First Date (10 page)

D
evon called her dad on Sunday morning. It had been a couple months since she’d last spoken to him, but she had a reason for calling today. Plain and simple—she wanted money.

“Mom says you’re late on child support,” Devon told him.
“Again.”
She could tell she woke him up. Not that she cared much since it was already past 10:00.

“Hello to you too,” he said groggily. “So nice to hear your voice.”

“Sorry, Dad.” She softened her tone. “It’s just that it’s not easy being in this private school. I have a whole new set of friends, and I have to be able to measure up. There’s this big dance coming up. Homecoming. I want to go, and I used all my money to buy the dress, which is really great, but now I’m broke, and I don’t even have shoes yet. Plus there are some other expenses too. I need help.”

He let out a low groan.

“I’m really sorry to bug you.” She spoke even more sweetly. “But if you could just send me some cash, I’ll beg Mom not to put too much pressure on you for being late with the child support.” Okay, she realized she was stepping way over the line here. But she also knew that Mom had a very good job. Better than Dad’s. And sometimes Devon wondered about the fairness of Dad getting stuck with so much of the financial responsibility. She and Mom had gotten the house and the best car, while Dad was living in a tiny apartment downtown. However, she reminded herself, he was the one who chose to leave, and although it had never been said, Devon was pretty sure that it was because of a woman.

“So . . . how much do you need?” he asked slowly.

She gave him a generous number, certain that he’d balk at it. But when he didn’t, she gratefully thanked him and promised to work on Mom. “I’ll email you some photos of me in my homecoming dress,” she said finally.

“I wish I could be there to see you,” he said sadly.

“Me too.” Then she told him to have a good day and hung up. Having parents split like this was painful. At least she was learning how to use it to her advantage . . . sometimes. Most of the time, she would gladly give up everything and anything just to have her parents happily married again. However, she knew the likelihood of that was probably comparable to winning the lottery. So not happening.

Her parents had acted like because she was a teenager, and in their opinion nearly grown, she shouldn’t really care that they were divorcing. Like she had her own life and would soon be off in college—la-di-da. Like it didn’t matter that she no longer had a house with two parents to come home to. And what about Christmas and other holidays? Or special times
like the homecoming dance or graduation? Or what if she got married someday? How would they handle her wedding? Naturally, they didn’t think about those things. Or maybe they just didn’t want to talk about them.

Devon checked her phone, hoping she might have a text from Cassidy, since Cass was the one supposedly working on Harris for her, but she had nothing from Cassidy. Although it had been Devon’s choice to switch Harris from Bryn to Cassidy—for obvious reasons—she now questioned the wisdom of this. At least Bryn had been trying, although Devon had been uncertain as to who Bryn was working for—herself or Devon. Meanwhile, it didn’t look like Cassidy was even lifting a finger to help. Why should she be surprised? Cass was the biggest heel-dragger of the group. Devon wondered why they’d even let her join.

Devon decided to text Cassidy. A gentle nudge couldn’t hurt. Even if Cass was in church right now, which was probably the case, Devon knew that some of her friends received and sent text messages while in church. Maybe if Cassidy was bored enough, she’d take the time to send something to Harris. Devon could only hope.

On Monday what little patience Devon had for Cassidy was quickly evaporating. Despite Cass getting her great makeover and the fact that Emma had made serious progress in getting Lane’s attention for her, Cass was definitely slacking. It was just wrong that Cassidy should benefit from the DG without even lifting a finger.

By noon, Devon had decided to give her a piece of her mind. She started by reading rules two and three to her during
lunch. “Two:
We will be loyal to our fellow DG members.
And three:
We will help fellow DG members to find dates with good guys.
” She narrowed her eyes at Cassidy. “Can you honestly say you’re doing that?”

Cassidy’s neatly plucked brows arched. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying you’re not making any progress with Harris for me. Yet we’ve all been working to help you. In case you haven’t noticed, you seem closer to nailing a date to the dance than anyone else in the DG. It’s just not fair.”

Cassidy frowned. “I’m sorry. What do you want me to do?”

“Invest yourself,” Devon told her. “Act like you care.”

Cassidy shrugged. “Okay.”

“Listen,” Bryn said quietly. “We do need to work together, but we also need to keep things light. Remember,
we are not desperate
.”

Devon took in a deep breath. She knew Bryn was right. Even so, she felt slightly desperate. “But Harris still doesn’t even know I’m alive.” She glanced over to where Harris and Isaac were just coming out of the lunch line. “When I said hi to him today, he didn’t even respond.”

“Why don’t you let me work on Harris for you,” Bryn offered. “It seemed like I was getting somewhere with him last week.”

Devon wasn’t so sure.

“How about if I work on him?” Emma offered. “After all, it looks like I’ve succeeded with Lane.” She glanced at Cassidy. “Right?”

Everyone stared at Cassidy, and her expression was a mixture of embarrassed and smug. “Yeah . . . I guess so. Lane has really started talking to me. But so far no invite to the dance yet.”

Emma turned to Devon. “I sort of have a connection with Harris—I mean, since he’s best friends with Isaac. Did I tell you that I seem to be making real progress with Isaac? He actually talked to me this morning—and I didn’t initiate it either.” Emma beamed at them. “It felt like he was really interested in me.”

Cassidy looked surprised. “You didn’t tell me that.”

