Before The Boys Say No Part 20

She looked taken aback at my response. "I think it would be good to have a diverse group of nominees," she insisted.

Lanie never talked like that. Diverse group of nominees? Did she mean because I'm a bigger girl? She was up to something, I could tell.

"Come on," Brody said encouragingly. "You'd make a beautiful prom queen."

"Nope," I said decisively. "However, I would like to nominate Johanna."

Johanna choked on a piece of salad and looked at me through watery eyes. "Me?"

"Absolutely," I said with enthusiasm.

"Well, I don't know," Lanie hedged, "I mean, your name came up, Beatrice, but I'm not sure about Johanna."

"Take my name off your list. I don't want to be prom queen." I didn't say it mean, but I said it firmly enough that she couldn't push it any more.

"Fine," she said stiffly and walked away without another word.

"Come on," Brody said with a smile. "Why don't you want to be prom queen?"

"I'm definitely not prom queen material," I said flatly. "Besides, I don't trust Lanie."

"Lanie has nothing to do with prom other than being on the committee," Brody said with a smile. He grabbed my hand and linked fingers with me.

"Let's drop it, okay?" I asked softly.

Johanna cleared her throat to pull our attention away from each other. I loved staring into Brody's eyes. He made me feel like the most beautiful girl in the world. I still couldn't believe we were together.

"The bell's about to ring," Johanna said, rising from the table. "We'll talk about dress shopping later. Okay?"

I sighed. "I'll check with Mom if you can come with us."

"You don't have a dress yet?" Brody asked.

"You don't understand my mom," I said with a rueful smile. "She is determined that I will have something beyond amazing."

"You're already beyond amazing, Bea," Brody said with a twinkle in his eye. "How is a dress going to help that?"

I loved how he talked to me. I mean, girls dream of this stuff. I know I had spent my entire high school imagining my first boyfriend. My imaginations certainly never came close to Brody.

I wanted to stay in my dream state, but the reality of debate called my name. I was supposed to have a meeting with Mr. Robarb after school the next day. Our next debate tournament was coming up and I had heard nothing from Jared. Mr. Robarb wanted to strategize with me if Jared was calling it quits.

I made the dreaded walk to the metal building to find Jared during detention period the next day. Mrs. Tole wasn't too happy, but she supported my debate efforts and let me out of my teacher's a.s.sistant duties. If you could call sitting silently through an hour long cla.s.s of whiners and cry babies complaining about why they had been put in detention.

Jared was surprised to see me. He came out of cla.s.s when he saw me peeking through the door.

"What's going on, Beatrice?" he asked in a really loud voice. Then he realized he had ear plugs in from the loud machines and pulled them out.

I wanted to laugh at him yanking his ear lobes, but I needed him to know I was there on serious business. "Listen, Jared, I really need your help. We've got just two debate tournaments left this year and I need you to be my partner."

Jared rolled his back, stretching and yawning. "I can't, Beatrice. Spring is really big for cow shows. I already committed myself to those. Just get someone to read the stuff like I did. They don't really have to understand it. I know it was way over my head."

"Come on, Jared," I urged. "Just two more weekends and one of them is the state debate. State. We have a chance to win this all the way."

"No, you have a chance to win this all the way," he said with a sniff. "I can try to get you another Aggie, if you want."

"It's too late to try to get someone completely new. There are too many details to try to throw at someone in less than a week."

Jared crossed his arms and looked at me with narrowed eyes. "I have an idea," he said. "I'll do those debate tournaments if you'll go to prom with me."

You could have knocked me down with a feather. Jared was actually asking me to prom. I'm sure he had no idea about Brody because we never talked. I had to take this on carefully so I wouldn't insult him and chase him away from being my debate partner.

"I've already got a date for the prom," I told him, "but how about if I help you find a date?"

"You already have a date?" he asked incredulously. "How did that happen?"

I tried not to frown. I wasn't that bad. "Look, do you want a prom date or not? I mean, you have to be pretty desperate if you wanted to go with me."

"You don't have to be ugly about it, Beatrice," Jared drawled. "I thought you'd be as desperate as me and at least we could go to prom together."

"What do you say?" I asked. "Be my partner and I'll help you find a date."

"I'll agree only if you find me a date first."

"Let's be real, Jared. The next debate is this weekend. That only gives me a couple of days. How about you debate with me this weekend and I'll find you a date to prom before we debate at state. Look, there's a lot more at stake for state. I'll get you a date before then, believe me."

Jared knew full well how important debate was to me. I could see the conflict on his face. He was seriously considering my proposal. "I'll agree on one condition. I need your help with getting a suit."

"You mean a tuxedo, right? Most guys will wear one of those."

"Well, I'll look for a tuxedo, but they might not have one," Jared said. Then I understood what he meant.

