Hilton opened the message, then peered at Jill’s computer. “Oh, sweet, look. It still shows up as unread on her computer, even though I opened it on mine.”
“Oh, yes, oh, yes,” Lorylyn breathed. “Let’s just pray he didn’t notice his name was on the Online list twice.”
The girls looked at each other, and suddenly they all burst out laughing.
“Oh my gosh,” Hilton said, covering her mouth to try to stay quiet. “That was kinda fun!”
Lorylyn suddenly felt a rush at having gotten away with it. She laughed even harder. “Thanks, you guys. I feel better now. I wish we could hang out every day during SRT! At least then while Brady’s emailing Brooke I’d be having fun too.”
chapter 3) the best time of our lives
“Ooh, I love this one!” Hilton said, holding up a long red dress. “This is so the one. I hope they have it in my size.” She began browsing through the rack.
“So has Landon officially asked you to the dance yet?” Lorylyn asked as she walked from rack to rack, touching a dress here and there.
“Yeah, he asked me last week.” Hilton smiled happily. “I think I’m kinda ready to make it official, you know? We’ve been dating for a long time now. He’s just so perfect.” She ducked her head to hide her silly smile.
“Jill, what about you?” Lorylyn asked. “When the hell is Todd gonna ask you?” She smiled.
Jill rolled her eyes. “He’s probably not,” she said. “I mean, I don’t know of anyone else he wants to ask or anything, but he probably just won’t go again, like last year.” She looked at Hillary out of the corner of her eye, hoping Hillary had talked to Dirk like she’d said she would a few weeks ago.
Hilton saw Jill glance in Hillary’s direction and cut in. “Hey, Hill, have you heard from Dirk if Todd’s gonna ask anyone, or what?”
Jill sent a silent thank you Hilton’s way, and Hilton smiled at her.
“Oh, shit! I completely forgot to ask! I’m so sorry, Jill. I’ll ask him tonight, I promise.”
Jill turned back to Hilton and rolled her eyes. How could Hillary forget?! This was so important to Jill, and Hillary didn’t even seem to realize it. She’s so caught up in her own freaking life she doesn’t even have time to think about her friends, Jill thought bitterly. “It’s fine, whenever,” she mumbled. She was eager to know, but scared at the same time, because what if Todd wasn’t planning on going, or he had someone else in mind to ask? Then any little bit of hope Jill had would be gone.
“Is there anyone else you wanna go with, Jill?” Lorylyn asked.
“Um...” Jill flashed a small smile at Hilton, who already knew the answer. “I’d go with Detter, I guess.”
“Ahh!” Lorylyn squealed. “I knew it! You’re always dancing with him at dances!”
“I’ve only danced with him like twice,” Jill said, trying to downplay it. After the first dance when Landon had made her and Detter dance together, Jill had asked him to dance one other time, just a couple weeks ago. She talked to him a lot in geography, just about random, casual things, and she was pretty sure he wasn’t dating anyone. So she’d seen him at the drinking fountain just as one of the slow songs had come on, and on impulse she’d grabbed his arm and said, “Come on, Detter, let’s dance.” She felt a lot more confident with him than she would with a cute guy her own age, just because he was younger. It had been a lot of fun dancing with him again, but it had just been a friendly dance, and they’d stood several inches apart with their arms loosely around each other. Jill still found him attractive, but she would never even consider dating him because she liked Todd way too much. If Todd wasn’t going to the Homecoming dance though, she definitely wouldn’t mind going with Detter.
“That’d be so cute!” Lorylyn said. “You should go with him if you don’t go with Todd!”
“Yeah, well the dance is in two weeks,” Jill said. “I just wish I knew if Todd was gonna ask me or not! But if he doesn’t, then should I ask Detter? Ahhh, I don’t know if I could do that!”
“Well, hopefully you won’t have to,” Hilton said. “ ‘Cause Todd will get his shit together and ask you.”
Jill made a hopeful face at Hilton, then stopped as she spotted a long dark green silky dress with rhinestones outlining the halter V-neck. “Oh my gosh, you guys, look at this one! I love it!” She grabbed it off the rack and held it up, twirling from side to side. She could just imagine herself in this dress, with the low sexy V-neck, dancing with Todd. She closed her eyes for a moment as she pictured it, then smiled. “This is the one! Let’s go try them on, Hilton!”
