everywhere but toward me.
“Yeah.” With my foot, I surreptitiously nudged a candy pink stack of Sweet Valley High books farther under the bed. Claire thought I should spend my spare time reading the classics.
“And in a few months, I’ll be living in Boston.” She had received her acceptance letter to Harvard a few weeks ago.
“Uh-huh.” I bit into a cookie and braced myself for the usual lecture on how I should listen to Mom and Dad and start early prep for the SAT.
“Do you know what David’s doing for the prom?” she blurted, her face turning bright pink.
Wow, I hadn’t seen that coming. “No.” I paused. I had just finished reading Harriet the Spy and was eager to try my own hand at a little snooping. “Do you want me to ask him?” I asked casually.
“If you want.” She shrugged, but her face stayed red.
I saw David the next day at Shannon’s house, eating pizza with some guys from the volleyball team. “My sister wants to know what you’re doing for the prom,” I said, feeling very important.
His friends erupted immediately. “Oooohhh! Does four-eyes Claire have a crush on Davey boy?”
“Guess you two really have been studying chemistry !”
“Yeah, like how to turn a frog into a princess!”
“Cut it out, guys! Sorry, Lee.” David sometimes called me by my last name, which I loved. “I dunno. A bunch of us are going in a group. She’s welcome to come with us, I guess.” He shrugged.
His friends burst into groans. “Dave, she’s a total nerd. If she’s going, then I refuse to get a limo with you guys.” David’s friend Brian, dark-haired with a high, imperious nose, crossed his arms.
“Dude, I know Claire’s kind of a drag, but I owe her. She’s saving my ass in chemistry.” David looked at me. “Tell her she can ride over with us, if she wants.”
Shannon and I quickly ran to her room to record the conversation in my Harriet-the-Spy notebook. “He said you could gowith him and his friends,” I told my sister that night, when she cornered me in the bathroom.
“Really? In a group?” She seemed uncertain. “What does that mean?”
I wasn’t sure if she was asking my advice, but I decided to give it to her anyway. “You should go! He likes you!”
“Really?” Her eyes turned shiny.
Claire kept her emotions concealed as tightly as a sphinx, so it was no surprise that she didn’t mention prom again until a week before the dance. “Can you ask David what time he’s picking me up next Saturday?” She ducked her head while her cheeks burned bright.
I squirmed behind my desk, where I was copying Chinese characters—thirty times for each one—under Claire’s watchful eye. The whole prom thing was starting to make me feel a little uncomfortable. The AP Chemistry test was over and David had started hanging out after school with Candy Andrews, a long-limbed brunette who was cocaptain of the tennis team. She came with us on our White Castle runs, where they held hands under the table and fed each other french fries. “Ummm, I haven’t really seen David in a while—”
“If you ask him, I’ll tell Mom you finished your Chinese school homework,” she said quickly.
I looked at the vocabulary list. Twenty characters still remained and Who’s the Boss? was on in ten minutes. “Okay,” I said.
True to my word, I found David the next day in the kitchen. “Um, so my sister was wondering what time you were coming by before prom…” My voice trailed off. Shannon climbed up onto a chair and got down a box of Nilla Wafers from the top of the fridge.
“Oh, man, Lee, I totally forgot about that.” His brow furrowed. “Uh, the thing is, we’re not—um, she’s totally welcome to come but I’m—”
“Aren’t you going with Ca-andy?” Shannon broke in, punching her brother’s arm.
I grabbed the box of cookies from Shannon and started eating.
“I just don’t know if it’s going to work out this time…” David’s mouth turned down at the
“Yeah.” With my foot, I surreptitiously nudged a candy pink stack of Sweet Valley High books farther under the bed. Claire thought I should spend my spare time reading the classics.
“And in a few months, I’ll be living in Boston.” She had received her acceptance letter to Harvard a few weeks ago.
“Uh-huh.” I bit into a cookie and braced myself for the usual lecture on how I should listen to Mom and Dad and start early prep for the SAT.
“Do you know what David’s doing for the prom?” she blurted, her face turning bright pink.
Wow, I hadn’t seen that coming. “No.” I paused. I had just finished reading Harriet the Spy and was eager to try my own hand at a little snooping. “Do you want me to ask him?” I asked casually.
“If you want.” She shrugged, but her face stayed red.
I saw David the next day at Shannon’s house, eating pizza with some guys from the volleyball team. “My sister wants to know what you’re doing for the prom,” I said, feeling very important.
His friends erupted immediately. “Oooohhh! Does four-eyes Claire have a crush on Davey boy?”
“Guess you two really have been studying chemistry !”
“Yeah, like how to turn a frog into a princess!”
“Cut it out, guys! Sorry, Lee.” David sometimes called me by my last name, which I loved. “I dunno. A bunch of us are going in a group. She’s welcome to come with us, I guess.” He shrugged.
His friends burst into groans. “Dave, she’s a total nerd. If she’s going, then I refuse to get a limo with you guys.” David’s friend Brian, dark-haired with a high, imperious nose, crossed his arms.
“Dude, I know Claire’s kind of a drag, but I owe her. She’s saving my ass in chemistry.” David looked at me. “Tell her she can ride over with us, if she wants.”
Shannon and I quickly ran to her room to record the conversation in my Harriet-the-Spy notebook. “He said you could gowith him and his friends,” I told my sister that night, when she cornered me in the bathroom.
“Really? In a group?” She seemed uncertain. “What does that mean?”
I wasn’t sure if she was asking my advice, but I decided to give it to her anyway. “You should go! He likes you!”
“Really?” Her eyes turned shiny.
Claire kept her emotions concealed as tightly as a sphinx, so it was no surprise that she didn’t mention prom again until a week before the dance. “Can you ask David what time he’s picking me up next Saturday?” She ducked her head while her cheeks burned bright.
I squirmed behind my desk, where I was copying Chinese characters—thirty times for each one—under Claire’s watchful eye. The whole prom thing was starting to make me feel a little uncomfortable. The AP Chemistry test was over and David had started hanging out after school with Candy Andrews, a long-limbed brunette who was cocaptain of the tennis team. She came with us on our White Castle runs, where they held hands under the table and fed each other french fries. “Ummm, I haven’t really seen David in a while—”
“If you ask him, I’ll tell Mom you finished your Chinese school homework,” she said quickly.
I looked at the vocabulary list. Twenty characters still remained and Who’s the Boss? was on in ten minutes. “Okay,” I said.
True to my word, I found David the next day in the kitchen. “Um, so my sister was wondering what time you were coming by before prom…” My voice trailed off. Shannon climbed up onto a chair and got down a box of Nilla Wafers from the top of the fridge.
“Oh, man, Lee, I totally forgot about that.” His brow furrowed. “Uh, the thing is, we’re not—um, she’s totally welcome to come but I’m—”
“Aren’t you going with Ca-andy?” Shannon broke in, punching her brother’s arm.
I grabbed the box of cookies from Shannon and started eating.
“I just don’t know if it’s going to work out this time…” David’s mouth turned down at the
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