Brunettes Strike Back

by Kieran Scott

  “What are we doing?” I asked as we started to jog.

  “We’re going to have a little fun with the Black Bears,” Corey replied. “They’re probably thinking they got away with turning us in last night.”

  “Yeah, right. When it comes to Becca and Gia, no one gets away with anything,” Maria said with a laugh.

  “Okay, I really don’t like the sound of this,” I told them as Maria shoved open the door to the stairwell. I had the same exact feeling I’d had the moment I realized my squad was planning on tagging West Wind High a few weeks ago. That “we are so going down for this” feeling. And, of course, we had gone down. Big-time.

  “Come on, Annisa! Live a little!” Jordan called to me, her voice echoing off the walls and down the well.

  My steps slowed as I climbed the stairs behind them. I could just turn around and go back to my room right now. I had people to talk to. And this getting-back-at-the-Black-Bears thing could not be innocent. But I kept following anyway. I didn’t want to disappoint Jordan. I barely ever got to see her and now I was going to bail on her?

  We got to the twelfth floor and the rest of the squad was waiting by the ice machines. The already uneasy feeling in my gut intensified when I saw that Lara Lefkowitz was toting a bag full of stink bombs and marbles. Lara’s little brother Lenny was, like, the stink-bomb king of the North-east. He’d gotten tossed out of every grade school, summer camp and Hebrew class he’d ever attended. And the marbles? That had to be inspired by the time Gia’s stepmother had ended up in traction after her little sister had left her marbles all over the kitchen floor. There was a rumor that Gia had actually done it—on purpose—but I had always chosen not to believe that.

  “Um, you guys?” I said, my palms growing sweaty. “What are we doing exactly?”

  “We’re just gonna leave the Black Bears a few presents in their rooms,” Corey said with a shrug as the others giggled.

  “And steal their competition uniforms,” Maria added.

  A couple of the girls high-fived and I looked at Jordan. She could not be okay with this. It was cruel. It was dishonorable. It was cheating.

  But Jordan was smiling with the rest of them.

  “Come on! It’s time to meet Gia and Becca,” someone whispered. Together everyone slunk out of the ice machine area and started down the hall. I grabbed Jordan’s arm and held her back.

  “Are you kidding me with this?” I said.

  Jordan rolled her eyes. “It’s not that big a deal. Come on!”

  Not that big a deal? Was she insane? They could get disqualified for this! Worse, they could get arrested. Wasn’t this breaking and entering? And robbery? And, I don’t know, reckless endangerment?

  I do love my Law & Order.

  “Jordan! Wait up!” I said, following her around the corner.

  As soon as we got there, we both stopped in our tracks. The rest of the team was at the other end of the hall, but right in front of us, making out all pressed up against a door, were Bethany Goow and Chuck the Artiste.

  “Whoa,” I blurted.

  They sprang apart. Bethany’s dark-as-pitch lipstick was all smudged around her lips and on her chin. It had left Chuck’s face looking bruised.

  “Oh, hey, guys,” Bethany said, super casual. “What’s going on?”

  Jordan and I both looked at Chuck. He got the message quickly and opened the door to his room. “Call me later,” he said to Bethany.

  She lifted her hand quickly, like she had already forgotten all about him. For a girl who had been freaked about alone time with the boy yesterday, she had sure moved on to nonchalant pretty quickly.

  “So, what are you guys doing?” Bethany asked, looking over her shoulder at the rest of the Beavers squad. They were all gathered in a huddle at the other end of the hall now.

  “Apparently, we’re stink-bombing the national champions,” I said wearily. “Wanna come?”

  “Hells yeah!” Bethany said, lighting up. Why was I not surprised?

  “You’re not invited,” Jordan said flatly.

  “What?” Bethany and I said in unison.

  “Annisa, this is something we’re doing as a squad,” Jordan said. “No outsiders.”

  My mouth dropped open. Since when did Jordan exclude anybody from anything?

  “Hate to point out the obvious, sister friend,” Bethany said sarcastically, “but Annisa isn’t on your squad.”

  Jordan looked at me. Ouch. There was no arguing with that.

