Read Online Total Knockout by Taylor Morris - Free Book Online Page B

she contemplatedaloud the benefits of jazz, tap, ballet, and funk, I wondered if she’d try to stick it out with dance. She’d probably be pretty good at it. Really, though, I was mostly worried about the press conference and whether or not Melanie came through for me. I clutched the handle of my backpack, not even wanting to admit to myself that I had done the right thing by bringing backup paper and scissors.
    â€œOh, hey, is this okay?” Melanie asked, breaking into my thoughts. From her bag she pulled a folded purple sheet. She unfolded it so I could see the pattern. “I couldn’t find any ribbon, but I thought this would be just as good. You can drape it over the whole machine and then yank it off like a magician when you’re ready to show it to everyone. What do you think?”
    My heart didn’t know whether to sink or leap. Pulling a sheet off the vending machine was a great idea—it could give some flair and excitement to the event. But not this sheet.
    â€œThat’s great,” I said, taking it from her. “But Hannah Montana?”
    She looked deflated. “I know. It’s Beverly’s. She thought it’d be funny to have them on her bed, like, to be all ironic. But then her new boyfriend came over andmade fun of her for it, so it’s been crumpled in her closet ever since.”
    I refolded the sheet, trying not to think of how the students would laugh when they saw this thing. When I tucked the sheet into my backpack, I told myself I was being a jerk. It was a good idea.
    â€œMaybe I could even take hip-hop lessons,” Melanie continued, tossing a few curls over her shoulder. “Or do you think that’d make me too much of a poseur? I’m not saying I want to learn to spin on my head or anything. Hey, did I ever tell you my mom used to dance?”
    Startled at the mention of her mom, whom she rarely spoke about, I managed to say, “No, you didn’t.”
    â€œLike, contemporary dance. In college. She always wanted to go to New York.” Melanie looked straight ahead, at the road, through the driver’s front window.
    â€œThat’s cool,” I said as we got off the bus at school. “You should really do dance. Any kind. I bet you’d be good at it.”
    I realized that the Hannah Montana sheet wasn’t that big of a deal. Plus, I knew what Henry would say about being all obsessed with myself while Melanie talked about her mom—probably something about being reincarnated as an earthworm.
    After we got our books out of our lockers, I said, “So, I’ll see you in front of the caf before lunch?”
    â€œSee ya,” she said.
    My moments of happiness were temporarily dampened after homeroom when I bumped into Nicole.
    â€œHey, Nicole,” I said. She stood at her locker, scratching her calf with the toe of her Teva. “You’ll be there before lunch, right?”
    She stopped scratching and looked at me all squinty eyed. “Do we have an interview?”
    â€œNo, the press conference. About the new vending machines I got installed?” She responded with a blank stare. “Didn’t Jared talk to you about this?”
    â€œObviously not,” she said, pulling out her lavender notebook.
    I didn’t want Nicole to know that any member of my staff was incompetent, so I said, “Oh, I asked him last minute. He probably just hasn’t had a chance to reach out to you yet.” I told her what was happening, and she agreed to come. “See you there?”
    â€œYeah.” She yawned.
    I went to U.S. history feeling pretty good about the day and the year ahead. Already I had proved that if you just work hard, good things will come your way. Andeven if the student body thought the vending machines were a little lame at first, they’d warm up to them, and by the end of football season, they’d forget they ever had access to greasy chips and sugary sodas. I bet our