Secret Admirer

by Melody Carlson

  “I don’t think so,” said Emily.

  “We took turns watching for each other,” explained Carlie.

  “How did your deliveries go?” asked Emily.

  “Great,” said Morgan.

  “Hey, there’s Chelsea,” said Carlie.

  Amy was slightly surprised to see that even Chelsea hadn’t dressed up for Valentine’s Day. But then Chelsea had just had her heart broken — why would she want to dress up?

  “How did the deliveries go?” asked Amy.

  “Pretty good,” said Chelsea. Then she smiled. “Except that Mrs. Drimmel sort of caught me.”

  “Sort of?” Emily frowned. Amy knew that Mrs. Drimmel was Emily’s special friend. It had been her idea to give the librarian a valentine.

  “Well, I just played dumb,” said Chelsea. “I said someone had handed this to me and asked me to deliver it to the library. I pretended not to even know who she was. I think it worked.”

  “Oh, good!” Emily sighed in relief.

  They all shared various interesting stories, and soon it was time to get to class. Amy hurried to band, but then wondered if Oliver had possibly gotten his valentine yet. Surely he would never guess that she’d had anything to do with it. At least she hoped not. She also hoped that he wouldn’t have it with him in band. But, just in case, she prepared herself to act innocent and nonchalant.

  “Hey, Second Chair,” he said as she went in and hung up her coat.

  “Hey, Hot Air,” she shot back at him, pleased with her quick comeback.

  He laughed. “That’s a good one.”

  “Do you have any hot air left after yesterday?” she asked.

  “I have enough to keep my chair,” he said as he picked up his clarinet and played a perfect stanza without even warming up.

  She frowned. “You’re really going to make this hard on me, aren’t you?”

  “You’ll get your chance, Second Chair.” He laughed. “When I go to high school, that is.”

  She scowled at him and shook her fist. But, to her surprise, she no longer felt angry. And that felt good!

  Throughout the day, Amy noticed that a number of kids had exchanged valentines — and she felt sort of badly that she hadn’t thought to send her very best friends valentines. But they’d been so busy making ones for the Lonely Hearts Club that it hadn’t even occurred to her. She laughed to think of this now. Maybe they should’ve included themselves on that list since they were, in a way, lonely hearts too. No, she decided they were not. They had each other! But as Amy continued through her day, she was also pleased to see some of the less-popular kids — the loners — carrying around the valentines that she and her friends had made. That made her feel good inside.

  “This is so cool,” said Emily as they sat together for lunch.

  “I know,” gushed Amy. “I saw Myrna Shaft, the girl in my English class, clutching her valentine like it was made of gold or contained chocolate.”

  “And you won’t believe it,” said Morgan, “but I actually witnessed Derrick opening his this morning.”

  “No way!” shrieked Emily. “Tell us! What happened?”

  “Well, I was trying to be really discrete. I was squatting down by my locker, trying to find something buried down on the bottom. Then I noticed what he was doing, so I just stayed there and pretended to be looking at something inside my notebook, but the whole time I was watching him. He got this suspicious look as he opened the envelope and he read it really quickly, and then he glanced all around like he was trying to see who sent it. Then he looked at the card again and he just kept staring at it. Seriously, it was like he stared at it for several minutes. My knees were actually getting stiff. Then he kind of smiled and just slipped it into his backpack and walked away. It seemed like he actually had a little spring in his step too. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it was really sort of sweet.”

  “That’s awesome,” said Amy.

  Chelsea nodded. “That’s so cool that you thought to send it to him, Emily.”

  “Well, you guys know how his home life is pretty harsh,” said Emily.

  “Yeah,” said Carlie. “He probably really needed something like that.”

  Amy patted Emily on the back. “Good for you for remembering him.”

  They shared a few more good lonely hearts stories and then it was time to go to class. Amy felt happy as she went to Algebra Two. And even though Tyler was in that class, she told herself that it didn’t matter. Of course, when it was time for English she wasn’t too sure. But at least they didn’t have to sit in their small groups.