  Suddenly the stairwell door opened and I jumped, feeling like the feds were going to descend upon us at any second. (Okay, maybe I watch too much Law & Order, but still.) It wasn’t a bunch of dudes in blue jackets, though. It was just Becca and Gia. They were both flushed and halfway to manic.

  “Annisa! You came!” Becca said, all psyched. She grabbed my wrist and started pulling me toward the others at the end of the hall. “Come on! Gia flirted with one of the bellboys until he stole us the keys to the Black Bears’ rooms.”

  “They’re all downstairs giving interviews for some local broadcast,” Gia said with a snarl. “It’s now or never.”

  “I’m gonna go with never,” I said. I tore my arm out of Becca’s grip and her sapphire ring made a scratch in my skin.

  “What?” Jordan asked.

  “Look, you guys. This isn’t right,” I told them, my heart palpitating. “It’s not only totally mean, but it could get you kicked out of here. Is that what you want?”

  Becca’s face fell, but she quickly regrouped. And laughed. “I always knew you were a wuss, Gobrowski,” she said.

  I felt a pang in my chest, but stood my ground. “Not wuss enough to fall for that reverse-psychology crap.”

  From the corner of my eye I saw Jordan watching us, shifting from foot to foot. Becca stepped right up to me, her face inches from mine.

  “You know, I really thought you were one of us,” she said, her green eyes flashing. “But now I see I was wrong.”

  “You know what, Becca? I’m not one of anyone,” I said, trying not to visibly shake. “I’m just me. And I want to compete tomorrow. And I don’t want to go home knowing that I cheated or that someone got hurt because of me. I guess that’s the real difference between us.”

  Becca snorted and backed up a bit. “Maybe you should dye your hair,” she said, shaking her head. “You’ve totally changed.”

  I didn’t really see it that way. If I had been here last year with the Beavers and they had suggested sabotage, I’d like to think that I would have said no then too. But who knows? All I could be sure of was that I was saying no now. And if that meant I had changed somehow, then I had clearly changed for the better.

  I took a step back, away from her and toward Bethany. As of that moment, I had lost all respect for Becca Richardson. Becca hit me with one last scoff and then turned and walked toward the squad. Gia snapped her teeth at me, psycho that she was, and followed. Jordan didn’t move.

  “You don’t have to do this, Jor,” I said, feeling pretty high after sticking up to Becca. “You know what happened to me during the whole prank-war thing. I ended up in jail. You guys could get in serious trouble. This isn’t like you.”

  “Omigod, Annisa! If I hear one more story about how much you’ve done with your new squad or how I should learn from your cheer wisdom, I swear I’m going to heave!” Jordan shouted.

  I blinked, totally taken aback. Jordan had never yelled at me before.

  “And how would you know what is and isn’t like me?” she asked, her eyes filling with tears. “You don’t return my phone calls, you almost never call me first. You’re so wrapped up in your new friends and your new life, you have no idea what’s going on with me! Did you even know that Matt made the hockey team at school? Or that my mom got demoted? Or that I got a tattoo on my back?”

  “Really?” Bethany asked. “Let’s see!”

  “So not the time, Bethany,” I said under my breath. I squared my shoulders and looked at Jordan. Inside I was reeling fro
m all the news that was being heaped on me, but I couldn’t focus on that right now. “Jordan, how am I supposed to know any of that if you don’t tell me? I mean, you didn’t even tell me that you guys were competing!”

  “How am I supposed to tell you any of it if you’re not around to tell?” she asked.

  I swallowed hard. “Well, what did you want me to do? Move to Florida and not make any friends?”

  “No, but you don’t have to show off all the time either! About how great they all are and how amazing your squad is and how perfect your life is,” Jordan replied. “It’s like you don’t even miss me!”

  “Of course I miss you!” I told her.

  “Could’ve fooled me,” she said.

  “Jordan! Come on!” Becca whisper-yelled from the other end of the hall, growling on the “on.”

  “I have to go,” she said. Then she turned and ran to catch up with the others.

  For a moment, I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe or think. I had endured more drama in the past two days than every character on the WB last season combined.

