Over the Moon (5 page)

"How did you know where I live?"

"Everybody knows where you live. This is a very small town.
Get used to it! I live around the corner. Do you remember that boy
in your precalculus class with spiky hair and glasses? I think he sits
in front of you. He's really cute. His name is Nate Taylor."

I nodded. "I think I remember who he is." I remembered he was
cute.

"His girlfriend just moved to Salt Lake. He doesn't have a date
to the dance, so I suggested that he ask you, and he agreed. He
seemed happy with the idea. I'm going with his friend Tim Jackson.
We could double," she said excitedly.

"I think I'm going with Jordan if my parents don't have other
plans for me," I said sadly. This was crazy. I hadn't even spoken to
Nate Taylor. I had noticed him, but I had no desire to go with him
either. What was my problem?

"That's great! Maybe we can still double. Alexis is going to be
furious! You're my hero, Tiana. You are a rock star!"

"Why?"

"She thinks Jordan is her personal property. He's been devoted
to her forever. She's had other boyfriends, but he hasn't shown any
interest in other girls until now. This is totally going to shake things
up!" Tiffany rubbed her hands together as if she were plotting to
overthrow the evil queen of Hurricane High.

"What should I do?" That might be why she hated me. She
must have noticed that Jordan was interested in me even though I
didn't. This was awful. I really didn't want to get in the middle of
that drama.

"You have to go! She so deserves this! Alexis has taken him for
granted too long. This will give her a taste of her own medicine.
There is justice in the universe!"

"How long have they been together?" I asked fearfully.

"Oh, since ninth grade, I think. We call him her pet puppy
because he follows her all the time, and she treats him like a dog.
I'm glad he's showing a little courage and self-respect. You broke the
spell he's been under. I love it! She is going to be so furious."

Two years? They were practically married, and I was the other
woman. This was getting worse and worse. I should have said no.
Why didn't I just say no?

"Want a soda?" I got two Cokes out of the fridge and handed
her one. I knew I shouldn't, but I had to ask her about Andrew.

"What do you know about the Martins?" I asked as we sat at the
dining room table. I could see his house from this window too. I had
some crazy compulsion to find out more about him.

"There's not much I can tell you. They live up on that hill."
She pointed out the window to the white house. "Their parents are
dead. They live with Andrew's brother, Adam, and his wife, Evelyn.
They all work at the pharmaceutical lab that Adam owns. They get
straight As in school. The Allen brothers live next door, and they
are always together. Hannah and Matthew are dating. Both families
moved here last January from Roswell, New Mexico. Before that, I
think the Martins lived in Australia. I just love their accent." She
sighed.

"I thought you said the Allens were related to the Martins.
Shouldn't relatives be off the designated list of who you should
date?" I asked.

"They're distant cousins, twice removed or something. Luke and
Jillian might be dating as well. It's hard to tell since lately they keep
to themselves so much. Jillian went out with Nate a few times last
year, and she went to prom with Skylar. He fell for her in a big way.
They dated for a while, but that ended in disaster. She evidently
decided she didn't like him, but didn't want to hurt his feelings so
she hid from him for the rest of the year. It took him a long time to
get the message, even after Andrew warned him off. It was almost
too painful to watch. Andrew hasn't dated anyone here as far as I
know and believe me everyone would know if he had. This town
runs on gossip!"

"I'm surprised he is really unattached." I liked that about him.
I liked everything I knew about him so far. Could he possibly be
as perfect as he seemed? I didn't really think so. There had to be a
catch, some kind of terribly tragic character defect. I should back away now and forget all about him and the crazy reaction I had
experienced.

"Last year, Alexis had a big crush on Andrew. She tried to get
him to take her to prom. He went out of town that week, and he still
ignores her. She hates him now, or so she says."

"Wow! Why didn't he like her?" I was happy he didn't, but I
didn't understand why. I had her pegged as the "it" girl at the top
of the food chain in the social register of Hurricane High. She was
very pretty, although I didn't think she was someone I'd ever want to
hang out with. She had left me with the impression that she thought
she was hovering high above the rest of us, like she was the ruling
royalty and we were expected to grovel at her very fashionable feet.
I found his dislike for her interesting. Maybe there was more to him
than I thought.

