The Blind Date (15 page)

She looked back at Abby again, and this time she caught Abby looking at her. They locked eyes, and Devon glared at her so-called friend.

“Hey, Devon,” Bryn said lightly. “What's troubling you?”

Devon narrowed her eyes. “What makes you think I'm troubled about something?”

“You look like you want to murder someone,” Bryn said.

“The only person that Juliet kills is herself,” Emma said sadly. “Hopefully you're not taking your role too seriously.”

“Thanks for caring,” Devon snarled at her.

Emma got up now, coming over to sit between Cassidy and Devon. “Come on, Devon,” she said gently. “We all know you're ticked. But why not make the best of it? You're with friends. Just have fun.”

“Have fun?” Devon glanced over at her geeky Romeo and tried not to gag. “Seriously?” she hissed. “With that?”

“Give him a chance,” Emma said quietly. “He seems nice to me.”

“To
you
.” Devon rolled her eyes. “You and I are different. Or haven't you noticed?”

“This is only one evening,” Emma reminded her. “And we've all agreed to share our dates with you. Isaac is more than willing to dance with you. Abby told me that Kent is too.”

Devon folded her arms even more tightly in front of her.
Great
—her friends were offering her their castoffs now. Like she was some kind of lame charity case. Like they felt sorry for her. Well, nobody needed to feel sorry for Devon Fremont.
And if they thought she was going to act all grateful and sweet while they allowed their dates a dance or two with her, they had better think again. Devon was out for revenge tonight. She wasn't exactly sure how she would get it. But she was determined she would. She wasn't dressed like this for nothing. If a girl couldn't turn on the charm and turn a few male heads in a gown like this, well, then she might as well just go home!

I
've never seen Devon this mad,” Emma told Bryn as they went into the restroom together to fix a wardrobe malfunction on Bryn's dress. Some of the beads had gotten caught together, causing the dress to bunch and hike up in an unbecoming way in the back. Emma had kindly offered to help straighten it out.

“I know,” Bryn said quietly. “When the masks came off and Devon saw that it was Leonard Mansfield, I thought she was going to slug him.”

“Poor Leonard.”

“At least the rest of us are trying to make him feel better.” Bryn took advantage of her spot by the mirror to touch up her lipstick. “I've danced with him twice already.”

“Me too.”

“I told Abby to watch her back while we were gone,” Bryn said as she slipped the lipstick back into her little beaded bag.

“Cassidy promised to keep an eye on the situation.”

“Kent seems to be staying close to Abby,” Bryn said with pride. “I'm so glad I got him for Abby's date.”

“Yeah, except that's probably making it even harder on Devon. The more she sees the rest of us having a good time the madder she gets.”

“And flirtier too.” If anyone had told Bryn that she could possibly be upset by a girl flirting with Darrell Zuckerman, she never would've believed it. And yet when Bryn caught Devon attempting to charm her Great Gatsby, she had felt seriously jealous. Of course, she had not shown it.

“Tell me about it,” Emma muttered as she worked on the beads. “Even after I told Devon I'd gladly share Isaac with her, she's still going after him like she wants to—wants to—well,
you know
.”

“Just be glad that Isaac isn't taking the bait.”

“Not yet he's not.” Emma sounded worried.

“And he won't,” Bryn proclaimed. “Isaac is into you, Emma. Can't you see that?”

“What I see is Devon—make that
Juliet
—foisting her ample cleavage right into Isaac's face.” Emma made a growling sound. “Seriously, how is a prim Jane Austen character supposed to compete with that hussy?”

“And to think Devon is your best friend,” Bryn said sadly. “Anyway, she used to be.”

“Devon still has a lot to learn about being a friend—to anyone. Including herself.”

Bryn leaned her head around in an attempt to see how Emma was doing. “Isn't it fixed yet?”

“It's almost there.”

“Hurry,” Bryn urged. “No telling what Devon is doing to our guys while we're gone.”

“Yeah, while the mice are away—”

“That cat will be a big fat rat,” Bryn finished.

“There,” Emma declared as she stood. “I got it. Hopefully it won't snag up like that anymore now.”

“Thanks.” Bryn leaned in to the mirror, adjusting her glittery hair band and smoothing her hair into place. “We better get back to do damage control.”

“It's so aggravating,” Emma said as they left. “If Devon would just straighten up, we could all be having such a great time tonight.”

“I guess it's true what they say—misery really does love company.”

Emma turned and looked into Bryn's eyes. “Let's not let her win, Bryn.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean let's cut her off. We're all trying so hard to help her, letting her dance with our dates. Dancing with her date. Why don't we just set her adrift and let her fend for herself?”