  “Wow,” Bethany said finally. “The Jersey me is a little scary.”

  “Come on. Let’s get out of here,” I said.

  “So, you gonna drop the dime on them?” Bethany asked as we walked to the elevators.

  “No. I don’t know,” I said. “Let’s not talk about it.”

  My legs were shaking. I felt like everything I knew had been blown to bits. What had happened to Jordan? And to Maria? In the past I could always count on them to be the levelheaded ones, but they were acting totally whacked now. The whole squad was. Yesterday, Becca had scolded Gia for smoking because she didn’t want to get kicked out of the competition, and now they were breaking into another squad’s rooms!

  Revenge really meant a lot to Becca Richardson. Not a healthy way to live.

  “Eh, don’t worry about the Jersey girls,” Bethany said as she hit the down button. “I still think you’re cool. And really, what more could you want in life than my approval?”

  I managed to laugh and leaned my head on her shoulder. “You might want to fix that lipstick,” I said.

  “And erase the evidence that I’ve been kissed?” she said. “Not likely.”

  We stepped into the elevator and started to sink. I wasn’t even paying attention to where I was going. What more could I want in life than her approval? I knew it was a joke question, but it got me thinking. What did I want?

  Well, I wanted to be happy again. I wanted to have fun cheering with my squad. I wanted my friends not to hate me. I wanted them to know that I was with them one hundred percent. What I wanted was my life back.

  “Coffee?” Bethany said as the doors slid open to the lobby.

  My pulse was racing with excitement. Suddenly I knew what I had to do. I knew where I belonged.

  “I have to get back to the squad,” I said, starting to smile.

  She stopped the doors from closing with her arm and stared at me. “Oh, God. Do you have, like, the theme from Gladiator playing in your head right now?” she asked.

  “Actually, it’s ‘Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee,’” I said.

  Bethany was clearly perplexed.

  “I’ll explain later,” I told her.

  Bethany rolled her eyes and released the doors. “Go with God,” she said as they slid closed. I cracked up laughing.

  By the time the elevators had reached my floor again, I had figured out exactly what I was going to say to Tara and the rest of the squad. I was practically wringing my hands with nervous energy. Then the doors opened and I forgot every last thing I had planned.

  Daniel Healy was standing right in front of me.

  “Oh, hey,” he said.

  “Yeah . . . hey,” I replied.

  I half expected him to get into the elevator and disappear, but he just stood there as I stepped out. Okay, now I needed a whole new speech. I shoved away the cheerleading file in my brain and opened the Daniel file. Unfortunately, only a taunting jack-in-the-box popped out of it.

  “Listen, I’m really sorry about—”

  “I wanted to say sorry for—”

  We spoke at the exact same time. Then laughed.

  “You go,” Daniel said.

  “I just wanted you to know that there is absolutely nothing going on with me and Steven,” I said. “Less than nothing. We’re talking negative numbers here.”

  Daniel smiled. “I know.”

  “You do?” I asked.

  “Yeah. I kind of . . . talked to him today,” he said, pacing backward a few steps. He pushed his hands together and flushed, looking at me with this adorably tentative face.

  While it was adorable, I now had a vision of Daniel hanging Steven out of a window by his ankles. Not that he would ever do that. Although, if he had Lumberjack Bobby Goow and his brother and Carlos cheering him on . . .

  “What do you mean?” I asked. “I mean, what did he say?”

  “He said he kissed you and you didn’t kiss him back,” Daniel told me. “He said you weren’t into it. So . . . I’m sorry. I jumped to conclusions.”

  “It’s okay.”

  I couldn’t have been more relieved to know that Steven knew what was what. It would make my next encounter with him far easier. Still awkward, but easier.

  “It’s just, I don’t go out on a limb all the time,” Daniel said. “When I saw you guys, I was surprised, but not that surprised. It was almost like I was expecting to get crushed.”

  I smiled at his honesty. “I would never crush you.”

  Daniel laughed. He reached out and ran his hands down my arms, then held my hands. It was so nice to be near him, I totally forgot that I was a makeup-less blob of dirty sweatshirt and jeans.

  “I should have known that,” he said.

