Home Sweet Drama (4 page)

“This is unacceptable,” Mr. Davidson said. “I realize it's Homecoming, but that is not an excuse for any of you to skip classwork. Those of you who did not do the
reading will stay and read through the rest of the class period.”

He looked at me. “Sasha, after you and Aaron share your thoughts on the reading with the class, you're both free to go.”

Major. Score.

I looked down at my notes. “Well … ,” I started.

After I finished, Aaron offered his opinion and Mr. Davidson asked us both a few questions. Then he motioned to the door.

“You're both free to go,” he said.

I gathered my books and papers and shot Paige a sympathetic look. Everyone's eyes were on Aaron and me as we left the classroom. I left the building and plopped my bookbag on a bench shaded by an oak tree.

“Ugh,” I said aloud.

It was going to be hard to force myself to go back to class after the half hour break was over. I wished I could sit outside all day, but I had many more classes to go.
Ignore it for now,
I told myself.
And just enjoy the break.

I pulled out my phone, thinking now was the perfect time to call Mom. We hadn't talked in a while and since she was working at the library, she'd only have a few minutes to chat, so we wouldn't have to talk for too long.
I knew she'd want to ask me a zillion questions about Homecoming, but I was determined to keep the convo on other things.

I dialed her number and waited.

“This is Gail Silver speaking,” she said.

“Hi, Mom,” I said.

“Sasha! Hi, hon,” Mom said. “Why aren't you in class?”

“Our class let out early,” I said. I wasn't going to tell her I'd been excused because I'd been the only girl focused on school instead of the H-word.

“I'm glad you get a break. That's nice. How's your day?” Mom asked.

I could hear the beeping of books being checked out.

“Great,” I said. “Paige and I are going to start planning for fall break later.”

That
would definitely distract Mom from asking about Homecoming.

“I'm so excited that you're staying with Paige in New York City,” Mom said. “You're going to have such a wonderful time. You loved it so much when you visited her this summer.”

I laughed. “I'm only going to be there a week, Mom. But I'll be sure to get you and Dad souvenirs.”

It was Mom's turn to laugh. “Sounds good, hon. And Dad and I will find you something special while we're away. The bed-and-breakfast place we're staying at in Maine looks absolutely charming, just like the town. We'll be sure to find something you like.”

“Thanks, Mom,” I said. “I've got to study, but I'll e-mail you tomorrow.”

“Bye, sweetie,” Mom said.

We hung up and I spent the rest of the period dreading going back to class.

I dragged myself back to class and, by some miracle, managed to tune out Homecoming talk for the rest of the day. Just like in Mr. Davidson's class, so few people had prepared for the reading that it made me look good. I crossed my fingers that my teachers would remember it if I ever needed an extension.

In the lunch line I ordered veggie soup and grabbed a handful of cracker packets. I started toward the Trio's table. I paused midstep, wondering if I should sit with Paige. She
was
my best friend and I
had
been sitting with Heather, Julia, and Alison a lot lately. But it was only because there was seriously less tension sitting with them than with Paige. Paige wasn't trying to upset me, but she did, every
time she brought up my birthday party. Or Homecoming. Julia and Alison talked about Homecoming, too, but at least I had solidarity with Heather.

I put my tray down across from Heather's and noticed Julia and Alison staring at a sheet of paper on the table. They seemed überabsorbed in it.

“What're you reading?” I asked.

Heather sighed. “You shouldn't have asked. It's the lovely schedule that we all got about Homecoming.”

“The lunch activity is ridic,” Julia said. “The guys and girls are supposed to have physical contests. The one for us? Jumping rope until we have to stop.” She fake-gagged. “I don't think so.”

“We're supposed to jump rope until we can't do it anymore or until the period ends,” Alison said. “Lame, right?”

Heather snorted. “You think? That's the worst contest I've ever heard. Not that I care, but what're the boys doing?”

I crushed a handful of crackers into my soup and watched Alison scan the paper.

“They're having a push-up contest in the gym in twenty minutes,” Alison said. “I'm
not
jumping rope, so I guess we could go watch them.”

