Unlovable (17 page)

“
What?”

“
You know, about the way I
spoke to you the other day. No lecture? No, ’Maggie, you should
learn how to express yourself without acting like a fourth grader,’
or something along those lines?”

“
I’m sure you’ve lectured
yourself far more harshly than I ever would. You shouldn’t be so
hard on yourself.” I felt embarrassed by his kind words knowing I
didn’t deserve them.

“
What about the Winter
Fest?”

“
I guess we’d better go,
though popping
fish boy
in the mouth would be ten times more enjoyable.” I
couldn’t agree more!

“
Maggie.” My heart skipped
as he said my name. “You don’t really think this double date will
stop him from spreading lies about you, do you?” I shrugged my
shoulders, not wanting to think about it at the moment. It felt too
good having the tension between us resolved.

“
Hey, are you
hungry?”

“
I could probably eat
something.” Okay, starving as usual.

“
Since we’ve a few minutes
to kill before we have to be back at school, I was thinking of
making a quick stop at the Burger Palace, my treat, what do you
say?”

“
Do you think we have time
for a second breakfast, Frodo Baggins?”

He threw his head back and
laughed. “Very funny, Samwise Gamgee.” I also couldn’t help
noticing how green his eyes were when he asked what I wanted at the
drive up window.
Just friends,
Maggie
.

Sadly, my happiness was short lived.
Walking to my biology class half an hour later, I ran into Melody
and Hillary giggling away in the hallway. Melody looked over at me
and giggled again. Hillary sneered and left.

“
Maggie, come here.”
Melody’s eyes were all aglow. She must have gotten a juicy bit of
gossip from Hillary and needed to share it before she
exploded.

“
Hey, Melody, how’s it
going?” I searched the far corners of my mind trying to come up
with an excuse why I needed to be to class early.

“
You’re not going to believe
what Hillary just told me.”

“
I’m not interested in what
Hillary’s told you.” I turned to leave, when she clutched my arm,
digging her bright pink fingernails into my bicep.

“
She and Seth did
it.”
No way
. “She
said he has a huge mahogany four poster bed, and his–”

“
Stop! I don’t believe it,
and I don’t want to hear about it, either.”

“
I heard it right from the
horse’s mouth,” she said indignantly.

“
Why did she tell you,
Melody? It’s not as if you’re best friends. It doesn’t make any
sense.”

“
We may not be best friends,
but we
are
friends.” She was more than a little miffed by my comment.
“She knows I keep confidences.” I laughed out loud at her.
“There’re lots of things I don’t share with other people, Maggie.
You’d be surprised at what Zack’s told me.” She shot me an ignorant
grin and left.

I didn’t want to believe what she said
about Seth, or maybe I hoped that in the end he would have chosen
me. A stupid idea, really. Why would he, especially if Hillary gave
him what I wouldn’t. Recommitting myself to a life of celibacy, I
wondered how comfortable nun’s habits were as I continued toward my
class.

By noon, the cafeteria was
all abuzz with the Seth-Hillary rumor. Zack was sitting at a table
by himself, and appeared deep in thought; a first for him. He was
wearing a pair of expensive baggy jeans, which probably hung
halfway down his butt, and a gray tee shirt with the name
Hollister
sprawled across
the front. Mr. Original.

I searched around for Seth and found
him sitting next to Hillary and her little clique, but he was
glaring hard at Melody. He turned to me and smiled weakly. I smiled
and waved. I debated whether to go and talk to him, as a friend,
but decided instead to try to weasel out of Zack what he’d said to
the gossipmonger concerning me.

“
What lies have you been
telling Melody about me?” I dropped my book bag down hard onto the
table. He jumped.

“
I don’t know what you are
talking about.” He wadded up his uneaten pizza into a napkin and
tossed it on his tray.

“
If you’re not going to eat
that, can I have it?”

“
You’re absolutely pathetic,
Maggot. Begging people for their garbage is a new low, even for
you.” He tossed it into the garbage can in the center of the
room.