  Of course, as it turned out, their play won first prize! Go figure. Now, normally there was nothing that pleased Amy more than being first, best, or smartest in the class. But not today.

  “And now,” said Mrs. Hilliard, “If our winners will please come up and read their play.” She began clapping, and the rest of the class obediently followed.

  Still, it wasn’t as bad as Amy expected as she and Tyler and Myrna and Bruce read their play. And to her surprise, it seemed the class liked it too. Their prizes for winning first place were heart-shaped boxes of chocolates. Amy planned to share hers with her friends while they decorated for the dance.

  “Good job on the play,” Tyler said as Amy was just heading for the door.

  She was stunned that he had actually spoken to her. She just blinked then said, “Thanks, you too.” Then she took off. Hopefully that would be the last conversation they would ever share. Now Amy hurried to the cafeteria. When she got there, Oliver seemed a little distraught.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  He waved his hand to piles of hearts, crepe paper, balloons … all over the place. “They didn’t do hardly anything,” he told her. “The committee just sort of played around, and now we have thirty minutes to get this all up.”

  “Tell us what to do,” said Morgan, who had come in right behind Amy. Soon all five girls were working, scurrying around climbing ladders and taping up hearts and hearts and more hearts — stringing crepe paper and balloons haphazardly about. Talk about a decorating frenzy!

  “Hey, this doesn’t look half bad,” said Morgan as she stepped back to survey their work.

  “We have four more minutes,” yelled Amy. “Keep working!”

  The DJ in charge of music laughed from up in front where he was sitting with his machines. “You girls are fun to watch,” he called out as he put on a song with an upbeat tempo. Thanks to the music, they seemed to actually work faster.

  “Time!” yelled Oliver. Just then he dumped what was left of a bag of balloons, spilling a pool of red, pink, and white across the floor. “This is as good as it gets, girls.”

  “Whew!” said Emily, actually wiping sweat from her brow.

  “Now, can we get out of here?” begged Carlie.

  “Not if you’re serious about Honor Society,” said Oliver. “Vanessa was not kidding yesterday.”

  “Can we at least have a bathroom break?” demanded Morgan.

  Oliver grinned. “Yeah. But don’t forget to come back.”

  As the five of them left, feeling frazzled and messy, they saw kids starting to trickle in. And, naturally, everyone else looked clean and stylish and ready for the big event.

  “Did you bring anything to change into for the dance?” Amy asked Chelsea as they went into the girls’ restroom.

  “Are you kidding?” Chelsea frowned into the mirror above the sink as she washed her hands. “What would be the point?”

  “And what’s the point of going back in there?” asked Carlie. “All we’ll do is stand around like a bunch of misfits.”

  “We’re going back there because we said we would,” said Emily as she attempted to scrub red crepe paper stains from her fingers.

  “At least they have refreshments,” said Morgan. “I’m hungry.”

  “That’s right,” said Carlie. “We better get back there before they’re all gone.”

  So they finished cleaning up and went bac
k and got refreshments. Then they stood along the sidelines and watched as kids, mostly the eighth graders, started to dance.

  “They look so silly,” said Emily as she took a bite of a heart-shaped cookie.

  “Some of those boys could use dancing lessons,” added Morgan.

  “You’ll never catch me out there,” said Carlie.

  Amy nodded like she agreed, but the truth was, a tiny part of her still wanted to be out there. Okay, it was a very teeny tiny part. But she couldn’t deny that it was there. And maybe that’s what Miss McPhearson had been talking about the other day, that willingness to get back on a horse that had dumped you. Still, Amy knew it wouldn’t be today. Today would be way too soon. And that was just fine.

  The girls continued to cluster together, talking and joking like it was no big deal. But all of them wished that this dance would end so they could tear down the decorations and go home. And then, more than midway through the dance, a surprising thing happened. Well, at least it shocked Amy. She couldn’t tell if her friends were surprised or not.

