Crush Alert (11 page)

A
very lay on her bed, studying the ceiling, Walter wrapped around her arm. There was a tiny spidery crack in the plaster, a reminder of the time she and her brothers were playing basketball in her room and Scott threw the ball too high. It cracked some of the ceiling, and her mom had grounded them all for a month.

As if psychic, Scott popped his head inside her room. His messy hair flopped into his eyes.

“Hey, Bean Head. Nice tunes. Who is it? Let me guess…a baby-face teen pop sensation?”

Avery let Walter slither back into his cage, then turned down her iPod speakers and threw a pillow at her brother. “How many times have I told you to knock before you come in here, Goober!”

Scott caught the airborne pillow and tossed it back at her. “I did knock. You just didn’t hear me.”

Avery shrugged, holding the pillow on her knees. “So what’s up?”

“Nothing,” Scott said, leaning on the door frame. “What’s up with you?”

“You don’t want to know. Too much drama.” As soon as Avery said the words, the scene with Dillon came flooding back. Had she done the right thing?

Scott sauntered into her room and perched on the edge of her bed. “You’re only in seventh grade—how bad can it be?” Scott saw the look on his sister’s face and turned suddenly serious. “You know, if someone’s giving you a hard time, I can take him out for you.”

Avery laughed and shook her head. “No, no.” She looked down at the floor and noticed she had a hole in the toe of her left sock. Her big toe poked out of the opening.

Scott grabbed the pillow and bopped his sister lightly on the head. Instead of fighting back, Avery just pushed the pillow away and sighed again. “Come on, Scott. Not now.”

“What is with you?” He sat down next to her, and Avery looked up, expecting to see a teasing glint his eyes. But he really looked concerned. She’d always been able to talk to him before, so after taking a deep breath, she told him everything. About Dillon and Maeve and the Valentine’s Day Dance.

“Wow! That bites,” her brother commented after she had finished the whole story.

“I didn’t even care about going with anybody!” Avery exclaimed. “Why did Dillon have to ask me?”

“He likes you, Ave,
obviously
.” Scott ruffled his sister’s hair and grinned. “Everyone likes you!”

Avery felt blood rushing to her face. “Was it a total loser move to say no?”

“He’ll get over it. This is just one dance and you’re going to have an awesome time. My sister is
not
a loser.”

“Thanks,” Avery said with a watery smile.

“A goofball, maybe,” he continued with a smirk, “but not a loser.”

Scott picked up a neon green super ball off Avery’s desk and started tossing and catching it. “So who’s this Dillon? Do I know the dude?”

“He’s pretty cool, I guess. You’ve probably seen him at my games. He has some killer moves on the soccer field…he thinks he’s Beckham,” she snorted.

One corner of Scott’s mouth quirked up. “And that’s his best quality, huh?”

Avery nodded. “Uh-huh.”

“You are so weird,” he said with a laugh.

“It’s not like I
like
him!” Avery protested. “I don’t think I like
anybody
that way.” As soon as she spoke, a memory of snow and a hawk spiraling up in the air reminded her of her last moments with her friend Jason in Colorado.
Maybe I like Jason, but I don’t know….

Avery took a deep breath and continued. “I just want to hang out and have fun. Why does everyone have to go to this dance with somebody? What’s up with that?”

Scott tossed her the super ball. “All right, I’m going to give you some serious wisdom from one who has been there, done that.”

“You have wisdom?” Avery dribbled the tiny ball on her bedside table.

“Of course! Listen up. I didn’t have my first crush till I was fifteen. It’s totally normal, woo-hoo, no big deal. You
don’t need to like anyone, and you don’t need a date just ’cause all your friends have them.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” she muttered. “But what about Maeve?”

Scott shrugged. “Good kid, but I don’t understand a single thing that girl does. She lives in movieland. Hopefully she appreciates you giving up Dillon for her.”

Avery nodded. “That was nice of me, huh?” A smile crept across her face. Scott punched her shoulder affectionately and grabbed the super ball, tossing it higher and higher toward the ceiling.

“That’s not all that’s going on.” Avery’s smile faded. She’d promised Charlotte not to tell anyone, but…Scott deserved to know.

“Yo, you weren’t kidding about drama,” Scott made a face.

