I consider yelling back that I’m busy, but then realize if I want to portray myself as the sensible, responsible daughter who is allowed to go to the dance, then I should probably go get the pizza. I sigh. “I gotta go,” I say to Lexi. “We’ll talk about this later.”
I go to the door to get the pizza, even though I’m not sure I’m hungry anymore. An ex-girlfriend he never even mentioned? This makes his note-passing even more unacceptable. But how to handle this? Ask him? Ignore it? Get it out of him in some roundabout way?
When I get back to the kitchen, pizza in hand, my mom’s at the computer in the corner. Probably doing work stuff. My mom quit her job to pursue her dream of a freelance web design career, so she works any chance she gets.
“Where’re Dad and Katie?” I ask.
“They’ll be down in a second,” my mom says, clicking away.
“Mom,” I say, deciding to seize the opportunity of having my mom alone. “What would you do if you thought that maybe the guy you liked might like someone else? Or that he used to date someone else, but he wasn’t telling you?” I’m very careful not to use the word “boyfriend” since my mom doesn’t exactly know that I have one. A boyfriend, I mean.
My mom frowns, and her eyebrows crinkle in the middle. “You mean like he lied to you?”
“Not exactly lied,” I say. I grab some plates from the cupboard and start setting the table. “But just . . . didn’t mention it.”
“Lying by omission is still lying,” my mom says ominously. She gets this certain serious look on her face, which probably means she’s quoting something she learned in therapy.
“So you think I, um, that this person should be mad?”
“Devon,” she says, “Come here.” I walk over to her.
“You,” she says, “are amazing and perfect and any guy who can’t see that, or who is going to lie to you by omission, is not worth it.”
I sigh. She has to say that. She’s my mom. Plus she doesn’t exactly know the whole situation, that Luke is my boyfriend. But . . . I start to think about it. Maybe she’s right. I mean, Luke’s with me now. Not Bailey. And besides, what does Bailey have that I don’t have? Who cares if she has a key chain that says Italian Princess in sparkly letters and long tumbling dark hair and smoky eyes? Anyone can buy a keychain. And anyone can get smoky eyes with a little bit of help from some eye shadow. (Well, anyone whose mom lets her wear eye shadow.)
I start to feel better. I’m much better than Bailey Barelli. Who cares if she’s cute but also tomboyish and is a great athlete and is in stupid mock trial? I played intramural soccer when I was in fifth grade, and I could join mock trial if I wanted.
“Oh, honey, you didn’t tell me you played a part in English today,” my mom says happily.
“What?” I ask. “How did you know about that?” I look over her shoulder at the computer screen. She’s logged onto Mrs. Bancock’s website, where there’s a section where parents can click to see what’s going on in our English class, along with a section to check our grades, etc. Sometimes Mrs. Bancock even puts up pictures. And right there, in the middle of the website, is a picture of me this morning in English.
Bailey Barelli is standing on Mrs. Bancock’s desk, her long curly hair like a halo around her face, and her smoky eyelids lowered. I’m on the ground, down on one knee, and whoever took the picture (probably Mrs. Bancock—I was so worried about what I looked like, that I must not have noticed she was playing photographer) snapped it in the middle of me saying a line. My mouth is half open, and since I’m down on my knee, I’m off balance and almost falling over. Not the most flattering pic.
“Why are you down on your knee, honey?” my mom asks, peering at the screen. “And who is that girl? She looks like she’s about seventeen!”
Sigh. So much for beating Barelli.
chapter three
Whatever. I’m not thinking about it. I am an independent woman, who does not need to be insecure about my relationship with Luke. So what if he never called me back last night? I am way above waiting by the phone for a guy. Which I totally didn’t. And fine, maybe there was a little bit of waiting by the computer for him to IM me (which he never did), but I would have been on the computer anyway. Chatting with friends, googling my hobbies and interests, doing things online that people do when they’re busy and important.
“Hey,” Mel says, coming up behind me in study hall the next day.
“Hey,” I say, turning around, happy to see her. She slides into the chair across from me.
“Do you want to maybe stay after school with me today?” she asks. “It’s the first meeting for radio.”