***
The next afternoon Jill called Hillary. “I was just wondering if you found out anything from Dirk, you know, about Todd,” she said, so nervous for the answer that her heart was racing.
“Oh, well I asked him, and he said he had asked Todd awhile ago if he was going, and Todd said he probably would go but he didn’t know yet. And that’s all Dirk knew.”
“So Todd didn’t say who he was gonna ask or anything?”
“No, Dirk didn’t really know anything. I can have him try to find out though, if you want.”
“No, whatever, don’t worry about it. It’s not a big deal,” Jill said with a sudden feeling of despair. It wasn’t looking like it was going to work out to go with Todd. Hillary was worthless; shouldn’t it be obvious Jill would want her to try to have Dirk find out, and maybe even hint to Todd that he should ask Jill? Why did she always get her hopes up like this? She’d told herself not to, and she hadn’t realized until this moment just how much she had.
“Okay, well I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Hillary said.
“Bye,” Jill replied listlessly.
***
“So, do you have a date for the Homecoming dance yet?” Jill asked Detter Tuesday in geography. She’d decided she might as well try to feel things out here since it was seeming more and more hopeless with Todd.
“Yeah, I’m going with Arden Worthington,” Detter said.
Jill tried to hide her surprise and disappointment. “Oh, that’s cool,” she said casually. She knew who Arden was; she was friends with some of the freshman cheerleaders. She was really pretty. Jill felt completely hopeless now. What the hell was she going to do if Todd didn’t ask her?! She probably wouldn’t even have a date. Even Bennett already had a date; he’d asked Kelsey, the freshman cheerleader. Jill thought it was really cute, and she hoped maybe they’d start dating, and it’s not like she had any interest in Bennett other than just that he’d be someone she could go with as friends. But this was awful!
“Who are you going with?” Detter asked.
It took Jill a minute to even realize he’d spoken. She snapped out of her trance. “Oh, um, I don’t know yet.” Now she looked like a huge loser. Great.
“Aren’t you like, dating Todd Blake?”
Jill looked at him in surprise. “Oh, no, we’re just friends.” She couldn’t believe Detter had thought they were dating. That was awesome! She wondered if other people thought that too. Had Detter seen them walking in the halls, or at lunch? Or by the coat check counter in the morning? She was dying to know what had made him think that.
“Oh, sorry, I thought you guys were dating.”
“Oh, no...no problem.” Jill flashed him an awkward smile, then turned back to her notebook, her thoughts swirling.
***
“Bye!” Jill called to Lorylyn after school. “See you in a few minutes!” They’d walked to Jill’s locker together after Algebra II, and Lorylyn was continuing on to her own locker to meet Brady.
Jill gripped her Algebra II book in one hand and spun her lock with the other one. The combination didn’t work on the first try. “Damn it!” she mouthed, irritated. It hadn’t been the greatest day, and she really just wanted to get the hell out of here. She wished she didn’t have to go to cheerleading practice, but maybe Hillary would’ve heard something from Dirk. Probably not though, unless Dirk had volunteered the information, since Hillary probably
wouldn’t think to ask.
Jill glared at her locker as she spun the combination again and finally jerked the door open. She shoved her book onto the top shelf and put her backpack down to load her homework into it.
Where the hell is Hilton? she wondered as she gathered up her backpack again and reached into her locker for her cheerleading bag. She was usually here by now. Landon had to go straight to practice after school, so Hilton always met him for just a minute, then came to Jill’s locker. Then they walked to Hilton’s locker, and Hilton drove them around to the back parking lot for practice.
Jill slammed her locker door shut and glanced down the hallway to see if Hilton was coming yet. Instead she saw Todd.
He looks so hot, she thought as he approached with a wave and a grin. He was wearing black flip-flops with baggy khaki shorts and a long-sleeved green shirt that buttoned up the front. He had the sleeves rolled up so that they came down just below his elbows, and the shirt had thin black vertical stripes on it. His hair hung across his face and eyes as always. He looked casual in a preppy way and sexy and tan.