“Only this time it’s about Mom.”

Scott froze, and the ball came down right on top of his head, bouncing off into the mess of clothing and comic books all over Avery’s floor. “What about her?”

“She’s going out with Charlotte’s Dad,” Avery said, feeling weird that she was even saying something like that out loud.

“You mean Charlotte Ramsey—Charlotte who also might not have a date to this dance?”

Avery sighed. “That’s the one, all right.”

Rubbing the top of his head thoughtfully, Scott stared down at the Patriots blanket. Long ago Avery had announced that even though her mom made her have such a girly four-poster bed, she could at least let her have
a really cool football blanket on top of her lacy bedspread. “Okay. Now I wasn’t prepared for that one. Uh…how do you know this?”

Avery stood up and the words tumbled from her mouth. “Charlotte listened to a phone message Mom left for her dad. They’re meeting Friday at Le Bistro Français!”

Avery watched Scott’s eyes widen. “You’re kidding me!”

“Why would I joke about something like this?” Avery said, throwing up her hands.

“But that’s the fancy restaurant where it costs about five dollars for a glass of water.”

Avery shot him a look, her eyebrows raised quizzically. “And how do
you
know that?”

“I took a girl there once. We had to leave after I saw the prices on the menu. Way embarrassing, let me tell you. The girl broke up with me after that. Said I was cheap.”

Avery rooted through the piles on the floor, looking for the neon green ball. “Mom also bought a brand-new dress today and was trying it on when I got home. It’s all slinky and black, like something out of one those celebrity fashion magazines Maeve is always reading.”

“Huh,” Scott grunted.

Avery found the ball and threw it at her brother’s head. “So what do we do, Mr. Fountain of Wisdom?”

Scott caught the ball easily and shrugged. “I’m gonna pretend like I don’t know. I mean, Dad goes on dates with Andie all the time. Why can’t Mom go out with whoever she wants? We can’t run her life.”

Avery fell backward on the bed with a groan. She
stared up at the crack in the ceiling again. “But shouldn’t she at least
tell
us?”

Mrs. Madden’s musical voice called up the stairs: “A-ver-y! The girls are here!”

“Got to go…” Avery gave her big brother a quick hug. “My friends are dragging me to the mall. If I don’t make it back alive, take care of Walter and Frogster for me?”

Scott glanced over at the cages holding his sister’s pet snake and frog. “Sure thing, Bean Head. Have fun!”

Secrets at the Mall

Charlotte ran her hand along a satiny lavender gown. The fabric had little white hearts embroidered along the waist and neckline. It was beautiful, and she loved anything having to do with the color purple, but what was the point? She fought back the lump in her throat, the one that just wouldn’t go away.

“Charlotte, come look at this!” Katani urged. She was standing with Avery, Isabel, and Elena Maria by a rack of lime green and yellow dresses. “I can’t believe they ruined such a perfectly good design with such outrageous colors! Imagine this in muted violet, or indigo. It would be perfect.” Katani sighed at the world’s obviously lacking fashion sense.

“Ooh,” Elena Maria said, pointing out the same lavender gown Charlotte had been standing next to. “Look how it brings out your complexion, Charlotte. You just have to try it on! What’s your size?”

“I’m not sure, with dresses like these….” Charlotte flipped over the price tag. “And it’s awfully expensive.”

“What’s the matter, Char?” Avery asked. When her friend didn’t respond, she lifted the gown off the rack and held it up, batting her eyelashes. “Don’t I look gooorgeous?” she imitated Maeve, which made Isabel and Katani crack up, but Charlotte’s lips barely twitched at the corners.

“I…I don’t think I’m going to go,” Charlotte whispered.

“What?!” Katani took the dress from Avery and draped it over a pile that was growing on one arm. “No way is one of my BSG going to back out of this dance! We’re all going, and we won’t let any boys stop us from having fun! It’s girl power all the way!”

No one noticed Isabel’s downturned face. Elena Maria and Katani were having too much fun commenting on all the styles to notice.
How am I going to explain about Kevin?
She sighed.

“Hey, Char,” Avery piped in. “Dillon asked me, and I said no! I don’t need to go with a boy, so neither do you!”

