Текст книги "The Lonely Hearts Club"

Автор книги: Elizabeth Eulberg

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As he backed away, I examined him for the first time since he'd completely crushed me. And it was strange, because he wasn't the same as my memory of him. Had I not noticed before how flat his face was? And he had these tiny pale, lifeless eyes.

I was starting to breathe a little easier.

I hung out in the kitchen with Rita and Mom, helping to get ready while Mrs, Taylor grilled us with questions about school. Fortunately, the guys were downstairs watching the

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football game. it was the first time that this sexist tradition didn't bother me.

I went into the dining room to pour water in the glasses and noticed that Mom had put me right next to Nate. there was no way I would be able to avoid a conversation with him.

there wasn't enough time to switch places – everyone was already coming in for dinner. As I grabbed a plate, I realized that Mom had certainly outdone herself this year with food, I could hardly fit everything on my plate the first go-round, although I did skip the cranberry sauce as I was afraid it would stain my shirt. the cranberry sauce and the to furkey. My parents weren't going to let tradition get in the way of their beliefs, so I'd gotten used to filling myself up on salad, mashed potatoes, wild rice, and sweet potatoes.

Nate followed me in line at the counter. He reached across me to grab a roll, then placed his other hand on the bare part of my back and moved his thumb back and forth. I stayed there, unable to move,

"I missed you," he murmured.

For a moment, I almost whispered back I missed you too. I was so used to this exchange between us. this time, I tried to refuse it. I'd spent months blocking out his touch, his words. I knew where this always led for him.

I couldn't force myself to look at him. I just walked back to the table.

Then, as we sat down, Nate took a long look at my chest.

And I thought, Watt a second.

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Mr. Taylor turned to me. "So, Penny, what's this Club of yours I keep hearing about?"

I almost choked on my mashed potatoes. How did he know about it?

Mrs. Taylor chimed in next. "Yes, your mother sent us the link to the article in the school paper." if Mom thought I was going to help her with the dishes, she had another thing coming. "It sounds like so much fun. I wish I had had something like that when I was your age!"

That meant Nate knew about the Club. I couldn't bear to look at his reaction. Instead, I smiled and cheerfully replied, "Yes, it's so much fun!"

I could feel my hand start to shake, I looked at Rita, who was giving me an encouraging smile.

"It's really great," she said, glaring at Nate. "Especially since you wouldn't believe the complete losers who've asked Penny out. She's much better off"

Mr. Taylor smiled and nodded. "Well, that's just great, Penny." the conversation shifted to politics. I couldn't resist looking at Nate. He was shoving food into his mouth. A speck of to furkey dangled from his chin.

This was the guy that I would dream about every summer? This was the guy who broke my heart? Him?

After dinner and dishes, I went upstairs to my room to call Tracy. Before I could dial, Nate knocked on my door and asked to come in.

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the thought of being alone with him made me a little sick, but I figured I couldn't keep ignoring him any longer.

He sat down on the corner of my bed. "Come here," he said, tapping the place next to him,

"No, thank you." I stayed at my desk.

Nate got up, "Aw, come on, Penny. I meant every word in my e-mails. You can't still be mad at me, can you?" He came over and placed his hands on my shoulders.

It used to be that his touch was all I wanted. it used to be that I would've happily spelled out my life in moments like this – the two of us alone together, the two of us in secret. it used to be that my unwritten boyfriend list had only one name on it. it used to be that my love for him could make him beautiful no matter how he acted, no matter what he did.

"Tell me what I can do to make it better," he whispered, leaning in to rub my shoulders.

"Well," I said, "you can start by getting your hands off me."

He kept going. "You used to like it when I did this."

I stood up and pushed him away from me. "Yeah, I used to like a lot of stupid things."

He looked genuinely hurt. "Don't say that, Penny. I know things didn't end well with us, but it wasn't all that bad."

"You have got to be kidding me," I didn't even bother controlling my voice,

I heard loud footsteps on the stairs, and in a few seconds Rita was in my room. "So help me, jerkwad – get away from my sister."

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I turned toward Rita. "Actually, Rita, close the door." She put her hand on the door. "No, I mean, leave." Rita closed the door behind her.

Nate looked triumphant. "See, this is more like it." He crossed the room, but I held out my hand.

"Stop,"

"Why do you always have to be such a tease?" He winked at me.

I felt hotness rise in my face. I was trying to do everything I possibly could to not punch him.

