Ex-Rating (11 page)

“No,” Lina said. “It was a sports argument. We’re friends.”
And that’s all
, she thought as she trudged off to the tennis courts. She wished she didn’t have to cover the tournament. She would rather
have gone home, gone to bed, and pulled the covers over her head.

HERE IS TODAY’S HOROSCOPE: CAPRICORN: Don’t try to do too much today. (For anyone else it would be a normal workload, but
for you … ’nuff said.)

A
few parents complain, and the principal completely shuts us down,” Holly was explaining the problem to Julia, who had brought
Holly to the cake designer for a tasting. But Holly wasn’t in a tasting mood—she couldn’t get the Dating Game off her mind.
“Did you have Alvarado when you were at Rosewood?”

“Holly, focus,” Julia said. “You’re not tasting!” She popped a piece of chocolate cake into Holly’s mouth. Holly swallowed.

“That’s good,” Holly said. She speared another morsel of chocolate-iced chocolate cake and quickly ate it. “Chocolate is always
good. So, anyway, my friends and I are trying to think of some way to get our blog back on the school site—”

“Did you try the strawberry cake?” Julia asked.

Holly had tried the strawberry. “It’s not bad. But everybody loves chocolate. How can you go wrong?”

“There must be some people who don’t like it, or all cakes would be chocolate,” Julia said, licking the icing off her lips.
There were so many options: carrot, vanilla, red velvet, strawberry … But taste-wise, chocolate won hands down.

“You can have a chocolate cake base,” the designer, a small, neat woman named Carmen, said. “But if you want chocolate icing,
that means a brown wedding cake. Most brides aren’t into that.”

“What do you think, Holly?” Julia asked.

“I see what she means,” Holly said. “Brown isn’t very bridal. And you don’t want to get chocolate stains on your wedding dress
when Michael smushes cake into your face.”

“He won’t do that,” Julia said. “I forbid it.”

“That might not stop him,” Holly said. “It wouldn’t stop Rob. But you know Michael and I don’t, so—”

Julia ate another chocolaty bite. “Mmmm … But it’s so good. Even if the cake were brown, wouldn’t my guests thank me for sending
them to choco-nirvana?”

“What about your dream scheme?” Holly reached into her bag and pulled out a colorful page torn from a magazine. It showed
a five-tiered yellow cake trimmed in pale pink and green roses. “Remember the pink-and-green retro-seventies palette?”

That morning Julia had said that she saw a pink-and-green Lily Pulitzer-style preppy wedding in a dream and that that was
what she wanted. On the other hand, two days earlier she’d wanted Tiffany blue and silver. Holly was beginning to notice that
Julia changed her mind a lot.

Carmen looked at the picture. “With a cake like that, I’d do lemon or vanilla.”

“Lemon!” Julia sighed. “That sounds so refreshing. Summery. And I wasn’t going to let it sway me, but before I left the house,
Mom said, ‘Whatever you do don’t pick chocolate.’ I forget why. I think her whole side of the family is allergic to it or
something.’”

Julia had originally planned on bringing Mrs. Safran cake tasting and dress shopping with her, but when Mrs. Safran’s daily
migraine arrived, Holly was called in to sub. Holly didn’t really mind, but she was looking forward to the arrival of Julia’s
friends from Boston next week. Maybe they could take over some of the wedding duties. They were Julia’s bridesmaids, after
all.

“I need your decision this week,” Carmen reminded them. “If you want the cake in time for the wedding.”

“I like peppermint a lot, too,” Julia said. “Do you make peppermint cakes?”

“I’d suggest mint ice cream,” Carmen said. “Not with lemon, though.”

“I don’t know what to do,” Julia said. “I wish I could have five different cakes.”

“That’s always an option,” Carmen said. “But it would probably run you close to—”

“Julia, you can’t have five cakes,” Holly said. “Just pick one—it’s no big deal.”

“I can’t,” Julia said. “Look—it’s almost six. Do you want to come over for dinner tonight?”

Holly looked at Carmen, who seemed annoyed. She bustled about, getting ready to close her shop. “We’ll have to get back to
you about the cake,” Holly said.

“All right, but do it soon,” Carmen said.

Holly and Julia gathered up their shopping bags and got into Holly’s yellow VW Beetle. “You were no help,” Julia said.

