Framed & Dangerous (9780545443128) (3 page)

I
waited outside classroom 111, where the Dance Committee meeting was being held. It hadn't started yet, but I could hear all the squealing and chatter inside. I stood in the hall, out of sight, and nervously toyed with the end of my ponytail.

I'm not usually a big joiner, though I was, briefly, the president of the Astronomy Club. (We only had one meeting. Darcy was the sole person to show up, and that was just because she felt bad for me.)

The Dance Committee had a much bigger turnout. I took a peek through the open door, then pulled my head back out. Just as I had suspected. All the popular girls. Fiona was there, too, but that still didn't make me comfortable enough to join in.

Suddenly, an arm reached through the opening, grabbed the sleeve of my hoodie, and pulled me inside.

“Maya?” I gasped, surprised.

She stood with a sheepish grin. “I thought it would be fun to join the committee. What do you think?”

“Yeah, totally. This will be great.” I said the words, but I didn't know if I believed them.

But I was glad Maya was there. When she first moved to our town a few weeks ago, she was so shy she barely spoke. Now it was clear she was becoming braver.

“Why weren't you at lunch?” Maya asked. “It was just Darcy and me at the table.”

My heart skipped a beat. Darcy showed? She must've been in the lunch line when I'd looked at the table. A guilty lump formed in my throat.

“Darcy and I are, um, in a little fight,” I said. I quickly summarized the implosion of our friendship, and Maya frowned.

“I'm sorry to hear that,” she said softly. “I can't imagine you guys as
not
being joined at the hip.” She shook her head. “Maybe that's why she seemed even moodier than usual.”

Before I could dwell too much on that, Fiona waved at me from across the room. I started plowing her way through the crowd.

“I'll save you a seat in the back,” Maya said, and scurried off.

“You're here!” Fiona said when I reached her. “I thought you were going to back out of your promise.”

I wanted to
, I thought. But I plastered on a half smile and said, “Yeah, I'm here. Ready to go.”

Fiona gave a little clap. “Great. I'm sure whatever you've come up with is awesome. Here's how it'll work. When I ask for theme nominations, you raise your hand, then I'll call on you to come up to the podium and present your idea.”

My mouth fell open. “I didn't know you were going to put me on the spot.” I had solved some seriously creepy mysteries, including one in the woods at night in the dark, but the thing I was most frightened of was standing up and speaking in front of the class. I'd rather clean every toilet in the whole school. That's how much I hate public speaking.

“Well, duh,” Fiona said. “I told you, we need creative ideas. And you're smart. I knew you'd come up with something great. You'll be fine.”

I didn't want to break it to her that — between all the drama with Darcy and Zane — I hadn't
thought
about any ideas for the dance.

“You're not going to let me down, right? Amanda and Violet have the most ridiculous idea, and I don't want everyone else to just go along with them.” Fiona blinked her giant green eyes at me and made a pouty face.

“Um, yeah,” I said. “I won't let you down. My idea rocks.”

I just had to think of one. Like now.

But it was hard to concentrate. Somebody smelled like they'd taken a bath in perfume that morning. I wriggled my nose and held back the urge to gag.

“
You're
going to the dance?” a snarky voice said over my shoulder.

Fiona took a step back to make room for Amanda and Violet to join our conversation. I knew who they were, but I didn't think they'd ever spoken to me before. They were popular, but not in Fiona's inner circle.

Amanda's long, silky black hair cascaded down one shoulder. She looked up at me with wide hazel eyes.
Everything about her seemed soft. Violet had similar hair, but it was more bluntly cut. And she had a little nose that turned up at the end, like it was disgusted with everyone.

Violet was the one who'd spoken to me, barely disguising her disbelief that I was interested in the school dance.

“Yeah,” I said, trying to force confidence into my voice. “I'm going.”

“With who?” Violet asked. It sounded like a challenge.

I shrugged. “I don't know yet. Maybe just with friends.”

