Double Date (15 page)

“I know it sounds unbelievable, but I never meant for it to go up. Tristin is the one who put it up. I wasn't even there.”

“But you say that some of the material on the page originated on your computer?” She wrote this down too.

“Yes, but that's because Tristin insisted I use my own laptop. She said that was the only way she could teach me. I went along because I needed to win her trust. I knew I'd have to get her to leave me alone in her room long enough to get this.” Devon picked up the purple flash drive.

“This is going to turn into your word against Tristin's.” Mrs. Dorman looked up from her notes with a doubtful expression.

“Look,” Devon said. “Why do you think I came in here and confessed to you?”

Mrs. Dorman frowned. “I'm not sure.”

Devon held out the drive. “I wanted to clear Felicia's name so she can return to school and her normal life. I decided to do that even though I knew that Tristin had threatened to blackmail me.” Devon grabbed her purse now, reaching for her cell phone. “I still have a few texts from Tristin on the night it all went down. She was very careful with her words, but if you take a look, you might get the gist.” She opened the texts, showing them to Mrs. Dorman. “See? She was getting ready to threaten me with blackmail, but she only wanted to talk on the phone.”

“Yes.” Mrs. Dorman nodded. “That sounds believable enough. But people usually blackmail others by threatening to expose
corruption
, not innocence.”

Cassidy stood now. “If that was true, why would Devon come in here like this? Why would she risk her neck when she could just sit back silently and get away with it? Why would she set herself up to get in serious trouble unless she truly was innocent?”

“That's right.” Emma stood too. “We believe Devon is telling the truth. We believe she's risking everything just to help Felicia.”

“And we think that's very admirable.” Cassidy smiled at Devon.

“It's clear you girls are loyal to each other.” Mrs. Dorman turned to Devon. “May I keep these things? Your phone and your laptop?”

“Sure.” Devon nodded.

“Thanks to Felicia's dilemma, we now have access to an electronic expert who can help us get to the bottom of this.” Mrs. Dorman stood. “So unless you have a problem with someone digging around in your personal files, I'll ask them to see if they can validate your claims.”

“If it will bring out the truth, I don't care who looks at it.” Devon thought of something else. “Hey, do you think this expert could help me get that MyPlace page shut down? I hate the idea of it just sitting out there. I tried to shut it down myself—as soon as Tristin told me she'd put it up. But I couldn't get it down. I
tried so many times that MyPlace finally banned me from their site. Your expert can find that on my computer too.”

Mrs. Dorman made note of this. “I'll see what can be done. Thank you, girls, for coming in like this. Ask Miss Sharpe to give you a tardy excuse before you go.”

“So I can go to class?” Devon asked her. “You're not kicking me out?”

Mrs. Dorman gave her a weary smile. “Not yet. If we find out that you've lied about this . . . well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there.”

“You won't get there,” Devon promised. “I haven't lied.”

“What about Felicia?” Emma asked as they were going out. “Does she get to come back to school?”

“You'll be pleased to know that Felicia is supposed to be in class today.” Mrs. Dorman smiled at them. “Get moving, girls, you're already fifteen minutes late.”

As Devon hurried to class, she felt a smidgeon of hope. Okay, she wasn't exactly proud of all the things this electronic expert might find on her computer and phone, but she knew there was nothing she'd put there that could get her kicked out of school or in trouble with the law. Nothing besides the page that Tristin had put up anyway. Hopefully, they would figure this out.

I
have some happy news,” Abby announced at lunch. “Kent officially asked me to the Christmas ball.” She beamed at her friends, pleased that she was the first girl in the DG to secure a date. After congratulations were shared, Abby turned to Bryn. “So how about you? You're my double. Has a guy stepped up yet?”

“Jason keeps hinting.” Bryn shrugged. “I suppose I could do worse.”

“Jason?” Abby frowned in dismay. “Seriously?”

“I know we all thought the worst of him . . . before . . .” Bryn's gaze flickered to Devon and back to Abby. “But I've gotten to know him some, working on the dance committee, and really he's not so bad.”

“You honestly think you'd go out with Jason?” Cassidy looked worried.

“Don't repeat this to anyone, but Amanda thinks Jason is going to ask her,” Devon divulged.

“Hmm . . .” Bryn tilted her head to one side as if the stakes
had suddenly gotten higher—or more interesting. “Amanda might be in for a surprise.”

“Speaking of Amanda, is she still in the DG?” Abby quietly asked everyone. She didn't want to sound gossipy, but she'd overheard Amanda and Tristin in the restroom this morning.

“She hasn't said a word about it,” Bryn told her. “She's been acting a little chilly.”

“I think I know why,” Abby confided. “It has to do with something I heard Tristin and Amanda talking about.”

“What was it?” Emma asked.

“I don't like repeating it. What they said wasn't very nice.” Abby made an apologetic grimace to Devon. “And your name was, uh, mentioned.”

