I slide my eyes over to the girls who know how to stand nonchalantly in underwear, just chatting. The group includes Nelly and Inez. Nelly's leg is up on the bench between the lockers and she is rubbing glitter lotion onto her calves.
How did girls like that become so comfortable with their bodies? How did I miss out on that lesson?
I am uncomfortable in this body.
I cannot wear a cute tank top with confidence.
I listen like a fly on the wall. It doesn't matter to them that I'm there. Because I'm the Invisible Girl.
"Well, I think Max Carter is cute," Nelly says. "There's just something
about him."
"Yeah, but he's always got his nose in that little sketchbook. It's kind of creepy," Inez says while fixing the braids in her hair.
"It's not creepy. It's mysterious. He's totally driven," Nelly says. "He's really smart and cultured. He's so not a boy."
I suck my lips in and mock her to myself.
"Maybe you should ask him out," another girl says.
"Yeah, maybe I should. I love talking to him. He's so deep."
The lockers slam shut, and the voices echo down the hallway to the door to the gym until it's just me and the tick of the large caged clock.
I smart a little. A pinprick. I'm used to envy, but this pain is different.
Max Carter doesn't have deep conversations only with me.
__________________
BOY PROOF by Cecil Castellucci. Copyright (c) 2005 by Cecil Castellucci. Published by Candlewick Press, Inc., Cambridge, MA.
"This novel's funny first-person narrative will grab teens (and not just sci-fi fans) with its romance and the screwball special effects." — BOOKLIST
An AMERICAN BOOKSELLER "Pick of the Lists" Selection
A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age
A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY "Flying Start" Selection
"Egg's journey to shed her trappings and to confidently inhabit her own character is one readers won't want to miss." — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (starred review)
"Castellucci's brooding, smart, self-confident narrator gives a . . . warts-and-all glimpse into Hollywood." — THE HORN BOOK
"A fresh voice that will be immediately appealing to readers."
— Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"Victoria — aka Egg — may be boy proof, but readers will find Cecil Castellucci's fully-inhabited narrator irresistible. A prayer for the wayward, Boy Proof is witty, tender-hearted and compulsively readable." — Ron Koertge, author of STONER & SPAZ — Ron Koertge
Cecil Castellucci grew up in New York City. She is a writer, a filmmaker, an actress, and a singer-songwriter, and engages in many other creative pursuits. She is also an avid science fiction fan: as a testament to her devotion, she lived for six weeks on Hollywood Boulevard, waiting for the opening of STAR WARS: EPISODE ONE. "Sci-fi fandom is always given such a bad rap," she says. "I'm a card-carrying geek and proud of it." Currently, Cecil Castellucci lives in Los Angeles, in the "belly of the beast" known as Hollywood. This is her first book with Candlewick Press.
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Distributor: Random House, Inc.
Publication Date: 08-08-2006
Pages: 208
Measurements: 7.8in X 5.33in X .57in X .4063lb
