Мэг Кэбот - Avalon High стр 10.

 I hate her, Liz said, without any real rancor, summing up exactly what I was feeling at

just friends.

that particular moment.

 But I knew these kinds of feelings were unfair. Jennifer wasnt a bad person. Everyone

liked her. I had no right to hate her. Sure, Will had confided in me, and even given me a

rose, and invited me to his party.

 But we werejust friends.

 But telling myself that over and over again didnt stop me from fishing out my shortest

skirt and using eyeliner and even mousse on the night of the Broadneck gameenough so

that when my dad saw me, he went, All I ask is that you stay away from downtown, on

account of the middies.

 Then, when I ran out of my house to get into Stacys carshe was driving Liz and me to

the gameboth girls let out hoots of mock admiration, and Liz asked me if I would still sit

near them, being such a glamour queen, and all.

 I didnt mind their teasing me, because I knew it meant Id been accepted. And that felt

way better than if theyd said, all politely, You look nice, Ellie.

 I had never been to a football game before. My brother Geoff had been on the basketball

team at my old school, so Id been to quite a few games to cheer him on

sense of sisterly support, but because Nancy had always had a big crush on Geoff and had

insisted on going to his games.

 Nancy hadnt had a crush on any of the football players, so shed never made me go to

any of those games.

 I honestly cant say I missed out on anything muchat least if the Avalon-Broadneck

game was any indication. Oh, it was fun hanging out in the bleachers, under the vast

night sky, eating popcorn.

 But the game itself was way boring, and practically incomprehensible. And the players

wore so much padding, you could only tell who anybody was by their names on the backs

of their jerseys.

 Still, I appeared to be the only person in the stands who was of this opinion. Everybody

elseincluding Stacy and Lizwas way into the game, joining Jennifer Gold and the other

cheerleaders in their chants, and screaming hysterically every time our team got a point

or a down, or whatever they were called.

 Liz tried to explain the finer points of the game to me. Wills position, quarterback, was

like the brains of the operation. His friend Lance was a guard, whose job it was to keep

Will from getting flattened every time he was holding the ballwhich was fairly often.

 Apparently Avalon High had a good teamso good they had even gone to the state

not out of any

championship the year before. It was widely believed theyd go again this year, if they

played as well as they had last year.

 But we were not doing as well against the Broadneck Bruins as everyone had hoped we

would. At halftime, we were down by fourteen points, and a lot of people in the stands

were grumbling about it.

 I have to admit, I didnt much care whether or not we won. I hadnt spent a whole lot of

time watching the game. Mostly I just watched Will. It was hard not to notice that he

looked very cute in his tight white pants while he was out there making up plays and

telling everybody else what to do. Theres something sort of intoxicating, I guess, about a

guy in a position of power

 I didnt mention my crush on Will to Liz or Stacy, of course. I mean, for one thing, Id

gone to great lengths to convince them that Will and I werejust friends (which, in his

case, anyway, was actually true).

 But I knew if Id confessed to them that in my own case, I longed for more thanjust

friendship with him, theyd look at me all pityingly for being stupid enough to fall for

such a popular guyespecially one who was dating Jennifer Gold.

 Besides, they still seemed to think there was something going on with me and Lance (so

not), if the way they elbowed me every time Mr. Morton said his name over the

loudspeaker (besides emceeing the pep rallies, Mr. M also announced the game) was any

indication.

 I didnt tell them to cut it out, or that I didnt like Lance, or anything. It just seemed

easier to let them go on thinking that than to let them in on the truth.

 Anyway, I was so bored by halftime that I volunteered to get us all hot dogs, and was

making my way to the concession stand when I heard someone call my name.

 I turned, not having the slightest idea who could be talking to me, since I still barely

knew a soul at AHS. I was more than a little surprised to see Mr. Morton, having emerged

from the announcing booth, trying to flag me down.

 Hey, Mr. Morton, I said, wondering what he could want. I mean, there were lots of his

other students milling around. What was he singling me out for?

 Elaine, he said, in a stern voice. Since he was British, and all, my name sounded even

more old-fashioned than if hed just said it in an ordinary American way. Sort of the way

that whenever he said the word Excalibur it sounded extra important.

 I realized from the sternness in his voice that I was in trouble. What for, I couldnt

imagine. I mean, I was only trying to buy a couple of hot dogs, for Petes sake.

at least one with a butt that looked as good as Wills.

 I read your proposal, Mr. Morton went on.

 Oh, I said. It dawned on me that I probably wasnt in trouble after all. I didnt inherit

my dads bad eyes or his slow-but-steady running habits, but I had inherited his excellent

research skills, as well as my moms talent for mega-organization. Nobody writes a

better, more exhaustive term paper than I do. Ive never gotten less than an A on one.

Ever. Mr. Morton probably wanted to compliment me on the supremely excellent job Id

done on the proposal Id handed in aboutThe Lady of Shalott .

 Only that wasnt why hed stopped me at all, it turned out. He wasnt a bit pleased with

what Id handed in. Not a bit.

 That was not, he said, in the same clipped tone, the topic I assigned you.

 For a second I couldnt figure out what he was talking about. Then I realized what he

meant.

 Oh, I said. Right! Im sorry. Thats my fault, Mr. Morton. Id already readBeowulf I

thought it safer to say this than the truth, which is that I hateBeowulf. You never know

with lit teachers

with someone else. Is that not allowed? I dont remember hearing you say so.

 Mr. Morton frowned. Clearly Id stumped him. Because hed never said anything about

trading topics being a no-no.

 Still, that wasnt the only thing he was sore about.

 Did you work with your partner atall on that proposal? he demanded.

 My partner?

