Dating Games #1

by Melody Carlson

  “Hey,” he said as he joined them. “What’s up?”

  “Not much.” She put a hand on Harris’s shoulder. “I was just telling Harris how I would’ve loved to have gone to the homecoming dance.”

  Jason looked slightly confused now.

  “But you boys.” She shook her head in a dismal way. “I just didn’t realize how Worthington has some of you under his thumb. Really, it’s kinda cute how loyal to him you are.” She gave them an impish smile. “Boring, yes, but it is sweet. And it’s helped me to realize I need to find a different kind of guy.” She reached over and stroked Jason’s cheek. “Too bad, huh?” She turned to walk away.

  “Wait.” It was Harris calling out to her.

  She turned back, giving him an innocent look. “What?”

  He hurried over to her. “I’m not under Worthington’s thumb. I’d be glad to take you to the dance, Bryn.”

  “Really?” She gave him a full-eyed look of adoration, like she’d hooked this fish and planned to reel him in.

  “Yeah. Do you want to go with me?”

  Jason came over now. “Wait a minute,” he said. “I thought Bryn was going to go to the dance with me. That’s what Abby has been leading me to believe.”

  She tilted her head to one side. “If that’s what you thought, I wonder why you didn’t ask me sooner. I just assumed it was because you were letting Worthington call the shots.”

  “Jason doesn’t care about the Worthington speech,” Harris said quickly. “Everyone knows that.”

  Bryn frowned. “Oh?”

  “Yeah.” Harris glanced at Jason as if he was unsure. “He was holding out for Amanda.”

  “That’s a lie!” Jason shot back at him.

  Harris held his hands up. “Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. That’s what I heard.”

  “Well, it’s a lie.” Jason grabbed Harris by a shoulder.

  “Easy, boys.” Bryn put a hand between them. “Let’s not make a scene, okay?”

  “Just don’t go shooting your mouth off about things you don’t understand,” Jason said to Harris.

  Bryn could tell by Harris’s eyes that he was a little scared. Jason was several inches and a lot of pounds bigger. Bryn’s heart softened toward Harris, and although she knew Devon would be furious, she decided she didn’t care. She pointed at Harris. “Well, since you asked first, I will be happy to go to the dance with you.”

  Harris blinked in surprise. “Cool.”

  Jason’s eyes narrowed, and it was obvious he was seething.

  Pretending to be completely at ease, she placed a hand on his shoulder. “If you’re looking for a date for the dance, why don’t you talk to Devon?” she said gently. “I think you two could really hit it off.”

  “Maybe I’ll do that,” he said gruffly.

  Bryn turned back to Harris now. “I guess we can work out the details later. But just so you know, I’m looking forward to it.” She ran her hand down his arm as she gave him her most effervescent smile. He looked like he was about ready to melt. Perfect. She walked away, going over to the regular table where her DG friends were watching with dropped jaws.

  “What did you just do?” Devon demanded.

  Abby nodded to the chair next to her. “You said you were having a showdown at lunch today, but I thought you were kidding.”

  “Harris looked totally smitten,” Emma said. “Are you going to the dance with him?”

  “What about Jason?” Cassidy asked. “I thought you were supposed to be going with him.”

  “Remember, these are the Dating Games,” Bryn said. “And the game plan has just changed.” She pointed at Devon. “FYI, I think Jason is going to ask you to the dance.”

  Devon looked slightly flustered but not entirely unhappy.

  “What did you do?” Emma asked. “What did you say?”

  Bryn shrugged as she sat down, removing a lunch sack from her oversized bag. “I just used my head and my natural assets.”

  The girls laughed.

  “Seriously, I thought it all through,” she told them as she pulled out an apple. “I turned on the charm and turned up the heat, and voilà, it all fell into place.”

  “But with Harris?” Devon shook her head. “Why?”

  “The way I saw it, it was like I had to break open this dam—the Worthington dam—and I went for the weakest link. Turned out that was Harris.” She peered at Devon. “Come on, you told us before that you think Jason is hot. Why don’t you do like I did? Use your wits and your good looks and nail a date with the boy.” Bryn laughed. “It’s not that difficult. Especially since I got him warmed up for you.”

