The Chic Shall Inherit the Earth (26 page)

Standing in the entry foyer, Danyel turned to watch Shani come down the stairs. His smile lit up his whole face—almost to the point where you missed the fact that he looked dazzling in black tie.

And standing next to him was Kaz. He grinned up at us, too, and my heart flipped over in my chest.

He came. He really came, despite everything.

Wow, does he look fine in that tux.

He smiled at me as we took the last step into the foyer, alive now with the babble of excited students dressed in their best, with parents, with VIPs whose faces I recognized but whose names I couldn’t remember.

And then Kaz looked behind me and stretched out his hand. Gillian took it and smiled up at him. “Ready?”

“Let’s do this thing.”

And then I knew.

Kaz had not driven six hours, rented a tux, and put on the pretty for me.

He was Gillian’s date for Cotillion.

T
HE SHOW MUST
go on. That’s what they say, isn’t it? No matter what happens, you’ve got to put on that smile and walk out there like you own the room, even if your heart feels like it’s going to crack down the middle.

I think my heart did crack. I certainly felt shards of something in my stomach as we walked over the lawn to the ballroom in our finery, laughing and talking. Why hadn’t Gillian said anything to me? When had Kaz asked her? She could have told me anytime in the last few days and given me a chance to prepare myself for the sight of them together.

To give her credit, she did give me a look or two as we seated ourselves at our table, as if to silently ask, “Is this okay? Are you all right?” But the simple fact that Kaz was sitting next to her and not me made it completely wrong. The universe was out of joint, and the discontinuity happened right there where their shoulders bumped.

I don’t even remember what dinner was, after all the trouble my team had gone to in putting together the menu. All I could see was Kaz on the other side of the table, sitting next to someone who wasn’t me. And what made it even worse? I’d brought this on myself by my own blindness. I hadn’t woken up to what Kaz really meant to me until he’d given up and moved on.

I couldn’t blame him for liking Gillian. All of us liked her. I loved her, for goodness’ sake. She was brilliant and fun and they had the whole graphic art thing to bond over. They’d begun as friends, and it looked like things were going to progress from there. He and I had begun as friends, too. But because I’d been stuck in my own ideas like a dinosaur in a tar pit, I hadn’t been nimble enough to adapt to change and climb out in time.

I was adapting now. In fact, as dessert came, the more I looked at them together, the more I felt like bursting into tears. Oh, they weren’t indulging in massive PDAs or anything. Far from it. But were they holding hands under the tablecloth? Was that glance just a little too long, a little too absorbed? Did she like him more that he liked her? In the space of a few minutes I became obsessed about learning the answers, watching them out of the corner of my eye while I talked and laughed as if I didn’t care.

“Hey, Lissa.” It had taken until dessert for him to speak to me directly. How had our friendship devolved to this? “I got the revisions to
Demon Battle
this week. Nine single-spaced pages of stuff they want me to change.”

“Yikes!” That was a lot of pages. “What’s the matter with your editor? Is he on a power trip, or what?”

“Oh, no. It’s a good thing. He wants more character stuff going on. Conflict in every frame—even the dialogue, not just the art.”

“That’ll make it a better story in the end, won’t it?” Gillian asked, and Kaz nodded.

“Oh.” Great. I’d just attacked a person he admired. Whereas Gillian knew just the right thing to say. Had she even read the book? Had she seen it when its very first sketches were only a dream on paper, like I had? Had she listened to Kaz’s ambitions and hopes during long late-night conversations, like I had?

Did it matter? Kaz was moving in the present, not the past. And there I was, fading in his rear-view mirror. The girl he used to like. His childhood friend.

My phone gave its “you have a message” signal, and I pulled it out to see the list of award winners from Ms. Curzon. I pushed my plate away and took a fast gulp of ice water. “That’s my cue, guys. Wish me luck.”

“Luck,” Kaz said.

“Warm up the crowd for me.” Shani gave me a quick hug.

