Double Date (10 page)

He grinned. “That's true. We wanted it to feel more like a home than a showplace. Had to fire several designers until we found someone who could understand that.” He waved to the table as a woman came in with a couple pitchers of beverages. “Let's sit down and chat.”

Before long, Beth was back. Dressed in a loose cream-colored shirt and black pants, she looked stylish and comfortable. As she sat down at the opposite end from her husband, Bryn realized that she was actually quite pretty and not so frumpy after all.

Before they ate, Jack bowed his head and asked a short blessing on the food. Bryn wasn't sure why this surprised her, but for some reason it did. Maybe it was because her family—though churchgoing—rarely prayed before a meal. But she liked it. And she liked Jack and Beth. As she and Jason presented their plan
for helping local children in need, via the Christmas ball, she could see that the Hartfords were engaged and interested, and they seemed like truly good people. She could tell that they were buying wholeheartedly into this plan. By the time dessert was being served, Bryn felt completely comfortable with these people. She could even imagine living comfortably in their world.

I
don't see why Dad's being so stubborn,” Abby said to her mom on Monday morning as she gathered her things for school. “Why can't he just let it go?”

“He just loves you, Abby. Wants the best for you.”

“You mean what he thinks is best.” She zipped her bag shut. “I wish he'd just let me grow up and run my own life.”

“Well, eventually he'll have to, won't he?” Mom kissed Abby on the cheek. “In the meantime, try to be patient.”

“What happens when my patience wears out?”

“Then you'll have to ask God for more.”

Abby looked out the window to see Bryn's car. “Gotta go.” She grabbed her jacket and sprinted for the door. She wanted to get out of here before Dad returned from his morning run. She continued running out to the car, hurrying to hop in.

“What's the big rush?” Bryn asked.

“Trying to escape the wrath of Dad,” Abby explained as she buckled up. “We had a little blowup before he went running. I don't really want to pick it up where we left off.”

“Got ya.” Bryn nodded as the car pulled out. “Want me to take a special route to avoid him?”

“That's not necessary.”

“You never called me back on Saturday,” Bryn said as she drove. “I wanted to tell you about my visit to the Hartfords'.”

“Didn't you get my text saying my parents suddenly decided we should spend the weekend at the mountain cabin?”

“Yeah. But I just wanted to talk to you.” Bryn proceeded to describe in detail how fabulous the Hartford estate was. She even described the horses.

“Sounds lovely,” Abby said without real interest.

“Remember, you can't tell anyone about them. Their gift must remain anonymous. It's the way they do things.”

“That's nice.” Abby knew her voice sounded flat, but she didn't really care.

“What's wrong, Abs?”

“Nothing.” Abby folded her arms across her front, slumping into the seat with a long, loud sigh.

“Yeah, right.” As Bryn stopped for a red light, she turned to peer at Abby. “Come on, something is bugging you. What's up?”

“My dad is driving me nuts. First of all, he just won't let it go that I quit basketball. In fact, I know that's why they kidnapped me to the cabin. They thought they could brainwash me up there.”

“Did it work?”

“To be honest, it did give me some second thoughts.”

“You really want to go back to basketball? Forget about the Christmas project?”

“Jason is managing to do both,” Abby pointed out. This was a little fact that she hoped Dad never discovered. “I probably can too.”

“Jason is an expert at delegating. He likes being up in front,
getting others to do the hard work. That in turn leaves him more time to play ball.”

“Maybe that's what I should do.” But even as she said this, she knew it wouldn't work.

“But we need you to do the hard work too,” Bryn argued. “You've got great organizational skills. The Santa Sleigh project is going to need them.” Bryn started to explain how generous the Hartfords were planning to be. “They're giving us Rose Bowl tickets and red carpet Oscars tickets. Two of each. They also promised to help in some other ways too. Beth knows the owners of Ice Capers. She thinks we can have a skating party there for the kids, and at the end of it, we'll have a Santa show up and present them with their sleighs. Can you imagine how cool that would be—to have all the sleighs on ice?”

Abby brightened. “That would be fun for the kids.”

“Beth helped us come up with some really great ideas, ways to help the kids with a lot of things. I've got a bunch of notes.”

“The big challenge will be to get everyone at school on board,” Abby said. “I was wondering if they'd let us have a short assembly—just to get everyone excited, you know?”

“Fantastic idea, Abby. See, this is just one more reason why you need to stick to your guns and scrap basketball and stay with our project.”

“So I'm thinking . . .” Abby closed her eyes. “How about if we make a couple of cardboard-box sleighs. You know, like we talked about. We'd go all out to decorate them—maybe even use lights. Then we could have a couple of girls—ones that are pint-sized—dress up like a pair of goofy-looking elves and pull the sleighs out on the stage. And you could tell everyone about the contest and how it will benefit kids.”

“Elves and sleighs—how adorable!”

“Then, of course, you could tell everyone about the dance and the double-date plan and finally—announce the prizes.”

“That settles it, Abby. You don't belong on the basketball team. We need you on our team. You've got fabulous ideas and you're great at organizing. Please, promise me you won't quit us. Even if you do decide to play basketball.”

“No, I'm not going to play basketball. I've made up my mind. That was Dad's dream. Not mine. It was fun in middle school, and for the first year in high school. But after that, it got too serious. I told the coach that I quit last week and I'm sticking to it.” Abby grinned at Bryn. “Thanks for helping me to see I made the right decision.”

By noon, Abby had a couple more ideas for the assembly. “I think we should have some live music,” she told Bryn as they walked into the cafeteria. “You know how Kent has his band? I asked him if he'd be interested and he was jazzed. He said they could do some fun Christmas number. Maybe alter the lyrics to match the event. Like ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas.' He's going to talk to his band guys about it.”

