by Annie Bryant
“I hate sports!” Maeve whined.
“Then why did you want to go to the dance with him? Dillon loves sports.” Avery raised her voice. Maeve was starting to get annoying, and she was beginning to feel bad for Dillon.
“Because he’s cute, and he asked me, and I wanted to!” Her voice rose to meet Avery’s.
“Well maybe he really didn’t want to!” Avery shouted.
A passing group of ninth-grade girls on their way to the bathroom gave them a sidelong glance.
“Well, then,” Maeve huffed. “He shouldn’t have asked me, silly.”
Avery felt her face redden. “I told him to ask you…’cause, well, I thought it would make you happy, and now neither of you is happy!”
With that, Avery dashed back into the gym. I hate secrets, she fumed as she looked for Charlotte and Katani. They would know what to do.
Maeve Kaplan-Taylor stood absolutely still. She looked across the gym and saw Dillon fooling around with Billy and Josh and Chase. He looked happy with them.
“BIG problem,” Avery gasped, grabbing Charlotte’s arm. “Maeve knows about Dillon.”
Tug of War
Chelsea felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and found herself looking into two sets of eyes lined with thick mascara. Uh-oh…not the Queens of Mean again! If anyone could ruin her good time, it was them.
“Hey, Anna, look at this!” Trevor held out the poster. Chelsea wanted to grab it from him. He hadn’t been at AAJH long enough to realize the havoc Anna and Joline would wreak.
“Ooh, camera girl,” Joline cooed. “Showing off your homework?”
Chelsea cringed. How do they always manage to pull off just the right insult? Now she felt like a complete fool. She did want to show off a little…for Trevor. She wanted him to think she was somebody. And now with a single comment Joline had reduced her to a loser.
“We wouldn’t want to distract her from all her admirers,” Anna said, smirking, “now would we, Trevor?” And she grabbed his hand. There were no admirers left now, only Trevor. Chelsea could feel her temper rising.
“What?” he looked at QOM#1. Chelsea realized that Trevor didn’t quite get that Anna was insulting her. He obviously wasn’t totally clued in to the whole mean-girl thing. But Chelsea was. She’d lived with their jabs her whole life.
“This is my song!” Anna flipped her hair. “Come on.” Trevor gave Chelsea a quick backward glance as Anna dragged him toward the dance floor.
He really doesn’t know any better, a tiny voice protested inside, but Chelsea still wanted to scream. It’s not fair! There’s no way a cute boy like Trevor would rather talk to her when he could dance with a gorgeous girl like Anna.
“That’s such an…interesting dress you’re wearing,” Joline added before trailing her boy-kidnapping partner into the dance. “That color almost makes you almost look less…wide.”
Chelsea froze. There was that word again. She wrapped her poster back up and set it against the wall by the drinking fountain. Guys like Trevor don’t want to hang out with a fat girl like me.
Chelsea opened her camera case and settled into the soothing routine of selecting lenses and filters. I should just fade into the background and take pictures, like I always do. At least I’m good at that!
Chelsea took a deep breath and stepped into the gym, keeping her back to the wall. Right away, she saw a couple perfect shots: girls in sparkling dresses huddling together, a boy pulling off some serious break dancing, and a hundred colorful lights throwing pink shapes all over the crowd.
“What’s up, Chelsea?” Nick asked, wandering over from the refreshments table.
“Where’s Charlotte?” Chelsea wondered.
“She went to the bathroom with the other BSG.” He laughed. “Why do you girls always have to go to the bathroom in packs, anyway?” Normally, Chelsea would have giggled, but she couldn’t. Nick noticed, of course.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked, concerned.
Chelsea shrugged. “Oh, it’s nothing. QOM on the loose.”
“Okay.” Nick suddenly understood. “I don’t know what those two eat for breakfast, but the army ought to package it.”
Chelsea knew he was just trying to make feel better, but for some reason, it only made her more miserable.
Nick looked uncomfortable for a moment. “Uh…would you like to dance?”
