Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl

Josie For the Record I'm not stuck up. I'm confident. There's a big difference. If I was stuck up I'd be one of those "Oh look at me, I'm so pretty" girls instead of just appreciating the fact that my cinnamon skin looks good year-round and I can hop in the shower after soccer or lacrosse, throw on a clean sweatshirt, sweep on some mascara, let my hair loose from its pony, and give any girl a serious run for her money. And while I totally deserve my spot in Honors English I'm happy to take my proper place in Algebra I, suffering alongside the rest of the mediocre math heads. So, as far as high school boys go, I'm not so floundering in self-esteem issues that I need someone's arm to hang on or someone's jersey number to cheer for to be a legitimate person, like some people I know. Man, to listen to Kim and Caroline chatter away all summer you'd think we've been waiting our whole pathetic lives just to graduate middle school and get to Point Beach High so we could date high school boys. As if high school boys hold some kind of magical key to who we all really are. The Whole Truth All that stuff I just said is absolutely swear-to-God true, but the rest of the truth the whole truth is lately I don't have as tight a grip on my confidence as usual. I mean, this is high school. Sure, I was pretty popular in middle school, but you never know how these things are going to turn out. What if what Kim and Caroline call my natural look is considered totally lame in high school? What if wanting to read during lunch makes me a total geek? What if I don't fit in at all? Jigsaw It's funny how one night can change the way you look at certain things. I mean, I believe 100 percent that high school boys don't hold any magical key or anything but that's not the same as saying they're all bad. Some of them aren't so bad. Like, maybe, this one. I saw him across the gym before he saw me. He was scoping things out at the Fall Fling, looking for that one lucky freshman to win the prize of dancing with the studly senior. I think he picked me because I looked right at him as if I couldn't care less. I couldn't care more. My heart was pounding, palms sweaty. Hit me like a surprise party you cross-your-heart had no idea anyone was throwing you. Now, I have never understood all that he's-my-other-half soul mate stuff or when people sometimes talk about having an empty space inside or that they're missing pieces or something. But then he walked over and fit himself right into my puzzle. First (Real) Date: Part One I think Mom is a little bit worried the first guy I'm dating is a senior. She should know me better than that. I never do anything I don't want to do. That's not going to change. I mean, when everyone thought it was so cool to sit on the seawall and puff through a pack of Marlboro Lights, I had a blast sitting there laughing, telling them how truly stupid and uncool they really were, actually, coughing and sputtering and wanting to puke, yeah, real sexy, dopes. Give me some credit. I never do anything I don't want to do. Period. He picks me up in his brand-new Mazda Miata. I hate to admit it, but he kind of cracked my cool-as-a-cucumber exterior I tried to pull off at the dance (even though I'm hoping he didn't notice I talked way too fast) but now all he's talking about is how many horsepowers his stupid car has and the torque and how he almost picked cherry red but he's so stoked that they had thisStone, Tanya Lee is the author of 'Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780553495096 and ISBN 0553495097.