Heather put her face in her hands for a second, then looked up at Alison, Julia, and me. “Puh-lease. We're
not going to watch. We're going to
participate.
”

“Yeah!” Julia said. “Why let the boys do a real contest? We can do push-ups too.”

“I'm in,” I said.

“Let's finish eating and go,” Heather said.

We hurried through the rest of our meal—Heather downed her grilled cheese, Alison finished her turkey sub, and Julia's BLT disappeared in minutes. We gathered our trays and I realized I hadn't looked up once from our table. I glanced around as I got up and didn't see Jacob or Callie. Paige was sitting at the center table and looked at me as I walked by.

“If you're heading to the jump-rope contest,” she said, “I'm ready and I'll walk with you.”

I stopped and so did Julia, Alison, and Heather.

“Actually, we're going to do push-ups,” I said.

“Jumping rope is so whatever,” Heather said. “If the boys are doing push-ups, so are we.”

Paige looked at Geena, then back at us. “Oh, okay. Well, Geena and I are jumping rope. I guess we'll see you at the gym.”

This was so weird! Paige and I usually did everything together. Now, I was going with the Trio.

“Yeah. See you there.”

I walked away from Paige and followed the Trio out of the caf. We crossed the lawn and I tried not to look at the Homecoming banners and yard signs that kept popping up everywhere.

“At least Homecoming Court nominees aren't allowed to make signs and flyers on top of the ones already advertising the activities,” Heather said. “Otherwise, I'd vomit.”

“Me too,” I said, laughing. “They'd be everywhere trying to get votes.”

Julia and Alison were almost jogging now, so far ahead of us in their rush to get to the gym.

“It just means people get more creative,” Heather said. “They do all the verbal bribing and campaigning they can.”

“Don't forget the threats and blackmail,” I said jokingly.

“Def,” Heather said. I looked over at her and knew she wasn't kidding. Nominations were prob serious around here. If Heather had really wanted to win, she'd use everything she had to make sure it happened. She'd intimidate people for votes. Lucky for our grade that being Homecoming princess was the last thing she wanted.

“So, you hate Homecoming as much as I do,” I said. “But you never said why. You know I do because of the … situation, but why don't you like it?”

Heather took a deep breath through her nose and
glanced at me. “My mom was Homecoming queen in high school,” she said. “She loves everything about it and she still has her tiara from when she won. She was, like, obsessed with it.”

I just nodded.

“She wants me to be princess
so
bad,” Heather said. “I've never been into any of it and she knows it, but she never listens. At least my dad gets that I'm an athlete. But my mom …” Heather shrugged.

“Doesn't get that her daughter would rather wear paddock boots than heels, right?” I asked.

“Something like that.”

I felt bad for Heather. Her dad pressured her to ride all the time and her mom was trying to turn her into a school princess. Now it made sense why Heather hated every aspect of Homecoming.

We reached the gym and walked across the shiny hardwood floor, our shoes squeaking.

I didn't take gym because of the equestrian team, but someone who looked like a gym teacher walked up to us. The velour track suit and whistle around her neck kind of gave her away.

“Girls, go grab jump ropes,” she said. “Your competition starts in five minutes.”

“We're not here to jump rope,” Heather said, stepping forward. She oozed the confidence I wished I had. Her shoulders were back and her voice was firm. “We're doing push-ups.”

The woman's head tilted and she stared at us like she thought we were joking. Then she grinned. “Really? That's
fantastic
, girls. Go to the far side of the gym and wait for instructions. We'll get started soon.”

“I love Ms. Pike,” Alison said. “She's so cool.”

“For a second, I thought she'd say no,” I said.

Heather smirked. “Like we'd listen anyway.”

We walked across the gym, bypassing the girls who'd picked up jump ropes and were practicing, and joined guys who had formed a line. I noticed Callie wasn't part of the lineup. Maybe she was skipping jump rope to cheer on Jacob instead.

“What're you doing?” Andy asked, walking over to us. I hadn't seen him around the stable much lately. Probably because he was Eric's friend and he was avoiding me.