“Well, they'll have to get on it fast. I talked to Mr. Worthington and he's scheduled the assembly for Friday afternoon.”

Abby pulled out her phone. “I'll let Kent know.”

“Cool.”

“We need to talk,” Cassidy said urgently, tugging them both by the arm toward their usual table.

“Can we at least grab something to eat?” Abby asked.

Bryn held up her brown bag. “And I want a soda.”

“Just be quick,” Cassidy commanded.

“Don't say a word about whatever it is until we get there,” Bryn told Cassidy. She and Abby hurried into the line, which fortunately was short. While Bryn headed for the soda machine and saved a place in line at the cashier, Abby grabbed a chef salad and some apple juice. She handed it to Bryn
along with her money and within seconds they were back at the table.

“What's up?” Abby asked breathlessly.

“Tell them,” Cassidy commanded Devon.

“I invited Amanda to join the DG,” Devon said with an expression that looked partly proud and partly sheepish.

“
What?
” Bryn slammed her soda cup onto the table. “That was my job.”

“Says who?”

“We voted on it,” Bryn reminded her.

“We voted to let Amanda into the club,” Devon argued. “Not about who could or could not ask her. Besides Amanda and I are good friends now. It was more natural for me to ask her. I was at her house and we got to talking. What's the big deal?”

Abby shrugged. “I don't think it's a big deal.”

“Well, I feel kind of blindsided,” Bryn said.

Devon made a genuine-looking sympathetic expression. “I'm so sorry, Bryn. I actually thought you'd be glad about this. Isn't it great? We have enough girls for the double date now. In fact, Amanda and I have decided that we'll pair off. I figured no one here would mind.” She laughed. “Especially since I'm kinda the black sheep anyway.”

Bryn made a half smile. “Yeah, I guess it's okay. But maybe you should've called me about it. You know?”

“Okay,” Cassidy announced loudly. “Now that you've heard about that, Em and I have another interesting news flash.”

“What?” Bryn asked.

“Go ahead,” Cassidy urged Emma. “It's really your story.”

Emma set her fork down and looked from face to face, as if her news was fairly serious. “It's about Felicia Ruez. Cass and I went to see her this weekend and it turns out that she had nothing to do with that disgusting MyPlace page.”

“That's too bad,” Devon said. “But what does it have to do with us?”

“A lot,” Emma told her. “For starters, you shared that page with us, Devon, remember?”

“Yeah . . . ?”

“And it turns out that we're partly to blame for the skanky makeover that Felicia gave herself,” Cassidy told them.

“That's just plain ridiculous,” Bryn declared.

“Not really.” Emma explained Felicia's flawed reasoning and how she dressed in the bathroom before school.

“Man, that is totally pathetic,” Devon said.

“I feel sorry for her,” Abby admitted.

“So do I,” Cassidy told them. “We want to help her.”

“How?” Bryn asked.

“I'm not sure,” Emma said. “But we need everyone's help. Remember how Devon and Cassidy went looking for evidence that Felicia wasn't DG material? We all need to look for evidence of whoever made that bogus MyPlace page.”

“The tricky part is that no one seems to have downloaded it,” Cassidy explained. “Not even the school.”

“Mrs. Dorman was so outraged that she called up MyPlace, and they took it down so fast that no one ever thought to download it for evidence.” Emma shook her head. “I've asked Isaac to look into it, but so far he's come up with nothing.”

“We want everyone to keep their ears and eyes wide open. If you hear anyone say anything about Felicia, pay attention.” Cassidy looked over her shoulder as if she was concerned someone was listening.

“And ask around,” Emma said. “Without sounding too suspicious, try to find out if anyone possibly saved a download.” She pointed to Devon. “It looks like you've got the inside track with Tristin and Amanda. Try to find out how they discovered the page. Who sent it to them? And why?”

“Okay, okay.” Bryn held up her hands. “I totally understand your concern, Emma. It's really sad that this happened to Felicia. But we cannot let her little mess distract us. Don't forget we have a big project ahead—a project that's meant to benefit needy children in our town.” Bryn explained the plan for the assembly, eventually passing the conversation over to Abby.

“We'll need to make a couple of really fun and flashy sleds.” Abby pointed to Emma. “You're the artist of the group. Can you help to direct this?”

“Sure.” Emma nodded. “Sounds like fun.”

“And we need a couple of petite girls to dress up like elves.” Abby pointed at Emma again. “You're an obvious choice, but I hate putting everything on you.”

“I'll help you get costumes together,” Bryn told Emma. “We can hit up the drama department for something fun.”

“I'll help with the sleighs,” Cassidy offered. “I'm not as artsy as Emma, but I know how to cut and glue stuff and follow directions.”

“I could put together some fake presents for the sleighs,” Abby said. “Wait—maybe it would be more effective to have the sleighs empty. The elves could be acting all sad, like the children aren't going to get any presents.”

“Great idea.” Bryn patted Abby on the back. “See why you're chairing that committee?”

“How about if we just have one sleigh for the assembly?” Emma suggested. “A really nice one. That might make it seem more dramatic—a big fancy sleigh with nothing in it.”

They all agreed. Then, continuing to toss around more ideas, they also made plans for some after-school work meetings. Just as the bell rang, Bryn reminded them that the assembly was on Friday.

“This is going to be the best Christmas ball ever,” she told everyone. “Go team!”

As Abby walked toward the science department, she felt glad for the decision she'd made. She would much rather be working together on something like this with her good friends than sweating on the basketball court. Even if her dad couldn't understand it right now, perhaps he would get it when he saw all the good they were going to do—all the young lives they were going to touch with their generosity. At least she hoped he would.