Be Mine (16 page)

Natalie abandoned the coats and sat at the bottom of the staircase. “But this is all my fault,” she said, feeling like crying. “I was the one who invited him to come tonight.”

“It's not your fault,” Jennifer said, sitting next to her. “And I'm sure Leo knows that. You didn't say all those horrible things to him. Claudia did. And you stuck up for him. I think you need to give him some time. You can make things up to him later.”

Natalie thought over Jennifer's words and then sighed. “You're right.”

Will came over to join them. “Want to dance?” he asked Jennifer.

“I'd love to!” Jennifer turned to Natalie. “Feel like dancing?”

Natalie could see Claudia glaring at her across the living room. She was mad. Madder than she'd been before. She didn't think she'd be too happy if she hung out with Jennifer and Will.

“I'd love to!” Natalie said, following Jennifer and Will downstairs to the basement while staring defiantly at Claudia.

Jennifer couldn't believe how much fun she was having. And at Claudia's! She couldn't wait to tell Violet.

Will was a great dancer. He knew how to move to the music. When they weren't dancing, he was glued to her side, an arm wrapped around either her waist or her shoulders. Sometimes he would pretend to whisper in her ear. Other times he made her laugh with comments about Claudia.

Everyone was coming up to her and Will, asking how long they'd been dating and wanting to know if they were going to compete as Most Romantic Couple. “We'll find out on Monday,” Jennifer said whenever she was asked the question.

She was dancing to the latest hit from Fergie when someone bumped into her from behind. As she turned to see who it was, another person crashed into her from the side, spilling a glass of punch on the front of her dress.

“Ooops!” Claudia exclaimed. “Clumsy me!”

Jennifer stared at the growing stain in horror. No! No! No!

She ran from the basement up to the kitchen, searching for a napkin to dab at the stain.

“What's wrong?” Will asked, hurrying after her. “It's only a stain.”

“You don't understand,” Jennifer explained. “I don't own this dress.”

“You borrowed it from a friend?”

“Sort of.”

“What do you mean sort of?”

Making sure no one could hear her, Jennifer told Will of her plan to wear the dress and then return it.

“We've got to keep you away from Claudia,” Will chuckled. “Who knows what that mouth of yours is going to make you do next.”

“This isn't funny!” Jennifer exclaimed in panic. “I can't afford this dress. If it has a huge stain on it, I'm not going to be able to return it. That means I'll have to tell my parents what I did and they'll kill me for using my emergency credit card.”

Will found a bottle of seltzer in the refrigerator. He poured some on a dish towel and Jennifer dabbed at the stain. “This should help for now. Let's go back to my house. My sister Maureen is really into vintage clothing. A lot of the old clothes she buys have stains on them but she's always able to get them out. She might be able to do something.”

“You think?” Jennifer asked, trying not to get her hopes up.

“We'll never know unless she tries.”

Maureen, who was a college sophomore, told Jennifer she'd be able to get the stain out. After lending Jennifer a pair of sweats and a T-shirt, she went to work on the dress, leaving Will and Jennifer in the living room.

“Want to watch a movie?” Will asked.

“You owe me a romantic comedy,” Jennifer reminded him.

Will flicked through a stack of DVDs. “We don't have any of those, but how does
Mean Girls
sound?”

“After the night we just had? Perfect!”

After Will popped in the DVD, he shut off the lights and sat on the opposite end of the couch. Jennifer didn't know why, but she found herself wishing that Will were sitting closer to her. But why would he? Now that they were alone, they were no longer JENNIFERANDWILL, the couple. They were just Jennifer and Will.

By the time the movie was over, Maureen had returned with the dress.

“As good as new!” she proclaimed.

“The stain is gone,” Jennifer marveled in amazement as she studied the front of the dress. “How'd you do it?”

“A little baking soda and a couple of other tricks I have up my sleeve.”

After Jennifer changed back into the dress, Will offered to drive her home. They were both quiet during the drive. There was none of their usual bickering. When they reached her house, Will walked her to the front door.

“Looks like phase one of our plan was a success,” he said.

Jennifer crossed her fingers. “So far. Now all we have to do is wait and see what happens on Monday.”

Will stared at his cowboy boots. Then he looked up at Jennifer. “I had a lot of fun tonight.”

A hank of Will's jet-black hair had fallen across his forehead. Jennifer was tempted to smooth it away. But she didn't. It seemed like something a real girlfriend would do. “Me too.”

They stared at each other awkwardly.

Is he waiting for me to do something
? Jennifer wondered.
Like kiss him?

Before she could decide what to do, Will gave her a quick hug. Jennifer didn't even have a chance to wrap her arms around him before he pulled away. “I'll see you Monday at school. Unless you get a craving for pizza. I'll be delivering tomorrow.”

Jennifer watched Will head back to his car and drive away.

The hug had been nice, but it wasn't what she'd been expecting.

She hated to admit it, but she'd been hoping for a good-night kiss.

There was no school on Monday. It had started snowing heavily on Sunday afternoon and didn't stop until early Monday morning. When the storm was over, there was a foot of snow on the ground. As a result, all classes were canceled.

After lying in bed for an extra hour, Natalie got up and went down to the kitchen, where she found a note from her mother. Unfortunately, her parents hadn't gotten a snow day and were at work. Natalie's mother had left her a list of groceries to buy and also asked her to do the laundry.

Natalie munched on a slice of toasted raisin bread while watching morning TV. Then she cleaned up the kitchen, did two loads of laundry, folded and put everything away, and made her bed. The temperature was in the low teens so she bundled herself up in a black turtleneck, gray pullover sweater, black corduroy jeans, snow boots, and jacket. Then she wrapped a red knit scarf around her face and pulled her hood over her head before leaving the house.

