by RH Tucker
The next day, we have our whipped cream pie contest. This one isn’t a doubles game, but rather guys versus girls. The winning team gets an addition five votes for each member, so Yvette and Sarah are hounding the rest of the girls to do well as they sit at the table.
Each couple sits across from each other, and I look at Izzy with a smirk, to which she smiles back. I didn’t say much to her in class. I thought about bringing up the fact that I saved the picture she sent me as the wallpaper on my phone, knowing she’ll probably get embarrassed, but figured I’d save that tidbit for another day.
Greg stands at the end of the table. For this event, we’re all organized in the quad area.
“All right, here are the rules,” Greg says into the megaphone, announcing to everyone looking on. “Each court member has a whipped cream pie sitting in front of them. On the bottom of the plate, is a piece of bubble gum. Each person has to eat the entire plate of whipped cream, using only their face, no hands. After the whipped cream is gone, then they have to chew the bubble gum and blow a bubble. Once they do that, the next member can start on their plate. The first team that finishes gets the five extra votes each.
Izzy and I are near the end of the table, in the fourth spot. Franco and Jen are the last team members.
“Okay. Ready? Set? Go!” Greg yells out, and Yvette and Oscar dive in since they’re the first couple.
“Remember,” I call over to Izzy. “No hands.”
She shoots me back a flirtatious smile. “I thought I proved to you yesterday; I don’t need my hands.”
“Touché.” I clear my throat before biting the inside of my cheek.
Oscar finishes blowing a bubble and Sam starts in on his plate of whipped cream. Yvette finishes her bubble and Natalie starts next for the girls.
Sam plows through the plate, getting whipped cream everywhere, making our team laugh and cheer him on. I’m happy that Sam isn’t too embarrassed about being on the court. Despite some of the small jabs Natalie has taken at him, he seems to be enjoying it. Plus, all his friends from debate and chess were around yesterday and today, cheering him on.
Sam finishes quicker than Oscar, blowing his bubble and Bret dives his face right in to the plate of cream. Natalie’s still trying to finish her plate when she finally finds the bubble gum at the bottom. She starts chewing on the gum, but Bret has already finished his plate and is chewing his own piece of gum.
“Hurry!” Yvette screams, and Natalie finally blows her bubble, allowing Sarah to dive into her plate.
But Bret’s already blown his bubble, and I’m digging into my whipped cream. I glance over and see Sarah still eating. I finish my plate of whipped cream and find the gum.
Looking up, Izzy is grinning from ear to ear, watching me. I chew the gum a couple more times and see Sarah get to her piece finally. I deliberately lick my lips at Izzy. Her smile’s still there, but her eyes narrow at me. Blowing my bubble, my eyes never leave hers, until the bubble pops from too much air and Franco dives into his plate.
I bob my head a little, whipped cream dripping from my chin. Sarah finally blows her bubble, and Izzy starts on her plate. Her hands come loose from behind her, and she puts them on the table.
“No hands!” I yell at her through laughter.
“I know!” she yells back without looking up.
Franco has nearly cleared his plate of whipped cream when she finally gets to the bottom and finds the gum.
“Go! Go! Go!” Yvette screams again, but it’s no use.
Franco starts chewing his gum at the same time Izzy does. He blows his bubble first and she follows close behind, but Jen still has to finish her plate.
Greg blows a whistle. “And the winners? The boys’ team!”
Yvette scowls through her whipped cream face but everyone else is laughing, even Sarah.
“Aw.” Jen frowns. “I didn’t even get to try.”
“I can get you a little messy if you want,” Franco says. She beams at him, wiggling her brows.
Izzy raises her eyes, looking over at me as she gets up.
“Nicely done, man.” Carter walks over, slapping a hand on my shoulder.
I walk around to the end where Cindy and Veronica are waiting for Izzy. “Thanks.”
“Isabel, right?” Carter looks over at Izzy.
She looks at me then back at him. “Yeah.”
“I’m Carter.”
“Oh, I know.” She purses her lips together, fighting back a smile.
“Right.” He rubs the back of his neck, a little embarrassed. He still regrets letting all those rumors run wild.
“Hi.” Emma steps up waving at her. “I’m Emma.”
“Emma!” Jen runs up behind her and slams her uneaten pie into her face.
“Oh, my God! Jen!”
Jen’s in hysterics, while Emma looks like her head is going to explode.
“Come on. I’ll help you clean up in the bathroom,” Jen says through broken laughter. “We need to talk,” she says as she casts a glance at Franco, who smiles back.
I feel a little bad because Lucas is my friend and I know there’s some sort of history between him and Jen, but she really seems to like Franco. Emma and Jen disappear behind us as Greg hands out towels.
“So, you two gonna win the scavenger hunt tomorrow?” Carter asks. “Twenty extra votes to the winning couple.”
“We’ll see.” I look over at Izzy. “Hands might be required for that one.”
She smirks at the inside joke while Carter looks at me confused.
“Oh, I can work with my hands too.” She glances at me, before wiping a smudge of whipped cream from my chin, then licking it off her finger. Her eyes never leave mine. She takes a step closer and I let out an inadvertent cough, straightening my shoulders. “See you tomorrow.”