Violet smirked at Amanda. But Amanda didn't smirk back. Instead, she waited for Violet to look away, then gave me an apologetic smile. I was glad to see she wasn't as mean as her friend.

“That's cool,” Fiona chimed in. “There's nothing wrong with going stag. Who needs boys?”

“Says the most boy-obsessed girl in the school,” Amanda joked.

We all chuckled. The mood seemed to be lightening at least.

“Besides,” Fiona said. “Like I've said before, I'm pretty sure
someone
is going to ask Norah.”

Oh no.
I glared at Fiona, willing her to keep quiet. I didn't want her telling everyone that Zane was going to ask me. Then what if he didn't? I'd look like an idiot. Though, it sounded like she might've already told people. I gritted my teeth.

Fiona, thankfully, understood my look and said, “Anyway, time to start the meeting!”

I sat next to Maya while Fiona confidently strode up to the podium. She pulled out a glitter-covered gavel and banged it twice. I held back a giggle, imagining what wisecrack Darcy would say about that if she were here.

Mrs. Haymon, a teacher who taught an accelerated math course I was taking, was correcting tests in the back corner. Every club has to have a teacher-advisor present at all meetings. But Mrs. Haymon didn't need to do anything to gain control of the crowd. Fiona seemed to be on top of that.

Fiona cleared her throat. “Welcome, Dance Committee members. First, whoever came in early yesterday morning and hung the posters for the dance, thank you, but it would've been better to wait
until
after
we had a theme. Now we'll just have to re-hang new ones after we vote.” She paused and looked around the room. “Who hung them?”

No one raised a hand. I actually didn't blame them. Who'd want to be put on the spot like that after having made a mistake?

Fiona rolled her eyes. “Okay, well,
thanks
ghost poster hanger. Moving on.” She straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. “The destruction of the brand-new field house is
not
going to ruin our dance. We'll have to have it in the old gym, yes, but we're going to have an
amazing
theme that will make up for it. Agreed?”

Everyone clapped and whooped. I was impressed. If a career in fashion didn't work out for Fiona, she could always be a politician.

Fiona banged her gavel once to silence the crowd. Mrs. Haymon called out, “Keep the budget in mind!”

Fiona nodded. “Yes. When thinking of ideas, remember our budget is small. We need something that's doable.” She seemed to stare right at Violet and Amanda as she said it. Then she looked back at the rest of us. “Anyone with an idea for a theme can come up and present it. After all nominations have
been heard, we'll bring it to a vote. Who wants to be first?”

Fiona looked straight at me, but I didn't raise my hand. I looked away, down at the floor, up at the lights, anywhere but back at her. Kind of like when a teacher asks a question and you don't want to be called on, and you convince yourself that you're invisible if there's no eye contact.

I was scared that she was going to call on me anyway, but then Violet shouted, “Us! Us!”

Breathing a sigh of relief, I watched Violet and Amanda approach the podium. Good. This would give me time to come up with my own idea.

Amanda stood beside but also one step behind Violet. It was clear who would be doing all the talking. Violet leaned forward and said, “What could be more thrilling than a glittery, excitement- and drama-filled … Hollywood theme!” She made jazz hands to emphasize her point.

The girls all around me whispered back and forth, mostly looking unsure.

Violet spoke loudly, “We would need four spotlights to spin around the room, a red carpet, and several
photographers to act as paparazzi. We would need about a dozen potted palm trees.”

Sheesh. Her list of ideas sounded more like demands.

She waved a finger in the air as she added, “
And
I think it would be best if we made the dance couples only. If we don't do that, the boys will just hang out with their friends. And everyone should dress up like their favorite celebrity couple.”

Personally, I thought the boys would rather spend the night home with the stomach flu than attend
that
dance. But no boys were here to vote. Fiona was right. This could be a disaster.

“And for pictures,” Violet said, “we'd need a huge background display that's a replica of the Hollywood sign.”

