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  “So?” He looked baffled.

  Avery sighed. “I know, dude. I don’t really get it either. But I guess it really matters.”

  “Huh,” Dillon grumbled. “Do I get to keep this cool pin?” He held up the tie clip.

  “Who knows?” Avery laughed, and slipped off with her brownies.

  But when she got back to the hallway, Maeve, Chelsea, and the framed collage were nowhere to be found.

  Joline’s Wide Retriever

  “Maeve, come on,” Chelsea insisted. She and Maeve had moved to the other side of the gym to get out of the way of a crowd of rowdy ninth graders, and now Chelsea could see Anna walking up, trailing Trevor. “Let’s get out of here.” But Maeve shook her head. She was tired of the QOM trying to ruin everyone’s life.

  “Where’s Dillon?” Anna asked Maeve, with a queenly sneer.

  “I think I saw him wolfing some brownies with Avery,” Trevor started.

  Joline interrupted. “What’s it like having your date hang out with one of your best friends?”

  Maeve shrugged. “He’s not really my date, and Dillon is allowed to hang out with whoever he wants. We’re not in prison here.”

  Jolene smirked and pulled on the arm of a tall boy standing behind her, staring blankly at the ceiling. “This is Brandon. He’s on the eighth-grade football team. He’s the wide retriever.”

  Maeve cracked a smile. “Don’t you mean…wide receiver? Like Kelley Washington?”

  “Hey, this girl knows what’s going on!” Brandon snapped to life suddenly.

  “Ha-ha…wide retriever,” Trevor laughed. “Is that, like, when you have a golden retriever on your team?”

  Chelsea and Maeve laughed as Joline scowled. “That’s not what I said. Whatever.” Joline stormed off.

  “Come on, Trevor,” Anna went to follow, but Trevor hung back.

  “I’m going to chill with these guys for a while.” His eyes landed on Chelsea. “Hey, Chels, want to dance?”

  “What?!” Anna’s eyes flashed. “I give you a second chance, spend my precious time introducing you to every cool person in this school, and you want to dance with her?!”

  “Ahh, yeah, actually, I do,” Trevor held out a hand to Chelsea, who suddenly felt like Sleeping Beauty awakening from her hundred years’ sleep.

  “Okay!?” Chelsea said with a surprised smile.

  Trevor nodded. “Come on, this is a great song.”

  Maeve watched Trevor and Chelsea walk away, feeling a certain satisfaction at the furious look on Anna’s face. She watched Anna stalk off in the other direction, then noticed Chelsea’s collage forgotten against the wall.

  Huh, she thought, what am I supposed to do with that? Not wanting Chelsea’s work to get ruined, Maeve moved it back out into the hallway, out of the way behind the coats, just so no one would step on it or something.

  Now, I’m going to dance! She ducked in the bathroom for a quick second to make sure her curls were all in place, then made her entrance onto the dance floor, just in time for her favorite song.

  Dancing Queen

  To her surprise, Chelsea didn’t feel weird at all dancing beside Trevor. Definitely not like dancing with my brother, she sighed as Trevor held on to her hand. She remembered the dance with Nick; she was glad he’d asked her, but sorry she’d made Charlotte so upset. I hope she’s okay….

  “I love your photos,” Trevor said over the music. “Do you think you could teach me how to make collages like that? I take lots of pictures, but then I never know what to do with them.”

  Chelsea nodded. “Sure. It’s not that hard to do. We should get together after school and work on something.”

  “That would be cool.” Trevor moved in close as Chelsea spun around, her red dress billowing out around her legs. She felt like a queen—not a queen of mean, but a dancing queen.

  “Hey, Chels!” Charlotte’s voice broke into her thoughts. Chelsea and Trevor waved as Charlotte came running over, followed by Katani, Nick, and Reggie.

  “You okay, Char?” Chelsea asked, holding out her arms to her good friend.

  Charlotte hugged Chelsea. “Yeah, everything’s fabuloso!” she said with a laugh, imitating Maeve. “How about you?

  Her friends were so cool. “Everything’s great,” Chelsea responded. “You should have seen Maeve take on the QOM!”

