The Hot List (18 page)

Squid was snort-laughing, as Elio tried to get his yo-yo to walk up his locker. “Sorry, not working,” said Squid.

Sure, Squid had a better haircut, but other than that, everything had reverted. Why? And then it hit me. I had
stupidly told him about Maddie and how she had liked him when he was a complete dork. I was so dumb. Such an idiot!!! Squid was wearing his superhero sandwich shirt and neon, glow-in-the-dark green soccer shoes. The yo-yo was back and the snort-laughing. And he was with his dorkier side of dorky friends. “Squid, what are you doing?” I screamed.

“Walking up my locker. No problemo.” He lifted up his soccer shoe. “See, it's good and muddy. Yeah, bay-bee!” Then he charged forward, slipped, and landed on his butt. Elio and Gabriel snort-laughed along with Squid.

“Squid, it's List Day!”

He turned around. “I know.”

“I can't believe it. Go home and change. Elio. Gabriel. Can you leave him alone, just for a little bit more?”

“These are my dudes. Sorry.” Squid waved at me. “Bye, Sophie Schmofie.”

“Good-bye. Just like that, good-bye? After all that I've done for you!”

Of course, at that precise moment, Nia and her crew showed up. “Awww,” I heard Nia whisper to Ava. “That's so sad.”

Then Nia peered up at me. “I'm so sorry, Sophie.” She glanced at Maddie, and Maddie glanced at me and shrugged like
I'm sorry too
.

I didn't want anyone's pity. I wanted Squid to get on the Hot List.

It was that simple.

Why couldn't my life be simple?

Homeroom crawled by as I waited for the Hot List to show up somewhere in school. During third period, I couldn't help glancing at Nia, who kept sneaking glances at Squid and shaking her head. The whole thing was making my stomach churn.

I overheard at least three bets happening between guys as we moved between classes to fourth period. Such as:

“I bet Micah Wong's going to move up. And Amber's going down.”

“Dude, you're totally going to get schooled. He's going to stay in exactly the same spot. Same with Amber.”

“Not. Bet you five dollars. Five dollars. How about your Xbox?”

Hands shook. “You're on.”

And: “Did you see Squid?”

“Weird, huh?” Understatement.

The Hot List had to be posted soon. First period had started, and everyone was waiting for news. I glanced down at my phone, which I had strategically hidden under my desk.

“I can't stand the suspense,” I said to Nicole, who sat in front of me in pre-algebra.

She leaned back in her chair. “Oh, c'mon, Sophie. You know you love the drama.”

“I don't think so,” I said, as I tried to weigh the chances that Squid would actually make it onto the Hot List. I gave it about a fifty-fifty chance.

Mrs. Tate was giving us ten minutes of individual review time before the quiz, so some kids were still hauling their math books out of their backpacks while others flipped through their binders. Some girls glanced down at their hidden phones. I nervously snapped my binder open and shut.

Nia turned around and smiled at me. She fished out a blue-speckled mint from her backpack. “Here, have one. It's all natural and delish. I always love something to suck on when I'm nervous.”

“But I'm not nervous,” I lied, pressing my lips together to prevent Nia from force-feeding me some organic power mint.

Heather gave me a look like,
relax
. And Nicole shook her head. With my pointer finger, I made the crazy sign around her head.

Nia's face grew pink. Her cheeks ballooned and then she announced, “Sophie's got her phone out!”

My insides froze. I couldn't believe Nia would say anything, especially since she was stowing her cell in her lap too. I raised my hand. “Mrs. Tate, Nia has her phone out too.”

Mrs. Tate drummed her manicured nails on her desk. “What am I going to do with y'all?” She flicked her eyes from me to Nia, and then from Nia to me. “Y'all are both hopeless.” My heart whammed against my rib cage, and I silently pleaded,
Don't take away my cell on List Day
.

Nia must have been thinking the same thing because she clasped her hands into the begging poise. “Don't take it away. I'll do extra problem sets. Anything.” She gave her best smile, the one that usually worked with teachers, and especially teachers that happened to be her mother. “Give me one more chance. Pleeeaaase?”

Mrs. Tate shook her head. “Sorry.”

“Oh, please,” I called out. “Give us a little break.”