"How can you stand there and think that after everything you did to me that I would just forgive you? A few e-mails and funny texts aren't going to change that."

Something came over Nate then. This strange calm, as if the answer was the most obvious one in the world, at least to him.

"I figured you'd forgive me because I love you," he said.

And he believed it. He was a fake, a cheat, a liar, a scum. But at that very moment, I couldn't sense any faking, cheating, lying, or scumming. He truly believed it, if only for the second he needed it to be true,

"Nate," I said, "you're not allowed to do that. You're not allowed to say that. You lied to me."

I could start to taste bile in my throat,

"Nate, you lied to me."

"I told you what you wanted to hear," he said, regaining his defensiveness.

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"Well, did you think that maybe what I wanted to hear was the truth?"

I could see what was happening. the minute I challenged him, that "I love you" was gone. "You know what, Pen. No, I didn't think that, because you didn't want to hear the truth. You built up some stupid fairy tale about us since we were little, so yeah, I id what I thought you wanted."

"You used me,"

Nate threw his hands up. "It's not like I got very far!"

My body started to shake. "You got far enough."

"Whatever, I think you at least owe me a thank-you."

"What?" I must have heard him wrong.

A smile spread across his face. "The Lonely Hearts Club? You obviously started it because of me."

My mouth practically dropped to the floor. He thought that I should thank him.

"Aw, come on – you needed to get over me, so you started the club. to be honest, I'm a little flattered, babe."

I looked at him in complete shock.

I tried to remember what Rita had said about being a bigger person. I could either calmly tell him that he was mistaken or let him have it. I could be the bigger person or I could belike any normal sixteen-year-old.

Like there really was a choice.

"First off, you ever call me a babe again and no medical team on earth will be able to tell that you were once a guy."

I was only sixteen after all.

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the smile quickly vanished from his face.

"Seriously, I don't know what I ever saw in you. You're a completely selfish human being. Not only that, you're not nearly as good-looking as you think you are and add as much to a conversation as a bag of rocks. I believe in people learning from mistakes, and let me tell you something – you were a huge mistake.

"Not only am I never going to make a mistake like that again, I'm never going to have to put up with you again."

I went over to where he was sitting and got in his face.

"You're going to get a job next summer back at home and stay with someone there. You're not going to spend any more summers with us. Do you understand?"

"You can't make me do anything." He crossed his arms.

"Oh, really? Okay, fine." I grabbed his arm. "Were going downstairs and we're going to tell my mother exactly everything that happened this summer – and I mean everything"

Nate stopped in his tracks.

"Come on, Nate – you don't think you did anything wrong, so what's the big deal? I think my mom would love to hear what you did to me, especially since you were doing a whole lot more with a bunch of other people at the same time. God, maybe I'll get lucky and be able to be there when my mom tells your mom about it. Honestly, I'm sick of keeping it a secret from them. True, my mom will be disappointed in me for my poor choices and for giving in to a pig, but for some reason, I think she'll have a few more . .. ah, words for you."

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Nate removed my grip from his arm. "Penny, stop it."

"Stop what? You can't possibly be scared of my mother?"

I couldn't believe I was able to say that with a straight face.

"You know what!' I went on. "Something good did come from this summer. I deserve so much better than you. I always have. So I guess I should thank you for being a complete and utter jerk so I would wake up and see what I'm worth. But in the end, the people who matter the most to me are my friends, not someone like you. You mean absolutely nothing to me. Yes, in a way your actions are responsible for the Club, which is the best thing that ever happened to me. But I owe you nothing."

I turned around and started to leave my room, but had a second thought.

"And, Nate? You kiss like a slobbering dog, you have bad breath, and you wouldn't know how to push the right buttons on a girl if we came with manuals. Happy thanksgiving, Jackass."

All right, I am going to be a bigger person starting right now.

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chapter Thirty one

'No YOU DIDN'T!" TRACY WAS screaming on the phone after I gave her the details.

"Can you believe it? I think I may have gone a little overboard in the end, but I just feel this incredible weight lifted off my shoulders." I was lying in bed with my pajamas on, feeling so giddy the Taylor's had left, and Rita had brought me a big piece of pumpkin pie before heading out for the evening. Life was grand,

"Seriously next meeting I want you to do a complete reenactment for the Club. I'll be more than happy to play the part of Nate. I'll just grunt a lot and shove food in my face. Priceless! Who else knows?"