“How did you happen to overhear them?” Bryn asked curiously.

“I was in a restroom stall and they were talking. Naturally I didn't come out until they left.”

“What did they say about me?” Devon demanded.

“I can't remember word for word, but the general insinuation was that you and Felicia were the same . . . that you were both, uh, skanks.” Abby gave Devon an apologetic half smile. “They both seemed really annoyed that Felicia had been allowed back in school, and Tristin seemed fairly certain that you, Devon, are on your way out. To be honest, I suspect that Amanda's sort of in the dark as far as Tristin's role in the MyPlace scandal. At the same time, the things Amanda said . . . the way she said them . . . well, it was more than just mean.”

“We don't need someone like that in the DG,” Cassidy declared.

“What do we do?” Bryn asked. “It's not like we can just vote to kick Amanda out and not expect any backlash. We'll have to handle this really carefully.”

“Speaking of those two, what's the latest on the Tristin situa
tion?” Abby asked Devon. “Cassidy filled me in on the meeting with Mrs. Dorman. When will they get that all figured out?”

“I haven't heard a thing yet,” Devon said a bit glumly.

“Back to Amanda and the DG,” Emma said. “I want to make a motion that we vote Amanda out and vote Felicia in.”

“Not so fast,” Bryn told her. “This is something we should really think about. Especially in light of the Christmas ball. Amanda is helping with that. I don't want to alienate her. Especially not right before the assembly. No telling how she might sabotage that if she was in a snit. I suggest we don't deal with this until the MyPlace bit with Tristin shakes down. I move that we all just keep our mouths shut for a while.”

“Bryn's right,” Abby agreed. “We need to focus on the Christmas ball right now. Specifically Project Santa Sleigh. Kent and I were talking about this today. We've got lots of ideas. It's such a great opportunity to do some real good with down-and-out kids. We need to get everyone in the school fired up about helping, and Friday's assembly could do that. I've got a great program worked out. One that will knock everyone's socks off if we do it right. But I need everyone's full cooperation. Even Amanda's.”

“Are you going to fill us in at this afternoon's meeting?” Bryn asked.

“Yes. We need to organize and do some rehearsing, and we have to swear everyone to secrecy. Especially in regard to our prizes.”

“Good.” Bryn nodded. “Don't let anyone steal our thunder. Save it until Friday.”

“Speaking of the assembly . . .” Emma made an impish smile. “I found the other elf. Unless anyone objects, it's Felicia. She gladly agreed to help.”

“Felicia would be perfect,” Abby assured her.

“We're going to work on our costumes tonight,” Emma told
them. She described the sleigh she was working on. “It's not a typical Santa sleigh at all. It's really bright and fun and crazy. A real rockin' out kinda sleigh.”

“Sounds great.” Abby said. “Maybe we could have you come out with some music. Something jazzy and fun . . . like ‘Jingle Bell Rock.'”

“Awesome!” Bryn proclaimed.

Abby told them some of her other ideas for the assembly. She also told them about how she and Kent wanted to get a jump start on their project. “We plan to select our kids this weekend. Kent's already been helping at the FAC. That's the Family Assistance Center downtown. It's associated with the homeless shelter. Anyway, Kent volunteers on Saturdays. He just hangs in the gym, organizing sports and games with the kids. He says it's really fun.” Abby beamed at them. “I'm going to help him on Saturday. We're hoping to pick out a kid or two—or three or four—that we can help.”

“Very cool,” Cassidy said.

“And we're putting together a list of resources,” Abby continued, “different local organizations that assist children. We'll have them available for everyone who decides to participate in the contest.”

“Which will be the only way they can get into the dance.” Bryn grinned.

“This is so awesome,” Emma said. “That motivates me even more to get my date with Isaac set in stone.”

“Me too,” Cassidy said.

“Is Lane getting warmer?” Emma asked her.

Cassidy shrugged. “He's friendly . . . like usual. But he hasn't mentioned the Christmas ball.”

“Well, just wait until Friday,” Bryn told them. “When everyone hears about our fabulous prizes—it'll change everything. People will be scrambling for dates and for double dates.”

As chair of the Project Santa Sleigh committee, Abby knew there was a lot riding on her shoulders. In some ways it was more pressure than playing varsity basketball. At the same time, she knew she was naturally good at organizing. For the next couple of days, she carefully went over everything, crossing every
t
and dotting every
i
. Besides doing her regular schoolwork and making plans, with Kent's help, for Project Santa Sleigh, Friday's assembly was all she thought about.

By Friday morning, she felt fairly confident they were ready. But by that afternoon, as they waited backstage, she had to take several long, deep breaths to calm her frazzled nerves—and she prayed a silent prayer that nothing major would go wrong. There were so many ways this thing could flop and they could end up looking like total fools. If that happened, it wouldn't just ruin the success of the dance, but it might put the kibosh on what could possibly turn out to be one of the best Christmases for a lot of needy children. That was what was motivating her.