  “What about me?” Abby asked in a meek voice.

  Bryn grinned at her. “Don’t worry. Now that I got Harris on board, it will be a cinch to get Kent. Trust me, before this day is over, you’ll have a date for the dance.”

  “With Kent?” Abby looked uneasy.

  Bryn shrugged. “Does it really matter? I mean, I thought I wanted to go with Jason, but I’m settling for Harris. The point was that we wanted to go to the dance, right? Maybe we shouldn’t be too picky about who’s taking us.”

  Abby pursed her lips like she was considering this.

  “I’ll do my best,” Bryn promised. She pulled a paperback from her bag. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to get some reading done before English.”

  It was hard to concentrate on A Farewell to Arms now, but at least it provided a good distraction from answering questions from her friends. Bryn felt exhausted from her role-playing stint. Sure, it had been fun, but it was not an act she could keep up indefinitely.

  However, as the day progressed, she was aware of the promise she’d made to Abby. Somehow she had to get Kent on board. To do this, she realized she would need help—and Harris would be her man.

  “Hey, Harris,” she said, catching up with him after the final bell rang. “Can we talk?”

  He looked slightly alarmed. “You’re not going to dump me already, are you?”

  She laughed as she linked her arm into his. “Not at all.”

  He looked relieved. “What do you want to talk about?”

  “I need your help,” she said in the same tone she used on her dad when she wanted something.

  “What can I do for you?” He seemed to square his shoulders and stand taller.

  She smiled. “You’re good friends with Kent, right?”

  “Yeah. Absolutely.”

  “Well, Abby is my best friend, and it looks like she could be left out of going to the dance. Honestly, I don’t see how I could possibly have a good time if my best friend wasn’t there. You know?”

  He nodded eagerly. “You want me to work on Kent?”

  “Could you?”

  “You bet. He owes me a favor anyway.”

  She beamed at him. “Thanks so much, Harris. I’m so glad we got this all worked out. What if I’d had to go to the dance with a different guy?”

  “That would’ve been a shame.” He explained that they had an away soccer game after school and he needed to hurry to catch the bus. “But I will get Kent on board. Count on it.”

  “Let me know.” She held up her phone.

  “You got it.”

  Okay, so she hadn’t quite nailed it for Abby yet. Hadn’t she promised by the end of the day? Well, this day wasn’t over. As Bryn walked to her locker, she wondered if going to the dance was really worth this much effort. Oh, it would be fun and all. But if dating required so much time and energy, was it worth it? As she rounded a corner, she spied a familiar redhead—Devon—cozying up to Jason. For a moment, Bryn felt slightly jealous. After all, she was the one who was supposed to be going to the dance with Jason. But to be fair, she’d been the one who’d changed the game plan, so she couldn’t complain. Still, Jason was awfully good looking. It irked her to see Devon so obviously flirting with him. That could’ve been Bryn.

  Bryn held her head high as she sauntered past the two of them. She hoped that Jason would see her—and that he�
��d regret that he hadn’t acted sooner. Really, it was his loss.

  She stopped by the restroom on her way, and before she emerged from the stall some senior girls came in. They were clustered at the sinks, probably primping, as they talked. “It figures Jason would be attracted to a girl like that,” a voice that sounded like Amanda was saying. “He’s been looking for a lowlife, and unless I’m mistaken, that redhead is just the ticket.”

  “Ooh, sounds like sour grapes to me,” another girl said.

  “It’s not sour grapes,” Amanda retorted. “I’ve already told you, I’m finished with him. That guy has one thing on his mind, and trust me, it’s not his brain that’s doing the thinking.”

  They all laughed.

  “He thinks girls are nothing more than sex objects,” Amanda continued. “Like we were put here on this earth simply to make him happy. Seriously, he is the most selfish guy on the planet.”

  “Then how did you stay with him for so long?” a girl asked.

  “Believe me, it wasn’t easy. That new girl—that skanky little redhead—well, she can have him. They probably deserve each other.”

