It's Only Temporary (14 page)

18

“Y
ou look absolutely adorable, Skye,” Gran said, beaming her approval.

“Thanks,” Skye said, fidgeting with the square neckline of the one dress she'd brought with her to Sierra Madre.

“You're going to have the greatest time,” Gran promised.

“If you say so,” Skye said, trying not to sound too gloomy.

“You seem to have made lots of new friends at Amelia Earhart,” Gran pointed out, sticking to the McPhee family tradition of focusing on the positive, no matter what. “You'll have to invite them over sometime,” she added, smiling.

“Yeah,” Skye teased. “We can have a tofu party.”

“I've eased up,” Gran protested. “Admit it.”

It was true, Skye thought; last weekend, Gran had even
gone so far as to buy chips – multigrain, salt-free, and baked, not fried, of course – and soda, or some fruity drink a little
like
soda.

“Okay, I admit it,” Skye said, looking at the living-room clock. “But we'd better get going, Gran, 'cause I'm supposed to meet up with my friends exactly twelve minutes from now.”

“Oh, no,” Gran said, her eyes wide as she checked the clock's time against her wristwatch. “That clock's running fifteen minutes slow, Skye. It must need winding.”

“It's
slow
?” Skye exclaimed, squawking the two words. “Hurry up, Gran – or I'm gonna have to walk into that stupid dance all by myself!”

Skye hesitated alone near the wide-open gymnasium doors, wishing she'd asked Gran to turn the Toyota around and take her straight back to Eucalyptus Terrace. Her fellow art jerks must already be thinking she'd decided to stay home; they sure weren't waiting for her in front of the cafeteria, the way Pip said they would be.

The inside of the school gymnasium looked golden from where Skye was standing. Under the big wall clock at the end of the room was the banner the art activities kids had made saying “
We Won!
” but someone had had to add a small, red, last-minute “
Almost
,” just between the “
We
” and the “
Won
.”

Uh-oh, Skye thought, taking a step back. Amelia Earhart had lost the Homecoming game to Thomas Alva Edison. This was not good.

“Come on in, honey,” a committee mom said, peeking out from the doorway. “Don't be shy about being here alone. It's not that kind of party.”

“I know,” Skye said, taking another step back. “I heard.”

“
There
you are,” Amanda said, popping out from behind the woman.

“Finally,” Pip and Matteo chorused. They appeared to be attached to Amanda's side by invisible strips of Velcro, and when they dragged Skye into the gymnasium, she joined the cluster.

“Have you seen them yet?” Skye asked, shouting to be heard above the voices and music that swirled around them. “What's happening?”

“I don't know,” Pip said, sounding both excited and scared. “Everyone's talking about the drawings, though. We did it!”

“Hey, Skye-chick,” a voice said, and then she heard the art jerks inhale as if they were one person.

Skye turned around. “Hey,” she said cautiously, seeing Aaron, Cord, Danko, Kee, and the two bad ballerinas standing in front of her, their toes turned out as usual. Kee looked troubled, staring down at the scuffed gymnasium floor as if there were a message hidden there.

“So, you think you're, like, this really hot artist, huh?” Aaron asked Skye, sneering. “Making us lose the game.”

“You are so gonna get it,” Taylor told Skye, and she smiled – though it was not a pretty sight.

Skye could not think of what to say, because–how had they known so quickly that she was the one who had done those drawings? And how had she made them lose the game?

And, most important of all, how was she “
gonna get it?
”

“Skye's drawings are great,” Pip said, trying to defend her. “They looked more like you guys than your team photos did, that's for sure.”

“Shut up, pansy,” Aaron said, not looking at him.

“Stop
saying
that,” Amanda told him, but this time she could barely squeak out her objection, she was so scared.

“I was talking to Skye-chick, here,” Aaron said. “We got something to show her.”

Melissa nudged Taylor. They looked excited, and they both stared at Skye with hungry eyes.

“What?” Skye asked, in spite of herself.

“C'mon,” Aaron said, laughing. “It's over by the clock. Come see for yourself!”

“And bring your pathetic little posse,” Melissa added.

The two groups shuffled over toward the big wall clock, threading their way through the mob of laughing, dancing kids, who seemed oblivious to this new drama that was unfolding. “At least we're in a public place,” Pip muttered.

“Yeah,” Amanda squeaked. “He can't actually
hurt
Skye. But I wish I'd stayed home,” she added softly. “I'm scared!”

“Skye's the one who should be scared,” Matteo pointed out, sounding matter-of-fact – and even a little relieved, Skye thought. Not that she blamed Matteo for feeling that way.

“Up there,” Aaron said. “Whaddya think, Skye-chick? How do you like it?”

Skye forced herself to raise her eyes to where Aaron was pointing.