Chelsea nodded. Maybe Anna and Trevor will see! Then they’ll know I’m not a complete loser…. The strains of Titanic’s theme song filled the gymnasium as Nick led Chelsea onto the floor. Feeling kind of weird, she put her hands on his shoulders. Nick reached out and held her waist, keeping plenty of space between them. He’s nice, like a brother, Chelsea realized.
Chelsea nodded and hummed along with the music, trying not to look at Trevor and Anna dancing together across the gym.
Loserville
“Will someone please explain why traitor Avery made me look a complete total, unbelievable, Valentine’s Day loser?!?” Maeve plopped herself down in a folding chair someone had left in the bathroom.
Charlotte and Katani stood together, exchanging glances. Avery hung back, like she thought Maeve might leap up and attack.
“Well…,” Charlotte started.
“First of all…,” Katani said at the same time.
“Okay, I’ll explain.” Avery couldn’t let her friends take the heat for her, so she ducked between them and put a hand on the back of Maeve’s chair. “Look, I knew you wanted to go with Dillon more than anything, so I kind of asked him to ask you. Then everyone told me that wasn’t cool. But it was too late and…”
Katani nodded. “We thought it would be easier if you just didn’t know.”
“We were wrong.” Charlotte put an arm around Maeve’s shoulders. “We all just wanted the dance to be perfect for you.”
“You did?” She sighed.
Then Maeve surprised them all by jumping up and splashing her face with cold water from the sink. “So that’s it?” she demanded.
“Well…yeah,” Avery responded.
“All right then,” Maeve said matter of factly. “If Dillon really doesn’t want to dance with me, it means =I can dance with anyone I want now, right? I can’t let this night go to waste.” And just like that, Maeve was back to her usual happy and vivacious self.
She got up and gave Avery a hug. “Don’t do that again, okay? It’s really kind of embarrassing for me.”
“Cool.” Avery nodded, stunned that she got off so easily. But then again, she thought, that’s Maeve…unpredictable…and forgiving.
“Maeve!” Charlotte laughed as she stood in front of the mirror reapplying her lip gloss. “Who are you going to dance with?” She was glad her friend was back to her usual bubbly self.
“Hmmm…I’ll get back to you!” Maeve ran through the list of seventh-grade boys in her mind, but couldn’t think of a single one who actually knew how to dance like Fred Astaire.
“Speaking of boys, how is it going with Nick?” Katani joined Charlotte by the mirror and took out her own tiny makeup case.
“Nick is so sweet,” Charlotte said. “I think I like him better than any boy I’ve ever met.”
She wasn’t sure how to explain to her friends their conversation on the phone the other night. In fact, she didn’t really know how to explain it to herself, either. Nick was still just her friend, but in a way that meant they could share anything and not worry about what the other was thinking. “He’s…well,” she told her friends, “special.”
Maeve smoothed down her skirt and fluffed out her hair. “You two make a cute couple. Almost as cute as me and Dillon were!”
Charlotte smiled, keeping her thoughts to herself, where she could treasure them. “Thanks.”
When Katani finished her makeup, she grabbed Avery by the shoulder. “Your hair is going wild! What have you been doing? Hanging upside down?”
Avery crossed her arms and sighed. “I like to move around a lot when I’m dancing. I can’t worr
y about hairdos when I’m trying to break it down.”
Katani rolled her eyes and got to work fixing Avery’s hair with a hairbrush as slim and chic as a cell phone. “I should have brought some hairspray,” she muttered.
Maeve grinned. “There’s no hairspray in the world that could hold MKT’s curls down!”
“Okay,” Katani said. “Avery’s hair is somewhat better. Ready to go back out there?”
Trouble on the Dance Floor
The gym looked even more crowded than when they had left. As Charlotte and her friends walked back onto the dance floor, she tried to pick out Nick from the horde of bodies. Where is he? she thought, her eyes scanning the faces around the room.
The first notes of the theme song from Titanic drifted through the air. Charlotte hummed along. She couldn’t help it. Ever since she had first seen the movie with her dad when they were living in Paris, she had loved the way Céline Dion’s voice rose and rose.
