Only Everything (27 page)

“What did you put for number three?”

“What was up with that question about the berries?”

“If I get stuck with Daniel DeMarco, I’ll die.”

My heart pounded as I approached the front of the room, Hephaestus watching me with interest. It was now or never. I “tripped” over Stacey’s bag, and the papers went flying. Stacey and her friend gasped. Mr. Chin pushed his chair back. The room erupted in laughter and applause. The one day I wasn’t being mocked for my clothes, and I’d gone and done this.

But it was a small price to pay. Before Mr. Chin could even get up from his desk, I folded Katrina and Charlie’s papers into my pocket.

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Chin,” I muttered as he knelt to help me.

“Accidents happen,” he replied. “No worries.”

I handed him my stack and he straightened it together with his own.

“You okay?” Mr. Chin asked kindly.

At that moment the bell rang. I smiled.

“I’m fine,” I told him. “Thanks. I think this project is going to be very . . . useful.”

His eyes narrowed. “I’m glad you approve.”

Katrina was one of the first out the door. Charlie stopped to talk to Darla.

“What did you put for the last one?” she asked him immediately.

His eyes darted toward the hall. Longing for Katrina, I was sure. “Um . . . I don’t remember.”

I joined Hephaestus as he wheeled over the threshold.

“Got the tests?” he said under his breath.

“Yep,” I told him, closing my fist around them deep inside my pocket.

“See? I knew you could do it,” Hephaestus said. “You, my friend, are an evil genius.”

I grinned back. “Only on my good days.”

CHAPTER FORTY

True

Please let this work,
I prayed the following afternoon, hoping Zeus actually
wasn’t
listening in.
Please, please, please.

Mr. Chin had already announced and “married” five couples, and Charlie and Katrina were still single. But so were Stacey and Darla and a dozen others. This could either go very right, or very, very wrong.

“Our next lucky couple is . . . Darla and Daniel!” Mr. Chin announced.

“Yes!” a scrawny boy in a plaid shirt cheered.

Darla sank in her chair before swinging her legs out into the aisle to join her betrothed. I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Quit worrying,” Hephaestus whispered as Mr. Chin conducted his brief ceremony. “You got this.”

“Congratulations!” Mr. Chin said to Dan and Darla. There was a smattering of applause, as there had been with each coupling, and Darla dropped back into her chair as Daniel loped toward his.

“Next up we have . . .” Mr. Chin consulted his tablet. “Charlie and Katrina!”

My heart leaped. They both beamed. Anyone in the room could
tell they were smitten. How had I missed this up until now? How had I not seen?

“Dude. Those two are cuter than a pair of YouTube kittens,” Hephaestus said as they walked to the front of the room.

“I don’t know what that means,” I replied, my gaze trained on my latest project. Katrina grinned as she stared at the floor. Charlie rocked from his toes to his heels. He couldn’t have stood still if he tried.

“Charlie Cox, Katrina Ramos, do the two of you swear to honor each other, work together, and hand in your assignments on time this semester?” Mr. Chin asked.

Katrina looked shyly at Charlie. Charlie grinned. “We do,” they said together.

“Great! Then I now pronounce you seventh-period-econ husband and wife! Congratulations!”

I applauded loudly. So loudly that a few people turned to stare, so I shoved my hands under my butt and pressed my lips together. I’d done it. I’d paired up Charlie and Katrina on a project that would force them to spend hours together over the next few weeks. The two of them were going to fall in love. I was sure of it.

Mr. Chin matched up couples until only Hephaestus and I were left. He gave us a beady eye as he strolled toward our side of the room.

“Now to True and Heath,” he said, lifting his chin. “I didn’t seem to have test responses from either of you. What did you do during yesterday’s class period?”

“Were we supposed to fill those out?” Hephaestus said with a huge grin. “Sorry. I’m new here.”

A few kids laughed. Mr. Chin smirked. “Well, congratulations, you two. You’re matched up due to mutual laziness.” He shook his head. “Good luck in life.”

More laughter. Then the bell rang, and we were free.

“Don’t forget your first assignment as married couples!” Mr. Chin called after us. “I expect you to come up with your monthly net income by tomorrow and work out a preliminary budget so we can go over them in class.”

