Authors: Brenda Maxfield
****
Laine was at EC â was there no escaping her? When I walked in, she looked up and for a split second, I saw fire flare from her eyes.
"Emili, you lost?" she asked in a voice pulsing with irritation.
"Isn't this Environmental Club?"
She jumped from her chair and came over to me. "Are you joining? Don't you think it might be too much? I mean, a new school, and already on decorations committee for the ball?"
I regarded her expression and noted the hint of desperation lurking behind the cool façade. "I think I can handle it."
There was an awkward silence, and I thought she was going to forbid me to join. Then she broke into a stiff smile, which didn't reach her eyes.
"Okay, listen up!" She looked around the room, and everyone gave her their attention. "This is Emili, she's new. She'll be joining us."
Thank you, Your Highness
,
for
introducing me.
How could I survive
without you?
I raised my arm in a half-wave and sank into a chair. On my left sat the most gorgeous guy I'd ever seen. His smooth chestnut hair swooped over his deep toffee eyes. He sat relaxed, dominating the chair with his size. I saw how his broad shoulders strained the fabric of his tee shirt. A shiver crawled up my spine. I couldn't help it; I stared. Was this Jordan?
Laine must have noticed where I'd sat. She grabbed my arm and pulled me from the chair. "Sit next to me, Emili, over here."
Since I wasn't in the market for romance, I let her pull me away. Besides, why should Jordan give me a second look? It was apparent he could have any girl he wanted.
I thought about Lance. I'd landed him, and he was gorgeous, too â tall and muscular with a thin waist and a mouth you wanted to get lost in. I winced when his memory brought the bitter taste of betrayal to my tongue. The nasty truth was I hadn't landed Lance Jankins at all, only thought I had.
For all I cared, the model could pull me to a chair on Mars. I wasn't in the market for another guy.
I was surprised Laine wasn't in charge of EC. A guy named Bud called the meeting to order. "Today's agenda is the community garden."
"The agenda's always the community garden," said a blonde girl who looked to be at least a junior. "I'm bored with the whole thing. It's not going to work, because we can't get the money in time. Let's give it a rest."
Angry gasps flew around the room as if she'd announced the end of vending machines in the cafeteria. Jordan smiled, showing his perfect white teeth. Then he spoke. "We've had some setbacks, but I don't think we should give up."
A guy with persistence. Hmm.
"Hear, hear," agreed Bud. "We already have one hundred bucks. It won't be hard to raise another four."
"The administration wimped out, and they haven't given us a thing." It was the blonde again.
A few other kids chimed in, while I was trying to figure out what was going on. I could feel Laine watching me. In fact, though I wasn't looking at her, I'm pretty sure her gaze was bouncing back and forth between me and Jordan.
She cleared her throat. "Jordan's right. We shouldn't give up." The heat of her smile could've melted an Alaskan glacier.
He nodded at her, but there was no answering smile. Instead, his eyes inspected me as if I were a product on a video game shelf. Had Sally and Margo already gotten to him?
"By the way, Emili, welcome." His voice was deep and lulling, like a late-night DJ. He continued to study me, but I couldn't begin to read the thoughts behind his guarded eyes.
Bud rustled a stack of papers. "Right, welcome. Sorry, Emili. I get caught up with all this. We're trying to develop a community garden on the east field. We'll raise veggies all summer and ask the community to help. The food will be donated to the food bank, and the helpers can take some for their own families. It's a win-win."
"Great idea."
Bud continued, "The administration told us we need five hundred bucks to get started. They want us to use raised beds so we don't dig up the ground, but raised beds costs money. It'd be good PR for the school, so I don't know why they don't jump on this. Instead, it's one roadblock after another."
"We need to get off our butts and get some fund-raisers going," said a girl I recognized from English class.
"Five hundred doesn't seem like much," I said.
Laine cleared her throat, calling everyone's attention back to her. "If you weren't so new, Emili, you'd know we have a lot of clubs at Edgemont. There are fund-raisers every three minutes, and we keep milking the same crowd. While five hundred isn't much, we've run out of ideas."
