

“Hey, are you kids ordering a pizza?” Sal, the bearded owner, appeared at their table and wiped his hands on his white apron.

“Definitely. We'll have a large pie,” Emily said. “Right, guys?”

Tim and Greg fell into a debate with Emily about pizza toppings, and Corey nudged her arm.

“Do you . . . um . . . want to go see that movie?” Corey asked in a low voice.

Alex wondered if she should play it cool, but she didn't think she could. “With you?”

“Yeah.” Corey fiddled with a paper napkin.

Alex thought her face would crack if she dared to smile any bigger. Corey had asked her out!

“Definitely,” she said.

“So you're good with mushrooms, Alex?” Tim asked. “Emily said you're a vegetarian.”

Who cared what was on the pizza? She was finally going on a date! Her first date!

Ava Sackett let the sounds and smells of the Ashland Middle School gym envelop her as she rolled the basketball between her palms. She'd missed the familiar scent of sweat and excitement and the rhythmic pounding of sneakers. She'd missed the exhilaration of moving the ball up court and the heart-pounding thrill of scoring. She felt as if she'd returned home after a long journey. The world made so much more sense to her when she stood on a football field or basketball court.

“Hey, Sackett!” Xander Browning pumped his fist, as the boys' basketball team completed their final cooldown lap.

“I'm back!” Ava waved and smiled. Last week, when the doctor finally cleared her to play, she had literally jumped for joy. Nursing her sprained ankle at home while the season progressed
without her had been torturous. In a few minutes, she would take the court with the Ashland Middle School girls' basketball team for her first practice in weeks. She still had to wear an ankle brace while she played, but she'd gotten pretty used to doing everything normally in it.