Eleanor & Park

‘We’ll take one,’ he said.

‘Um … okay.’

‘Okay, cool, I’ll get my mom’s camera.’

‘Now?’

‘Why not now?’

She didn’t have an answer.

His mom was thrilled to take her picture. This called for Makeover, Part II – which Park cut short, thank God, saying, ‘Mom, I want a photo that actually looks like Eleanor.’

His mom insisted on taking one of them together, too, which Park didn’t mind at all. He put his arm around her.

‘Shouldn’t we wait?’ Eleanor asked. ‘For a holiday or something more memorable?’

‘I want to remember tonight,’ Park said.

He was such a dork sometimes.

Eleanor must have been acting too happy when she got home because her mom followed her to the back of the house like she could smell it on her. (Happiness smelled like Park’s house. Like Skin So Soft and all four food groups.)

‘Are you going to take a bath?’ her mom asked.

‘Uh-huh.’

‘I’ll watch the door for you.’

Eleanor turned on the hot water and climbed into the empty bath tub. It was so cold by the back door that the bath water started cooling off before the tub was even full. Eleanor took baths in such a hurry she was usually done by then.

‘I ran into Eileen Benson at the store today,’

her mom said. ‘Do you remember her from church?’

‘I don’t think so,’ Eleanor said. Her family hadn’t gone to church in three years.

‘She had a daughter your age – Tracy.’

‘Maybe …’

‘Well, she’s pregnant,’ her mom said. ‘And Eileen’s a wreck. Tracy got involved with a boy in their neighborhood, a black boy. Eileen’s husband is having a fit.’

‘I don’t remember them,’ Eleanor said. The tub was almost full enough to rinse her hair.

‘Well, it just made me think about how lucky I am,’ her mom said.

‘That you didn’t get involved with a black guy?’

‘No,’ her mom said. ‘I’m talking about you.

How lucky I am that you’re so smart about boys.’

‘I’m not smart about boys,’ Eleanor said. She rinsed her hair quickly, then stood up, covering herself with a towel while she got dressed.

‘You’ve stayed away from them. That’s smart.’

Eleanor pulled out the drain and carefully picked up her dirty clothes. Park’s photo was in her back pocket, and she didn’t want it to get wet.

Her mom was standing by the stove, watching her.

‘Smarter than I ever was,’ her mom said.

‘And braver. I haven’t been on my own since the eighth grade.’

Eleanor hugged her dirty jeans to her chest.

‘You act like there are two kinds of girls,’ she said. ‘The smart ones and the ones that boys like.’

‘That’s not far from the truth,’ her mom said, trying to put her hand on Eleanor’s shoulder.

Eleanor took a step back. ‘You’ll see,’ her mom said. ‘Wait until you’re older.’

They both heard Richie’s truck pull into the driveway.

Eleanor pushed past her mother and rushed to her bedroom. Ben and Mouse slipped in just behind her.

Eleanor couldn’t think of a place safe enough for Park’s photo, so she zipped it into the pocket of her school bag. After she’d looked at it again and again and again.

CHAPTER 44 Eleanor

Wednesday night wasn’t the worst.

Park had taekwando, but Eleanor still had Park, the memory of him, everywhere. (Everywhere he’d touched her felt untouchable. Everywhere he’d touched her felt safe.) Richie had to work late that night, so her mom made Totino’s Party Pizzas for di

They must have been on sale at Food 4 Less, because the freezer was stuffed with them.

They watched Highway to Heaven while they ate. Then Eleanor sat with Maisie on the living room floor, and they tried to teach Mouse ‘Down Down Baby.’

It was hopeless. He could either remember the words or the clapping, but never both at once.

It drove Maisie crazy. ‘Start again,’ she kept saying.

‘Come help us, Ben,’ Eleanor said, ‘it’s easier with four.’

Down, down, baby, down by the roller coaster.

Sweet, sweet, baby, I’ll never let you go.

Shimmy, shimmy, cocoa puff, shimmy . . .

‘Oh my God, Mouse. Right hand first – right first. Okay. Start again …’

Down, down, baby . . .

‘Mouse!’

CHAPTER 45 Park

‘I don’t feel like cooking di

It was just the three of them, Park, his mom and Eleanor, sitting on the couch, watching Wheel of Fortune. His dad had gone turkey hunting and wouldn’t be home until late, and Josh was staying over at a friend’s.

‘I could heat up a pizza,’ Park said.

‘Or we could go get pizza,’ his mom said.

Park looked at Eleanor; he didn’t know what the rules were, as far as going out. Her eyes got big, and she shrugged.

‘Yeah,’ Park said, gri

‘I feel too lazy,’ his mom said. ‘You and Eleanor go get pizza.’

‘You want me to drive?’

‘Sure,’ his mom said. ‘You too scared?’

Jeez, now his mom was calling him a pussy.

‘No, I can drive. Do you want Pizza Hut?

Should we call it in first?’

‘You go where you want,’ his mom said. ‘I’m not even very hungry. You go. Eat di

He and Eleanor both stared at her.

‘Are you sure?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, go,’ she said, ‘I never get house to myself.’

She was home all day, every day by herself, but Park decided not to mention it. He and Eleanor stood up cautiously from the couch. Like they were expecting his mom to say ‘April fools!’ two weeks late.

‘Keys on hook,’ she said. ‘Hand me my purse.’ She gave him twenty dollars from her wallet, and then ten more.

‘Thanks …’ Park said, still hesitant. ‘I guess we’ll go now?’

‘Not yet …’ His mom looked at Eleanor’s clothes and frowned. ‘Eleanor can’t go out like that.’ If they wore the same size, she’d be forcing Eleanor into a stonewashed miniskirt about now.

‘But I’ve looked like this all day,’ Eleanor said. She was wearing army surplus pants and a short-sleeved men’s shirt over some kind of long-sleeved purple T-shirt. Park thought she looked cool. (He actually thought she looked adorable, but that word would make Eleanor gag.)

‘Just let me fix your hair,’ his mom said. She pulled Eleanor into the bathroom and started pulling bobby pins out of her hair. ‘Down, down, down,’ she said.

Park leaned against the doorway and watched.

‘It’s weird that you’re watching this,’ Eleanor said.

‘It’s nothing I haven’t seen before,’ he said.

‘Park probably help me do your hair on wedding day,’ his mom said.

He and Eleanor both looked at the floor. ‘I’ll wait for you in the living room,’ he said.

In a few minutes, she was ready. Her hair looked perfect, every curl shiny and on purpose, and her lips were a glossy pink. He could tell from here that she’d taste like strawberries.

‘Okay,’ his mom said, ‘go. Have fun.’

They walked out to the Impala, and Park opened the door for Eleanor. ‘I can open my own door,’ she said. And by the time he got to his side, she’d leaned over the seat and pushed his door open.

‘Where should we go?’ he asked.

‘I don’t know,’ she said, sinking down in her seat. ‘Can we just get out of the neighborhood? I feel like I’m sneaking across the Berlin Wall.’

‘Oh,’ he said, ‘yeah.’ He started the car and looked over at her. ‘Get down more. Your hair glows in the dark.’

‘Thanks.’

‘You know what I mean.’

He started driving west. There was nothing east of the Flats but the river.

‘Don’t drive by the Rail,’ she said.

‘The what?’

‘Turn right here.’

‘Okay …’

He looked down at her – she was crouching on the floor – and laughed.

‘It’s not fu

‘It’s kind of fu

‘Your dad wants you to drive. All you have to do is learn how to drive a stick.’