Prom Date (9 page)

Y
ou were a really good sport tonight,” Cassidy told Devon as she drove them home from youth group. “I thought you were about to throw a hissy fit when Jarrod put that goofy birthday crown on your head.”

“Me too,” Emma confessed. “And I figured you'd probably tear into me since I was the one who told him about your birthday.”

“Yeah, I was getting ready to kill someone . . . at first anyway.” Devon chuckled in the backseat. “But once everyone started singing that crazy birthday song, well, it wasn't too bad.”

“And you looked very cute up there,” Emma assured her.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I got a couple of photos to prove it.”

“Cool. Send them.”

“What did you guys think of Jarrod's talk tonight?” Cassidy asked the question with caution. “I mean, it gave me
something to think about, you know?” It wasn't that she wanted to put them on the spot, but she was curious to hear Devon's response—especially since it was her second time in a row to come to youth group. Was it possible that Devon was giving these messages some serious consideration? But as the car got quiet Cassidy felt uneasy. Maybe she shouldn't have asked. Was she being intrusive, too pushy?

“I thought it was a good challenge for everyone,” Emma eventually said. “It's sort of easy to misjudge people. I know I should probably work on that.”

“Yeah,” Cassidy agreed. “Me too. You guys know how judgmental I can be sometimes. It's so easy to assume the worst about someone—especially when you don't really know them.”

“Or if you find them particularly irritating,” Emma added.

“Or just plain don't like them.” Cassidy stopped at the light.

“I really liked what Jarrod said about how the people who are hurting the worst are usually the ones to do the worst hurting,” Emma continued. “To be honest, that's not something I normally think about when someone hurts my feelings.”

“Yeah,” Cassidy agreed. “And I don't usually think about what it feels like to be in someone else's shoes—especially if I don't like how they're treating me.”

The car got quiet and Cassidy considered pressing Devon for her opinion, but then decided not to. Better to just pray for her. Patience wasn't Cassidy's strong suit, but she was learning.

“Well, Jarrod's talk did give me some things to think about too,” Devon quietly told them. “I guess that's a good thing.”

“Yeah.” Cassidy nodded eagerly. “That is good.”

“Now, not to change the subject,” Devon said suddenly, “but I have to tell you guys about what Bryn and I did today.” Without missing a beat, she launched into the story of how she and Bryn went around soliciting donations from businesses. “At first I was like, no way am I going to do this—I mean, just walk into a store and ask the manager to hand over some merchandise—
for free
? But I watched how Bryn handled it, and finally when she said it was my turn, I just imitated her—kinda like I was playing a dramatic role. And it was actually pretty fun.”

“Interesting,” Emma said. “I wish I could've seen that.”

Devon told them about how they might get an expensive bike donated for the promposal prize. “The manager dude promised to let us know soon.”

“Awesome,” Cassidy said.

“Too bad girls can't do promposals,” Emma said with a longing tone. “I'd love to win a new bike.”

“Who said girls can't?” Cassidy asked.

“Really?” Emma sounded doubtful.

“Why not?”

“But the promposal contest is supposed to get
guys
interested,” Devon protested. “You know, to get prom attendance up.”

“So . . . ?” Cassidy turned onto Devon's street.

“So . . . what if girls enter the contest and come up with great promposals, but the guys refuse to go?” Devon challenged.

“Good point,” Emma conceded. “I guess the contest should be only for guys.”

“That seems sexist to me,” Cassidy told them. “Discriminatory.”

“I gotta agree,” Emma said. “And not just because I'd love to win a bike.”

“But it could ruin everything,” Devon argued. “I mean, think about it. What if Emma did this fabulous promposal, but then Isaac said no thanks? Where would we be?”

“Why would Isaac say no?” Emma asked.

“Because you hurt his male pride?” Devon offered.

“Hmm.” Emma sounded stumped.

“I know what we do,” Cassidy declared. “One of the conditions to enter the promposal contest will be that the promposal must result in a couple attending prom. Otherwise, the promposal is ineligible.”