Katani made fun of her for listening to such old music, but Maeve was totally into it too. Charlotte remembered watching the movie at one of their BSG sleepovers, singing along with Maeve at the top of her voice while Katani and Avery screamed at them and threw pillows until even Maeve couldn’t sing anymore because she was laughing so hard. “Near, far, wherever you are…”
Charlotte anxiously searched for Nick. He would love to hear that story! And then they’d dance together again…maybe even holding hands. Charlotte closed her eyes for a moment, relishing a moment in the song that lifted her away from the dance, into a world of waves, disaster, lost love, and hope.
When she opened her eyes, one of the flashing colored bulbs in the ceiling cast a beam of harsh light on two dancing figures. They moved together, just a little closer than the other couples. Nick and Chelsea! At first Charlotte didn’t believe it, but the light wouldn’t move off of them, and the song wouldn’t stop. Céline Dion’s voice kept rising and bursting: “and you’re here in my heart, and my heart will go on and on…” Charlotte stood there, frozen in place, trying to not to react. It means nothing, she told herself.
But why this song? Why tonight? Why couldn’t Chelsea find someone else to dance with? Has Nick been lying to me? They’re dancing really close! Charlotte couldn’t believe that she was back to square one again.
“Hey, isn’t that Nick…dancing with Chelsea?” Maeve pointed out.
Charlotte swallowed once, hard, then turned and walked out the door.
“Uh-oh,” Katani said. “I’ll be right back. YOU, go talk to Nick.”
“Me?” Maeve stammered, but there was no time to argue. “Come on.” She grabbed Avery’s hand, and pushed through groups of dancers as Céline Dion’s voice rose in a final, heart-wrenching crescendo.
“Nick!” Maeve announced. “What in the world are you doing?”
“Ummm, dancing?” he said. Chelsea let go of Nick and stepped back, cheeks flushed red. She hadn’t meant to touch his hands, the song had just swept her up. She couldn’t help it! She kept imagining that Nick was Trevor….
“I think you better go find Charlotte,” Maeve scolded.
“Yeah!” said Avery, though she really had no idea what the big deal was. They were all friends, what did it matter who danced together?
“I did, I mean, I will, I mean…” Nick looked around. “Oh no, Charlotte saw, didn’t she?”
Maeve folded her arms and nodded. The look in her eyes could have drilled holes through metal.
“Where is she?!” Nick asked anxiously.
Maeve pointed toward the door, then bolted away, neatly swerving past the ninth-grade basketball team dancing in their own little circle beneath one of Isabel’s giant painted hearts.
Nick stood in place, stunned. “Should I, um, go too? Or…”
Avery shrugged, and Chelsea shuffled from foot to foot. “It’s my fault,” she whispered to Avery, looking down at her feet. “I love that song, and well, Nick asked me to dance…. I didn’t realize…I thought it would be okay…. I guess I’ll go back to taking pictures.”
“I should probably go,” Nick decided, and with one quick apologetic smile to Chelsea, he made his way toward the door.
CHAPTER 18
A Winter Wonderland
A gust of wind swept through the courtyard as Nick called out, “Hey!” Charlotte looked up and then leaned against Katani, who was sitting next to her on a frozen picnic bench. Maeve had one hand on her shoulder and tightened her grip as Nick came up behind them.
“Do you want us to go, Char?” a hesitant Katani asked.
“No…yes…I don’t know,” Charlotte squeaked. Maeve thought her voice sounded a little like one of her guinea pigs.
Katani handed Charlotte a tissue. She sniffed and wiped her nose. This is great, she sighed. Now my nose is all red and runny, and I look like Rudolph. What happened to my dream date?
Seeing Nick standing there looking all sheepish, Charlotte simply couldn’t understand why she felt so awful.
Nick already had explained that he and Chelsea were just friends. And Nick had danced with her for at least ten songs, and they had been the greatest moments of her whole life. It’s just plain dumb to be jealous over one dance, she scolded herself.
“It’s okay. You two go ahead.” Charlotte tapped Katani’s hand and forced a smile at Maeve. “I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” Katani asked, her eyes narrowed at Nick.
“I’m sure.”
Hearing her friend’s voice return to normal, Katani stood up.
“Okay, then,” Maeve said. “Come find us again as soon as possible!”
