Dani finally spoke. “My friends and fellow countrymen, you’re probably wondering why I’ve gathered you all here today.” The Whickett senior class laughed quietly. “I have some great news. We are only one fundraiser away from having enough money for the senior prom in May.” Whoops and hollers sprang from the crowd. “And,” Dani added with a sweeping motion, “I expect each and every one of you to participate in our last fundraiser.” The whoops and hollers turned to groans. Dani continued undaunted. “We’ll probably have a car wash once it gets warmer. I’ll give you more details at the next meeting.”
Meredith swallowed hard. Was Dani looking right at her? No. No, it was just her imagination. Meredith turned the pad to a fresh sheet and began her sketch of Dani. Meredith decided that Dani was cute, pixie cute. Her blond hair was short like that woman who played Peter Pan on the Broadway DVD her mother had at home. Dani was the only girl in the senior class with short hair, but she was Dani, after all, and no one gave her grief about it. Not that Meredith ever saw, anyway. Dani’s skin was flawless, too, which made Meredith a little envious, even though she hadn’t had a real acne outbreak since early summer. Her mother said her sporadic outbreaks the year before were probably due to nerves about starting at a new school.
She looked back up at Dani on the stage. Dani’s nose was straight and thin. Meredith couldn’t see Dani’s blue eyes from her last row seat in the auditorium, but she knew they would be playful and alert. Meredith smiled at the partial sketch. Yes, Dani was a good subject. Dani’s expression behind the podium was serious, but good-humored. Maybe Dani would pose for a portrait. Meredith tossed out the idea almost as quickly as it came. Dani Lassiter would never grant an audience to the likes of Meredith Bedford. She sighed, but continued her sketch.
Dani was in mid-sentence, “—so those of you going to the Winter Ball tomorrow, remember that it’s formal. And we don’t mean your best jeans.” The class laughed and a few names were thrown about the auditorium of classmates who clearly thought jeans were perfectly acceptable formal wear. Meredith wouldn’t be caught dead at one of those formal functions. Who would she go with, anyway? Nobody would ask her. Who would want to spend time with the class loser?
“And,” Dani continued from the stage, “the senior class officers have okayed my proposal for our spring community service project. Participation is completely optional, as you know, but I hope most of you will help in one way or another. Some of you’ve already heard about it, but in case you haven’t, let me spell it out. I call it, ‘Seniors for Seniors.’ We’re adopting the Hudson Pines Senior Center for our project. A lot of senior citizens live at the facility, but a lot more go there for activities during the day and on weekends. I think they even have a convalescence wing, too, just like a hospital. I’ll get with some of you one-on-one, but I was hoping that maybe the chorus could drop by and spend an afternoon with them. Maybe the comedy club could come up with some kind of routine, and maybe some of us could go by and read to the ones that are bedridden.”
Meredith sensed the sudden unease of the students around her. Dani must have sensed it, too, because she said quietly, “Look, I understand this sort of thing might make you nervous, but think of these people like your grandparents. What if your grandmother lived at Hudson Pines and all she had to do all day was watch TV? If you think about it that way, then it’s not so scary. Besides, once you meet the seniors, I think you’ll be hooked.”
Meredith sat up a little taller in her seat. She covered a smile when she noticed that many of the other students had done the same thing. Maybe, Meredith thought, she might actually participate in one thing at the school. Maybe she would go to that senior center. She had no idea what she could do to help, but she had time to think about it because Dani told them the deadline for proposals would be in February, over a month away.
Meredith looked back up at Dani who said, “Okay, if that’s all, then—” The senior class booed their disapproval. Dani looked perplexed, but Meredith knew she was just teasing them. Dani scratched her head. “What? What is it? Did I forget something?” She read her mental list of agenda items out loud counting them on her fingers one by one. “Prom fundraiser, winter ball, community service project. Hmm, what else? I can’t think of a single thing I forgot.” The senior class booed louder. Even Meredith anticipated Dani’s announcement.
“Oh,” she said as if realizing something for the first time, “you want to know how many days until...” She smiled the broadest grin Meredith had ever seen. “Lacrosse practice.”
A collective groan of “Noooo...” came from the students in the auditorium.