"Just you and Rita. She thinks I'm a goddess!"

"You have got to call the Club. Everybody's dying to know what happened."

"I will – t just can't believe that seeing him was a good thing; I don't know what I was thinking. He changed so much."

"Penny it wasn't Nate who changed, it was you. You know that I've never liked him. I always told you that you could do better, but you didn't listen and now you know the truth. Pretty sweet, huh?"

Very sweet indeed.

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I fell into bed exhausted after calling Diane, Jen, Amy, and Morgan.

I had done it. I had stood up to Nate.

I went over to my desk and picked up my old journal and went to the last entry. the one that had broken my heart so many times in the past. I ran my finger along the indentations the pen left. there was so much pain in those words. But now I knew that everything would be okay.

I grabbed a pen off my desk and wrote below my "Yesterday" entry. I wasn't rewriting history, I was just reminding myself that I could get over heartbreak if it happened another time.

. . . I'll he back again.

Yes, I would be back. I could take chances with my heart and I would be able to bounce back, and anything that might hurt me would just make me stronger in the end.

And I did deserve everything I wanted – somebody who would appreciate me, someone I could trust, someone who liked me for me.

My heart sank as I thought of Ryan.

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chapter Thirty two

"NOW, PENNY LANE, THIS IS our little secret, pinky swear." Dad held out his pinky and I locked mine with his. "Your mother would kill me if she knew we did this with all of the leftovers still in the house."

Dad and I were on our own for Saturday dinner, and neither of us had been able to stand looking at the leftover to furkey... so we'd thrown it down the garbage disposal. Mom was never going to buy the story that I'd helped him finish it off.

"So what's the Club up to tonight?" Dad asked.

"Were going to catch a movie so you guys don't have to worry about a zillion screaming girls in the house."

Dad smiled. "Well, that's a relief. No karaoke planning?"

Ugh, that was the purpose of us going to a movie – to try to distract Jen from the following weekend's party. She had been totally stressing out. Not only had I promised to sing a solo, I had also agreed to lead the Club in a rendition of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." the phone rang and Dad went over and picked it up. "Oh, hello, Ryan!' he said after listening for a moment.

It cant be . . ,

I looked over and saw that my dad's forehead was creasing.

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"No, no, you did the right thing. I'll be in my office in five minutes. Meet me there."

Medical emergency. "Is everything all right?"

"No, actually that was Ryan Bauer – his sister fell and hit her mouth against a table and is bleeding. I need to get over to the office," He grabbed his jacket. "Actually, Penny Lane, can you come with me? I might need an extra set of hands."

"Umm..."

"Plus," he added, "Ryan seems a little shaken up. it might be good for him to have a friend there."

Before I could protest, Dad threw my jacket at me and was out the door.

Ryan was waiting for us when we pulled up. He was holding his eight-year-old stepsister, Katie, in his arms, her long black hair covering her face. Dad ran over to him and reached out to touch Katie's head. "Sweetie," he told her, "its going to be okay." He handed me his keys. "Penny Lane, open up the office, get the lights on in my exam room, turn everything on, and get a clean set of instruments." Ryan looked at me, noticing that I was with my father, and I saw that his eyes were filled with panic.

I nervously reached for the keys and sprinted into the office. I flipped on the overhead lights and then ran in the back to my dad's main exam room. Like an automatic reflex, I turned on all of the equipment, grabbed a fresh set of instruments, and placed them down on the counter.

Katie's sobs were getting louder as my dad and Ryan

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approached the room. "I was upstairs getting dinner ready and then I heard a crash. I guess she was jumping around and . . . fell!' Ryan was explaining to my dad.

He set Katie in the chair and Dad gently removed the towel that was covering her face. All I could see was blood.

"Oh, no!" Ryan exclaimed, and he put his hands over his head and started to pace.

"Everything's going to be fine!' Dad said. I couldn't tell if he was talking to Katie or Ryan.

I ran into my dad's office, grabbed Abbey the Walrus, and ran back. Dad was examining Katie, who was now crying even harder. "Here, sweetie." I went over and gave her the stuffed animal that I used to play with when I was about her age. Katie hesitantly took the walrus and then held on to it for dear life.

"All right, some of the teeth are a little loose, but everything is going to be fine. I'm just going to clean up the wound and then see about stabilizing the teeth," Dad looked over at Ryan, who seemed like he was about to faint.