“What do you mean?” Holly asked. “You want me to choose your cake for you? How hard is it to pick a cake?”

“You’re right,” Julia said. “I just get overwhelmed. We made so many choices already today—”

Actually, Holly thought, that wasn’t true. Julia looked at wedding dresses in four different shops but couldn’t narrow it
down to fewer than six. She asked Holly which dresses she liked best for the rehearsal dinner, Holly chose her three favorites,
and Julia bought them all, unable to decide.

Holly pulled up at the Safrans’ house. “I probably shouldn’t stay for dinner,” she said. “I’ve got a history test to study
for, and this big history project to work on that I’ve barely started, and then there’s the blog. We can’t just let it die!”

She wanted to see Rob, but at the Safrans’ house there wasn’t much point. They were hardly ever alone there.

“Oh, blog schmog,” Julia said. “If you don’t come in you’ll hurt Rob’s feelings. I wonder what Gabe’s making tonight?”

Gabe had taken over most of the cooking since Mrs. Safran didn’t feel much like doing it. Rob helped him sometimes. Their
specialty was pasta.

Holly and Julia walked in, their arms full of shopping bags. The kitchen windows were steamy, and Rob and Gabe stood at the
island chopping onions. Actually, Gabe was chopping them and Rob was juggling them.

“How’d you do, girls?” Gabe asked. “How many credit cards did you max out today?”

Holly put down her bags, and Rob tossed her an onion. She caught it and tossed it back. “Stay for dinner, Holls?” Rob asked.
“We’re making Spaghetti ala Gabe.”

“Smells good,” Holly said. “What’s in it?”

“Turkey meatballs,” Gabe said

Rob pulled her close and breathed into her ear: “Please? Maybe we can escape later.”

Her pulse quickened. “Okay, I’ll stay,” Holly said.

He kissed her ear to show her he was glad. Then he rubbed his nose in her hair. “Mmm, you smell better than the spaghetti
sauce.”

“Break it up, you two. Where’s Mom?” Julia asked.

“Resting,” Gabe said.

“Come on, Holly. Help me bring the bags into my room.”

Holly broke away from Rob and followed Julia into her room, dropping the bags on the bed. “Call me when dinner’s ready,” Julia
said. “I’m going to take a shower.”

Holly returned to the kitchen. She felt so at home there that she set the table without having to ask where anything was.

“A little vino?” Gabe asked, pouring red wine into each of four glasses. “After all, it’s Saturday night.”

“Want to catch a movie later?” Rob asked Holly.

Holly hesitated. She was jonesing for a make-out session with Rob, and a movie would be perfect. But … “I really should study
for my history test. I guess I can cram tomorrow. And Lina and Mads and I promised each other we’d come up with five ways
to save the Dating Game by Monday, or it’s finished forever! And we can’t let that happen, not after we’ve worked so hard
on it … plus on top of all that I’ve got this giant history project. …”

“You mean Cantwell’s modern world history extravaganza?” Rob asked. “The end-of-semester blowout that counts for fifty percent
of your grade?”

“That’s the one,” Holly said. “It’s due in a couple of weeks and I don’t even know what my topic is. What did you do for yours
last year?”

“Built a diorama,” Rob said.

Gabe snorted. “A diorama? How lame can you get?”

“Hey, man, it was the mother of all dioramas,” Rob said. “It was practically the size of this kitchen island. It showed the
city of Paris during the French Revolution, from the palace to the senate to the barricades in the streets. I even made a
working guillotine where I could cut my little doll peoples’ heads off—and red food coloring leaked out for blood.”

“Cool,” Holly said.

“I got an A,” Rob said. “But it took weeks of work. You better get started, Holls.”

“Did you have Cantwell for history, Gabe?” Holly asked.

“Yup. I didn’t get an A, though.”

“What did you do?”

“I tried to show the birth of the trade unions after the Triangle Shirtwaist Company’s fire,” Gabe said. “So I basically drew
some windows on a shoebox and set it on fire. Cantwell said it didn’t show much thought or research.”

“Talk about lame,” Rob said.

“I know. I got a D. I sucked at history.”

Holly’s phone buzzed. She glanced at it. Mads was texting her.

Lina had brilliant idea. Ramona—rod’s office—ax-s codes!

What?
Holly texted back.

We can hack on2 schl site! Call me Itr.

“Everything cool?” Rob asked.

