I stared at the recorder, astonished. “Play it back,” I told Andie.
Once again, we listened to Jared’s startling response.
“Well, this doesn’t sound like the Jared we once knew,” Andie remarked.
I nodded, stunned. “When did all this happen?”
“An hour after volleyball practice. Stan and I were studying at the library, then he took the bus home. I met up with Amy-Liz at the Soda Straw, which is where we ran into Jared.”
Curling up on my bed, I asked, “Does Jared know Amy-Liz was taping him?”
“No. I hid this in her bag. Clever, don’t you think?”
I inspected Andie’s detective equipment. The microphone was so tiny. “Very cool.”
She returned the MP3 player to its case. Then she sat on the floor, leaning her head on my bed.
“Looks like I’m keeping my end of our secret pact.”
I stared at the canopy overhead. “Well, to be honest, there’s no need for it now,” I told her.
Andie leaned up on her elbows, staring at me with her brown saucer eyes. “Why not?”
I was close to telling her that I’d called off Jared’s test, but the phone rang. “Hold on. I’ll be right back.” I darted to the hall phone.
“Hello?” I said.
“Hey, Holly. It’s Jared.”
I wondered why he was calling. “What’s up?” I asked.
“I’ve been thinking.”
“Yeah?”
“I wondered if you could clear up something for me.”
I sneaked down the hall to see if Andie was overhearing my end of the conversation. “Like what?”
“Like the reason you’re so mad at me for following all the rules on your list. It has to mean only one thing.”
“What?” I waited.
He took a deep breath. “Like maybe you never wanted me to pass STAN in the first place.”
“Do you really think that?” I was starting to feel jittery.
“It’s this feeling I have, Holly. Like maybe you only agreed to STAN for the fun of it.” He paused. “Well, am I right?”
“Of course not, Jared. I didn’t dream up something just to waste your time and mine. But actually, I think we should just forget about STAN. It was a dumb idea.” I switched the phone to my right ear. “Look, I have a friend over right now. Can we talk later? Bye.” I whirled around to hang up the phone, only to meet Andie’s scowl.
“What do you mean, ‘forget about Stan’?” she said, eyes accusing me. “This must be what Stan was talking about today.” She grabbed my arm and pulled me into my bedroom, pointing to my window seat. “Have a seat, girl. It’s time we talked.”
“There’s nothing to talk about, Andie. Honest.”
Now her hands were on her hips. “I heard what you said.”
“What you thought you heard was nothing about Stan.”
“I heard you say his name to Jared.” Her eyes were boring a hole into me.
“You were hearing things.” I crossed my legs under me.
“Are you calling me a liar?”
I sighed. This was hopeless. “You’re mixed up, Andie. Just forget it. Please?”
“I’m going to get to the bottom of this, and you can’t stop me.” She reached for her MP3 recorder and stuffed it into her backpack.
“Where are you going?” I asked, bounding off the window seat and following her into the hallway.
“Over to Jared’s house. He’s going to talk to me whether he likes it or not.” With that, she slammed my own bedroom door in my face.
I felt like I’d been punched in the stomach by my best friend.
THE TROUBLE WITH WEDDINGS
Chapter 16
At school the next day another note was attached to my locker. Danny doesn’t quit, I thought as I read the note. Mom’s wedding was more than a month away, and Danny was asking me to let him come to the wedding “as a good friend.”
I hadn’t the slightest clue how to respond to Danny’s strange request. I was beginning to feel maxed out with stress. So I stuffed the note in my jeans pocket and headed off to homeroom, hoping things might calm down sometime soon.
In my composition class, Jared passed me a note. He asked me the exact same thing Danny had! I wondered what would happen if I personally invited both guys?
Funny, for a girl who’d hardly been noticed by boys last year, I had come a long way. I grinned to myself. If Danny knew what I was thinking, he’d be quoting Proverbs and the verse about pride going before destruction. Yeah, he would.
