The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth - Alexandra Robbins [156]
DANIELLE’S AND LOGAN’S MOTHERS had emailed back and forth for weeks. Because both families were going to be in Florida for spring break, they exchanged phone numbers. Logan’s mother emailed that Logan wanted to hang out with Danielle. Danielle’s mother nudged her to call, although Danielle hadn’t called someone new in years. Danielle put it off.
The day before break, Danielle was in an English teacher’s classroom, typesetting the accepted submissions for Stone Mill’s literary magazine. Danielle was the only student who showed up to help. She was surprised to see that one of her submissions was given the highest possible score by the other student staff members. When her creative writing teacher had assigned the class to write a submission, Danielle had dashed off a poem about her dislike of poetry. And here it was, selected for publication. Unfortunately she had turned it in as “Untitled” by “Anonymous.”
More than an hour after school let out, Danielle was still typing as the teacher reviewed other submissions. “I can take some of these with me to type over spring break, since I’m just going to be sitting around in Florida,” she told the teacher.
The teacher looked up. “Really?! You wouldn’t mind that?”
“No. I want to try to get tan, so I can just type the stuff while I’m sitting by the pool.”
“That would be great!” the teacher said, then left the room for a moment. Danielle continued to type. When the teacher returned, she asked, “Would you like to be the editor next year?”
Danielle was stunned. She had always assumed that one of the two boys who attended every meeting and who had been in the club for much longer would be the new editor. “Oh, wow. Yeah, I would. But . . .” She was about to mention the boys, then thought better of it. “Uh, yeah, that would be cool.”
Already, she had come a long way from freshman year, when she was too shy to join any clubs at all. Next year, she would be vice president of the snow team, a position the advisor had created just for her; a senior on the varsity tennis team; NHS Webmaster; and now the editor of the literary magazine. Not bad for someone who rarely talked.
In Florida, Danielle worked up the nerve to pick up the phone. She didn’t know what to say. “Uh, hey, Logan, it’s Danielle. Your mom said something in an email to my mom about you guys wanting to do something . . .”
“Yeah, we’re going to the beach tomorrow if you want to come,” Logan said. Just like that, Danielle had a planned outing.
When Logan and two other Stone Mill seniors picked up Danielle, Logan hopped in the back of the van to talk to her. Danielle recognized Juliana; she didn’t know Tracy, who was driving. To Danielle’s surprise, conversation flowed naturally about teachers and local restaurants. Even when the friends talked among themselves, sometimes Danielle chimed in.
At the beach, Danielle jumped waves with Tracy in chest-high water, while Logan and Juliana stood closer to shore. When Tracy said she wanted to swim out to touch the buoy, Danielle joined her. The afternoon passed quickly. The girls watched dolphins swimming by the pier, ate ice-cream cones, and shopped for souvenirs. On the ride home, Danielle again sat in the back with Logan. The conversation came naturally.
A skateboarder passed in front of the van. “I really want to learn to skateboard,” said Danielle.
“Hah, why?” Logan asked.
“I snowboard a lot during the winter, so it seems like it would help me get better over the summer. Although I’m not really too crazy about the falling on the pavement and getting a bunch of cuts part. . . .” Danielle trailed off. “So do you know what you want to major in?”
“I don’t know. I’m torn between two things. I really want to be a vet, but I also want to work with sharks.”
“Working with sharks would be really cool!” Danielle said. She liked Logan even more now.
“How about you?”
“I’m stuck between two things also,” said Danielle. “There are a lot of things I want to do actually, but the main