While Violet continued to list off “required” items that would surely not be in our budget, I racked my brain for an idea of my own. What did I know about dances? I'd never been to one. I didn't know about anything except astronomy. I didn't belong here with these girls. I wished I was hanging out with Darcy. Or in my yard at night, gazing through my telescope, looking for …

Then it hit me.

I could picture it vividly in my mind. And I knew it would work.

“So, in summary,” Violet said, “no idea is going to be better than ours so we should just vote now. Raise your hand if —”

Fiona stepped forward and banged the gavel. “Great job, Violet and Amanda. Anyone else?” She looked at me with pleading eyes.

I took a deep breath and raised my hand.

Fiona pretended to be surprised. “Norah Burridge! Please, come on up.”

Everyone turned in their seats and watched me. My heart started beating like crazy.
You can do this
, I told myself.
Just stand up and start walking.

A wave of nerves slammed into me as I strode up the aisle. I reached the front, turned, and faced everyone. They were all seated in desks, staring at me. Waiting. I gripped the podium tightly to hide the trembling of my hands.

“My idea, um, is … A Starry Night.”

Violet rolled her eyes from the front row.

I took another deep breath. “Imagine dancing with
your friends or with your crush under a beautiful night sky. Decorating would be easy. Party stores sell star-shaped balloons and cutouts. We could also make our own stars and planets from cardboard and tinfoil and hang them from the ceiling. We could have glow-in-the-dark stars up on the walls. And we could even sell glow bracelets to make some money!” At this, I saw Mrs. Haymon nod encouragingly and I felt a burst of confidence. “Also,” I finished, “I have a huge poster of a full moon that we could use for a backdrop for photos.”

Fiona beamed proudly from the corner of the room. Girls whispered excitedly and nodded. All except Violet and Amanda.

I had to force myself to walk rather than run back to my seat. My heart started to slow back to normal. I couldn't believe I'd said all that! And it had actually made sense!

Fiona held her hand to her chest as she returned to the podium. “What a wonderful idea, Norah. Within budget, and totally romantic.”

Murmurs of agreement came from the crowd. A few girls turned and smiled at me.

“Time for a vote.” Fiona banged the gavel. “Raise your hand if you want the Starry Night theme.”

It was nearly unanimous. I couldn't believe it. I felt the warm tingling of a blush on my cheeks.

“And now raise your hand if you want the Hollywood theme.”

Violet's and Amanda's hands were the only ones in the air. They looked around and quietly pulled them back down.

“A Starry Night it is!” Fiona said. “At our next meeting, we'll make new posters and start on the decorations. Meeting adjourned!” She banged her gavel then ran up to me.

I barely had enough time to get up from the chair before she was whispering in my ear. “Awesome job! You rule!”

I felt a rush of pride. My obsession with astronomy had paid off! This had begun as a favor to Fiona, but now I was truly excited about planning the dance. I could picture it. Dim lights, surrounded by glowing stars, slow dancing with Zane …

I only wished Darcy had been there to share in the glory.

Fiona looped her arm through mine as we walked out together. “I knew asking you to join was a great idea.”

I felt a bump on my shoulder. Violet brushed by me, rougher than necessary. “Sorry, nerd.”

She said that like it was an insult, but I stood straighter. Being smart is something to be proud of.

 

As
Fiona and I walked down the hall, she continued to chatter about my dance idea.

“At the next meeting,” she said, her green eyes twinkling with excitement, “be prepared to work. We're going to make those cool stars and planets you were talking about.”

She opened her mouth to say more, but then, eyeing something over my shoulder, seemed to change her mind. “See you later, Norah!” She spun around, her long brown hair flying, and hurried down the hall.

Why is she in such a rush?
I wondered.

But then I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned and Zane was standing there, smiling at me.

Ah. That's why.

“What are you doing here after school?” I asked, blushing a little.

He pointed down at his outfit — a sweaty T-shirt and athletic shorts. “I just finished playing intramural floor hockey in the gym. Now I'm heading over to the high school for soccer practice. How about you?”

“I just got out of the Dance Committee meeting.” I motioned toward the classroom.