What's Your Status? (40 page)

“But…” Sarah said, looking back toward her table. “But Zach…”

“Help!” I heard from the direction of the mosh pit, and I turned to see Andy struggling to free himself from it. “Help me!”

I turned back to Sarah. “Think of this as a test of Zach’s feelings for you,” I said, grabbing wildly at straws. “If he still likes you after you do it, you know he’s a keeper.”

“Huh,” Sarah said, looking pensive.

“We need you, Sarah,” I said. I glanced over and saw Andy emerging from the pit, looking distinctly worse for wear. “Please,” I said quietly. Sarah looked at me for a moment, then nodded and practically ran back to her date.

I watched her go. I still wasn’t sure that she was with us. Meaning that the whole plan might be in jeopardy. Yet again.

“Hey,” Andy gasped as he made his way over to me. “Wow. That was…” He turned and looked back at the guys in front of the stage, who were now forming a circle pit and tossing someone around in it. “You guys certainly throw interesting proms here.”

“You have no idea,” I said, smiling involuntarily.

“Listen,” Andy said, sitting down on one of the chairs that were pushed against the back wall, still trying to catch his breath. “There was something I wanted
to ask you. There was a girl from Putnam that I used to date…but then I went back to Minnesota and we lost touch. But I was wondering if maybe you knew her.” He looked at me, his face hopeful.

“Um, maybe,” I said. “What’s her name?”

“Erm…sorry to bother, wot?” I looked up and saw Mark standing behind Andy. “Just wondered if I might borrow Madison for just a mo? Won’t be but a second. Right quick! Jolly ho! Pip-pip!”

Mark’s accent seemed to be taking its familiar tour of the British Isles, and it seemed the strain of keeping it going for this long was causing him to lose control of his colloquialisms. “Sure!” I said, jumping up. “Andy, I’ll be right back. Okay?”

“Stay away from the moshers!” he called after us as Mark and I crossed the ballroom and headed toward the door.

“Who was that bit of stuff? Hm?” Mark asked, raising his eyebrows at me.

“Never mind,” I said as we headed outside the ballroom.

“Oh, right. Very good. Aces,” he said. We left the ballroom and both leaned on the staircase railing, a little apart from each other. If someone came by, it would appear as though we both just happened to be getting some fresh hallway air at the same moment.

“So we’re going to make it an outside play,” Mark said. “I’m going to ask her to come outside to have a bit of a chat. Brill, eh? Dave’ll be standing by, with Lisa in posi
tion for the double-decker. And then we grab the crown, she’s none the wiser, and Bob’s your uncle!”

“You do realize,” I said, feeling my phone vibrate and reaching down for it, “that when this is over, you’re going to have to drop the accent?”

“I don’t know what you’re meaning, I don’t,” he said, sounding affronted. And a lot like Daniel Day-Lewis.

“Watch the accent,” I said. “That was pretty Irish, Your Lordship.”

“Blimey,” Mark muttered.

La Lisse → promgirl
From what I can see at the mitzvah, I think that the Demon Spawn might be in need of some help.

“Oh, God,” I sighed. I’d pretty much forgotten about Travis and the fact that I might, at that very moment, be in major trouble with my parents. I checked my watch. I might have time, if I ran very quickly down the world’s longest hallway. “Bye, Mark,” I said.

“Cheerio,” he called, and I dashed down the stairs.

I rushed to the doors that led to the checkpoint. This was where things might get tricky. If there were still people working the door, it might be hard to convince them to let me cross the hotel to talk to my brother. And if they were people who worked at my school, it might be hard to explain why I was sporting early Madonna. Not to mention two different bracelets. I pushed the door open slowly and saw that while the table was still there, it was, at the moment, deserted. I hustled past it, trying to look
like I was going somewhere totally kosher. Which, ironically, I probably was.

