Mind Games

“’Cause you’re a joystick wizard.” Maddy, her hair in one big poof of a tail today, flopped on the bed. “We really have to go back to school in just two more days.”

Thea flopped with her. “If I don’t like it after two weeks, Grammie’s going to homeschool me.”

“What’d you want to do that for? You miss out on everything.” Rolling onto her stomach, Maddy looked down at Thea’s face. “You still gotta do the schoolwork, take tests, and write those essays. I hate writing essays. But you don’t get to hang out with your friends and see what’s going on.”

“I don’t have any friends except you.”

“I’m enough for anybody, but Sheryl Anne likes you, and Ruby does.”

“Everybody already knows everybody. I don’t.”

“How’re you gonna know everybody if you don’t go to school with the rest of us?” She gave Thea a poke. “You’re just a little scared, that’s all.”

“I’m the girl whose parents got murdered.”

The poke turned into a stroke.

“Nobody’s going to make fun of you about that. And if anybody does?” Maddy’s eyes fired. “I’ll punch them right in the face. Swear to God, I will. What you got is some basic social anxiety.”

“Seriously?” Thea’s eyes rolled as she shook her head. “Where do you get that stuff?”

“My cousin Jasper has it. I heard my mama say, and then I heard Daddy say: How come they had to use fancy words for being shy? You’re just feeling shy is all.”

“I never used to be shy.”

“Good, so you’ll likely get over it. How’re you going to get a boyfriend if you don’t go to school with boys?”

“I’m not really thinking about boyfriends right now. I don’t know any boys except Rem’s friends.”

“They’re too young for a boyfriend. You don’t want to be a cradle robber.”

“Oh, Maddy! As if.”

“Plus, they’re goofy.”

“Yeah, they are.”

“Who wants a goofy boyfriend? You’ll meet more boys in school, and I’ll steer you clear of ones not worth your time. Me, I’m going to have lots and lots of boyfriends right up till I decide to get married.”

Maddy flopped over again.

“And I’m not getting married until I find one that’s handsome. If he’s not real handsome, he has to be hot, and if he’s not real hot, he at least has to be cute. So I’m having lots of boyfriends so I can weed through them till I find one I decide’s worth marrying.”

“That’s going to take a while.”

“Oh, at least till I’m thirty, I figure. Maybe thirty-five.” Maddy shot a finger at the ceiling. “A woman’s got a life to live.”

“Grammie had my mom when she was sixteen.”

Maddy shifted her dark eyes to Thea. “I love Miss Lucy like crazy, but that’s wacky. You think they maybe had to get married and all that?”

Though the bedroom door was closed, Thea glanced that way. “I wondered, so I looked up when she and my grandfather got married, and my mom was born almost a year later. Like ten and a half months, so I guess they didn’t have to. Grammie said they just loved each other so much they couldn’t wait.”

“I can wait,” Maddy said definitely, “before I settle for one man. Wouldn’t mind if he was rich, and he can’t be stupid or mean or I kick him right to the curb. Handsome doesn’t make up for stupid or mean.”

Pushing up, Maddy sat cross-legged. “Anyway, plenty of boyfriends, and I want to have sex with at least three before I pick. You gotta be compatible in the sex stuff or you end up divorced or cheating.”

“Maddy!” Shocked, thrilled, Thea shoved up to mirror her friend’s pose. “You’ll be a slut!”