At lunch, I sat at a cafeteria table alone. Danny was nowhere to be seen. But Jared was. He came right over and sat down. He started in without even saying hey or anything. “It’s okay with me, Holly, if you want to officially call off the scrutiny test. But at least give me credit for one thing.”
“Like what?” I bit into my chicken salad sandwich.
“At least say I passed STAN.”
He had a good point. “You are amazing, Jared. How’d you change yourself like this?”
“I wanted to convince you that I wasn’t a jerk by following your plan. And you’re right, Holly—the test was stupid. But stupid or not, I agreed to it and so did you. So I’ve decided to keep my part of the deal until Thanksgiving.”
He wasn’t kidding. I could tell by the serious look in his eyes.
“Well, if you want to, fine. But count me out.”
“Whoa, wait a minute. You agreed to this thing, too.” He looked a little peeved.
I picked at the chips on my plate, not saying anything.
Jared snapped his fingers. “I’ve got it! Maybe you could become a scrutiny test victim. I’ll create a test to analyze perfection…in Holly Meredith. What do you say?”
I felt ridiculous. And Jared was right; I wasn’t perfect. I just liked to pretend I was. “Go ahead,” I said. “Make your list. What do I have to do?”
He opened his spiral notebook. “Number one,” he said as he wrote it, “ ‘Love the Lord with all your heart.’ ” He flashed his wonderful smile at me.
I giggled.
He started to write again. “Number two. ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
I could see what he was getting at. I’d treated some of my “neighbors” pretty lousy. Including my cousin Stan.
Clicking his pen, Jared ripped the paper out and handed it to me. “That’s all, Holly. That’s my list.”
“Are you sure you and Danny haven’t traded personalities?” I reached for my milk and took a sip. “You’re starting to get awfully testy.”
He grinned. “Danny and I have more than one thing in common now.” And then he did it—he winked at me!
I leaned forward. “Hey, I think you’re back…the real Jared. You’re really in there somewhere, aren’t you?”
He tilted back in his chair. “What can I say, Holly-Heart?”
I liked him better already. Maybe I would ask him to come to the wedding as my guest after all.
Stan came through the line and headed for our table. “Hey, Holly,” he called to me, sitting down without an invitation. “I don’t know what’s going on between you and Andie, but she’s sorta freaked out. Can you straighten this mess out with her?” He wasn’t asking. This was a command.
Jared looked at me, then tapped the paper I held in my hand, reminding me of his list. Love your neighbor as yourself. The words rang in my ears.
I sighed, then smiled. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Stan looked shocked. “You will?”
“Uh-huh.” I smiled at him for a change.
His eyes softened for a second. “Thanks, cuz.”
Well, it sure wasn’t easy taking orders from an older cousin, especially one with a major attitude problem. But Jared let me know I’d done the right thing when he winked at me again. I felt absolutely fabulous.
Just then Paula and Kayla wandered over. “This looks like the place to be,” Kayla cooed, eyeing Stan.
Paula, in turn, looked
over at Jared. “No one’s having half as much fun as you three,” she said.
“Have a seat,” I said as Jared slid over next to me, making room for Paula. Lots of room.
Kayla sat across from us, beside Stan.
Jared turned his attention back to me. “When’s that story of yours coming out, Holly?” he asked.
“Next month,” I said, pushing my hair back.
“I’m going to read it, you know,” he said.
“Okay,” I said, gathering up my trash. I could see by the desperate look in Paula’s eyes that she was dying for a chance to talk to Jared alone. So I excused myself and left.
When I got to my locker, there was Andie, pacing. She grabbed my arm as usual. “Talk to me, Holly, ’cause Jared won’t.”
“You really went over there last night?”
“Only for about five seconds or so.” She opened her locker.
“That’s weird.”
“Jared refused to see me. His mother said so.”
“Sounds like he’s sticking to his end of the deal.”
“So are you gonna tell me why you’re spreading stuff around about your own cousin? It’s making me mad.”
