Slow Burn (44 page)

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Chapter 36

All day Saturday, I keep checking my phone to see if I’ve got anything from Heather.  Cerise has been over at Dad’s all day, and I’m starting to think maybe she lives here now.  That would explain the new flowered loveseat, and all the knick-knacks in the kitchen.  I’m not going to say anything until one of them brings it up.

I want to go over to see Michelle, but she hasn’t responded to any of my texts, or phone calls.  Dad tells me he hasn’t seen her since that day at the hospital.  He’s worried about her, too, but says that we should give her some space right now.  He wants to drive to the mountains to get a Christmas tree.
  I thought he was allergic!

It’s really painful to watch my dad make a fool out of himself trying to impress his new girlfriend.  I nearly die of embarrassment for him when he tries to scale a fence, and falls on his ass.  Cerise and I have to help him back
to the car, poor guy.

The next day is better.  I take my turkey and avocado subs, and giant bowl of egg salad to Mack’s.  Lorena’s there, and she’s brought rainbow-colored cupcakes.  They’re almost too pretty to eat.  We discuss our favorite eighties movies (Lorena loves them, too!), and if I close my eyes, I can almost imagine I’m talking to Heather.  Well, not really, but she’s pretty cool.

I
still haven’t heard from my best friend, but on the upside, Nick starts talking to me again.  I think he knows I need cheering up, and though we’re a still bit awkward with each other…well, it’s a start.  I try to subtly inquire about him and Sara, but judging from his responses, she chickened out on telling him how she feels.  Nick is so clueless.  It’s so cute how he has no idea about Lala’s crush on him, either.  I swear, that girl is just gonna walk up and plant one on him one day—she’s way braver than Sara.  Hell, she’s braver than I am.  It’d be the kiss of death for Nick, though.  If Mack ever found out, he’d kill him. 

It’s Monday, and I still haven’t heard from Heather.  I’ve tried texting her, but I get nothing back.  Nothing from Michelle, either.  God, I hope she’s okay.  I hope they’re both okay.

Depressed, I tak
e my lunch to a different table in the cafeteria.  I don’t want to be anywhere near Sloane if I can help it.  I think I might hate her more than Kara.  No, I still hate Kara more.

I sit there eating my delicious chicken salad, feeling sorry for myself and loser-ish
—when a tray drops onto the space in front of me.   I look up.

It’s Dean. 

My mouth drops open.  Dean ignores my surprise and climbs into the seat across from me.  He casually begins to eat burger.  I am too confused to say anything to him.

We sit there in silence, eating our lunches.
  Our eyes meet once, and I give him a grateful smile.  He smiles back, and we go back to eating and not talking.

It’s weird, but sometimes I think our enjoy our silences than most of the conversations I’ve had in my life.

Saturday
—the day of the talent show at the Town Center mall. Dean’s helping me transport the dance props from the rec to the mall.  We’ve just loaded up his truck when Eileen Worth calls me in tears.

“I hadn’
t checked my e-mail in a few days,” she says in a confusing jumble of words.  “Then, just this morning I went on and—and I saw the message from Teri, the events coordinator at the mall.  They’re canceling the show because not enough people signed up!”

“
Oh, no!” I cry, clapping a hand over my mouth.  “The kids are going to be so disappointed!”

“I know!  I’ve really messed up!  There has to be something we can do.  Maybe…”
  Eileen trails off, sniffling.

Think, Juliet!

“You know what—I’m my way over to the mall right now,” I say, glancing at Dean, who is watching me intently.  “Maybe I can talk to her, and explain our situation.  Don’t call anyone yet until you talk to me!”

“Okay, good luck!”

I hang up with Eileen, and quickly relay the problem to Dean.  Seconds later, we’re racing to the mall.  I’m biting my nails the whole way there.  I can’t let the kids down—they’ve been working so hard for this, and they’re so excited about performing in front of a big audience.  I’m prepared to beg, plead, and offer up my first born if I have to.