For a moment Mrs. Tate paused, and I saw a slight smile flicker. “I like to see y'all working together for a change. That's real nice. But the answer's still no.” She approached my desk and set her lips into a line. “I have to take your phone. Hand it over.”

Sighing, I gave Mrs. Tate my cell. She immediately imprisoned it in a drawer in her desk, then she took away Nia's phone and wrote our names up together on the
whiteboard. “Y'all can pick them up after school.”

Wonderful. I stared outside the window, where I could catch a glimpse of the mountains to cheer me up. After school I'd get my phone back. A lot of good that would do me.

Squid pointed to the whiteboard with his ink-doodled hand. “Ewww, Sophie and Nia both got warnings. They're like twins.”

“Be quiet, Squid,” snapped Mrs. Tate. “Or else you'll go up there too and then y'all will be triplets.”

Nia shook her head at me like Squid was hopeless, and Maddie gave me another sympathetic look, which surprised me.

I dug out my binder, slammed it into onto my desk, and opened it to the pre-algebra section, marked by the blue index tab.

While Mrs. Tate watered her fica, the other kids were all whispering about the Hot List as they wrote down the assignment, which was in the right corner of the whiteboard. Mrs. Tate kicked some of the fallen leaves into a pile with the heel of her three-inch peep-toe heels. The kids around me were starting to pass the quizzes down the row. I stared longingly at the drawer where my cell was being held hostage.

Mrs. Tate clapped her freckled hands together. “Look
up at me, y'all. Remember this is a place of learning.” A few kids snickered.

Not today, it wasn't about learning. Today was all about Squid and all about the List. And I wondered who was going to fall hard today. Me or Nia?

S
mall guy with big hair: Dude, Hayden's staying on as
number one. And I heard Squid was going on.

Medium-size guy with a big backpack:
Nahuh, dude. You better pay up on your bet. I heard Hayden's falling to two and no way is Squid going on the List.

—Overheard in hallway between first and second period.

As Brianna came down out of the bleachers in gym, she whispered in my ear. “This will perk you up. The List has been posted up by the lockers in the west wing.”

I felt a little chill of anticipation. Travis, which is ginormous, is split into four wings: the east, the west, the south, and the north. The west is close to the cafeteria, which meant most likely there would be crowds the minute the bell rang.

My stomach lifted. I couldn't wait. I was praying hard that Squid was on the List. That would definitely mess with Nia. I wanted it to work out. It just had to.

As Mr. Pan spoke about the value of teamwork, I thought about how Nia getting off the List or being lowered, and Squid going on, would wipe the smirk right off her face.

I noticed Nia, who was sitting with Maddie, glancing down into her lap and smirking in a disturbing way. That was when Nia raised her hand. “Mr. Pan, I need the bathroom pass.” Then she smiled extra big.

Oh. I. Couldn't. Believe it! She, Nia Tate, was using the bathroom as an excuse to be the first one to see the List.

Mr. Pan shook his hand. “Sorry, but Ruby has the pass.” Mr. Pan limited bathroom usage to one at a time, which in the past seemed really harsh to me. For the first time ever though, I was enjoying his twisted bathroom pass policy.

“But it's been fifteen minutes,” whined Nia.

Mr. Pan shook his baseball-capped head. “Sorry, kiddo. You'll just have to wait.”

“But it's an emergency,” she pleaded.

“When the going gets tough, the tough hold it in.” Mr. Pan tossed up his baseball cap as he laughed at his lame joke.

Nia glowered at me as if Mr. Pan not giving her a bathroom pass was somehow my fault. As if his poor sense of humor was my fault too. That was when I raised my hand and told the biggest lie I've ever told during school hours. “Mr. Pan, I completely forgot to tell you. But I have to go down to the office.” I looked at my watch. “In five minutes.”

Mr. Pan's forehead wrinkled. “Your dad wants to speak with you?”

“Yes,” I said, biting my bottom my bottom lip so I didn't laugh out of the sheer craziness of what I was doing.

“All righty, then. I can't doubt you”—he pointed at me with his megaphone—“of all people.” He laughed nervously.

A-mazing! Mr. Pan was falling for it! I thought he might question me a little, but … nooo!

Oh, yeah, I was loving life right about now. But I knew better than that. I set my lips in a tight line and stared down at the bleachers. As I gathered up my backpack and stuff, some of the boys went “uh-oh,” including Hayden.