Katani brushed past Nick and walked back inside with Maeve. “There is just way too much drama going on around here!” she pronounced.
Charlotte watched her breath billow in and out in little clouds as Nick sat down on the bench. He stared at his hands while Charlotte sniffed up a drip.
“Have you been crying?” Nick asked
Charlotte shrugged, trying to keep her voice from sounding too pitiful. “I wouldn’t exactly call it crying…it’s more like snuffling.”
Nick let out this huge whoosh like he had been holding his breath for an hour. “I tried to tell you before. Chelsea’s just my friend.”
“I know.” Charlotte hugged her shoulders and listened to the drum beat coming from inside the gym. “I don’t know why I freaked out.”
“It’s okay.” He scooched over on the bench, so just his shoulder touched hers. “This is weird, huh?”
“Yeah,” Charlotte agreed. “It was kind of easier to just be friends.”
“I guess.” Nick sighed.
They sat quietly together for a minute as the snow drifted around them. Nick reached over and brushed off some flakes that had settled on Charlotte’s nose and eyelashes. A light over the door to the gym illuminated the flakes as they began to twirl down, faster and faster. It’s like a beautiful ballet, Charlotte thought, put on just for me and Nick.
Nick grinned. “Ready to head back in there?”
“Sure.” Charlotte smiled, while secretly wishing they could stay out just a few minutes longer. Somehow she didn’t feel mad at him anymore. She just felt confused.
Nick jumped up and brushed some snow off his shoulders. “You know, Chelsea was feeling really down after the QOM made a few of their special comments. That’s why I asked her to dance.”
“Let’s go see if she’s okay now.” Charlotte reached out her hand to Nick. It was mind boggling to her how just a minute ago she was a wreck, and now everything was fine. She wondered whether the BSG should issue a crush alert should one of the them ever get bitten by the love bug again.
Food, Glorious Food!
Katani went off to dance with Reggie, so Maeve made her way over to Avery, who was standing next to a dejected Chelsea.
“Hey Chels, let’s show Maeve your collage.” Avery suggested, remembering how proud she’d been when she showed it to her and Trevor.
So they walked out to the hall where Chelsea ha
d left the large frame by the water fountain.
“Oh, Chelsea, this is marvelous!” Maeve pronounced. “You should sign it! Or,” she joked, “I’ll sign it seeing as I’m such a major soccer star.”
“Woo-hoo, Maeve!” Avery hugged her friend.
Chelsea just shrugged. “It’s not that big a deal.” She looked over Maeve’s shoulder to see if Trevor was nearby. She hadn’t seen him since that glimpse before her dance with Nick. Where did Anna take him? To a secret Queens of Mean hideout somewhere?
“No, really, you deserve an award! AAJH photographer of the year!” Maeve continued.
“I’m the only photographer,” Chelsea pointed out.
“I’m gonna get us some pizza,” Avery suggested, feeling her stomach growl. “Be right back.”
Dillon was guarding the refreshments table, snarfing down some chips and salsa, and another slow song was starting. What’s with all this slow stuff?
Avery started to put her hands in her pockets until she realized her dress didn’t have any. Mental note, she told herself, Next time you buy a dress, get one with pockets. How else were you supposed to stash stuff if you didn’t have anywhere to put it?
“Don’t even think about asking me to slow dance,” Avery said to Dillon, hands on her hips instead.
Dillon laughed. “Are you crazy? I’d rather eat slugs on toast.”
Avery sighed with relief. Maybe Dillon didn’t like, LIKE her, after all. “That makes two of us, dude,” she said, and she swiped a couple of brownies. The pizza boxes were all empty.
“Whoa, don’t hog all of the food!” Dillon ordered.
Avery rolled her eyes. “First come, first served.”
“Well, I was here first and the rest are for me, me.” Dillon grabbed two brownies and stuffed them both in his mouth at once.
“I swear, Dillon, you are such a doofus!” Avery turned to walk away.
“Thank you so much,” he said, wiping chocolate off his mouth with his sleeve. “So, what’s up with Maeve? She was, like, dragging me everywhere and then you all disappeared!”
Avery turned around and lowered her voice. “I kind of told her about asking you to take her to the dance.”