“This is your show.” Carly blew me a kiss, Brett’s arm around her shoulders. “Knock ’em dead.”

Music began to play as I slipped up the stairs and into the anteroom to collect the first of the two trays of statuettes. Twelve little—

Wait a second.

Eleven? That wasn’t right.

I counted again. There had been twelve boxes sitting here an hour ago. My glance flicked from the list on my phone to the printing on each box as I did a quick comparison.

Uh-oh. Service to the School was to have gone to Vanessa Talbot. But the box containing the statuette was missing.

There were only four people who knew the contents of the winners’ list. Shani had been with me all through dinner. Ms. Curzon had been entertaining the Board of Regents at their table to our left.

That left Ashley Polk.

The one who had fired Vanessa from the senior consultant job because her pregnancy would reflect badly on the school. The one who obviously had not changed her opinion about seeing the PeeGee Princess on stage, no matter how well deserved the award.

I hit autodial. “Ashley!”

“Right here. Comm and Media crews are ready to roll tape.”

“Where’s the Service statue? I’m backstage and there are supposed to be twelve awards. There are only eleven here.”

“I have no idea.”

“Ashley. This is no time for dramatic statements. Only four people have this list, and I’ve kept my eye on two of them all night.”

“Are you insinuating that
I
took one of them?” Ashley’s voice sounded dangerously cold.

Wait. Close mouth. Think carefully.

The Media and Communications students might be ready to roll tape, but they could pack it up and go dancing instead, at the drop of a hint. And then where would Shani’s, Vanessa’s and my grade and our project be? Not only that, I’d seen how Ashley could flip from friend to foe in moments. I’d far rather close out the year with a friend.

“Of course not,” I said at last. “I just wondered if you or any of your crew saw anyone come in here since we set up, that’s all.”

“No, we haven’t.” Her voice had returned to its usual cool professionalism. “What are you going to do?”

There was only one thing to do. “I’ll deal with it. Thanks, Ashley.”

I disconnected. How weird. My hand shook and my stomach felt cold, as though an entire glass of ice water had sloshed into it.

The show must go on. Even if I wasn’t part of it.

Father
, I prayed as I walked out onto the stage,
help me get through this. Help me be strong enough to make one last sacrifice—to do the right thing once and for all in front of practically everyone I know.

The spotlight hit me dead center and the music came up, swelling and fading as I walked to the floating glass podium. “Ladies and gentlemen, Regents, honored guests, and fellow students—hi and welcome to the Senior Cotillion of the graduating class of 2010!” Shrieks, cheers, and clapping as I punched the air. “My name is Lissa Mansfield, and as senior consultant for this event, the first thing I’d like to do is thank the hardworking team of juniors who put this together for you.” More shrieks and cheers as behind me on the huge flat screen, the names of the people on my teams came up.

“I know we all want to get to the important part—the party!” Screams and cheering. “But it’s our tradition to give a few awards before we get there. So without any more stalling, I’d like to announce the winner of the Debate Club’s Student of the Year: Darcy Daniels!”

Darcy Daniels, a girl from my bio class with glasses and mouse-brown hair who could really have used a color rinse, lifted her tulle skirts and climbed the steps, where I presented her with her statuette. She was crying so hard her glasses fogged up, so I guided her to the side, where one of the band’s roadies took her arm and made sure she didn’t fall on her way back down.

Two more awards. Three. And then it was time.

With a gulp, I picked up the Board of Regents Honors statuette engraved with my name. “And now, I’m delighted to present Spencer Academy’s highest honor for Service to the School to a girl who truly deserves it. Vanessa Talbot, come on up here!”

Silence, heavy with uncertainty.

Down at my table, bless their sweet hearts, everyone began to clap. The tables where the teachers and staff sat picked it up, and, holding the little gold statue, I began to clap, too.

