Emma knew that if she was going to make this work, it would take a village—or at least an entire show choir. She recruited several members of their club and asked them for a favor—a big favor—all in the name of romance. With the proper mood and setting, she would then dangle the treat under Jordie’s nose. Lyla agreed to help her (since she had saved her from having to dump Ty), and they figured out that the lockers before gym class would be the best place for them to corner Jordie.
“So, do you think you’ll star in the seventh-grade musical this year?” Lyla asked Jordie as they got ready for PE class.
“Of course!” she replied with a wave of her hand. “Once a star, always a star.”
Emma craned her head around the corner of the lockers. It wouldn’t be easy to play into Jordie’s ego, but she had to do it for her and Jax! “So I hear Ms. Otto is planning on doing Cinderella,” she informed them. “Winston told me.”
“Winston? How would he know?” Jordie said dismissively.
“Oh, he knows,” Lyla jumped in. “He always knows everything going on behind the scenes.”
“He told me that he told Ms. Otto he couldn’t think of anyone more perfect than you to play a princess,” Emma added.
Jordie stopped fixing her hair in the mirror. “He said that? About me?”
“He said no one else could even come close to topping you as Peter Pan last year. And he should know! He was the one who kept the spotlight on you the whole show.”
It was Lyla’s turn next: “Aw, that’s so sweet! Don’t you think, Jordie?”
Jordie mulled it over. “Winston? Sweet? I guess I never thought about it.”
“A boy like that is hard to find,” Emma added. “Someone who thinks you’re beautiful and talented.”
Jordie’s cheeks flushed. “He said I was talented? And beautiful?”
“He’s such a romantic!” Emma said, sighing. “I’m sure the girl he goes with to the dance is going to be showered in gifts and flowers.”
Jordie suddenly snapped out of her trance. “Girl? What girl?”
“Oh, I can’t say,” Emma continued. “As an advice blogger, I have to protect my client’s privacy.” She remembered her dad once telling her about the oath doctors take. What was it? “I can never break my Hypocritical Oath. I think that’s what it’s called. . . .”
“If you know who is asking Winston, you have to tell me,” Jordie said, shaking her.
“But why? Don’t you already have a date to the dance?” Lyla pointed out. “Aren’t you going with Jax?”
“You’re going with Jax?” Emma pretended to be surprised. “Wow. Good luck with that.”
“What do you mean? You like him,” Jordie said. “Everyone knows that.”
“Well, maybe I liked him when were on the Student Congress together. But that was before he told me I couldn’t order my favorite flavor of ice cream at Freddy’s. He always wants everything his way, and I don’t want to date a boy who bosses me around.” She didn’t like having to make things up about Jax, but she didn’t see any other options. Jordie had to see that Winston was a better choice.
“Wait!” Jordie cried. “I changed my mind. I don’t want to go with Jax to the dance.”
Emma tried hard not to laugh. “Really? Are you sure about that, Jordie? It might hurt Jax’s feelings.”
“Too bad! I am not going with a boy who’s bossy! I’ll ask Winston and of course he’ll say yes.” She snapped her fingers at Emma and Lyla. “Make it happen. Today.” She slammed her locker shut and stormed off into the gym.
“Whatever you say, Jordie,” Lyla called after her.
“Get her to the auditorium right after the last-period bell rings,” Emma instructed her. “I’ll do the rest.”
Winston had no idea what Emma had up her sleeve. All he knew was that she wanted the huge projection screen set up and ready to go with video highlights from Peter Pan. Now that the last period was over, she had to convince him that Jordie was the girl of his dreams—and she had about ten minutes to do it!
“Wasn’t Jordie amazing as Peter Pan?” she asked him as they fast-forwarded through the clips.
Winston blushed. “Well, yeah. I mean, Jordie is amazing in every show she does.”
“She told me she was so grateful for all you did for the production. She loved your lighting design.”
Winston pushed his glasses off the tip of his nose. “She did? She said that?”
“And she told me she felt so safe flying onstage, knowing you had her back.”
Winston gasped. “Seriously? She noticed me?”