“Hey,” Jill said, returning his smile and feeling the best she had all day. “What’s up?”
Todd stopped in front of her and glanced around, suddenly looking a little nervous. He put his hands in his pockets. “Um, so I was just gonna see if you wanted to go to the dance with me?”
Jill stared at him as she broke into a grin. How cute was that?! He’d been nervous!
He glanced at his feet now, then back up at her, his hands still in his pockets. Jill suddenly noticed that he’d grown a couple inches since last year, and she had to look up a lot when she looked at him. He was probably at least six feet now.
“Of course I’ll go with you,” she said, then shoved him lightly in the shoulder. “What, did you think I was gonna say no?”
Todd shrugged and grinned at her. “I don’t know. Shut up, okay? It’s not like I ask girls to go to dances with me all the time.”
“Yeah, no kidding, since you didn’t even go last year,” Jill said, then stuck her tongue out at him. She wanted to jump up and down. She was afraid all of a sudden she was going to wake up and this would have been a dream. “Wait,” she said suspiciously as a thought occurred to her. “Why isn’t Hilton here yet? Did she know you were coming to ask me?”
“Yeah, she knew, I think. Landon and Dirk made me do it today. I was gonna ask you anyway though. I was just gonna do it later this week or something.”
“Jeez, make me wait till the last minute! What if I would’ve gotten asked by somebody else? Or what if I would’ve asked someone?” Jill stuck her nose in the air, trying to look haughty. She silently thanked Hilton and felt a little guilty about being so pissed at Hillary, because it sounded like maybe Hillary had said something else to Dirk after Jill had called her Sunday.
“I don’t know, I guess I woulda been fucked then,” Todd said, grinning and putting his arm around Jill’s neck as they started walking down the hallway.
“Yep, I guess so.”
Just then they passed Detter. Jill looked at him out of the corner of her eye, and he smiled a little and raised his eyebrows as if to say, Oh, you’re not dating?
Jill smiled happily to herself. She loved making people wonder about her and Todd.
“Well, I’m glad you said yes,” Todd said playfully as they reached the hallway where Jill would have to turn to walk down to the locker room. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” He squeezed her tighter for a second, then let go and ruffled her hair. “Bye, Jilly.”
“Bye, Todd.” Jill smiled and waved, then turned and walked down the hall as fast as she could without running.
As soon as she walked into the locker room, Hilton and Lorylyn and Hillary all squealed and ran up to hug her.
“I guess we don’t even have to ask if he did it,” Hilton said with a giggle. “We can tell just by looking at your face!”
Jill grinned even more widely and ducked her head, a little embarrassed.
“Yay, I’m so excited now!” Hilton cried. “We all have dates, and we can all sit at a table together! And Landon wants us to all go over there afterwards. To the lake cottage.” She grinned suggestively at Jill. “How fun is that gonna be?!”
“Ahhh!” Jill squealed. “That’s awesome! Yay! I’m so excited!” She hugged Hilton, then turned to hug Hillary and Lorylyn as well. “Thanks, you guys, for talking to Landon and Dirk.”
Hilton shrugged. “He was gonna ask you anyway. He told Landon that a couple weeks ago. We just wanted to hurry him along a little.” She smiled and hugged Jill again excitedly, bouncing a little. “See, isn’t this awesome?! He was gonna ask you, so you really didn’t even need our help!”
Jill smiled back giddily. She really couldn’t believe it...he’d actually been planning to ask her. Everything was turning out just the way it was supposed to now...
***
“I can’t believe Dirk and I are on Homecoming Court!” Hillary squealed a week later as the girls left French class.