  Standing there with my hands in his, the bliss only lasted so long. It took mere seconds for all the doubts to come rushing back. The Sage phone calls, the fact that he had never asked me to be his girlfriend. I was so happy to be with him, but at the same time I didn’t want to be thinking about all this stuff every single time we were together. Enough was enough.

  “Daniel?” I said.

  “Yeah?”

  “How come you freaked out when I asked if you were my boyfriend?” I asked.

  He sighed and looked down the hallway. “It was just so out of nowhere,” he said, hazarding a glance at me. “Call me old-fashioned, but I kind of wanted to ask you out. I mean, you kissed me first and everything. I wanted to get to do something.”

  A laugh exploded from me that sounded so much like a cackle, I blushed. But I couldn’t help it. What a relief.

  “Plus, to be honest, I thought you liked Steven,” he said. “I kept seeing you guys together at school, and he walked you home. I mean, I’m usually the one who walks you home, and—”

  I was laughing really hard now. So hard my eyes watered. And Daniel was giving me that freaked-out look.

  “Sorry,” I said, waving a hand. “I just . . . sorry.” How could Daniel ever be jealous of anyone else when all I wanted was him? “You’re just . . . too cute.”

  Daniel flushed. “Thanks, I think. I mean, is it good to be so cute that you make someone hysterical?”

  “I’m done now,” I said. “So you were never getting back together with Sage?”

  “Sage? Are you kidding me?” Now it was his turn to laugh, but I wasn’t finding it funny. I closed my eyes and finally just let it go.

  “I saw your number on her caller ID,” I said. “I know you called her the night before we left for nationals.”

  There was a moment of silence and I opened my eyes. “My cell number?” he asked flatly.

  I felt like someone had knocked me over the head with a sledgehammer. Duh! Whenever Daniel called me, it was from his cell. I don’t think he had ever used his home number since I had known him.

  “No. Your home number,” I admitted.

  Daniel nodded and sort of half smiled. “Well, a lot of the gu
ys were at my house that night. Anyone could have called her.”

  “Really?” I said, relief rushing through me all over again.

  He nodded. “Sage has her own stuff going on. But I promise you, it has nothing to do with me.”

  Oooh . . . juicy. “Care to elaborate?” I asked.

  “Not really. You’ll have to ask her yourself,” Daniel said. “But believe me, the last person I want to think about is Sage.”

  Ah, music to my ears.

  “C’mere,” he said, wrapping me up in his arms. I grinned up at him happily. “Sages are a dime a dozen,” he said, touching his nose to mine. “You are one of a kind.”

  Oh . . . my . . . God! Could he be any more perfect?

  I couldn’t believe that we had put ourselves through all this drama. We had both been jealous for no reason! Why didn’t we just talk to each other? I vowed that from then on, I would never jump to conclusions again.

  Yeah, right.

  “So, I have this question I’ve been wanting to ask you,” Daniel said quietly.

  “Yeah?” I asked, pulling back.

  “Annisa Gobrowski, will you be my girlfriend?” he said. His face was so serious, I almost cracked up again. Almost.

  “Yes! Yes, yes, yes!” I said.

  He smiled and then leaned in to kiss me. Inner squeal of delight! I was kissing my very first official boyfriend! I was kissing the most perfect guy in the known universe!

  This day was turning right around.

  20

  Standing outside my hotel room, I could tell the entire squad was gathered inside. The gab level was off the charts. I swallowed back a massive lump of fear and squared my shoulders. I pictured them all standing in a line by the windows like a firing squad. This was not going to be pretty.

  Just do it, ya wuss, I told myself. I opened the door.

  Everyone in the room fell silent. From what I could tell on first glance, all fifteen of them actually were present. Tara, Whitney, Felice, Lindsey and Kimberly were talking on Tara’s bed. Chandra, Mindy and Jaimee were sharing a bag of popcorn over by the window. Phoebe sat on the floor between the beds, talking on the phone. Karianna and Sage were sprawled across the other bed, reading magazines. Erin was in the corner, pumping her biceps with eight-pound weights. Maureen and Michelle were watching TV on the floor. Autumn was trying to meditate.