Virtually in Love (16 page)

Getting close to go time! U getting here soon? Can't wait to see u!

“I'm sure he'll be here soon,” Vanessa said. “In the meantime, I'm supposed to open up another box of napkins and put them out. Want to help?”

“Sure.” Casting one more glance up and down the deserted hallway, I followed her back inside.

The next half hour passed quickly. There were a million little last-minute things to do, from testing the lemonade dispenser to sweeping the dance floor to setting out the copied sheet music on the stands. Maya was like a whirling dervish as she raced around, supervising everything.

But by the time the bus had arrived with the S&D kids, we were ready. Well, almost. Trevor still hadn't arrived.

“Yo, Chloe!” Carlos was bright-eyed and snazzy looking as he danced over to me in his pinstripe suit and fedora. “You gonna dance with me today?”

“Only if you cough up some dough, buddy,” I told him with a grin.

“No way,” he retorted. “People pay to dance with
me
, not the other way around!” He did a spin and tipped his hat.

I laughed. “How can I resist your moves?” I said. “I'd pay anything to dance with you, C-man! I'll have to see if I can sneak away from the band long enough to boogie with you.”

“That's more like it.” He grinned and then rushed off to say hi to some of the others.

A few minutes later more people started to arrive. Before long at least a couple dozen of them had already signed up for dances, and lots of others—parents, friends, siblings—were mobbing the refreshments table or hanging out on the sidelines, talking to the kids or watching the musicians put together their instruments. Which reminded me—I needed to get warmed up myself. But first I had to figure out what had happened to Trevor.

As I pulled out my phone again to check for new texts, Maya grabbed a microphone, her voice ringing out over the gym as she ordered the band to take their seats and the cheerleaders to hit the dance floor. Cheers and whistles rang out from all corners as everyone obeyed. A girl from the orchestra sat down at the harp and strummed a few strings, and one of the percussionists crashed his cymbals together, making several people jump. The familiar random sounds of a band warming up rang out through the gym.

There were no texts from Trevor. I swung past the door to check the hallway, then sat down and quickly fitted my clarinet together.

“Where's Mr. Wonderful?” Kaz asked, pausing by my chair on his way back to join the other brass players.

I tootled a few warm-up notes on my clarinet before answering. “I'm sure he'll be here,” I said. “He has to get his cousin to drive him, so maybe they got delayed.”

“That's probably it,” Vanessa said from her seat across the way with the other flutes. “I bet he'll be here any second.”

“Hmm.” Kaz pursed his lips. “I was only kidding before about thinking this Trevor guy doesn't actually exist. Now I'm not so sure.”

“Go sit down already.” I frowned at him. “We're getting ready to start.”

As he grinned and loped off, I checked my phone again. Nothing.

“Text me something, would you?” I called to Vanessa.

She looked up from her instrument. “Huh?”

“Text me something—doesn't matter what. I want to see if my phone's working.”

She blinked, then nodded and dug her phone out of the bag under her chair. Seconds later my phone vibrated, and I saw her text pop up.

Testing blah blah

“Did it work?” she called.

I just nodded, chewing my lower lip as I tried to decide whether to text Trevor again. Where could he be? I hoped nothing bad had happened. What if he'd been in an accident on his way here or something? Come to think of it, Jon hadn't struck me as the best driver in the world . . . .

The phone vibrated in my hand, startling me so my clarinet almost rolled off my lap. It was Trevor!

“About time,” I muttered, touching the screen to bring up the text.

Hey, C, looks like I won't be able to make your fundraising thing after all. Sorry, family stuff, blah! Lol. Have fun tho, okay?

I stared at the words, disappointment washing over me. Followed by annoyance.

“You couldn't have told me this sooner?” I muttered.

One of the percussionists stepped to the front of the band. We were all supposed to take turns conducting, and he'd drawn the first turn.

“Everyone ready?” he said.

“Hold up a sec.” I jumped out of my seat and stepped toward the conductor. “Listen, uh, I'd stuck in notes on a couple of the songs about my friend doing a guitar solo, but it turns out he can't make it. So, um, ignore them, okay?”

The conductor looked a little confused, but he nodded. “Okay, whatever. Go sit down, Chloe—we're already late getting started.”

I dashed back to my seat and raised my clarinet to my lips. Across the way, I saw Vanessa shooting me a curious look. I lowered my instrument and mouthed the words
He's not coming
, though I wasn't sure she got it. Meanwhile, out in the middle of the gym, Maya still had the microphone.

“Without further ado,” she said loudly, “let the dance marathon begin!”

The kids all let out a cheer, and several of the other cheerleaders whooped and did little cheerleadery leaps and kicks. The conductor raised his hands and we started to play, our first few notes all but drowned out by applause and shouts from the crowd. I watched the dance floor out of the corner of my eye. Within seconds every cheerleader seemed to be out there twirling around with someone. All the kids were dancing too. Most of them had paying customers, though a few were dancing with one another. I smiled as I spotted Aidan smiling shyly up at his partner, who happened to be Vanessa's mom. I was glad to see him—I'd been so distracted looking for Trevor that I hadn't had a chance to greet most of the S&D kids.