First Abby checked on Felicia and Emma. They looked adorable in their elf outfits, which had been repurposed from
Midsummer Night's Dream
costumes. Abby had helped them with some final details via Skype last night, and these two were the stylingest elves ever. Not only that, but the sleigh that Emma had created this week was totally awesome. As it turned out, since Cass was busy, Felicia had jumped in to help with it. The sled was painted with a shiny hot-pink base coat and embellished with a colorful design of swirling glitter and glitzy rhinestones. Plus it had battery-operated neon-colored Christmas lights that flashed off and on. It was like Barbie meets Santa on steroids.

“You guys ready?” Abby asked them.

Emma nodded eagerly, making the oversized bell on her purple pointed cap jingle merrily.

“This is so fun,” Felicia exclaimed. “I'm so glad I got to help.”

Abby went over to check on Jason. Even if she wasn't that fond of this guy, she appreciated his willingness to help out, and she had to admit he looked pretty swanky in his 1960s retro black tuxedo. Jason's role was to help kick this thing off with his “persona”—Amanda's idea since she claimed the whole school respected Jason. Abby thought that was debatable, but she'd had the good sense to keep her mouth shut on the matter. “Ready to rock and roll?” she asked him.

“Just as soon as my Christmas babes are ready.” He pointed over to where Bryn and Amanda were just finishing up their primping. Both girls were dressed to the nines in glittery gowns that Formal Rental Wear had freely loaned them just for the day—with the promise that the dance committee would post some advertisements for the shop in gratitude.

Abby glanced out to the auditorium, seeing that it was nearly full now and spotting Mr. Worthington making his way up to the stage. The crowd quieted some as he adjusted the mike and started to make the usual announcements in his slightly monotone voice, which some swore was more effective than a sleeping pill. Finally he finished up and, using the same monotone, introduced Abby.

Abby was dressed just like any normal day at school. She slowly sauntered up to the mike, acting like there was no big deal, like she wasn't really into this—which was all just part of the act.

“Hey, everyone,” she began in a ho-hum sort of tone that was strangely similar to Worthington's. “As you know it's that time of year again. Time to start thinking about this year's Christmas ball.” She feigned a bored yawn. “I know, I know, this has been the least attended event in Northwood history and it will probably be even—”

Suddenly some lively, upbeat music started to play, drowning
out Abby's boring monologue. She turned in alarm, pretending to be surprised and confused as Jason danced onto the stage with Bryn on one arm and Amanda on the other. All three of them were doing a fabulous job of rocking out—they'd obviously worked on some dance moves. The crowd responded with clapping and cheering, obviously relieved to be rescued from Abby's boring announcement.

The dance continued for about thirty seconds, and between Jason's suave tux, Bryn's shimmering scarlet dress, and Amanda's emerald-green sequins, the threesome looked really festive. Abby just frowned, holding up her hands like it was useless as she exited the stage.

As the music died down, the threesome took over the mike and started up some scripted bantering over which girl Jason would escort to the dance. This skit had been Abby's idea and was actually pretty apropos, not to mention amusing—since Jason wanted to take Bryn, but Amanda actually wanted to go with Jason. The plan was to use this situation to announce that the Christmas ball was going to be for double dates.

“Come on,” Jason pleaded with the audience. “There's gotta be a guy out there who'd like to get in on this. Look—I've got two gorgeous girls and as much as I'd like to take them both, I need a guy to step up and—”

“I'll take Bryn,” a male voice yelled from the audience.

Bryn waved and smiled. “Thank you!”

“That's wonderful,” Amanda said into the mike now. “So it looks like there will be at least one double date for the dance.” She did a quick head count. “That makes four.”

Bryn stepped up now. “But four doesn't make much of a party. Hopefully some others out there will want to join us. To sweeten the deal a bit, we've got an exciting announcement.” She poked Jason in the chest. “We girls know what cheapskates most of you guys are.”

Jason gave her a shocked, innocent look then pulled out his pockets to show they were empty. “Hey, I can't help it if I'm broke.”

“Well, the good news for you guys is that the dance is
free
!” Bryn exclaimed.

This elicited some cheers, mostly from the girls by the sounds of it.

“So no one has the ticket price for an excuse,” Amanda told them as the music started up again—and now the threesome danced their way off the stage. This was Abby's cue to come back.

She knew this was the serious part of the assembly and she'd just been praying it would go off without a hitch. At least the audience seemed a little more attentive now. She could tell they were curious. Kent and Isaac had used their TV and video class to help her produce a short video—kind of like a PSA. “Now that we have your attention,” she told the audience, “we want to share this with you.” She nodded to the screen behind her and just like that, the video began to play, showing photos of children in less than desirable living situations. They had sad faces, and combined with the narrative that Abby had recorded earlier, their lives sounded rather bleak and hopeless. The auditorium was silent when the video ended.