The Comeback

by Marlene Perez

  I admitted my feelings to Monet. “Angie makes me feel like a total dilettante. There’s nothing I can do to knock her off her perch.”

  “She has one thing you don’t,” Monet admitted.

  I sighed. “I know. That perfect blonde hair.”

  “No, silly. A boyfriend. Angie has a boyfriend and you don’t. That’s all.”

  Monet was kind enough not to add that Angie had my boyfriend.

  “You’re right,” I said. “Couples rule this place. I just need a boyfriend to get back on top. Someone who makes Connor look like yesterday’s news. Besides, a boyfriend would be nice. I’m getting a little sick of fending off Jason Brady.”

  It was true. For some reason, my stock had lowered and cretins like Jason thought they actually had a chance with me.

  There had been a time when I had plenty of options, even after I had started dating Connor exclusively. But I had never even looked at anyone else. Something I was bitterly regretting, since he hadn’t granted me the same courtesy.

  That was no excuse for Dev’s face popping into my mind. He was the only guy whose number I had, and that was just to schedule extra rehearsals.

  I was really off my game if the only guy’s number programmed into my cell was my best friend’s brother. How pathetic was that? Turned out it was the tip of the humiliation iceberg.

  After school, Monet and I saw Hannah Johnson wearing a TEAM VOGEL T-shirt. I looked at Monet.

  “She always hated you,” she explained.

  “What did I ever do to her?”

  “Are you serious?” Monet said. “Don’t you remember seventh grade? She had that mad crush on Damon and he asked you to the dance instead of her.”

  “That’s not my fault,” I said. “And it’s not like I went with him.”

  I was happy to notice that there was only a sprinkling of TEAM VOGEL tees, compared to a solid showing of TEAM DONNELLY. Still, Angie needed to be put in her place and I had the perfect idea how.

  “Monet, do me a favor,” I said. It wasn’t a question.

  “What are you up to, Soph?”

  “Never mind. Just wait and see.”

  Chapter 7

  Later that week, Monet and I were headed for Wicked Jack’s when Dev caught up to us.

  “Can I bum a ride?” he asked. “My car’s still in the shop.”

  “Sure,” she said easily.

  They got along well for siblings, especially since they were only a year apart. I envied their relationship, even if I didn’t understand how anyone could put up with Dev.

  When we got to Monet’s car, Dev sat in the back without protest. Monet pretty much just ignored him, but I was self-conscious with him in the car. I certainly didn’t want to talk about my breakup in front of him.

  Wicked Jack’s was packed, but we managed to find a table. A couple of sophomore girls giggled and whispered when I walked by.

  “Just ignore them,” Monet advised.

  I tried, but I felt like everyone was staring and talking about me. We’d already ordered when Connor entered the restaurant with Angie on his arm.

  They took a booth opposite our table and immediately had their hands all over each other.

  Now I knew I wasn’t imagining the whispers and looks.

  “Is he trying to publicly humiliate me?” I said through clenched teeth.

  Dev looked up from the huge burger he’d ordered. “Doubtful,” he said. “I don’t think he even noticed you’re here.”

  I glared at him.

  “Not helping, Dev,” Monet said.

  “I can’t believe him,” I said. I stabbed a leaf of lettuce from my salad, imagining it was Connor’s cold heart.

  “Just ignore him,” Monet advised.

  “But he’s rubbing my nose in it,” I responded. My face was red, which was more fodder for the gossips.

  “Do you want to leave?” Monet asked.

  “Don’t worry, I’m not going to make a scene.”

  Dev said, “I have a better idea. I’m going to get a shake.”

  “Hey, what about me?” Monet said.

  Dev ruffled her hair as he stood up. “Already got you covered. Peanut butter–banana, right?”

  Monet grinned. “You know it. Sophie?”

  I tore my gaze from my ex. Wicked Jack’s did have great shakes. “I’ll have a strawberry cheesecake,” I said. I reached for my wallet, but Dev waved me away. “I’ve got it.”

  I smiled at him. “Thanks.”

