Is She for Real? (7 page)

She had been sleepwalking … which had never happened to her before.

The Carlsons' house was completely dark. As was the whole sky. Bethany could barely see a thing.

Once she caught her breath and realized what had happened, her first thought was,
Oh my God. I'm so glad no one saw me! They would think I was some kind of stalker.

She began to walk home.

I hope this doesn't happen again
, she said to herself over and over, a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach.
This is crazy. I am so glad Mom and Dad aren't home and that Aunt Mimi is such a deep sleeper.
With that, Bethany hurried back to her home and tried to fall back asleep. But she barely slept a wink for the rest of the night.

A few weeks later, it was finally time for end-of-school-year elections. Bethany's parents had returned home, and Bethany had not had any more sleepwalking incidents. She'd kept the whole thing a secret. Now her parents were out of town again, but they had promised this would probably be the last time. Bethany didn't mind too much. When the Carlsons heard that her parents were away, they practically insisted she spend as much time as possible at their house. And Bethany definitely didn't mind that!

She was there now, as were Lily and Olivia. The girls helped Nate make a ton of “Vote for Nate” posters. Their slogans were “Nate the Great,” “Turn Over a New Leaf with Nate” (decorated with fall leaves), and “Nate Carlson,
the People's President” (decorated with color copies of yearbook photos of every student in their class). The “People's President” one had been Bethany's idea.

“It's important that every kid feel like he or she is part of Nate's presidency, like they each have a voice,” she pointed out. It seemed like a great idea, and she happily glued the individual photos, collage-style, onto those posters.

“I can't believe how much work you guys are doing on these,” Nate said, wandering into the kitchen, where the girls had set up a whole poster-making workshop. He was talking to all four girls, but his eyes were on Bethany. He picked up a marker and began coloring in the bubble letters on one of the posters.

Bethany held up her glitter pen and reached over and touched his nose with it so he had a sparkly nose. “Of course we are, milord.” The others rolled their eyes.

“You know, Lord Warwick became the first governor of Old Warwick,” he said. “That's a sneak preview of my report in history. And history repeats itself, doesn't it?”

“It does, milord,” Bethany said, sounding awfully old-fashioned, and Nate blushed.

Lissa exchanged a look with Olivia and Lily.
This is
really annoying
, the look said. The three girls had secretly discussed that they thought Bethany and Nate were taking this “milord, milady” thing a bit too far. “She was talking about learning to cook fish in case he ever catches any!” Lissa had said to Olivia and Lily in exasperation. “I mean, seriously? Is she for real?”

As if she somehow knew what her friends were thinking, Bethany excused herself and went into the bathroom. Lissa immediately felt guilty for thinking disloyal thoughts about her friend and shared a tense, nervous look with the other girls.

But then Bethany called to her friends from the bathroom. “Hey, you guys! Come here!”

“Lookit,” she said, indicating her hair, which was parted straight down the middle. “Why didn't you tell me my hair looked like this?”

“I thought maybe you were going for a seventies look,” Lissa said, and they all laughed.

“Oh yuck,” Bethany said, and made a face in the mirror as she fixed her hair. “My hair has been acting totally bizarro lately! You have to tell me if it does that again!”

“Why, are you worried Nate won't like it?” Lily teased. Olivia and Lissa paused, unsure of how Bethany
would react. But she just made a funny face in the mirror, and all four girls cracked up laughing together.

The tension, it seemed, had passed.

There was a week of campaigning before the elections, and Nate's posters looked better than any other candidate's. His speech at the class assembly went perfectly. It was all about how he cared about the concerns of each and every student in the class, and how anyone could come talk to him anytime about any question or problem. He said that even if he didn't win the election, he felt proud to be a member of the class and valued his relationship with every single one of his classmates.

After the assembly with the speeches, Bethany and Lissa walked to lunch to meet Olivia and Lily at their usual table.

“Nate did great, right?” Lily said right away.

“Totally,” Olivia and Lissa said at the same time.

“Whatever,” Bethany said quickly. “Next topic.” They all looked shocked by her comment.

“Where did that come from?” Lissa said, opening her bag of baby carrots.

“Sorry,” Bethany said. “I didn't mean to sound harsh. It's just that, well, I didn't really like what he said about
each and every
kid being able to talk to him
anytime
about
anything
.”

“Why not?” asked Lily. “It seems like a good thing to say in a speech like that.”