  “Only Maeve!” Charlotte laughed as Chelsea told the story.

  Then Katani waved her arms in the air. “Come on people, let’s dance!”

  Mustard Monkey Moves

  I had no idea Riley was such a good dancer, Maeve thought. She’d walked over to hang out with his band members and a group of music kids because she couldn’t find her friends anywhere. Of course, with so many faces, voices, the loud music, and so little light, she could have walked right by one of them and not noticed. She hoped Charlotte and Nick were okay. Oh, well, we’ll find each other eventually.

  Maeve turned her attention to Riley. All of a sudden she noticed how cute he looked with his hair all gelled back.

  Before Maeve could ask if he wanted to dance, Riley turned to her and said, “I can’t believe they’re playing this!” He grinned. “This band is totally the next big thing!”

  “Really?” Maeve shouted over the ringing chords. She’d never heard it before.

  Riley nodded. “People don’t realize how hard it is to come up with great lyrics and a catchy melody. I write a lot of songs for Mustard Monkey and I can tell you that it’s a lot of work.”

  Maeve leaned her face closer to his so she could talk in his ear. “I bet it is. It’s really cool you compose your own stuff! When are you going to perform again?”

  Riley paused as he bopped his head along with the song’s beat. “Well, I’ve got one new song…I’m not sure if it’s really ready to go yet, though. Want to give it a try sometime?”

  Flattered, Maeve laughed. “Riley, I have a great idea!”

  “Oh, yeah? What is it?”

  She put her lips to his ear and whispered something that made his eyes light up with excitement.

  “We should get some punch and discuss this,” Riley suggested as Mustard Monkey’s guitar player jumped straight up in the air, kicking his legs out to the sides.

  “Sounds fantabulous,” Maeve gushed, feeling a little flutter of excitement.

  All Together Again

  At the end of the next song, the BSG found Maeve and Riley deep in conversation at the refreshments table. A flurry of quick hugs, high-fives, and questions were interrupted by Avery, who came bouncing over, followed by Dillon.

  “My feet are killing me!” Avery wailed, slipping off her right sandal and rubbing her toes.

  “Yeah,” Dillon joked. “And you almost gave Billy Trentini another nosebleed!”

  “How do you always manage to knock into people when you dance?” Katani asked.

  “It’s a gift, I guess,” Avery added with a proud smile.

  “Avery, you should go with me to my hip hop class!” Maeve suggested, handing Avery a cup of punch. Then she glanced at Dillon. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

  Dillon looked a little panicked.

  “It’s okay,” Avery urged Dillon.

  Maeve led him a little way away from the table. “Sorry,” she whispered.

  “Why?” Dillon looked confused.

  Maeve threw up her hands. Is Dillon as clueless as Avery? she wondered. “’Cause you asked me to the dance then I didn’t even really dance with you!”

  He lightly punched her shoulder. “It’s cool, Maeve. Forget about it. Can I keep the pin?” He pointed to the tie clip, which was fastened on his T-shirt sleeve.

  “Yeah.” Maeve grinned as Riley came up behind her.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  Ten minutes later, Maeve’s voice rang through the gymnasium. She and Riley had hopped onstage and Maeve spoke into the mic.

  “Attention! May I have your attention, please!” she said, putting as much drama as she could into each word. “Riley
Lee and Mustard Monkey, and me, Maeve Kaplan-Taylor, are here to rock the mic. But first, I’d like to thank Chelsea Briggs for making such an amazing tribute to every single student here at AAJH!”

  Riley reached behind a speaker and pulled out Chelsea’s project. Maeve flipped it around and placed in at the base of the stage with a flourish.

  She didn’t! Chelsea thought, but glowed inside.

  “Way to go!” Trevor gave her a thumbs-up. “Everyone loves it!”

  Sure enough, a crowd was forming around the poster.

  “Yes, ladies and gentlemen,” Maeve continued. “Love is in the air, so get ready to get your groove on to the new hit single ‘You, You, You’!”