“Do you want to get together after school?” Katrina quietly asked Charlie as they made their way to the door. Her shyness was so adorable, bringing a pleasantly pink hue to her skin.

“I’ve got cross-country. What about after that? Around five?”

“You’re supposed to come to the shop!” Darla protested, catching up with them. She grabbed Charlie’s hand possessively. “Remember?”

“Oh, right. Crap,” Charlie said.

Darla’s lips pinched like she’d tasted something sour.

“What about after dinner? Around seven?” I suggested. “The library’s open late tonight, right, Katrina?”

The three of them looked surprised that I’d interjected, but I didn’t care. This was it. This was going to be my first match. It had to work.

“Yeah. I can do that,” Katrina said. “What do you think?”

We looked at Charlie. Darla’s grip on his fingers tightened until he winced.

“Um, yeah. Okay. Seven at the library,” he said. Darla glowered. Charlie didn’t seem to notice. He was focused on Katrina’s smiling face. “I’ll see you then.”

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Charlie

My hair was still wet from the postpractice shower when I walked up to My Favorite Things that afternoon. It was a small store on the bottom floor of an old house. Most of the mannequins in the window were girls, but the one male was wearing torn jeans and a preppy striped sweater. Darla was somewhere inside there, waiting for me. I looked over my shoulder. I didn’t want to go in. I wanted to go to the library and wait for Katrina. I wanted to call her up and tell her to meet me. Now. But I didn’t have her number, and I’d promised Darla I’d be here.

The door opened. Darla stuck her head out. “What’re you doing? Come in!”

So that was that.

Darla took my hand and pulled me through the store. There was a tall girl with black hair behind the register. “Mira, this is Charlie. Charlie, Mira.”

“Hi!” Mira said as I was yanked past her. “Darla’s told me so much about you!”

“Um, okay!”

I didn’t have much time to respond because I was practically
flung into a dressing room. Hanging from a hook were several shirts. Three sweaters were folded on a gold bench. Next to them was a stack of jeans.

“I already picked some stuff out,” Darla told me. “Hope you don’t mind!”

Then she yanked the curtain shut. I glanced at the price tag on the first shirt, which was blue-and-burgundy plaid. It was seventy-five dollars.

“There’s no way I can afford this stuff,” I said.

“But I get a discount!” Darla reminded me. I could see her feet under the curtain. Her perfectly shined black heeled boots. “And you don’t have to buy
everything
. Just try something on!”

“Okay, okay,” I said with a laugh, trying to sound like I was having fun as I pulled on the first pair of jeans. They fit well.

“How did you know my size?” I asked.

“It’s something I’ve always been able to do,” Darla replied proudly. “Every year at the street fair I do that thing where I guess people’s weight? Last year I earned over five hundred dollars for charity.”

“Wow. Cool,” I said, impressed that she volunteered. “What charity?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Some kids’ charity. Veronica’s parents are on the board or whatever, so we always end up working it,” she replied. “The town does it every year in the spring. You’ll love it.”

I yanked my sweatshirt off over my head and reached for the shirt.

“So how much does it suck that you got matched up with that Katrina girl?” Darla said.

I froze with the shirt halfway on, staring into its crisscrossed fabric. “Why?”

“Well, because we should have been matched up,” Darla replied. “It would have been fun to work together.”

“Oh. Yeah. I guess,” I said.

“And besides, she’s such a burnout,” Darla continued.

My teeth clenched as I yanked the shirt down over my head. “What do you mean?”

“Her and her friends, they all hang out in the arts wing bathroom every morning and smoke. And they’re so . . . anti-everything. Anti-school, anti-sports, anti-having-fun,” she babbled. “No one hangs out with them. They’re, like, total outcasts.”

“Oh,” I said quietly.

I buttoned up the shirt, remembering what True had said that afternoon—that Darla was kind of into appearances or something. Considering where I was standing, what I was doing, and everything I was hearing, I was starting to think that was true.

“What’s up with her boyfriend?” I asked.

“Tyler Donahue? Exactly! What
is
up with him? He was, like, the star of the wrestling team until he dropped out a couple years ago,” Darla replied. “It’s like Veronica says, losers hang with losers.”

