* * * * *
During lunch, Caera was just sitting down to a tray of steak fingers and mashed potatoes when she saw Brian Goodman approaching, his complacent smile firmly affixed to his face. Actually, approaching was not quite the word Caera would have used. Brian swaggered confidently over to Caera, Claudia, and Ana's table and plopped himself into an empty chair.
"So, uh, Caera, I hear you're having a party this Christmas..." he began, beaming his irresistible grin while giving Caera a look that would melt butter. "Well?" Brian continued after a short pause.
"Bad news travels fast." Caera said, looking away to where Claudia was paying for her lunch. As she turned back to Brian, he gave her a hurt look.
"Okay, okay." Caera said, smiling in spite of the fact that she wasn't pleased about the way Claudia had given the word out about the Campbell Christmas Party this year. "You've cut me to the quick, Briney boy. The party's on the eighteenth."
"Great. So I can come?" Brian asked, moving so Claudia could sit down.
"Sure, all right, but you were gonna be invited, anyway. In fact, you and your whole family are invited. Our parents are inviting families, too." She explained.
"Marie Summit said something about dressing up or something..." Brian turned around to give Claudia a winsome smile as she shot Caera a puzzled look.
"What's going on?" Claudia asked, breaking into a smile as she looked at Brian and fumbled for her straw.
"Just lay on the charm..." Caera thought to herself, reflecting on how some people used their charisma as a weapon. Brian knew he could always get his way if he decided to be charming.
"Yeah, well, it's a costume party, so everyone's coming in fancy dress." She turned back to Brian.
"Well, I'm sure I won't have any problems finding something to wear." Brian said, combing a hand through his short brown hair.
"Of course, since when aren't you sure about anything?" Caera asked sarcastically and batted her eyelids sweetly.
"I guess you're right about that." Brian said. "Boy, you've really got me figured out, doncha, Caera?" he laughed, got up to leave, and slapped her on the back. "Catcha later, Caera!" He said as he returned to his table.
As Caera made her way to class after lunch, she was wondering how she had managed to stagger away from P.E. to the cafeteria. She hadn't realized or felt it right away when she pulled a muscle in her leg; it was just as she was putting on her shirt that her calf had begun to hurt.
Walking into French class, Caera was greeted by Mrs. Winters, whose broad pearly smile disintegrated into a worried frown as Caera hobbled to her desk. Though Caera would have liked to accept Mrs. Winters' suggestion that she visit the school nurse, she had a feeling that Mrs. MacAllister, affectionately known as "Old Ironsides", was already sick of seeing her face. Twice on Friday Caera had to go in to receive the last two dosages of medicine prescribed by her family's doctor, Dr. Windlebume.
Secretly, Caera suspected that the twice-divorced Mrs. MacAllister relished the times when she had the clinic all to herself; not only did she not have to bother with sick students, but she could carry on prolonged conversations with Mr. Jenson, the school's unmarried principal, who, in Caera's opinion, probably had nothing better to do.
Claudia came into the room just then, followed by Michael Goodman and Elizabeth Atkinson. Claudia sat down with a squeal as the other students began coming in,
"Aren't you excited, Caera? Only one more day after today and we'll be free!" Normally, this was an opportunity for them both to exclaim as an injoke, "Thank God almighty, we're free at last!" and laugh, but Caera wasn't in the mood to celebrate. And it wasn't just her leg that was bothering her...
Mrs. Winters called attention to the lesson a few minutes later, something which was usually hard to do, but today she had an exciting announcement to make.
"We're having a French exchange student next week until we break up for the Christmas holidays. His name is Francois Rochard. Now, I'm going to have to ask a couple of you to show him around the school and be his friend while he's here. He speaks very good English according to his resume. I think this will be an excellent opportunity for several of you to improve your French oral skills as well as make a new friend. Oh, and I'll need a place to put him up while he's here. Do I have any volunteers?''
Caera sighed. The real question wasn't if anyone would volunteer, but will the said volunteers score in Mrs. Winters' brownie point book? At least, Caera thought, that was the question all the suck-ups were asking themselves. The problem was, if anyone offered to show this Francois guy around, Mrs. Winters would probably try to pressure the poor, unfortunate soul into taking him in for a week, or worse, two. And a very persuasive person was Mrs. Winters. No one would be stupid enough to—
"Mrs. Winters, we wouldn't mind showing him around." Claudia suggested innocently. Mrs. Winters instantly rewarded her and Caera with a smile as bright as a flash on a camera.
Where did the 'we' come from?" Caera was wondering as Mrs. Winters asked if anyone was willing to take Francois in, noticeably glancing in the twins' direction. After a few minutes of silence, Mrs. Winters said rather disappointedly,
"Well, I hope you'll all let me know tomorrow if it's okay with any of your parents. I can give all of the particulars tomorrow to anyone who's interested."
Caera was glad when French class was over fifty minutes later. It wasn't that she disliked French; actually, she usually enjoyed it, and Mrs. Winters, despite her rather frosty sounding name, was warm and one of her nicest teachers. It was just that she already had enough to worry about, and Francois Rochard was definitely not on the top of the list.
François
The next day at school, a sense of excitement permeated the air, no doubt because of the Thanksgiving holidays. Claudia wondered whether or not everyone was feeling thankful in the true sense of the word, or if they were just glad to be missing three days of school, but then it didn't take much of a genius to figure that out.
In any case, everyone was in a good mood, for a real change, including the teachers. Even Mr. Hoffmeyer was in comparatively good spirits, assigning only three chapters to read in the history book over the holidays. For once, and for perhaps the first time ever, he wasn't wearing an old brown suit; instead, he strode across the room in mock seriousness (or was it?) in a black suit in the tradition of the Pilgrim fathers, and on his head sat a paper Pilgrim hat that some faceless, nameless student of his had made for him years before. At least the class was interesting, Caera mused as Todd Miller wedged his way out of the classroom, laughing with a group of his friends,
"Man, did ya gettaloada that geddup?"
Of even more interest, all the classes of the day were cut in half, so that they wouldn't miss the afternoon classes when the special Thanksgiving surprise that the teachers had planned began after lunch. In French, Mrs. Winters was overjoyed to hear that Emily Miles was offering to shelter the exchange student for two weeks. (And she was relieved that she wouldn't have to put him up in her house during his stay.) No one was surprised by this revelation, but Claudia was interested to know if anyone outside the immediate family could survive two weeks in the same house with Emily.
As for Mrs. Johnson, she decided to take a break from teaching that day in science and watch a film, and despite the holidays, she wasn't budging an inch on the school's policy about talking or chewing gum, or taboo of taboos--sleeping when the lights were low.
When Caera and Claudia got to English, they were astonished to learn that Mrs. Smith, the stout and robust, was absent. In her place was a substitute teacher, fresh from college, who neglected the participial pronouns for one day and led a discussion on the meaning of life.
Finally, it was lunchtime, and when the doors were thrown back, it looked like flood gates opening. Caera took one whiff of the smell of her lunch tray and reminded herself to go straight to the cafeteria after P E. on the last day before Christmas.
After lunch, e
veryone went to the gym, where the teachers had been planning their surprise. As the entire school filed in, Claudia, Ana, and Caera attempted to stick together and found a spot to sit on the floor. Principal Jenson stood up on the stage that was adjacent to the gym and announced over the loudspeaker that the high school drama class had prepared a special skit with a theme of giving to commemorate the holiday. Everyone stared blankly, that is, until the teachers started clapping and giving overt instructions that they were expected to join in. The curtains of the stage pulled back to reveal Erica Miles and Jason Robinson, and soon the applause thundered in earnest.