Be Mine (21 page)

“For what?” Natalie asked.

“We're going to have a little romance test!” Mindy exclaimed as she pulled Natalie to the front of the cafeteria where there were five chairs. Already sitting in them were Claudia, Jennifer, Noelle Kramer, and Celia Armstrong.

“Romance test?” Natalie repeated as Mindy pushed her into the empty chair between Jennifer and Noelle.

Mindy nodded. “To see how well the couples know each other.”

“Three guesses as to whose idea this was,” Jennifer whispered to Natalie.

“Claudia?”

“Uh-huh,” Jennifer said. “Mindy's on the dance committee. I heard Claudia suggested it would make the competition more interesting if everyone got to know us all a little bit better.”

“Next thing you know, she'll be paying people for votes,” Noelle commented.

“Don't give her any ideas!” Jennifer whispered back.

“I wouldn't be surprised if Mindy slipped her the questions ahead of time,” Celia added. “Remember the way she gave Amber Davenport the names of those seniors when she was in charge of the Secret Santa bag with everyone's names in it?”

Natalie did remember. Before heading off to a boarding school in Massachusetts last month — her little stunt with changing the names had blown up in her face, resulting in a very embarrassing catfight at the Secret Santa dance — Amber Davenport had been the Queen Bee of North Ridge High. Even Claudia had been afraid of her. But now that Amber was gone, Claudia had taken her place. It seemed like there was never a shortage of mean girls at North Ridge High.

But there were nice girls, too. Natalie had a class with Noelle and another with Celia. She liked them both although she had never really had a chance to hang out with them. She should do something about that.

“Okay!” Mindy announced, walking in front of them with a microphone. The cafeteria quieted down. “Now that everyone's here, let's get started. I'm going to ask the girlfriends questions and they're going to give me answers. Our freshman volunteers” — Mindy pointed to five freshman girls — “will write the answers down on cue cards. Then we're going to bring the guys back out and ask them a different set of questions. After the guys answer, the girls will lift up their cards and show their answers. Easy, right?”

Wrong!
Natalie thought.

She had a bad feeling about this.

A very bad feeling.

The questions were pretty simple and straightforward: What's the one thing your boyfriend does that drives you crazy? What's something you know about him that no one else does? What's the most romantic thing he's ever done for you? What's the meanest thing he's ever done to you?

All the other girls instantly had an answer ready, but Natalie had to scramble. She didn't know what to say! How could she have been going out with Tom for a month and not know anything about him?

When the guys were brought out to the cafeteria, chairs were arranged next to the girls. When Tom sat down next to Natalie, he gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Hey, babe! Ready to rack up some points?”

Before Natalie could answer, Mindy started asking the questions again so the guys could answer. As expected, Chase answered every question correctly.

When Will answered the meanest thing question, he got a big laugh when he imitated the way Jennifer had jumped out of her seat when he'd told her to open her eyes during a scary scene at a horror movie. Jennifer, who gave the right answer, swatted him over the head with her cue card. Will answered all the other questions correctly as well, admitting that it drove Jennifer crazy when he called her Red, no one knew that he secretly liked to bake, and when it came to being romantic, he was always trying to outdo himself.

Freddy told everyone that the most romantic thing he had ever done for Celia was to ask her crush to pretend to be her Secret Santa. That got a big “awww” from all the girls. Ryan also got an “awww” when he talked about the Secret Santa gifts he'd left for Noelle. Freddy and Ryan also answered the rest of their questions correctly.

Tom didn't do as well as the other guys. When Natalie said it drove her crazy when Tom criticized what she was wearing, he said it was when he wouldn't let her pick the movie. Natalie thought the meanest thing he'd ever done was embarrass her in front of a friend (she was thinking of Leo), while Tom felt it was showing up two hours late for a date because a football game had gone into overtime. Natalie admitted that even though Tom pretended to be a good sport, he was super competitive and hated losing. No one knew how crazy it made him, she confessed. Tom's answer was that no one knew he really liked reading poetry.

The only question Tom got right was the most romantic one. But Natalie knew they'd get that one right. How could they get it wrong? He had left the trail of hearts and stuffed puppy that morning.

“Looks like it's a four-way tie so far!” Mindy exclaimed. “Let's see what happens after Round Two!”

“We'll do better on the next round,” Natalie told Tom as she got out of her seat to follow the other girls out of the cafeteria. She could tell he was upset because they were in last place.

Tom didn't answer. He just sulked in his chair.

When it came to the second round of questions, the guys were asked: What's her favorite movie? How does she like her popcorn? Where does she see herself in ten years? What's the nicest thing she's ever done?

Claudia, like Chase, matched all her answers correctly.

Jennifer got two answers wrong. Will didn't know what her favorite movie was and he didn't know where she'd be in ten years. He did get another laugh, though, from the cafeteria when he asked her, “Aren't we still going to be together in ten years? You're not trying to tell me something, are you?” because her answer to the question hadn't been, “Happily married to Will.”

Noelle and Celia also messed up on the tenyear question, although they got all the other ones right.

And Natalie got every single answer wrong.

“Looks like we have a winner!” Mindy announced as she pointed at Claudia and Chase, who kissed. “They
are
the Most Romantic Couple at North Ridge High. Don't forget it!”

Tom threw down his cue cards and stormed out of the cafeteria. Natalie hurried after him. “Tom! Wait up!”