  Riley pulled out his guitar and hit the first chord. The pure sound echoed through the gymnasium, capturing everyone’s attention. And then Riley and Maeve launched into a cool duet:

  “I never thought I’d ever want to sing,

  I never knew what the future would bring,

  It brought you, you, you…

  “I never knew my heart could feel this way

  I couldn’t speak, didn’t know what to say

  When I met you, you, you….”

  The romantic fun song with the jazzy beat blew everyone away as Maeve and Riley blended their voices into a rich, harmonious sound. No one even minded when Maeve messed up on some of the lyrics.

  “You know, Nick, one of our adventures might just be visiting Maeve and Riley in Hollywood some day,” Charlotte whispered.

  “I’m ready.” He smiled and grabbed her waiting hand.

  When the Music Ends

  “Maeve, wait up,” Riley called as she followed her friends outside. The dance was officially over, and everyone was leaving. Maeve turned around.

  Riley thrust a CD in her hands. “Here.”

  Maeve ran her fingers along the side of the jewel case. “What’s this?”

  Riley grinned. “It’s a mix CD of some songs I think you’ll like. I meant to give it to you earlier, but I forgot.”

  Maeve flipped to the back of the case and quickly scanned some of the tracks. He was right. Some of her favorite songs were burned on the CD. It was as if he had crawled inside her head and learned exactly what type of music she liked.

  “Oh, Riley!” she said, bouncing up and down. “That is so incredibly sweet of you! She squeezed his hand. “OMG. This totally reminds me of the Judy Garland movie where she and Mickey Rooney decide to put on a show and they sing that really cool duet together and—”

  Riley’s eyes widened. “You’re so cool, Maeve. You’re different from other girls. You, like, totally have this passion and just put it out there for everyone to see.”

  Maeve couldn’t believe her ears. Riley thought she was interesting and different. Nobody had ever said that to her before. Usually people thought she was kind of silly for being so crazy about movies.

  “Thanks,” was all she could muster.

  She and Riley walked through the snowy night, chatting excitedly about their duet and discussing ways they could improve it for the next time.

  Charlotte stood by the curb, her heart as light as pink cotton candy. Could the night get any better?

  “Are you ready to go home?” Nick asked, appearing at her side.

  “Yeah, I’m tired.” It had been a long night, and Charlotte felt as if she’d been dancing for days.

  The evening was cool and quiet as they walked side by side. It was wonderful having Nick beside her as the snow fell through the night sky. She never thought she would love a place as much as she had loved Paris—but that’s what happened. On this chilly winter night there was nowhere she’d rather be than right here in Brookline.

  As they walked, Nick talked about a winter hiking trip he’d taken with his dad. They’d gone up to the White Mountains, hiked up to Franconia Notch, and skied down. Charlotte shared the time she tried to explain what snow felt like to her friends in Tanzania.

  “There’s a rainy season in that part of Africa,” Charlotte explained. “But never any snow!”

  The walk was over much too soon. When they reached the steps of the yellow Victorian, Charlotte turned to thank Nick.

  “Thanks for walking me home, Nick. I really had a wonderful time.” Charlotte hoped that they could put the whole misunderstanding of the past week behind them. She knew that she really liked Nick in a special way, but she’d had enough of crush craziness to last her at least a year.

  Oh, no! Not again. Charlotte fell forward as she turned to go up the stairs.

  Nick grabbed her arm and Charlotte righted herself quickly. “Uh…yeah. Guess I kinda missed a step.”

  “Yeah…kinda,” said Nick, grinning. “So…do you think we could meet for breakfast at Montoya’s on Monday?”

  “Sure. I’d like that,” she said, and stared down at her strappy sandals. Her toes were pink and frozen from the snow. She looked up with a mischievous grin. “Wait, are you actually going to show up this time?”

  “I’ll be there,” Nick said.

  Charlotte smiled and looked up at him. His eyes twinkled in the moonlight as he stared back into her eyes. She could have looked into those eyes forever, but finally she turned to go.

  “Well, good night,” she whispered as she turned to attempt to go up her steps once more.

  “Charlotte…?” she heard Nick say.

  She turned around. What was he still doing here? She stood on the first step waiting for him to say something, but instead he was moving toward her. He put his hands on her shoulders and closed his eyes.

