First Date (12 page)

O
n Friday morning, Bryn knew it was time to pull out all the stops. Her goal was to secure a date to the dance before the school day ended. Whether it was with Jason or Harris made little difference to her. In fact, she was just about fed up with these flaky boys. One minute they were shamelessly flirting with her, and the next she heard rumors that they were fretting about letting old Worthington down. Well, this was high school, and Devon was right—it was supposed to be a time for fun. And she was ready for the fun to begin.

To this end, she had taken extra time to put herself together perfectly this morning. Every golden hair was in place, and she made sure to wear an outfit that showed off her best boy-attracting assets. Plus, she had a plan. She would play Jason against Harris, and if she was lucky, she would manage to get one of those boys jealous enough to do something. At least she hoped so. The dance was just a week away, and
this was getting ridiculous. Not to mention embarrassing. How was it that the two least likely girls—shy little Emma and Goody-Two-Shoes Cassidy—had both been asked to the dance? Meanwhile Bryn, Abby, and Devon were still standing on the sidelines. It was maddening.

“What’s up with you?” Abby asked as Bryn came striding through the locker bay toward her. “You look like you’re on the warpath or something.”

Bryn nodded. “You got that right.”

“Uh-oh. Who crossed you?”

“Mr. Worthington,” Bryn said quietly.

“Huh?” Abby looked around like she expected to see Mr. Worthington approaching.

“He’s totally brainwashed the boys,” Bryn whispered. “It’s just not fair. Today I plan to put an end to this no-dating nonsense.”

Abby laughed. “Hey, let me know when it’s going down. I so don’t want to miss this.”

“High noon,” Bryn told her. “And I’m bringing in the big guns.”

Abby’s brown eyes got bigger.

Bryn laughed. “Sorry. My dad was watching an old John Wayne flick last night.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Wait and see,” Bryn told her. “Watch and learn.” Holding her head high, Bryn waved to her friend and strutted off. Her goal was to imitate the persona of a confident, carefree celebrity. She knew this charade was bordering on the ridiculous, but she just couldn’t help herself. She’d cast herself into this role, and she was determined to play it out.

For the whole morning she kept up her bold act of flirtatious
self-assurance, and strangely enough, it seemed people were buying it. At least they were looking at her differently. And it felt pretty good. Maybe she should act like this all the time.

As fourth period ended, she wondered if she could actually pull this thing off. At the same time she didn’t really care, though—because she was having fun. As she was heading to the cafeteria, she spotted Harris coming out of the math department. “Hey, Harris,” she said in a flirty tone. “What’s up?”

He grinned as if he was pleased to see her. “Not much.”

She tossed a length of hair over her shoulder and showered him with her most sparkly smile as she pointed to his chest. “I sure like that shirt on you. Great color.”

“Thanks.” His eyes lit up as he looked at her. “Something about you seems different. I mean good different.”

“Thanks!”

Harris continued walking with her, making small talk, and she continued to flirt, until finally they were entering the cafeteria together. Perfect!

As they went inside she dissolved her smile. “I just feel so bad about something. I probably shouldn’t even mention it, though.”

“Bad?” He looked confused. “About what?”

“Well . . .” She stopped walking and turned to look at him. “I’d just really hoped that you were going to ask me to the homecoming dance. It would’ve been so fun to go with you.” She sighed. “But now you’re too late.”

He looked even more confused. “Too late?”

She shrugged. “Oh, it’s okay. I’m sure you’ll still have a good time. I know I will. Maybe someday . . .”

“But I—uh—I mean . . . I wasn’t even sure if I was going to the dance.”

She waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, never mind about it. I saw you today and I thought . . . well, I just wish things had worked out differently between us.” She smiled. “You know?”

He looked completely bewildered. “But I thought you were trying to set me up with Devon. Weren’t you—”

“It’s okay,” she assured him. “I understand.” Right then she spotted Jason entering the cafeteria. The timing couldn’t have been better.

“But if you still want to—”

“Hey, Jason,” she called out, waving.

“Hey,” he said as he joined them. “What’s up?”

“Not much.” She put a hand on Harris’s shoulder. “I was just telling Harris how I would’ve loved to have gone to the homecoming dance.”

Jason looked slightly confused now.

