For the rest of the week the verbal buildup to the prom continues. Most of the talk centers around dresses, either great finds or still desperately seeking the perfect one. There are a few girls waiting for some guy to ask them to prom, which seems kind of late to me, but guys being guys, I guess invitations are still happening. Less than two weeks probably seems like plenty of time to some (male) people. Occasionally there is a brief mention of Mother’s Day and what to buy, which makes me glad that I have already taken care of that.
When Mother’s Day dawns, Ray and I tiptoe around making brunch. Ray is surprisingly cooperative, probably because the effort is for Mom.
“Hey, guess what?” Ray says. “My band is playing at another birthday party next week.”
Before I can congratulate him, he launches right into, “Wait’ll you see the apron I got Mom to wear for her catering. I had Dad take me to a place where I could get her a real professional chef’s apron. I bought it with my own money that I’ve earned from the band.”
“Wow,” I say. “That’s great.” He sounds so excited, but I wait for him to start being his usual obnoxious-to-me self. It doesn’t happen.
Mom and Dad come downstairs. After a round of “Happy Mother’s Day!” she opens her gifts. She loves the book I got her, the flowers and candy from Dad. When she opens her gift from Ray she exclaims, “This is perfect! Thank you, Ray!”
She gives him a big hug, then says, “I have an announcement to make and this apron fits right in.”
We wait as Mom pauses dramatically before saying, “I’ve quit my job at The Colonial Inn. I’ve been so busy with my cakes that I’ve decided to concentrate on that and really build up my business.” She holds up the apron. “No more wench costumes for me. I am now a professional baker!”
“You’ll always be my wench, won’t you?” Dad gives Mom a hug. She laughs and hugs him back.
The brunch is a success and Mother’s Day is pretty much perfect. The only weird thing is when I read Ray’s card, which Mom had placed on the mantle with the ones from Dad and me. It’s this really nice card, full of stuff like, “You’re so good to me … you’re always there for me … you’re always ready to listen or give me a hand … you take great care of me, etc.” So why do I have this vague warning bell going off. It doesn’t make any sense.
I decide I’m just so on overload with classes and prom and finals that my brain has blown a circuit somewhere and that’s why there’s this false alarm.
* * *
Okay, it’s the day before prom. Excitement and panic are the order of the day. Everyone who already has a date, dress, etc. is excited. Everyone who is still hoping for a date and/or special dress or shoes or whatever is in a panic. Nothing bad has happened since Macbeth, so maybe the doom thing is over and done. Still, I can’t quite shake an uneasy feeling.
“Aren’t you glad I planned the whole go-single to the prom thing?” Tanya says as we gather at our lockers at end of the day. “We have our dresses, we’ll do our own hair and everything and we don’t have to worry about who or if we have dates.”
“Yeah, good planning,” says Randi.
I’m kind of thinking that even though we are attending as singles we are all meeting guys at prom, however casual and undate-like it might be for some of us, me and Nina in particular. Marc looks as if he’s enthralled with Nina, but she seems to like him as maybe just slightly more than a friend. Still, I guess I could be wrong. Nina so often has guys swirling around her, and she always looks very casual when talking to them, so maybe that’s just her way. Maybe she could be totally head-over-heels and I wouldn’t pick up on it.
“We’re all walking to prom together, remember,” Tanya says, as if we’d forget.
“We meet at your house,” I say, “and walk together from there.”
After that, Tanya goes off with Del. Nina says she has to do a few things, plus see Duke. Randi says she has to talk to someone. I rummage through my books. I stuff some back in my locker and pull out others and put them in my book bag. When I’m done, I see Randi down the hall talking to Colt. I’d half-expected him to offer to pick me up for prom, because of the camera or something, but he never said anything. Of course, I’ll be walking to prom with Nina, Tanya and Randi, and I mentioned that to him, so it really doesn’t matter.
Randi gives Colt a big smile, then dashes down the hall. Colt heads toward me.
“Hey, Becca. All set for prom?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.” I can’t help wondering what he and Randi were talking about.
“I don’t think we should spend the whole evening recording it. We need to save time to dance and have fun.”
“Good idea,” I say. I’m not sure if he means dance with me or just dance in general. Probably just dancing in general. I don’t mention that I’m already planning on dancing with Brent.
The hallway has pretty much emptied out as we both head for the front door. When we approach Duke’s room, I see Duke close the door. Just before it completely closes I spy someone with long blonde hair in there. And from the crack under the door, it looks as if the lights go out. I stop and say to Colt, “Did you just see what I think I saw?”
“If you mean Duke closing the door with some girl in the room, yeah.” Colt’s jaw is clenched, his eyes slightly narrowed.
I swallow hard before I find my voice. “Nina said she was going to see Duke after school.”
“Maybe we should ‘just happen’ to walk in,” Colt says, spacing the words evenly.
