Front Page Face-Off (14 page)

I nodded and sniffled. “How did you guess?”

“Because I've never seen
anything
get you down before.” She crumpled up the tissue and smiled. “And because it's
always
about a guy.”

While she reapplied my makeup, I calmed down and told her what had happened. “I guess I'm a fool,” I ended the story.

She nodded and swiped blush across my cheek. “I'd have to agree with that.”

“Hey!” I pulled back, frowning.

“Well, I
did
tell you he was lame.” She grabbed my jaw and turned my head from side to side. “God, I wish I had your cheekbones.”

“I wish I had an escape route.” I walked to a hanging mirror to study my reflection. Paige had actually succeeded in making my face look like nothing had gone wrong. If only she could apply the same flawless coverage to my life. “He's going to be out there. I know it.”

“Well, you can't spend the rest of your life hiding in here.” She wrinkled her nose. “This is a public restroom, for crying out loud.”

“You're right.” I stood tall and threw my shoulders back.
“I have to act like I didn't run away, wailing like an infant.”

Paige shook her head. “You actually ran in a fancy party dress? We have
got
to work on your poise. If you become a Debutante, that'll be your
next
task.”

Her comment reminded me of how the mess with Ben had started in the first place. “Hey, I meant to tell you earlier—remember that thing in Katie's locker that looked like a time bomb? I was right. It's a fire extinguisher.”

Paige mulled this over. “Hmmm … a girl with a clique named Hot Stuff has a fire extinguisher in her locker. That's very … what's the word? Iconic.”

“Ironic,” I corrected her. “But the big question is, why does she have one? Is she planning something that involves potential fire hazard?”

Paige's eyes widened. “Some big publicity event that'll make Hot Stuff even more popular?”

I gave her a strange look. “I think I'd be more concerned for the
safety
of the student body.”

“Right. That, too. Now you
really
have to find out her deep, dark secret.” She smiled. “And that gives us more dish for your progress report tonight.” She checked her cell phone. “Which it's about time for. You ready to face the world?”

I took a deep breath and swallowed hard. “I'm ready to face anything.”

As it turned out, I wasn't.

When I'd fled for the ladies' room earlier, the foyer had been empty except for the thousand-year-old woman and Ben. It had also been quiet. Now it was crowded with students who were yelling and standing in a semicircle around two figures engaged in a serious smackdown.

“Oh, no,” I whispered.

Ben and Marcus had their upper bodies completely entwined, pushing at each other inside the half circle, while Ava stomped around them, shouting, “Stop this! You are acting like children!”

“Marcus, don't!” I added my voice to the chaos, regretting it seconds later.

Marcus glanced up at me, and while he was distracted, Ben seized the chance to kick a leg behind him and knock him to the ground.

“Stop!” I ran toward them, and Paige groaned.

“Poise, Delilah! Poise!”

I ignored her and reached into my purse for the cinnamon spray Major had forced on me. “Stop or I'll spray!” I threatened.

Ben and Marcus froze for half a second, looked at my tiny canister, and got to their feet to resume their country club brawl. I darted into the center of the semicircle and raised the cinnamon spray. As I held down the trigger, however,
Ava ran forward from the opposite side, waving her purse wildly in the air, as if she planned to knock both guys senseless.

They moved to avoid her
and
me, which placed Ava directly into the cinnamon spray firing range, and I shot her square in the eyes.

No threats or yelling could have broken up the fight, but Ava's shrieks of pain and rage quieted the entire room. She collapsed and flailed on the carpet, clutching at her face.

“Ava, I'm sorry!” I threw the spray aside and dropped to the floor beside her. “I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you.”

“Liar!!” Ava pulled her hands down just long enough for me to see that the whites of her eyes were bright red and that tears were streaming down her face. “You kiss my boyfriend and attack me? You want to do
nothing
but hurt me, you—” She launched a slew of words at me in French and kicked in my direction. I dodged the pointed end of her shoe and reached for her arm.

“Come on, you have to rinse it off with water.”

A hand gripped my arm firmly and tugged me back. “I'll take care of her,” said Paige. “You guys should go.” Her gaze included Ben and Marcus.

“I'm really sorry,” I told her, and I meant it. My plan to bring Marcus hadn't included soap opera drama.

“Don't be. You didn't start this fight.” Paige helped Ava
to her feet. “I mean, technically you did, because it was about you, but you didn't
physically
start the fight.” She paused. “Unless you count kissing Ben as physical.” She waved me away. “Just go before I change my mind.”

I walked out the front entrance, not giving either Ben or Marcus a single look, and sat on the sidewalk to call Major.

“Your cinnamon spray really works,” I told him. “Would you come get me?”

He freaked out for a moment until I told him I'd used it on Ava, not on my imaginary date.

“I'll be there in ten minutes,” he said. “And we can talk about it if you want.”

“Thanks, Major.” I hung up and brought my knees to my chest, resting my chin on them.

Marcus walked up and sat down beside me. “You sure know how to show a guy a good time.”

“Sorry,” I said, staring into space. “You were right. The social
was
a bad idea.”

He patted me on the back. “At least you got to kiss a guy. Not your date, but—”

I glared at him. “What's that supposed to mean? You and I weren't
on
a date, remember? I was interviewing you for a story.”

“You didn't tell anyone besides Ava and Ben that. For all they knew, we were dating, and you wandered off to make
out with someone else.” He gave me a thumbs-up. “That makes me look
really
good.”

“Oh … my … God!” I got to my feet and kicked him in the thigh. “You can't possibly be turning this into something about you.”