She wipes another smudge of whipped cream from the bottom of my cheek, only this time she taps me on the nose with it. She hasn’t flirted with me nearly as much as I have with her, but after the picture yesterday and now today, I don’t care. If I was keeping score, she’s definitely caught up.
Carter nudges my side. “Tell me again why you aren’t dressing up at prom to go with her?”
“Shut it.”
Chapter 29
Izzy
Even though we seem to both be volleying flirtatious shots at one another during the prom court events, neither of us have brought up the actual event—that being prom. In all honesty, I’m a little hesitant to bring it up. I want him to dress up as Spike, but if he were to ask again, I think I’d say yes with or without him dressing up. After the last two challenges, I can’t deny the spark between us. If anything, it shows me we can still hang out around everyone at school and still be ourselves around one another. Besides, who am I to tell him or anyone else how they should or shouldn’t be. Maybe I’ve been making too big of a deal out of him and his nerdy side that I love.
Like. I mean like. Shoot. That’s not good.
“So, any more progress on McFanboy and the prom challenge?” Veronica whispers to me in class.
“Not really.”
“You know, I was thinking. What if someone else asked you? You think that’d make him change his mind.”
I pause from the notes I’m writing, staring at my notebook in thought. “I don’t know.”
“I think it might.”
“V, it doesn’t matter, because the dance is in two days. If no one’s asked me by now, then they probably won’t.”
“I don’t know.” She turns around to face me. “Maybe no one’s asked you because they think you’re going out with Ma—him.”
I stare at her in confusion. “Why would they think that?”
“Good lord, Izzy.” She taps her forehead, shaking her head. “You should’ve seen you two during the last two lunches. It totally looks like you guys are going out.”
I think back to the last two days. The tripping over each other, the whispers after the race, tapping his face with whipped cream. Okay, maybe it mi
ght have looked like we were going out, but I was completely oblivious to it. Mostly because I don’t care. When I’m around him I don’t think about anyone or anything else. It’s just us. Okay, Izzy, you’re in freefall mode. Careful.
“That’s not true,” I argue.
“Well, would you be up for a date?”
“I don’t know.” I keep my head down. “Maybe.”
“Good, then I’ll let him know you’re available.”
“Wait, what? Who?”
“Oscar Cappelli.” She grins.
“Oscar? No way.”
“Why not?”
“V, he’s gross.”
“I think he’s cute.”
“Yes, he’s attractive, but he’s like, a sleazeball. Why would you even mention him?”
“Because I overheard him talking in one of my classes and he mentioned you.”
“Really?” My distaste drifts away, intrigued by what he said. “What’d he say?”
“It was right before class started and I think he was with Jeremy and Franco. He mentioned something about how hot you looked at the pep rally, even with your costume.” She beams with pride. “Then Jeremy said something about Matt and you having a thing.”
“Jeremy said that? Why would he say that?”
“I don’t know. It sounded like Matt and he got into an argument. Anyways, Oscar just nodded.”
“Well, don’t do me any favors. Jeremy McCormick is a bigger jerk than Oscar. If they were talking about me, it probably wasn’t all that flattering.”
“But, what if?”
“What if what?”
“What if I put it out there, that you’re free for prom. If he asks you and Matt finds out? You think that might change things?”
I chew on my lip, aimlessly doodling on my paper. I’ve never been a fan of playing dating games. Even with my last boyfriend, I didn’t get all flirty to try and impress him or anything. He asked, we went out and dated for a little bit. But maybe Veronica is right? Maybe Matt would think twice about my prom proposition. And even if he doesn’t dress up as Spike, it might still make him think about it. And as far as I know, he hasn’t and wasn’t going to ask anyone else.
“I’ll take your silence, to mean yes.”
“No.”
“No?” She raises an eyebrow.
I wrinkle my nose. “I don’t know.”
“Let’s just see what happens,” she whispers back, and I don’t reply.
I don’t have any classes with Oscar, so if Veronica did put her plan into action, he’d have to go out of his way to find me either today or tomorrow. I keep debating with myself whether or not it’s a good idea, and that internal argument grows even louder when Matt walks into our sociology class.
“Ready for the scavenger hunt?” he whispers to me.
Again, a simple question. Just like he’s done a number of times before. But just like all those times, goosebumps cover my arms, my breath catches, and that burning sensation tears through my chest.
“Ready,” I say over my shoulder, but don’t look back at him.
He doesn’t whisper anything else during class. When the bell rings for lunch, we walk side by side towards our meet-up location for the scavenger hunt.
“Everything okay?” he asks.
“Yeah, why?”
“You seem … quiet.”
He stares at me through the corner of his eyes, and I want him to ask about prom again. Or, who cares if he doesn’t ask me. Aren’t I always telling Veronica a girl can ask a guy just as easily? I don’t want to see what Veronica’s up to; I just want to go with him. But bringing it up again, means we might argue about it again and I don’t want that either.
“I’m fine,” I answer as we meet up with the others.
“All right, we can start,” Greg says, standing next to Mr. Garrison.