With piles of snow on the ground, it was slow going, but Natalie finally made it to the supermarket. After finding what she needed, she walked back home, only this time she went past Leo's house. She was hoping she'd see him outside, shoveling the front walk, but he wasn't there.

Natalie stood in front of Leo's house, teeth chattering, wondering what to do. She wanted to talk to him about Saturday night and had been planning to do it this morning at school. But the snowstorm had changed that. She could probably wait until tomorrow, but she didn't want to. She wanted to talk to Leo today.

Should she just walk up to his front door and ring the bell?

Then she got an idea, a great idea, and hurried home.

An hour later, Natalie was back at Leo's, holding a small shopping bag. She rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer.

“What do you want?” a surly Leo asked when he opened the front door and saw it was her.

That wasn't the reaction Natalie had been expecting.

“Here to finish what you started on Saturday night?” he sneered.

Natalie was confused.

“How could I be such an idiot!” he raged. “I should have known you were exactly like them!”

“What are you talking about?”

“You set me up!” Leo shouted. “You had me come to that party so Claudia could have everyone laugh at me! And like an idiot, I fell for it!”

Natalie could see the hurt on Leo's face. He truly believed what he was saying. “How could you think such a thing?” she gasped.

“Was it a dare?” Leo asked. “Were you all supposed to get a fat guy to show up and I was the only sucker who fell for it?”

“That's not true!” Natalie insisted. She placed a hand on Leo's arm, but he shook it off.

“Save it! I don't want to hear it. You're just like Claudia. Mean and horrible and spiteful.” Leo started to close the door in Natalie's face. “Well, you've had your laugh. Now get lost!”

Natalie stuck her foot in the door. “Please. Let me explain. Can I come in? It's freezing out here.”

“No!”

“Just for a minute,” Natalie begged. “One minute.”

Leo grudgingly held the door open and Natalie walked into the foyer. Instantly, she was blanketed with heat. But the look Leo gave her was just as cold as the icicles hanging from the trees.

“Start talking,” Leo said. “You're running out of time.”

“I didn't set you up. I swear it. I invited you to the party because I thought we could hang out together.”

“Why would you want to hang out with me? I'm not blind. I have a mirror. I don't look anything like the guys you usually hang out with. I'm Blubber Boy, remember?”

“I don't care what you look like! I just want to be friends with you!”

“Why?”

“I don't know!” Natalie exclaimed. “I like talking with you! And you're great with Bonnie. I've enjoyed the time we've spent together. That's how people become friends. By spending more time with each other. That's all I wanted to do. Become your friend.” Natalie checked her watch. “My minute's up. I'll go.”

She turned to leave but Leo put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

“Do you think it's easy being me?” he asked in a soft voice. “Having people laugh at me? Point at me? Make fun of me? You don't know what it's like.”

Suddenly, Natalie wanted to confess to Leo about her past. She wanted to tell him that she
did
know what it was like. But she was afraid. She'd never told anyone in North Ridge her secret before. Instead, she faced him and said, “Would I be here if I wasn't sorry?”

“Maybe you're setting me up again.”

“Do you honestly believe that?”

Leo sighed, running a hand through his curls. “I don't know what to believe. Stuff like this has happened to me before.”

“Leo, I
am
sorry. It wasn't a joke. If you don't believe me, ask Jennifer Harris. She can tell you how upset I was. I wanted to run after you, but she told me not to. She told me you needed some time alone. I guess I should have given you a couple more days, huh?”

“I went to that party on Saturday night because I trusted you,” Leo admitted. “Because I wanted to be your friend.”

“We can still be friends,” Natalie said. “If you want.”

“Apology accepted,” Leo said.

Natalie smiled. Leo's words were the sweetest ones she'd ever heard.

“That's not the only reason I came by,” she said.

“It's not?”

Natalie held up her shopping bag. “I thought we could have that movie marathon.”

Natalie held her breath, waiting for Leo's answer.

“Follow me!” he exclaimed.

Eden knew she should be using her snow day to catch up on her studying. Instead, she was cleaning out her bedroom closet. The spring sales would be starting soon and she needed to make some room.

She began pulling out sweaters, dresses, skirts, tops, and jeans. What was the rule? If you only wore it once, get rid of it!

Forty-five minutes later, Eden had much more space in her closet and a pile of clothes on her bedroom floor. Her father would flip out if he saw how much stuff she was getting rid of. Good thing he was at work!

Eden was closing her closet door when a flash of white in the far corner caught her eye. She reached in and pulled out her ice skates. She couldn't remember the last time she'd used them. Maybe a year ago? She wondered if they still fit. She kicked off her sneakers and slipped her feet into them. They did!

For three years she had gone for weekly lessons, and even had competed in some amateur-level competitions, but then gave up the lessons because she grew tired of having to practice every day and on the weekends.

Staring at the skates, Eden wondered if she still knew her way around the ice.

There was only one way to find out.

Even though it had snowed, DeVille's was open. And Jennifer was stuck working. Mrs. Hudson had called that morning and asked if she could come in for a few hours. Caught off guard, Jennifer hadn't been able to think of an excuse. So, instead of enjoying her day off like everyone else, she was standing behind a cash register. She hadn't had one customer the entire morning. Luckily, she was only working until one o'clock.

Deciding she needed to do
something
to keep herself busy, Jennifer began dusting the shelves that held the wedding favors. She had just finished with the first shelf when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around with a professional smile, expecting to find a customer.