"Penny Lane, why don't you take Ryan to the lobby," Dad went on, even as Ryan began to protest. "Ryan, I think it's best for you to watt there. You've done all you can."

I walked out the door and Ryan followed me. Before I could even think about it, I placed my hand on his shoulder.

He plunked down on the couch in the reception area and put his hands over his face. "My mother's going to kill me."

I sat down next to him and put my arm around him. "Ryan, you didn't do anything wrong."

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"there's so much blood," he protested.

"But that's just because the blood is mixed with the saliva, so it just looks worse than it actually is," I assured him.

He jerked his head up. "Why are you even here?" I couldn't tell if he was angry or embarrassed.

"My dad, he, um, thought he might need help . . and that you might need a friend." I reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze.

Ryan's cell phone rang and he jumped. "Hey, Mom, . . . no, I got ahold of Dr. Bloom..., Yes ... okay ... okay ... I will. . . 'bye."

"You have to know this isn't your fault," I said after he'd hung up. He just stared straight ahead, "Um, when I was two, Lucy was supposed to be watching me. She was only ten at the time, so that was probably pretty irresponsible of my parents, but she left me on the top bunk bed in her room and, well, the next thing you know, I fell off the bunk bed and onto the floor. And you know, I turned out seminormal." I bumped my knee against his. "Or maybe not. .. ."

He smiled. "I know she'll be okay, but my mom sounded like I really let her down, and Cole is so overprotective of Katie. it's just... do you have any idea how frickin' exhausting it is to be me sometimes?"

I stared at him in disbelief.

"Ryan," I said, "nobody expects you to be perfect"

"Right, tell that to the coaches and my parents."

I'd never really thought about that. I'd just always assumed that Ryan was perfect.

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"It's my own fault," he continued, "I kill myself to live up to peoples expectations. Just once I'd like to skip class, drink at a party, not always say the right thing, I can already hear my parents, 'You should have been watching her, Ryan,' What were you thinking, Ryan! 'How irresponsible, Ryan! 'We are so disappointed, Ryan! that's the worst, when they tell me that they're disappointed in me, like I'm not allowed to mess up once in a while. I'm just thankful my dad doesn't need to know about this!' it was the first time Ryan had mentioned his father since he hadn't shown up at the game earlier in the year. "if I have to hear from him one more time that an A-minus is the same as a B-minus and that no decent college is going to let me in unless I get nothing but straight As . . .like t want to follow his path to being a self-absorbed prick."

My mouth dropped open.

He looked horrified, "I'm sorry ... I shouldn't have ... I didn't mean ,. ."

"It's okay" I rubbed his arm. "You're just really stressed about Katie, that's all. there's just... a lot going on right now."

He turned to me, looking so tired. "I know you think I'm overreacting, but I spend so much time doing things to not disappoint people.. . . What about what I want?"

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Does it even matter?" he replied as he leaned his head against the wall.

"Yes, it does, if it's important to you."

"Well, I can't have it, so what's the point?"

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this was such a different side to Ryan – he was so vulnerable. it made me like him even more. I reached out and held his hand again. "Ryan, you're an amazing person and you do deserve whatever you want,"

He looked down at my hand in his. "I'm not stupid, so I'm willing to settle."

I was confused; I had no idea what he was talking about. He reached out his free hand and cupped my chin. "I know things have been weird, but can we please have things go back to normal between us?"

I didn't know if that was even possible. What was normal anymore?

I nodded. 'I'm really sorry for everything. Rosanna was just. .."

"I know," he said as he put his hand back down and took his other hand away from mine. I had the urge to grab it again, but resisted.

"Well." I hit him on the knee. "Leave it to you. You come in here with your sister and you end up making me feel better."

"Yeah, well, leave it to Mr. Perfect..."

I laughed. "Hardly. Don't forget I overheard you singing at the concert and you, mister, have a little problem with pitch. I say you're far from perfect."

He shook his head and we sat in silence. I started to hum along to the Muzak playing in the background.

"Oh my God," I said.

Ryan looked up. "What's wrong?"

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I shook my head, "Nothing, it's just..." I went over to the front desk and turned up the volume, "Seems to be appropriate, don't you think?" I started to sing along to the music playing.

Won't you please, please help me.

"You have no idea." He breathed what appeared to be a sigh of relief.