  It started when Jeff Sanders and Enrico Valdez came over to their group. The guys kind of joked around a little and finally Jeff asked Emily to dance with him and then Enrico asked Carlie. Well, it was plain that both girls were embarrassed and didn’t know what to do. Especially Carlie! Her cheeks turned bright pink. But Amy and Chelsea and Morgan all encouraged them to go out there and dance.

  “Have fun,” said Chelsea.

  “Show them how it’s done,” Morgan teased.

  “Go for it,” said Amy. The truth was she was actually feeling a little sorry for the guys. Jeff and Enrico looked totally uncomfortable, like they wished they hadn’t taken such a risk. But soon the two couples were out there dancing with the others.

  And then the strangest thing imaginable happened. At least Amy thought so. She had no idea what Morgan thought just then. But Amy could’ve fallen over from shock when Derrick Smith came over to their group. All three remaining girls looked totally stunned to see him. But Derrick went directly to Morgan. He smiled shyly and asked, “So, Morgan, do ya’wanna dance?”

  Morgan turned and looked at Amy and Chelsea with wide eyes, like she didn’t know what to do.

  “Go for it,” said Amy for the second time. She was trying not to giggle at the absurdity of their one-time enemy actually asking one of them to dance. Who would’ve guessed?

  Then Morgan actually grinned as she poked Derrick in the arm and said, “Hey, why not?” And then she went out to the dance floor and, once out there, she even did her Electric Porcupine dance. And then all three of their friends went on to dance to the next song as well. It was only Chelsea and Amy watching from the sidelines now. But Amy was thankful that at least she wasn’t standing there alone.

  “Looks like we’re the wallflowers today,” said Chelsea in a glum tone.

  “Welcome to the Lonely Hearts Club.” Amy kind of laughed.

  “Maybe we should get ourselves membership pins,” said Chelsea.

  “Or maybe not …” said Amy as she noticed that Brett Woods seemed to be slowly coming their way. But Chelsea had her back to him and no idea what was about to happen. Brett tapped Chelsea on the shoulder, and the next thing Amy knew, those two were out on the dance floor.

  Okay, suddenly this wasn’t so funny, and it sure wasn’t fun. Amy was all alone. Queen of the Lonely Hearts Club. A wallflower that no one wanted to pick. She was about to turn and make a quick exit when she saw, of all people, Tyler Epperson walking straight toward her! But at the same time she saw Oliver coming from the other direction. She figured Oliver was probably going to remind her that they had to stay for teardown. And she had no idea what Tyler wanted, but her heart pounded madly as both boys stood before her.

  Oliver glanced at Tyler. “So, are you going to ask Amy to dance?” he asked. And Amy felt her cheeks getting flushed. This was way too embarrassing.

  “Yeah, I guess so …” Tyler nodded nervously.

  “Well, so was I,” announced Oliver. Now he turned to Amy. “So, there you have it, Second Chair — two guys asking you to dance. Who do you choose?”

  Amy looked at Tyler now, remembering her crush and then how she’d been crushed. Next she looked at Oliver, remembering all the teasing — and then how he’d stood up and defended her against Tyler.

  “I will dance with you, Oliver,” she proclaimed.

  He grinned.

  “Maybe some other time,” she said casually to Tyler. Then she walked onto the dance floor with a guy she had previously categorized as the “geekiest” boy in school. But now she realized that she had been wrong. Oliver was actually okay. And she even danced two dances with him. And, as it turned out, they were the last two dances.

  “Thanks,” he told her when the second dance ended. “You’re a good sport, Second Chair.”

  She smiled. “Thank you.”

  “And, just so you know …” He winked at her as he jerked his thumb to his chest. “Y.S.A.”

  She blinked in surprise. “You?”

  “Now you girls have fun tearing this all down.” And then he took off and didn’t even stick around to help.

  Soon the cafeteria was emptied — except for the five girls and all the valentine decorations.

  “Hey, where did Oliver go?” demanded Morgan. “I thought he was supposed to help tear down.”