The Princes and Princesses had been revealed on the morning announcements at the end of first period, and Jill couldn’t believe it either. She’d been surprised when Hillary even made the top five after the first round of voting. Jill had voted for Hilton in the second round, and for her second pick, she’d debated between Hillary and Paige Largo, who’d been a Princess last year. She felt horrible even considering voting for Paige instead of Hillary, but she knew she’d be jealous if Hillary made the Court. Hillary had blown her off so many times in the last year, and she didn’t think Hillary really deserved it. Mostly, she was upset that Hillary had made the top five and she hadn’t. Finally she’d decided just to not vote for anyone else besides Hilton. She’d only voted for one boy too, because she didn’t want to choose between Nick Castle, Paige’s boyfriend, and Dirk. So she’d voted for Riley Russell, a really funny guy who’d been Hilton’s partner on the Court last year. All the other people on the ballot had been ones she didn’t know too well.
“It’ll be so fun!” Hillary continued. “Me and Dirk and you and Riley! Too bad you can’t walk with Landon.”
“It’s okay, I don’t care,” Hilton said. “He’ll probably be with Lindy again.”
“Yeah, so look who that leaves to be with Brady again,” Lorylyn said irritably. “Surprise, surprise. How does she freaking get voted for?”
“Have you checked his email again?” Jill asked curiously.
Lorylyn glanced around anxiously. “Sshh!”
“Oh, sorry!”
“Yeah, I did check it once last week, but there was nothing there. He’d deleted everything again, even the one we saw that day in the library. And I can’t get on from home ‘cause we don’t have Internet, and I can’t really check it at school that much ‘cause I have to be totally by myself when I do it.”
“I can check it from home if you want me to,” Hilton said.
“No, it’s okay,” Lorylyn sighed. “I just don’t think I really wanna know. Plus, that project’s over now, so at least even if they’re still emailing each other, they’re not meeting outside of school anymore. And Brady came over every night last week except one, and things are going good, so I’m just not gonna worry about it for now.”
“Okay,” Hilton said hesitantly, as if she wasn’t sure that was the best decision. “Whatever you wanna do. But let me know if you want me to check it for you.”
“Okay, thanks.”
“So what are you wearing for the Court?” Hillary asked Hilton, and Jill rolled her eyes, not wanting to hear any more about how Hillary was a Princess.
“Umm...” Hilton said thoughtfully. “Probably like a long black skirt and heels, and then a cute shirt or something.”
“I don’t have a long black skirt. Do you think a short one is okay?”
“Yeah, I’m sure that’d be cute.”
“Aahhh!” Hillary giggled, clapping her hands. “Dirk and I are like the new Nick and Paige!”
Yeah, Jil
l thought sarcastically. They’ve been together five years, you’ve been together one; that’s the same.
***
“Hey, Brooke, congrats on Homecoming Princess,” a girl said the next day at lunch as she passed Brooke and Jill’s table.
“Oh, thanks!” Brooke called with a sweet smile.
“I can’t believe they paired you with Brady again,” Ashley said, wrinkling her nose. “That totally sucks. Do you even talk to him anymore?”
“Oh, yeah, it’s cool,” Brooke said easily. “We just did a Spanish project together, so we’ve been talking more lately. We’re getting along fine. It’s no big deal. I figured we’d be paired together if we both made it, ‘cause we have been every other year so far. I think it’s just ‘cause we look better together, and Lindy and Landon look better together, ‘cause they’re both blond.”
Jill had to agree with that; Brady and Brooke looked perfect together, with their dark hair and dark eyes and the sexy chemistry that sizzled between them whenever they were near each other. Jill couldn’t really explain what it was, because it wasn’t always the same. When she first met them, it had been looks they shared; after Brady started dating Lorylyn, it had just been something in their body language. Jill didn’t really know if anyone else saw it, and she didn’t think it was anything Brady and Brooke did on purpose, but it was definitely there. Jill was jealous of it, and she’d always wished she had it with Todd. Sometimes, like the night they’d snuck out in California, or the day they’d hidden in the pantry together, she could feel a little bit of it with him, but not always.
“Is Matt jealous?” Ashley asked with a grin.
“No.” Brooke smiled back. “He didn’t wanna be a Prince ‘cause he’d have to come right from the football field, and he’d be all sweaty and stuff. He said he wouldn’t wanna do that to me, and he was glad I was with Brady again. He and Brady are like pretty good friends, so it’s cool. Plus, it’s not like it means anything. It’s just Homecoming Court. We’ll be together for like two seconds.”
***