But nobody made more noise than Squid, as he wailed like a police car in hot pursuit. Mr. Pan narrowed his eyes and vacantly gazed around the room, as if for a moment he was trying to remember how he ended up as a middle school gym teacher. “Um, Sophie,” he called out, smiling
like he needed a special favor. “Would you mind running up my homeroom attendance sheets? Darn forgot about 'em.”

“No problem.”

“Thank you so much.” Nia furrowed her brow and shook her colored hair band wrist.

Mr. Pan was thanking me? And Nia was schooled? I loved it! I LOVED LIFE!

The perks of being the principal's kid. P.K. all the way!

Everyone was staring at me in an I-wouldn't-want-to-be-you way. But they didn't see my plan underway. Right now they were thinking that my dad wanting to speak to me meant I'd be the last person to see the List. They didn't get that I was the lucky one. It would be me, Sophie Fanuchi, who would be the first person to see the List!

Mr. Pan handed me an office pass and the attendance sheet. “Good luck, Miss Fanuchi,” he said, bowing low. “And give your dad a big hello for me.” And then he dove right back into his typical gym-type talk on cooperation and building trust.

I managed to keep my cool and breeze past everyone to the door. As the gym door clicked shut behind me, I faced the welcome silence of the empty hallway.

I
was strolling with my office pass when, suddenly, the silent
, empty hallway wasn't so silent anymore. And it wasn't so empty as Nia pulled up right behind me. “Ruby came back!” she hooted, as she moved ahead. “So look who has the bathroom pass! Hee hee!”

Oh, snap.

Suddenly we were racing through the hallway.

I had the advantage in that I have superlong legs, but Nia had a head start. I moved ahead but I could feel Nia at my heels, which made me only run faster. That was when Mr. Roma, humming some heavy metal song, pulled up with his cleaning cart.

“Hold up there, girls!” He sternly looked from me to Nia. From Nia to me. “There is no running in my hallways. Both of you girls know better than that.”

“Bathroom emergency,” I said.

“Ditto,” said Nia.

“Okay, but if you trip and fall, then you'll have a real emergency. Do you see the wet floor sign?” He pointed to a yellow plastic easel thingie.

“Got it, Mr. Roma,” said Nia, giving her sweetest, peace-loving smile.

“See,” I said, slowing down.

Nia and I gave each other a look, waited until Mr. Roma had turned the corner, and then resumed racing through the hall.

We passed rows and rows of pumpkin-colored lockers in the west wing. How were we going to find the right one? They all pretty much looked the same. We craned our necks this way and that, looking for an abandoned locker. At one point we heard footsteps but saw no one and both of us startled.

“The Listmaker?” I said out loud.

Nia shook her head so her spring curls bounced.

Then I spotted a locker that was slightly ajar and without a lock. It was next to a talent show poster that Maddie and Nia had painted together. A single tiny gold star sticker decorated the top of the open locker. Oh, yeah, this had to be it. Unfortunately, Nia saw the locker too at the same moment.

This time I had a head start, but Nia pushed me so I stumbled. We were sprinting neck and neck. If Mr. Pan had
been around he would have been impressed and probably would have signed both of us up for the track team.

We slapped our hands against the locker at the same time, only Nia elbowed me and swung the door open, so I pushed myself forward. Together, in silence, we stared at the new List.

In that moment, I could hear my heart tick-tocking, Nia hoarse-breathing, the heater cycling on again and off again. On again and off again. It looked like Hayden had fallen to third place, which still didn't suck.

AUGGIE MARTIN

TEDDY STELLA

HAYDEN CARUS

BEAR ARVANITES

TYLER FINKEL

ANSON BLOVACK

MATT JAMES

NICK HYDE

ARI SILVERS

TYSON BLANDERS

GEORGE MCGOWAN

FRANK PARSONS

KIRK DAVIES

SEAN MCCARTHY

RANDALL TANNER

JONAH BARKER

BEAR ARVANITES

VINDAY PATEL

SERGIO RALETA

MICAH WONG

No Squid. Squid wasn't on. And I had lost. Lost! Lost!

“I'm so sorry,” said Nia.

“Yeah, right.”

“Keep on reading, though. You'll find the girls' list verrrrry interesting.”