"Betty Miles - The Trouble With Thirteen" - читать интересную книгу автора (Miles Betty)

Everyone laughed. I pretended to laugh too, but I was embarrassed. I hate that word "boobs." I wish
people wouldn't say it, especially girls. It's like calling your own body stupid.
"Not all boys are like that, though," Kate put in."
"Forget it," Debbie said quickly. "They all are. Every boy in the world has sex on his mind half the time."
"How do you know?" Angela laughed. "Did you take a survey?"
"Yeah!" Janie shouted. "She went up to Tony Albrecht and said, 'Pardon me, I'm taking a poll, do you have sex on your mind fifty percent of the time?'"
I couldn't help laughing; it was so funny to think of Debbie asking Tony Albrecht that. "Tony'd probably say, 'No, actually, it's closer to fifty-one point seven'" I yelled out, as though I were part of the conversation.
Everyone laughed. Debbie turned around and said, "Funny!" I felt better.
"My foot's asleep!" Sue yelled, jumping up and rubbing it. Then she sat down next to me on the couch. "What I think," she said, "is that most boys would just like to be friends with girls, without worrying about the other stuff."
I think so, too, but someone like Debbie can make you wonder. "You're in for a big surprise," she said complacently. "Look at all those magazines like Playboy-why would there be so many if boys and men didn't buy them?"
"Not all of them do, though," Kate protested. "I
mean, like, my dad doesn't" She got up abruptly and went out to the kitchen. Maybe she was afraid Debbie would say her father read them secretly.
But Debbie didn't say anything. Nobody did. I guess we were all sort of uncomfortable with the idea of fathers. It's strange to think of people Dad's age being interested in naked girls.
After a pause Janie said, "Millions of men read newspapers, too."
"And other magazines. Like Time!" Sue said.
"TV Guide!" Angela shouted. "Readers' Digest!"
Suddenly we were all howling.
"My father reads a magazine called Organic Gardening!" I yelled. "It has articles about which is better, pig manure or cow manure!"
That really broke everyone up. I felt almost like a comedian.
The party got better after that. Kate brought in a tray of Cokes and popcorn, and Debbie got up and pulled a chair over. I patted the couch, and Marvin jumped up beside me. He's cute. He wagged his stumpy little tail and rubbed against my ankle. He has wiry fur, not silky like Nora's. He made me think of Nora, though. I hoped she wasn't still wheezing. But I couldn't do anything about it now. I opened a can of soda and stretched out more comfortably on the couch, with the nightgown draped over my legs. I felt sort of languid sitting there-almost like a model in a
nightgown ad, except for Marvin scratching a flea on his stomach beside me.
But just when I got relaxed, Debbie had to jump up and start looking through Kate's records. "I've gotta hear this!" she said, holding one up.
As soon as Kate put it on, Debbie began wiggling her hips to the music. "Come on!" she shouted. "Everybody dance!" You could see she wasn't used to our parties. We usually just talk and eat and watch TV and stuff.
I don't really know how to dance. I never had a reason to learn. Rachel has a lot of records, but they're not the kind you dance to. I mean, who would dance to Pete Seeger singing about cleaning up the Hudson River? It would be dumb.
Angela had jumped up right away. She was dancing beside Debbie, following her movements. Then Kate pulled Janie up. "Let's try that step Marian taught us," she said. Marian's Janie's big sister. I didn't know she was teaching them to dance.
Debbie and Angela were really good. Sue and I sat on the couch patting Marvin and watching them.
"I don't really know how to dance," Sue said. "Do you?"
"Not that much." I was relieved. "I guess it's not so hard, though. Once you learn."
"Yeah." She passed me the popcorn and we sat there eating it.
"Come on, you guys," Angela shouted to us.
"Well, Annie, want to try?" Sue jumped up.
"Sure, I guess." I stood up carefully, smoothing my nightgown down.
Sue started waving her arms around. Then she dropped them. "I'm embarrassed," she said.
"Me, too. Besides, I have this dumb nightgown." I moved my feet a little bit. "It gets in the way."
"It looks neat, though," Sue said right away. "No kidding, Annie. It looks terrific on you, I think." She bent her knees and stepped back and forth in time to the beat. The music was very loud. "It makes you look older," Sue shouted over it. "I can sort of imagine how you'll look when you're sixteen or something."
"Really?" I took a bigger step and tried to move my arms like Kate and Janie. "I can't even imagine being thirteen!"
"I know it." Sue stopped jumping around. "Still, I guess it's not all that different. Look at Kate."
It was true. Except for the pierced ears, and the dancing, Kate seemed about the same. "Yeah. You don't have to change overnight or anything," I said.
All of a sudden, I got the feeling of how you move when you dance. It just seemed to come to me. The gown swirled around my legs. I was doing it!
"Look at me!" I yelled, and right then I lost my balance and tripped over the big chair and fell into it. I just lay there, laughing so hard I couldn't move. Angela tried to pull me up but then she fell onto the
couch. Pretty soon everyone had flopped down somewhere. The record stopped.
"What time is it, anyway?" Janie asked.
Kate looked. It was three fifteen!
So we crept through the house to use the bathrooms, whispering and giggling and trying to keep Marvin quiet. Kate turned out the living-room lights. It was an awful mess in there, with the empty soda cans and spilled popcorn and the furniture pushed all around. I didn't know what Mrs. Levy would think in the morning. Probably she expected it, from a teenage kind of party.
Finally we went to the playroom and got settled on the couch and cots and sleeping bags down there. I had a rickety cot between Sue and Debbie that squeaked when I moved. Debbie said it was too much for her sensitive ears, but that was a joke. She conked out after about three minutes. She sleeps with her mouth open and snores a little. I wouldn't have expected it.
I rolled over and said "good night" to see if anyone would answer. Sue did.
"Listen, Annie, why don't you come over some day next week and we'll practice dancing."
"Neat." Then I remembered Rachel. But after all, I didn't need to see Rachel every day. I'd see her tomorrow to tell her all about the party. It was really too bad she had missed it. In the end, it turned out to be about the best party I ever went to.
Nora ran out yipping when I came home the next day. She acted as though I'd been gone on a long trip. In a way it seemed as though I had.
"Hi, sweetie!" I squatted down to hug her. She wasn't wheezing at all. She looked perfectly fine. I guess I sometimes worry too much.