"I think she pursued him with a little too much aggression, and
she doesn't really have a winning personality. She slides by on her
looks. She's superficial, shallow, and majorly materialistic. She has to
have everything her way or she throws a fit. We call her the Desert
Drama Queen. She got Luke to take her to the spring formal, but
he looked miserable the whole time. They've all become super good
at avoiding her. They haven't been very social since then. It's like
they're afraid we're all out to get them, as if we are all just like Alexis.
I find that a little insulting. They're polite but very cautious. It's kind
of strange," Tiffany informed me.

"I guess!" I agreed.

"Well, ask Jordan if we can double. I'll ask Tim. I'm sure they'll
agree. I've got to go home and start spreading the word. Oh, who
am I kidding? Jordan's probably already told the whole world. Tim's
coming over tonight to make plans. See you tomorrow."

"Thanks for filling me in. Bye now." I closed the door and
leaned against it; I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. What had
I gotten myself into? Maybe I should leave town on the day of the
dance. But I liked Tiffany. It could be fun to double. It might not be
a total disaster. What about Alexis? She already hated me. This did
not bode well. I didn't relish having her for an enemy. She had been spurned by the only boy that I was interested in getting to know better. If he wasn't attracted to her, how could I imagine that he would
ever be inclined to show any interest in me? Well, I could dream. A
little fantasy never hurt anyone. Wrong! I heard the brutal, grating
sound of the brassy buzzer of reason go off in my foolish, witless
head. I had to stay in touch with my harsh reality, and this grimly
depressing reality of mine dictated that I didn't stand a chance of
ever going out with a boy like Andrew.

I should be overjoyed that Jordan and Nate had wanted to ask
me to the dance. They were very nice boys. They weren't unattractive. I should choose one of them to like. Why wasn't I happy? Hadn't
I always begged the universe to make me irresistible to the opposite
sex? My unhealthy preoccupation with this ridiculous Andrew Martin fantasy had to stop and die right now! I walked to the window
and dramatically closed the drapes. I was never going to look at his
house again. I resolved that I was not going to think about him or
his family or his friends anymore. I might as well face the unpleasant and unmistakable truth that my life was, and always would be,
so incredibly unfair!

The rest of the week went from bad to worse with a few bright
spots. Jordan walked me to all my classes unless I used tricky, evasive
maneuvers such as ducking into the girl's room, taking an unusual
route, or hiding in a crowd of tall or very large people. All his attention was getting old fast. I had a hard time believing he could be so
persistent. I was sure I wasn't that attractive. I thought it must be
some sort of plot to annoy me to death. Whatever it was, I wanted
it to stop, but I didn't want to hurt his feelings. After all, I was the
new girl here, and I didn't want any more enemies just yet. Alexis
was enough. I was struggling to think of a way to discourage him
and still be nice about it. I didn't know if that were possible, but I
hoped it was.

On Tuesday, Andrew was called on first to read his "Getting to
Know You" paper. He walked confidently and nonchalantly to the
front of the class. I was sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for
him to begin. I knew I had promised never to look at him again, but
I couldn't stop myself. After all, it would be rude not to give him my
undivided attention while he took his turn sharing his paper with us.

"I'm Andrew Martin. My parents died when I was ten. I live
with my brother, Adam, and his wife, Evelyn. I have a twin sister,
Hannah, and an adopted sister, Jillian. I moved here from Roswell,
New Mexico. I was born there, but my family moved to Australia
where we lived for twelve years before moving back. My favorite
book is Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe because he was a survivor
in a foreign and hostile environment. I can relate to that, having
spent some time in foreign, hostile environments myself." He finished, smiling at all of us. We clapped. I would have liked to know a
lot more about him, but this was a start.

"Thank you, Mr. Martin. Would you please choose someone
you would like to get to know better?" Miss Cole gave him an extra
warm smile.

