Click Here (to find out how i survived seventh grade) by Denise Vega

Author:Denise Vega [VEGA, DENISE]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: JUV000000
ISBN: 9780316031134
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2007-10-15T04:00:00+00:00

chapter 16

IPF (Invalid Page Fault)

“Not again,” a man’s voice groaned.

I pushed away two rolls of paper towels, shoved the Windex aside, and pulled the mop away from my face. Mr. Foslowski stared down at me, hands on hips, scowl on face. Then his expression softened.

“Aren’t you the corn girl?”

“Yes,” I said, pushing a mop away from my head.

Mr. Foslowski frowned. “Didn’t expect this from you.” He stepped forward. “Okay, where is he?” He began pulling the supplies off the floor and restacking them on the shelves. He moved a trash can aside and peered under another set of shelves. “Where’ve you got him hidden?”

“Who?” I asked, standing up to brush myself off. I picked up the rest of the things that had fallen on the ground.

Mr. Foslowski turned to me, eyes narrowed. “Who else?” he said. “The boy.”

I smiled nervously. “There isn’t one.”

“Got to be one somewhere,” Mr. Foslowski muttered, pushing aside some rolls of toilet paper. “Why else would you be in here?” I wanted to point out that even the smallest boy couldn’t hide behind a roll of toilet paper, but I decided I’d better not. He rummaged around, straightening things as he searched. Finally, he turned around and faced me. “There’s no boy in here.”

I realized that the only thing more embarrassing than being caught in the custodian’s closet with a boy is getting caught in there by yourself. I glanced around, wondering if there was a hidden camera nearby to catch my humiliation on tape.

“No, sir.”

“Just you.”

“Yes, sir.”

“No boy.”

“No, sir.” I sighed. “No boy at all.” And when I said those words, something happened inside me. As if everything I’d ever felt about my non-boyfriend life overflowed. My mouth opened, and a whole gigabyte of words poured out. “Though I wish there was. Well, actually not in here, but maybe somewhere a little more, well, comfortable. Not that this isn’t comfortable for all the cleaning supplies, you know, but, well, it’s not really designed for people to hang out in, which, of course, is why you kicked out those eighth graders who were in a closet doing — well, you know.

“But there’s this boy in my homeroom and English and word processing, who’s also in this Intranet Club after school, and we’re really good friends even though I like him more than friends, but yesterday he started asking about my best friend and he thinks she’s cute and she always gets all the boys, even when she doesn’t want them, and it’s just not fair.” I took a breath, then let it out long and slow. I should have been completely embarrassed saying all of that to a complete stranger, but for some reason I felt … relieved. Lighter. Like I’d just defragmented my hard drive. Finally, someone knew about my feelings besides my private web page. It didn’t matter that it was Mr. Foslowski. It was out there.

I snuck a peek at him. He was staring at me, chewing the inside of his cheek. He was either going to burst out laughing or smack me for talking too much.

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