Our school recently announced that they’re going to be starting a school radio station. It’s actually pretty cool—we’re going to have a studio on campus and everything, and we’re going to be featuring original programming all throughout the day. Some music, but mostly school news and talk shows. The best part? We’re allowed to listen to it in study halls and the library during our free periods. How cool is that? And they’re going to play it over the loudspeaker between classes.
“Definitely,” I say. “I just have to call my mom.” Which means I’m going to have to borrow Lexi’s cell phone. Honestly, this whole not-having-a-phone thing is getting to be a bit ridiculous.
“Hey, did you know that Luke and Bailey Barelli used to go out?” I ask Mel, hoping I sound nonchalant. I scratch my pencil on my math homework, pretending I’m working on a problem.
“Yeah,” she says. “Last year, right?”
“Yeah,” I say. “How come I didn’t know this?” And how come everybody else did? Was there some kind of big announcement last year, like, “Hey, everyone, Bailey and Luke are dating! Yay!” Or even worse, maybe they were one of those super annoying couples who are always holding hands and kissing in the hallways. I mean, Luke and I hold hands. But not all the time. Maybe we need to bump it up a bit. Does everyone know Luke and I are dating?
“Because last year you were more concerned about Jared Bentley than about Luke.” Mel reaches into her bag and pulls out her science book, and sets it down on the table in front of us.
“Oh,” I say. “Right.” This makes sense. Last year I was totally obsessed with Jared. I mean, obviously, since I told Lexi he was my boyfriend. Of course, this was when I thought I’d never see Lexi again, but still. Then after I got to know Jared I realized he’s . . . um . . . not the sharpest tool in the shed. And I started liking Luke. But apparently while I was thinking about Jared, Luke was thinking about Bailey. The thought makes me stomach flip.
“How come you didn’t say anything to me?” I ask Mel.
She shrugs. “I thought you knew.”
Right.
At lunch, I take my seat at the A-list table with Lexi, Luke, Jared, Kim Cavalli, and apparently Bailey. Bailey never used to really sit with us, but now that she and Kim have suddenly become BFF, she does. And Mel’s usually here as well, but she had some sort of meeting in guidance. She got all secretive when I asked her what it was about. Probably she’s getting some kind of award or something, and she’s embarrassed. Mel gets like that anytime anyone notices how smart she is.
“Hey,” I say, setting my tray down next to Luke’s. “You weren’t in English today.”
“Dentist appointment,” he says. He picks up the pizza on his tray and takes a bite. “You want some?” He holds it out to me. I don’t really want any, since the cafeteria pizza is kind of gross. But out of the corner of my eye, I see Bailey watching me from the other side of Luke. And so I take a bite.
“That’s good,” I say. I pick up the napkin off Luke’s tray and wipe a stray piece of cheese off my chin. Sharing pizza and napkins with my boyfriend! That’s basically like kissing him in front of everyone.
“So anyway, Luke,” Bailey says from the other side of him. “I just think the Hamm v. The Board of Education case is going to be so interesting. Seriously, we have to do it.”
What is this “we” she’s talking about?
She’s not a “we” with Luke. Me and Luke are a “we.” I wish I could chime in with, Hey, Luke, what are we doing about the dance? but of course I can’t because he hasn’t asked me yet.
“I agree,” Luke says. “It really is an interesting case, and I think there’s so much we can do with it.” See? Starting with a “we” can only lead to bad things. Now Luke’s saying it, too.
“What’s the case about?” I ask.
“I was going to tell you about it on the phone last night,” Luke starts. Ha! Take that, Barelli! Luke and I were talking on the phone all last night. Well, until he forgot to call me back. He holds out the pizza and I take another bite. “It’s really interesting, about this kid who didn’t get into college because his principal—”
“It’s actually way too complicated to get into here,” Bailey says quickly, cutting him off. “But mock trial is seriously amazing, I have a feeling we’re all going to have a lot of fun this year.” She looks at Luke and gives him a big grin.
Oh, puhleeze. Amazing? Finding shoes for five dollars, maybe. Your fave show on TV after a long day, definitely. But mock trial? I think not. She’s totally just trying to rub in my face how she’s going to be having fun with my boyfriend.
“Well, maybe I’ll join,” I say suddenly, before I can stop myself.
