Unusual

Chapter 14

Nor, did I ask Kevin Gelber about Samuel's party on Friday.

I was mulling over this thought all day at school and a few hours after school too.

Finally, at 5.40, I called Kevin.

"Hey, Ellie."

"Hi. So, uh, there's this party... Samuel Ghellini's birthday, at 6 today... I thought maybe... we could, you know, go...?"

"Am I awake, or am I dreaming?"

"I dunno. Probably awake, judging by the emotion in your voice."

"You are very attentive to detail, Ellie."

"Uh, thanks?"

"Did you just ask me out to Sam's party?"

"Uh, maybe? No, no, definitely not."

He laughed, "Oh my, I have been asked out by Miss Eleanor Crosier herself!"

"Stop mocking me."

"I'm not mocking you, just pointing out the facts."

I did not reply. I could feel my ears burning from embarrassment.

"Yes, I know that there is a party. I was very patiently waiting for this moment for the last week or so."

I rolled my eyes. Kevin could be such a drama queen sometimes.

"And yes, I am going out on this party-date with you, Ellie."

"Great, so-" He hung up on me. Now what?

I call him again. "Kevin?"

"Hi Ellie. Please open your front door."

"What?"

"Open your front door."

I hear the bell ring downstairs. I run down as fast I possibly could. Or shall I say... as fast as my skinny legs could carry me?

My door doesn't have a hole that you can look through to see who's there. The house is pretty old, so I guess at the time it was built, a hole wasn't necessary.

I opened up a tiny bit and peeked through. Surely enough, Kevin Gelber was standing outside, his phone near his ear.

"What are you doing here?" I said, my phone still near my ear, in my cold, trembling hand.

"Hi, Ellie." He shot me his quick smile and winked.

"How did you find my house?" I gasped. "Are you stalking me?"

"I might have followed you from school a couple of times," he replied cheekily.

"What? Are you a stalker now?"

"No."

"Well, I think you are. And just so you know, I am currently questioning our friendship."

"The party is still on, right?"

I raised one eyebrow at him. He winked again. What was up with him?

"Can I at least come in?"

"Do you think I'll let a stalker into my house?" I stomped one foot on the ground and pursed my lips.

"You do realize you've been saying all this on the phone." He laughed.

I pressed the red button on my phone to end the call. I was still pissed off at Kevin Gelber, but I still let him in.

"Holy-" He gawked at the furniture, the walls and the ceiling when we entered the living room.

"What?"

"You-your house is-" He shook his head in disbelief. "It's magnificent. Huge. Ginormous... and even antique." He gestured to the old carpet hanging on the wall. I never really looked at it properly before, but it was... magnificent. And huge and antique.

After a few minutes of standing around, I started up the stairs. Kevin followed.

"So now that you're here," I chimed in, "You should make yourself useful."

"How?"

"Help me choose what to wear, obviously." I led him into my bedroom.

"Wow, is that a white Labrador Retriever on your super comfy bed?" He stopped and pointed to Jackie, who was lying on my bed as usual. At the mention of her name, my dog jumped off the bed and began barking at the intruder of our home (aka Kevin).

"Shush, Jackie!" I caught her by the collar, just before she prepared to leap onto poor Kevin, who was standing there, paralyzed.

As Jackie calmed down and resumed her sleeping session on my bed, Kevin helped me pick out a dress to wear to Samuel Ghellini's party.

In the end, we picked out a knee-length, purple tulle dress and I wore a pair of purple, high-heel sneakers because Kevin could not convince me to wear anything else.

We ordered a taxi and played with Jackie while we waited. I taught Kevin how to stroke a dog correctly so that the dog liked it. He practised on Jackie and she seemed a bit annoyed but fairly satisfied.

The taxi took us to the party, and we ended up being 30 minutes late.