Gone by Francine Pascal Page B

general’s testosto-speak.
    â€œYes, hiii,” Chris crooned. “This is Chris Rodke….”
    â€œ
Yes,
hello, Chris. Oh gosh, I hope you’re feeling better.”
    â€œI am feeling a little better, thanks, Ms. Kimball. But I was supposed to get some homework assignmentsfrom Jake Montone. Would you happen to have his number?”
    â€œOf course, Chris, you just hold on one sec, okay?”
    â€œOh, thank
you
.”
    Yes, all things considered, his plan was moving along quite beautifully.

Blind Date
    HEATHER WAS COUCHED DEEP IN A chair in the telephone room. Her legs and arms were folded tightly as she stared at the blurry telephone, trying to work up the courage to pick it up and make the call.
    It shouldn’t have been a scary call to make, but somehow she was still nervous. She’d already been rejected by Ed, and she wasn’t in the mood for more. But she ran a much bigger risk of rejection by calling this particular boy. After all, he’d rejected her in the worst possible way a very long time ago. He’d dumped her for another girl . But so much time had passed since then. And now, for some reason, he was the one she really wanted to call.
    She’d already considered every other option. She’d considered asking one of her old Village School classmates, but, as she and Ed had discussed, she’d changedso much since then. When she thought about those boys now, they all seemed like such shallow, materialistic, immature tools. Besides, they had all surely paired off with her friends by now.
    She’d thought about asking one of the guys at Carverton to be her escort, but that just didn’t seem fair. For one thing, he’d be forced to sit through some prom he couldn’t have cared less about, and worse than that, he’d probably end up being a spectacle for all her haughty friends to judge. She could hear the whispered jokes already….
Oh, look, Heather brought a blind date. Get it? Blind date?
Ha ha. Real mature, girls. No, Heather wasn’t about to subject a Carverton boy to that kind of hell.
    The more she had thought it through, there was really only one other boy she’d wanted to ask besides Ed. She wanted a date who could give her the feeling that she’d come full circle—that she’d truly come back. She wanted a date who would make her feel like her old self again. Well… her old self minus all the shallow, catty tendencies that had turned her into such a raving queen bitch. She wanted to feel like a queen again—just minus the bitch part. Maybe she even wanted to prove to him that she had successfully exorcised her inner bitch—that she had finally grown up. Wasn’t that what graduations and proms were all about?
    So she’d made a bunch of calls to finally get hisnumber. She just needed to pick up the damn phone and dial it.
    Just do it. Call him. What do you have to lose? The worst he can say is no. He won’t be mean about it or anything. He never had a mean bone in his body. Besides, you’re still Heather Gannis, for God’s sake. This should be a walk in the park.
    Finally, after five more minutes of embarrassing hesitation, she breathed in and picked up the phone, dialing the number ever so slowly and then waiting. Her heart began to pound, and her palms began to sweat, and she did seriously consider hanging up at least four times within the three rings. But once she’d heard his sweet, raspy voice, it was too late.
    â€œHello?”
    Heather went silent.
    â€œHello?” he repeated.
    Now’s the time when you talk, Heather. TALK.
    â€œHel-
looo?
” he groaned. Two more seconds and he was going to hang up. It was do-or-die time….
    â€œSam?”
    â€œYeah… Who’s this?”
    Who’s this? Doesn’t he even remember my voice? Has it been that long?
    â€œIt’s
Heather,
” she said, trying to mask her embarrassment with a laugh.
    â€œOh