  Dev said brusquely, “I was just sick of hearing you cry over that loser.”

  I should have known better than to think that Dev was actually trying to be nice.

  I noticed that several girls watched him as he made his way to the counter. He was cute, I thought. Not as cute as Connor, but cute. Too bad he was such a jerk.

  Dev made his way back to us, loaded down with our shakes, but it seemed as though every girl in the place stopped him to say hi.

  “At this rate, everything will be melted by the time he gets back to the table,” I muttered.

  “I don’t get it, either,” Monet said, “but for some reason, girls find him attractive.”

  As if Dev heard us, he broke off the conversation and came back to the table. “Here you go,” he said.

  I took a sip. It was delicious. I almost forgot about Connor and Angie’s obvious public display of affection. At least, until he stopped by our table.

  “Hi, Sophie,” Connor said. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

  “It is my favorite restaurant,” I said.

  “Oh, yeah, I forgot.”

  Those few words set my temper flaring. Before I could think about it, I picked up my shake and threw it in his face.

  So much for not making a scene.

  Connor didn’t even yell at me. He stood there and shook his head, then turned on his heels and left.

  Dev muttered, “That was a waste of a good shake.” But he seemed oddly pleased. Everyone else was staring daggers at me. There was an icy silence in the restaurant and I realized I’d just made a huge mistake.

  On the way back to school, no one spoke.

  “He deserved it,” I finally said. But I wasn’t sure who I was trying to convince. Nobody deserved that. My stupid temper had gotten the best of me again.

  Dev snorted, but didn’t say anything.

  “What’s your problem?” I said.

  “My problem? I don’t have any problems.”

  “Meaning that I do?”

  “You said it, not me.”

  Dev didn’t know how lucky he was that there wasn’t another shake handy.

  “Stop behaving like a spoiled brat,” Dev said.

  “What do you know about it?” I said scornfully. “You’ve never even had a serious girlfriend, and you’re giving me relationship advice?”

  “It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s going on, Sophie,” he replied. “You don’t even like Connor anymore. You’re just pissed off that he beat you to the breakup.”

  I fought the tears that formed. “Yeah, that’s it. I mean, just because we dated since we were freshmen? I certainly couldn’t have had any feelings for Connor, right? Because according to you, I don’t have any feelings. Well, guess what? I do have feelings, Dev. And they can get hurt just like anyone else’s.”

  That was pretty much a conversation stopper. There was silence the rest of the way back to school. As soon as Monet parked the car, I jumped out and stomped away. Even class was better than spending one more minute with Dev Lucero.

  The fallout hit immediately, of course. I tried to ignore the stares and whispers, which had only escalated since the scene at Wicked Jack’s.

  I was glad to have Monet at my side.

  “So much for my theory that people would have better things to talk about,” I commented while keeping a smile pasted on my face.

  “You threw a shake at Connor in front of half the school. Did you really think that people wouldn’t talk?”

  “
Admittedly, I wasn’t thinking clearly,” I said through gritted teeth. “Your brother has already told me what an idiot I am. But now it’s time for damage control.”

  “Major damage control,” Monet observed. She gestured toward a random freshman, who was wearing a TEAM VOGEL shirt. I glared at him, and Monet nudged me. I turned my glare into the sweetest smile I could muster.

  The freshman paled and scurried down the hall. I surveyed the packed hallway. There were considerably more kids wearing TEAM VOGEL shirts today, but I tried not to make too much of it.

  It was also the day that the weekly hotness poll came out. It went out as an anonymous text message. I hadn’t really paid much attention to the poll in the past, but I didn’t have to—I was always in the top three.

  But that was when I was with Connor. I was curious to see where I stood as a single girl. And if I was completely honest with myself, I wanted to check out my competition.

  Usually, it took months to get into the top ten, and some perfectly gorgeous girls at school never even broke the top twenty. But Angie was with Connor now, and I had a feeling that she’d be there, probably on the bottom rung, but she’d make a showing.