Dad came out a few minutes later, holding Katies hand. Her mouth looked a lot better, besides the gauze that Dad affixed to help slow the bleeding. Ryan jumped out of his chair and was on his knees hugging her.

"Dr. Bloom, thank you so much. I'm so sorry for having to call you at home – I just didn't know what to do."

My dad shook Ryan's hand. "No worries – you did the right thing."

Katie came over to me and extended Abbey in her small arms, I bent down. "You know, I think you might need Abbey more than me." Her face lit up and she ran over to Ryan and grabbed his leg,

"Well," he said, "I guess we should go. thanks again, Dr. Bloom." He walked over to me, saying "thanks, Penny" as he gave me a hug. then he leaned down and kissed me on the cheek.

I saw the surprised look on my dad's face. As we let them out the front door, he looked at me. "So .. . that Ryan. Great guy, huh?"

You have no idea, I thought.

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With a Little Help From My Friends

"I get by with a little help from my friends..."

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chapter Thirty three

USUALLY AFTER A BREAK, I dreaded going back to school But I couldn't watt to see Ryan, to see if things were really okay between us.

We fell quickly back in place, and I practically ran to my locker between classes. instead of dread, I started to look forward to my between-class teasing session. Usually I told him how many ways he wasn't perfect, and he commented on the unfortunate shape of my head from my bunk bed trauma.

"Come to think of it, I never see you wear hats – is that because of the, you know, accident" He tugged on my scarf as I was buttoning up my wool coat.

"Gee, let me think. I've never seen you play a musical instrument – is that maybe because you're completely inept at anything related to music?"

I wrapped my scarf around my neck so it smacked him in the head every time it circled around.

"Oh, excuse me . . ,"

"Penny!" I heard someone cry from across the hall. I saw Jen running toward me, with Tracy following quickly behind her.

This couldn't be good.

Tracy broke the news. "Principal Braddock told her that we can't have the karaoke night in the gymnasium anymore."

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"What?" I screamed. "It's four days away!"

Jen took a deep breath, "He said that he feels it's turned into a Lonely Hearts Club event and that it can't be on school grounds!'

"that doesn't make any sense!' I protested, "Were raising money for the basketball team. We're just helping because you're our friend. Everybody's invited."

Jen put her head in her hands. "I just don't know what we're going to do. We've all worked so hard."

Tracy sat down and put her hand around Jen's shaking body. "It's okay, we'll just have to postpone it until..."

"the hell we are!" I proclaimed. Both Tracy and Jen looked up at me in shock. "We're going to have this party and raise so much flippin' money that the basketball team is going to have the best uniforms in the school's history."

Tracy looked at me like I had gone insane. "But, Pen, we can't use the school."

"then we'll find somewhere else to have it. I am so sick of all the drama. Seriously, what's the point of having the Club if we can't find a way to overcome these little obstacles?"

"But all of the flyers have been put up.., ." Jen argued.

"So we'll make new ones. Screw Principal Braddock – let's show him how much power we really have," Now even I was a little surprised by myself. "Let's go to my house – we've got some phone calls to make."

In less than an hour, all thirty members of the Lonely Hearts Club were at my house, ready to step into action. My

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parents had ordered pizza for the group as we analyzed our options.

"I still say all the parents need to get together and talk to Braddock," Dadsaid, opening up a pizza box and helping himself to another slice.

I shook my head. "No, we need to do this on our own and show him that we can stand on our own two feet. We can handle whatever he's going to throw at us."

Dad nodded while he chewed, looking around the room, clearly happy to be in the middle of all the excitement,

"All right, here's the deal," Eileen Vodak said as she came into the basement. "My uncle will let us use the event space at the Bowlarama for free, but since it's a Saturday night and he'll have to turn away paying customers, he asks that we don't bring in any food but have people buy sodas and snacks. Or, if we give him $5 a person, they will cater the event for us with soda and chips and stuff"

"But that's going to cut into the profit," Jen replied as she sat nervously on the floor.

"Exactly how many people are you expecting?" Dad asked.

Jen picked at her uneaten slice of pepperoni, "I have no idea – fifty?"

"But fifty hardly covers the Club and the basketball team," Diane reminded us.

"Wow, you're right. I guess a hundred or a hundred and fifty." Jen started writing figures down in her notepad.

Dad looked over Jen's shoulder at her writing. "Come to

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think of it, Jen, I don't think the Bloom Dental Office has made a donation to the team this year. How about this – you guys pull this off and I'll pay for the refreshments?"

