Katelynn’s so confused. Her friends are pressuring her to get a boyfriend. Really pushing. Teasing her about boys in her classes. Taunting her because she doesn’t have a boyfriend yet. Suggesting that maybe Katelynn’s really a lesbian and that’s why she isn’t dating.
She dreads the bus ride to school, because she knows Heather will snipe at her for something. Usually clothes or her lack of makeup. Katelynn’s mom doesn’t want her to wear makeup yet, even though she’s 12 and most of the girls she knows are wearing at least some, but her Mom just doesn’t understand how important that is.
Katelynn sees that Heather’s on her third boyfriend this semester, and her friend Jessie is going out with Sean. Well, not “going out” going out, because it’s not like any of them can drive or go on real dates or anything, but they’re together at lunch and between second and third hour. Katelynn’s best friend Maura really wants to get Carter for a boyfriend, but he doesn’t care about anything except basketball. And that Alicia girl in her math class has been with Tim R., and everyone says they’re having sex. Tim’s always dragging her around and telling her what to do. It’s gross. Tim calls Alicia mean names, too, but Alicia says that’s what boyfriends do.
Katelynn’s mom keeps telling her not to be in a hurry to date, but she notices how much time her Mom spends on her phone, swiping photos, texting, and laughing at the responses. It’s been three months since her Mom and her last boyfriend, Ron, broke up. He seemed nice at first, but the more he drank, the more he became a jerk, telling Mom she was ugly and stupid. Katelynn saw him shove her once, but her Mom said that was just Katelynn’s imagination and to stop imagining things. She worried that Ron was going to be like that Colin guy Mom dated back when she was eight. Katelynn saw the black eye that time, and Mom was always crying.
She’d like to ask Aunt Dana for advice, but Dana’s been so busy with that creepy guy she’s been seeing. Since Dana met him, she hasn’t been over to Katelynn’s apartment as often, and when she comes, she can never stay long. Dana seems to be happy, but Katelynn isn’t too impressed with the guy and doesn’t like the way he looks at Katelynn when she walks by. She misses the days when Dana would take her to lunch and a movie, but they haven’t done that in a while, because Dana doesn’t seem to have any time.
The funny thing is Katelynn really doesn’t want a boyfriend. She likes boys, and someday that might be nice, but right now she’d rather hang out with her friends. Having a boyfriend seems like so much work and it doesn’t seem to be fun. There’s so much drama. And it changes people. Aunt Dana is so different around that guy … she’s not as much fun as she used to be. Mom so badly wants to meet a nice guy, but the ones she meets just seem to make her sadder. Heather got even meaner after she got a boyfriend, and Maura is so focused on trying to get Carter’s attention that she doesn’t even listen to what Katelynn has to say half the time.
But Katelynn’s supposed to have a boyfriend, she guesses, so maybe she should start acting more like Maura. She doesn’t get why it’s so important, but maybe she will when she has a boyfriend of her own. That tall boy Hunter keeps looking at her. Maybe he’s the one. It’s all so confusing.