  For some reason, I didn’t get the text. Monet was no help. She had blocked it from her phone when we were freshmen.

  Finally, I got my hands on it right before lunch on Monday. I conned a sophomore guy out of his phone by batting my eyelashes and looking woeful. He didn’t look like he got many calls, anyway.

  I was sitting outside with Monet at our usual lunch table when Dev came up. I quickly closed the phone.

  “Can I talk to you for a minute?” Dev said.

  I glanced at Monet and raised my eyebrows. She just shrugged and bit into her ham sandwich, so I got up and followed Dev a few feet away from the table, which I hoped was out of earshot. We were attracting attention, though. I saw Olivia glance our way and whisper something to Hannah. My biggest fans were keeping an eye on me.

  I couldn’t help but notice that Dev was looking particularly good. I wasn’t the only one who had noticed. A couple of senior girls were checking him out and not even bothering to hide it.

  “Sophie, I just wanted to say I was sorry. I was out of line yesterday. Your relationship with Connor isn’t any of my business.”

  “Yes, you were out of line,” I said, “but you didn’t say anything that wasn’t true. It was stupid of me to make a scene like that.” I gave a nod toward the courtyard, where much of the school was pretending they weren’t watching our every move. “You’re going to ruin your reputation if you’re seen with me much longer.”

  I was trying to pass it off as a joke, but it came off a little wobbly. Dev grabbed me and gave me a hug. “Friends, then?”

  “God knows I can use all the friends I can get,” I replied. “Friends it is.”

  He grinned. “Cool. I’ll catch you at rehearsal, then.” He strode off and I wasn’t the only one admiring the view.

  I grinned, too. Suddenly, I felt a lot better about my situation. If Dev, who was far from my biggest fan, could excuse my behavior, then I was sure that the whole thing would soon blow over and I’d be back on top.

  “What was that all about?” Monet said. She sounded perturbed.

  “What what?” I said.

  “That hug,” she said, “with my brother.”

  “We were just making up after our fight.”

  She stared at me.

  “Monet, it was a brotherly hug. Like he hugs you. No biggie.”

  I nudged her, but she just kept staring.

  “You can’t possibly think that there’s something between me and Dev,” I said. “I know he’s cute, but he’s not my type.”

  She gave me a weak smile. “Sorry, Sophie. I saw the two of you together and…”

  “Jumped to conclusions,” I said, with a grin.

  I was relieved to have everything ironed out with Dev. He was my costar, after all, and we needed to maintain a civilized working relationship.

  “Hi, Sophie, looking good.” It was Tyler Berner, a senior guy who had a reputation for serial dating.

  “Hi, Tyler.” I smiled at him but didn’t encourage him to linger.

  “Are you thinking about him as a candidate for a rebound guy or something?”

  I gave Monet a sharp look, then regained my equilibrium.

  “He’s a possibility,” I said. “He has commitment issues. That’s perfect for a rebound guy.” I didn’t want to admit it to myself, but I missed Connor. We’d spent almost every weekend together.

  “According to Olivia, that’s not all he has,” she said wryly. “And he’s been spreading it around the senior class.”

  “Ick,” I said. I crossed Tyler off my mental list.

  A tall, chubby guy from my history class approached. I searched my mind for his name.

  “Hey, Sophie, can I borrow your notes from history? I missed class yesterday.”

  “Sure, Will. They’re in my locker. I’ll photocopy them and give them to you in class.”

  We waited until he left, then Monet said, “What about him? He’s kind of cute.”

  I shook my head. “Total burnout. He missed class because he spends all of his time smoking weed behind the gym. Nice guy, though.”

  “You have options, at least,” Monet said. She didn’t seem to notice that none of the really gorgeous guys had approached me. But I did.

  Monet and I finished our lunch without any more interruptions. My black mood lifted. There was a good chance, after all, that the scene with Connor would blow over.

  Then I remembered the hotness poll and turned to the sophomore’s phone. New text.

  When I saw the list, my stomach took an express elevator to my feet. I stared at Monet, stricken.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked. “Connor post comments about your sex life?”