"You're not talking about shopping at a thrift store for a tuxedo for prom, are you?"

He nodded enthusiastically and I groaned. "You'd be amazed at what you can find there, Beatrice. Shoot, you might just find a dress for yourself."

"I went already, remember? And no, I'm not shopping for a prom dress at a thrift store."

"Is it a deal, then?" he asked, holding out his hand to shake on it.

I shook it with reservations. I had bought time for the first debate tournament, but I wasn't so confident I'd find him a date for prom in time. Johanna to the rescue. When I told her my problem, she immediately pulled out her handy dandy formula. We input every piece of information we had into that formula. The end result? We needed to find an Aggie girl who was skinny and shy and insecure.

I started looking around school, but was having a hard time identifying any prospects. Johanna joined in the search and started pointing out different girls. Unfortunately, they didn't meet many of the requirements.

At the debate tournament, Jared was relentless in his quest for me to get him a date. I had to rea.s.sure him I would be successful at least fifty times before the debate ended. With us as the victors again. I knew I owed him big time.

Without even having a date yet, Jared dragged me to some thrift stores to help him find a suit. I dreaded going with him because they all smelled old and musty. We had struck out in two stores before we found one larger than the others.

We walked into the thrift store and made our way to the men's section. To my surprise there were two tuxedos. Jared immediately looked at the tags and groaned when he saw a ten dollar price tag.

"Are you kidding?" I asked in a hushed voice. "Ten dollars for a tuxedo? That's crazy. Go try them on."

He went into the dressing room and I waited outside. And waited. He was worse than a girl. I called him a couple of times to make sure he was all right, and he mumbled in response. Bored, I started walking through the thrift store, peeking at all the junk it held. I smiled to myself at the women's clothes. And yes, Jared was right. There were dresses at the thrift store.

Suddenly, I caught my breath. A long black and white dress hung on the end of a shelf as a display. It had spaghetti straps and fell in silky soft layers of black and white material. As hard as it was for me to admit, it was beautiful. Something inside told me to try it on.

I didn't think twice. I headed to the dressing room and waited behind a woman and a child. Jared still had not come out of the dressing room. The woman took the other room when it was free. I knocked on Jared's door.

"How's it going in there?" I asked loudly.

He flung open the door and struck a pose. "What do you think?"

The white tuxedo was a little big in the shoulders and long in the pants, but was a good possibility. "You can take it to a tailor to have it fitted," I said with a nod of approval.

"Take it to a tailor?" Jared asked loudly. "Are you crazy, Beatrice. Do you know how much tailors cost? Besides, the tuxedo is already ten dollars."

I rolled my eyes and pushed past him into the dressing room, slamming the door on his objections. I heard him knock.

"My stuff is still in there, Beatrice. I'm not done yet."

"I just want to try this on really quick, Jared," I yelled back. "I'll be right out."

I pulled off my clothes and carefully slipped the dress over my head. Before I looked in the mirror I knew I had found my prom dress. It fit me perfectly. Looking at the way it fit the shape of my body, I realized Mom was right. My figure may be generous, but it is proportionate. I got chills just thinking of wearing the dress to prom. Of course, Mom wouldn't be happy that I found a dress without her. And that I found it at a thrift store. And that it only cost seven dollars. I had to look twice at the price. Yep, seven dollars. I laughed out loud, making Jared ask through the door if I was all right.

I got my dress and Jared got his tuxedo. From a thrift store. Who would have thought? I threatened Jared within an inch of his life if he ever told anyone where I got the dress. He held up his hand in a boy scouts vow.

I called it right. Mom was not too happy, but she couldn't deny how well it fit me. I had her stamp of approval. Even Marge was impressed. She kept asking if I was telling the truth about getting it from a thrift store. I finally showed her the receipt to shut her up.

Now, back to that date thing for Jared. I figured my best bet at getting a date for him would be at a cowboy event. So I dragged Brody with me to a rodeo. We stuck out like sore thumbs. We were probably the only two not wearing cowboy hats or boots.

I saw d.i.c.kie there with a group of his friends. He spotted me and turned and walked away as fast as he could in the opposite direction. I was glad because it would have been pretty awkward for me too.

I had to let Brody in on my plan. He thought it was pretty far fetched, but pointed out several prospects for a date. I finally got up the nerve to approach a couple of the girls. Let's just say I'm glad they don't go to my school. None of them was interested. Not one little bit.

After two hours of walking around the dirty rodeo grounds, I had given up hope. Brody had become silent and I sensed he was ready to leave. We were walking out of the arena when I saw her. A female Jared. She was skinny with pimples and dirty brown hair in two braids that stuck out under her cowboy hat.

I didn't think twice. I walked right up to her and just started telling her about Jared and how I saw her and thought she would make a great date for him. She was startled at first and kept throwing looks at Brody who was waiting for me with his hands jammed into his jean pockets.