“Very,” Holly said. “Looks like we found a way to fight back. Against Rod, I mean.”

“Is dinner ready yet?” Julia walked in wearing a bathrobe and drying her hair with a towel.

“Almost.” Gabe gave the tomato sauce a stir and glanced at Julia. “But I require proper attire at my restaurant. Jeez, Julia,
at least put some jeans on. You’re as bad as Mom.”

“All right, all right.” Julia left. Gabe shook his head and clucked maternally. “I don’t know what’s gotten into that girl.”

A few minutes later, Gabe was tossing the pasta in the sauce while Rob mixed the salad. Julia came in, dressed in sweats,
plopped down next to Holly, and handed her a sheet of paper.

“What’s this?” Holly asked.

“It’s a list of things I need you to do for me tomorrow,” Julia said.

Holly looked at it.

1. Call photographer and confirm booking.

2. Pick up summer dresses from cleaners.

3. Call salon—make hair, makeup, and manicure appointments for day before ceremony. …

The list went on. Holly stared at Julia in disbelief.

This was the bulk of the wedding work. “Um, shouldn’t
you
be doing all this stuff?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re the bride,” Holly said. “I’m just the bride’s brother’s girlfriend. I don’t mind giving you my opinion on a
few details, but—”

“I’m doing a lot of work, too,” Julia said. “But it’s so hard to do it alone, and Mom’s no help. Please, please, Holly. I
really need you. You’re so good at this stuff, and I’m such a space case. And this way you get to spend time with Rob.”

Rob had only been half-listening, but he turned from the counter at the sound of his name and waved.

“Like you said, you’re his girlfriend,” Julia said. “You’re part of the family. And everyone in the family pitches in to help,
right?”

“What about your mother?” Holly couldn’t help pointing this out.

“Except Mom,” Julia said. “Special circs.”

“But Julia, I’ve got to start my history project tomorrow. It’s half my grade—”

“You’ve got plenty of time for that,” Julia said. “Besides, those little errands won’t take long.”

Holly looked at the list again. Gather menus from five different caterers? She didn’t even know how to do most of these things.
And even if she did, it would take a week to finish everything on the list.

Julia leaned close, took Holly’s hand in hers, and said softly, so that the boys didn’t hear, “I can’t tell you how much it
means to me. And Rob and Gabe. And Mom. They may not say anything, but this is such a hard time for us, and having you around,
an extra pair of hands …” Her eyes teared up. She wiped them with her napkin. “You’re so sweet. Really. Sometimes I think
if it weren’t for you, this whole family would be falling apart.”

“I don’t want your family to fall apart—”

“I know you don’t,” Julia said. “Because you’re a good person. A beautiful person with a generous heart.”

“Well, I don’t know about that—”

“You are,” Julia said. “So—you will help me, won’t you? Promise?”

What could she say? “Yes. Of course I’ll help you.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Dinner is served!” Gabe called, carrying loaded plates to the table. Holly folded up the list and put it in her pocket. She
couldn’t help feeling annoyed with Julia. It was
her
wedding, not Holly’s. Holly wanted to help, but she didn’t want to do
everything
. Julia was trying to make her feel guilty about it, as if helping her were Holly’s duty or something. Holly was beginning
to see Rob’s sister in a new light. She sure was good at getting her way.

Rob set the salad on the table, sat down on Holly’s other side, and gave her a kiss. “Great to have you here, Holls.”

Julia lifted her glass of wine. “A toast. To Holly—practically.a member of the clan.”

HERE IS TODAY’S HOROSCOPE: VIRGO: You’re getting so bold! You’ll pay for it, but it’s nice to see someone really put herself
out there.

L
ina! Did you get the code?” Mads asked.

“Got it,” Lina said. She gave Mads a slip of paper. “But I feel funny about this.”

Mads, Lina, and Holly huddled in Holly’s bedroom Sunday for an emergency blog meeting. When Lina told her that Ramona had
access codes and could write on the school Web site, Mads knew she was onto something. She wanted to get started right away.

“Why do you feel funny? The moral high ground is totally on our side,” Mads said, “We’re being censored! Denied our rights
as American citizens, just because we’re in high school. Doesn’t that piss you off?”

“Sure, it does,” Lina said. “But we’re also blatantly disobeying the principal. We could get into a lot of trouble.”