“Noticed you? How could someone not notice you, Winston? You’re a really nice person, and you hold the whole show together!”
Winston’s eyes lit up. “Do you think Jordie thinks that? About me?”
Emma was trying her best not to embellish things too much—Jax had made her see the error of her past ways. “I think she could. If she opened her eyes and saw who you really are.”
Winston sighed. “No girl has ever liked me before.”
Emma glanced at the clock on the wall. “Winston, I need you to do me a little favor. Actually, it’s a favor for Jordie. In about five minutes, she’s coming in here to ask you to go with her to the Sadie Hawkins Dance.”
Winston suddenly looked confused—and terri-fied. “What? What do I do? Where do I go?”
She escorted him to the center of the stage. “You just pretend you have no idea what I just told you and I’ll run the video. Let Jordie do all the talking and you act surprised.”
“Surprised? I’m shocked!” Winston cried. “And I don’t like to be the center of attention. That’s why I’m always behind the scenes.”
“Well, that’s great,” Emma improvised. “Because Jordie loves to be in the spotlight. You stay right there and let her run the show.”
He had no time to argue—the choir began to file in and take their places onstage behind him.
“What’s going on here, Emma?” Winston whined. “I don’t like this!”
Next came Lyla leading Jordie down the aisle to the stage. And Emma noticed Jax sneaking in and taking a seat in the very back of the auditorium to watch her plan unfold.
Emma signaled the choir to start singing: “It’s not on any chart / You must find it with you heart / Never Neverland . . .”
“Listen,” Emma cooed in Jordie’s ear. “We got the choir to sing your song and set the mood.”
She then started the video on the screen: Jordie appeared on it, larger than life, in her Peter Pan costume. She was so mesmerized by her own image, Emma had to gently nudge her and remind her why she was there.
“Um, Jordie? You wanted us to get Winston here. Remember?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah,” Jordie said. “I was really good as Peter Pan, wasn’t I?”
Emma looked over at Winston and signaled for him to step forward and speak up.
“Um, you were great,” he told Jordie, shyly. “A real star.”
Jordie was about to fire off a quick proposal—but paused. “You think I’m a star?”
“Um, yes?” Winston replied.
Jordie actually looked touched—or maybe just a tiny bit smitten?
“Now would be a really good time to ask something,” Emma prodded her.
Jordie looked around at the stage full of singers and Lyla and Jax looking on. “I do—but I think I want to do it alone. Show’s over—everyone out!”
Winston nodded. “Okay, I’ll go then.”
“Wait! No!” Jordie said, taking him by the hand. “Not you. You stay.”
Emma hid behind the stage curtain, listening to the conversation unfold.
“So,” Jordie began, “Winston . . .”
“That’s my name.”
Jordie frowned. “It’s a nice name, I guess. Maybe a little stuffy. Has anyone ever called you Winnie?”
“Like Winnie the Pooh?” Winston replied. “Uh, no, not really.”
“Good! Then, I will! Winnie, do you want to go with me to the Sadie Hawkins Dance?”
Winston nodded again. “Um, yes.”
She breathed a huge sigh of relief. “Okay, good! I’ll email you the details of what you should wear and what gifts you should bring me on the night of the dance.” She paused a second and added quietly, “And thanks, by the way, for telling Ms. Otto I would make the perfect princess. That was sweet.”
Winston smiled nervously—he had no idea what she was talking about, but Jordie had just thanked him and told him he was sweet. “Oh, you’re welcome.”
Jordie quickly exited the auditorium just as Jax ducked down behind a seat so she wouldn’t spot him still there.
Emma popped out from behind the curtain. “What just happened?” Winston asked her in disbelief.
“I got you a date for the dance with Jordie—and you’re gonna have an amazing time, Winnie the Pooh Bear!” Emma told him.
Winston couldn’t stop smiling. “I’m going to the dance. With Jordie! Wow!”
Jax raced down the aisle to the stage. “Emma, you did it! You actually did it. That was incredible.”
It was pretty incredible, if she did say so herself. Things were actually going perfectly! Now, she had the dance in a week to look forward to—with Jax as her date.