Chapter 17
Sunday was pretty much a wash since Venus’s threat had kept me awake all night. I didn’t really get to sleep until the sun came up, and when I finally woke it was already like two in the afternoon. With a bad case of bed head and crusties in my eyes, I crawled out of bed and stumbled to my purse to find my cell phone. I called Adam to find out what had happened after Venus had kidnapped him.
Unfortunately, Adam’s cell phone was still out of commission and I didn’t even have his home number, because, I mean, who uses landlines anyway?
Obviously, I couldn’t call him on my trusty Licky Sticky since you-know-who had it. So, I hopped on my computer and resorted to e-mail. I told him if he got this e-mail to please call me ASAP or, otherwise, I’d see him at school tomorrow. But I really wanted to talk with him today.
I was really surprised and hurt that he hadn’t called me at all, since I was accustomed to hearing his daily report of what was going on in his life. Oh, well, I guess I was just going to have to wait until Monday, but I wasn’t going to wait until Monday to talk with Bridge.
I phoned Bridge on her cell and I even texted her several times. After ten minutes of nothingness, I sent her an e-mail. And then finally when I couldn’t stand it anymore, I resorted to calling her landline. When I called, Bridge’s dad actually picked up.
“Hi. This is Luz. Is Bridge home?”
“Oh, hello, Luz. No, she left with a friend about an hour ago.”
A friend? I thought. I’m her best friend. Who else would she be hanging out with? My stomach started to feel queasy.
“Was it Venus Hunter?”
“I didn’t catch her name.”
“Was she blond?” I asked, trying to narrow the field.
“I think so.”
“Did she have really straight blond hair and look a bit leathery because she fake bakes too much?” I spit out, desperately wanting to know, with my jealousy in overdrive. “Were there other kids with them?”
“I’m a realtor, not a private eye, honey,” Mr. Joiner said, becoming a bit bored with my twenty questions.
Realizing my insanity was taking over, I said, “Oh, I’m sorry.”
Mr. Joiner laughed. “Are you and Bridge having a fight or something?”
“Not at all!” I replied, hoping Bridge wasn’t really mad at me for something I didn’t know about.
“Oh, I was just wondering because you normally know more about my daughter than I do,” teased Mr. Joiner.
I laughed. It was so true. Bridge’s mom was pretty tuned in to what we were up to as well as who our friends and foes were, but as for her dad, he was definitely clueless.
After hanging up with Bridge’s dad, I guessed I would just have to be patient. Dang. I hated being patient and especially hated not knowing if someone was mad at me. But, I did manage to pass the time away by doing all the things that needed to get done after a week of Gamma Glamma madness—like studying. I even cleaned out my science accessories and equipment as well as loaded and unloaded the washer and dryer at least a million times.
I tumbled into Monday morning as quickly as my delicates did in the dryer, and still no contact with Bridge. I even got to school early to check things out, but oddly enough, things were different today and I felt different. So, I didn’t observe or spy on anyone this morning. And I didn’t pass postcards or serve batches of cookies or try to contact my crew. I didn’t journal my day in my notebook, take pictures, or even record anything with my shoes, for that matter. Today was just simply school.
On this last day that would control our fates, I did something that is almost scientifically impossible. I didn’t meddle. I did absolutely nada. I even walked throughout the halls without my scientific eyes on. And I just blended into the great Gamma melting pot. I went to my classes and was surprised not to see anyone from the gang. I felt like I was in The Twilight Zone.
I was really relieved to see Susan, and I’m embarrassed to say it, but I was so relieved and excited to see her that I almost bowled her over. Susan was busy drawing J-girl being chased by two hobbit boys. The hobbit boys looked fairly familiar, but I didn’t pay that much attention to them because I couldn’t control myself and I started grilling Susan.
“Hey, Susan, did you have a good time at the party Saturday night?” I used my best friendly Monday morning voice.
“Yeah,” replied Susan automatically.
“Did anything exciting happen after I left?” I asked, hoping that I didn’t miss anything really exciting, especially after having had such a traumatic time.