“Yeah, but that means other girls can call him anytime,” Bethany said, as if that should have been obvious to the others.

Lissa, Olivia, and Lily couldn't help but laugh. “You're a jealous girlfriend!” Lily cried.

Bethany sighed. “I know. And I don't know what's the matter with me.”

Nate won the election. He was going to be class president.

Their school always had the spring dance right after elections, and the new class officers—president, vice president, secretary, treasurer—all appeared at a sort of “welcoming” line as kids entered. It was the beginning of their formal duties as class officers. Nate had his tuxedo ready (the officers got more dressed up than the other kids), and the girls had done their dress shopping at the mall. They were each pleased with their decisions, except Bethany, who had seemed sullen and withdrawn and hated everything she tried on. She left the mall without buying anything.

“What's the matter, Bethany?” Olivia had asked when they were all in the dressing room.

“Nate hasn't asked me yet,” Bethany replied, her eyes filling with tears. “And the dance is
next weekend
!” The others were shocked to see her so upset.

“Maybe because he's president, he feels like the dance isn't really for having fun at,” Lissa offered gently, touching Bethany's arm. “Maybe he feels like it's part of his presidential duties and he has a responsibility to the whole class or something.” Lissa hadn't really thought of this before, but it sort of made sense, and she was trying to help Bethany feel better.

“Yeah, maybe,” Bethany said, but she didn't sound too convinced.

Mrs. Carlson picked them up soon after, and the four girls left the mall with three dresses. They went back to Lissa's, where Mr. Carlson and Nate were sitting on the front porch drinking iced tea.

“Well, let's see those dresses,” Mrs. Carlson said. Lissa, Olivia, and Lily all pulled their dresses out of their bags and held them up. As the Carlsons admired them, Bethany suddenly bolted from the porch, ran home, and went straight into her bedroom.

She threw herself onto her bed, where she cried and cried.
Maybe he's taking someone else to the dance
, she
thought over and over again. She couldn't stop thinking it. Until she heard the doorbell ring and her aunt Mimi answer it.

Aunt Mimi appeared at her door moments later. “Bethany, there's a young man here to see you. His name is Nate.”

“Okay,” Bethany said, smiling through her tears. She stopped crying and went to the bathroom to splash her face. After doing so, she looked in the mirror and realized he'd be able to tell right away that she'd been crying.
That's okay, maybe women really are weaker vessels, not as strong psychologically as men
, she thought, remembering her history report. She applied her red lip gloss and fixed her hair (which had parted itself in the middle AGAIN!) and headed downstairs.

When she got downstairs, Nate was standing in the doorway.

“Why did you run off?” he asked kindly. “Why didn't you get a dress like the others did?”

“I guess I wasn't sure I was going,” she said neutrally.

“Aren't you going to go with me, milady?” Nate asked, incredulous.

“Well, you haven't exactly
asked
me,” Bethany pointed
out, trying to keep the relieved smile off her face.

Nate's face fell. “I'm really sorry, milady. I just assumed!” he exclaimed. “You need a formal invitation, do you, milady?”

“I suppose I do, milord,” Bethany said demurely.

Nate ducked his head. He seemed suddenly shy. “Will you go to the dance with me, milady?”

“Yes, milord,” Bethany said, and smiled so hard she thought her face would break.

A few days later, the night of the big dance arrived. The girls got ready together in Lissa's room, Bethany borrowing a red dress of Lissa's that perfectly matched her ruby ring. They did one another's hair. Olivia, who was a whiz with hairdos, came up with a pretty updo that actually worked well with the middle part that Bethany's hair seemed to be stubbornly falling into.

“That dress really makes your ring stand out,” Lissa told Bethany, and Bethany's face lit up.

Once they emerged from Lissa's room, Mr. and Mrs. Carlson were eagerly awaiting them with cameras. Nate still hadn't come downstairs, but that didn't stop them from snapping away.

“You're like the paparazzi!” Lissa complained, but she
didn't really mind. Then Nate appeared in his tuxedo.

“Spiffy!” his dad said.

“Dapper!” his mom said.

“Black and white!” Lissa said, and everyone laughed. Bethany only smiled slightly, afraid to be too obvious about how handsome she thought he looked.

As the Carlsons opened a bottle of sparkling cider and poured a glass for everyone, Lissa's date, Teddy, arrived. Teddy was just a friend, but the two had decided to go to the dance together last week. Olivia and Lily were going solo, which plenty of other kids were also doing.