Along Came Jordan (2 page)

****

The next day at Edgemont, Sally saw me come into the school and rushed over, dragging a short girl behind her.

"Emili, this is Margo," she said. She waved her arm in front of her and bowed as if presenting the queen.

Margo's clear blue eyes crinkled when she smiled. She pulled her long wavy black hair off her neck with one hand and then let it fall back down like a shawl over her shoulders.

"
Mucho gusto
, nice to meet you," she said. Her voice was soft, and she spoke with an accent. She leaned toward me, and her algebra book slid out of her grasp and tumbled to the floor.

"Smooth move," Sally said, scooping it up.

"Nice to meet you, too," I said and helped straighten her stack of books.

Sally giggled and crushed Margo in a one-armed hug. "You'll love her, and she's not always so clumsy. Isn't your locker close to mine? We'll go with you."

"Second floor, and I've got a lock." I pulled the lock out of my front pocket and waved it around.

"You got one of the broken lockers then. Shame. Glad you brought a lock though. You're gonna need it around here," Sally said. "We've got a lot of sticky fingers."

"Remember when my pencils were stolen?" Margo asked from behind us. "What a catastrophe."

Sally nudged me in the side. "Margo's an artist, and she's good. She means her art pencils, in case you're wondering."

We reached my locker, and I squatted to take my stuff out of my backpack. I began stacking it on the metal shelf, lining up the corners of all my books. Then I grabbed my lit and history books and stood up.

Margo smiled and elbowed Sally. "Look, another neat freak. You're outnumbered now."

Sally rolled her eyes and grimaced. "Oh, marvelous. No matter, Emili. I'll forgive you. Hey, Margo, Laine has her claws out."

"Does she? What now?"

"About Emili. She's not too fond of the new girl."

I shrugged. "I didn't do a thing to her."

Margo stepped back and squinted, surveying me up and down. "I can see it. You're too cute, and you're an unknown. If there's one thing Laine can't stand, it's an unknown. She's threatened, right?"

"You got it," Sally said.

"I repeat — I didn't do a thing to her." I no sooner got the words out of my mouth when Laine appeared right smack in front of me.

"Private Girl," Laine said. "Day two. How nice you survived day one. We're having a council meeting after school. Be there."

She turned away, then swirled back around and put on her fake smile, showing smooth even teeth. "I mean, please come. You'll like it. Since you're new, you'll meet more people. You'll be there, right?"

"I take the bus…"

"I'll give you a ride home. No problem."

I didn't want to go, but I could hardly say, "
I don
'
t like you, so no
.
I won
'
t be coming.
"
Besides, there was my whole self-promise thing about being friendly.

Laine stood waiting, her hand on her hip.

"Yeah, okay. I'll call Dad after school and tell him I'll be late."

"Great. Room 136." She was off.

"See what I mean?" Sally asked. "Threatened."

Margo shook her head. "You told her yes. Are you nuts?"

"She caught me off-guard. I didn't know what to say."

"You'll learn," Sally said. "We'll expect a full report tomorrow."

I put my fingers to my lips. "Uh oh. I forgot about my little sister Sarah. She'll wonder why I'm not on the bus."

"Can't your dad tell her?" Sally asked.

"Yeah, I guess he could." I didn't think it was a good plan, but I had no other ideas.

I was relieved the day was passing with no major mishaps. Now I wouldn't have to pretend and tell my dad lies. Dad still had his part-time job at McDafe's selling copiers, so he worked a few hours each morning. But every afternoon, he vegetated on the couch like a shrunken-up homeless man. When I was around him, something cold and queasy snaked up from the pit of my stomach. It didn't used to be that way, but then he never used to hang onto every comment I made as if he was desperate.

Before he lost his other job, I rarely saw him. Now, I saw him too much. I loved him, but having him always there, always asking me questions, always cranking out forced smiles — well, it made me want to squirm.

After seventh period, I meandered to room 136, which was already filled with a bunch of kids. I recognized some of them from my classes, but others I'd never seen. Laine was in front, puffing out her chest and wearing her pompous in-charge smile.

She clicked a pencil against the projector. "People, people! Come to order!"

A teacher I didn't know sat in the back, slouched over a stack of papers. He surveyed each sheet, his red pen scribbling at a furious pace. Glad he wasn't grading my stuff.

Laine cleared her throat. "Let's get this meeting underway. Before we start, I want to introduce a new student, Emili Jones." She smiled and nodded toward me as though we were best friends. "She'll be helping us."

I would? I didn't have a clue what was involved.

"Our only order of business today is to discuss the Winter Ball. You should remember which committee you're on. If you don't, Janae has it all recorded. I'll need a status report from each chairperson by the end of the hour."