Dani laughed heartily into the microphone. She put her hand up as if to ward off the attack. “Okay, okay. Well, just so you know, there are twenty-five school days until lacrosse.” More boos. “But there are less than one hundred days until graduation. We have—drum roll, please.”
The students stomped their feet and slapped their thighs. Even Meredith participated in the human drum roll.
“We have ninety eight school days of high school left.” Cheers exploded from the students.
Thank the Lord
, Meredith thought as Dani banged the gavel, dismissing the senior class to their seventh period classes.
Meredith didn’t smile often at school, but she smiled on her way to Mr. Dalton’s history class. Less than one hundred days of high school. What a concept. Less than one hundred days to freedom. She didn’t even mind when some kid brushed her shoulder in the hallway making her stumble. Well, she minded, but had long ago stopped trying to decide if it was done on purpose or not. It didn’t really matter. There were less than a hundred days of high school left.
She found her usual seat in the back of Mr. Dalton’s classroom. She put her book bag on the floor next to her desk and reached down for her sketchpad. She examined the half-finished sketch of Dani and was pleased with her start. She had to get a better look at Dani’s eyes, though. Many people had trouble drawing eyes. Meredith didn’t, but she did need a good look at them to get a better feel. She decided to watch as Dani entered the room. She didn’t have to wait long.
Dani must have walked from the auditorium with Mr. Dalton because they entered the room side-by-side. Dani’s regular entourage of Ben, Jeff, and Sarah filed in behind her. Sarah and Dani played on the girls’ lacrosse team together. They were the co-captains of the team and seemed to be best friends. Sarah was one of those pretty girls who knew she was pretty. Jeff was Sarah’s boyfriend and they were supposedly the top couple in the school. They had apparently been crowned the homecoming king and queen. Meredith didn’t really know because she didn’t go to the homecoming football game or the dance afterward when that sort of thing was decided. Meredith heard the big announcement the following Monday at school. She wasn’t sure, but she thought maybe Dani and Ben were going out. They were always together.
Meredith decided she didn’t care to speculate on her classmates’ relationships and sought out Dani instead. Dani’s eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. The blue was so brilliant that Meredith wished she had her paints with her. Cerulean, that was just the right color. She watched the smile in Dani's eyes linger as she talked to Mr. Dalton. Yes, that was the look she had to capture. That smile.
Meredith was about to look back down at her sketch when she realized that Dani was looking right at her. Mortified, Meredith’s eyes shot down to her sketch, but not before she saw a wide grin spread across Dani’s face. Meredith tilted her sketchbook to hide her face because she knew she must be turning a bright shade of red or purple.
“All right, people. Settle down.” Mr. Dalton leaned against the front of his desk. “This is our last day of review before your exam on Tuesday. The exam is during the morning session, in the gym. Is everybody clear on that?” Heads nodded around the room. “Okay, now before we get to the review I want to get you set up in groups for a project next semester.” The students groaned. Ben smacked Dani, Jeff, and Sarah on the arms as if to claim them as members of his group.
Mr. Dalton rapped his knuckles on his desk. “C’mon now, settle down. You haven’t even heard what you’re doing yet.” He paused for a moment and added, “Okay, fine. They tell you in teacher school that once you say ‘get into groups’ students lose their hearing. So...” He walked to the front white board and wrote in black marker, “Groups of two or three only. No groups of one. No groups of four or more.”
He faced the students. “Okay, you have two minutes to figure it out.” He turned his back to the class. Meredith dreaded moments like these. No one ever wanted to be partners with her. Occasionally, Meredith would get the sympathy vote and a group would ask her to join them. But not today. She groaned because Mr. Dalton would have to assign her to a group again. It was better that way, though, because her new group wouldn’t feel responsible for choosing the class loser. She glanced at Dani. She and Ben had paired up after Mr. Dalton announced that groups of four weren’t allowed. As expected, Jeff and Sarah were their own group.
Mr. Dalton held out his clipboard. He started in the front row and asked the students one by one who the group members were. When it became obvious that Meredith hadn’t been invited to join any group, a few students laughed in her direction. Meredith looked out the window at the dreary January day. Less than one hundred days to go. Could she make it?
Ben was one of those students who laughed at her. He coughed into his hand, and this time said, “Pathetic.”
Dani slapped Ben on the arm and hissed, “Dude, what’s wrong with you?”
