My Senior Year of Awesome (18 page)

Spring break homework. Super. And ninety-nine percent of the questions read as if written in a foreign language. But I’m willing to be a one per center if it gets me a varsity letter.

“Let’s have a short session today. We can try a timed test,” Mrs. McCaffrey suggests. “Who can solve the most equations in ten minutes?”

“Andy.” The team shouts in unison. Our captain turns bright red, like a huge tomato with blond curls. Ignoring our response, Mrs. McCaffrey sets a timer on the smart board, and I begin checking off any problem I feel capable of at least attempting. I settle on line thirty, with only one x and one y to solve. Dom leans over and taps me on the shoulder.

“Hey, hot stuff.”

When I turn toward him, the overpowering scent of his body spray accosts my nose. Nasty. Then, the thought crosses my mind that I no longer remember what Andy smelled like when we kissed, and I feel a dull pang of regret.

“Are you taking Giuliana to the prom?” I ask, hoping to distract him before he makes a huge scene at my expense.

“No clue. Why, do you need a date?” His right eyebrow rises, transforming his expression into something more sinister.

I scratch out the next step of my equation, pretending not to hear the question.

“I bet Mathman over there is free. Did he propose to you yet? Yo. AK.” A wicked grin splits Dom’s face. At the sound of his name, Andy looks up from his paper and levels his gaze at me. A hush falls over the room. Pencils pause as everyone takes time off from logic problems to tune into the latest episode of my Dom and Andy soap opera. Behind me, Jana snaps her bubble gum, warning me not to escalate the already tense situation.

“Shut up, Altomeri,” Andy says, his voice low, but filled with daggers. Geez, Dominic hit a sore spot. Andy didn’t even sound this mad when he found his name on the
Fill It In
list.

“Pi R squared to you too, buddy,” Dominic shoots back. “Sadie, if you need a real man to take you to the prom, feel free to ask me, babe. I’m sure you can convince me to make myself available.”

Jana digs her pencil in the center of my back, likely encouraging me to go along with Dom’s suggestion. Doubling with her and Ben would be fun, but Dom’s offer to make himself available is nowhere near the prom invitation of my dreams. A girl has to have some basic standards.

I shake my head and offer him a polite smile. “No, thanks, Dom. You should take your girlfriend. I’m sure she’d be disappointed if you went to the prom without her.”

“Ah, she’ll get over it.” Dom shrugs and goes back to solving functions. In the front of the classroom, the smart board chirps.

“Okay, timed test is over. Hand in your worksheets on the way out. I’ll check everyone’s answers over vacation,” Mrs. McCaffrey says.

“Sounds like you’ve got some wild spring break plans, Mrs. M.,” Dom says.

“With a strawberry daiquiri in hand,” she adds, her face twisting into smile. I scrape back my chair, rushing to extricate myself from this latest Dom/Andy disaster and pass Mrs. McCaffrey my nearly blank paper before high-tailing it out of the room. When Andy silently passes my locker, I duck and cover, pretending to search through the mess for a lost text book. The hallway lights blink off, leaving me alone in the dark. Jana is long past the days of waiting around for me. Not with Ben waiting for her.

“You know, I’m really proud of you, Sadie.” Mrs. McCaffrey steps out of her classroom.

I slam my locker door closed. “Proud of me? Why?”

“Because I see the way most girls look at Dominic. If he’d offered to take anyone else in that room to the prom, they would have jumped at the chance. But, I think you see what’s inside of him. You look beyond his physical—um—characteristics.”

I have to smile at Mrs. McCaffrey’s choice of words. I wonder how often the topic of cute high school guys comes up in the faculty lunch room.

“So, are you saying I did the right thing?”

Mrs. McCaffrey pats my shoulder. “Definitely. If you were to ask my opinion, I would recommend that you hold out for the best man. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.”

“I hope you’re right, Mrs. McCaffrey. The prom is only a month away, and I have no idea how I’m going to find a date.”

But actually, I’m starting to realize that I do.