Laine droned on, and I tuned out. I didn't want to hear about any ball — I wouldn't be going. After my stupid decisions and being betrayed by my "prize" guy, I'd given up on the whole dating game.

"People, get in your committees. We need some serious progress today," Laine directed.

Everyone grouped up. I stayed put and tried not to look bored, but Laine came right over.

"What committee do you want me to put you on? We've got decorations, food, tickets, finding chaperones, music. Wait, I think we've already got enough people on food and tickets, so forget those."

"Uh, Laine, not sure I'm going to volunteer."

She snorted. "Nonsense. It'll be fun, plus I can get to know you better."

Her manipulation grated, and I wasn't happy. After bowing to Farah's whims for so long, I wasn't in the mood to start in with someone else. To be fair, bowing to Farah had been my idea in the beginning, not hers. Still, I'd ended up with no friends left at Bates — which had been anything but pleasant. I'd promised myself that wasn't going to happen at Edgemont.

"Well?" Laine asked, and her voice snapped with impatience.

"Decorations," I said.

She clapped like a delighted child. "Wonderful! Go on over right now. Janae is chairperson."

I stood up and walked to Janae's group, where she gazed up at me with obvious displeasure. "Oh, it's you." Her tone sounded as though she'd discovered dog doo all over her shoe. "Everyone, Emili's with us."

Five kids turned to me and nodded or smiled and then returned to their discussion. I tried to listen and be interested, but all I could think about was if this obligated me to go to the ball.

When it was almost time to go, Laine hustled over to our group and tugged me up by my arm. "Emili, we need to make a change."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm removing you from decorations so you can work with the music group."

Janae stopped talking and looked toward her. "Laine, do you mind? We're making plans."

"I'm moving Emili to music."

"Why? I think we need her, after all."

Laine gave Janae a harsh look and her eyes spit some secret meaning. "Don't you remember who else is on this committee? You don't need Emili."

Janae wrinkled her brow, then understanding passed over her face. "Oh right, got it."

I'd no idea who they were talking about, nor did I care. I'd had enough manipulation for one day. "Thanks so much, both of you," I said, loading my voice with molasses. "I think I'll stay." I yanked my arm from Laine's grasp and plopped myself back in the seat.

Wait 'til I told Sally and Margo.

****

I didn't have either Sally's or Margo's phone numbers, so I couldn't tell them until the next morning. When they saw me come through the front door, they dashed over, and Sally started jabbering before I could get a word out. "We've got the perfect club for you to join."

"Sally's right, you need a group. She's got orchestra, I've got art, and you've got…" Margo flourished her arm overhead.

"Drum roll, please." Sally held her hand to her mouth like a fake microphone. "Environmental Club, commonly known as EC."

"To top off our wonderful suggestion, you'll meet Jordan, another EC member."

"To. Die. For." Sally clipped each word as though she was playing hopscotch. She sidled up close to me as if to discuss an urgent secret. "Margo and I adore him."

"Are you three a thing or something? Does Jordan like having multiple girlfriends?"

Margo chortled and made a face of disgust. "
A
y
, what a thought. No, we're just super friends. We've never dated Jordan because he was always dating Pamela Riggins."

"She moved, and phhsst! Over." Sally snapped her fingers. "Like it never was. Everyone's been after him since, but he's not interested."

Margo stretched out her arms as if to hug the world. "Idea alert."

Sally's eyes lit up. "Out with it."

"Jordan and Emili." She crossed her arms and looked like she'd won a gold medal.

"It's perfect." Sally turned to me. "Laine's been after Jordan, and he can't stand her. When he falls for you, it'll be double delight — you get Jordan, and Laine doesn't."

Before my eyes, my life whizzed out of control.

"Wait." I held up my hand. "Not in the market. Sorry."

"You have to be. It's too good." Sally's face scrunched into a pout.

"She hasn't met Jordan yet. She'll change her mind," Margo said.

No, I wouldn't. I couldn't trust myself in the love department — learned that the hard way.

Marc's face flashed before me
.
"
I
'
m sorry, sorry, sorry
," I whispered to his image for the zillionth time.

"Wait a minute. Isn't Jordan in student council? Isn't he on one of the committees for the ball?" Margo faced me. "You must've met him yesterday."

Aha — the missing piece to the puzzle. Jordan was the no-show yesterday on the decorating committee. He was the one Laine was trying to keep from me.

The warning bell rang, and Sally pulled on my arm. "Come on, Emili, we have to stop at your locker and get to English. Margo, catch you later."

"Emili, you're joining EC. It's perfect for you — promise me. The meeting's today after school, room 101," Margo called and trotted off to class.

Today after school? Were there meetings daily?

I decided to check it out, since I was semi-interested in environmental stuff. My decision had nothing whatsoever to do with some guy named Jordan.