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Authors: Kieran Scott

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BOOK: She's So Dead to Us
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“Wow. Not bad for a first gig,” I joked as he leaned up against the wall next to me.

“Are you gonna do it?” Annie asked, taking a swig of her soda.

David’s eyes widened. “Are you kidding? She’s in my youth group at church. I think that would buy me a ticket directly to hell.” I laughed, and David studied me with narrowed eyes. “I’m glad you came.”

“Are you surprised?” I asked.

“No,” he said quickly, glancing at Annie. “Well, yeah. I mean, we just weren’t sure you would. Since it’s a Norm party and all.”

My throat tightened, and I looked down at my cup for a second. For days I had actually gone back and forth over whether or not to come. I hadn’t been to a party on this side of town since I was in Brownies, and I’d been worried that Annie’s friends wouldn’t want me here. But so far, no one had given me a second glance. Unlike the two Crestie parties I’d attended where I’d been just about as welcome as the Orchard Hill police.

“Well, the Cresties don’t exactly want me around anymore—”

“Oh, so you’re just here by default,” Annie said, an edge to her joking tone.

“No! It’s not that. I’m just saying . . .”

I looked around at the couple of dozen people milling around the basement. A few girls had whipped out an old Mouse Trap board game and were attempting to put it together. A couple of guys in the corner were firing up the ancient Xbox on the even more ancient TV. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, and I felt relaxed. The way you’re supposed to feel at a party. Even though my old friends probably would have either laughed or heaved if they could see what constituted a party on this side of town.

“I’m having fun,” I said finally. “This is way better than any Crestie thing I’ve been to.”

Annie grinned. “Way better.”

“Oh, but come on!” David said sarcastically. “They have bars and pools and bathrooms with two sinks!”

“Ah, but the company here is of a much higher quality,” I said with a smile. “Norms are far cooler than Cresties.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Annie said, raising her plastic cup.

“I would too, but I don’t have anything to drink,” David added.

Annie and I laughed and clicked our cups together. “So, Ally, since you’re such a Norm now, do you want to come over tomorrow and help me and David with the Fall Festival? I’m in serious need of volunteers.”

Annie had mentioned the Fall Fest before. It was a fund-raiser she organized every year to raise money for the underfunded arts programs at school. Apparently most of our extracurricular cash went to the athletic teams.

“You should totally come,” David said. “She promised me free pizza.”

“Oh, well, if there’s free pizza, I’m in,” I said.

“There’s the most beautiful girl in the room!” Logan Pincus, the burly, curly-haired drummer from David’s band, came loping over and threw his arms around Annie, lifting her off the ground in a sideways bear hug. She rolled her eyes, and her whole body stiffened. David pressed his lips together as if to keep from laughing.

“Logan? Remember our chat about personal space?” Annie said.

He replaced her on the ground. “Right. Sorry.”

Annie took a step back as Logan shoved his huge hands under his arms. “So? What do you think? We rocked, right? Didn’t we rock?”

“Come on, Annie. You’ve gotta admit we rocked,” David said, rubbing his hands together.

The two guys exchanged a conspiratorial look, and I got the distinct feeling there was something going on here that I didn’t know about.

“I don’t know. I think we should ask Ally,” Annie said, looking at me pleadingly. “Ally? Do you think they rocked?”

I stared back at her. Clearly there was a right answer to this question, but I had no idea what it was. The two guys watched me expectantly. What was I going to say? That they didn’t rock their first gig?

“Um, yeah. They totally rocked,” I said.

Annie groaned, leaning backward. David and Logan bounced up and down so boisterously the bookshelves along the walls started to shake.

“We’re going to the Harvest Ba-
all
!” Logan sang, grabbing Annie and dancing her around. “We’re going to the Harvest Ba-
all
!”

“Thanks a lot!” Annie said to me, her head lolling around as Logan manhandled her.

“What just happened?” I asked David with a laugh.

“Logan’s been asking Annie to every dance for the past two years, and she always says no, but last week they made a deal that if we rocked our first gig, she’d go with him,” David explained. “You just sealed it.”

“Oh. Oops.” I bit my lip and smiled an apology as Logan twirled Annie past us toward the far wall. The other party-goers scrambled out of their way to keep from getting their toes crushed. “Sorry, Annie!”

“You’re going to make this up to me!” she shouted back. “Tomorrow you’re on glitter duty!”

“Glitter duty?” I asked David.

“She loves to have glittery signs for the Harvest Fest but hates dealing with glitter,” he replied. He looped his arm around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze. “Aren’t you so glad we crashed your table on the first day of school?”

I rolled my eyes as he headed off to the bookshelf that was serving as a makeshift bar. Someone turned up the music, and a few of the freshmen girls started to dance with the other members of David’s band. As the party swelled around me, my heart fluttered with excitement. The truth was, I couldn’t have been happier that Annie and David had crashed my table that first day. And I was psyched that Annie had invited me over to hang out with her and David tomorrow. For the first time, I was starting to believe that I could make new friends in Orchard Hill. That I could have a life here.

A life that was Crestie free.

october
 

You guys! I think Jake Graydon is going to ask me to the Harvest Ball!

Why would you think that?

Well, you know, after Friday night . . . plus he totally
just smiled at me in the hall.

Well, I heard he already asked Lacey Goodman.

What? Lacey?
Why?

She’s Lacey Goodman. Do you really have to ask?

Ew. Really?

No. Lacey’s going with Chris Harrington. I heard Jake was gonna ask Cori Ranger.

But Cori doesn’t even hook up!

She didn’t used to. Before she met Jake at
Josh Schwartz’s Saturday.

I think I’m gonna throw up.

Don’t worry. You still have a chance.

