Pride & Popularity (17 page)

That one sentence revolved in my head over and over again.
Did he transfer because of me? Did he transfer because of me? Did he . . . I need to leave.
The thought crossed my mind and furiously took hold. In moments I was up and facing Ms. B.

“Ms. Bailey? May I please go to the restroom?”

I barely heard her “sure” over the blood pounding in my ears.

Frantically, I grabbed the hall pass and fled to the privacy and sanctuary of the girl’s bathroom. It was then that I realized Taylor had never said yes when I had asked him to morp. He had only said thank you. He had never really intended to go with me at all! This whole weekend, while I had stupidly dreamed and planned in my head all of the ridiculous things Taylor and I would do, they were just that—stupid, ridiculous dreams of a girl who should have known better. One small tear escaped and trailed down my cheek. I brushed it away. But in the very next breath I felt one on my other cheek. And then another and another. No matter how much I dashed and wiped and cursed my cheeks, the irrational tears still fell.

A week later, I had lost all hope of Taylor explaining things to me, especially on Friday in art when I overheard Emma say excitedly to her friends, “Oh my gosh! You would not believe the outfits my stepdad just picked up for me! Taylor and I are going to look so amazing together at morp . . .”

He’s going with Emma?
She continued to babble, but I didn’t need to hear the rest. I had heard enough.
Emma? The girl he didn’t want to give false hopes to?

The reality of what a fool I had made of myself began to sink in. I was the idiot I had vowed to never be. And it wasn’t even Sydney he was going with. I maybe could’ve handled it if it was Sydney. But Emma?

I had visions of Taylor seeing my note and feeling about me just as he had felt when Sydney asked him.
Did I read everything wrong? Was I just flattering myself all along that he liked me? Did he leave our class because he was too chicken to tell me he didn’t want to go with me?
It was obvious Taylor had avoided me. If he really wanted to find me he could’ve, just like any other day. It had been a whole week, and he had never even tried to contact me to tell me he had planned to go with someone else. That hurt more than anything. The least he could’ve done was pay me the courtesy of a rejection. I was so humiliated that when I came home from school Friday night, I went straight to my room and dropped on my bed.

TAKE THAT!

After the initial shock of Taylor accepting Emma’s invitation to morp, I finally snapped out of it and faced the facts. In other words, I got mad. I refused to allow Taylor Anderson to ruin my senior year—and subsequently my last morp—just because he was an idiot.

If I didn’t show up at that dance with the hottest guy I could find, who could dance better than anyone there, I was in trouble. There was no way I was going to let Taylor think I was home wishing I could go to the dance with him. Just because he didn’t accept my offer didn’t mean I had to sit back and moan about it. At least I knew who Taylor was. I mean, how many times does a girl have to be jerked around by a guy, anyway? It was my own stupid fault for falling for his plea for help. Well, one thing was for sure. Taylor Anderson was going to wish he had gone to morp with me.

I would’ve totally asked Blake if he didn’t already have a girlfriend. But he did. He would’ve been the perfect alternative, and he would’ve made Taylor mad, too.
Darn it.

After about twenty-four hours of brainstorming, I remembered Jordan and Kate, the professional ballroom dancers from the theater last summer. I decided if I told Kate everything, she would talk Jordan into helping me. He wasn’t the bestlooking guy. I mean, Blake was way hotter. And Jordan’s style of dancing was different, but I didn’t care. He was older, so that was good. No one knew him—even better. And he was funny, which was perfect!

“Oh, Maddi,” I began, “I’m so excited you called. Guess who I’m going to ask to go to morp with me?”

“Uh, I don’t know. Who?” She sounded a bit distracted.

“Jordan.”

“Who?” Now she really sounded off.

“Oh, I forgot you don’t know him. Never mind, I’ll introduce you guys later. What’s up?”

Madison cleared her throat. “I have some news of my own.”

“Oh, cool. What is it?”

“I’m uh . . . well, I’m—I’m going to morp too.”

“You are? That is so awesome. Who did you ask?”

“Well, uh, I asked—I mean, I invited . . . Collin Farnsworth.”

I gasped. “Collin Farnsworth? Are you kidding?”

“No.”

“But—but why?”

“Because I like him, okay?” Madison replied, sounding a little hurt.

My jaw hit the floor. “Wait a minute. You like Collin? Are you crazy? Why would you?”

“Just because you don’t think he’s worth your time, doesn’t mean he’s not a completely amazing guy. You’re not the only one who—”

“Maddi, I am so sorry I upset you. If you truly like him, then please forgive me. I didn’t mean to be so rude. I’m just shocked, that’s all. I had no idea you liked him. If I did I wouldn’t have said so many dreadful things all this time about him, you know?”

“Well, really, I was kind of hoping you would be happy for me. I’m not like you, okay? I mean, when was the last time I was even on a date?”

“I—I am happy for you,” I declared. “When did you start liking him?”