Yvette flashes me a dirty look, as Matt stands close to me. I never understood the hate some girls give to others over a boy. But I’m not about to step away from Matt either.
“Okay,” Mr. Garrison starts. “Greg and I have set up the scavenger hunt since some of you on court are in student council. Each team has the same riddles, but inside the envelopes, there are different starting spots for each couple.” He holds up five envelopes. “We tried to make them challenging, but not so much that you can’t solve them. They’ll be taking you around campus, and at each spot, there will be either a person there with your next clue, or it will be posted to the answer.”
“This is my cell number,” Greg points to the dry-erase board. “When you solve all four riddles and get the clues, text me a picture of all four. The first team that texts me the picture of all clues that are correct will win the votes. Questions?” Everyone looks around at each other, but no one asks anything. “Good. Here are your envelopes.”
Greg hands out the envelopes and Matt takes ours, looking at me with a nervous smile.
“Okay, open your envelopes on Three … Two … One … Now.”
There’s a low chattering among everyone, but I can’t hear what everyone else's riddle says, as Matt reads ours to me.
“Don’t you worry, don’t you fret. Just shoot straight, nothing but net.” Matt looks at me.
“Nothing but net?”
“Gym. It has to be the basketball hoops in the gym,” he whispers. “Let’s go.”
He grabs my hand, and we take off out of the classroom. Natalie and Sam follow behind us but then turn a corner.
“No, it’s the choir room!” I hear Natalie yell at him.
“No, it’s the band room,” he argues back before they are out of earshot.
We head towards the gym, and as we get there Matt pulls the door open for me, still holding my hand.
“Aw, you two look like a real couple,” I hear a voice call out and turn around to see Carter standing under a basketball hoop.
Matt glances down at me, a shy smile crossing his lips before he lets go of my hand. I have to fight off a frown, my palm feeling empty without his.
“How’d they hook you into this?” Matt asks as we walk over to him.
“They tried to get Coach to hold the riddles, but I said I’d do it.”
Matt laughs. “You do know Sarah will be coming by, right?”
“Yeah.” Carter shoots Matt an annoyed smirk. “That’s if she can figure out the riddles.”
“Bret’s pretty smart.”
“I guess.” Carter looks through envelopes, and I see different names on them. He pulls the envelope out that has ‘Matt & Isabel’ written on it and my heart flutters. I haven’t written out a crush’s name in a notebook since freshman year but seeing our names together like that makes me all giddy. “Here you go.”
He pulls out a small coin that looks like a basketball, which must be our clue to show we solved the riddle. Then he hands the envelope over to Matt, who hands it to me. “I read the first one, so you do the honors.”
“Aw.” Carter sighs, but has a huge grin on his face. “What a sweetheart.” He clasps his hands to his chest, mocking Matt.
“Shut up,” Matt shoots back, but still smiling.
I tear it open to read our next riddle. “Okay … Slow and steady win the race, as long as you keep the proper pace. But rhythms can be fast or slow, so watch the notes as the melody floats.”
“Band room?” Matt asks me.
“What if it’s the choir room?”
“Well, they’re right next to each other.”
“It’s the band room,” Carter gives us a loud whisper, smirking.
“Dude, you’re not supposed to help us.” Matt laughs.
“You’re my best friend,” Carter says, before looking over at me. “And who knows, maybe someday, a best friend-in-law?”
My cheeks blush, as I look down.
“You’re really not funny, Carter.”
“I beg to differ.” He laughs.
“All right, let’s go.” Matt grabs my hand, and we head for the doors.
“Good luck!”
Carter yells out, and I can hear the laughter in his voice. “I’m rooting for you two.”
“Sorry,” Matt mutters as we jog over to the band room.
“It’s fine.” I’m still blushing, but it helps that Matt feels a little embarrassed too.
We reach the band room and look around, searching for anything that might hold our next clue.
“I don’t see anything, do you?” Matt walks up a few stairs, looking around at the instruments.
“No.” I turn around and then look back at the riddle. “Wait,” I say, re-reading part of it. “So watch the notes as the melody floats.” I turn around and look at the front of the classroom where a podium is set up. It’s at an angle, so we can’t see if there’s anything on the front.
Matt races down, reaching it first. “It’s here.”
He grabs an envelope and tears it open, pulling out a small music note keychain and another riddle. “Okay, From way up high, stars shine bright. But the brightest stars shine when given the spotlight. Just be sure to dress the part.”
“Drama room,” we say in unison and take off.
Running down the hallways, we pass Jen and Franco, who seem to be having fun with the scavenger hunt. Then we pass Natalie and Sam, and I can still hear the arguing.
“That’s insane. It says net!” Sam yells.
“I know!” Natalie replies. “As in soccer net.”
“That’s not what it means!”
“Yes, it is!” she screams back, and Matt and I look at each other, both holding in a laugh.
We make it to the drama room and Mrs. Douglass, the drama teacher, is sitting behind her desk. We both run over to her, but she just flashes as a coy smile and doesn’t say anything.
“Where is it?” I ask, looking around.
“I don’t know.” Matt scans over her desk, as she takes a bite of a salad she’s eating. “Um, Mrs. Douglass?”
