Snowed in Together (5 page)

I glanced at Ellyce. She quickly looked away. She must've thought I was a doofus. A total doofus.

Chapter Six

Luckily, the light dawned. "We won't starve," I said.

"Why's that?" Jeff asked.

"The kitchen," I said. "I mean, okay, so it's cafeteria food. But at least we eat."

"Yeah," Tony said. "We could break into the kitchen easy."

"Well … we thought about that," Ms. Tenray said. She exchanged worried looks with Korman. "But the food deliveries are on Mondays. There's probably nothing there."

"There must be something," I said. "We can at least check it out." I guess looking out for Dad and me since Mom left must've made me forceful when it came to my own survival.

"I'm with Wes," Ellyce said.

I'm with Wes … I'm with Wes … My heart gave a little thump.

"Yeah!" The others shouted in unison. "The kitchen!"

"Well …." Ms. Tenray pursed her full lips. "I guess we could investigate." She looked at Mr. Korman. "Don't you think?"

"All right," Korman agreed reluctantly. "But only if we can get into the kitchen without doing any damage."

I smothered a laugh. We could starve, but we couldn't damage part of the school. "I think Mr. Glenn would forgive us," I said. I mean, I didn't have a reserve of fat to draw on, and I was not about to sacrifice my life for a door.

As we headed for the cafeteria, I noticed Tiffany nibbling on one of the chocolate bars. "Hey! Put that away!" I commanded. "We might need that later."

"Sorry …." Tiffany blushed as she slipped the candy bar back into her tote bag. "I wasn't thinking."

Weird. Yesterday I hadn't ever said one word to Tiffany. Suddenly I was telling her what to do. This was not the natural order of things.

"Ack!" Just before we reached the kitchen, Cari pointed down the hall to an outside door. "It looks worse than ever."

She was right. The snow was so thick, you'd think someone had hung a sheet across the door.

I knew for sure we just had to find some food in the kitchen. I jiggled the doorknob. Locked. But, except for the office, the inside doors were as old as the building, and I was pretty sure the locks were not what you'd call sturdy. "Hey, Tiffany. Do you have something thin and sharp in that tote bag?"

"I'll look." Tiffany set her bag on the floor and stared to search.

It was funny how quickly I'd adapted to talking to Tiffany. Maybe it was because I didn't have the entire school as an audience. Too bad Tony was so interested in her, 'cause suddenly I could picture myself having a more than satisfactory relationship with her, physically anyway.

Now, deep down I wanted more. I wanted love and commitment and all that stuff that guys never talk about. I knew Ellyce was the girl I could really get serious about in that way.

But I could hardly get up the nerve to look at Ellyce. And there was Tiffany, her round, fully-packed body jiggling so nicely as she hunted through her tote bag. She just looked so … so inviting.

"Look what I found in my bag!" Ellyce said suddenly. Her green eyes sparkled as she pressed a safety pin into my hand.

All thoughts of a relationship with Tiffany, physical or otherwise, suddenly blipped off the computer screen of my imagination. An electric current surged from Ellyce's fingers to the palm of my hand, up my arm and straight to my heart. I felt myself blush all over. My breathing got slow and heavy.

"I hope it'll work," Ellyce said. A thoughtful smile curved her rosy lips.

"We'll make it work." I gasped for air, until I realized she meant it was the safety pin she hoped would work, not us as a couple. I cleared my throat. "Um, I mean, I'll make it work." I quickly turned and concentrated on the doorknob, in part to hide the fact that my face was turning redder than a July sunset.

Since the lock was old, I figured it wouldn't be too tough to crack. But I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing, either. I mean, I didn't go around picking locks. Something told me that small, deliberate movements would work better than brute force. So I cautiously joggled the safety pin in the lock until I heard a soft "click."

I tried turning the knob. It worked, and the door swung open.

“A dude of many talents!" Tony slapped my back and sent me halfway across the kitchen.

Everyone poured into the room and started checking cabinets and the refrigerator for food. What we found didn't exactly whet the appetite, even though our stomachs were sending audible message of hunger.

"Powdered milk, powdered eggs, cooking oil and grated cheese?" Ms Tenray said. "That's it?"

"Looks that way," Korman said.

“We'll starve!" Cari sounded like one of those high-pitched little dogs skanky celebrities carry around as accessories.

"We also have chocolate and cheese curls," Tiffany reminded us.

"We could try to make a meal out of what we found," Ellyce said in a soft, silvery voice.

"Don't look at me, girl," Tiffany said. "I don't even make toast."

"I don't cook e-either," Cari said, struggling to control a quaver in her voice.

Jeff and Tony echoed similar sentiments.

Ms. Tenray and Mr. Korman stood there looking profoundly embarrassed. Finally, Korman said, "I eat out a lot."

"Me, too," Tenray confessed.

"I can cook," Ellyce said. "I certainly had to often--I mean, I'll see what I can do."

I got up the nerve to say, "I can cook, Ellyce." Ellyce. I actually said her name out loud, to her.

Ellyce gave me a smile of something approaching relief. "Any ideas on what we should fix?"

"Well …." I thought for a moment. "I'm not exactly used to working with ingredients and utensils made for serving three hundred people, but maybe we could make some sort of omelet."