“But you
boys
.” She shook her head in a dismal way. “I just didn’t realize how Worthington has some of you under his thumb. Really, it’s kinda cute how loyal to him you are.” She gave them an impish smile. “Boring, yes, but it is sweet. And it’s helped me to realize I need to find a different kind of guy.” She reached over and stroked Jason’s cheek. “Too bad, huh?” She turned to walk away.

“Wait.” It was Harris calling out to her.

She turned back, giving him an innocent look. “What?”

He hurried over to her. “I’m not under Worthington’s thumb. I’d be glad to take you to the dance, Bryn.”

“Really?” She gave him a full-eyed look of adoration, like she’d hooked this fish and planned to reel him in.

“Yeah. Do you want to go with me?”

Jason came over now. “Wait a minute,” he said. “I thought Bryn was going to go to the dance with me. That’s what Abby has been leading me to believe.”

She tilted her head to one side. “If that’s what you thought, I wonder why you didn’t ask me sooner. I just assumed it was because you were letting Worthington call the shots.”

“Jason doesn’t care about the Worthington speech,” Harris said quickly. “Everyone knows that.”

Bryn frowned. “Oh?”

“Yeah.” Harris glanced at Jason as if he was unsure. “He was holding out for Amanda.”

“That’s a lie!” Jason shot back at him.

Harris held his hands up. “Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. That’s what I heard.”

“Well, it’s a lie.” Jason grabbed Harris by a shoulder.

“Easy, boys.” Bryn put a hand between them. “Let’s not make a scene, okay?”

“Just don’t go shooting your mouth off about things you don’t understand,” Jason said to Harris.

Bryn could tell by Harris’s eyes that he was a little scared. Jason was several inches and a lot of pounds bigger. Bryn’s heart softened toward Harris, and although she knew Devon would be furious, she decided she didn’t care. She pointed at Harris. “Well, since you asked first, I will be happy to go to the dance with you.”

Harris blinked in surprise. “Cool.”

Jason’s eyes narrowed, and it was obvious he was seething.

Pretending to be completely at ease, she placed a hand on his shoulder. “If you’re looking for a date for the dance, why don’t you talk to Devon?” she said gently. “I think you two could really hit it off.”

“Maybe I’ll do that,” he said gruffly.

Bryn turned back to Harris now. “I guess we can work out the details later. But just so you know, I’m looking forward to it.” She ran her hand down his arm as she gave him her most effervescent smile. He looked like he was about ready to melt. Perfect. She walked away, going over to the regular table where her DG friends were watching with dropped jaws.

“What did you just do?” Devon demanded.

Abby nodded to the chair next to her. “You said you were having a showdown at lunch today, but I thought you were kidding.”

“Harris looked totally smitten,” Emma said. “Are you going to the dance with him?”

“What about Jason?” Cassidy asked. “I thought you were supposed to be going with him.”

“Remember, these are the Dating
Games
,” Bryn said. “And the game plan has just changed.” She pointed at Devon. “FYI, I think Jason is going to ask you to the dance.”

Devon looked slightly flustered but not entirely unhappy.

“What did you do?” Emma asked. “What did you say?”

Bryn shrugged as she sat down, removing a lunch sack from her oversized bag. “I just used my head and my natural assets.”

The girls laughed.

“Seriously, I thought it all through,” she told them as she pulled out an apple. “I turned on the charm and turned up the heat, and voilà, it all fell into place.”

“But with Harris?” Devon shook her head. “Why?”

“The way I saw it, it was like I had to break open this dam—the Worthington dam—and I went for the weakest link. Turned out that was Harris.” She peered at Devon. “Come on, you told us before that you think Jason is hot.
Why don’t you do like I did? Use your wits and your good looks and nail a date with the boy.” Bryn laughed. “It’s not that difficult. Especially since I got him warmed up for you.”

“What about me?” Abby asked in a meek voice.

Bryn grinned at her. “Don’t worry. Now that I got Harris on board, it will be a cinch to get Kent. Trust me, before this day is over, you’ll have a date for the dance.”

“With Kent?” Abby looked uneasy.