“
It wasn’t for me. There’s a
stray dog running around my neighborhood, I wanted it for him.” Why
I was explaining myself to a heartless jerk was beyond
me.

“
Like I said, you’re
pathetic.” He wiped his hands off onto his jeans and leaned back in
his chair. “I suppose you heard about Hillary and Seth?”

“
Yes, but don’t believe
everything you hear.” He only grunted. “Does this mean our double
date is off for tomorrow, and I don’t have to worry about you
spreading any more lies about me?"

He sat staring at Hillary
for a few moments before he answered. “Actually, this whole rumor
thing is good news! It means the
other
rumors about her are
true.”

“
What other rumors?” There
were too many flying around for me to keep up.

“
That she’s a make-out
whore. Obviously, she’s willing to make-out if she’s sleeping with
that idiot. At the very least I’ll be getting some lip action
Saturday.” His excitement made me ill. “If we happen to disappear
at the festival Saturday, Seth’ll have to take you
home.”

“
You’re revolting.” I
started to stand up when he grabbed my sweater.

“
Don’t worry, frigid one. He
won’t try anything with you. Why should he? He has a million girls
to choose from, why would he pick the one girl he has to beg to get
what he needs?”

I stormed out of the cafeteria only to
hear him yell after me, “Pick you up at 6:30 tomorrow,
Frosty.”

11

Saturday morning I made my mom a light
breakfast, her stomach still bothered her, and allowed myself only
a single slice of bread in hopes of getting food at the festival. I
worked on my homework, trying in vain to forget that I had to spend
the entire evening with Zack.

He played his horn in front of my
house at exactly 6:30, and I dragged myself outside. The sun had
long gone, and the night sky was gloomy, which ironically, was
exactly how I felt. I zipped my sweater up briskly and sulked to
his car.

“
Hurry up, will ya? We have
to meet ’em at the entrance in fifteen minutes.” He groaned as I
sat down. “You’re seriously wearing that vile sweater?” I folded my
arms across my stomach and said nothing.

They were standing by the
gate waiting for us when we arrived. Seth had on his signature
cowboy boots and a dark blue hoodie with the word
Port Fare
embroidered
across the back in gold. The school colors never looked so good. He
smiled at me and shoved his hands into the front pockets of his
well-worn jeans.

Hillary had on a cropped white fur
coat with an adorable pair of khaki pants. Her hair hung like spun
silk around her beautiful face.

They were the perfect pair.

She threaded both of her arms tightly
around Seth’s right elbow, gloating. I dropped my eyes and forced
myself next to Zack, strictly for the body heat. He took my hand,
and with significant effort, I didn’t flinch. Well, almost. Out of
the corner of my eye, I saw Seth’s shoulders bounce in laughter,
and I smiled at the ground.

I’d never been to the Winter Fest
before. It was magical. Laced throughout the trees were small,
twinkling, white lights. A light breeze caught the branches, and it
appeared as if tiny fairies were dancing about the
limbs.

Ten yellow brick buildings filled the
area, several of which had huge fabric banners flying across
them.

A giant Corvette-shaped banner swayed
on the building that held the car show. I pulled a face at the
thought of having to go in there. A macabre clown-shaped banner
graced the building that held the Funhouse. There was also a banner
shaped like a giant bottle of Pepsi over the food court.

Green, pink, and blue paper lanterns
were strung along the sidewalks on a thin wire. They appeared to be
floating in midair. There were carnival rides outside too, although
anyone crazy enough to ride them would probably get a severe case
of frostbite.

Both Zack and Seth wanted to go into
the car show first. Zack quickly became enthralled with the shiny
automobiles, not to mention the scantily dressed girls who modeled
alongside them. I couldn’t figure out what the girls had to do with
the cars, but they made Zack happy. And because the area was
jam-packed with people, I didn’t have to hold his hand, which made
me happy.