Julia put her hands on her hips. “What does it look like we're doing?” she asked.

“Push-ups?” Andy asked slowly.

“Um,
yeah
,” Alison said. “Jump rope is cool, but we're strong enough to hang with the boys.”

Andy grinned and pushed back his light brown hair. “I like it. You're on.”

He walked back to join the rest of the group who had decided to participate. I crossed my fingers that this was it.

But nope.

Ben, Julia's boyfriend, walked into the gym with Eric. Ben saw Julia and grinned. He was gorgeous—pale skin and dark hair. They'd been on the DL because Julia had been afraid Jasmine would try to break them up, but now they could be open about their relationship. By the way Ben was looking at Julia, it looked as if he was starting right now. I tensed, preparing myself for Eric to walk over to us with Ben, but he walked by and headed for the other guys. I let out a breath.

“Hey,” Ben said, smiling at Julia. “I'm not even surprised.”

I looked at him for a second, realizing he was lumping me in with the Trio. I'd never been part of a group, really. It had always been Paige and me or Callie and me. Never me and three other girls.

“Like we'd jump rope,” Julia said. She flashed him a smile. “We're gonna take you down.”

Ben squeezed Julia's hand. “I don't doubt it for a second.”

Ms. Pike walked over and stopped in front of us. “It's time for the annual push-up contest. The rules are that you must do traditional push-ups and if your knees or stomach touch the floor, you're out. You also can't stop. You have to keep moving. Got it?”

We nodded.

“Physical competitions have occurred every Homecoming since this institution was started. I'm pleased to see you all here and participating.
Go ahead and get ready,” Ms. Pike said.

Just as we lowered ourselves to the ground, someone in red Converse sneakers walked by. I forced myself not to look up. I didn't need to see his face to know who it was.

Jacob.

I could feel Heather looking over at me, but I ignored her gaze and kept my eyes on the gym floor. Someone else walked by and headed for the stands. I wondered if it was Callie, but I wasn't going to check to find out.

“And … ready, set, go!” Ms. Pike said.

I pushed up off the ground, then lowered myself back down. Up and down and up and down. I focused on breathing and not going too fast. But I also didn't go slow enough that Ms. Pike would eliminate me.

After five more push-ups, Alison flopped onto her
stomach. She rolled over onto her back, breathing hard. After a few seconds, she sat up and walked over to stand in front of us.

“C'mon, everyone!” she said. “Keep going!”

A few minutes later, a couple of guys dropped out and they joined Alison in cheering for their friends.

At the opposite end of the gym, other people were cheering for the girls jumping rope. I hoped Paige was doing well.

My arms burned and I felt beads of sweat forming on the back of my neck. I couldn't keep going much longer. I was surprised I'd managed to hang on this long. But maybe riding had built me up more than I'd thought. Outlasting some of the boys felt good!

“Ugh,” Heather said, dropping to her knees. I looked at her out of the corner of my eye and her cheeks were pink. She got up and stood beside Alison.

I couldn't believe I'd beat Heather! Julia and I were the only girls left.

“I'm. Not. Going. To. Quit,” Julia said, huffing.

“Me either,” I said. I squeezed my eyes shut for a second and tried to ignore the searing pain in my arms and shoulders. I was almost done.

Andy joined the dropouts next.

My hands were starting to slip on the floor. I flicked my gaze over to Julia—she looked as if she could keep going for hours. There was no way. I couldn't—I dropped to my stomach.

Major. Ouch. Everything burned. I gulped air and tried to slow my crazy heartbeat. I felt as if I'd just run ten miles. I walked over and stood by Alison and Heather. Callie was sitting on the bleachers a few feet down, watching Jacob. He, Troy, Ben, Eric, and a few others were still going. I didn't let myself look at Eric or Jacob—I watched Julia.

Julia did two more push-ups, then lowered herself down. Her arms shook. Her face was red and her arms quivered as she tried to push herself back up.

“Go, Jules,” Alison said. “You've got it!”

Julia made it halfway up and shook her head. She fell to her knees. “Oh. My. God,” she said. “Pain.”