I started chanting silently, "Pick me, pick me! Oh, please pick
me!" I really should scrap this defective brain and grow another
much smarter one that doesn't seek out disappointment.

"I would love to get to know Tiana much better," he declared
emphatically. I immediately went into shock. What just happened?
The class erupted in chuckles. Miss Cole quieted them.

"Go ahead, Miss Dawson."

I walked slowly to the front of the class, struggling hard to look
poised. I felt the hot, uncomfortable rush of blood to my face. It
took me a few more minutes to regain my composure after the class
regained theirs.

"I'm Tiana Dawson. My parents are Thomas and Elonna Dawson. I have a brother, Mark, who goes to the University of Nevada at
Las Vegas. I moved here from Chicago. One of my favorite books is
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen because Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy
have to overcome their own pride and prejudices about social stand ing, wealth, and family background. Only when they can get past
these barriers can they see the good qualities in each other and fall
in love. I can identify with the idea that we all have to overcome our
misconceptions about others before we can learn to know, love, and
accept people for who they really are."

I vaguely remember them clapping for me. I didn't hear the other
students read their papers. I kept hearing him say that he wanted to
know me better. Had I imagined the way he looked at me with those
enticing blue eyes? I marveled again at my inability to block his
influence from my mind. In my fantasy, he was humble, kind, and
perfect in every way. I knew I was most likely delusional. If I were
really intelligent, I would smash that fantasy, wad it into a ball, and
toss it out of my head like unwanted trash right now before I got
hurt. It was apparent that I wasn't that smart. I must really be in love
with emotional distress and discouragement because that was sure to
overtake me if I followed my current road to romantic ruin.

The bell rang, and he was gone. How did he manage to get out
of the room so fast? Was he trying to avoid me the way I kept trying
to avoid Jordan?

Wednesday came and brought disaster. I found a message written in bright red lipstick on my locker door. "Go home, loser!" It
didn't take me long to figure out who put it there. I felt sick for a
minute. I wiped it off quickly with a Kleenex and tried to force it out
of my mind. I'd pretend it never happened. It had to be fallout from
my stupid acceptance of Jordan's invitation to the dance. Why did I
say yes to the one boy with the scary, insane girlfriend? Why did fate
hate me so much?

Then I went to history, and my imaginary love life fell flat,
rolled over, and died in front of my face. My unhealthy fantasy was
over. I watched it croak and perish when Andrew didn't smile at
me once in that class. My emotions were running rampant through
my muddled brain. His rejection made it nearly impossible for me
to think clearly. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. Perhaps he
somehow knew I was interested in him and didn't want to lead me
on, like I was trying not to lead Jordan on. I wasn't doing a very good job of discouraging him, but I was feeling terribly discouraged about
Andrew. What had I been thinking? I knew there would be pain. I
just didn't think it would come this soon in my unhealthy, impossible fantasy. It was sheer stupidity on my part to think he could be
drawn to me the way he drew me to him. The cosmic connection I
had felt to him was a fraud. How could I think he had felt it too?

I said hello when I sat beside him. He gave me a half smile that
never quite reached his eyes and turned away. Maybe I was being
oversensitive, but this triggered a huge surge of negative emotions.
I was devastated. What had I done to deserve this ostracism? What
was I expecting to happen? How could I be such a fool? He probably hadn't even thought about me at all. I still felt like I had been
slapped across my face. Then I felt angry at myself for being so pitifully pathetic. I knew it was ridiculous to think he really wanted to
know me better. He said that undoubtedly to entertain the class,
and they had seemed to enjoy it. They were all laughing at me now
for sure. Perhaps I was being paranoid. Why should I care what he
thought of me? This was beyond nuts, even for me, queen of the
dramatically delusional dimwits. I still hoped he had really meant
what he said. My emotions were pushing and shoving my thoughts
around, creating chaos in my head. Each feeling was fighting to take
control over my heart. I wanted so badly to believe that he found me
attractive that it cut me to my core and I flinched at the pain. Then
I got mad.