Geek High

by Piper Banks

  “I have something to do,” Finn said, shrugging.

  “So you’re flaking,” Charlie said, rolling her eyes. “Big surprise.”

  “If you must know, I have to pick up my tux,” Finn retorted.

  “Who are you taking to the dance?” Felicity asked Finn curiously.

  “He doesn’t have a date,” Charlie said, sounding so scornful, I looked at her curiously. Sure, she could be sharp with Finn at times, but she was hardly ever mean about it.

  “Yes, I do,” Finn said loftily.

  Finn had a date? I hadn’t known that. He certainly hadn’t mentioned anything about it to me. In fact, I’d just assumed that Finn wouldn’t even show up at the Snowflake. It wasn’t at all his sort of scene.

  “Who?” Charlie asked suspiciously.

  “Leila Chang,” Finn said.

  “Really?” I asked. Leila was a year older than us, and I’d thought she was going out with someone at Orange Cove High.

  “Yup,” Finn said. He grinned and looked pleased with himself. “She asked me,” he said smugly.

  “Way to go, Finn,” I said.

  But Charlie was glaring at him, looking even angrier.

  “What’s wrong, Charlie?” I asked her.

  “Nothing,” she said. Or, rather, snarled. She looked meaningfully at her watch. “Come on, Miranda; we should go. My mom will be here in a few minutes to take us to the grocery store.”

  “Okay,” I said, standing and packing up my stuff. “I’ll see everyone tomorrow morning. And don’t worry…everything’s going to be perfect. I promise.”

  Chapter 26

  Except that everything wasn’t perfect. Far from it. In fact, on the day of the Snowflake Gala, everything that possibly could go wrong, did.

  Everything.

  It started early in the morning, while I was still asleep. I was dreaming about the dance. Only in my dream, I was there with Willow as my date, not Nicholas, and everyone seemed to think this was totally normal and acceptable. A sharp rap on my door jarred me awake just as Headmaster Hughes was crowning Willow and me king and queen of the Snowflake…which was especially weird, since we don’t even have a king and queen of the Snowflake. I lifted my head off my pillow and blinked sleepily. Willow stirred on her bed, but then yawned and instantly fell back asleep.

  “Come in,” I croaked in a voice still hoarse with sleep.

  The door swung open. Peyton stood with a pinched expression on her face, and the cordless phone in her hand.

  “Miranda, your headmaster is on the phone wishing to speak to you,” Peyton announced.

  This woke me up. Quickly. Headmaster Hughes was calling me at home? There was nothing good about that. It was creepy and weird and just plain wrong. I sat bolt upright and reached out for the phone.

  “Thanks,” I said, as Peyton crossed the room to hand it to me.

  “It smells like dog in here.” Peyton sniffed. She shot Willow a dirty look, and then turned on her heel and stalked out. I sighed. I swear, Cinderella’s evil stepmother seemed positively warmhearted when compared to mine.

  “Hello?” I said uncertainly into the phone.

  “Miranda. C. Philip Hughes here.”

  Gulp. It was the headmaster. I wondered what the C stood for, and why Headmaster Hughes didn’t use it. Cornelius? Cornwall? Curmudgeon? It would take a braver girl than I to ask him.

  “Um, hi,” I said.

  “We seem to have a bit of a situation here,” he said.

  And then I suddenly remembered, the knowledge tumbling into place: Tonight was the Snowflake Gala. I was in charge. Everything had to be perfect.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “A pipe burst in the boys’ locker room. It flooded the auditorium. Building maintenance said there’s no way they’ll have it dried out in time for tonight.”

  So that was that, I thought as I climbed out of bed and padded out of my bedroom, Willow yawning at my heels. The Snowflake was off, postponed until a later date. Or, maybe if I was very lucky, permanently canceled. After all, this was the answer to all of my problems, right? Well. Not all of my problems. Certainly not the ones involving my parents or stepfamily or the pitiful state of my love life. But at least I wouldn’t have to worry about the Snowflake sucking and everyone hating me for it. And I also wouldn’t have to worry about Nicholas trying to kiss me, a situation I very much wanted to avoid.