He stopped and whirled around, his face angry. “I can't believe the way you messed up!”

“
I
messed up?” Natalie asked in disbelief. “You gave some wrong answers, too!”

“This could cost us votes!”

“You really don't think we stand a chance of winning, do you?”

“Why not?”

Because we're not the most romantic couple at North Ridge High!
Natalie wanted to scream.
Celia and Freddy are. Noelle and Ryan. Jennifer and Will. Even Claudia and Chase! Why are
we
competing to be Most Romantic when we're
not
?

But Natalie didn't say that.

“Claudia and Chase seem to be the favorites to win,” she told him.

“That doesn't mean they are. You can't think that way, Nat! If you want to be a winner, you have to think like one. You can't think like a loser!”

“I'm not thinking like a loser! I don't care if we win! It doesn't matter. Aren't I already a winner because you're my boyfriend?”

“It matters to
me
,” Tom said. “And because it matters to me, it should matter to you.”

Tom headed back to the first floor, leaving Natalie alone. She couldn't believe the conversation she'd just had. It was just another example of how competitive Tom could be.

He always wanted to be a winner.

But who was competitive when it came to love and romance?

If you found someone, you were already a winner.

Weren't you?

Jennifer couldn't believe her eyes. Was that Will buying a piece of jewelry in Bring the Bling?

She had come to the mall after school because she needed to kill some time before going to DeVille's for the early evening shift and decided to pop into some stores and see if she could find a dress for the Valentine's Day dance. She had been on her way to House of Fashion when she had caught sight of Will.

She pressed herself against the wall outside the jewelry store and peeked through the plateglass window. She knew she shouldn't be spying on Will, but she couldn't resist. She saw him pointing to a display case and watched as a salesclerk pulled out a necklace with a pink heart-shaped crystal. Will held the necklace in his hands and then nodded to the salesclerk, who pulled out a gift box and placed the necklace in it, before walking over to the cash register.

He was buying it!

Was it a gift for Valentine's Day?

Could it be for
her
?

But they had never discussed buying each other gifts. She'd been thinking of buying Will something as a way of thanking him for agreeing to go along with her charade, but she had never expected him to buy something for her.

She ducked away from the window before Will saw her and continued walking through the mall, her head spinning.

This changed everything. Will had
never
had a girlfriend before. Why would he start now? It was too much to hope for.

But maybe, just maybe, he had developed feelings for her.

The way she had for him.

Because she hadn't been honest with Violet last night. She had more than just a teeny tiny crush on Will.

She was falling for him.

Big time.

There were times when he drove her crazy, but there were also times when he made her laugh. Underneath that bad-boy exterior, there was a sweet and considerate guy whom she wanted to spend more time with. Get to know better.

And then there were his fantastic kisses . . .

She got goose bumps remembering the way his lips had felt against hers.

She wanted Will to be her boyfriend for
real
.

That would be the best Valentine's Day gift ever.

If Will had developed feelings for her, when was he going to tell her? Should she wait for him to confess his feelings? If he was planning a surprise, she didn't want to spoil it. He was probably going to give her the necklace tomorrow night, before they went to the dance and found out if they'd been voted Most Romantic. Now, more than ever, she needed to find a great dress!

She headed straight for House of Fashion. When she arrived, the store was swarming with girls. Apparently, she wasn't the only one searching for a Valentine's Day dress. She wiggled herself between two girls who were going through a rack of dresses and started flipping through various styles and colors. Nothing was wowing her. Where was the dress that was going to make her look like a knockout?

She decided to move to another section of the store. As she walked through the crowd, she came face to face with Natalie.

“Hey!” Jennifer said, giving her a smile. “Let me guess. Shopping for a dress for the dance?”

“A new dress is the last thing I need. I'm sure I'll find something in my closet. I'm here with Claudia and Eden. They're the ones shopping.”

“Claudia's here?” Jennifer decided to leave before running into her. Otherwise she was going to open her mouth and get herself into some sort of mess.

“Uh-huh. And not very happy. She's hated every dress she's tried on.”

“I'll come back later. The last person I want to see is her. I'm sure she'll gloat about winning the romance test.”

Natalie rolled her eyes. “That's all she's been talking about the entire afternoon.”

“What did you think of it?”

“Can you say
disaster
?” Natalie asked. “Tom was
so
mad at me.”

“It wasn't your fault. You guys haven't been dating very long.”

“Neither have you and Will,” Natalie pointed out. “Look how well the two of you did.”

“Some couples mesh more quickly than others.”

“I guess.” Natalie sighed.

Jennifer could sense that something was bothering Natalie. “Is everything okay? Do you want to talk? I don't have to get to work for another hour. We could grab a latte in the food court.”

“I'm okay. Just sorting out some personal stuff.”

Jennifer wondered if that personal stuff had to do with Tom, but didn't ask.

“Things seem to be going great with you and Will,” Natalie said. “I'm glad.”

Jennifer could see that Natalie meant it and it made her like her even more. It also made her want to ask her a question. She couldn't ask Violet because she needed an honest answer from someone who didn't know the situation she was in.

“How can you tell if a guy really likes you?”

“Easy,” Natalie said. “He'll come right out and tell you. Sometimes he'll even
show
you.”

Natalie sounded like she was talking from personal experience. “He will? How?”

“He'll get physical. You know, with a kiss.”