“Well, they did bring out a very large tray of peeled shrimp. It went pretty fast. And the cocktail sauce was too hot and it gave me an ulcer in my mouth.” Susan finally stopped what she was doing so she could peel down her lower lip and show me that she wasn’t lying. I just nodded as I inspected the tiny ulcer. Ew.
“What else happened?” I continued to pump.
“Wewl, I wus asthed to the danth,” Susan said while still holding her lip.
A bit frustrated, I helped Susan remove her hand from her lip and asked her, “Now, what did you say?”
“I said I was asked to the dance. By two band boys.”
“Oh, Susan, that’s so cool! Aren’t you excited?”
“I guess.”
“Who did you say yes to?”
“I didn’t say yes to anyone. I told them I didn’t know if I felt like going because they’re going to have The Lord of the Rings trilogy at the Alamo Cinema on that day.” Surely, she was joking, but I had to find out for sure.
“But, Susan, you can rent those DVDs anytime,” I reminded her.
“Yeah, but this is going to be on the big screen,” she said, totally not kidding.
“Susan, your familia can afford to buy you your own cinema,” I said with total conviction, knowing that her family not only could afford to buy a cinema for her, but could also buy her her own country stocked fully with alpacas and pizza.
“It’s not the same, Luz.”
“I think you should give this decision some deep thought.”
“I guess,” Susan said, slightly irritated with my insistence.
I was so caught up in her elfin magic world that I almost forgot to ask her if she saw Bridge, Adam, or Mase.
“Oh, by the way, Susan, did you happen to see Bridge or Adam Bellows at the party?”
“No,” Susan said as she went back to her drawing.
“How about Mason Milam?”
Susan started to erase with a vengeance. “Yeah, I saw him.”
“What was he doing?”
“He was doing stunts over the pool furniture.”
I laughed out loud. “I’m surprised he didn’t jump over the pool.”
“He did,” Susan said as she started to shade the hair on one of her hobbits.
“What?! Shut up!” I said in total disbelief.
“He did.”
“How did that happen?”
Susan took a deep breath because she knew I wasn’t going to let her off the hook easily. “Venus dared some kids to do it. She even dared Claude Klopp. He said no, and so she said he had to leave her party. Mason moved Claude out of the way and jumped, I think on his behalf or something,” Susan reported.
“Did he make it?” I asked, hoping that nothing bad had happened to Mase.
“Yeah.”
“Then what happened?” I said, feeling like I was pulling teeth.
“Nothing. Venus started to hang out with Mason.”
“Well, I’m glad he made it and I’m glad he had fun,” I commented, trying to wrap up this convo.
“He didn’t,” Susan said, striking up my interest once again. Dang.
“How do you know?” I asked, trying to have some patience.
“When Venus started to hang with him, Mason just made a face and left. He made the face that Frotastic does when I feed him cucumbers soaked in vinegar,” Susan replied.
“You mean pickles?” I said, surprised.
“Yeah. I guess,” Susan said, putting away her drawing materials and getting ready for class.
“Thanks for the info, Susan. I’d better get back to my seat.”
Today science class was a whole new experience knowing that Dr. Hamrock was Swen’s uncle. I tried to see the resemblance, but it was nowhere to be found.
As we reviewed the periodic table and how the movement of electrons from one energy level to another could cause incredible instability on the atomic level, I couldn’t focus because I knew I was going to have to talk with Dr. Hamrock at the end of class. I was afraid, to say the least. Class went faster today than I wanted it to, which is funny because I’m usually the first one waiting for the bell to ring.
But, alas, today would be muy differente. After class, Dr. Hamrock called me up to his desk.
“Luz, how’s your project going?”
“I guess I’ll really know at the end of the day, but overall I think it’s gone well. I mean, I know that I have enough evidence to substantiate my theory about influencing group opinion and manipulating social hierarchies and all,” I reported.
“Well, that’s good. But I wanted to let you know that you wouldn’t have to sweat about Wednesday evening. Gamma isn’t going to have its science competition this year. It’s just going to be your project and we are going to give you all the help you need to focus on Regionals.”
“Thanks,” I said, trying to act all surprised even though Venus had already spilled the frijoles on my fate and Regionals.