“At our Halloween party. Once you get past his compliments and fancy phone, he really is a very nice guy. Plus he’s totally cute. He’s like my own Frog Prince.” She giggled.

Madison giggling about a guy? She must
really
like him.
“Frog Prince?” I smiled. “So are ya planning on kissing the guy anytime soon?”

“Hmm, maybe.”

“Well, good luck with that. You’ll have to tell me how it goes, okay?”

“Definitely.” She laughed. “I’m so excited. I’m actually going to morp! I really didn’t think I would go, and now I am.”

Wow. Okay, so I am only the most selfish friend ever. I had no idea Madison would want to go.
Morp was all I had talked about and complained of for weeks. And there was Madison as she supported and listened to me the whole time, wishing she could go too. Talk about a wake-up call. I decided right then to think more of others and less of myself. “Do you think Alyssa will come?” I asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Madison said. “Last I heard she was going to ask someone from her orchestra class.”

“If Jordan says yes, do you want to all go together?” If Collin and Madison were going to eventually hook up, I had better get used to the guy.

“Sure. That would be cool.” She giggled again. I had never heard Madison sound so happy before. I liked it.

We talked for a few more minutes, then hung up. I quickly finished my email to Kate. After a brief hesitation, I sent it off with a prayer.
Please, please, please, let Jordan agree to be my date. I know a girl shouldn’t have pride and all, but I would really appreciate it if you let me keep some—just for morp, of course. I cannot let Taylor think I am home alone waiting and wishing for him.
And then for no reason at all, one very large tear rolled down my cheek.
Great.
All in all, I’d been way too emotional lately.

I could’ve died, I was so happy—or relieved, whichever way you want to look at it. In the email to Kate, I’d told her everything about Taylor. She was so outraged that she was more than willing to help me. She told me I could borrow her boyfriend
and
her dance clothes. She even insisted she come over early Friday to do my hair and makeup. A whole makeover! Since we were about the same size and she already knew what her boyfriend slash dancing partner had in his closet, I had complete faith in her when she told me not to worry about a thing. I knew she was going to make me look fabulous.

And fabulous I looked. No, wait, make that more like sensational! Kate had brought over one of her Latin ballroom outfits. I was amazed at how nice it looked on me. Soon, Jordan arrived, wearing the black shirt that coordinated with mine. They both had these way cool Latiny flared sleeves. I loved the variegated skirt. It had Austrian crystals sewn throughout the lower part of it, and they twinkled and sparkled with every step I took. I felt like a true fairy princess. I giggled and pranced and twirled all over the room just to see the crystals shine—until Kate told me I had to sit or she wouldn’t have time to do my hair.

My hair!
I could not believe the magic Kate had in her fingertips. Never in my life had I been able to transform my frizzy hair into such long, sumptuous curls. She said the secret was in the sculpting gel, but I own the stuff and have never produced that kind of results.

By the time Alyssa and Madison came over, I was so freakin’ excited about morp I couldn’t help myself. “Hi!” I gushed as I opened the door for them. “Oh my gosh! You two look awesome.”

Madison had gone all country and had a cute button-up shirt, jeans, and a trendy straw cowboy hat. I wondered briefly how Collin would look in a cowboy outfit, but since he was cute anyway, I decided he wouldn’t look half bad. Alyssa and the guy from orchestra had planned to go all ’90s. She had come wearing a funky, multicolored rayon shirtdress with a wide butterfly-clasp belt. Totally vintage and way fun.

“Can you believe it’s already time for morp? I’m so wound up I can’t even see straight!” My smile was so large my cheeks were beginning to hurt, but I couldn’t help myself.

Both girls took stock of my animated chatter with dazed expressions.

“What?” I asked as I paused to take a breath.

“Wow,” Madison said.

“You look really pretty.” Alyssa fidgeted with her purse in the entranceway of my house.

“Really?” I began to giggle again. “You’ve got to see this!” I twirled to show the sparkling crystals.

“Wow,” Madison said again.

“That’s really pretty,” Alyssa added.

“All right.” I put my hands on my hips. “What’s up? Is something wrong?”

My two best friends shared a look before Maddi answered, “No. We just didn’t expect you to be so chirpy to go to morp, that’s all.”

“Yeah,” Alyssa said. “With Taylor and all, we’d expected you to be a little more down than you are.”

“Are you kidding me?” I grinned. “I get to go to morp with a professional dancer. How much cooler is that than Taylor Anderson? Honestly, I haven’t thought about Taylor all week.” I decided to change the subject. “So when are the guys coming?”

Alyssa glanced at her watch. “In about five minutes.”

“So where’s this Jordan guy I keep hearing about?” Madison asked while craning her neck to see behind me.

“Oh, he’s in the back room.” I giggled. “Mom and Dad are putting him through a modified version of the Dating Ritual. You really don’t want to go back there yet. Come in my room and meet Kate.”