Rotten Apple (20 page)
Authors: Rebecca Eckler
“Thanks, I think,” said Apple.
“Take it as a compliment,” he said. “I was very impressed. And you looked really pretty too,” he added. “And that’s important in television-land.”
Apple felt her lips turning up in a smile. Who was this guy who was making her smile and even feel at ease?
“So, do you want to dance?” Lyon asked.
“Yes, I very much would like to dance,” Apple answered.
“Great,” he said, holding out his hand to take hers. “Let’s go.”
“Oh, but there’s just one thing,” Apple said, pausing.
“What?” he asked, looking a little worried.
“Just let’s stay away from that area over there, where Mr. Kelly is dancing,” Apple said.
“Mr. Kelly? Why?” Lyon asked.
“Because he’s dancing with my Crazy Aunt Hazel,” she explained.
“With whom?” Lyon asked.
“It’s a long story,” Apple said, gazing up at Lyon. He was quite handsome. She could start fresh with Lyon, she thought.
“Well, the night is young,” he said. “I hope there will be plenty of time for you to tell me everything about this woman you call Crazy Aunt Hazel. And maybe a bit about you.”
“Yes,” Apple agreed, smiling up at him. “The night is young.”
Dear ED,
I’m so glad to be writing to you again. I’ve missed you! I’ve decided to trust people a little more and go back to writing to you, ED, my dear electronic diary. So, Aunt Hazel, if you are reading this, just stop it right now. You know how wrong it is. And be forewarned. I will be writing about you! So if you don’t want to know my honest thoughts, don’t read any further. Well, ED, I just got back from the Valentine Ball. And it wasn’t awful. In fact, it was almost awesome. Happy and I are going to be okay. We made plans to go to Gossip together next week. I’m not saying we’re back to where we were just yet, but I’m hopeful. I wonder if I can ever get over what I did? I just do not ever want to end up in that place again. Also, Brooklyn admitted she likes Hopper. Hopper! Who knows why we like the people we do? Speaking of which, Crazy Aunt Hazel was seen leaving the school dance, looking very cozy with Mr. Kelly. Forget about him being a chaperone tonight. He sucked at being a chaperone. He was too busy sucking my aunt’s face. I saw them, along with many others, when I was leaving in the parking lot. Remind me to thank Crazy Aunt Hazel for that—all my classmates started talking about Mr. Kelly kissing some lady, and stopped staring at and whispering about me. The spare bedroom, too, I noticed, was empty again tonight, which means my parents are sleeping together again. That’s something else I don’t really want to think about. But it means they are getting along, at least. And my mother was so proud of me after I went on her show! I’m not sure if it’s because I finally opened up, and in such a dramatic
way, or because Guy told her afterward that it was one of the highest-rated shows they’ve had in months. I don’t really want to think about how many people saw me cry on television. What I do want to think about is Lyon. Happy introduced us tonight, and we spent the next couple of hours together basically just talking and laughing. And he asked me out! My first real date! I’m so nervous. But I’m going to be ME. For better or worse, I’m going to be myself and follow my mother’s advice about not playing games. I also received an interesting e-mail from an editor at
B-Grrl Magazine
—only the best magazine out there!—who says she might want to use me as a professional advice columnist for the magazine. I’d get paid and everything! She, of course, watched me on
The Queen of Hearts
. So more than one good thing came out of that whole crazy plan. In her e-mail, it says she believes I’d be the perfect person to dole out advice, since I’ve probably learned from my mistakes and also since I’m the daughter of the Queen of Hearts. Me? Giving professional advice and getting paid for it? Can you imagine, ED? Maybe I AM my mother’s daughter after all!
Copyright © 2008 Rebecca Eckler
All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication, reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system without the prior written consent of the publisher—or in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, license from the Canadian Copyright Licensing agency—is an infringement of the copyright law.
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Library and Archives of Canada Cataloguing in Publication has been applied for
eISBN: 978-0-307-37232-1
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Published in Canada by Doubleday Canada, a division of Random House of Canada Limited
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