You think?

It’s Jake Graydon. Pretty soon he’s going to have
worked his way through the entire school and
he’ll
have
to make a second round.

 

 

 
 
jake
 

The door to my room opened and I dropped my Xbox controller and lifted my Physics text onto my lap. Then I saw it was Shannen and let the book slide to the floor.

“Nice try, Graydon, but even your mom would’ve caught that one,” she said.

“Everything okay?” I asked. Usually when Shannen came barreling into my room unannounced, it was because her dad was on a bender and she needed to escape. “Your dad?”

“Oh, he did the ‘come home and pass out’ thing tonight. I’m just bored.” She shoved her hands under my arms from behind to lift me up. “Come on. Hammond and the Idiot Twins are downstairs harassing your brother, and Chloe’s in the car.”

I shut off the TV. “The car?”

She shot me a wicked look over her shoulder. None of us had our licenses, but that never stopped Shannen when she had a plan. And when Shannen had a plan, it usually meant a good time.

I followed her down the stairs at a jog and into the kitchen, where Jonah sat at the counter trying to do his algebra homework. The Idiot Twins were sandwiching him between them, shouting numbers in his ears so he couldn’t concentrate, while Hammond stood across the room, throwing popcorn from our popcorn machine at all three of them. The popcorn machine was right next to our sundae bar. Mom had it all installed over the summer in an attempt to turn our house into party central. She loved it when my friends were around.

“Quit it,” Jonah complained, trying not to whine. He elbowed the twins on either side, but they clung to him as Hammond laughed.

“Dude. Not cool.” I grabbed the back of his polo shirt to drag him out of there. With my free hand I slapped Trevor on the back. “Let’s go.”

Hammond launched one more shot at Jonah, and Todd gave my brother a world-class noogie as we walked out. Still, Jonah somehow managed to snatch the popcorn out of the air and eat it.

“Nice,” I said to him.

He grinned in reply. “Quit letting those assholes into our house.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

The side door opened before we could escape, and my mom walked in wearing her tennis whites. She’d been over at Chloe’s house playing against Mrs. Appleby. There was sweat on her chest below her diamond pendant, but her strawberry blond hair looked perfectly poofy as always.

“Hello, Shannen . . . boys,” she sang, swinging her racket. “Jake.” Her eyes flicked toward the door. “Where are you going?”

“Out,” I replied.

“Have you done your homework?” she asked.

“Yes,” I lied.

“Jake.” She already seemed exasperated. “We made a deal at the beginning of the year, remember? If you want to go to Fordham like your father, you have to get your grades up.”

“Mom,” I said through my teeth, “I swear.”

“We’re just going out for ice cream, Mrs. Graydon,” Shannen piped up. “Everyone’s gonna be there.”

I held back a smile. My mother was all about grades, but she was even more about looking like the cool mom in front of my friends, and Shannen knew it. It was totally lame, but I had used it to my advantage more than once.

“All right, all right,” my mother said. Suddenly it was no big deal. “Have fun. There’s always tomorrow for homework.”

“Thanks,” I said. “Let’s go.”

“Ice cream! Sweet! I didn’t know we were going for ice cream!” Todd cheered, jumping up and down with his hands on Hammond’s shoulders.

“Dude, take some Ritalin,” Hammond groused.

We all laughed as we piled through the double doors. Shannen’s mother’s Land Rover was in the driveway, and Chloe waved at us from the backseat.

“Nice work,” I said to Shannen, giving her a shove. “Way to play my mom.”

“Oh, please. If I hadn’t done it, you would,” she said, shoving me back. “Here, you guys. Help me get this in the truck.”

She bent at the waist and wrapped her arms around the legs of the lawn jockey that stood at the foot of the stairs. The twins clapped their hands in unison, rubbed them together, then crouched down without so much as a question.

“Um, why?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

She rolled her eyes up at me. “You hate this thing, don’t you?”

I did. It had been there when we moved in, and I’d always thought it was the ugliest thing ever, but my mother loved it. She thought it made us look wealthy or something. As if the eight-bedroom house with resort-style pool, full outdoor basketball court, completely stocked library, and gym didn’t cover that already.

“Yeah,” I replied.

“So help me get it in the car.”

Hammond and I shrugged. The thing was way heavier than it looked, and it was a struggle for all five of us to lift it over the rear bumper and into the trunk. We laid it down on its side and it stared out at me, holding its lantern like an accusing finger.

“Sorry, dude. I’m sure you’re going to a far better place,” I said. Shannen slammed the door and we got in the car.

“Where’re we going?” I asked.

“That’s for me and Chloe to know,” Shannen replied, her eyes sparkling.

As always. Chloe, who was sitting on Hammond’s lap, sighed.

“Wait. We’re
not
going for ice cream?” Trevor asked.

Todd slapped him on the back of the head.

“Where’s Faith?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder at Hammond.

“She’s working with her vocal coach,” Chloe answered. “But she made me promise we’d take pictures.”

“Pictures, huh? This is gonna be
good
,” Trevor said.

“You guys have no idea,” Shannen said, smiling at Chloe in the rearview.

I pushed the button on the automatic window, letting the cool fall air whip my face. Shannen accelerated down the hill at Harvest Lane and hooked a left toward town.

“Are we going to leave him in the park?” Hammond asked.

“Nope.”

Shannen zoomed past Van Houten Square at the center of the shopping area. A bunch of kids we knew were hanging around outside Jump, the local coffee place. They shot us quizzical looks when they saw Shannen behind the wheel.

“Are we going to the club?” Trevor asked.

“No.”

“The farm,” Hammond said. “Are we putting him in the pumpkin patch?”

BOOK: She's So Dead to Us
3.91Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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