 Then I remembered. Lance. Of course.

 Sure, I said, lying through my teeth. He helped gather some of the source material

 I highly doubt that, Mr. Morton said. He was totally outraged. I could tell by his

eyebrows, which were way lowered. An older guywell past retirement age, if you ask

meMr. Mortons eyebrows were gray, like his neatly trimmed beard.

 I assigned you to work with a partner for a reason, Elaine, he said severely.

 Im sorry, I said, truly taken aback. Teachers never yell at me. Im pretty much a model

studentlike with my driving. Im afraid to break the law. Mostly. I

divided the paper up. I wrote the proposal, and hes supposed to do the oral report

 But Mr. Morton wasnt falling for it. He said, When I assign you to work with a partner,

they can be really touchy about that kind of thingso we traded topics

um

we

youre supposed to WORK WITH THAT PARTNER. You and Lance are to be together. I

am not accepting your proposal.

 This caused me to make a shocked noise, because no teacher had ever rejected anything

Id ever written before.

 But Mr. Morton didnt seem to notice my shock, since he went on with, And on

Monday morning, I want to have a word with both of you. Ill expect to see you and Mr.

Reynolds in my classroom, first thing. You can let him know when you see him.

 I was stunned. What was this all about?

 All right, I said.

 I said all right, but I wasnt feeling all right. I was definitely freaked. How had he

known? How had he known Lance and I hadnt worked together on the proposal?

 By the time I got back to my seat in the bleachers, I had calmed down a little

much.

 Wherere the dogs? Liz wanted to know, when I slumped down into my seat beside her.

And thats when I realized Id been so upset over my conversation with Mr. Morton that

Id forgotten to get the hot dogs.

 Sorry, I said. Listen to this. And I told them both what Mr. Morton had said to me. I

mean, can you believe it? I asked, when I was done describing what had happened.

Does he have a reputation for being a stodgy old crank? Mr. Morton, I mean? Or is it just

me?

 The question had been rhetorical. Id fully expected them to say, Oh, yeah, hes a crank.

 But they didnt. Stacy went, I dont know. Everybody has always seemed to love Mr.

Morton.

 Yeah, Liz said. Hes been voted best teacher every year since he started at Avalon,

practically. And everybody gets a real kick out of the way he says Excalibur.

 Really? I found this extremely hard to believe.

 I dont get why youre so mad, Stacy said. I mean, hes practically ordering you to

spend more time with your loverboy. Wheres the tragedy in that?

 Liz laughingly agreed. Seriously, she said. Id pay cold hard cash to be told to spend

more time with Lance Reynolds.

 I slumped in my seat. There was no point in telling them that my lack of enthusiasm at

having Lance as a research partner stemmed from my being completely in love with his

best friend.

 So I just shut my mouth and didnt say anything for the rest of the game

 Until, sometime in the fourth quarter, when the teams were tied at twenty-one, something

weird happened. At least, I thought it was weird. Not having been to a football game

before, maybe it happened every day. Who knew?

 But I did see exactly how it happened, because it involved Will, so Id been watching

closely. Will had called out some numbers and someone had snapped him the ball. Hed

run with it for a few feet, looking for someone to throw it to.

 Then something happened that hadnt happened at any time before during the game:

Lance wasnt there to keep Will from getting tackled. Instead, Will got hit, hard, by a

member of the opposing team.

 Seeing this, I gasped and leapt to my feet, then looked around accusingly for Lance. He

came running over from where Jennifer Gold was standing on the sidelines.

 Jennifer Gold? What had Lance been doing, chatting up Jennifer Gold while Will was

getting the snot knocked out of him?

 I wasnt the only one who was appalled. The Avalon coach whacked Lance on the back

of his helmet as he went racing to Wills side. A lot of whistles got blown, and the guy

whod tackled Will peeled himself off him. Lance fell to his knees beside Wills

crumpledoh, God! Dont let him be dead!form, ripped off his own helmet, then leaned

over to grab the front of Wills uniform, calling his friends name.

 I watched, my heart in my throat, not realizing Id been holding my breath until a second

later, when Will started, slowly and painfully, to get up.

 Then I let out my breath in a whoosh and, my knees too weak to hold me up anymore,

sat down

 To find both Stacy and Liz staring at me with their eyebrows raised.

 I felt myself blushing, and hoped they wouldnt notice in the darkness.

 I had no idea football was so exciting, I said lamely.

 A second later, with Will seeming to have brushed off Lances apologies with a good-

natured laugh, the game started again.

 Only this time, no one got close to tackling Will. And the guy from the opposing team

.

.

whod knocked him down before? Well, first chance he got, Lance brought him down so

hard that the game had to stop again, and the guy had to be removed from the field on a

stretcher.

 One thing was for sure: Nobody was going to hurt A. William Wagner and get away with

it if his best friend Lance had anything to say about it.

 Avalon won by seven points. The crowd went nuts.

 And then it was time for Wills party.

CHAPTER NINE

  I made Stacy and Liz come with me. No way was I going to a party by myself, not

knowing anyone but the host, whod doubtless be too busy hosting to talk to me.

 Besides, Id asked Will, when Id e-mailed him back the other night, if it was okay if I

brought a couple of friends, and hed replied that it was fine.

 Stacy had been nonchalant at the invitation, but Liz was excited by the idea of going.

She had never, she confessed to me, been to a party at a popular persons houselet alone

president of the senior classand she was dying to see what it was like.

 She found out soon enough. What it was like could be described in one word: crowded.

Will lived in one of the really nice houses by the Severn Bridgeon a hill overlooking the

bay, in factand we had to park way down the hill, because there were already so many

cars in front of the house that it made getting close to the driveway impossible.