  But in a weird way, I was actually a little disappointed, too. I don’t know why exactly. Maybe deep down, I was actually looking forward to the Snowflake.

  “Is everything okay, honey?” Dad asked, looking concerned when Willow and I came into the kitchen. Dad, Peyton, and Hannah were all sitting around the breakfast table, reading the paper. Madonna was sitting in Hannah’s lap, and she twitched her tail and narrowed her eyes when she saw Willow, but Willow took the moral high ground and ignored the Persian…although, then again, maybe she just didn’t see the cat. A platter of halved bagels and flavored cream cheese sat in the middle of the table. Dad and Hannah were eating; Peyton was merely sipping at her black coffee.

  “Yeah, everything’s fine,” I said, swallowing back a sigh.

  “Why did your headmaster call?” Dad asked.

  “Remember the dance that we were supposed to have tonight? The one I was in charge of planning?” I said.

  Dad nodded.

  “Well, it’s been canceled. The auditorium flooded, and there’s nowhere else we can have it,” I said.

  “Oh, that’s too bad,” Dad said sympathetically.

  “Canceled?” Hannah exclaimed, looking up from the style page.

  I blinked, surprised that she cared, before I remembered: Hannah was going to the Snowflake as Emmett’s date. Or she would have gone with Emmett, had the gym not flooded.

  Hannah frowned and snuggled Madonna up to her chest. “But I bought a new dress and everything.”

  I shrugged. “I’m sorry. It’s just bad luck.”

  “Why don’t you move the dance somewhere else?” Hannah asked.

  “There’s no way we could find a place that’s big enough on such short notice,” I said. I dumped dry dog food into Willow’s bowl, and then sat down at the kitchen table. I selected a cinnamon-raisin bagel off the platter, and smeared it with cream cheese.

  “Maybe you could hold it at Orange Cove High,” Dad suggested.

  Hannah shook her head. “That won’t work. There’s a football game tonight, and they’re having a pep rally in the gym beforehand,” she said. She put Willow down and took a small bite of her bagel. “No one goes but freshmen, of course, but the football players and cheerleaders at least have to be there. I know—how about the Yacht Club? They have a really big room they rent out for banquets, right, Mom?”

  Peyton shook her head dismissively. “There’s no way the Oar Room is free. You have to reserve it more than a year in advance,” she said. “There are women in this town who book it for their weddings before they even get engaged.”

  “Besides, even if it was available, I doubt the school would pay to rent a room somewhere,” I interjected.

  “You could at least call and check, Mom. It would be the perfect place. It’s right on the water,” Hannah persisted.

  Peyton and I both stared at Hannah. Peyton was probably horrified that her daughter was trying to talk her into doing a favor for me, while I was simply flabbergasted. It was completely unlike Hannah to do anything to help me. Was she really that eager to wear her new dress? Although, now that I thought of it, Hannah had been nicer to me lately, ever since her party. I’d kept my word and hadn’t told Dad and Peyton about it. I wondered if Hannah was just trying to stay on my good side so that I wouldn’t spill her secret…or if her feelings toward me had actually thawed out. It was hard to tell.

  “That’s a great idea, Hannah,” Dad enthused. “Why don’t you give them a call, Peyton? And if it’s available, I’ll cover the cost of renting it.”

  “You don’t have to do that, Dad,” I protested.<
br />
  “You’ve put a lot of work into planning this dance,” Dad said. “The show must go on, right?”

  “Well…I suppose there’s no harm in checking,” Peyton said, shrugging. “But I wouldn’t get your hopes up.”

  “Um, thanks, Peyton,” I said. What a bizarre start to the day. First Hannah was being nice, and now Peyton was going to do me a favor. Not to mention the wake-up call from Headmaster Hughes. What next? Would Willow and Madonna suddenly put aside their differences and become best buddies?

  Peyton nodded curtly at me. She stood, walked over to the built-in telephone table located at the end of the kitchen counter, and flipped through her address book until she found the number for the Yacht Club. She picked up the phone and dialed.