“Let me know when you have your project and presentation roughed in so that I can look at it with you,” said Dr. Hamrock almost kind of sweetly. Weird.
“Okay, thanks,” I replied again.
After I left the science room, I turned back to look at Dr. Hamrock. He was looking intently over his lesson plans, and for the first time ever, he looked like a human being to me. It was really weird.
I boogied down to lunch as fast as I could. I knew I could finally talk to Bridge and Adam at some point even if Venus was lurking around. I stepped into the salad line and I was one spot behind Bridge.
After I grabbed my tray, a plate, and a spork (it’s a really bad plastic hybrid of a spoon and fork that should never have happened), I didn’t pay attention to what I was putting on my tray, because I was trying to make eye contact with Bridge.
I whispered, “Hey, Bridge, are you mad at me?”
Bridge shook her head.
“You haven’t returned any of my calls. What’s the deal?” I asked urgently.
“I can’t really talk with you, Luz,” Bridge said, looking around nervously.
“Then when?” I asked, trying not to cause a scene. My heart started racing because I was being snubbed by my best friend.
“Later,” Bridge said, trying to shake me off.
“How much later?” I asked, trying to hang on.
“Just later, Luz,” Bridge said as she looked at me with big eyes as if to say, “leave me alone, freak.”
Bridge walked away from me as if I were a leper, or worse, as if I had digested a whole tin of our fartmaker cookies. I was so stunned and hurt. I blinked hard to fight the tears that were forming. And I tried to hold my breath to keep the lump in my throat from coming out.
And finally, when I got to the lunch lady, she asked me if I wanted more than just the large heap of lettuce I had put on my plate. I didn’t know if it was scientifically possible, but I felt dumb and mad at the same time. And I didn’t care who saw me go back in the salad line again to add more “fixings” to my large serving of iceberg lettuce. I started to feel a bit lightheaded because my low blood sugar and soaring level of adrenaline were shaking up my biochemical balance.
As I walked toward my table, I gazed at the J+L section. Venus was there, but she seemed to be in deep thought today. Next, I noticed Adam wasn’t there. Where was he? Surely, he wouldn’t be absent today when we find out who the finalists are going to be at the end of the day. Suddenly, I discovered that he was right in front of me throwing away his trash.
So, I said, “Hey, Missing, what’s going on? Why haven’t you called? Didn’t you have the cash to pay for your cell bill or did you burn it on that vintage Polo you’re wearing?” I laughed, trying to act normal and funny and whatnot. But listening to myself, I could totally tell I sounded like a desperate girlfriend.
And then Adam said, “I’ve had a lot of things going on.”
“Me, too,” I said proudly, ready to download my news.
Adam seemed impatient or at least distracted. He was looking around like he was looking for someone.
“I can’t talk right now,” Adam said without any emotion.
“But let me just tell you this one thing about Swen and Venus,” I started.
“Luz, here’s a news alert for you. There’s a world outside high school. And right now I don’t have time to deal with you and your little tween affairs, so you’re just going to have to deal. Later,” Adam said loudly enough for people to hear.
I felt a bit embarrassed. No, I felt really embarrassed. My face felt hot. I’m sure my cheeks were really red. I didn’t know if anyone overheard us or not, so I decided to just brush it off and act like it wasn’t a big deal even though it was.
“Hey, no problema, Adam. That’s cool. I’ll just catch you later ...”
I don’t think he even heard me. He was already halfway down the cafeteria at this point. So, here I was with my cold salad getting warm. With my best friends MIA I couldn’t tolerate sitting by myself at the sci-fi table, even if they were my people. It was too freaking lonely and my insides were churning frantically over the thought that I may have lost my best friends. In a desperate panic, I decided to sit by Susan.
“Can I sit here?” I asked Susan, praying that she wouldn’t be the third person in a row to shun me.
“O ... kay,” mumbled Susan, who was now finished with her meal and digging through her big ole fringed suede bag to locate a pencil. When she at last pulled out her discovery, the pencil’s lead was so small that Susan had to peel at the wood with her nonexistent fingernails.
Too upset to eat, I just raked through my salad with my plastic spork. I overheard the band kids discussing such topics as the importance of squads being in sync as well as making sure they have perfect “camel toe.” I looked at Susan with a surprised face over the term “camel toe,” and she informed me that it’s the position of your foot when you are marching. Weird.