From the back of the room, Vanessa made her way to the stage, and by the time she was halfway there, discretion had become the better part of valor and nearly everyone was clapping. After all, if the most popular girls in school were going to recognize her, it was smart not to buck the tide, right?

I met Vanessa in the spotlight and gave her my best Hollywood smile as I handed her the statuette. She turned it over, blinked, and shot me a puzzled glance.

“I’ll explain later,” I said, smiling even wider, and hugged her for good measure. “Thank you, everyone!” I said. “Now I’d like to welcome the band to the stage, and we’ll have more awards to give at the break. Ladies and gentlemen, San Francisco’s own Neckties!”

The band ran onstage to ecstatic shrieks and applause, and crashed into their first number as I tottered, half blinded from the spotlights, back to my table. I lost Vanessa and my statuette in the crowd as people surged onto the dance floor. Instead, Shani caught my elbow as I sank into a chair I hoped was mine.

“Lissa.”

“I know,” I said. “I think Ashley stole Vanessa’s award to keep her off the stage. What else was I going to do?”

“You could have skipped her,” Shani hissed, leaning close to me. “We could have sent someone to find it and given it to her in my batch at the break.”

I shook my head. “Maybe. But it’s done now.”

She dropped her voice even further. “But, Lissa. You deserve your moment, too. You deserve for people to know you won Regents’ Honors. What did you do—give her the one with your name on it?”

“I hope she plans to get it back to me.”

“If she doesn’t, I’m going to hunt her down and rip it out of her hands.”

“Just leave it, Shani. I know I won. That’s good enough for me.”

“It’s not good enough for me.” Her eyes narrowed to slits and her tone sounded dangerous as she scanned the crowd. “That’s twice you’ve been done out of an award you deserved.”

“Aren’t you going to dance?” Time to change the subject. “Everyone else is.”

Gillian and Kaz are.

You-know-where would freeze over and the inhabitants would play hockey before I’d say
that
out loud. Before I’d let anyone know that, under the rose-petal bodice of my dress, my heart felt bruised. And under my sparkly blue eye makeup, it was all I could do not to cry.

This was supposed to be the biggest, happiest night of my life.

And all I wanted to do was fold up and bawl until it was time to leave for college. Maybe even longer.

TRUE TO HEr WORD
, Shani hunted Vanessa down and retrieved the little statue. But she didn’t give it to me. Oh, no. The little plotter waited until the band took its break.

“Are we having a good time?” she yelled into the microphone like a combination of Fergie and Tyra. When the crowd screamed, she applauded them and said, “I’m Shani Hanna, and it’s my pleasure to announce the rest of the award winners for tonight. Let’s have a big round of applause for our first winner, tonight’s hostess Lissa Mansfield, who’s taking home the Board of Regents’ Honors award and its ten thousand dollar scholarship!”

So there I was onstage again, hefting the little gold statuette in my hand for the second time and waving at the cheering crowd. I gave Shani a hug and ran offstage into the embrace of my parents.

“I’m so proud of you!” Mom said as she hugged me.

“Ten grand?” Dad asked. “That’ll buy you your back-to-school clothes, I guess.”

“Very funny, Gabe,” Mom chided him. “It’ll go for tuition and textbooks, and that’s that.”

“Come on, Winner’s Mom.” He grabbed her hand. “Let’s dance. I can actually understand the words to this one.”

Laughing, she followed him out onto the dance floor. I put the statuette next to my plate as if its placement mattered enormously, and arranged my evening bag next to it.

Sigh. Everyone was having such a good time out there.

“Want to dance, Lissa?” Derrik Vaughan held out his hand.

“Sure.” It beat sitting like a wallflower in my pretty dress, and if Ashley had let him off the leash for one dance, who was I to turn him down?

He seemed happy enough, though, and talked about Ashley as though he really liked her. When he took me back to my table, Jeremy was there, and after him, Brett and I did a fast technopop number that lifted my spirits in spite of the fact that I could see Kaz and Gillian twisting and bumping a few feet away.