Taffy Sinclair 004 - Taffy Sinclair and the Romance Machine Disaster Read Free Page A

and I looked at Randy ' s father out of the corner of m y eye. He had jumped up and was towering over everybody, waving his arms and yelling his head off.
    Randy made two more touchdowns in the second half. I saw those, too, but also I kept watching the clock on the scoreboard and thinking about how nervous I was. I had never been alone with Randy before. Of course we wouldn ' t be totally alone. There would be tons of kids in Mama Mia ' s. But we would be alone when we walked from the football field to Mama Mia ' s. And we would sit at a table by ourselves. And we would walk home alone afterwards. And all that time, I would have to talk to him. What on earth was I going to say?
    I tried to shut out the crowd noises as I thought about it. I closed my eyes and remembered all the daydreams I had had about Randy and me. We had been alone together in all of those. And we had plenty to say to each other in them, too. But what? I racked my brain, trying to ignore kids going wild and shouting all around me, but I couldn ' t remember a single thing we had talked about.
    The game was over in what seemed like only a few minutes, and kids were jumping up and pouring out of the stands.
    " We won! " shouted Katie. Then she gave me a big smile and asked, " How does it feel to have a date with the star of the game? "
    " Great, " I said, hoping no one would notice how nervous I was. " I ' ll see you guys later. Okay? "
    " At Mama Mia ' s, " chirped Christie. " We ' ll be watching for you and Randy to get there. "
    Then my four best friends left me standing all alone .

CHAPTER THREE
    I was so nervous that my teeth were starting to chatter. I waited in the stands the way Randy had told me to do. He told me that he would be out of the gym just as soon as he took a shower and changed his clothes and then we would walk to Mama Mia ' s Pizzeria, which was only three blocks away.
    It was a cold fall day, and I zipped up my jacket and watched the wind blow leaves around in circles along with empty popcorn boxes and mimeographed programs, and I worried all over again about what we would talk about. What if he wanted to talk about football and those three touchdowns? Sure, I had seen them, but my knowledge about football ended there. I could never fake a thing like that. Or maybe neither one of us would come up with anything to talk about and we would just sit and sta re at each other all afternoon.
    " Hi, Jana. Thanks for waiting. "
    " Oh, " I said. " Hi, Randy. " I was so deep in thought that I hadn ' t seen or heard Randy coming, but there he was, looking at me and smiling, water droplets sparkling in his dark hair. I felt better already. I could spend the rest of the day just looking at his kind and sensitive smile.
    That smile gave me confidence I didn ' t know I had, so I got brave and said, " That was a great game, and those three touchdowns you made were really super. "
    Randy beamed. " Did you really think so? "
    " Sure. " I wanted to tell him how scared I had been when he was tackled, but I was afraid he might think I was being silly.
    " Playing football really makes me hungry. I can ' t wait to get that bi-i-ig, juicy pizza. What kind of pizza do you like, anyway? "
    " Deep-dish pepperoni, green pepper, and mushroom, " I said.
    " You ' re kidding. " He looked at me as if he were in total shock. " That ' s my absolute favorite. I order it every time I go to Mama Mia ' s. "
    " Really? " I said, echoing his surprise. " So do I, but most kids I know won ' t go near green peppers and mushrooms. "
    " That ' s their tough luck. They don ' t know what they ' re missing. "
    Randy gave me a big grin, and I grinned back. I had been right. We did have things in common.
    When we got to Mama Mia ' s it was so packed with kids that we could ba rely get in the front door, but once we got inside something really weird happened. All over the place kids stopped talking and stared at us. Especially the girls. I knew they were all imagining what it would be