“I can only tell you one thing,” I said. “I was not talking about my cousin to Jared yesterday. It’s the honest truth, and if you can’t trust your best friend, then go ahead and think what you want.”
She stared at me, her dark eyes beginning to squint like Mom’s when she’s upset. “You better not be lying.”
“I’m telling the truth.”
“Then why did I hear you saying Stan’s name on the phone with Jared yesterday?”
I could see she wasn’t going to let this drop. “Promise you’ll keep a secret?”
“I promise.” Andie waited, seemingly breathless for my response.
“STAN is a code word, an abbreviation for Scrutiny Test to Analyze Nascence.”
“Huh?” Andie looked bewildered.
“It’s a long story.”
“Why do you need a code word?” she asked.
“That way no one will know what Jared and I are discussing.”
“Oh, I get it. Duh! People will think you’re talking about your cousin. Nothing more.”
I nodded. “Right.”
“Makes sense.”
“Remember, Andie, not one word to Stan about this.”
Later, when Jared and Stan hurried past our lockers, they were grinning at us as they headed to their own lockers—minus the Miller twins. I watched as Jared moved down the hall, away from us.
Andie poked me. “Daydreamer, wake up. You still like Jared, I see. It’s all over your face.”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“I bet you end up hanging out with him when your silly scrutiny test is all over.”
“Can’t decide.” I reached back and touched my long hair. “Besides, there’s something even more important than Jared right now.”
Andie was all ears. “Who? Someone new?”
“It’s my cousin, silly. I want to make sure things improve between us before the wedding. We’re going to be living in the same house together real soon.”
“So have you planned the perfect wedding for your mother?” She pulled out her books for the next period.
“It’s not easy planning weddings. Especially because my mom wants to keep things simple.”
“Who’s going to be in the wedding party?” she asked, stacking up her books.
“Mom’s friend from work is the matron of honor. Stan’s the best man. And all six of us kids will stand at the altar with them. That’s Uncle Jack’s idea.”
“Who’s giving your mom away?”
“Nobody.”
“Isn’t that just too weird?”
“She’s old enough to give herself away, don’t you think?”
“Hmm, I guess,” she said. “Am I invited?”
“Of course, silly. Everyone’s invited.”
“Really? Like who?”
“Well…the Miller twins and their parents since they knew Uncle Jack back East, and pretty much everyone from our church, which means Danny and Jared and—”
Andie looked shocked. “Both of them?”
“Yeah,” I said, laughing. “They don’t know it yet, though. And they’ve both asked me if they can come.”
Andie smirked. “Well, let’s hear it for Miss Popularity.”
I mumbled, “Yeah, yeah.”
Danny showed up just then and asked if he could walk me to fifth period.
“Sure,” I said, and he reached for my books. It almost felt like the old days, before our friendship derailed.
He said, “I called you yesterday, but you were gone. Did you get my message?”
“Yeah, and I started to call you back, but something came up.”
“Can we talk now?”
I nodded. “Got your note.”
“Okay with you?”
“It’s not a good idea,” I said.
“Why not?” He stopped dead in his tracks in the middle of the busy hallway.
“Because weddings are, you know, places to hang out with…uh…everyone.”
“Oh, I get it,” he said, opening the classroom door for me. “You have other plans, like maybe with Jared, right?”
He was partly right. But I didn’t want to hurt his feelings more than I already had. “I do accept your offer of friendship, Danny. Let’s be good friends again like we were before.”
A broad grin stretched across his face. “Sure, Holly. That’d be great.”
As Danny turned to leave, heading off for his class, Jared walked past. Directly in front of Jared stood Paula, Amy-Liz, and Shauna, making a human blockade, trying to force him to look at them. He grinned at me, refusing to even glance at the girls blocking his way.
Giggling, I turned and hurried to find a seat in math.
Jared was perfectly amazing. If he really wanted to continue STAN till Thanksgiving, it was okay with me. Let him make a spectacle of himself.