  “No,” I said. “And gross, you know Connor and I didn’t…Anyway, that’s not the point. The point is, I’m not in the top ten this week. Heck, I’m barely in the top twenty.”

  Monet was silent for a minute. “It’s okay,” she finally said. “Nobody pays attention to those things. You’ll be back on top before you know it.”

  “Angie Vogel is number three,” I said, horror-stricken. The girl who had stolen my boyfriend from under my nose was now going after something far, far more important. I squared my shoulders. She was going after my social standing. And that meant war.

  Little Ms. Vogel had no idea what she was in for, because I played to win. And I didn’t play fair.

  Chapter 8

  The next week didn’t get any better, for me at least. Kennedy was having a back-to-school dance and I was supposed to be part of the entertainment committee, along with Haley, Vanessa, and their minions. But no one ever called me about volunteering. No one called me to ask me to the dance, either.

  I knew it sounded paranoid, but I felt like everyone was avoiding me. Especially Vanessa and Haley. When the signs advertising the big dance were finally hung, I knew that I’d been officially replaced. The signs were written in an unfamiliar hand—large, loopy writing that I’d bet money was Angie Vogel’s.

  I ran into Vanessa coming out of her fifth-period class. I gestured toward the poster hanging on a nearby wall. “Nice artwork,” I said mildly.

  Vanessa looked like she wanted to be anywhere except standing next to me, but she managed to work up a feeble smile. “Hi, Sophie, how have you been?”

  I raised an eyebrow. “With time on my hands, it seems.”

  “W-w-we wanted to call you,” she stuttered, “but Haley and I thought with the breakup and all, having you work on the dance when you won’t even be going to it seemed insensitive.”

  “Who said I’m not going?”

  “I just assumed—” She faltered under my gaze.

  “Well, you assumed wrong,” I replied.

  Vanessa smiled brightly. “Sophie, that’s great news. I’m so relieved. It will make things much easier.”

  “Eas
ier?”

  “You know, we’ve been spending time with Connor and…and Angie.” She hesitated for a moment at my expression, but then continued. “But it’ll be much tidier if you have someone new, too.”

  “Tidier?” I sounded like a fool, repeating her every word, but my brain couldn’t quite grasp what she was trying to tell me.

  “Maybe we can all get together afterward. Connor is hosting the after party. It’s exclusive. Just six of the top couples. And of course, you and your date.”

  “Date? I don’t have a date.” I blurted it out and knew I’d made a mistake even before I saw the pity on her face.

  People didn’t go solo to dances at Kennedy. Social functions were couples only, although some guys would show up without dates and try to hit on the freshman girls who didn’t know any better than to show up with a group of their friends.

  But top-tier girls didn’t go to the dance alone. It was the rule—I didn’t make it. And while I was with Connor, I hadn’t even thought about it. But now I was stuck with it.

  “You’re going to the dance alone?” Olivia Kaplan’s voice broke into our conversation.

  I squared my chin and gave her my best icy stare. “Was I speaking to you?” Inside, I was squirming, though. It would be all over school by sixth period, with Olivia’s special spin. I could hear it now. Sophie Donnelly couldn’t get a date for the dance. Poor thing. She’s just so over since Connor dumped her.

  Maybe I was so over. Maybe whatever Connor saw in me didn’t really exist. Maybe my popularity was a fluke and I belonged with the rest of the no-names who populated the campus.

  I’d have to figure out something quickly. I said good-bye to Vanessa and pointedly ignored Olivia, who could barely conceal her impatience to spread the word that Sophie Donnelly was going stag to the dance.

  I caught up with Monet at rehearsal. She was busy bullying Hortensio, who was played by Simon.

  “For God’s sake,” Monet yelled at him. “Don’t you know any of your lines yet?”

  Simon made the mistake of muttering something under his breath. I didn’t hear it, but Monet obviously did.

  “No, you can’t use CliffsNotes, you moron,” she said. She spotted me and rolled her eyes. “Fanelli picks ‘em pretty, but dumb.”