Along Came Jordan (3 page)

****

Laine was at EC — was there no escaping her? When I walked in, she looked up and for a split second, I saw fire flare from her eyes.

"Emili, you lost?" she asked in a voice pulsing with irritation.

"Isn't this Environmental Club?"

She jumped from her chair and came over to me. "Are you joining? Don't you think it might be too much? I mean, a new school, and already on decorations committee for the ball?"

I regarded her expression and noted the hint of desperation lurking behind the cool façade. "I think I can handle it."

There was an awkward silence, and I thought she was going to forbid me to join. Then she broke into a stiff smile, which didn't reach her eyes.

"Okay, listen up!" She looked around the room, and everyone gave her their attention. "This is Emili, she's new. She'll be joining us."

Thank you, Your Highness
,
for
introducing me.
How could I survive
without you?

I raised my arm in a half-wave and sank into a chair. On my left sat the most gorgeous guy I'd ever seen. His smooth chestnut hair swooped over his deep toffee eyes. He sat relaxed, dominating the chair with his size. I saw how his broad shoulders strained the fabric of his tee shirt. A shiver crawled up my spine. I couldn't help it; I stared. Was this Jordan?

Laine must have noticed where I'd sat. She grabbed my arm and pulled me from the chair. "Sit next to me, Emili, over here."

Since I wasn't in the market for romance, I let her pull me away. Besides, why should Jordan give me a second look? It was apparent he could have any girl he wanted.

I thought about Lance. I'd landed him, and he was gorgeous, too — tall and muscular with a thin waist and a mouth you wanted to get lost in. I winced when his memory brought the bitter taste of betrayal to my tongue. The nasty truth was I hadn't landed Lance Jankins at all, only thought I had.

For all I cared, the model could pull me to a chair on Mars. I wasn't in the market for another guy.

I was surprised Laine wasn't in charge of EC. A guy named Bud called the meeting to order. "Today's agenda is the community garden."

"The agenda's always the community garden," said a blonde girl who looked to be at least a junior. "I'm bored with the whole thing. It's not going to work, because we can't get the money in time. Let's give it a rest."

Angry gasps flew around the room as if she'd announced the end of vending machines in the cafeteria. Jordan smiled, showing his perfect white teeth. Then he spoke. "We've had some setbacks, but I don't think we should give up."

A guy with persistence. Hmm.

"Hear, hear," agreed Bud. "We already have one hundred bucks. It won't be hard to raise another four."

"The administration wimped out, and they haven't given us a thing." It was the blonde again.

A few other kids chimed in, while I was trying to figure out what was going on. I could feel Laine watching me. In fact, though I wasn't looking at her, I'm pretty sure her gaze was bouncing back and forth between me and Jordan.

She cleared her throat. "Jordan's right. We shouldn't give up." The heat of her smile could've melted an Alaskan glacier.

He nodded at her, but there was no answering smile. Instead, his eyes inspected me as if I were a product on a video game shelf. Had Sally and Margo already gotten to him?

"By the way, Emili, welcome." His voice was deep and lulling, like a late-night DJ. He continued to study me, but I couldn't begin to read the thoughts behind his guarded eyes.

Bud rustled a stack of papers. "Right, welcome. Sorry, Emili. I get caught up with all this. We're trying to develop a community garden on the east field. We'll raise veggies all summer and ask the community to help. The food will be donated to the food bank, and the helpers can take some for their own families. It's a win-win."

"Great idea."

Bud continued, "The administration told us we need five hundred bucks to get started. They want us to use raised beds so we don't dig up the ground, but raised beds costs money. It'd be good PR for the school, so I don't know why they don't jump on this. Instead, it's one roadblock after another."

"We need to get off our butts and get some fund-raisers going," said a girl I recognized from English class.

"Five hundred doesn't seem like much," I said.