"Is that Jared?" she asked breathlessly, pointing to Brody.

"No, that's my boyfriend," I said with a slight frown.

She looked disappointed. "I can't date yet," she said in her tiny voice. "Not till next year."

"Surely your parents will let you go to a prom?" I asked. She shook her head no. "What if they went with you? You know, to chaperone."

Her eyes lit up. "That might not be a bad idea," she said thoughtfully. "But, is this guy cute?"

"Jared?" I asked, hearing the squeak in my voice. "You're gonna love him. You'll have a great time. I promise you."

The girl, Shay, gave me her phone number and told me to call her parents. It was the only bit of hope I had. Did I want to call her parents? Not at all. Was I going to? You bet. I needed a debate partner for the state tournament.

And then Mr. Robarb threw me a curve ball. He had Leslie and me stay after cla.s.s one day. I could tell he had formed a plan. Curious I slipped into a seat beside Leslie at the front of the room. He rubbed his hands together like some mad genius.

"I've been giving this some thought," he said in a low voice, "and I think I've come up with a plan to help all of us."

He paused for dramatic effect. I looked over at Leslie with a frown, wondering if she knew anything about his plan. She looked as clueless as me.

"Beatrice, you don't have a solid partner yet, right?" I shrugged my shoulders. "And Leslie, you're a great debater, but you haven't had a chance to debate with someone on your level. Wouldn't you both like to leave senior year with a bang? Two strong female debaters taking state?

I stared at him in silence for a long moment. Leslie was squirming in her seat. I could read the conflict on her face. She would love to have a winning trophy at state, but she didn't want to be my debate partner. Poor Leslie. She had played second fiddle to me all four years of high school. Even Jared had more trophies than she had.

"I don't think that would work out," I said with an expressionless face.

Leslie whirled and looked at me with surprise. "Are you being serious? You might not even have a partner, Beatrice. I would be the best thing that could happen to you."

"Correction," I said, "I would be the best thing that could happen to you."

"Oh, please," she said cooly, turning her nose up in the air and facing Mr. Robarb again. "You've gotten lucky, Beatrice. Pure luck."

I stood up and grabbed my backpack. "You know what, Mr. Robarb, this is exactly why it wouldn't work out. I would rather not go to state because I don't have a debate partner than to be teamed up with Leslie."

I didn't even give him time to react as I strode to the door and slammed it behind me. I strengthened my resolve to find Jared a prom date. Leslie made me so angry I could just spit. So I did. I leaned over and spit on the ground. Only it wasn't on the ground. It was on Lanie's shoes. I heard her gasp at the same time I looked up and opened my mouth to apologize.

She was wearing her cheerleading uniform and was leading a parade of other cheerleaders. This was definitely not the time for me to run into Lanie. Especially since I had just spit on her shoe.

"You are so gross," she shouted, pulling her shoe off and wiping it on the gra.s.s. "I don't know how Brody can go out with someone as--fat and gross as you."

Something inside me snapped. Call it what you will, but just then Lanie didn't scare me anymore. Maybe it was the confidence I had gotten from my dance off or from dating Brody; I don't know. What I do know is my Italian blood started boiling.

I stuck out my b.o.o.bs proudly and placed my hands on my hips defiantly. "Oh, I'm not fat, Lanie. Ask Brody. He thinks I'm quite s.e.xy. As for being gross. I only spit on dirt. And you, Lanie, are dirt beneath my feet."

With that, I turned and walked away. Not one girl snickered behind my back. I had rendered them all speechless. No way was I going to spend another minute of my life being scared of beautiful people. Maybe the fear went away when I realized how beautiful I was through Brody's eyes. I mean, it's one thing for your parents to tell you you're beautiful. That's to be expected. But when a guy as cute as Brody tells you that, it changes things.

As soon as I got home, I called Shay, the girl from the rodeo. Her mom answered the phone, so I went over my conversation with her that I'd had with Shay. I understood her hesitation. I mean, there are a lot of sickos out there. I think she got on board when I a.s.sured her she and her husband could chaperone them. Of course, Jared didn't take that piece of news too well.

"Are you crazy, Beatrice?" he yelled at me. "I'll be the only one at prom with a date--and her parents."

I tried to calm him down, but his face was red. The yellow infection in his pimples looked kind of like neon fireflies had landed on it.

"I know it sounds crazy when you first hear it, Jared, but I think there's a way to work around it. I'll tell the them to sit with the teachers so no one will even know they're your date's parents."

He ran his hands through his hair, pondering the situation. "I don't know, Beatrice. Can't you find me someone else?"

"It's last minute, Jared. All the girls I know already have prom dates."

"All right," he said grudgingly. "Go ahead and set it it up."

Date for Jared? Check. State debate partner? Check. Some things are worth a little effort, you know?