After what seemed like
years, we moved on to the Midway. It was packed with carnival games
and boisterous game operators. The operators attempted to draw you
into their cubicles with a challenge to
try your luck
at winning a myriad of
prizes hanging from the walls of each booth.

Regrettably, the Midway was more
accommodating for handholding. Zack grabbed my hand, squeezing it
tight. I attempted to break free, but he held tight, dragging me to
the Water Gun Shoot.

“
Alright, young man,” the
operator said, handing Zack a water gun. “The object of the game is
to shoot this water pistol at that red cup. The more water you get
into the cup, the bigger the prize.”

Zack aimed the green plastic
gun smugly at the cup. “Watch this. I’ve been voted ’Most Valuable
Player’ on the baseball team for two years running now, this will
be a cinch.”
If only I had a nickel for
every time I’d heard him say that!

Despite his athletic
prowess, he only managed to win a three-inch pink pig. Hillary
squealed with delight. “Pink is my favorite color,
Zack.” 
Oh! There was a shock!
He gave it to her without a second thought,
blushing as she kissed his cheek.

Armed with a malicious grin, he handed
me the gun, knowing full well I’d fail miserable. Numerous times
while we dated, he forced me onto the ball diamond at the high
school, insisting I help him with batting practice, and numerous
times I beaned him with the ball, most of the time
accidentally.

I snatched the gun roughly out of his
hand and pointed at the target. True to form, I missed each and
every time. Not a single drop landed in the stupid cup.

Zack took great pleasure in mocking
me, and naturally, Hillary laughed at his ill-mannered display. She
took a turn next. “I don’t know, Zacky, I’ve never done this
before,” she said, ripping the pistol from my hand.

Zacky
? I rolled my eyes, as did Seth.

Even she managed to do better than I
did, winning a poster of some antiquated rock star. Seth stood
vexed with his arms across his chest, saying nothing the entire
time, at least not with his lips. I half expected him to smack Zack
on the head. He didn’t. Too bad!

After Zack finished humiliating me
with the water guns, he led us to another game. It consisted of
three wooden bottles stacked on each other, and the object was to
knock them over with a baseball. The game operator handed Zack
three baseballs. “Watch this.” He winked at Hillary. She smiled and
fluttered her eyelashes. Zack, clearly flustered by her flirty
eyes, missed the bottles on all three tries.

“
How about you, big guy?”
The operator held out the baseballs to Seth, tempting him while
pointing at me. “Want to win a prize for the pretty little
gal?”

“
As a matter of fact, I
would.” Seth picked up a ball, handed the guy a dollar, and took
aim. Bam! The three bottles practically exploded into the
air.

“
Nice arm. Want to try again
for a bigger prize?”

“
Why not.” Seth again handed
him a dollar, threw the ball, and blew away another three wooden
bottles. He repeated his conquest three more times and was rewarded
with any prize he wanted. He grabbed the huge stuffed fish hanging
above his head and handed it to me. Hillary giggled.

Seth leaned over and whispered in my
ear, “Remind you of anyone? And it’s big enough you’ll have to use
two hands to carry it, if you do it right.”

Hillary slithered her way between the
two of us. “Seth, why did you give it to her? You’re my date.” She
gave him her famed pouty little frown.

“
You have a pink pig,
Hillary,” he said dryly. She went to take his hand and missed as he
shoved them into his pockets. She settled for his arm. “Come on,
let’s get something to eat.”

I arranged the fish across my stomach,
wrapping my two arms over the top of it and snuggling it close
against me for warmth. Zack scowled. I looked at him innocently, he
turned and stormed off ahead.

The food court was packed. Zack,
trying to impress Hillary, let me choose whatever I wanted to eat
for dinner. I got the pepperoni pizza because you got two huge
slices. The only open seating was outdoors. I swallowed a groan as
we walked out into the bitter night air. “I bet you wished you’d
worn a real coat now,” Zack scoffed in my ear.