"Face it," said the blonde. "We haven't tried very hard."
"That all changes today. Do we still want to do this?" Bud asked.
Everyone except the blonde nodded.
"Okay, let's get the ideas going," Jordan said.
"One time we did something kind of weird at Bates to raise money." All eyes focused on me.
"We're desperate, Emili. We'll take any and all ideas," Bud said.
"We auctioned ourselves off as servants. One kid would donate money to buy another kid, who'd then have to serve the buyer for a week. You know, things like carry his books to class, clean up his garbage at lunch. Dumb stuff. 'Course, we couldn't do each other's homework or anything. If we got bought, we even had to take our master's dirty gym clothes home and wash them."
Smiles started to show up on everyone's face, except Laine's.
She shook her head. "No offense, but your idea's ridiculous. It'll never work."
Bud held up one hand and patted the air for emphasis. "It's brilliant! Who wouldn't want to buy a servant for a week? LaShawna, write it up for the administration. I love it. Cheers for Emili."
I wasn't fishing for cheers, but they felt good anyway. I looked over at Laine. She tried to smile, but it was a contorted attempt. I squirmed in the metal chair. The last thing I needed was an enemy as powerful as Laine Meadow.
Â
Â
Dad picked me up after the meeting. I was heading downstairs when Laine caught up with me.
"You need a ride home again?"
"My dad's coming."
"You should've asked me."
"Didn't know you'd be at the meeting."
Laine yanked on my arm, stopping me mid-step. "I told you I'm involved in everything. All you need to do is check with me."
I attempted a pleasant expression.
"Want to spend the night tomorrow? We can go to the game and then you can come home with me."
I almost fell down the rest of the stairs. "What?"
"I'm asking if you want to spend the night." Her voice was tight, and she started tapping her heel on the rubber strip of the step.
"I'd have to ask," I said to give myself a moment. Why would she want me to spend the night? My mind whirled. Was it part of her plan to control me?
"Your dad's probably here, so let's go ask him now."
Boy, she didn't waste any time. I tried to figure out how to say no without making her mad, but she was already dragging me out of the school. "Which car is your dad's?"
I pointed to the blue sedan. "He's over there."
She dropped my arm and ran to the driver's side. By the time I caught up and climbed into the car, Dad was chuckling.
"Sure, she can stay, and thanks for asking." The happiness in his voice saturated the air.
He answered for me?
Laine tapped the palm of her hand on the car door. "Okay then." She bent down and eyed me through Dad's open window. "It's a go. See you tomorrow."
Dad waved, and we took off. "What a nice girl, and you're already making friends. I'm so relieved, Emili. I can't tell you how relieved."
"Then why don't you go to the sleepover instead, since you're so keen on it?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" He glanced at me, his eyebrows drawn together into a tight line, and then focused again on the road.
"Sorry, long day. Never mind." I guessed spending one night at Laine's wouldn't kill me.
Dad coughed and grabbed a hanky out of his pocket. Was he getting sick now, on top of everything else?
"How was your day?" He changed topics, and his voice switched to a lively tone. It was so forced and fake, my insides cringed.
"Fine," I answered. "I have a lot of homework, though."
I knew he wanted me to say, "
Super
,
great, so glad I got to change schools.
Wow, thanks for losing your job. And thanks for forcing me to spend the night with Laine.
"
Guilt hovered over him like thick fog. I knew a few words from me could ease it.
Open your mouth, Emili. Be nice.
"The truth is, it was a good day. I met some more kids, and I joined Environmental Club, which was fun."
His sigh of relief suffocated me. I'd said the right thing.
Earlier, I'd promised myself I'd never lie to anyone again â what a failure.
Sarah was already home when we got there. She was sprawled on the couch, and her left leg rested on a stack of pillows. "Two days in a row, you weren't on the bus. Thanks a lot for deserting me with no warning."
I threw my backpack on the stuffed chair next to the TV. "Sorry. I didn't know I was staying late."
"You'd have a fit if I did that to you."
I let out my breath in a whoosh. "I know, and you're right. Sorry."
"I sat all by myself."
"I said I was sorry."