“Good idea,” I say. “I mean, if nothing’s going on, well, we’re just, uh, looking for Duke. We can say something about, um, I don’t know, the guy from Frank’s Fish and Chips saying what good publicity they got from the mention of them lending the caldron.”
“And if there is something going on ….”
My stomach tightens. I don’t want to embarrass Nina unnecessarily. But I don’t want her being taken advantage of by Duke either! I take a deep breath. “Let’s just do it.”
“Do what?” a girl’s voice asks.
I turn. “Nina? Nina! Wh-what are you doing here?”
“I’m going to talk to Duke, remember?” She sees the closed door. “Did he leave already?”
“Uh ….” I look at Colt.
“Um ….” He looks at me, then Nina, then me again. He says, “Somebody’s in there.”
Somebody who may need to be rescued, I do not say out loud. I try to sound casual as I say, “So what are we waiting around for?”
I grab the doorknob, forget that the door swings out, not in, but finally open the door. Either the lights had not been turned out before, or my clumsiness with the door gave Duke time to turn on the lights. Standing a few chaste feet apart are Duke and Ms. Bianco! Her hair was definitely up when I had her for Latin earlier today. But now it is loose and hanging down her back, just as Colt and I had seen a couple of minutes ago, only we hadn’t known it was her in the room.
Nina flinches, and a blush runs over her cheeks like a shadow. I guess she’s really surprised to see Ms. Bianco and Duke like that. I know I am
But had there been something, um, going on or had Colt and I just jumped to conclusions? Maybe the lights didn’t go out. Maybe Duke and Ms. Bianco just wanted to have a private conversation. And even if they’d, uh, been doing something, um, else, well, they’re both adults. Of course, this is school property and Ms. Bianco is engaged to someone not named Duke. But engaged is not married. And it’s after school, not during.
“Excuse me.” It’s Principal Demchak! “You’re blocking the doorway.”
We step aside and she strides into the room. “Mr. Raynor, Ms. Bianco, just the people I wanted to see.”
Nina, Colt and I duck back into the hall.
“I guess I have to wait to talk to Duke,” Nina whispers.
“We can wait with you,” I say. “To, er, help pass the time.” Since Principal Demchak left the door open, I’m hoping to hear what’s going on. Turns out it’s just something about the proceeds from Macbeth. It actually made a small profit.
Principal Demchak leaves the room, followed shortly thereafter by Ms. Bianco, whose face looks kind of pink. She stares straight ahead, carefully avoiding eye contact with us.
“I’ll, uh, just be a minute,” Nina says. “If, um, you’re not doing anything else, want to walk home together? It’s been a while.”
“Sure, I’ll wait,” I say, trying not to sound relieved that she doesn’t want me long gone while she talks to Duke.
“I’ll stay too,” Colt whispers to me as Nina enters the room. “Let’s stand right here where Duke can see us.”
“Good idea,” I say softly. “It may have been all innocent with Ms. Bianco, but Duke still gives me the creeps.”
“It won’t hurt if he thinks we’re keeping an eye on him,” Colt says. He pretends he’s shooting a video.
“Yeah.” I can’t help grinning.
I check and see there’s plenty of air space between Nina and Duke. The conversation is brief and she quickly leaves the room.
“Thanks for waiting,” Nina says.
“So, what’s up with Duke?” Colt says, sounding abrupt and almost fatherly
“Um … I just wanted to know if he’d decided what the play will be next year. I thought I’d, uh, read and study it over the summer.”
“And has he decided?” I ask.
“He’s thinking of Pirates of Penzance.”
“A musical?” I say. “Well, you have a good voice, so that’s a plus.”
“I am a Pirate King!” Colt sings as he hoists an imaginary sword.
“Colt, I didn’t know you could sing!” I exclaim.
“There’s a lot you still don’t know about me.” Colt wriggles his eyebrows and sheathes his imaginary sword.
I laugh. “You’ll have to fill me in some time.”
“Is that a request?” Colt says with kind of a teasing smile.
“It’s an order,” I say, trying but failing to keep a straight face.
“Hey, Colt.” Todd Cook is standing by the bike rack, waving Colt over. “Can I ask you some questions about your bike? I’m thinking of upgrading mine.”
“Sure,” Colt says. “Just a sec.” He turns to me and Nina. “See you.”
After we say our goodbyes Nina says, “So. What’s going on with you and Colt?”
“Oh, we’re just friends. I mean, we study biology together and we take pictures and shoot videos for the school paper together and stuff like that. But that’s all.”
“That’s all?” A look of amusement flickers across Nina’s face. “Looks like more to me.”
“No. We’re friends. That’s it. Nothing more. Totally platonic.” Why am I rambling on like this?
Nina shrugs. “Okay. If you say so.”