Second Skin (20 page)

The rest of the pep pack circled round me and immediately began twisting their bodies into a series of gravity-defying shapes.

"This is such a great idea," Adrienne added, a look of pure glee on her face as she kicked her leg up, touching her knee to her head. "I didn't have time to work out this morning!"

Resisting the urge to zap her with the glue gun, I tried to force my body into a single jumping

"Yo," Tanner said. I'd realized weeks ago that normal pleasantries-like "please,"

"goodbye" and "sorry I just pounded you on the back when a simple pat would do"-weren't his style. "I'm still at the game."

"Game?" I asked, my mind a complete blank. "You're at a game now?"

"Yeah, you know. Up at Valley." He sounded surprised that I'd forgotten. And a little annoyed. "Looks like my boys and I have an overtime situation on our hands. Could be a few more hours. Better hit the dance without me, okay?"

"What do you mean? We were supposed to go together."

"Sorry, babe," Tanner said, not sounding very sorry at all. "But duty calls. Gotta go. This photographer's snapping my pic and I want to make sure he gets my name in the caption....Hey, man, that's Tanner with two ns, okay?"

"But-" I sputtered as the phone clicked off.

Great.
I, Samantha Klein, the most popular girl at Woodlawn High and cochair of the Spring Fling committee, was minus one dream date.

"What's wrong?" Jules asked, noticing the look of alarm on my face. "Did you forget to buy

I had to get out of here.

"Uh, listen," I said, backing away from the group. "The paint fumes are giving me a headache. I'm gonna take a walk."

I shot out of the room, ignoring Jules's predictable "Wait! I'll come with!"

Nope. I definitely needed an escort. Only all the guys were taken...

Except one.

The idea fluttered through my head like the Albert Einstein of butterflies. I flipped open my cell and punched in Alex's number.

He picked up almost immediately.

Thank you for having absolutely no social life,
I thought. "Hey!" I began, cheerfully. "What are you doing right now?"

"Sam?" Alex asked. He sounded surprised and not particularly pleased. "Is that you?"

"Uh, I was just heading out to the roof," Alex said. I could picture him, standing in the middle of his room wearing a stained T-shirt and pants that were baggy in a way that never had been-and never would be-fashionable. "Remember the lunar phases I told you about? Well, tonight's the waxing gibbous."

"Sounds great," I lied, thinking that a waxing gibbous sounded more like a wrestling move than a moon cycle. "But I was wondering if you wanted to go to Spring Fling."

There was silence on the other end of the line.

"Wait, with you?" Alex said, after a few more painful seconds had slipped by.

Okay, not exactly the enthusiastic response I was looking for, but not necessarily a no.

I giggled. "Yes with me."

"But I thought Tanner was taking you," Alex said, his tone icy. This too was easy to picture. His eyes were narrowed, his jaw set. I'd go with clenched fists and white knuckles, too.

Alex definitely had a jock complex.

My heart twisted. If I told the truth-that he was no more than a last-minute sub--I'd hurt his

"Look, I know things have been sort of weird between us lately, so I thought maybe we could hang out tonight." I squeezed my eyes shut as I threw myself into yet another lie. "Besides, I decided I'd rather go to the dance with someone I'm really comfortable with. Someone like you."

Another silence. Was I imagining things or did this one feel different from the first? Less tense.

"Uh, what time should I pick you up?" Alex asked. His voice was warmer now, almost happy.

Whew. As much as it could, my body relaxed under the iron grip of the Skin. "How 'bout eight?" I suggested.

"Great," he said. "And listen, Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"We're gonna have fun," I said, hanging up the phone.

I waited for a knot to form in my stomach. Or nausea. Or some other vile physical response. Nothing happened. My pulse fluttered a little, but I was pretty sure that was due to the walking, not the kissing.

Whatever,
I thought, climbing the steps to my room. I tried to raise my knees extra high to give the Skin a good stretch. At least I had a date.

I slipped out of my clothes and ran a bath. And then I tried to slide the Skin off of my body.

Only I couldn't. It was completely and totally stuck.

I pulled. And tugged. And hopped. Nada. The Skin clung to me like melted plastic. I spent the next forty minutes trying to get it off, with absolutely no results.

Sore and exhausted, I looked at the clock. Alex would be over in less than a half hour and I was still sweaty and paint-covered. In a panic, I hopped into the tub and prayed that the Skin wouldn't melt like the Wicked Witch of the West.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat. No damage done. And as I stepped out of the tub, the Skin dried almost immediately. I barely needed a towel.

As clean as a laminated body can get, I put on

Spring Fling was about to be flung.

"Thanks," I said, flashing him a weak smile as we walked past Saturn. From the main room to the ministage, the place was packed, covered with constellations and filled with music. Spring Fling was a success. And I was freaking out.

The main reason for my current weird-out had to do with Alex. Yes, Alex. My geeky-but-hilarious, known-him-since-just-about-forever friend Alex.

I'd actually been doing pretty well, considering. As I'd stood in the foyer waiting for him to pick me up, I kept offering myself words of silent encouragement-you
can do it!
and
keep it up!-
sort of like I was my own personal trainer.

And then the bell rang.

Alex was standing in the doorway, hair freshly washed and cut, wearing a suit. He looked so normal. And so
tall.
And so incredibly...wow.

My heart did an Olympic-caliber double axel inside my chest. I'd never felt anything like it before. Not with Tanner. Not with anyone in
People
magazine's "Top Ten Hottest Bachelors" issue. Not with anyone on a billboard.

And definitely not with Alex.

The excitement was totally weird, and completely unwelcome (as were the admiring glances I'd seen several girls cast his way since

Besides, I had a boyfriend. His name was Tanner Mullins and he was perfect. Okay, perfect-looking. Whatever. The point was, I didn't need any more complications. Not now. Now was Spring Fling. I'd waded through weeks of boring meetings and a sea of arts and crafts supplies just to get here. It was my night. And it was supposed to be easy and problem-free.

"You look amazing," Jules said, approaching.

I glanced around. With all the curly hair in the room, the cafeteria was screaming for a huge squirt of Frizz-Ease. And almost every girl was wearing a minidress, too. It was like a sixties tribute fest.

Oh, let it go,
I thought, turning to Jules. "Thanks," I said. "You look great too. Nice dress."

"Hi, Alan," she said, noticing Alex for the first time.

"Hey," he said coolly. He turned to me. "Um, listen, Sam. Can I talk to you for a second? Alone?"

"Sure," I said, thinking fast. "But could you do me a huge favor first? I'd love a Diet Coke."

Alex tilted his head to one side. "A Diet Coke," he repeated.

"Right. Extra cold."

He shrugged. "Uh, sure. Be right back."

It wasn't a nice thing to do, I thought as I watched him disappear into the throng. But compared to the other not-nice things I'd done in the past few weeks, it barely hit the top ten.

Not that that made me feel any better.

"Congrats on the refreshments," Heidi said, walking up to me. She also wore a minidress, which struggled to cover her long, thin body. She lifted a plate of pastries. "Have you tried the mini éclairs? They're amazing."