Gamer Girl (18 page)

"What?"
Black Raven demanded, looking in my direction. "Ah, one of the
sheep has strayed from the heard. We should attack now, while it's
alone and helpless."

Matt snorted.
"Totally."

I swatted at
them, straining to see what Chad was reading. Probably a
Sports
Illustrated
swimsuit issue or something. "You guys are
terrible."

"For
making fun of the Haters, as you call them?" Matt scoffed.
"Puh-leeze. They so deserve that and more."

"Maybe.
Though maybe not Chad. He's okay, actually. When he's not around
Billy."

Blackie raised
an eyebrow. "Are you smoking crack?" she asked. "He's
one of the inner circle!"

"I know.
It's just . . . well, I think he may be different from the rest."
I shrugged. It sounded lame when I said it out loud.

"Ohhh, I
get it," Black Raven said with a knowing voice. She giggled and
poked Matt. He snorted in return. I turned back to look at them,
puzzled. "Get what?"

"You like
him." Blackie's eyes danced in merriment.

I felt my face
go bright red. "I do not."

"Mmm-hmm."

"I DON'T!"

Matt chimed in.
"Maddy and Chaddy sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S--"

"Shhh,"
I cried, putting hand over her mouth. We tussled

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for a bit,
until the waitress came over with our sodas and told us we needed to
settle down.

"Sorry,
Gladys," Black Raven said, immediately in polite mode.

"You
always are, Blackie," Gladys said, shaking her head. She was
heavyset and in her fifties, with purple eye shadow dusted on her
eyelids. "And yet every time you come here you manage to annoy
me all over again."

"That's
why you love me so much."

Gladys snorted.
"I could think of another word."

"I'm sure
you could. You're a regular thesaurus. But seriously, Gladys, can you
do me a huge favor? Like the hugest favor in the entire universe?"

"And what,
pray tell, would that favor entail?"

Blackie
grinned. "Would you ask that gentleman at the far table if he
would care to join us?"

"What!?"
I cried, horrified. "No!"

Of course my
new friend ignored me, fluttering her fake eyelashes at our waitress
instead.

Gladys rolled
her eyes. "The things I do for you kids," she muttered. She
left our table and headed over to Chad's. I watched as the two of
them started to converse.

"Ohmigod,
I can't believe you just did that!" I squeal-whispered, looking
back at my friends. "What if he comes over?"

Black Raven
rolled her eyes. "Then you talk to him, dummy. That's kind of
the point." "But he's . . . he's one of them."

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"You just
told me he was different. So let's find out if you're right."

"He won't
come. He's totally not going to come. ..." I clamped my mouth
shut as I watched Chad stand up and shove his belongings in his bag.
Was he really going to ... ?

"See, here
he is!" Black Raven pronounced triumphantly. I didn't know
whether I wanted to kill her or hug her.

"Hey,"
Chad said when he arrived at our table. He shifted from foot to foot
and shot me a small, uncomfortable smile. "How's it going?"

"Would you
like to sit down?" Black Raven asked in her sweetest voice. She
threw her book bag on the seat next to her. "There's plenty of
room next to
Maddy."

If you could
die of humiliation, I'd be a goner for sure.

"Sure,"
Chad said, sitting down beside me. As he did, his knee touched mine
under the table and I jerked back, as if I had been struck by
extremely high voltage. It was inhuman how this boy affected me.

"You
okay?" he asked, looking concerned. "Did I... kick you or
something?"

"She's
fine," Black Raven answered for me. "So, Chad, come here
often?"

He laughed. He
had such a nice laugh. So . . . merry.

Oh, God, I
sounded like a Christmas carol. Shoot me now.

"As a
matter of fact, I do," he said. "I like it here. It's nice
and quiet and I don't have to deal with anyone from school." He
blushed as he realized what he was saying. "Well,

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I mean, anyone
I don't want to deal with. Not you guys, of course."

"Don't
worry, we know exactly who you mean," Matt said. "What we
don't know is why the hell you hang out with those tools to begin
with."

Chad stared
down at his lap, looking embarrassed. "We've been friends since
kindergarten," he said with a shrug. "I don't know."