Jen looked up at my dad with her big blue eyes, and for the first time all night she smiled. "Dr. Bloom, thank you so much." She got up and threw her arms around him. "I promise to start flossing every day!"

Dad laughed. "Well, that's just great."

I think that might have made his day more than saving the basketball team.

"Okay." Jen nervously bit her lip. "I guess all we need to do now is to let everybody know about the location change. We've got flyers. ... I guess that will be enough." She didn't seem convinced.

"We should make an announcement over the PA system," Tracy said, drawing a microphone on poster board. "Like Braddock would ever let that happen. I just wish I could find a way to get in there and do it."

"You can't," Diane told her,

"Well, I know that. I was just joking," Tracy responded.

Diane stood up. "No, I'm just saying that you can't, but I can."

I stared nervously at the clock before homeroom and took a deep breath to calm down. I hoped Diane could pull this off and that she wouldn't be suspended for it.

Since Diane was the president of the student council, she was responsible for the Friday morning announcements.

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Usually, she just edited the announcements that all the clubs had submitted for the week and let other members read them over the PA.

Not this time.

Hilary Jacobs and I exchanged glances as the bell rang and everybody started to take their seats.

We had been distributing the new flyers all week in the school parking lot. We had to take different shifts to make sure we didn't get caught. One girl hung outside the school office with cell phone in hand, while two others monitored the exit closest to the parking lot. the rest of us were each assigned a row in the parking lot to hand out flyers. Another group came in later to make sure that nobody had littered so there wasn't any evidence.

To my knowledge, Principal Braddock had no idea that we were even still having the karaoke fund-raiser. I couldn't watt to see the look on his face when Jen presented him with the money on Monday. the buzz of the intercom sounded. "Good morning, everybody, and happy Friday," Diane announced. "the following are your announcements for the week. the Key Club's annual flower drive begins next week. Carnations are a dollar, and you can get. . "

I could hardly concentrate on the announcements as I was too nervous for Diane, I prayed that Principal Braddock wasn't too close by and that she would have enough time to do it.

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"And, finally, please note that the girls' basketball karaoke fund-raiser on Saturday night at seven p.m. has been switched from the gymnasium to the Bowlarama on Cook Street." there was a noise in the background, but Diane sounded as calm as ever. "the entrance fee is five dollars, which includes food and drinks. We look forward to seeing you all Saturday night at the Bowl –"

The intercom went dead.

"You're my hero, Diane," Jen said as we headed into the Bowlarama. She was beaming as we bought tickets. "There are so many people here already! I've got to go check on the sign-in sheet for the songs. Remember, you guys aren't off the hook yet."

I didn't want to be reminded.

Diane smiled at her as she handed over her admission fee. "Hey, I took one for the team. Anybody would've done it."

I don't know how many people would've taken getting suspended from playing at Tuesday's basketball game and having her announcement duties revoked in such stride, but Diane was glowing.

We walked into the back room, and it was packed – there had to be easily over one hundred and fifty people already there. The room was dark with white lights hanging down from the ceiling. it was sort of pretty, for a bowling alley.

I saw the stage up front with a big spotlight on it and a monitor to display the words to the songs. As we headed there, Jen ran over. "This is a total disaster!"

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"Everything is great and look at the turnout – what could possibly be wrong?" I asked.

"Erin is sick – her voice is shot."

Wow, Jen really needed to chill out. With all of the drama the past few weeks, I really didn't see one person being sick as a disaster. "Jen, there are plenty of people who will sing, don't worry about it."

"But who will be the first person? Everybody who has signed up has refused to go first. Please, Penny, you need to help me."

I looked around and noticed that Tracy had made a quick getaway.

"Really, Jen, you don't want my help. if I'm the first person to start, the room will be cleared out."

"Please, Penny. Everybody looks up to you. if you do it, I'm sure the whole Club will, too."

Okay, I was wrong. this was a disaster. "Fine".

"Thank you, thank you. I totally owe you."

No kidding. I wasn't going to forget this anytime soon.

I walked over to the Club's five front tables. "All right, guys, I'm going first. Who wants to go up with me?"

You could hear a pin drop. For the first time since the Lonely Hearts Club started, nobody would look me in the eye. "Seriously, guys, if we all go up in a group together, it wont be so bad." Please, oh please, somebody has got to go up with me. "Anybody?"