Acting Out by Katy Grant Page B

sort of sad that Natasha and I had different sets of friends now.
    Lauren, Mei, Courtney, and I were all standing together. All the boys were across from us, and so far no one was dancing, even though the music was playing.
    I decided I needed to work fast. I couldn’t stand around waiting for some guy to find me. I had to go to him. Most girls were hoping to dance with some cute guys and maybe even meet someone they really liked. That didn’t matter to me. I just needed to make it look like I’d found a guy who liked me.
    I looked at the crowd of boys. There sure were a lot of shrimpy guys who went to this camp. I wanted to find someone who wasn’t a foot shorter than I was, and judging by the looks of this crowd, that wasn’t going to be easy.
    The guys stood around talking to each other. Every now and then one of them would look over in our direction, like they were checking to see if we were still there.
    â€œSee anyone you like?” asked Courtney.
    â€œMaybe. How about you?” I said.
    â€œYeah. See the guy in the green Hurley shirt? He keeps looking over here.”
    â€œHey, you in the green shirt. Come over and dance with my friend,” I said, kind of loud, but not loud enough for him to actually hear me.
    â€œJD, stop!” hissed Courtney. “Try not to embarrass all of us, please!”
    â€œOh, don’t worry. I won’t embarrass anyone but myself. Why don’t you all just watch and see how it’s done?”
    I walked straight over to where three guys were standing. Two of them were close to my height. When they saw me coming toward them, they all got panicked looks on their faces, like they didn’t know what I was going to do to them. Most girls didn’t realize that boys were scared of us half the time.
    â€œHey, guys. Wassup?”
    â€œHi,” one of them answered. The other two just stood there.
    â€œMy friends dared me to come talk to you guys. They didn’t think I’d do it, so help me out here, okay?”
    â€œSure,” said the talker of the group.
    â€œI’m JD, by the way.”
    â€œOh. I’m Lance.” He was around my height, and he wore glasses and had a really severe case of bed head.
    â€œI’m David,” said the other tall guy. He had braces and a buzz cut, and his face was beefy and round.
    â€œI’m Michael,” said the short guy. He wasn’t really that short, just not as tall as the rest of us.
    â€œWhat’s JD short for?” asked Lance.
    â€œJamaica Daytona,” I said, looking at him with a straight face.
    â€œWhat a weird name. No wonder you go by your initials,” Michael said.
    â€œWell, my parents love the beach. Good thing they’re not into mountains or I might’ve been named Everest Rushmore.” It was a lot of fun telling crazy stories to people. Amazingly, they always believed me, or at least they hardly ever questioned me.
    The guys looked at me like they didn’t know what to do next. I glanced over to where my friends were, and they were all watching me. When Courtney saw me, she raised her eyebrows. I had to make this look good. Time to bring up the one subject that every boy in the world was interested in.
    â€œWow. This dance pretty much sucks, doesn’t it?” I asked them.
    â€œYeah,” they all said at the same time.
    â€œYou know what would make this a really good dance? If we had a room with a long row of TVs and about five or six different game systems,” I said.
    â€œOh, sweet!” groaned Lance, like he could picture a setup like that.
    Michael and David nodded. “That would be awesome.”
    â€œSo which systems do you guys have?” I asked.
    Then all three of them were talking at the same time. Wii, PS2 and 3, DS, PSP, Xbox 360—they rattled them all off. I stood in the middle and let them talk. I glanced across the dining hall and saw Mei’s jaw drop.
    â€œYeah, have you ever