"Yeah,
well, that's like ten years too long in my opinion," Blackie
piped in. "I mean, loyalty is one thing. But do you know what
you're doing to your reputation by hanging out with those guys?
Everyone thinks you're just like the rest of them."

"But I'm
not." Chad looked pained. "I'm nothing like them."

"So says
Maddy. I say, guilt by association," Matt declared. "But
hey, what do you care? You're one of the most popular kids in school.
Doesn't matter what freaks like us think, right?"

"That's
not fair!" Chad retorted. "I don't care at all about that
popularity crap. I never have. Seriously. And I never pick on
anyone."

"Sure, you
may not pick on anyone yourself," I blurted out, suddenly angry.
Visions of him shuffling his feet and staying silent while his best
friend made my life a living hell over and over again swirled in my
head. "But you don't exactly stop your friends from doing it
either. I mean, how about using

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your popularity
power for good for once in your life instead of sticking your head in
the sand while your friends torment and torture people on a daily
basis?"

I stopped
shouting, realizing everyone at the table was staring at me. Wow,
where had that outburst come from? I think I surprised even myself.
But it needed to be said and I wasn't going to take it back now. I
was sick of being the victim. And while I might not have magical
powers like my
Gamer Girl
heroine, I could and would stand up
for myself from this point on.

Chad was quiet
for a moment, probably as shocked as everyone else. Then he nodded
slowly. "You're right," he said. "You're totally
right." He looked up at me. "I'm sorry, Maddy. You deserve
better." He met my eyes with his own beautiful blue ones and I
swallowed hard at the sudden tension between us. As angry as I was,
he still had the power to turn my in-sides to mush. "Next time
I'll do something. I promise."

"I'll hold
you to that," I said, forcing myself to laugh and lighten the
mood.

"I hope
so." He looked so earnest, for a moment I thought he was going
to kiss me. But that was stupid. He may have agreed to back me when
his friends got out of line, but that didn't mean he was head over
heels in love.

Matt cleared
his throat and rose from his seat. "It's been real," he
said, throwing himself into a gallant bow. "But I must be going
now."

"What? So
soon?" Blackie asked. "We haven't even bribed Gladys for an
extra-large slice of blueberry pie yet."

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"I'm
sorry, but blueberry pie must wait. I have a hot date that cannot."

"Ooh,"
I said teasingly, mostly to get him back for the Chad thing. "Who
with?"

He blushed.
"Actually, it's an online date."

I looked up,
startled. Was everyone hooking up with someone online these days?

Blackie
high-fived Matt. "Nice," she said. "Someone around
here?"

"Don't
know. Don't care." Matt shrugged, then grinned. "All I know
is I am in L-O-V-E." He dug into his pocket and threw down some
money. "Later, guys."

I glanced down
at my watch, startled when I realized how late it was. We'd been
having such a good time I'd lost track. I was supposed to meet Sir
Leo in less than a half hour. My own online date . . .

I blinked, a
horrible thought coming to me. I glanced across the restaurant,
watching Matt's retreating figure through the swinging door.

It couldn't be.

Could it?

My mind started
racing, connecting the dots. Matt lived in Farmingdale. Matt was in
drama. Matt had a love for comic books. Matt just met a girl online
and was supposed to meet her tonight.

Oh, God. What
if Matt was Sir Leo?

My stomach
dropped out from under me. Much like when you go on that Tower of
Terror ride at Disney and barrel

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thirteen
stories down in an out-of-control elevator. Was Matt Sir Leo? Was Sir
Leo Matt?

It couldn't be.
And yet... it totally could.

No, I told
myself. It was just a coincidence. A crazy coincidence. There was no
way my beautiful, dashing knight in shining armor was Matt Drewer.
Could there?

"Maddy,
you okay?" Blackie asked, peering at me.

"Yeah, you
look really pale," Chad said, reaching over to feel my forehead
with his hand. "Are you coming down with something?"

I shook my
head, trying to ignore the tingles his touch sent through my body.
That was the reaction I wanted to get from a real-life Sir Leo. The
kind of reaction I'd never ever get from a guy like Matt, no matter
what a nice person he was.

"I'm
fine," I said, rising from my seat. "But I've got to get
going before Mom has a fit." I squeezed out of the booth and
dropped a couple of bucks on the table. "I'll catch you later."