“You will?” Luke looks surprised. I can’t tell if he’s happy surprised or not-happy surprised.
“Yeah,” I say. “Why not? It sounds fun.” My mom’s always telling me I need to sign up for some extracurriculars. I’m already doing radio, so why not go for both? And the way these two are going on and on about it, maybe it really is fun. Just as long as I don’t have to dress up like a judge or anything.
“You totally should,” Barelli says, but I see the look of annoyance that briefly passes over her face.
“I think I will,” I say. I glance down the table to where Lexi’s sitting with Jared. She catches my eye and mouths, Did he ask you yet?
No, I mouth back. But soon. She smiles and gives me a thumbs up.
He will ask me soon. He was just about to on the phone last night. And besides, he’s sharing his pizza with me. I mean, hello!
“Hey,” Bailey says. “Can I have a bite of that?”
And then I realize she’s looking at Luke’s pizza! She wants Luke’s pizza!
Doesn’t she know that you don’t share pizza with people you’re not going out with?
“Sure,” Luke says. He breaks a piece of pizza off for her. Ha! I knew Luke would never let her just take a bite. That’s reserved for girlfriends only, thank you very much. But the next thing I know, Bailey leans over and eats the pizza right out of Luke’s hand! Ohmigod. It is like he is FEEDING HER. My boyfriend is feeding Bailey Barelli pizza in front of everyone!
Her long dark hair brushes against his arm as she straightens up. “Mmm,” she says, licking her lips. “Good.” And then she smirks.
“But you said you wanted to join radio,” Mel says, frowning.
“I know,” I say. “But Luke was going on and on about how fun mock trial is, and I just figured that I could do both.” The last bell just rang, and I’m at Mel’s locker.
“But you can’t do both,” Mel says. “They meet on the same day.” She finishes loading her books into her bag and slams her locker door shut.
“Then I guess I can’t do radio.”
Someone taps me on the shoulder. I turn around to find Jared Bentley standing there with a concerned look on his face. Up until a few weeks ago, if I’d turned around to see Jared Bentley standing behind me, I would have maybe fainted or freaked out. This is because I used to have a huge major crush on him. But now I’m just annoyed.
“Can I talk to you?” Jared asks. His eyes are serious.
“Um, sure,” I say.
“Wait a minute,” Mel says, slinging her bag over her shoulder and putting her hand on her hip. “Is this about Bailey?”
“Barelli?” Jared’s interested, like he’s about to get some good gossip.
“No,” I say, shooting Mel a look that hopefully lets her know to keep her mouth shut about all of this in front of Jared.
“No, what?” Jared asks. He frowns.
“No, we weren’t talking about Barelli,” I say.
“But Mel just said ‘Is this about Bailey?’” Jared reports.
“No, she didn’t,” I say, turning back around. “Did you, Mel?”
“I didn’t,” Mel says, sighing. “I said ‘Is this about Hailey?’”
“Oh,” Jared says, nodding. “Who’s Hailey?”
“This girl I used to know,” I tell him. “Anyway, uh, Mel, I’ll catch up with you later? Meet me after radio?”
“Sure,” Mel says, and takes off down the hall. She doesn’t seem too happy with me. Not that I can blame her. I’d be annoyed, too, if she told me she was going to join something with me and then just changed her mind because of some guy. Although it’s not really about a guy, per se. It’s more about a girl. And not just any girl. An ex-girlfriend. Totally admissible.
“What did you want to talk to me about?” I ask Jared, checking my watch. Two-thirty-three. Mock trial starts at two-forty, which means I have seven minutes to find out what Jared wants, reapply my lip gloss and brush my hair in the bathroom, and get to mock trial.
“Well, it’s just that I saw what you were doing at lunch today,” he says.
I start walking down the hall toward the girls’ room, and he follows me. This is crazy. Jared Bentley following me down the hall. Me, joining mock trial to keep an eye on Luke. If you’d have told me four weeks ago this would be my life, I never would have believed you.
“What do you mean what I was doing at lunch today?” Is he going to bring up about how I was eating Luke’s pizza and so was Bailey? Does Jared know something I don’t? I decide maybe I should be a little nicer to him, since he might be a wealth of information.