I felt a twist in my heart area. Katrina wasn’t a loser.

“I thought you defended her the other day. At lunch?”

“Oh yeah. I mean, she’s
okay
, but . . . I just don’t know. I just wish we’d gotten put together, that’s all. Well? Can I see?” Darla asked.

I looked at myself in the mirror. The shirt was stiff, but the jeans were okay. I opened the curtain. Darla rolled her eyes at me.

“You don’t button the shirt,” she said, reaching for me. I froze. She stepped in really close and very slowly undid the buttons over my blue T-shirt. When she got to the bottom one, she stepped even
closer, looking into my eyes. “There,” she said, somehow making that one word sexy.

Wow. Tell me how you really feel.

“Now. Look into the mirror.”

I turned, and suddenly I recognized the look she was going for. If it weren’t for my blond hair and blue eyes, I’d be the spitting image of Josh Moskowitz. I think he even had that exact shirt.

“You look amazing,” Darla said, tilting her head into the frame. “See what fashion can do for you? You can wear it to Josh’s party on Friday!”

“I don’t know,” I said, feeling angry out of nowhere. I closed the curtain on her abruptly and yanked down on the shirtsleeve. “I think I should try something else.”

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Katrina

“What’s with you?” Mrs. Pauley asked as I leaned my elbows into the circulation desk that night. “You can’t stop smiling.”

I blushed down at the gleaming wood surface. I’d never felt my heart pound like this. Not even before my first date with Ty, which hadn’t really been a date—more like a group hang. I’d changed my clothes three times before coming here, then felt guiltier than sin when Ty had dropped me off with a kiss and a wave.

But I couldn’t help it. Charlie and I were about to spend a whole hour together. Alone. My palms itched at the very thought.

“I don’t know,” I told her, lifting one shoulder. “I guess I’m in a good mood.”

She eyed me shrewdly, but smiled. “Well, I’m glad to see it.”

“Thanks.”

I heard the automatic doors open and close and used every ounce of self-control I had not to turn around. I could feel someone walking up behind me, though. Could hear the swish of jeans as his legs rubbed together against the silent backdrop of the library. I stopped breathing.

“Hey,” he said.

I turned around. His hair was combed farther to the side, exposing his eyebrows for the first time since I’d met him. He wore another band T-shirt, this one heather blue, and it totally brought out his eyes. I gripped the desk behind me with both hands.

“Hey,” I replied, biting my bottom lip.

“Oh,” Mrs. Pauley said. “Now I get it.”

“Shhh!” I replied giddily. “It’s a library.”

“So get to work then,” she chided, picking up a stack of returned books. “I reserved the good table for you.”

“Thanks,” I told her, sliding my backpack onto my shoulder.

“You get perks around here?” Charlie asked as I led him around the desk toward the windowed alcove.

“I work here, so . . .”

“Oh really? Cool,” he said. “You must really like to read.”

I slid into one of the hard-backed chairs at the study table. There was, in fact, a small
RESERVED
sign at its center, and Alison Toshika was hunkered down at the next table over, glaring at me. She loved this table. She was here every day with her laptop and her intimidating private-school texts, grinding away. I tried to hold back a smile. It was nice to have perks.

“Yeah. I do,” I replied, feeling self-conscious. Because, of course, liking to read made me a dork. To most people, anyway.

“Me too,” Charlie said. “What do you think of
Great Expectations
so far?”

I grinned. “Well, I
loved
the first chapter,” I joked.

Charlie laughed. My smile was so huge my cheeks ached. I’d made him laugh!

“But seriously, it’s good. The imagery is amazing,” I said, tugging out my econ text. “I’m glad the pressure’s off, though.”

“I’m jealous,” he replied. “My name hasn’t been called yet.”

I was aware of this. Because I couldn’t wait for him to go so I could return the favor and help him the same way he’d helped me. I was already trying to think of something good to write in a notebook to flash at him from the back of the classroom.

“So . . . wife,” Charlie said with a laugh.

“Yes . . . husband?” I replied, giggling against my will.

He toyed with the cover of his text, opening it and letting it flap closed over and over. “What do you think we should do first?”

I hesitated, surprised by the question. “Oh, I . . . um . . .”