I vent out loud, and Dean offers support in that silent Dean way of his.  We get to the mall in record time, and he pulls up in front of the entrance
.  I jump out of the truck, and turn back to him.  “You aren’t coming in?”

Dean’s got his phone out.  Loo
king down at it, he says distractedly, “You go ahead.  I’ll work on a backup plan.”

Backup plan?
  What kind of plan can he put together in—oh, my god—two and a half hours?!  Crap!

I go skidding into the mall’s office.  The events coordinator lady isn’t there, but I talk to a sympathetic older woman who’s manning the office.
  I let the tears fall, but the woman continues to shake her head.

“I’m so sorry, sweetie, but they’re holding a blood drive
in that space right now.  It’s supposed to last all day.”

My hopes plummet down to my toes.  “Okay, well, is there another place that you know of that we could use?  Please, please, please! 
These kids have worked so hard, for months!  They won’t understand if—”

“Even if we did have a space available, I would have to have it cleared at least a day in advance.  I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do.”

I stand there for ten more minutes, pleading with her, but she’s immovable.  Finally, I have to concede defeat.  I trudge out of the office, my shoulders slumped.  So much for pulling a miracle out of my ass.

Maybe we could hold it at the rec.  No, we don’t have a room big enough, and it has to be somewhere where we can make it fairly dark.  I’d better call Eileen, and see if she can come up with any ideas.

We brainstorm over the next few minutes.  Eileen teaches at a dance studio, but of course they have recitals all day.  We discuss alternate venues—maybe another studio—but we’ll probably have to end up postponing it to different day.  We agree to call everywhere until we find a place.  Right after I hang up with her, I get a text from Dean asking me to meet him out front.

“Hey,” he says when I climb into the passenger seat.  “Do you think you can move the time to three?  I have a place, but we need to set it up.”

“What?!”  I swivel my whole body around to face him.  “Are you serious?  Where?”

“Barton Creek Country Club.  My father’s a member.”
  Dean grins faintly at me.  “Call Eileen, and let her know.  The address is 442 Country Club Way.  Drive to the Main Gate—tell them to say they’re with the Youngblood party.”

“
Seriously?  God, Dean, thank you so much,” I mumble as I swipe the screen of my phone to dial Eileen.

I tell her
the good news, and even Dean can hear her whoops of joy.  He chuckles quietly, and keeps his eyes on the road.  I have her write down all the information, and she promises to call all the parents right away to let them know about the changes.

I’m too
overwhelmed to say much of anything.  I can’t believe Dean’s coming to the rescue again.  The Barton Creek Country Club!  I’ve never been there before, but I’ve heard it’s super ritzy!  I wonder what kind of strings he had to pull to get a room there, especially on such notice?

I bite
my lip.  “Whatever this costs, I can—” 

Dean glances at me.  “Don’t worry about it.”

“But I have—”

“I said don’t worry about it.” 

His tone is final, and I keep my mouth shut.  There has to be a way I can pay him back for everything he’s done for me so far.  I’ll worry about it later.  Right now, I’ve got to focus on pulling off a last minute talent show at a country club, of all places.

Please let this work.

Dean stops to speak to the security personnel at the main gate, making sure they know he’s expecting several guests in a couple of hours. 
After he confirms with them, we’re cleared to go down a long winding road lined with palm trees.  We drive by several people on the perfectly manicured golf course, and I wonder if anyone’s ever accidentally hit a passing car with a golf ball.  I also wonder how I can join when I catch sight of the magnificent building that is the BCCC.  Dang, it looks like a palace.  That ornate fountain surrounded by a riot of colorful flowers—I want to put it in my backyard and swim in it every day.

I follow Dean into the
foyer, which is all marble floors and pillars, tasteful furniture, and elegant lighting.  He moves fast so I don’t get to gawk much, trailing after him when he turns sharply down a hallway.  The woman behind the desk doesn’t even look up.  I guess it’s okay to go back there then?