“Really?” Bryn was surprised. Emma was usually the soft heart of the bunch. Especially when it came to Devon. “You're okay with that?”

“Tonight I am. It's like Devon has made her choice to play the spoiled brat. If we play along we're only encouraging her.”

“Enabling her,” Bryn added.

“Yeah. Just say
no
to enabling,” Emma proclaimed as they went back into the dance.

“Okay. You tell Cass and I'll tell Abby. From this point on we are all cutting Juliet off. If she doesn't want to dance with Romeo, she can just sit and watch the rest of us. Agreed?”

Emma nodded. “Agreed.”

Bryn actually liked this plan, but when she whispered it
to Abby, she could tell that Abby was worried. “You think Devon is going to take it lying down?”

“I don't really care. I don't even care if Devon throws herself on the ground and kicks and screams. If she wants to keep acting like a spoiled brat, making a fool of herself, let her. Not only that, but I think Devon should be kicked out of the DG. She has broken at least three or four rules tonight.”

Abby's dark eyes grew wide, but then Kent came up from behind, handing her a drink. “I'll explain it to him,” Abby said quietly.

Bryn nodded. Now she went over to tell Darrell the new game plan.

“I like it,” he told her.

“Really?” She reached over to wipe a cookie crumb from his chin. “And I thought maybe you were getting into Juliet. I mean, she is a good dancer.”

He grinned. “She's not my type,
Daisy
. You should know that.”

Bryn laughed. “Yes, of course, Jay. I nearly forgot how devoted Jay is to Daisy.”

“Ready to go shake a leg again?”

“You bet!”

As Bryn and Darrell went to the dance floor, she noticed that Emma and Isaac were already out there. And then Cass and her scarecrow came out, followed by Abby and Kent. Bryn glanced over to the table the five couples had been sharing and couldn't help but feel a little satisfaction to see that Juliet was sitting across the table from Romeo with a very dour expression.
Good
, Bryn thought.
Let Little Miss
Snooty Pants stew for a while.
Maybe she'd come to her senses. And if she didn't—well, maybe the DG really should send her packing.

The four couples danced a few more dances before Bryn was ready to take another break, but when she and Darrell returned to their table, Devon was gone. “Where's Juliet?” Bryn asked Leonard.

He shrugged. “I don't know. She took off several dances ago.”

The others were coming to the table now and the girls, feeling sorry for Leonard, took turns with him on the dance floor. But Devon was nowhere to be seen.

“Have you seen Devon anywhere?” Bryn said to Abby as the two of them went to get something from the snack table.

Abby shook her head as she reached for a brownie. “No.”

“I wonder where she went.” Bryn glanced around the crowded room.

“Home?” Abby ventured.

“The dance will be over pretty soon.” Bryn took a sip of punch. “Do you think Devon will show up when the limo gets here? Should we wait for her?”

“I have no idea.”

“The limo service might charge us extra if we try to get them to wait,” Bryn pointed out.

“I think if Devon's not out there, we should just go. I'm guessing she went home. She was pretty mad. I haven't seen her on the dance floor at all.” Abby scanned across the room. “And trust me, I've been watching for her.”

“Afraid she's going to stab you in the back?”

Abby made a nervous laugh. “Well, I'm pretty sure she thinks I stabbed her in the back.”

“Devon shouldn't throw stones,” Bryn pointed out. “I mean, she set Cass up with a guy that she clearly thought was a loser. She even admitted that to me—she couldn't believe that Cassidy wasn't ticked.”

“Russell is really nice,” Abby said, “and he makes a great Scarecrow.”

“Cass likes him well enough.” Bryn took another sip. “Maybe not as a boyfriend, but she said that he's fun.”

“Too bad Devon couldn't have taken a lesson from her. Or from you,” Abby said, pointing at Bryn.

“You mean because of Darrell?”

Abby nodded as she chewed the last of her brownie.

“The truth is I almost did the same thing as Devon.” Bryn held her thumb and forefinger close together. “I came this close to sending the poor boy home.”

“Really?” Abby looked shocked.

“Yeah. I'm embarrassed to admit it. Poor Darrell, I didn't even give him a chance at first.”

“What made you change your mind?”

“Something Gram had said to me earlier.” Bryn thought back to that moment. “In fact, she said the exact same thing to Devon.”

“Apparently Devon wasn't listening.”

“I guess not.” Bryn saw the guys waving at them. “I think it's the last dance.” She tossed her punch cup into the trash. “Let's go!”