  Amanda and her friends were laughing as Bryn got ready to emerge from the stall, preparing herself to defend Devon. But before she could think of anything to say, it was obvious that the senior girls were leaving. Besides, Bryn wondered as she washed her hands, what would she say? How well did she really know Devon? For all she knew, Devon could be exactly as Amanda had said.

  After all, Bryn’s first impression of Devon had been that she was boy crazy. And everyone knew about first impressions—they were lasting. Besides that, Devon was the one who’d suggested their club in the first place. She was the one who was so hot to date. Of course, thinking about this just filled Bryn with more questions. If Devon really was that kind of girl, why had they allowed her to take the lead in creating the Dating Games club? Were they going to regret this later?

  Just as Bryn reached her locker, she received a text from Harris. The soccer guys were on the bus heading across town, and it sounded like Harris had already gotten Kent to agree to take Abby to the dance. So it was all set. No time to look back. She didn’t want to anyway. She’d set out to accomplish certain goals today, and it appeared that she’d done exactly that. Instead of questioning herself and their club, she should be patting herself on the back!

  15

  I could hardly believe it,” Abby told Bryn when she called on Saturday morning. “Just when I was about to give up on Kent last night—after you’d gotten my hopes up—he finally came through.”

  “I told you he would.”

  “Maybe . . . but to be honest it was a little disappointing.” Abby kicked off her Nikes and peeled off her sweaty socks. She’d run five miles with her dad this morning and was yearning for a good long shower right now.

  “Disappointing? What do you mean?”

  “I mean he texted me what felt like a really cautious invitation to the dance.”

  “Cautious? How so?”

  Abby tried to remember the exact message, but it was kind of muddled in her mind now. “Oh, I don’t know exactly. It just seemed like he was trying to make it perfectly clear that we were only going together as friends.”

  “Well, that’s okay. Isn’t it?”

  “Yeah, I guess. But after all we’ve been through with the DG and everyone putting so much effort into this thing . . . well, it was kind of anticlimactic.”

  Bryn laughed. “Don’t be silly. At least you’re going to the dance, Abby. Isn’t that something to celebrate? I was so worried you’d be left out.”

  “Speaking of left out . . . What about Devon?” Abby struggled out of her T-shirt as she held onto her phone.

  “What about her?” Bryn’s voice turned flat.

  “Well, she hasn’t been asked yet.”

  “I know.”

  “You got her text this morning, didn’t you? After I sent mine announcing that I was officially going?”

  “Yeah, I got it.” Bryn sounded slightly agitated now.

  Of course, this only stirred up Abby’s curiosity. Suddenly her urge to get into the shower was much less pressing. She sat down on her bed. “So what’s up with Devon? And why do you sound irritated at her?”

  “Didn’t you read the text?” Bryn demanded.

  “Yeah. Well, I read it pretty fast. I was just about ready to go running with Dad and—”

  “Did you miss the part where Devon was pulling the plug on our homecoming dates?”

  “Huh?” Abby held her phone out, wishing she could read the message more carefully this time.

  “Yes, Devon snarkily reminded us of the ‘no girl left behind’ rule. Remember that rule?”

  “Oh . . .” Abby flopped back on her bed and groaned. “So after everything we’ve gone through, Devon thinks we should all cancel just because she doesn’t have a date to homecoming?”

  “Uh-huh. That pretty much describes it.”

  “Man, that bites.”

  “Tell me about it. I put a lot of work into this project.”

  “It’s not our fault she hasn’t been asked out,” Abby said.

  “Well, maybe. But I happen to know she’s blaming me.”

  “Huh?” Abby sat up.

  “Yeah. She called me a little while ago saying that if I hadn’t hit on Harris, she would be going with him.”

  “Right . . . maybe in her dreams.” Abby sighed. “What are we going to do?”

  “We’re getting her a date.” Bryn said this with such determination that it sounded like a done deal.

  “Have you had any luck with Jason?”

  “No, but she probably deserves him,” Bryn said sharply.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I mean, from what I hear, Jason isn’t exactly a nice guy.”