“Ms. Lassiter?” Mr. Dalton addressed Dani. “Is there a problem?”
“Yes, there is actually.” Dani then did something that surprised everyone, including Meredith. “Ben’s on his own.” She glared at Ben. “I’m going to work with Meredith Bedford on this project.” Dani turned to face Meredith with storms flashing across her eyes. She asked, “That’s okay, right?”
Meredith didn’t dare say no, but she really didn’t know what to make of Dani Lassiter, president of the senior class, captain of the girls’ lacrosse team, asking her to partner up. She stammered, “Okay.”
“All right then,” Mr. Dalton said writing down their names. “Ben, I guess this means you’ll be joining Jeff and Sarah?”
Ben shot daggers at Meredith and said, “Yeah, sure, whatever.”
Meredith hung her head and wondered what in the world had just happened. Mr. Dalton finished recording the groups and then cleared his throat. “Okay,” he said with mock seriousness, “now that we have the groups settled, the teacher school says I can explain the project to you. I’ll give you a formal handout after exams, but I figured I’d plant the seed now to get you thinking. In this class we’re studying the History of New York State, but now it’s time to specialize. We’re going to study the history of the village of Whickett, that tiny little suburb of Albany that nobody ever heard of.”
Some of the students groaned at the idea of studying their hometown. Meredith groaned, too, but inwardly. She didn’t have enough nerve to be so outwardly rude to a teacher. Mr. Dalton seemed undaunted by their collective reaction. “Anyway,” he said raising his voice slightly to be heard over the groans. “Each group will present a little piece of Whickett history to the class. Find a popular Whickett landmark or a long-term citizen. Find an old building or a park. Do some digging. Find the history of these places. Interview some of the senior citizens at Hudson Pines. Find out their stories. You may be surprised by what you find. This would fit in perfectly with the senior class project ‘Seniors for Seniors.’”
Dani threw him a thumbs-up for plugging her community service project. Meredith smiled. It almost sounded like Dani and Mr. Dalton had contrived the history project together. Maybe having Dani as a partner would be okay because Dani probably had something already worked out, and they could get the whole thing over with quickly.
Mr. Dalton let the hum of anticipation die down. “Okay. Move your seats and get with your group mates to discuss the project. Just ten minutes, because, well, we do have that rather large quiz, er, semester exam to get you ready for.”
Meredith didn’t move. She looked out from behind her hair curtain to see Dani hop up from behind her desk and bound toward her. The boy who sat next to her had gotten up to join his group so Dani slid into his newly vacated seat.
“Hey, Meredith.” Dani faced her. “God. I hope that was okay, me telling Mr. Dalton we’d be partners. I mean, I didn’t even ask you.”
Since Dani had only volunteered to be her partner out of sympathy, what else could Meredith say besides, “That’s okay.”
“Cool. I just...well, like I said yesterday, Ben can be a jerk. I don’t know why I hang out with him sometimes.”
Meredith shrugged her shoulders as if to say, “Yeah, it’s a real mystery.” Of course, she said nothing of the sort to the senior class president.
Dani sighed.
Meredith noticed Dani’s eyes again. As clear and sparkling blue as they had been at the start of the class, they were cloudy and almost gray now. What colors would she use for those eyes now? Light gray? Payne’s gray? Something in between? Meredith hoped she could remember this troubled expression in Dani's eyes, because she knew she would totally be sketching that anger later. Meredith felt Dani’s real eyes burning through her.
“What?” Meredith swallowed hard. She hoped Dani didn’t notice.
“Where were you? You looked miles away.” Dani smiled.
Meredith knew her cheeks were flushing, but she couldn’t do anything to stop her obvious embarrassment. “Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about an art project I want to start later.”
“Right. You’re into art. Actually,” Dani straightened herself up in her chair noticeably, “I’m going to take that Senior Art Elective. Me. In art. Can you imagine?”
Meredith could imagine. Not everyone had talent, but she knew how art could occupy your whole mind and take you away from the world. “Yeah, I can imagine you taking art. You can’t?”
“Me? I’m a jock. I’m a student government geek. I haven’t done anything art-related since maybe seventh grade. You know that fine arts wheel they make you take in middle school? Oh, maybe you don’t since you’re new here.”