Fill It In – April 20th

Top Ten Ways to Snag a Prom Date

1. Call 1-800-Prom-Date. (What? That’s not a thing?)

2. Tape a list of the Top 10 Reasons to Go to Prom with Sadie on his locker. Because I rock at list writing.

3. Stand outside of his house with a poster.

4. Write on his windshield with that cool car paint.

5. Ask your best friend to ask him for you because you’re a huge chicken.

6. Be poetic. Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, Let’s Go to Prom and Get Married, Too.

7. Hijack the school’s intercom system and make a public request during morning announcements.

8. Math Equation. You + Sadie = Best Prom Ever.

9. Ask Jana how to say “please go to the prom with me” in Spanish. That way, if he rejects me, only a limited number of people will understand.

10. Text Bombardment.

“I need your help with a PPD,” I say when Jana calls later that night.

“PPD? Blech. Sounds gross.”

“Potential Prom Date, Jana. I have someone in mind.”

“Thank Goodness, chica, ‘cause you’re running out of time.”

“Yeah, and I have one tiny problem. He doesn’t like me anymore.”

“Are you talking about Andy?” she asks. “He so likes you.”

“No, Jana. He has quite clearly said that he does
not
like me. Multiple times.” I speak slowly into the phone to emphasize the seriousness of my predicament.

“What Andy says and what he means are two completely different things. He says he hates you because he feels used. And he’s embarrassed because he liked kissing you, but he thinks you just did it for some stupid list.”

“I did do it for the list. But I didn’t hate kissing him.”

“Then why didn’t you tell him the truth?”

I sigh. “Because everything with Andy seems momentous. He would expect something. And after that ridiculous Super Superlative vote, I feel like everyone expects something. It’s too much pressure. Why can’t kissing someone be fun?”

“Kissing someone and marrying them are two very different things. Kissing Ben is lots of fun.” I hear the smile in Jana’s voice.

“I know, I know. And by the time I realized I wanted something with Andy, he hated me. Now when I see him, he’s griping about how I used him for a list or dropping me on my ass after I ripped apart my hamstring.”

“You know, if Andy didn’t care so much, he wouldn’t complain so much. He would have laughed about the double snogging the way Dominic did.”

Jana’s observation sends me bounding off my bed and circling around the apartment in a state of extreme excitement. “You are so right. Finally, something makes sense!”

“And there’s the light bulb.”

“I need to fix this. Operation ‘Get Sadie A Prom Date’ is on.”

Jana laughs softly through the phone. “Poor Andy. He doesn’t have a chance, does he?”

“Nope. He picked the wrong girl to pretend to hate but secretly like.”

***

The next morning I intercept Jana at her locker before Ben gets to her. Colette is present as well, a big smile on her face, happy to be included in any conversation revolving around Andy.

“Do we have a plan?” Jana asks, anxious to move on and spend a few minutes with Ben before homeroom.

I frown. “Not really. Spring break is next week, and I don’t even know if Andy’s going out of town. Should we just wait until after?”

Jana swats my arm. “No way. You cannot lose almost two weeks. The prom vultures are circling your man.”

My stomach turns at the thought of losing Andy to a junior or sophomore who’s simply using him for a chance to attend the senior prom. “What should I do? He won’t talk to me.”

“He’ll talk to me,” Colette offers in her mini-mouse voice. “Why don’t I ask him if he has plans for next week? At least you’ll know that much.”

“Would you, Colette?” I ask.

“Sure, but I’ll need something in return.”

“Little sister, you drive a hard bargain,” Jana says.

“What do you want?” I ask, my shoulders sagging. Paybacks with Colette are never fun.

“Friday night at Starbucks. I want to hang out with you and Jana.”

“Sorry. I have a date,” Jana says.

“Fine.” Colette pokes my arm. “Just you.”

We seal the deal with a handshake. In exchange for one brief conversation with Andy, I promise to make an appearance with her at the Main Street Starbucks. Friday night with a bunch of giggly freshman girls. I must be sick in the head.

The three of us agree to run a stake out at Andy’s locker Friday morning. When he appears at the far end of the hallway, Colette moves in for the kill. But someone else gets to Andy first.

“Can I talk to you for a second? I need your help.” Andy’s progression down the hallway is interrupted by Melinda Banner. She approaches from the opposite direction, her deep red hair braided into a long rope, swishing side to side. She hands him a written request for tutoring signed by Mrs. McCaffrey. Andy squints at the paper as if he’s forgotten to how to read. Eventually he speaks to Melinda, briefly working out a meeting time and place.

Melinda’s expression turns nothing short of smarmy as she waves to Jana and me, and then nearly plows into Colette, who by this time has planted herself next to Andy’s locker.

