The Witch by Jean Thompson Page A

u under there thumb. Be strong.
    Thanks. I will try to be.
    Do or not do. There is no try!
    Oh please, that is so lame!
It was from
Star Wars
, but he’d had to tell her that.
Star Wars
was for old people.
    So u have a boyfriend yet, PYT?
    Maybe.
She didn’t want to admit to not having one.
    Who iz this maybe boy?
    His name is Richie.
    U like him?
    Of course I do, hes my boyfriend.
    Why isnt he there?
    My mom won’t let him up here. In my room.
That was true, sort of. Her mother would chase a boy away with a broom before she would let the two of them be anywhere with a bed.
    Geronimo took a long drink through the straw and wiggled his eyebrows to show that what he was saying was meant to be funny:
How about I be yur boyfriend in yur room.
    Oh ha ha.
    You hurtin my feelings.
He made a hurt-feelings face, puffing out his cheeks so that his face was even fatter.
    Get over it,
she typed, because the idea was, he had to beg her,
Oh Candy pleez pleez,
because she was so beautiful.
    Girl u killin me.
    Tough.
    Have some mercy.
    She didn’t type anything back, but she fiddled with her hair, then, like it was a casual thing, nothing she really thought about, pulled her top down so her boobs were out.
    Candy girl u are wicked hot.
    She leaned into the screen and made a kiss mouth. She squeezed her arms underneath her boobs so they looked really big.
    Put yur hands on u.
    Pretend it really was Richie Cruz, right there with her. She’d do this for him. Whatever he wanted. This and this and this. Her eyes were closed, seeing him. Then she opened them and it was Geronimo, his big white face filling the screen and his mouth loose and so close she could see the wet pink inside of it and she typed
I have to go,
and hit the kill button.
    â€”
    The next day Marilee asked what she did the night before and Janice said nothing, just fell asleep early.
    â€”
    I’m like a little freaked out, I’m not really old enough to be Talking to me?
Geronimo offered, since she didn’t want to say everything straight out.
    Yeah.
    But u want to, dont u?
    I guess so.
    Then sounds to me like ur old enough. I mean its natural. Natural is the way the real world iz, not some pretend story they tell you in church.
    Not that anybody in her family went to church, but she knew what he meant.
    Lie down on yur bed OK?
    Why?
    Becoz I been thinking of you on a bed. Pleez, Miss Sweet Candy, I got this craving for u, u are so beautiful booty full.
    Ha ha.
    Pleez.
    Like this?
    Oh yeah yeah! Now scoot back an wiggle some.
    Janice and Marilee hung out at the food court in the mall, eating pizza slices. The mall was old and the stores kept closing down. After a while a different store would open in the same place, something disappointing like golf equipment or baby clothes. It was the totally boring headquarters of the totallyboring summer. Some guys from their school were there but they were jerks, chasing around and throwing drinks on each other.
    Richie Cruz had a girlfriend now. It was horrible but true. The two of them came into the mall a couple times a week, the girlfriend probably dragging him there so he could buy her stuff. They didn’t know the girlfriend’s name but she was Puerto Rican like Richie. Which was so unfair, since no matter how hard Janice tried, she was not ever going to be Puerto Rican!
    Here they were again. Janice and Marilee watched them walk through the squares of glittering light from the glass walls, super slow, like they were a parade, the two of them waving from a float, see how we’re all the way up here and you’re down there. Richie! Easy on his feet, yawning like he just woke up, his green eyes half-slit. His black T-shirt stuck to his shoulder blades, it was so hot outside. Janice wanted to peel that damp shirt off him like the petals of a silk rose, send her cool breath across the muscles of his back.
    The girlfriend said something that had the look of complaining: Why wasn’t Richie