Bryn shrugged. “Does it really matter? I mean, I thought I wanted to go with Jason, but I’m settling for Harris. The point was that we wanted to go to the dance, right? Maybe we shouldn’t be too picky about who’s taking us.”

Abby pursed her lips like she was considering this.

“I’ll do my best,” Bryn promised. She pulled a paperback from her bag. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to get some reading done before English.”

It was hard to concentrate on
A Farewell to Arms
now, but at least it provided a good distraction from answering questions from her friends. Bryn felt exhausted from her role-playing stint. Sure, it had been fun, but it was not an act she could keep up indefinitely.

However, as the day progressed, she was aware of the promise she’d made to Abby. Somehow she had to get Kent on board. To do this, she realized she would need help—and Harris would be her man.

“Hey, Harris,” she said, catching up with him after the final bell rang. “Can we talk?”

He looked slightly alarmed. “You’re not going to dump me already, are you?”

She laughed as she linked her arm into his. “Not at all.”

He looked relieved. “What do you want to talk about?”

“I need your help,” she said in the same tone she used on her dad when she wanted something.

“What can I do for you?” He seemed to square his shoulders and stand taller.

She smiled. “You’re good friends with Kent, right?”

“Yeah. Absolutely.”

“Well, Abby is my best friend, and it looks like she could be left out of going to the dance. Honestly, I don’t see how I could possibly have a good time if my best friend wasn’t there. You know?”

He nodded eagerly. “You want me to work on Kent?”

“Could you?”

“You bet. He owes me a favor anyway.”

She beamed at him. “Thanks so much, Harris. I’m so glad we got this all worked out. What if I’d had to go to the dance with a different guy?”

“That would’ve been a shame.” He explained that they had an away soccer game after school and he needed to hurry to catch the bus. “But I will get Kent on board. Count on it.”

“Let me know.” She held up her phone.

“You got it.”

Okay, so she hadn’t quite nailed it for Abby yet. Hadn’t she promised by the end of the day? Well, this day wasn’t over. As Bryn walked to her locker, she wondered if going to the dance was really worth this much effort. Oh, it would be fun and all. But if dating required so much time and energy, was it worth it? As she rounded a corner, she spied a familiar redhead—Devon—cozying up to Jason. For a moment, Bryn felt slightly jealous. After all, she was the one who was supposed to be going to the dance with Jason. But to be fair, she’d been the one who’d changed the game plan, so she
couldn’t complain. Still, Jason was awfully good looking. It irked her to see Devon so obviously flirting with him. That could’ve been Bryn.

Bryn held her head high as she sauntered past the two of them. She hoped that Jason would see her—and that he’d regret that he hadn’t acted sooner. Really, it was his loss.

She stopped by the restroom on her way, and before she emerged from the stall some senior girls came in. They were clustered at the sinks, probably primping, as they talked. “It figures Jason would be attracted to a girl like
that
,” a voice that sounded like Amanda was saying. “He’s been looking for a lowlife, and unless I’m mistaken, that redhead is just the ticket.”

“Ooh, sounds like sour grapes to me,” another girl said.

“It’s
not
sour grapes,” Amanda retorted. “I’ve already told you, I’m finished with him. That guy has one thing on his mind, and trust me, it’s not his brain that’s doing the thinking.”

They all laughed.

“He thinks girls are nothing more than sex objects,” Amanda continued. “Like we were put here on this earth simply to make him happy. Seriously, he is the most selfish guy on the planet.”

“Then how did you stay with him for so long?” a girl asked.

“Believe me, it wasn’t easy. That new girl—that skanky little redhead—well, she can have him. They probably deserve each other.”

Amanda and her friends were laughing as Bryn got ready to emerge from the stall, preparing herself to defend Devon. But before she could think of anything to say, it was obvious that the senior girls were leaving. Besides, Bryn wondered as
she washed her hands, what would she say? How well did she really know Devon? For all she knew, Devon could be exactly as Amanda had said.

After all, Bryn’s first impression of Devon had been that she was boy crazy. And everyone knew about first impressions—they were lasting. Besides that, Devon was the one who’d suggested their club in the first place. She was the one who was so hot to date. Of course, thinking about this just filled Bryn with more questions. If Devon really was that kind of girl, why had they allowed her to take the lead in creating the Dating Games club? Were they going to regret this later?