Some Kind of Wonderful by J. Minter

little kid, when he still went by Terrick, but apparently in the few years since I'd seen
     him he'd bloomed into a full-fledged hunk.
    "Hey," TZ said, giving Meredith a smile and a little head nod. "Love your necklace. This is Bruce," he said, pointing down
     to a very frisky border collie that was trying to gnaw through a coconut.
    And I could tell from the way TZ said those seven little words that he knew exactly how cute he was, that he was well aware
     that everyone here was hanging out on his family's dime, and that there was no question that he could get any girl at this
     party.
    Normally, I hated that kind of guy, but there was something about TZ that was almost magnetic. And soon I noticed that I wasn't
     the only one staring at him. A girl I knew from Miss Mallard's, Mattie Hendricks, was practically boring a hole in his head
     with her eyes.
    Mattie had been in my history class a few years ago and would be an eighth grader now. I'd always thought she was super sweet,
     but a little bit on the dorky side. She'd been wearing the same side ponytail since before it was cool again.
    "Hey, Mattie," I said to her.
    It took her a second to pry her eyes off of TZ, but when she finally looked at me, her face lit up. "Flan! It's so good to
     see you. I miss you!"
    "Oh," I stammered, surprised by her excited tone. "It's good to see you, too."
    "Remember when we did that diorama on the Pilgrims three years ago? That was awesome."
    I smiled at her. "Yeah," I said. "That was fun."
    "Is that your friend over there talking to Terrick Zumberg?"
    I looked over to see who she was talking about, and was surprised to see TZ fingering Meredith's necklace.
    "That's my friend Meredith?" It had come out sounding like a question.
    "So are they dating or what?"
    "No!" I said, a little too quickly. I didn't know why, but there was something about that question that made me almost . .
     . jealous.
    I needed to calm down.
    I turned to Mattie. "Listen, I'm going to go grab a drink, okay? It was good to see you."
    I waved to Mattie and was going to ask Meredith if she wanted to come with me to get some punch from the cooler on the other
     side of the fire, but when I got there, Kennedy was monopolizing her.
    "Oh my God," she said. "Is that necklace made from the shells we found on the beach? I knew you said you were going to do
     something with them, but I didn't realize you could make such awesome jewelry."
    "Well," Meredith said, clearly glowing, "I had a feeling they'd go well with these new beads I just ordered, but I had to
     see them together to make sure."
    "Wow," TZ said, brushing his dark hair out of his eyes. "That's rad. Could you make me a necklace? You must be really creative."
    Telling Meredith she was creative was like telling me, Hey, Flan, you're even more laid back than your sister and brother. It was the compliment she most wanted to hear. And the thing was, it was true. She was creative. And normally I'd be psyched that someone was giving my friend such well-deserved props, but tonight, it made me
     feel weird and possessive.
    In so many ways I felt like Meredith had been my discovery. Like she was some submerged sea treasure I'd found on a scuba
     diving trip and had brought to the surface. It wasn't that I didn't want anyone else to see how great she was, it was just
     that . . . well . . . what was it?
    And just when I thought things couldn't get any more confusing, I heard Meredith say coyly (and very uncharacteristically),
     "Uh uh, it doesn't work that way. I can't just make a necklace on demand for anyone who asks."
    "Not even for me?" TZ said, fake pouting. It was startling how he still looked sort of cute with his lower lip turned down.
    Meredith looked to the sky, as if for inspiration. "It's just, I have to feel the need to make the necklace."
    Too much! I needed some air. Luckily, no one was paying any attention to me, so I was able to steal away from the group and
     get down to the beach. I just wanted to breathe