But now I looked around as I played, loving how much fun everyone was having. The other dance floor was crowded with people of all ages shaking and shimmying and laughing as they moved to the rhythm we were laying down. It looked like fun, and for a second I wished I could be out there with them.

But as much as I loved dancing, I loved playing music even more. My fingers flew over the keys of my clarinet as we finished the first song and launched into the second.

For the next half hour or so I forgot everything except wringing every last note I could out of my instrument. Each time I glanced out toward the dance floor, it looked more crowded with people dancing and laughing and having a blast. About forty minutes in we finally paused for a break.

“Take five, everyone!” the conductor called out. “Next conductor's up when we get back.”

“That's me!” Cody called out.

I set down my clarinet and hurried over to the small table by the bandstand where we'd set up water bottles and lemonade. Grabbing some water, I downed half the bottle in one gulp.

Kaz and Vanessa joined me. “This is fun, isn't it?” Kaz exclaimed.

Vanessa laughed and plucked at his hair, which had escaped from its gel and was sticking up at odd angles. “Definitely,” she said.

He smiled down at her, and I averted my eyes, suddenly feeling awkward. They really were an adorable couple . . . .

Kaz glanced at me. “So, where is he?”

I didn't need to ask who he meant. I took another gulp of water before answering. “He can't make it after all. Family stuff or whatever.”

“Really? Sorry, Chloe.” Vanessa squeezed my arm, looking sympathetic.

Kaz shrugged. “Yeah, bummer, Chloe,” he said. “I know you were all excited.” He actually sounded sincere, which I appreciated. I wasn't sure I could take any more teasing about my imaginary almost-boyfriend right then.

“Yeah. Well, whatever, thanks. Let's not talk about it anymore, okay?” I shot a look around. “Can you believe how many people are here?”

It seemed as if everyone in town had turned out for the marathon. I spotted several of my neighbors, my bus driver, and one of the hair stylists from the salon my mom and I went to, along with Vanessa's parents and little sister, who was giggling as one of the cheerleaders twirled her around. My own family had promised to stop by after Timothy's soccer scrimmage.

“Look, I see my dentist over there!” Vanessa exclaimed. She grinned widely. “Do my teeth look okay?”

I laughed. “Chill. I doubt he's planning to give you an exam right here and now.”

Maya rushed over just then, flinging her arms around Kaz and hugging him so hard, his eyes practically bugged out. “Dude, you're a genius!” she exclaimed. “We're already more than halfway to our money goal, and it's only, like, one o'clock! Can you believe it?”

“Definitely,” I said. “We already knew Kaz was a genius.”

Kaz laughed breathlessly. “Did we? Someone should tell Ms. Farley. She gave me a C plus on my last test.”

Maya ignored that, letting go of her cousin and racing off to hug one of the other cheerleaders who was sucking down lemonade nearby.

“She seems happy,” Vanessa said with a giggle.

I smiled, deciding not to fret over no-show Trevor anymore. Why let his stupid family and their last-minute change of plans ruin my fun? Besides, he was here all week—I was sure we'd have plenty of time together. Not to mention the school dance next Saturday. Maybe it was better if today was about the kids and my friends and having fun. After all, not everything had to be about true romance.

“Come on. Let's get back to our seats,” I told my friends. “I'm ready to keep this party going!”

•  •  •

Two hours later the dance marathon was still in full swing. Some of the early guests had left by then, though plenty of other people had turned up to replace them. My family had come and gone, but only after I'd guilted my dad into writing a huge donation check so he didn't have to actually dance. My mom had danced once with Carlos and once with Aidan, and Timothy had taken a turn with Toni the cheerleader.

It was nice to see our hard work paying off. So nice that I didn't think about Trevor at all. Well, hardly at all, anyway. Seriously. I was way too busy having a great time.

When the conductor called for another break, Vanessa bolted from her seat. “Be right back,” she called over her shoulder. “I think I drank too much water on the last break.”

As she disappeared in the direction of the restrooms, I wandered over to join Kaz at the drinks table. “Running out of breath yet?” I asked, and gave him a poke in the arm. “We've got some pretty brass-heavy numbers coming up, so I hope you can handle it.”

“Don't worry. I can handle anything.” He grinned and struck a bodybuilder pose. Then he grabbed a bottle of water. “I just hope those poor cheerleaders' legs don't fall off from trying to keep up with all those hyper little kids.”

“Hey, if they do, we can take over,” I said. “We'll just have to play and dance at the same time!”

Kaz laughed. “Sounds like fun. Maybe we should suggest that for next year's fund-raiser.”

“Maybe we should.” I chugged some lemonade, watching Kaz out of the corner of my eye. Today was a huge success, and it never would have happened without him. He was such an amazing guy. “We could start planning it at Aesop's after the marathon—just the three of us.” Suddenly realizing what I'd said, I coughed. “I mean, if you and Vanessa don't already have plans, that is. You know—just the two of you. I mean, I wouldn't want to—”

“No, it's fine,” he cut me off. “I mean, we hadn't really talked about it, so . . .”

Whatever he said after that, I didn't hear it. Because I glanced in the direction of the door just in time to see Trevor walk in—carrying his guitar case and looking impossibly hot.

Chapter
Thirteen

I
was stunned, but I
recovered quickly. “Trevor!” I yelled, waving my hands over my head. “Over here!”