Read Online Addie and the King of Hearts by Gail Rock - Free Book Online

feeling angry. He had probably said something insulting.
    â€œYou mean you really want to know?” Carla Mae asked, teasing me.
    â€œCarter, if you don’t tell me, I’ll strangle you!”
    â€œOK. He said you looked really neat!”
    â€œHe did?” I found that puzzling. I didn’t know what to make of it. I thought he was angry at me.
    â€œIs that all?” I asked. “Did he say anything else?”
    â€œWell, he said you were one of the best-looking ones here.”
    â€œHe did? In front of Tanya?”
    â€œNo,” said Carla Mae. “Just so I could hear it. Listen, he knew I’d tell you. He knows we always tell each other everything.”
    â€œHe’s so sneaky sometimes!” I said, pleased. If Billy thought I looked good, I was more encouraged about approaching Mr. Davenport. I decided that now was the time to go and say hello to him.
    Just then Jimmy put a conga record on and everyone rushed to form lines. I saw Irene pulling my father’s hand and dragging him out on the dance floor. I had never seen him at a dance before, and he actually looked as if he was enjoying himself.
    Irene started one line with him and moved it around the floor quickly, laughing and shouting to the others as she went by. The other lines joined hers one by one until there were thirty or forty people dancing in one long line around the gym. I couldn’t believe my father was making such a fool of himself. I had always wanted him to be less stern and quiet than he was, but now that I saw him that way I hated it. I squashed myself as far back into the corner by the record player as I could and hoped no one could see me.
    Mr. Davenport was watching the conga line, too, and I hoped he didn’t recognize my father with Irene. When the conga was over, I once again made ready to approach him, but he started to move toward the stage and the microphone that had been set up there. It was time for the crowning of the King and Queen of Hearts. It all seemed so silly and unimportant to me; I was anxious for them to get it over with so I could talk to Mr. Davenport.
    The stage was decorated with crepe paper streamers, too, and in the center were two huge throne chairs we had borrowed from the local Baptist church. Draped across each chair was an “ermine” robe of cotton we had all made in art class, and on each robe rested the foil-covered crowns we had designed. Big red cardboard hearts, covered with glitter, hung all over the stage as a backdrop.
    Carla Mae and Jimmy had come back to the corner by the record player, and we stood watching together.
    â€œI don’t know what the big suspense is,” Carla Mae said. “Everybody knows it’s Billy Wild and Carolyn Holt.”
    â€œWell,” said Jimmy. “She is the prettiest one in the class.”
    â€œI know,” I said. “That’s the point. Everybody knows she’s the prettiest, so we all vote for her for stuff like this and she wins every time and there’s never any suspense.”
    â€œYeah,” said Jimmy. “You’re right. Billy always wins, too, because he’s the best in sports.”
    â€œAlso he’s the cutest,” said Carla Mae.
    â€œOh, really!” I said. “It’s all so adolescent.”
    â€œWell, we are adolescent!” said Carla Mae irritably.
    â€œSpeak for yourself,” I said.
    At a signal from Mr. Davenport, Irene sat down at the piano on stage and played a little fanfare.
    â€œLadies and gentlemen!” said Mr. Davenport. “Now for the highlight of the evening, we are proud to announce the King and Queen of Hearts for 1949. The result of secret balloting by the entire seventh-grade class.”
    Everyone in the class applauded themselves as he said that.
    Mr. Davenport took an envelope out of his pocket and removed a sheet of paper with the results on it.
    He made a dramatic pause, then announced, “The King and Queen of