she gave up waiting.
Miss Robinson looked beautiful, Maggie had to say. Her dark hair against her pale skin, her dress was so white and so perfect. She didnât look fat at all. She looked like a princess and boy, was she smiling. But it was the way the groom looked at her that really made Maggie choke up. It was like there was no one else in the room as Miss Robinson walked toward him. They even had a flower girl. Maggie turned around to watch the little girl throw petals, and thatâs when she saw Freida.
Freidaâs overprotective helicopter mom drove her daughter in this weather? Oh, well, she did. And now Freida was there, sitting with Elizabeth Moon?
It was a full five seconds of staring back before Maggie realized everyone was sitting straight and looking forward again toward the altar and the father, who had begun talking. During the service, Maggie tried to covertly turn her head back to Freida and Elizabeth. They were sittingclose and talking, smiling. They looked happy. The wind was picking up and branches were scraping against the building. But Freida and Elizabeth didnât seem to mind.
Freidabeth? Elizada? No, those both sounded stupid. Freida was stupid. This whole wedding was stupid. And Elizabeth was the dog girl, braggy girl, Miss Iâm-smarter-than-everyone girl. Smelly-Girl.
Smelly-Girl. What a perfect name for an indie band.
The father paused a minute when the lights flickered, and everyone held their breath but nothing happened. With the wind and the rain, Maggie couldnât hear a word he was saying anyway.
Smelly girl. A good line in a rap battle.
Or a phony deodorant.
Or a nasty person2person page.
A person2person page. So much better than a Burn Book. Burn Books are for the dark ages. This is the brave new world of technology.
Smelly-Girl.
â¢Â â¢Â â¢
It was harder than she thought and it took a lot more time. Filling in all the details, status, life events, location. Yanking photos off the Internet. But at least she had thereal picture that Ethan had e-mailed her so no one would mistake who Smelly-Girl really was.
Angelica had gone home early after her husband called to say a huge tree was down and blocking her normal route. Maggieâs mother was downstairs trying to cook. The TV news weather forecasters were behaving like actors with their first big movie break. And Maggie worked diligently and with such focus, she hardly heard the rain, she could hardly remember why she had begun this project in the first place.
Friends was the hardest. Making up enough other false person2person people so that the Smelly-Girl page looked legit and funny. She found photos of dogs and other things that smelled and linked their pages until Smelly-Girl had twelve friends.
âIâll be down in a minute,â Maggie called to her mom.
âBetter hurry. I made lasagna and itâs hot.â
Likes.
Maggie found funny person2person pages for Smelly-Girl to âlike.â Stinky Fish Grill. StinkyFeet Band. Stinky Water bath products.
Her mother called up the stairs again, the lights flickered, and Maggie pressed POST .
Sometime in the middle of dinner, Maggie changed her mind. It was all over the news all the time, wasnât it? Cyber-bullying. Internet predators. They always got caught. No one understood and they looked like the bad guy.
âI sure hope we donât lose power,â Maggieâs mother said.
Maggie stood up from the table and the lights flickered again. âI gotta run upstairs and do something.â
âMaggie, sit down,â Maggieâs mother said. âHow often do you have a homemade meal? Relax. Have you thought about what you are wearing to your first dance?â
Dance? No, Maggie hadnât thought about that at all. She took the stairs two at a time. She flipped open her laptop and watched her screen come up. She frantically opened to person2person just as the power went out. Electricity. Water. Cable.
Miss Robinson looked beautiful, Maggie had to say. Her dark hair against her pale skin, her dress was so white and so perfect. She didnât look fat at all. She looked like a princess and boy, was she smiling. But it was the way the groom looked at her that really made Maggie choke up. It was like there was no one else in the room as Miss Robinson walked toward him. They even had a flower girl. Maggie turned around to watch the little girl throw petals, and thatâs when she saw Freida.
Freidaâs overprotective helicopter mom drove her daughter in this weather? Oh, well, she did. And now Freida was there, sitting with Elizabeth Moon?
It was a full five seconds of staring back before Maggie realized everyone was sitting straight and looking forward again toward the altar and the father, who had begun talking. During the service, Maggie tried to covertly turn her head back to Freida and Elizabeth. They were sittingclose and talking, smiling. They looked happy. The wind was picking up and branches were scraping against the building. But Freida and Elizabeth didnât seem to mind.
Freidabeth? Elizada? No, those both sounded stupid. Freida was stupid. This whole wedding was stupid. And Elizabeth was the dog girl, braggy girl, Miss Iâm-smarter-than-everyone girl. Smelly-Girl.
Smelly-Girl. What a perfect name for an indie band.
The father paused a minute when the lights flickered, and everyone held their breath but nothing happened. With the wind and the rain, Maggie couldnât hear a word he was saying anyway.
Smelly girl. A good line in a rap battle.
Or a phony deodorant.
Or a nasty person2person page.
A person2person page. So much better than a Burn Book. Burn Books are for the dark ages. This is the brave new world of technology.
Smelly-Girl.
â¢Â â¢Â â¢
It was harder than she thought and it took a lot more time. Filling in all the details, status, life events, location. Yanking photos off the Internet. But at least she had thereal picture that Ethan had e-mailed her so no one would mistake who Smelly-Girl really was.
Angelica had gone home early after her husband called to say a huge tree was down and blocking her normal route. Maggieâs mother was downstairs trying to cook. The TV news weather forecasters were behaving like actors with their first big movie break. And Maggie worked diligently and with such focus, she hardly heard the rain, she could hardly remember why she had begun this project in the first place.
Friends was the hardest. Making up enough other false person2person people so that the Smelly-Girl page looked legit and funny. She found photos of dogs and other things that smelled and linked their pages until Smelly-Girl had twelve friends.
âIâll be down in a minute,â Maggie called to her mom.
âBetter hurry. I made lasagna and itâs hot.â
Likes.
Maggie found funny person2person pages for Smelly-Girl to âlike.â Stinky Fish Grill. StinkyFeet Band. Stinky Water bath products.
Her mother called up the stairs again, the lights flickered, and Maggie pressed POST .
Sometime in the middle of dinner, Maggie changed her mind. It was all over the news all the time, wasnât it? Cyber-bullying. Internet predators. They always got caught. No one understood and they looked like the bad guy.
âI sure hope we donât lose power,â Maggieâs mother said.
Maggie stood up from the table and the lights flickered again. âI gotta run upstairs and do something.â
âMaggie, sit down,â Maggieâs mother said. âHow often do you have a homemade meal? Relax. Have you thought about what you are wearing to your first dance?â
Dance? No, Maggie hadnât thought about that at all. She took the stairs two at a time. She flipped open her laptop and watched her screen come up. She frantically opened to person2person just as the power went out. Electricity. Water. Cable.
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