Sarah stood up in a huff. "Well,
excuuuuse
me for being alive."
"Girls, don't fight." Dad's voice was listless, tired, as if he'd done something besides spend the whole afternoon on his rear.
"We're not fighting. Sarah, drop it." I went to the kitchen to look for something to eat.
"Don't eat anything. Dinner will be in thirty minutes."
It used to be Dad wouldn't have touched a pan, but now life was upside down. At least it was a good deal for Mom â saved her some work. She needed the help, too, because she got crabbier by the day â no, by the hour.
I picked up my backpack and headed for my room. Before I shut my door, I heard muffled sobs coming from Sarah's room. I knocked on her door.
"Go away!" she said.
I opened the door, and she was in front of her mirror inspecting her own puffy face and tears.
"I hate it," she said, hiccupping. "I want to go back to Bates."
I shut her door. "Be quiet. Dad will hear you."
"I don't care. It's his fault!"
"It's not his fault he lost his job. He's unhappy about it, too. You're old enough to understand â we can't afford tuition anymore." I sat on her bed and patted the space beside me. "Sit."
She dragged herself to the bed and plunked down. "The kids make fun of me. They call me
Milk Girl
." She sniffed and wiped her nose on her sleeve. "They hate me. I'm such a screw-up. I'll never have friends again."
I put my arm around her. "Yes, you will. It takes time. I promise it'll be okay."
Sarah pressed her cheek into my shoulder. "No, it won't. I want to crawl into a hole and never come out."
"It'll be okay, Sarah. It will." I hugged her, resting my chin on the top of her head.
Another lie.
****
Margo met me at the heavy double doors the next morning.
"Where's Sally?" I asked.
"Beats me. Late, I guess." Margo's Spanish lilt was somehow always stronger in the morning.
"I went to EC. Why didn't you warn me about Laine being there?"
"
A
y
, we didn't, did we? Sorry. Laine's everywhere, so I guess we didn't worry about it. Hey, what did you think of Jordan? He was there, wasn't he?"
"Like you said, he's hot."
"Right? I could melt over his eyes."
"Then why aren't you going after him? Why try to set him up with me?"
Margo looked down at her feet, sighed, and then raised her face as if in confession. "I did go after him, but he was only interested in Pamela. It was Pamela this and Pamela that. When their relationship went south, he didn't care about anyone, so we settled on being good friends."
"Friends can become more than friends easy enough."
"Yes, but there's Sally."
"She wants him, too?"
"Yeah. We made a pact, and neither of us gets him."
"How do I join the pact?"
"No, no, we talked it out. If you get him, then Laine won't." She raised her eyebrows and leaned in like a private detective. "It's settled."
"Kind of forgetting something, aren't you?"
"Like what?"
"Don't you think Jordan and I should have some say?"
Margo laughed and shook her head. "No. Hey, here comes Sally."
Sally rushed over, her braid swishing behind her. "Sorry I'm late. It's all my fault. I tried to get some extra practicing in, but Mom threw a tizzy fit. I was forced to give up and come."
"We've only got a minute left," Margo said, looking at her watch.
"Laine asked me to spend the night," I blurted.
They both froze, eyes wide. Together, they turned like synchronized swimmers, speaking in unison. "What?"
"I know. Weird, right?"
"Are you going?" Margo asked, her forehead creased into a question.
"I got stuck. She asked my dad, and he agreed."
"You still could've said no," Sally said, pursing her lips.
"I didn't have the chance. Honest."
Margo tapped her fingers on her chin and nodded. "Laine's nervous. She wants to keep track of you."
"Still seems over-the-top to me," Sally said. "No offense, Emili, but you're not
that
cute."
Margo snorted. "Oh, I don't know. She's got a certain something. Besides, I think Jordan could be interested, which will slay Laine."
They were analyzing me like a third-grade science project. I opened my mouth to protest, and the warning bell rang.
"We have to go. C'mon, Emili. See ya, Margo." Sally hoisted her backpack higher onto her shoulder, and we took off.
It made no sense, but agreeing to spend the night at Laine's made me feel like a traitor.