When I reached the Hallway of Eternity, I sat on one of the benches and took my shoes off, then ran flat out. Time was a-wasting. I thought I might have to ask for directions to Heidi Goldwater’s bat mitzvah, but once I got close, it would have been impossible to get lost. There were signs every few feet that read
HEIDI Au+H
₂
0!!
The signs, for some reason, were printed on black, with blood-red lettering. As soon as I stepped inside the ballroom, I understood why.

The theme of this bat mitzvah was vampires. There were red and black rose flower arrangements, with rose petals scattered on the floor and on all the tables. There were apples and red ribbons everywhere, and fang centerpieces on every table. It seemed a little morbid to me, but it didn’t appear to be bothering any of the guests, most of whom were on the dance floor. They all looked like they were having much more fun than the people at the Hartfield prom were. As the “Cupid Shuffle” started up, prompting cheers from the crowd, I spotted Travis sitting by himself in the corner of the room.

Trying to look like I’d been there the whole time, and just had a very peculiar sense of fashion, I Cupid Shuffled my way over to Travis. He was slumped in his chair, his tie askew and his hair, so carefully plastered down a few hours earlier, sticking up in many directions, like he’d been running his hands through it. On the table in front of him were five empty Dr Pepper bottles.

“Hey,” I said, sliding into the seat next to him.

He looked over at me and blinked in surprise. “Mad?” he asked. “What are you doing here?”

“Just checking on you,” I said. It sounded strange once I said it out loud, but I realized to my surprise that it was true. That was exactly what I was doing. “Are you okay?”

“No,” Travis muttered. He looked at me again and frowned. “Why are you dressed like Cyndi Lauper?”

“Never mind,” I said. “Want to talk about it?”

Travis shook his head, picked up a white T-shirt from the table, and tossed it to me. “Want this? It sparkles in the sunlight.”

I set the T-shirt aside, trying not to think about how much time was going by, and trying to focus on my little brother. “Come on, Travis,” I said.

Travis shrugged and reached for a new bottle of Dr Pepper, but I moved it out of his reach, cutting him off. He sighed and stared down at the tablecloth. “What’s there to talk about?” he asked. “Olivia dumped me. End of story.”

“Well, what happened?”

He shrugged again. “I don’t know. She said that I was too jealous, and that I didn’t trust her. But she was always hanging out with her ex-boyfriends! What was I supposed to do?”

I looked at Travis and wondered if there was something in the MacDonald DNA that caused us to be irrational and insecure in relationships. Because his relationship issues were basically mine in miniature.

“Listen,” I said. I snuck a look at my phone and realized I had only a few moments to impart whatever little wisdom I might have to give. “Go apologize.”

“What!” Travis said, looking shocked. “Me?”

“You,” I said. “Do you want to get your girlfriend back?”

“Yes,” he muttered after a long pause.

“Then go apologize. And in the future, just remember that she likes
you
, not her exes. She wouldn’t be dating you if she didn’t like you.”

“Yeah?” Travis asked, looking hopeful for the first time since I’d sat down.

“Yeah,” I confirmed. “Though God knows why,” I added, and was rewarded when Travis rolled his eyes at me, a sign that he was coming around. “I should get back.”

“Okay,” Travis said. “Thanks, Mad.”

“Sure,” I said as I got up from the table.

“And don’t worry,” he said as I prepared to leave. “I didn’t call Mom and Dad. I won’t tell them anything.”

I let out a sigh of relief; at least something was going my way tonight. “Thanks,” I said. “Good luck.”

Travis nodded, straightened his tie, and got up. I Electric Slid my way across the dance floor and headed for the exit. “Don’t forget your gift bag!” a woman said to me as I left, pointing to the sparkling red and black bags stacked on a nearby table.

I nodded and, figuring it was easier than raising suspicion, grabbed one and headed for the hallway. At the first bench, I took my shoes off again and ran for it.

Dave Gold → the crew
Are we set?

Marcus → the crew
I’m set. Dragon’s in her den.

La Lisse → the crew
I’m set. And très uncomfortable. What are we using as bait?

Shy Time → the crew
I’ll do it.