  Her mind was racing and she felt as if a thousand butterflies had flown into her stomach. Charlotte quickly shut her own eyes and before she could gain control of her thoughts she felt Nick’s lips on hers, gentle and light as a snowflake! Her mind buzzed and she could feel every inch of her body beaming. Here she was on a beautiful, snowy night getting kissed by the nicest, cutest boy in the world!

  “Good night,” Nick said under his breath as he pulled away, and before she knew it, he had vanished down the street.

  Charlotte ran up the porch steps, wrenched open the front door, and smiled radiantly as she slipped inside. She shut the door and leaned against it, trying to quiet her ragged breathing. As she blindly stumbled up the stairs, she heard her father call out, “How’d it go, sweetie?”

  OMG! I can’t talk to Dad! Not now, she thought.

  “I had fun! Good night!”

  Before he could ask her anything else, she flew up the stairs to her room. No way did she want to tell her dad about the kiss. Some things she just wasn’t prepared to share with him. Kicking off her shoes, she picked up Marty and flopped down on her bed. The bedsprings squeaked in protest as she grabbed her pillow and hugged it close to her, Marty nestled by her side.

  A kiss. My FIRST KISS. Staring up at the ceiling, she replayed every single moment on the walk home until she ended at the kiss. Then she started over again. Absently stroking Marty’s fur, Charlotte opened her journal, staring at the blank page for a long time before beginning to write.

  Charlotte’s Journal

  TOP SECRET

  No one will ever read this, except maybe me when I’m older, but I have to write this down or I think I’ll explode. Nick Montoya kissed me tonight. A real kiss! He said, “I’ll be there,” then just leaned in and kissed me. I can’t believe it actually happened and with the cutest, nicest, handsomest boy in the whole world.

  I feel like jumping up and dancing or burrowing under the covers and hiding all at the same time. What do I do now? Marty’s giving me funny looks. I think he knows something’s up. Can people go to sleep after their first kiss? Or do they stay up all night thinking about it over and over again?

  CHAPTER 19

  Pancakes in Paradise

  It was close to eleven a.m. before a sleepy Charlotte opened her eyes. And that was only because her dad was cooking his world-famous pancakes, and the heavenly scent was wafting to her bedroom from the kitchen. But Charlotte wasn’t qui
te ready to eat yet; her mind was still twirling from last night’s adventure, and her feet…they were so sore. All that dancing in her fancy shoes and then the walk home through the snow had made her realize that fashion has its price.

  Charlotte wiggled her toes and snuggled deeper into the covers. She smiled as she thought back to her final dance with Nick. The dance had been so dreamy. She’d almost felt like Cinderella at a modern day ball.

  Suddenly she giggled as a vision of her first day disaster at AAJH popped in her mind. At the time, she was convinced that when she zipped the tablecloth into her pants and wiped out her whole lunch group in front of everyone in the cafeteria, that she, Charlotte Ramsey, would be forever labeled the biggest loser of all time.

  And she almost was. But then the BSG happened, and she was happy to have the best friends in the world. And now there was Nick. Nick—who loved her stories about riding camels, crossing deserts, and watching stampeding antelopes. Nick—who she could talk to about her dreams of traveling the world. Nick—who really seemed to understand her. Nick—who had kissed her!

  “Charlotte honey,” her dad called out to her. “Your breakfast is ready.”

  “In a minute,” she called as she threw back the covers and jumped out of bed.

  First, she had to check her e-mail.

  To: Charlotte

  From: Sophie

  Subject: crying

  Is everything fine? For two days I have only a message that you are crying! Please write me soon, I must know if ma meilleure amie Charlotte is feeling better or no? I wish I could come and see you this minute in Boston and bring you many chocolates! My feeling is that all will be well. But let me know. Soon! I can not sleep!

  Ton amie,

  Sophie

  “Oh, no!” Charlotte cried out loud to the empty room. “I never wrote back after Marty’s walk.”

  At least this morning, she had good news to share.

  From: Charlotte

  To: Sophie

  Subject: crying