As I tried to eat my brand-X crackers, a dark-headed band boy asked Susan to Homecoming. In total Susan style, she mumbled to him and said she didn’t know if she was going or not. After he walked away, Susan rolled her eyes at me, which were emphasized by the magnification of her glasses, which she has been refusing to take off.
I can’t believe she already has had, like, three offers. No one’s asked me yet. I mean, it’s not like that’s a big deal or anything because I only want Swen, but dang, Susan?
I thanked everyone at the table for letting me sit with them. And then I ran away as fast as I could. After dropping off my trash, I decided to pick up an ice cream sandwich and look for Mase.
Now in the Dramatica zone, I felt like I was sticking out a bit much because I had chosen to wear orange today and now I looked like the great pumpkin among the witches.
Mase was sitting down and he smiled at me. I took that as an invitation and decided to sit down.
“How’s your laryngitis?”
Mase gave me a thumbs-up.
“Did you ever catch up on your sleep?”
Mase nodded as he continued to work on a drawing of himself jumping over what looked, at first glance, like Venus’s pool. Upon further inspection, I noticed it was actually her mouth! I hate to say it, but seeing that drawing was the best thing that had happened to me all day.
“You haven’t talked with Adam lately, have you?”
Mase just shook his head no and went back to drawing in between bites of his sandwich.
I felt some of the Dramatica girls staring at me, and it made me feel really uncomfortable, because I couldn’t tell if they were jealous or if they were going to beat me up. I decided not to wait and find out, and I told Mase that I would catch up with him later.
Finally, at the end of the day in English, the loudspeaker came on. Mr. Sekin said, “I’ll announce the freshman finalists first and then continue all the way up to the seniors. If your name is called, then please gather your books and come down to the auditorium. A video crew will be there to talk with you and conduct an informal interview.”
As Mr. Sekin started to name the freshman boys, I put my pen down. Bart Marquez, who was first to be announced, wasn’t a surprise and neither was Brad Walker, aka B-Dawg. I just kept staring at the loudspeaker and waited. The next name called was Adam Bellows. I wanted to stand up and cheer, but I tried to be cool and just stayed in my seat and smiled really hard—until my face hurt. But I was sure that Adam had to be bouncing around somewhere in the school.
The next name to be called was my science partner, Jimbo Billimek who was actually in class with me. Some of the kids in our class were chanting, “Geek! Geek! Geek!” in a totally supportive grunt fashion.
Jimbo clasped his hands together and shook them from side to side in victory. Mrs. Franks had to tell us to settle down which was good because I almost missed the next important name of the day when Mr. Sekin said, “Mason Milam.”
I was ecstatic. I could only imagine what Mase was doing as he heard his name being called out loud across the building. I bit my lip and listened intently for the rest of the names to be announced.
“And now, for our five girl finalists from the freshman class ...” Mr. Sekin continued. I could feel my neck muscles tighten and my mouth become dry.
The first name called was Susan Seamus. Everyone in class kinda gasped and laughed. I had to admit I was thrown off a bit, but the excitement was building so much that I couldn’t dwell on just one thing. The next name was Traci Armstrong. The class roared in excitement. Traci wasn’t totally unexpected, but I thought we would have heard from someone from the J+L camp by now. I also suspected there were a few J+L girls freaking out right now.
The next name was Venus Hunter. No surprise there. Next! I thought. The P.A. went silent. Mr. Sekin said to hang on for a moment. During that very long moment, Jimbo informed me not to worry because, by his calculations, he was confident that I would make the cut. I tried to be polite, but I was seriously on edge. Then Jimbo informed me that the newspaper article that came out would help as well.
I looked at him as if he were from Mars. That’s when he handed me today’s edition of the school paper (which, regretfully, I hadn’t read). On the front page there was a little article about moi! The headline said, “The Fresh Face of Science.” It was a small blurb that said I was a freshman and I had an unusual approach to a science experiment and that there would be more to come in the next few weeks. I couldn’t read any more because Mr. Sekin came back on the P.A.