  “Hello, Rachel, this is Peyton Wainwright-Bloom. I know how unlikely this is, but I was calling to find out if there was any chance the Oar Room is free tonight.” Pause. “Really?” Pause. “Really?” Pause. “Mmmhmmm. I see. Yes. Well, that’s…Yes, we would. Thank you. I’ll call you back with the details.”

  Peyton hung up the phone, shook her head once in apparent disbelief, and then turned slowly toward us. “I can’t believe this, but it’s actually available. Samantha Sweeney was supposed to have her wedding reception there tonight, but the couple broke their engagement off just last night and canceled the wedding. So the room is all yours, Miranda.”

  “Excellent!” Hannah cheered.

  “That’s fantastic,” Dad said.

  “Wow,” I said. “Thanks, Peyton. That was really nice of you.”

  Peyton nodded again, still looking a little confused. Being nice to me was so antithetical to her nature, it seemed to have thrown her for a loop. She even sat down and took a bite of a bagel before she’d realized what she was doing and quickly dropped the bagel back on her plate in horror.

  “I guess I’d better go call Headmaster Hughes back and tell him the good news,” I said.

  Headmaster Hughes was pleased that I’d found an alternate location on such short notice, and he said he’d send out an e-mail to all of the students and teachers letting them know about the change in plans. I sent text messages to my committee members, filling them in on what had happened and asking them to meet me at the Yacht Club to decorate instead of at the school. Morgan texted back and said she’d take care of letting Snake and his band know about the location change.

  I had just finished dressing and was about to ask my dad to give me a ride to the Yacht Club when Hannah appeared in my room.

  “Hey,” she said.

  “Hi. Thanks for your help,” I said.

  “No problem,” she said, wandering into my room, looking around. I realized she hadn’t been in here since I’d moved in. She picked up my photos and looked at them, and then trailed a hand along the stack of books we’d read in mod lit so far that semester. I saw her eyes rest on the mostly packed suitcase propped open in the corner of my room. I was leaving for London tomorrow, and was just about ready to go. All I had to do was decide which books I was taking with me.

  “So what are you wearing tonight?” she asked.

  “The dress I wore to my mom’s book party last year. I have it on in that picture there,” I said, gesturing toward the photo of Sadie and me in our tiaras that I’d finally moved from the dresser drawer to the top of the dresser with my other photographs.

  Hannah stared down at it, grimaced, and then gave a decisive shake of her head.

  “No,” she said. “You can’t wear that.”

  “What’s wrong with it?” I asked. The dress looked pretty inoffensive to me—a simple, knee-length sheath with cap sleeves and a round neck.

  “It’s just so boring. And it doesn’t show any skin at all. No, you need to wear something sexier, something with more pizzazz,” she said.

  I shook my head and shrugged. “It’s the only black dress I have. And I don’t have time to go out and get anything else. I’m going to be at the Yacht Club all day today decorating.”

  “Don’t worry; I’ll handle it. What size are you? A six?” Hannah asked.

  I frowned and nodded. “Yes, but—”

  “Don’t worry. Leave it to me.” Hannah said, bouncing out of the room looking more cheerful. “Oh! I forgot to tell you. Remember how I told you that Dex and his girlfriend got back together?”

  Like I’d forget. “Yeah?”

  “I was wrong. They didn’t. She got back together with the guy she was dating before Dex.” Hannah frowned suddenly. “Oh, shoot. You could have asked him to go to the dance with you.”

  I felt like laughing and crying at the same time, but settled for shrugging and making a face. “Right. Like he’d have wanted to go with me.”

  “Why wouldn’t he? You guys seem like you get along well together,” Hannah said, absentmindedly twirling a lock of pale blond hair around one finger. “Oh…I also meant to tell you something else. It turns out Avery did take Mom’s sweater. You know, the TSE one that went missing?”

  This news was so surprising, it actually made me forget about Dex for thirty seconds. “Really? How do you know? Did she tell you?”