Poor Romeo had to sit by himself as the other four couples headed back for the last dance. Bryn felt sorry for him, but midway through the dance, Abby and Kent returned to the table to sit with him. Bryn suspected this was because Abby was still feeling guilty for setting him up. However, Leonard seemed like a pretty good sport. He probably wouldn't hold it against her. If he wanted to be angry at anyone, he should target Devon. She was the one who messed up tonight.

After the dance ended, they went back to their table and
collected their stuff. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits. Well, everyone but Leonard.

“The limo should be here by now,” Bryn told them.

“Is Devon going home with us?” Leonard asked.

“No one has seen her,” Abby told him.

“I texted her,” Emma said, “but she's giving me the silent treatment.”

“I think she already went home,” Cassidy told Leonard.

“Oh . . . okay.” Leonard looked slightly relieved.

Before long, they were all loaded into the limo. Everyone except Devon, that is. As the limo pulled away, it got very quiet.

“I hope you don't blame yourself for Devon's bad manners,” Bryn told Leonard.

“Oh, well . . . uh, I guess not.”

“Good,” Cassidy said. “Because you were great as Romeo, and there's no excuse for how badly Devon treated you.”

“Yeah,” Abby chimed in. “I hope you didn't have too bad a time, Leonard.”

His face broke into a smile. “I actually kinda had fun. I mean, uh, it wasn't
all
fun. But some of it was fun. And you guys were nice to, uh, dance with me like you did.”

“I'm sorry Devon wasn't nicer to you,” Emma told him.

“Well, uh, maybe if she hadn't been drinking,” he said quietly.

“Drinking?”
Emma's blue eyes grew wide. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, well, some people get mean when they drink. You know?” Leonard frowned. “I have an uncle like that.”

“Are you saying that you think Devon was drinking?” Bryn asked him. “I mean, drinking alcohol?”

He nodded, swallowing so hard that his Adam's apple bobbed up and down. “Uh-huh.”

“Are you certain about that?” Emma demanded. “I mean, how do you know?”

“She, uh, she had this flask in her purse.” Leonard looked uneasy, like he'd said too much. “I guess I thought you guys, uh, that you knew about it. I wasn't trying to rat her out.”

“Seriously?” Abby leaned forward. “You saw Devon drinking alcohol? How do you know it was alcohol?”

“I asked her what it was.”

“And what did she say?” Kent pressed.

“Vodka.” Leonard grimly shook his head. “I've never touched the stuff, but I think it's pretty strong.”

“Devon drinks vodka?” Bryn turned to Emma. “Did you know about this?”

Emma slowly shook her head with a stunned expression. “I've known Devon my whole life. I realize she experimented with alcohol a little—at her other school. But she told me she didn't like it. And I was pretty sure she didn't do it anymore. Not since transferring to Northwood, anyway. I can't believe she'd drink at a school dance. What if she'd been caught?”

“Have you ever
seen
her drinking?” Cassidy asked Emma.

“Never.”

“Well, I saw her,” Leonard declared as if giving testimony in a court of law.

“Are you going to tell on her?” Bryn asked him. “I mean, you could get her into some pretty serious trouble at school.”

He looked uncertain. “Well, no, uh, I don't see why I'd do that.”

“Yeah, man, don't go and do that,” Kent warned him. “It would make us all look bad. We'd all get called in.”

“He's right,” Darrell agreed. “And it's not that I have a
problem having a beer now and then. But not at a school dance.” He chuckled. “Well, unless you want to get kicked out of this school.”

“Do you still want to get kicked out of this school?” Cassidy asked him.

He shrugged, giving them all a half smile. “Not so much now.”

Bryn gently elbowed him. “Yeah, it helps when you have friends, huh?”

He nodded.

“I realize I don't know you guys too well,” Russell said quietly. “But I had a good time tonight. And even though Devon messed up, I'm glad she asked me to be Cassidy's blind date.” He turned to Cass. “I had fun. Thanks.”

The group got more lively now, remembering fun moments from the dance and retelling how worried they'd felt about their blind dates earlier in the evening. When it was time to drop the girls off, Bryn felt sad to see this part of the evening come to an end.

“The girls all get out here,” she announced.

“Not the guys too?” Darrell teased.

“Well, I suppose you can get out if you want,” she teased back. “But you can't come inside with us. Not unless you want my dad to meet you at the door with his shotgun.”

“No thanks.” Darrell held up his hands. “But is it okay if we walk you to the front door?”

“Why, Jay Gatsby, I would be personally disappointed if you didn't,” she said in her best Daisy imitation.

Everyone except Leonard got out at Bryn's house, and she put her forefinger to her lips, reminding them to keep it down since her parents had probably gone to bed by now.

“So this is where the lovely Daisy Buchanan lives,” Darrell said quietly as he walked her up to the porch.