  “What did you hear?” Abby didn’t really like gossip, at least not when it was about her friends. But when it was about someone else . . . well, her curiosity sometimes got the best of her. Abby was all ears as Bryn jumped right into a story about overhearing Amanda and her friends talking about Jason in the restroom.

  “I don’t see any reason why Amanda would lie—at least not to her friends,” Bryn continued. “She made it sound like Jason would be the last guy at Northwood to take the Worthington challenge seriously. Like Jason was after one thing and one thing only when it came to girls. I think those were her exact words.”

  “Did you tell Devon this?”

  “Are you kidding?”

  “But what about the DG rules?” Abby reminded her. “We’re supposed to be loyal to each other. Remember?”

  “Yeah, but how loyal is it for Devon to tell us we can’t go to homecoming? Or to blame me for her failure to get a date?”

  “Good point. But still . . .” Abby didn’t like Devon that much. Certainly not as much as she liked the other girls in the club. Even so, she’d always had a strong sense of fairness. In her mind, a commitment was a commitment.

  “Anyway, it seems the only thing to do is find Devon a date,” Bryn said.

  “Yes, obviously. But who can we get? The dance is less than a week away.”

  “I know. And I found the perfect guy for her.” Bryn giggled.

  “Who?”

  “Darrell Zuckerman.”

  “Darrell Zuckerman?” Abby didn’t like to label people, but anyone else in school would call Darrell Zuckerman a geek. Maybe even a super geek since he seemed to make the most of his status by dressing and acting as weird as possible. Besides being a geek, he was an atheist, which was ironic since Northwood Academy was considered a Christian school. But Darrell obviously wasn’t there by choice, and he never seemed to mind who knew this. He wasn’t just a geek, he was an obnoxious, outspoken, opinionated geek. Abby had him in trigonometry, and his attitude regarding his superior math skills got old quick.

  “He’s my lab partner in chemistry,” Bryn explained. “I know most people don’t understand him, but we actually get along pr
etty well. He likes me. And I like him.”

  “Maybe you should go to the dance with him,” Abby teased. “And leave Harris for Devon.”

  “Abby!”

  “Kidding.”

  “Anyway, I took the liberty of texting him this morning—right after Devon texted me—and then he called and we talked it all through, and he is willing to take her.”

  “He’s willing?” Abby laughed. “Like it’s a big imposition for someone like Darrell to take someone like Devon?”

  “Hey, Darrell might be a geek, but he’s not stupid.”

  “I wasn’t saying he was. I just thought he might appreciate having a pretty girl like Devon on his arm. You know? Might elevate his status in geekdom.”

  “Well, as it turns out, you’re right.” Bryn laughed. “Once I convinced him this wasn’t a prank, he agreed. He wants to take her.”

  “What did Devon say?”

  “Devon doesn’t know yet.”

  “Oh, I can’t wait to hear her reaction.” Suddenly Abby felt sorry for Darrell. “Does she even know Darrell?”

  “I’m not sure. I think you’ll have the opportunity to hear her reaction, though. I’ve called a meeting for today. If you ever checked your phone, you’d know this. Anyway, can you be at Costello’s by 11:00? I already got confirmation from everyone else.”

  “I guess so, but I still need to grab a shower. You could’ve given me more notice.”

  “I tried. Tell me, once again, why you don’t take your phone with you when you go running?”

  “When I’m with my dad? What for?” Abby was tugging off her shorts now.

  “Never mind. See you at 11:00. I’ll order you a mocha.”

  Abby hurried to shower and dress, then hopped on her bike and headed toward town. Fortunately, her house was less than a mile from Costello’s, but by the time she went into the coffee shop, her friends were already seated.

  “Sorry,” she said breathlessly as she took a chair. “Did you guys start without me?”

  Bryn shook her head and passed a coffee mug toward Abby. “Nope. We wanted everyone here and accounted for.”

  “I know why you called the meeting,” Devon said with an unhappy expression. “You’re mad at me for putting the kibosh on the dance, but if you remember, we all agreed to—”