  “He, uh, I think he had to leave,” said Amy quickly. “Besides we should have this done in no time.” Then she grabbed a plastic fork from the picked-clean refreshment table and stabbed a balloon, resulting in a loud POP. “See, it’s easy.” She giggled, and before long they were all stabbing balloons. And then they were ripping down crepe paper and tearing into the hearts, stuffing them into the big black trash bags. And before long, the whole cafeteria was back to normal.

  “Too bad the refreshments are all gone,” said Carlie. “I’m hungry now.”

  “Hey,” said Amy as she picked up her backpack. “I have a valentine to share with you guys.” So she flopped down on the floor, and her friends sat around her, waiting as she opened up the heart-shaped box of chocolates and passed it around.

  “The dance was fun,” said Emily as she took a bite of a chocolate.

  “Yeah,” said Morgan. “Can you guys believe I actually danced with Derrick Smith?”

  They all laughed.

  “I was so glad you didn’t say no to him,” admitted Amy. “Especially after you told us about how he acted when he got his valentine.”

  “Yeah. That would’ve been pretty harsh,” said Morgan.

  “And you dancing with Oliver?” said Chelsea. “What was up with that, Amy?”

  “Oliver is a good guy.” No way was Amy going to tell them, or anyone else for that matter, what Oliver had confessed to her on the dance floor. That would be her secret.

  “Yeah, so maybe all guys aren’t dogs after all,” said Carlie quietly.

  “Even so,” said Amy as she held up the heart-shaped lid of the chocolate box in one hand and a chocolate in the other. “I hereby vow that only God — not a guy — is going to rule my heart!”

  “Here-here!” echoed Morgan. She held up a chocolate too.

  And so they all took another chocolate, holding them up like Amy was doing — sort of like making a toast — and they all repeated the exact same thing that Amy had just said.

  “Only God rules our hearts!” said Amy happily.

  “Rainbow Rules!” yelled Morgan. They all echoed her. And Amy knew that what she and her friends shared — a love for God and a love for each other — would take them through whatever lay ahead.

  About the Author

  MELODY CARLSON has written more than 200 books for teens, women, and children. Before publishing, Melody traveled around the world, volunteered in teen ministry, taught preschool, raised two sons, and worked briefly in interior design and later in international adoption. “I think real-life experiences inspire the best fiction,” she says. Her wide variety of books seems to prov
e this theory.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.

  Other books in the growing Faithgirlz!™ series:

  Bibles

  The Faithgirlz! Bible

  NIV Faithgirlz! Backpack Bible

  Bible Studies

  Secret Power of Love

  Secret Power of Joy

  Secret Power of Goodness

  Secret Power of Grace

  Nonfiction

  My Faithgirlz Journal

  The Faithgirlz! Handbook

  The Faithgirlz! Cookbook

  No Boys Allowed

  What’s A Girl To Do?

  Girlz Rock

  Chick Chat

  Real Girls of the Bible

  Faithgirlz! Whatever

  My Beautiful Daughter

  Beauty Lab

  Body Talk

  Everybody Tells Me to Be Myself, But I Don’t Know Who I Am Girl Politics

  Fiction

  From Sadie’s Sketchbook

  Shades of Truth (Book One)

  Flickering Hope (Book Two)

  Waves of Light (Book Three)

  Brilliant Hues (Book Four)

  Boarding School Mysteries

  Vanished (Book One)

  Betrayed (Book Two)

  Burned (Book Three)

  Poisoned (Book Four)

  Sophie’s World

  Sophie’s World

  Sophie’s Secret

  Sophie Under Pressure

  Sophie Steps Up

  Sophie’s First Dance

  Sophie’s Stormy Summer

  Sophie’s Friendship Fiasco

  Sophie and the New Girl

  Sophie Flakes Out

  Sophie Loves Jimmy

  Sophie’s Drama

  Sophie Gets Real

  The Girls of Harbor View

  Girl Power (Book One)

  Take Charge (Book Two)

  Raising Faith (Book Three)

  Secret Admirer (Book Four)

  The Lucy Series

  Lucy Doesn’t Wear Pink (Book One)

  Lucy Out of Bounds (Book Two)

  Lucy’s Perfect Summer (Book Three)