Marcus got to his feet too. “You're right. I forgot everything is always about Delilah.”

“It is not!” I could feel my stupid, stupid tears threatening to make their reappearance. “If I'd known you were going to get upset, I wouldn't have kissed him!”

I froze the moment the words left my mouth. Marcus froze too and just stared at me. “What do you mean?”

I had no idea what I'd meant. I had no idea why I'd said it. All I knew was that I really
wouldn't
have kissed Ben if Marcus had a problem with it.

At that moment, I realized something that made me want to run and hide in the ladies' room all over again.

I sort of liked Marcus.

And he was sort of waiting for me to answer.

“What I meant was … you were nice enough to … uh … do the interview,” I ad-libbed. “And you're right. It was rude of me to just leave like that.”

“Oh.” Marcus nodded. “Okay.”

I cleared my throat. “What … um … were you and Ben fighting about, anyway?”

“Well, after you wandered off, I decided to find out what was up. When I got to the lobby, you were running away, crying, so I asked Ben what had happened. He got all defensive, one thing led to another, and then he sucker punched me.”

I frowned. “He what?”

“He hit me when I wasn't ready.” Marcus bent and held back the hair above his right ear, revealing a large welt.

“Whoa. Does it hurt?” I pushed on it, and he winced. “Sorry. And sorry he hit you.” Over the past few hours I'd become a pro at dishing out apologies.

“It's not a big deal.” He grinned. “I guess Ben and I are even now.”

I had to agree with him, but I started to wonder about my own situation. I had hurt and humiliated Ava. We definitely
weren't
even, and I knew she'd want to settle the score.

How
she would do it was the question.

Here. You need these more than I do.” Jenner handed me a bag of jelly beans from her beach tote. It was Sunday morning, and I'd joined her at the surf shop to interview her for the paper and to fill her in on the disaster that was the Little Debbies' social.

“Thanks.” I ripped the bag open and searched for the purple ones. “Any chance these are magic beans? With the power to erase people's memories?”

She gave me a sympathetic look. “You can always change schools. That's what Marcus did.”

I shook my head and crunched through the sugary shell of a purple bean. “I can't let Ava have the newspaper. I mean, I feel bad for what happened, but if I give up, she wins.”

“Then let her!” Jenner groaned. “You have to stop this obsession. It isn't healthy.”

Even though Jenner was my best friend, sometimes it felt like she didn't know me at all. Competition was what I loved, and being the best was all I wanted.

“If I let Ava win,” I said, “she becomes the lead reporter, which means I'm stuck writing articles about Halloween safety and which lunch lady bought a new hairnet. Those kinds of stories don't get Junior Global Journalist Awards.”

“Yes, but you avoid the embarrassment of kissing guys who don't like you.”

I narrowed my eyes. “How many more times do you honestly think I'll do that?”

“I don't know.” She grinned. “I never thought you'd do it a first time.”

I shoved her. “Let's just get started on your interview.”

We spent the next half hour talking about her surfing and her views on gender stereotypes, and then we wandered down to the beach so she could show me her new maneuvers. The longer she practiced, the warmer the sun felt, and after a while I fled toward the boardwalk for shade.

To my surprise, Katie Glenn was already there, resting
against a large boulder and wearing a hooded sweater. When she saw me, she stiffened.

“Sorry,” I said. “I didn't come to bug you. I didn't know anyone was even down here.”

Her shoulders relaxed into a bored shrug. “I don't own the beach. You can go wherever you want.” She twisted her lips into a leer. “Just don't try to steal my boyfriend.”

Thankfully, it was too dark under the boardwalk for her to see me blush. “Oh … ha! So, you heard about that?” At least she wasn't making smooching sounds, like the kid down my street, or saying she'd accept payment in kisses, like the jerk at the hot dog stand.

“Who hasn't?”

I actually wondered the same thing. “Well, in case you cared—”

“I don't.” Katie leaned back against the rock, wiping her forehead on her sweater sleeve.

“You're not going to get sunburned under here,” I said. “I think it's safe to at least roll up your sleeves.”

For some reason, this earned me a sour look from Katie. “I'm fine. Mind your own business.”

Unfortunately, I couldn't. Even if I hadn't been pledging the Little Debbies, I still had an insane curiosity about this girl and her fire extinguisher and sweaters and obsession with sea turtles.

“Why
do
you like sea turtles so much?” I asked.

In my opinion, the question was harmless enough that Katie couldn't say the answer would destroy her reputation … unless her father was a sea turtle or something.

Luckily, she seemed to agree. “The sea turtle is the mascot for my old school. I guess I just think they're kind of cool.”

“Oh,” I said, but Katie's words triggered a strange tingling sensation in my brain.

When I'd interviewed her before, she'd said her previous school was Fowler, home of Panther Pride. There were no sea turtle fans at Fowler.

But there were at Sheldon Academy.

“Well, bye. I hope you see some.” I hurried back to my towel, signaling Jenner, but she was too busy paddling out to another wave, so I pulled out my cell phone and called Paige.

“Yes, you're still eligible to pledge the Debutantes,” she answered.

“Huh?” I'd been so focused on the whole embarrassment factor that the thought had never crossed my mind. “I mean, oh, right. Phew!” I wiped imaginary sweat off my brow, even though she couldn't see it.

“I know you probably stayed up all night worrying,” said Paige, “which means you have hideous bags under your eyes. Cucumber slices can help with that. … And you can use the leftovers to make a really healthy salad.”