Spin Control by Niki Burnham Page B

come. You have to give David a chance to talk to you. Please? For me?”
    “Does David think this is a date?” I can’t go on a date—a real, official date —can I?
    Even if I’ve dreamed about David Anderson asking me out since I was learning about two-plus-two and reading books like Dick and Jane and A Duck Is a Duck , it just feels like it’d be wrong.
    But holy smokes. A date with DAVID ANDERSON?! The most gorgeous guy in the whole school? The guy who makes Paul Walker look only sorta cute in comparison?
    The guy whose yearbook picture I photocopied and then taped up next to my bed, where he stayed hidden behind my pillows for over a year just so I could see him every night before I went to sleep?
    Okay, I destroyed that photo in a moment of exceedingly good judgment before I went to Schwerinborg, decidingI’d been a total obsessive freak to copy his picture in the first place, but still …
    NO. No, no, no. It’s just wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong!!
    “It’s casual. Sort of,” Christie says as I pull on my jeans and the sweater. “Let’s just see what happens after you two talk.”
    “This is a bad idea. Seriously.”
    “Jules and Natalie are here,” she says, looking out the window. “Jules’s mom is already backing out of the driveway. And hey, Jules really did wear her combat boots!”
    I’m thinking, for the first time, that this might actually be a good thing.
    If Jules kicks me hard enough, I won’t have to go tonight.
    On the other hand, a little tiny part of me wants to go, just to satisfy my curiosity.
    “Shoot me now,” I tell Christie. “Just get it over with.”
    “She’s not that mad at you,” Christie says, making a squished-up face (which is hard for her to do). “She’s always this way. I think she’s mostly interested in finding out what’s up with Georg. A little jealous, but mostly just interested.”
    “No, I meant shoot me before we haveto go out tonight. I can’t believe you did this without talking to me first!”
    Christie levels her worst stare at me. It’s not that threatening if you don’t know her, because she can’t look violent even if she tries. But I know she’s serious. “Like you not talking to me before you hook up with Prince Charming? Hell-o?”
    At that moment, I hear Jules yelling up the stairs, and Mom introducing Gabrielle to Natalie.
    Oh, crap.

Six
    I think I have said about ten extremely heartfelt thank yous to God in the last hour that both Jules and Natalie are the type of people who become oblivious to everything but themselves when they’re ticked off.
    While their occasional self-centeredness is usually an annoying trait, today its good.
    BECAUSE I JUST SAW MY MOTHER KISS ANOTHER WOMAN!
    Okay, it was on the cheek. And it was when she thought none of us were looking—which I can understand, because we were all sitting in the eating area and she and Gabrielle were in the kitchen, which isnearby, but not in the direct line of vision from most of the table.
    When IT happened, Jules was tearing open the Hostess box and Natalie was griping about how she’s only allowed out for two hours, and only because I’m home and her parents are granting her a “special break” from the maximum security block (aka, her bedroom) because she’s still in trouble for the tongue piercing. And Christie chose the seat facing away from the kitchen, so she saw nothing. But still .
    This is beyond bizarre. I mean, Mom and Gabrielle looked all cheery when we came downstairs and plunked down at the table. The two of them stood in the kitchen while Christie yakked about Natalie’s tongue piercing and Jules argued that it’s probably no worse for Natalie’s health than ignoring the trans-fat content of her own beloved Ho Hos—despite all of Dr. Monschroeder’s dire warnings about Natalie’s risk of breaking a molar or getting an infection.
    Mom and Gabrielle were both sipping herbal tea and smiling in that parental sort of way that translates