"Good idea!" Ellyce said. Her smile lit up my world.

Next thing, Ellyce and I were tossing out orders. Soon the kitchen hummed with activity. I worked a few dismal experiments in combining powdered milk, powdered eggs, grated cheese and water until we developed a mixture that looked as if it might actually cook up into something edible.

When I looked up and saw everyone huddled around the grill, sniffing the air and licking their lips, I figured Ellyce and I had done something right.

"Think this is ready?" Ellyce leaned close and looked me straight in the eyes.

Being so close to her and seeing her beautiful green eyes focused directly on me,
me
, made me think that maybe there was a chance, however small, that a girl like Ellyce could be interested in a guy like me, from a family, or what was left of it, like mine. I would've fantasized about the possibilities, but she was waiting for an answer. I checked out the omelet. "It looks less like an omelet and more like scramble eggs having a bad day, but I think it's ready."

Ellyce laughed, and said, "True."

I hardly noticed what she said. She'd laughed at my joke!

"Is the milk ready, Tiffany?" Ellyce asked.

Tiffany peered into the pitcher of milk she'd been assigned to make. "Er, I think it's still kinda lumpy."

"Lumpy milk?" Tony laughed.

Tiffany threw him a
shut-up
look, and Tony froze in mid-laugh.

"Okay. Idea." Jeff pulled a strainer out of a cabinet, and another pitcher. He handed the strainer to Tiffany. "We can strain the milk into this pitcher. That'll get rid of the lumps."

"Thank you, Jeff." Tiffany gave him a big smile and an arm touch, which Jeff didn't seem to notice, but Tony certainly did.

Cari stared at Jeff with her big, round eyes as if he were a hero.

That
Jeff noticed. He actually puffed up with pride.

Once the milk transfer was complete, Ellyce and I served up the eggs. When we were done, we served ourselves.

"Well … it smells good," Ellyce said, surveying her plate.

"That's half the battle," I said. Suddenly, I realized that everyone else had headed to the cafeteria and the two of us were alone together. If only I could think of something to say. You know, some romantic, witty remark that would make Ellyce fall into my arms. But, tragically, my mind was a blank.

Finally, Ellyce said, "I guess we should go eat in the cafeteria."

"Oh. Uh. Sure," was my brilliant reply. I followed Ellyce, hoping maybe I could sit next to her. There was always the possibility that Divine Intervention would supply me with something remarkable to say.

The tables in the cafeteria were lined up in rows end-to-end, so there would've been plenty of room for us to sit next to each other and still be with the others. But Ellyce walked around to the side where Cari, Tiffany and Ms. Tenray sat.

I reluctantly took a seat across from them with Tony, Jeff and Mr. Korman. I was just thinking we must've looked like we were lined up for some battle-of-the-sexes reality show, when Jeff said, "These eggs are good!"

Everyone else quickly joined in the praise."

"My compliments to the chefs," Tiffany said.

"A toast." Tony hoisted his glass of milk, and the others followed.

"Even the milk is good," Jeff said.

Tiffany beamed.

"I wish we had some coffee, or something hot to drink," Korman said. "It's cold in here--"

"Ow." Ms. Tenray squirmed in her chair.

I hesitated, then asked, "Um … Ms Tenray, are you okay?"

"It's nothing," she said quickly. "I must've just bruised my … myself when I fell on the sidewalk earlier."

In a microsecond, Korman raced around the tables and kneeled at Ms. Tenray's side. "Leslie, are you sure you didn't break a bone?"

"Oh, Charlie. Don't worry." Tenray smiled. "I'm sore, but no sharp pain or anything. I'll be fine. When I was growing up in
Connecticut
, I fell on icy sidewalks more than once. Aside from some black and blue marks, it was no big deal."

"You're from
Connecticut
?" Korman blinked with surprise. "What town?"

"
Essex
."

"I grew up in Old Lyme!"

"Well, for … do you still have family back there?"

"Yes," Korman said. "Parents, sister--"

Next thing, Korman and Tenray were yakking about
Connecticut
. It made me wish that I'd discover that Ellyce and I had something like that in common.

Suddenly, there was a loud
C-R-R-R-E-A-K
.

"What's that?" Tony said.

Cari gasped. "It sounds like the roof is caving in!"

There was a long uneasy silence. I pictured the roof collapsing on us from the weight of the snow. Buried alive in school, of all places. What miserable way to go.

"I bet it was one of the old maple trees," Jeff said. "A branch probably broke off."

Ms. Tenray eyed the ceiling. Not a single tile was out of place. "Th-that must be it," she said. "A tree branch."

It was then I noticed Korman's hands were wrapped around Ms. Tenray's. Why hadn't I just followed Ellyce around to the other side of the table. I could be comforting her. Better yet, she could be comforting me. My fantasy machine started going into high gear.

Suddenly, there was another
c-r-e-a-k
. Not as loud as before, but still, everyone flinched.

"Maybe I should go see if I can figure out what's going on," Korman said. He walked over to the windows, leaned close to the glass and peered out. "I can't see much, but it looks as if the wind is--"

There was a huge, sudden
CREAK
, then a crash. A tree branch smashed through the window.

Mr. Korman crumpled to the floor, screaming.