At the moment it was hard to focus on what the teacher was saying. I could still see Jared winking at me during lunch, and I was secretly relieved. The real Jared—yet new and improved—was back.
THE TROUBLE WITH WEDDINGS
Chapter 17
That night Uncle Jack arrived with all four cousins. He made popcorn—enough for a houseful of snack-crazy children and two loveydovey adults. Everyone sat around the family room while Mom and Uncle Jack chose their wedding music from a CD of the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir. For a minute, I thought the walls were going to cave in, especially when Uncle Jack turned up the volume on “To God Be the Glory.”
Who could sit still with the sounds of the upbeat choir vibrating through the house? Phil sat on a blue beanbag, moving his head to the beat. “Sounds like this might be a cool wedding after all,” he said.
“You can say that again,” Uncle Jack said, giving Mom a squeeze.
I thought of the pizzazzy dresses I’d ordered yesterday. If Mom and Uncle Jack’s recessional was to be soul music, why couldn’t I wear a celebration color like hot pink?
Stan clicked his fingers to the beat while his brothers threw popcorn at each other’s mouths. It felt good having Stan around for a change. He was actually behaving himself. Well, sorta. He was still tormenting our cat, Goofey. “This cat’s gotta go,” he said, picking up my beloved fur ball. “Dad’s allergic to him. And…besides that, he’s ugly.”
I crawled over the floor and rescued Goofey from Stan, cuddling him like a baby. “We named him Goofey because he’s not a regular-looking cat. He’s goofy looking.”
Stan laughed. “No kidding.”
Uncle Jack sneezed three times, then dug into his pants pocket, searching for his allergy pill. Finding it, he popped the pill into his mouth and swallowed without water.
Carrie stared at him, wide-eyed. “How’d you do that?”
Mark laughed out loud. “Ever hear of spit?”
“Eew, sick,” Carrie said.
> “Yeah, sick,” Stephie echoed.
“That’s nothin’,” Phil spoke up. “Watch this.” He started to pull his eyelid up.
“Never mind, son,” Uncle Jack said, sparing us from Phil’s eyeball trick.
Long after they’d left for home, Mom knocked on my bedroom door. “Holly, can you model your dress for me now?”
I came to my door. “Uh, what about tomorrow? Is that okay with you?” I said, hoping she wouldn’t push the issue. Maybe she’d forget by then. Tomorrow she had appointments with the caterer and the organist.
“Sure, that’s fine, Holly-Heart. Sweet dreams.” She kissed my forehead.
“You too, Mom.” She headed down the hall to tuck Carrie in. Phew—close call!
Grabbing my nightshirt and robe, I headed for the shower, where I could do some fast thinking about stalling tactics…just in case.
The caterer appointment took longer than Mom planned on Thursday, so she put off meeting with the organist till Friday. By then she’d completely forgotten about seeing my dress. It was a good thing, too. Carrie’s and Stephie’s dresses were ready to be picked up at Footloose and Fancy Things, on special order from Denver. Now, how to keep them hidden till the day of the wedding?
A whirlwind of days spun past as Thanksgiving approached. I decided to tell Jared that he was welcome to come to Mom’s wedding, but that I’d be focused on family that day. And the bride-to-be? Well, Mom was a giddy but happy woman. Uncle Jack, of course, was his comfortable, take-things-in-stride self.
Grandpa and Grandma Meredith arrived two days before the wedding. They didn’t seem to mind camping out in the family room, where the sectional pulled out to a queen-sized bed. Gifts were piled up everywhere, with more on the way, I was sure. Congratulatory cards and notes were arriving in the mail every day, most of them containing money. My darling mother was getting married to Uncle Jack, and everything seemed to be going along at a near-perfect pace.
Stephie and the boys moved their stuff into our house on the day before the wedding. Uncle Jack and his kids had been renting a large town home a few blocks away. But now they were coming to live with us.
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