His Friday Girls

Chapter 1

I SAT AT my usual table in the Great Lakes High cafeteria and watched one of my best friends, Roberta McGillis, sort through her lunch bag. Everything inside it cried out sensible, just like her. She hadn't said anything since she sat down, and seeing her eyebrows pulled together I could tell she had something on her mind, and I'd hear about it soon. She never wastes any time getting to the point.

She waved her red and white striped straw at me. "Megan, you need Kyle Patterson for your new club. If you get him to join, other kids will too. Once they do, you'll win them over with your enthusiasm and they'll stay."

She was nuts!

"Why would he want to join my club? He hardly seems interested in the environment. I don't have to have somebody like him. If people show up for the first meeting, great. If they don't, I'll worry about it then. Besides," I added hoping to change the subject, "Mrs. Winters just gave us another big assignment that's going to take a lot of time. I have that to worry about too."

To keep her from asking questions I looked down at my lunch. Kyle Patterson! I'd tap dance on the table to have him as a member of the new club I was starting, The Better Earth Club.

Maybe Roberta was right, he'd draw other students, but I'd never have the nerve to ask him to join. I wouldn't have the nerve to ask him anything.

Roberta sat across from my other best friend, Cara Thomas. "Cara!" I gasped in mock amazement, "I can't believe I see uneaten cookies in front of you. Are you sick?"

Roberta reached across the table and waved her hand in front of Cara's glassy stare.

I turned to Cara. She did look pretty bad. "Is it the assignment?" I asked, thinking of the bombshell our teacher dropped that morning. "Mrs. Winters said you could tell her what career you decided on tomorrow. You have twenty-three more hours to worry about it." The career study assignment definitely had Cara stressed out.

As I looked at my two best friends, I wondered how we'd gotten so close. Maybe it's because we're so different that we've stuck together since junior high.

There isn't really anything unusual about me. I'm a sophomore. I have shoulder length brown hair I wear cut into layers. I'm average height, get average grades, and have an average family. I even have an average sounding name, Megan Linders. I'm definitely not the type of girl you'd notice in a crowd. I wish I could say that I did stand out, that people noticed me, but there's just nothing that noticeable about me.

Roberta's really ambitious and very practical, except for the weird fact that she's addicted to soap operas, of all things. Although she is pretty, with shoulder length red hair and green eyes, she isn't that interested in boys and dating. She says that when the right one comes along, they'll both know they're meant for each other and fall in love.

Cara, who is a bit of a nut, is anything but practical. Her brown eyes sparkle with mischief. Her black ponytail swings behind her while she chatters on about whatever. She knows about every party and every new style before anyone else, and she's always on the edge of a new catastrophe. Today the disaster is the assignment Mrs. Winters gave in class.

Roberta looked at me with a curious smile and asked, "What weird thing has Mrs. Winters got you doing now?"

"This time it's actually pretty normal. We have to write a report on a career we'd like to get started on after high school. We're supposed to interview someone and spend time where they work. She said it will help us get ready for the real world." Cara leaned back in her chair and put aside her bologna and cheese sandwich to start on her cookies.

It's too much to ask Cara to decide on any one thing. For her, trying to pick out something she'd be excited about doing for longer than two weeks would be impossible. Glad to have the topic off of Kyle Patterson, I encouraged Cara. "Try not to worry about it too much. Besides, you can always use one of your parents. They both have such exciting careers. I'd love to be an entertainment attorney like your mom."

Cara smiled wearily over the table at me and sighed. "I know it seems like she does something glamorous, but really, she just sits in her office all day. Half the time she doesn't even see her clients, they just talk on the phone. I don't want to spend my life like that. I sure don't want to go into advertising either, like my dad."

Roberta perked up when she heard the word advertising. Everyone knew she had her whole future mapped out almost to the minute. She planned to go into advertising right after she graduated from college.

"What's wrong with advertising?" she asked. "Everyone needs products and services. That means we need advertising. It's very dependable income. Besides, if you're good you can make tons of money." Roberta has a way of making her opinion sound like fact. She's on the debate team.

Cara must have been in the mood to take her on, because before I knew it they were deep into a discussion of the pros and cons of an advertising career.

I looked away from them and my gaze wandered around the lunchroom. It was almost eleven thirty-five. Time to watch for Kyle. It only took me a few seconds to spot him.

He stood in the lunch line and if I sat up real straight with my head tilted to the right I had a great view. The past few weeks, watching for him had become the main event of my day. I loved watching him talk to other kids. He has a special quality, people are drawn to him. They crowd around him, talking to him or even just listening him.

I couldn't see it happening, but Roberta was right as usual. It would be great to have him as a member of The Better Earth Club.