Page 7 of My Fake Date With My Childhood Friend
“I can’t wait to go to the formal with you,” Joseph said before kissing my cheek.
“I can’t wait to go, babe,” I replied, smiling widely.
“Hello, earth to Penny,” Joseph said. Snapping back to reality, I blinked my eyes. I glanced around the room. I could see at least five people obviously eavesdropping on the conversation. There were probably even more who were just better at hiding it. Trying to hold on to the little dignity I had left, I stood up, picked up my tray, and walked away. Of course, Joseph followed me. At least we had a little more privacy by the tray returning area, though.
“Come on, Penny,” he said in a condescending voice. “It’s not like you need the second ticket, anyway. Besides, it’s the season of giving and all that, right?”
It was a statement, not a question — because, of course, I couldn’t have someone else I was going with. I was just pathetic little Penny, who no boy would ever talk to, let alone ask out.
“You don’t know that.”
He raised his eyebrows. “What, you found a new date already?”
“Why not?” I dropped my tray on the plastic shelf. “You did.”
I flipped my hair over my shoulder in a move reminiscent of Nikki and walked out of the cafeteria, leaving him stunned behind me.
Everyone is replaceable,I thought to myself.Right, Joseph?
If the Christmas decorations had been a nuisance before, they were downright depressing to me now — a constant reminder of my current plight. Even the stupid front door had a giant poster promoting the formal on it. I was tempted to rip it down but held myself back. It wasn't fair to whatever poor student made it.
My thoughts were spinning for the rest of the day. It warmed up through the day, so my walk home wasn’t as terrible as my walk to school in the morning. The breeze carried with it a wave of applause and excited murmurs that told me some sort of informal sports game was probably happening on the field. Other than that, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was relatively quiet. With no one else around, I had some quiet time to think about everything. I was happy I wiped the smirk off from that jerk's face. The look on his face was priceless. I wason cloud nine for about fifteen minutes, and then reality sunk in again.
Lots of things kept popping up in my mind all at once. I didn’t have a date for the Christmas Formal — I didn’t even have any prospects, and the formal was in a week. This was a huge problem. It would be more humiliating if I showed up to the formal alone after making all that noise. And getting a date on such short notice would be hard — especially for someone who would understand that I just wanted a date to the formal, not a boyfriend. But even that could cause problems for me too. The gossip mill would probably somehow twist it to make it seem like I had paid someone to go with me to the formal or something else equally embarrassing.
I just had so much to think about, and I started to panic. Why did I have to tell Joseph that I had a date? What if I couldn’t get one in time?
This was bad. I didn’t want to go from the girl who got cheated on to the girl who made up a date for the formal. I would become a social pariah at Falcon High and would have to change schools.
Everyone at school already gave me funny looks and gossiped about me constantly, so if this happened, I was dead meat.
Considering how unlikely it was for me to fix this by getting a date, I needed to think of an excuse for why my supposed date couldn't come. As soon as I got home and sat down in my room, I pulled out my notebook and a purple pen that Nikki had gifted me a few months ago. Great — I couldn't even use stationary without thinking of her.
In big letters, I wrote at the top of the page:
EXCUSES FOR THE FORMAL
1. Maybe on the day of the formal, I could say the guy was sick
2. He got arrested.
3. His family very suddenly moved away in the middle of the night.
4. He was a Russian spy who had to return after his identity was compromised.
5. He got the flu.
6. His family was in the mob
No, all those ideas sounded idiotic. Even worse, they sounded like excuses that a 5-year-old would come up with. Even the illness would raise too many questions, like who the guy was and if I would bring him to other school events. Regardless, I was seriously considering the moving away one—I thought that maybe it would make him seem mysterious because who moves away suddenly, like without a word?
I couldn't do that. Everyone would think I was insane. In frustration, I shook my head and crossed all the ideas with a red pen. I wouldn’t give up, though. I didn’t care what it took, I was determined not to let Joseph win.
My mom started calling my name from downstairs.
“Can't a girl get some peace and relaxation around here?” I muttered. I carefully put the notebook away where I was pretty sure my siblings couldn’t reach.
My mom was in the kitchen making coffee, even though it was almost dinner time. For some reason, the caffeine never seemed to mess up her sleep schedule, no matter how late she drank it.