Jana spies her lab partner Arlene across the hall, so we drift in her direction, pretending to be fascinated with the photo collage taped inside her locker door.

“So, Andy, are you packing for spring break?” Colette asks in her squeaky voice, following the script I emailed to her last night. The target, as Jana now refers to Andy, looks up and down, around and behind him, obviously confused. This must be the first time Jana’s little sister found the nerve to ask him a personal question.

“Uh, hey, Colette. Actually, I’m staying in town next week. I picked up some extra flight time.”

“Oh. Cool,” she says and giggles nervously. Then, Colette stuns those of us pretending not to listen to the conversation by deviating from my instructions and asking a follow-up question. “Andy, would you be my date for the freshman dance?” Her cute little chipmunk cheeks stain bright red, like two apples jettisoning from the rest of her face.

“What!” I hiss into Jana’s ear. “How dare she take advantage of my bribery?”

“Just as friends,” Jana whispers, placing her hand on my arm. “Colette knows how you feel. She’s—”

“And here’s a shot of me after I took off my shirt,” Arlene announces. “We were protesting the fashion industry’s inhumane treatment of animals.”

Jana leans forward, examining the blurry photo. “Isn’t that just a cotton T-shirt in your hand?”

“Uh, yeah, but we wanted to use nudity to make our point.”

I glance across the hallway when Arlene points out additional topless images I know for sure will be forever branded in my mind if I dare look at them. Twenty years from now, I want to remember the fully dressed Arlene.

Meanwhile,
A
ndy appears taken aback by Colette’s request. “Uh, sure. When is it again?”

I bite my lip to keep from laughing at the way he flounders through a less than enthusiastic acceptance.

After the freshman dance details are hammered out, Colette risks a glance my way. I force a smile for her benefit. If young and big-brained is Andy’s type, I’ll never be able to compete, anyway.

***

“Where does Andy hang out in his free time?” I ask Jana as we wait in line at Starbucks on the first day of spring break, which we’ve dubbed as Mocha Latte Monday. Our short-term goals for the week include sleeping past nine a.m. and consuming as many caffeinated beverages as possible.

“Besides the corner of Main and State after snow storms?” Jana responds, sweeping her eyes through the student-heavy crowd. “No idea. Why not take a direct approach and call him?”

I mentally scoff at her suggestion. “Like he would answer my call.”

“If he refuses to talk to you, then stand outside his house with an ‘I love you, Andy’ sign.”

I shake my head. “Too lunatic.”

“How about taking a walk around the playground? He has that herd of younger siblings to deal with.”

“Absolutely not. Even if he does the big brother thing and takes the kids out somewhere, I can’t flirt in front of an audience.”

We file inside the steamy coffee house, order our drinks and carry them out. Caffeine-addicted teenagers spill out onto the street, willing to block traffic rather than lose their place in line. Balancing my hot cup in one hand, I boost myself over the legs of a couple sophomores sitting on the curb. This year, our late April weather feels more Toronto-like than Miamish. Gusty wind flaps a paper taped to a light post on the corner.

“Oh, look, free food at the Airport Open House. And hot rock band guys playing,” Jana says, pointing to the flyer.

“Andy takes flying lessons at the airport,” I mention, striving for nonchalance.

“Jackpot!” Jana motions pulling the arm of a slot machine. “He’ll definitely be there, chica.”

“What does one wear to an airport open house?”

“Maybe one of those Snoopy Red Baron flying hats with the goggles?”

“Or a mini skirt stewardess outfit from the sixties?”

Jana’s eyes light up. “Even better. We have five days to find you a perfect outfit.”

***

To keep my mind off my boy problems, I soak up the break week babysitting a bunch of grade school kids whose parents either couldn’t take off from work, or more likely didn’t want to waste precious vacation time when their kids are home from school. I also offer to walk every dog in my apartment complex to boost my prom dress savings. Just in case I find a date and need to shop.

Jana stops by my apartment while Ben runs ten miles in the mornings. She gave up on track shortly after Andy’s father wrote my medical excuse note. By the time Saturday rolls around, we’ve spent hours going through our clothes, searching for an appropriate outfit. With Jana’s approval, I settle on a new pair of jeggings, purchased with a chunk of my spring break earnings, and a sky blue Abercrombie tee.