“You know, the looks you were giving me, and how you were trying to mouth me a secret message.” He kicks at a wadded up piece of paper that someone left in the hall.
“What are you talking about?” I ask. And then I remember looking at Lexi and mouthing to her about Luke not asking me to the dance yet. Jared was sitting right next to her, and he must have thought I was talking to him. “Oh, that,” I say. “I was trying to talk to Lexi.”
“Devi, it’s okay,” he says. We’re outside the girls’ bathroom now, and so I stop. He puts his hand on my shoulder. “Just because you’re dating Luke and I’m going out with Lexi doesn’t mean that I just expect you to lose all your feelings for me just like that.” He snaps his fingers, I guess to symbolize how quickly he doesn’t expect me to lose my feelings for him, and then he pats my shoulder in a “it’s okay that you like me and I’m not interested” kind of way.
Oh, geez. I cannot believe this. Jared Bentley thinks I still like him. I try to figure out what to say without being mean. “Well,” I say slowly. “While it is true that I used like you, uh, now I like Luke. Luke is my boyfriend.” He looks at me blankly. “I’m going out with LUKE.” I say the last part real slow.
“So you don’t like me?” Jared tries. A look of wonder crosses his face, like he can’t really fathom the idea that any girl might not like him. I can’t really blame him. Most girls do.
“Not anymore.”
“Oh, good,” he says. His face breaks out into a relieved grin. Well. He doesn’t have to look so happy about it. Would it be the end of the world if I liked him? He squeezes my shoulder. “Well, I guess I’ll see you in mock trial.”
“You’re in mock trial?” I ask, surprised. He doesn’t seem like the type.
“Lexi made me join,” he says gloomily.
“Oh, right.” I convinced Lexi to join during seventh period. Apparently it took all of eighth and ninth for Lexi to recruit Jared as well. How is this fair? While I’m wandering around, trying to figure out why Luke is passing notes with some other girl, Lexi is choosing her boyfriend’s extracurricular activities.
Jared continues down the hall, and I duck into the bathroom. I pull my lip gloss out of my purse and regloss my lips. My lip gloss is called, “SHOW HIM YOU CAN.” That sounds highly inappropriate. Although maybe the person who came up with it meant “Show him you can forget about Barelli and kick butt at mock trial.”
I run a brush through my hair, and then reach into my purse and pull out my bronzer, which I brush onto my cheeks, leaving myself glowy and bronze. I smile at myself in the mirror. From the stalls, the sound of feet shuffling comes, and then a voice.
“He is really cute,” the voice says, and I freeze. It’s Kim Cavalli, aka Bailey Barelli’s new BFF, aka my archenemy. Kim’s pretty much the most popular girl in school (although Lexi’s close to taking over that title), and Lexi actually liked her when she first got to our school. But then Kim stole this guy Lexi used to like away from her (Matt Connors), and then told everyone that I lied about dating Jared. Kim actually used to like Luke, too. The whole thing is very scandalous.
“He is sooo cute,” another voice says, and I realize it’s Barelli. Bailey Barelli and Kim Cavalli are having a personal, private conversation, and I’m eavesdropping. I slide my lip gloss slowly back into my purse and curse myself for wearing shoes that make so much noise. “I just wish he didn’t have to be so smart,” Bailey continues, giggling. “I mean, come on, mock trial? Now I have to give up my whole afternoon just to reenact trials that aren’t even real.”
“I know,” Kim sighs. “Lame. That’s one of the reasons my crush on him only lasted about five minutes.”
“I really have a feeling we’re going to be getting back together soon,” Bailey says.
“Totally,” Kim agrees. “Come on, Devon Delaney?”
They both giggle, like it’s the craziest thing they’ve ever head, and then the sound of a toilet flushing fills the room. I run out before they can figure out that I’ve been listening. Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod. She does want him back! And she totally joined mock trial just because Luke did! How ridiculous and lame! Joining something just because a guy you like joins is an insult to feminism everywhere. These kinds of things are exactly what our great grandmothers fought against when—oh. Wait a minute. I’m doing the same thing. But that’s different. Luke’s my boyfriend. And I’m just keeping an eye on him.