Less Than Three

Chapter 24: A Disturbance in the Force

Thinking about the dance made me remember how much Brady liked it when I dressed up. I rummaged through my closet and considered the few feminine options there. I touched the brown dress Mom bought for me just before school let out for the summer. Might as well try it on.

My mother has a way of knowing what's right for me, even when I don't know it myself. The deep chocolate tone of the dress flattered my tan and was a perfect compliment to my pink-as-cotton-candy hair. The way it fit was excellent too, though I bet Mom didn't guess how low it dropped in front.

If only I had some girly brown shoes. Oh well, maybe Brady could look past my camo-print Chucks and pink striped tube socks. Especially if I took the time to put on some makeup and do something with my hair. By the time I'd brushed on the last coat of mascara, even I was impressed. If I looked like this more often, Brady might forget all about that stupid race car.

The Plan: Find Brady. Dazzle him with feminine wiles. Before you know it, we'd be good to go again. I spritzed on some perfume and stepped out my front door. As soon as I turned toward the sidewalk, there he was. Brady!

I smiled. He smiled back. We were off to a fabulous start.

"Hey, stranger," I called.

"I didn't think I'd catch you," Brady said.

"Huh?"

"I thought you'd still be at church."

"Skipped it."

"That's great."

I don't know if I would have called it great but ...

"So ..." we both said at once.

"You go first."

"No, you."

I'd played this game with Brady before. I knew that if I didn't move the conversation along, we could get stuck all day. "What are you doing here?" I said. "I mean, if you didn't think I'd be home yet and all."

"I wanted to drop off this note," he said, holding up a piece of paper folded into a neat square.

See? That's what I love about my boy. I didn't even have to get dressed up all fancy. He was bringing me a love letter anyway. Except when I reached for it, he pulled it back and slipped it into his front pocket.

"Nah," he said. "I'll just tell you."

Oh? Now this could be even better.

"It's about last night."

His words rocked me. How could he know about last night already? The only other people who were there were Craig and Madison. And Dave, of course. Craig hadn't said anything. I knew that from our conversation this morning. Had Madison? Would she really rat me out? Without even warning me first?

Maybe Brady had read the blog -- but I doubted it. His eyes had glassed over every time I'd tried to bring it up before. Except for video games, he wasn't exactly a digital kind of kid.

It had to be Dave. I should have known Dave Brown was capable of something like that. Sure, the past few weeks he'd seemed like a different person from the guy who'd puked in my lap on a field trip. It was probably all just a ruse though, a fiendishly intricate plot to dupe me into trusting him, so this time he could ruin my life for good.

And I fell for it. Actually even considered dumping my perfectly wonderful boyfriend for him. My dad's always saying stuff like: It's hard for a leopard to change its spots. Note to Self: You should listen to your father more often.