Mr. Sekin said sorry for the delay and said the next name was Bridget Joiner. I was so happy for her (even if she wasn’t speaking to me right now). We did it! Project Gamma Glamma had totally worked! It was fabulous. I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I knew that if I saw Bridge now, things would be different. And so I screamed for her.
And then the last name was called. Mine. I didn’t even recognize it because I went back to try to read the article again.
“Luz, I told you! I told you you’d make it!” screamed Jimbo. Again the class roared, “Geek! Geek! Geek!” But this time it was for me! It took a while for it to sink in, and I felt, well, honored. I couldn’t stop smiling. I felt kinda stupid and glorious at the same time.
Mrs. Franks finally spoke up: “Jim and Luz, congratulations. Go on down to the auditorium. But remember, you still have a vocabulary test tomorrow.”
I gathered all my stuff and crammed it into my backpack while Jimbo held the door for me. We ran down to the auditorium laughing and yelling.
When we finally arrived at the foyer outside the auditorium, a crowd of finalists from the other grades had emerged. I overheard someone say that the TV crew was starting to do interviews. So, I decided I had better run to the girls’ bathroom and do a quick makeover on myself. I pulled out some lip gloss and started to apply it without even looking in a mirror.
The bathroom was only quiet for a second before an elated Bridge bounced in. At first glance, we hugged each other and screamed. And did our little Gamma Glamma victory dance.
“We did it! We did it!” I announced.
“Yeah, I can’t believe that Gamma Glamma worked. It’s really happening,” Bridge said, sounding like her old self.
“Me neither.”
Then Bridge said, “Look, Luz, I’m sorry for the silent treatment. I’m not even supposed to be talking to you now. Venus got B-Dawg to ask me to Homecoming!”
“That’s great! I’m soo happy for you, Bridge.” And I meant it sincerely.
And then Bridge said, “But there’s more. At Venus’s party, Venus said that if I wanted to keep my date with B-Dawg I needed to campaign for her. And I also needed to stop talking with you. Luz, I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to do.”
I was a bit surprised, but at least now I knew what Venus had meant by her threats.
“We’re BFF, even undercover. It’s okay,” I said, finally able to put two and two together.
“No, it’s not,” Bridge jumped in. “I didn’t want to mess up your science experiment. And I didn’t want Venus to ruin it for you since we all worked so hard. And really, I just wanted to go to this dance with B-Dawg. It might be my only chance at a date like this. You know how I feel about him and ...”
Bridge started to turn on the waterworks.
“Bridge, don’t start now. This isn’t the time,” I reminded her.
“Junior High was the worst for me, Luz. But now, here, I’m at least skinnier and I’m in the science cluster and people think I’m smart. But all I ever wanted to do was to be pretty or just a little popular. And now, I am. And it really feels good. I’m not such an outsider now, Luz.”
I just nodded and listened.
“So, please help me out ... just for a little while ... until the dance. I can’t go through the next three years like I did in Junior High. I just can’t, Luz ...”
Bridge started the waterworks again. I knew what she was asking and it kinda burned, but we didn’t have time to get into it here. So, with my stern voice I ordered, “No tears! Bridge, you’re about to be on camera. Wash your face and get it together.”
As Bridge tried to clean up the crying damage, Venus slithered in and walked in front of Bridge to the nearby sink.
“So, what’s going on, finalists?” she hissed, tossing me a pointed stare. I stared right back at her, but from behind Venus, I saw Bridge’s eyes widen with a fear that totally screamed, “Help me!” Bridge was a mess at this point, and no gadget, potion, or serum was going to work for her now. So, I did what needed to be done.
“Fine, Bridge. If you’re refusing to talk to me because you’re in love with your plastic newfound friends, then that’s great! I officially don’t know you. Hate you. Mean it. Adios,” I huffed.
And then I stormed off as loudly as I could with my boots, which weren’t really that loud because they have rubber soles. And it was hard to even slam the bathroom door because it was on those slow-moving hinges. But, I’m pretty sure they got the gist.
Outside the door, I heard Venus in her so sarcastic voice ask, “What was that about?”
Bridge, who was still sniffling, faintly said, “I don’t know.”