Isabel looked uncomfortable. “Dillon asked you to the dance?”

“Uh-huh.” Avery stood up as tall as she could, which wasn’t very tall. “I told him to ask Maeve, just like you said!”

“Oh, no!” Suddenly Isabel had something to worry about in addition to Kevin and the homeless shelter. “That’s not what I said, Avery!”

“It’s not?” Avery slumped a little.

“Did Dillon ask her to the dance yet?” Katani questioned.

Avery shrugged.

Charlotte ran a hand through her hair. She was stilling wearing it down, curled at the ends like Katani had taught
her. “Avery, if Maeve found out Dillon only asked her because you told him to…let’s just say, it would not be good.”

“But I thought it would make her happy!” Avery protested. Sometimes she just did not understand her friends at all. Boys, at least, told you what they meant and stuck with it. And if they got mad at each other, they roughhoused for a while and that was that. It happened with her brothers all the time.

“She wants Dillon to
want
to ask her,” Isabel explained patiently.

“Am I understanding correctly?” an amused Elena Maria broke in. “Maeve’s crush asked her to the dance, but only because this crazy
chica
here told him to?”

“Well, maybe he hasn’t asked yet.” Katani whipped her cell phone out of her purse. Do you have Dillon’s number?” she asked Avery, who concentrated hard at trying to remember the digits. She hardly ever called him, just texted him sometimes.

Just then, a hip-hop beat announced a new message on Katani’s phone.

Katani’s thumbs flew as she typed a reply.

Katani passed the phone around so everyone could see.

“What do we do?” Isabel asked.

Everyone just stood there. A sales associate came by and asked, “May I help you?”

Charlotte shook her head no, then whispered to the group, “I think we have to pretend we don’t know he asked Avery.”

“You mean…lie?” Avery gasped.

“Well, it’s not so much a lie as a white lie to save a friend’s pride,” Elena Maria explained. “Sometimes you need to bend the truth a little, to protect your friends from being really hurt.”

Katani tilted her head thoughtfully. “Is this worth breaking the Tower rules?” She quoted from memory: “We will be loyal to our friends and won’t lie to them even if they make a mistake or do something totally embarrassing.’”

“I think my sister’s right this time,” Isabel pointed out. “It’s not really a lie. We just aren’t telling her something that might upset her. Maybe Dillon really
does
like her, but just didn’t have the nerve to ask her.”

“Fat chance,” Avery exclaimed, and Katani gave her a stern look.

“Sorry,” she said. “I really messed up, huh?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Charlotte gave her a hug. “You really meant well, and that’s what counts.”

“Thanks, Char,” a grateful Avery said with a smile. She
had
done a nice thing for Maeve.

Katani picked a plain black dress off a nearby rack. “Let’s all go try something on. We’ve been here for almost an hour and we still haven’t narrowed down the choices!”

In the dressing room, Charlotte discovered a sweet lilac dress abandoned on a hanger. Sophie had sent pictures of dresses in all shades of purple attached to her e-mail. She knew Charlotte’s feelings about the color, and she’d chosen well.
If only Sophie could see this dress!
Hanging alone and forgotten, the dress seemed like it had been left just for Charlotte. It had thin straps, a high waist, and the satiny fabric fell in rippled folds like cool water against the back of her hand.
Could it be my size?
Charlotte wondered.

She slipped it on and spun around in front of the mirror. It fit perfectly, and it actually shimmered as she twirled around!

She stepped out of the dressing room, and Katani applauded. “We have a winner! It’s perfect, Charlotte. I wouldn’t change anything.”

Katani didn’t have to try anything on. She’d sewn her own dress, a sunshine yellow dress with a halter neckline. She’d started it around Christmas with some fabric her parents let her pick out as a gift, and then hurried to finish it in time when she found out about the dance. Now, it was hanging in her closet, ready to go.

Charlotte smiled. “I love it too, Katani. I think I may just
have
to go to this dance.” Katani was right! A girl had to make her own good time.

Next, Avery came out, picking at the black sash on a simple white dress.

“It’s too girly,” Avery complained. “Everyone will laugh.”

“You look beautiful!” Isabel exclaimed. The black sash drew attention to her tiny waist while the cap sleeves showed off her toned arms.