right now.
It was after twelve thirty by the time I finished all my homework, but I was still too hung up on the disappointment at the bridge to sleep. So I started looking over my notes for Kristen's perfume, and sat down to tweak a few things. The next couple of hours flew by.
Because of that, I ended up with only three hours of sleep for school the next day, and that resulted in a disrupted nap during study hall and the shortest route home so I could finish that nap.
The rest of the week went by in much the same fashion, without me seeing Caspian even once at the cemetery, or the bridge, and I spent each night trying to distract myself with my perfume project.
But on Friday I was ambushed.
I had just slammed my locker door shut when I spotted one of the cheerleaders, Shana, trying to flag me down from one end of the hall. Hoping to avoid her, I did a quick half turn and started to walk in the opposite direction. Bad idea. Erika was coming that way, and she started waving at me too.
I froze, looking back and forth between the two, like a deer caught in the headlights. They must have sensed my urge to run, because they started waving frantically. They looked like two people stranded on a desert island, desperate to signal the only plane flying overhead. Their arms were jerking crazily over their heads.
Apparently I was the only one who noticed how crazy they looked, though, because no one else in the half-empty hallway paid them any attention.
Shana reached me first, and I knew I was doomed.
"There you are," she said, flashing a perfect, but very fake, smile. "We were trying to get your attention."
I just stared back at her. Am I supposed to say something here? I grasped at the first thing that came to mind. "Oh, yeah, I, uh, just remembered that I have to stop by English. I left one of my books there." I smiled weakly. Would it work? Would they leave me alone?
"Well, this will only take a minute. I'm sure you'll have plenty of time. You know Erika, right?"
"Hey," said Erika, who had taken much longer to make it over to my locker. Probably had something to do with the fact that she'd been stopped by no fewer than seven boys on her trip from one end of the hall to the other.
I gave her a forced smile. If I don t talk much, will it encourage them to leave quicker? I was clinging to the faint hope that it would.
"Anyway," continued Shana, with a bored look on her face. "What do you think about joining the prom committee this year? Of course, you'll only be an honorary member, but we'd like to give you the opportunity because of, you know."
I had no idea what she was talking about. "Sorry. I don't get it."
"Get it?" sneered Erika. "There's nothing to get. We're asking you a question. You say yes or no."
Yes, but why are they asking me this question?
Erika answered my unspoken thoughts. "Look, I don't give two shits about you, and I don't give two shits about whether or not you join the prom committee. Everyone knows you're milking the whole poor-me-my-friend-died thing, but for some reason all the teachers are buying it. And Principal Meeker most of all. He's forcing us to ask you as some messed-up way to pay respect to that Kristen girl's memory."
To give myself some credit, I actually did manage to hold in my snort of disbelief. In what parallel universe does asking me to be an honorary prom committee member equal paying respect to Kristen's memory? Before I could even attempt to follow that train of logic, Shana spoke again.
"Since the prom is in October, all the major planning was done last spring, of course. Now the official prom committee members just have to decide which color combinations to decorate with, what kind of favors to give out, whether or not there will be sherbet in the punch… stuff like that. As an honorary member, you'll get to, like, listen to us decide."
"Personally, I am voting for no sherbet this year," Erika butted in. "That stuff is disgusting. I don't care if it's not even as
It was after twelve thirty by the time I finished all my homework, but I was still too hung up on the disappointment at the bridge to sleep. So I started looking over my notes for Kristen's perfume, and sat down to tweak a few things. The next couple of hours flew by.
Because of that, I ended up with only three hours of sleep for school the next day, and that resulted in a disrupted nap during study hall and the shortest route home so I could finish that nap.
The rest of the week went by in much the same fashion, without me seeing Caspian even once at the cemetery, or the bridge, and I spent each night trying to distract myself with my perfume project.
But on Friday I was ambushed.
I had just slammed my locker door shut when I spotted one of the cheerleaders, Shana, trying to flag me down from one end of the hall. Hoping to avoid her, I did a quick half turn and started to walk in the opposite direction. Bad idea. Erika was coming that way, and she started waving at me too.
I froze, looking back and forth between the two, like a deer caught in the headlights. They must have sensed my urge to run, because they started waving frantically. They looked like two people stranded on a desert island, desperate to signal the only plane flying overhead. Their arms were jerking crazily over their heads.
Apparently I was the only one who noticed how crazy they looked, though, because no one else in the half-empty hallway paid them any attention.
Shana reached me first, and I knew I was doomed.
"There you are," she said, flashing a perfect, but very fake, smile. "We were trying to get your attention."
I just stared back at her. Am I supposed to say something here? I grasped at the first thing that came to mind. "Oh, yeah, I, uh, just remembered that I have to stop by English. I left one of my books there." I smiled weakly. Would it work? Would they leave me alone?
"Well, this will only take a minute. I'm sure you'll have plenty of time. You know Erika, right?"
"Hey," said Erika, who had taken much longer to make it over to my locker. Probably had something to do with the fact that she'd been stopped by no fewer than seven boys on her trip from one end of the hall to the other.
I gave her a forced smile. If I don t talk much, will it encourage them to leave quicker? I was clinging to the faint hope that it would.
"Anyway," continued Shana, with a bored look on her face. "What do you think about joining the prom committee this year? Of course, you'll only be an honorary member, but we'd like to give you the opportunity because of, you know."
I had no idea what she was talking about. "Sorry. I don't get it."
"Get it?" sneered Erika. "There's nothing to get. We're asking you a question. You say yes or no."
Yes, but why are they asking me this question?
Erika answered my unspoken thoughts. "Look, I don't give two shits about you, and I don't give two shits about whether or not you join the prom committee. Everyone knows you're milking the whole poor-me-my-friend-died thing, but for some reason all the teachers are buying it. And Principal Meeker most of all. He's forcing us to ask you as some messed-up way to pay respect to that Kristen girl's memory."
To give myself some credit, I actually did manage to hold in my snort of disbelief. In what parallel universe does asking me to be an honorary prom committee member equal paying respect to Kristen's memory? Before I could even attempt to follow that train of logic, Shana spoke again.
"Since the prom is in October, all the major planning was done last spring, of course. Now the official prom committee members just have to decide which color combinations to decorate with, what kind of favors to give out, whether or not there will be sherbet in the punch… stuff like that. As an honorary member, you'll get to, like, listen to us decide."
"Personally, I am voting for no sherbet this year," Erika butted in. "That stuff is disgusting. I don't care if it's not even as
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