  Hannah rolled her eyes. “She wore it to school. Can you believe that? Like I wouldn’t notice. She tried denying it at first, but she finally broke down and admitted she’d taken it. We’re so not friends anymore,” she said, shaking her head.

  “Wow,” I said. “Did you tell Peyton?”

  Hannah nodded. “I did. So she knows it wasn’t you,” Hannah said. She turned and started to walk out of my room. “And don’t worry about the dress thing. I’m going to take care of it for you.”

  I stood there, reeling for a moment as I absorbed all of this news. So Peyton knew I hadn’t been the one to steal her sweater. There was no chance she’d actually apologize for accusing me…but maybe that was why she had called the Yacht Club for me. Maybe that was as close to apologizing as Peyton would get.

  And then I thought of Dex. And while I was glad that he wasn’t dating the model, the news sort of depressed me at the same time. I had thought that maybe the reason he hadn’t kissed me the night of Hannah’s party was because he was seeing someone else. But now I knew that the only reason he hadn’t kissed me…was me. Obviously he didn’t have the same feelings for me that I had for him.

  Not that this should surprise me. The star athlete and the math whiz? Like that would ever happen.

  Chapter 27

  I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon dealing with one crisis after another. First there were the balloons. We’d ordered equal numbers of black and white balloons, but the party store had mistakenly given us black, white, red, and silver, and we didn’t have time to go back and swap them out. Then, the glamour posters of Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Lana Turner, and other Hollywood stars, which had been blown up to fit on the gymnasium walls, ended up being way too big for the much smaller Oar Room. We had to prop them against the walls at an angle, just to get the movie stars to fit. And then we found out that the Yacht Club had a rule against bringing in outside food, but we didn’t have a budget to order food through them, so the only way we’d have a snack table was if we sneaked the food in.

  “No problem,” Finn said. He’d shown up after all, although I wasn’t so sure that was a good thing, since he and Charlie continued to snipe at each other. “I’ll smuggle in the snacks. You can count on me.”

  That was at least one detail I didn’t have to worry about. When it came to breaking the rules and defying authority, Finn was a pro.

  And when I finally got home that afternoon, exhausted and my fingers aching from tying off balloons, I had even more bad news.

  The phone was ringing as I walked in the door.

  “It’s for you,” Hannah called out, tossing me the cordless phone, which I took back to my room.

  “Hello,” I said, kicking off my sneakers, and hoping upon hope that it wasn’t Felicity calling to notify me that someone had inadvertently opened a window in the Oar Ro
om, allowing all of the balloons to escape.

  “Hi, Miranda, it’s Nicholas,” a miserable voice bleated.

  My date. And, sure, Nicholas wasn’t the guy of my dreams, but that was okay. We were just going as friends, after all, and he was nice. I was sure we’d have fun together. Well…pretty sure.

  “Hi, Nicholas,” I said, keeping my voice upbeat. “What time are you planning on picking me up?”

  And by you, I meant your mom, since Nicholas had already informed me that she would be our chauffeur this evening.

  “That’s just it…I’m not going to be able to go tonight. I have chicken pox,” Nicholas said miserably. He sounded like he was about to burst into tears. “I’m so, so sorry. I feel terrible about canceling on you at the last minute.”

  “It’s okay,” I said soothingly.

  “No, it’s not. I was really looking forward to going, and it was going to be our first date, and now it’s ruined.”

  First date?

  “Really, it’s okay,” I said, starting to realize that as mortifying as it would be to show up at the Snowflake dateless, that might actually be better—much better—than Nicholas thinking that this was going to be a romantic date, and not just two friends going together.

  “I got you a corsage and everything,” Nicholas said, and then his voice broke. “Do you want my mom to drive it over to you? She said she would.”

  “No, that’s okay. Really. You just…get better soon,” I said.

  When I finally got off the phone with Nicholas—he insisted on apologizing seven more times, and I think he had actually started to cry by the time we hung up—I slumped back on my bed, lying down on the plush white comforter. I was so tired, all I wanted to do was sleep until it was time for my plane to take off the next day.