“I was going to, but it just happened and—”

“Back to Harris.” Devon pointed at Emma. “Yes, I’d like your help.”

“What about me?” Bryn asked. “Abby is supposed to be working on Jason for me, but so far—no offense, Abby—but we’re not making progress.”

“I just need a little more time,” Abby assured her. “Give me a day or two.”

“Maybe I can help,” Devon told her. “Since it’s going pretty well with Isaac now, I could focus my energy on Jason for you.”

“Would you?” Bryn looked hopefully at her.

Devon smiled. Suddenly she saw the brilliance of this plan. If Bryn was dependent on Devon to secure a date with Jason, she wouldn’t try to mess anything up with Harris. Would she?

They kicked around this new plan a bit more, making sure that they were all on the same page. Finally, satisfied that every girl was committed to the cause, Devon made another suggestion. “How about if we give this plan our full effort until Wednesday—that’s a week and half before the dance. If no one has been asked by then, we’ll regroup and revise our battle plan as needed.” They all agreed to this, and as Devon went to her next class, she felt confident. Somehow they would pull this thing off. They had to!

It wasn’t until Wednesday afternoon that Devon felt like she was making real progress with Jason. To her surprise, he waited to walk with her as she emerged from biology. He made it seem casual, but it felt set up to her. As they made small talk on their way to the locker bays, she experienced an odd sensation. Was she imagining things, or was Jason actually flirting with her? And if he was, did she really mind? He was awfully good looking. What would the harm be if he was interested in her? Maybe Bryn could go to the dance with Harris. Of course, she knew that rule six clearly outlawed stealing boyfriends. But was Jason really Bryn’s boyfriend? They’d never gone out.

“So . . .” Jason eyed her with what seemed like approval. “You haven’t even been here a month, and you’re already stirring up trouble.”

“Moi?”
She giggled.

He looked amused. “Kent told me you’re the one who got the girls all worked up about going to the homecoming dance.”

She acted shocked. “Why would I do that?”

“To shake things up.” He grinned.

She gave him a sly sort of smile. “What’s wrong with shaking things up?”

He looked directly into her eyes with a surprising intensity. “Nothing much, I guess. Some things are better when shaken.”

“So are you interested?” she asked. “I don’t mean in me,” she said quickly. “I mean just interested in general—not interested in me.”

He laughed. “You sure about that? Sounds to me like you’re asking me to take
you
to the dance.”

“No. No.” She firmly shook her head. Her cheeks suddenly got warm, and she almost felt like he’d been reading her thoughts. “I’m not asking for
me
. I mean, I’m not asking for
anyone
.” She felt flustered, bumbling around like a seventh grader. She took in a quick steadying breath, faking a self-assured smile. “I’m just curious as to your interest level in general. That’s all.”

His smile grew larger. This guy seemed to ooze confidence, which was both attractive and aggravating. “Well, my interest level is steadily rising, Devon.”

“You’re not one of the guys who’s worried about the Worthington speech?”

His brows arched. “You know about
that
?”

She glanced around uneasily. Had she just spilled state secrets? “Yeah . . . just a little.”

“Well, I’ve never taken the Worthington speech too seriously.” He chuckled. “I obviously wasn’t influenced by it last year. I’m for sure not going there now. Not in my senior year.” He leaned in closer. “And for sure not with girls like you around.” His eyes seemed to run from her head to her toes and back up again—but all in the flash of a microsecond. Or maybe she’d just imagined it.

She felt a nervous flutter as she swallowed hard. This was not how this was supposed to go down. “I, uh, I heard you used to go with Amanda Norton,” she said carefully. “Is that relationship really over?”

Jason’s smile faded slightly as he made a noncommittal shrug.

“Because if it is,” she continued, “I know of a certain girl who might be interested.”

His smile returned. “A girl who’s kind of new to this school?”

She waved her hand. “I’m serious, Jason. I’m not talking about myself.”

He looked slightly confused. “Who then?”

“Bryn Jacobs,” she said.

His look grew even more puzzled. “Bryn?”

She nodded.

He seemed honestly blindsided. “Not you?”

She shook her head.

“So you already have a date to the dance?”

“Well, no . . . not actually.”

“Huh?”

“What do you think—are you interested in Bryn or not?”

He got a hard-to-read look, almost like a mix of disappointment and curiosity. “I’m gonna have to think about that one, Devon.” He turned abruptly, heading toward the senior locker bay. Somehow this hadn’t gone down quite like she’d anticipated. Yet at the same time she felt strangely flattered by his attentiveness.

Was it possible that a guy as cool as Jason was actually interested in her? From what she’d heard, Jason was considered the school’s hottie. She’d assumed it would take a girl like Bryn Jacobs to snare him. But perhaps she had been wrong. Perhaps she’d set her sights too low in settling for Harris.

Of course, this posed a serious problem. For one thing, there were the DG rules. Here they were barely out of the gates, and she was considering breaking them—the rules of a club she’d worked so hard to establish. No, Devon decided as she opened her locker, she needed to come at this from a different angle.

“Hey, Devon.”

She turned to see Bryn peering curiously at her. “What’s up?”

“Huh?” Devon slammed her locker shut, stuffing some books into her bag and trying to appear obliviously innocent.

“I mean with JT.” Bryn smiled prettily.

“JT?”

“You know . . . code.” She lowered her voice. “For Jason.”

“Oh. Right.”