Laine cleared her throat, calling everyone's attention back to her. "If you weren't so new, Emili, you'd know we have a lot of clubs at Edgemont. There are fund-raisers every three minutes, and we keep milking the same crowd. While five hundred isn't much, we've run out of ideas."

"Face it," said the blonde. "We haven't tried very hard."

"That all changes today. Do we still want to do this?" Bud asked.

Everyone except the blonde nodded.

"Okay, let's get the ideas going," Jordan said.

"One time we did something kind of weird at Bates to raise money." All eyes focused on me.

"We're desperate, Emili. We'll take any and all ideas," Bud said.

"We auctioned ourselves off as servants. One kid would donate money to buy another kid, who'd then have to serve the buyer for a week. You know, things like carry his books to class, clean up his garbage at lunch. Dumb stuff. 'Course, we couldn't do each other's homework or anything. If we got bought, we even had to take our master's dirty gym clothes home and wash them."

Smiles started to show up on everyone's face, except Laine's.

She shook her head. "No offense, but your idea's ridiculous. It'll never work."

Bud held up one hand and patted the air for emphasis. "It's brilliant! Who wouldn't want to buy a servant for a week? LaShawna, write it up for the administration. I love it. Cheers for Emili."

I wasn't fishing for cheers, but they felt good anyway. I looked over at Laine. She tried to smile, but it was a contorted attempt. I squirmed in the metal chair. The last thing I needed was an enemy as powerful as Laine Meadow.

****

Margo met me at the heavy double doors the next morning.

"Where's Sally?" I asked.

"Beats me. Late, I guess." Margo's Spanish lilt was somehow always stronger in the morning.

"I went to EC. Why didn't you warn me about Laine being there?"

"
A
y
, we didn't, did we? Sorry. Laine's everywhere, so I guess we didn't worry about it. Hey, what did you think of Jordan? He was there, wasn't he?"

"Like you said, he's hot."

"Right? I could melt over his eyes."

"Then why aren't you going after him? Why try to set him up with me?"

Margo looked down at her feet, sighed, and then raised her face as if in confession. "I did go after him, but he was only interested in Pamela. It was Pamela this and Pamela that. When their relationship went south, he didn't care about anyone, so we settled on being good friends."

"Friends can become more than friends easy enough."

"Yes, but there's Sally."

"She wants him, too?"

"Yeah. We made a pact, and neither of us gets him."

"How do I join the pact?"

"No, no, we talked it out. If you get him, then Laine won't." She raised her eyebrows and leaned in like a private detective. "It's settled."

"Kind of forgetting something, aren't you?"

"Like what?"

"Don't you think Jordan and I should have some say?"

Margo laughed and shook her head. "No. Hey, here comes Sally."

Sally rushed over, her braid swishing behind her. "Sorry I'm late. It's all my fault. I tried to get some extra practicing in, but Mom threw a tizzy fit. I was forced to give up and come."

"We've only got a minute left," Margo said, looking at her watch.

"Laine asked me to spend the night," I blurted.

They both froze, eyes wide. Together, they turned like synchronized swimmers, speaking in unison. "What?"

"I know. Weird, right?"

"Are you going?" Margo asked, her forehead creased into a question.

"I got stuck. She asked my dad, and he agreed."

"You still could've said no," Sally said, pursing her lips.

"I didn't have the chance. Honest."

Margo tapped her fingers on her chin and nodded. "Laine's nervous. She wants to keep track of you."

"Still seems over-the-top to me," Sally said. "No offense, Emili, but you're not
that
cute."

Margo snorted. "Oh, I don't know. She's got a certain something. Besides, I think Jordan could be interested, which will slay Laine."

They were analyzing me like a third-grade science project. I opened my mouth to protest, and the warning bell rang.

"We have to go. C'mon, Emili. See ya, Margo." Sally hoisted her backpack higher onto her shoulder, and we took off.

It made no sense, but agreeing to spend the night at Laine's made me feel like a traitor.