Pride and Popularity

I’m perfectly fine on my own, thank you.”

“But your mother said you would say yes if I asked. She told my mom—I don’t understand . . .”

I lost it. “You know what? I don’t have to listen to this.” I walked back in the house and slammed the door behind me, leaving Collin outside. I know it was a bit harsh, but I was so sick of people bossing me around.

To say my mom was mad would be an understatement. She was positively livid, which was fine with me, because I didn’t care what she thought anymore. I let her run outside and comfort a sullen Collin while I ran to my room and slammed that door, too.

After a few minutes of pacing up and down I heard a knock. “Go away!”

“Chloe?” It was my dad.

Oh, great. “Yeah, you can come in.” I grabbed my bear and plopped on the bed.

My dad walked into my room and pulled out the desk chair. Straddling it backwards, he sat down and faced me. The look on his face made me feel awful. I didn’t even know what to say to him.

“Chloe, I’m not worried about Collin, if that’s what’s bothering you,” he stated. “I’m sure someone as oblivious as that kid will easily forgive and forget. I’m worried about you and your relationship with your family.”

“Oh?”

“This isn’t like you. Snapping at people, taking things so seriously. The Chloe I know would have found tonight utterly hilarious and found a way to let that poor boy down gently.” Not sure what to say, I remained silent.

“What’s going on with you?” my dad asked. “Is it anything you want to talk about?”

“Not really. I don’t know what’s wrong.”

He ran his hand through his faded blond hair. “Look. Your mom is pretty adamant that you become Collin’s girlfriend, even if it’s just for a few weeks. She thinks you are being very stubborn, selfish, and prideful. In fact, she asked me to come in and talk to you.”

“She did?”

“Yes. And you have to admit she’s got a point. Now here’s the problem,” Dad continued. “She wants you grounded if you don’t accept Collin.”

I grimaced. They can’t force me to be the guy’s girlfriend, can they?

“And I will ground you if you do,” Dad finished.

Mom’s vengeful “No!” could be heard just outside my door as I realized what my father had said.

What? “Thank you!” I ran across the room and hugged him so tight I almost knocked him over. “I love you.” He hugged me back. “And don’t worry. It’s nothing, Dad. I’m fine.”

“Is there anything I can do?” he asked.

I thought for a moment, then smiled. “Just please don’t make me deal with Mom.” 

Sixteen One Word: Morp

By the middle of November, I had begun to wonder if Blake had been drinking the same water as Taylor and Zack. Not that Blake and I were an official item or anything—definitely nothing of the sort. It’s just when you get used to a guy calling you almost every day it becomes pretty noticeable when he stops. So by the time December rolled around and Ethan announced that Blake had a girlfriend, I wasn’t too surprised. It had been almost four weeks since I had last heard from him. His new schedule at the hotel didn’t leave room for Wednesday-night four- wheeling, either. But that was okay. With Madison, Alyssa, and I so busy with our own schedules it was nice to have the odd weekend free to hang out like old times. Besides, December was a time to plan for holiday events, parties, and, of course, morp.

Honestly, is there a person alive who doesn’t love morp? It was only our school’s biggest dance other than prom. As funny as it sounds, morp is “prom” spelled backwards, and therefore that was the theme of the night. For Backwards Night, the girls did everything: the tickets, the dinner, the photos, the ride— everything. We even got to choose the matching outfits that were worn that night. Thank goodness the dance was a casual one.

I found out our school held morp in January so all of the proceeds could go toward prom in April. Traditionally, the guy a girl asks to morp is the guy she is secretly hoping will ask her to prom. So imagine my complete and utter surprise when a desperate Taylor barged into art class one Friday and asked me to help him find a girl to take him to morp.

“I need help,” he said desperately. “Will you help me get a date to morp, please?”

His eyes were almost aquamarine today. Why is it guys usually have the prettiest eyes? I tried to make sense of what I had heard. “Let me get this straight. You need someone to ask you to morp?”

“Yes, immediately! Will you help me?”

You need help finding a date to morp? You? “But why?”

Taylor sat in the chair next to me. “Because of Sydney Ellis.”

“Sydney?” She was probably one of the rudest cheerleaders I had ever known. Where Kylie would at least fake like she liked you, Sydney was your typical movie “mean girl.” “What about her?” I asked.

Taylor collapsed forward on the table and buried his face in his hands. “She’s just asked me to morp. I don’t know what to do. I haven’t answered her yet, thanks to her perfect timing. She asked right as the bell rang. But I’ll see her next hour and she’ll be expecting my answer then. I need someone else to ask me now, so I can tell her that I’m already taken. I really don’t want to go with her.”

No, you really don’t. “Let me make sure I understand. You, Taylor Anderson, need help finding a date ASAP to morp, correct?”

“Isn’t that what I just said?”

“Yes, but it’s so unexpected I wanted to make sure I heard you correctly.”

“So you can help?”

“Well, yeah. I can help you find someone. Now let’s see, there’s a whole room full of girls. Just choose one. Anyone.”

“Really?” Taylor sat up.

“Yes, really. As a matter of fact, I could get any girl in the school to take you. Who would you love to go with more than anyone else? I’ll ask her. Then, bingo, she’s yours.”

“I don’t think she wants to go with me.”

I rolled my eyes as I stood up. “Please, Taylor.” Then it hit me just as I was about to walk away to get my art supplies ready. “Oh! You mean Kylie?”

“What? Kylie? No.” He pushed himself up and followed me over to the shelves.

“Oh?” I shrugged. “So who is she?” I reached up and pulled out Taylor’s scratchboard, then my own.

He walked over to the sink and collected the scratch-art knives we needed. “I don’t want to say,” he responded once we sat down. He looked a bit embarrassed.

I sighed in frustration. “O–kay. You know, this whole Sydney thing could’ve been avoided if you had just picked another girlfriend by now. I mean seriously, it’s been a month, hasn’t it?”

“Five and a half weeks,” Taylor grumbled.

“See? That creates too much talk. You need a girlfriend. You’ve never gone that long without one. If you already had one, Sydney wouldn’t have asked you.”

Taylor shook his head. “I’d rather not have a girlfriend right now. I really would just like to have a girl ask me to morp.”

I caught the incredulous look that passed between Madison and Alyssa as they slipped into their chairs. Yeah, they’re probably really shocked right now. Kind of like I was about three minutes ago.

“Okay,” I tried again, “how about Emma? She would love to go with you.”