179

CHAPTER 17

WHAT DO you
mean you aren't coming?" Mom barked into the phone.

It was Saturday
morning, ten o'clock. Two full hours after the time Dad was supposed
to come pick us up. Mom had been calling his cell every five minutes,
but hadn't gotten anything but voice mail up until now.

"I don't
care how tired you are. You get in the car and come pick up your
children. They've been waiting for you."

Emily dropped
her Sleeping Beauty suitcase on the hallway flagstone and let out a
small sigh. I knew exactly how she felt.

"I have to
work, Bob. I can't just drop everything because you're feeling lazy."

I leaned
against the wall, closing my eyes. Great. This was just great. I had
actually been looking forward to this weekend, too. Dad had promised
to take Emily and me snow-boarding. We were going to meet up with
Caitlin, Ashley, Dana--even David Silverman. All my old Boston
friends.

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We'd been
planning it over e-mail all week. Where we'd meet up. What trails
we'd snowboard on. Everything. It would be the first time I'd had a
chance to meet up with my old friends since I left Boston.

But Dad hadn't
shown up that morning. At first, I'd been worried. Maybe he'd gotten
into an accident on the way over. Or his apartment burned down. Or he
had hit his head somehow and was even now lying in a hospital with
amnesia.

Even Mom seemed
a little nervous by her fifteenth unanswered call. I'd kept peering
out the window, looking for his SUV to turn the corner and praying he
was okay.

Good news--he
was okay.

Bad news--it
didn't look like our ski trip was happening.

"You
haven't changed a bit, have you?" Mom accused. "Still
making those promises you can't seem to keep." She
white-knuckled the receiver. "It's one thing to disappoint me,
but these are your children."

"We're not
going skiing, are we?" Emily asked, looking up at me with sad
blue eyes.

I shook my
head, my heart aching. "Don't think it's likely," I said. I
reached down to grab her small hand in mine. "Come on," I
said, "let's go watch cartoons."

But Grandma was
watching some sort of History Channel program when we went into the
living room and wasn't about to hand over the remote. So Emily and I
ended up upstairs, each heading to our own room. I lay down on my
bed, staring up at the ceiling.

A knock sounded
on my door. "Come in," I called out.

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Mom appeared,
her eyes red and watery. Great. "Hi, sweetie," she said,
walking over to the bed. "Are you okay?"

"Sure,"
I said, looking back up at the ceiling. In my old room, back in
Boston, I'd pasted glow in-the-dark stars up there. I wondered if the
new people had kept them or if they'd torn them all down and thrown
them away. It shouldn't matter, I supposed. Not like I'd ever be back
there. But in a way, it did.

I'd asked
Grandma when we'd first moved in if I could put new stars on my
ceiling here. She'd acted as if I'd suggested bringing in a
sledgehammer and smashing down a wall to make room for a raging
nightclub where underage kids drank and did drugs. Mom told me later
that Grandma was "set in her ways," which was one way to
put it. "A stubborn old mule" would be another.

Mom sat down on
the edge of my bed. "Your dad had . . . something come up,"
she explained. "He's ... sick. So he can't take you skiing today
after all."

"Um, yeah.
I figured that."

"He feels
very bad about it. . . ."

"Right."

Mom sighed.
"I've got to go to work. Can you watch your sister for the
afternoon?" "Sure. Whatever."

"I'm
sorry, Maddy. I really am. I know you were looking forward to the
trip."

"Really.
It's no big deal." Of course my voice chose to crack on "no,"
pretty much cementing the fact that it actually

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was
one.
Great. The last thing I wanted to do was to give Mom more reasons to
be mad at Dad. I swallowed hard.
Play it cool, Maddy.
"Actually, it works out well," I added. "I didn't
really feel like snowboarding today anyway."

Mom gave me a
pitying look that told me she didn't buy my brave act for one
millisecond. Not surprising, I guess; I was a terrible actress. She
glanced at her watch. "God, I'm so late," she muttered.
"Sorry, I've got to go. I'll see you tonight. Maybe we can get
something special for dinner. Go out to Longhorn's or something,"
she suggested, naming my favorite steak place. She was trying, I'd
give her that.