Dean holds a door open for me and gestures for me to go th
rough.  I enter a large circular room with a stage in the front and chandeliers that look like giant glowing pearl necklaces.

The room is mostly empty except for—oh!
  Johnny, Mack, Lorena, and Nick are here!  They’re hard at work, setting up fold up chairs in rows facing the stage.

“You guys!” I shriek, running forward to give them each a hug.  “How…?”

“You needed us, we’re here,” Johnny says with a grin, holding me in his arms for a lingering few seconds.

“Thank you so muc
h!  This is amazing!”  Oh, my god, how am I ever going to repay everyone?

Dean and Joh
nny leave to get the boxes from his truck, so I grab a few more chairs that are piled up on the side.  The room is huge, and there are at least fifty chairs set up.

“I think this should do it,” I say, straightening out the row I’m in.  “
There’s not going to be a whole lot of people coming—just family and friends.”

“That’s what you think,” Mack says with a grin, placing two folded-out chairs in his row.  “Dean called in a bunch of favors.  This room is gonna be packed.  So get to work, woman.”  He playfully swats Lorena’s ass.  She looks up from her phone, pretending to scowl at him.

Uh…what did Dean do?  He couldn’t possibly have called that many people in the short amount of time he had…right?  I glance at the fancy clock on the wall, and run to grab more chairs.

Eileen shows up, along with som
e of the kids whose parents are going to be in the dance.  The kids are super-excited, and they look so cute in their dark hoodies and sweatpants!  I leave the chair set up to my friends so I can help Eileen with the kids.  Sierra sticks to me, making it almost impossible to do anything, but I know she’s feeling anxious and shy, so I do the best I can with her hanging on to me.

I’m so busy making sure all the kids have their glow sticks firmly attached to their clothes that I don’t even realize just how many people are in the room right now.  Not just family members of the kids, but people from school, as well. 
I spot Tanya’s curls bobbing around in the crowd, and we wave frantically at each other.  Jason and Ryan are here, as well as most of the football team.  I also spot a few cheerleaders standing in a group, chattering away.  And there’s Bobo!  What’s he doing here?

“Where did all these people come from?” Eileen whispers to me, looking around nervously.

I shrug helplessly.  “My friends…I guess they wanted to make sure we had a big audience.”

“Well, it’s amazing—all of it.  Your friends are wonderful—you’re very lucky to have them
.”

“Yeah,” I agree fervently.  “Uh…I just hope the k
ids don’t freak when we turn off the lights.”

Eileen chuckles, patting my arm.  “Have faith.  Come on, it’s almost time.”

Mostly everyone is seated, and the Jubilee kids are huddled together at the front, costumes on and ready to go.  Eileen strolls onto the stage, and warmly welcomes everyone to the one-act show.  She tells the audience a little bit about the Jubilee program, and how excited the kids are to show off their skills.  After enthusiastic applause, she nods to me, and I help get the kids ready, lining them up by the stage steps.

Someone dims all the lights so it’s v
ery nearly pitch black.  We hustle the kids up the stage, and position them, turning them around so they’re facing away from the audience.  Micah, overcome by excitement, lets out a lot whoop, and everyone chuckles in response.  We’re all in place now, and wait for our cue.

The music starts up
.  We chose a mash-up of popular songs, and as the first one plays, the kids turn around one by one, visible only as neon stick figures, thanks to the dark and the glow sticks.  Everyone cheers wildly.

It goes even better than I
imagined.  Even the mistakes are awesome!  Someone drops a neon-lit ball while trying to dunk it through a hula hoop, and it bounces off the stage—where it’s quickly snatched up, and people start tossing it around the room, turning it into crowd volleyball.  Maryanne tries to run off the stage, and her dad—one of the performers—catches her, and manages to make it look part of the dance.