"What," Lilly said, her eyes getting all narrow, "is yourproblem?"
I went, "You know what? I don’t have a problem.You’re the one with the problem. You seem to have a big problem with me. Well, you know what? I’m going to solve your problem for you. I’m leaving. I never wanted to help you with your stupid Ho-Gate story anyway. The Hos are nice people. They haven’t done anything wrong. I don’t see why you have to pick on them. And"—I said this as I opened the door—"my hair isnot yellow."
Then I left. I sort of slammed the door behind me, too.
While I was waiting for the elevator, I sort of thought Lilly might come out and apologize to me.
But she didn’t.
I came straight home, took a bath, and got into bed with my remote control and Fat Louie, who’s the only person who likes me the way I am right now. I was thinking Lilly might call to apologize, but so far she hasn’t.
Well, I’m not apologizing until she does.
And you know what? I looked in the mirror a minute ago, and my hair doesn’t look that bad.
Past Midnight, Sunday, October 12
She still hasn’t called.
Sunday, October 12
Oh my God. I am so embarrassed. I wish I could disappear. You will never believe what just happened.
I walked out of my room to get breakfast, and there were my mom and Mr. Gianini sitting at the table eating pancakes!
And Mr. Gianini was wearing a T-shirt and boxer shorts!! My mom was in her kimono!!! When she saw me, she choked on her orange juice. Then she went, "Mia, what are you doing here? I thought you spent the night at Lilly’s."
I wish I had. I wish I had never chosen to be assertive last night. I could have stayed over at the Moscovitzes’ and never had to look at Mr. Gianini in his boxer shorts. I could have lived a full and happy life without ever having seenthat.
Not to mention him seeing me in my bright red flannel nightie.
How am I ever going to go to a review session again?
This is so horrible. I wish I could call Lilly, but I guess we are fighting.
Later on Sunday
Oh, okay. According to my mom, who just came into my room, Mr. Gianini spent the night on the futon couch because a train on the line he normally takes to his apartment in Brooklyn derailed, and it was going to be out of service for hours, so she told him to just stay over.
If I were still friends with Lilly, she would probably say that my mother was lying to compensate for having traumatized my perception of her as a strictly maternal, and therefore nonsexual, being. That’s what Lilly always says when anybody’s mother has a guy over and then lies about it.
I prefer to believe my mom’s lie, though. The only way I will ever pass Algebra is to believe my mother’s lie, because I could never sit there and concentrate on polynomials knowing that the guy in front of me has not only probably stuck his tongue in my mom’s mouth but also probably seen her naked.
Why do all these bad things keep happening to me? I would think it would be time for something good to happen to me for a change.
After my mom came in and lied to me, I got dressed and went out into the kitchen to make breakfast. I had to, because my mom wouldn’t bring me breakfast in my room, like I asked her. Actually, she went, "Who do you think you are, anyway? The princess of Genovia?"
Which I suppose she thinks is hysterically funny, but really it isn’t.
By the time I left my room, Mr. Gianini had gotten dressed, too. He was trying to be all jokey about what had happened, which is the only way you can be about it, I guess.
I wasn’t feeling too jokey at first. But then Mr. G started talking about what it would be like to see certain people from Albert Einstein in their pajamas. Like Principal Gupta. Mr. G thinks Principal Gupta probably wears a football jersey to bed, with her husband’s sweat pants. I kind of started to laugh, thinking about Principal Gupta in sweat pants. I said I bet Mrs. Hill wears a negligee, one of those fancy ones with the feathers and stuff. But Mr. G said he thought Mrs. Hill was more into flannel than feathers. I wonder how Mr. G knows. Did he go out with Mrs. Hill, too? For a boring guy with so many pens in his shirt pocket, he sure gets around.
After breakfast, my mom and Mr. Gianini tried to get me to go to Central Park with them, because it was all nice outside and everything, but I said I had too much homework, which wasn’t too big of a lie. Ido have homework—Mr. G should know—but not that much. I just didn’t really want to be hanging around with a couple. It’s like when Shameeka started going with Aaron Ben-Simon in the seventh grade, and she wanted us to go with her to the movies with him and stuff because her dad wouldn’t let her go anywhere with a guy alone (even a totally harmless guy like Aaron Ben-Simon, whose neck was as thick as my upper arm), but when we went with her she sort of ignored us, which I guess is the point. Only for the two weeks they went out, you sort of couldn’t talk to Shameeka, because all she could talk about was Aaron.
Not that all my mom can talk about is Mr. Gianini. She’s not like that at all. But I had a feeling if I went to Central Park I might have to see kissing. Not that there’s anything wrong with kissing, like on TV. When it’s your mom and your Algebra teacher, though . . .
You know what I mean, right?
REASONS I SHOULD MAKE UP WITH LILLY
1. We’ve been best friends since kindergarten. 2. One of us has to be the bigger person and make the first move. 3. She makes me laugh. 4. Who else can I eat lunch with? 5. I miss her.
REASONS I SHOULD NOT MAKE UP WITH LILLY
1. She’s always telling me what to do. 2. She thinks she knows everything. 3. Lilly is the one who started it, so she should be the one to apologize. 4. I will never achieve self-actualization if I always back down from my convictions. 5. What if I apologize and she STILL won’t talk to me????