“Yes,” Emma agreed. “That makes sense.”

“I don't know . . . but I guess it could work.” Devon sounded a bit reluctant.

“It seems more fair.” Cassidy stopped to let Devon out. “I mean, think about it, a bunch of girls went to prom last year—
without
guys. The contest shouldn't exclude them just because they're girls. Whoever wants to support prom should be able to enter the promposal contest.”

“I agree,” Emma declared.

“Well, it's a good thing you guys are both on prom committee.” Devon got out of the car. “Good luck working out all these details with Bryn and the others.” She laughed, then politely thanked Cassidy for the ride and ran up to the house.

“I think something's going on with Devon,” Emma said quietly as Cassidy backed out of the driveway.

“Something good?”

“I hope so.” Emma sighed. “I mean, she seems different. In a positive way.”

“You said her birthday's on Wednesday?” Cassidy drove toward Emma's house.

“Yeah. That reminds me, I better send her the photos I took tonight. She really was a good sport, wasn't she?”

“I think she likes the attention.”

“Yeah, well, that's nothing new.” Emma finished sending the pics, then put her phone away. “And if you think about her family and stuff—and combine that with what Jarrod said tonight—it all sort of makes sense.”

“I know what you mean.” Cassidy nodded. “Hey, what if we did something special for her birthday? She's had a pretty rough year. All that stuff with her mom . . . then moving in with your grandma. Do you think Devon would like a little surprise party? Maybe just invite the DG?”

“That's a great idea. Devon loves attention. And I doubt her mom will do anything for her. But I'm sure I could get my grandma to throw a cake together. She loves to bake.”

By the time Cassidy dropped Emma off, they'd managed to put together a surprise party plan. If anyone had told Cassidy last fall that she'd be into something like this now, she would've thought they were crazy. Especially considering how she used to really dislike Devon. Funny how people could change . . . if you gave them time.

Cassidy and Emma had already heard the good news, but everyone else on the prom committee got to hear it on Tuesday after school. Bryn called the meeting to order and immediately made the announcement.

“Not only has Richardson's Sporting Goods donated a very cool mountain bike, they've thrown in some other items
too.” Bryn held up the letter the store had faxed to the school this morning. “Including a backpack, sleeping bag, and some other cool-looking camp stuff.”

“It will make a really enticing prize,” Cassidy told them. “If we got some photos of the bike and these items, we could probably put together a fairly cool poster.” She pointed at Emma. “You're a good photographer. Maybe you should make a stab at it.”

“I could probably do it for my graphic design project,” Emma said.

“Great idea,” Bryn told her. “I appoint Emma to handle that.” She went over the other prom donations that they'd managed to solicit from other businesses—all sorts of things, from ten pounds of mixed nuts to a fake tree. “But we still need more.” Bryn handed a printout to the committee members. “I've made a list of stuff we can still use. We'll break down this list between us. And then I want everyone to start scouting more donations.”

“Why does everything have to be donated?” Amanda Norton asked with what sounded like irritation. Amanda had just joined prom committee and Cassidy wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Sometimes Amanda seemed genuinely helpful. But sometimes she just made things more difficult. And Abby felt certain that Amanda's motives had more to do with being crowned prom queen than wanting to help. However, Cassidy was trying to keep Jarrod's recent sermon in mind. Don't judge . . . walk in their shoes . . . be ruled by love.

“Because every dollar we save goes directly to Sofia Ruez,” Bryn explained to Amanda. “Every item that's donated—not purchased—means more profits, and whatever we end up
with gets doubled when the Hartford Foundation gifts their matching funds.”

“Oh . . .” Amanda just nodded. “Okay, I get that.”

“What about the prom location?” Mazie Tucker asked. “Have you gotten anyone to donate that yet?”

“I'm working on it. But I must admit that it's been tricky.” Bryn sighed. “The venue that the school already reserved, the Renaldo, refuses to donate their ballroom. The best they can do is a small discount.”

“Stingy Renaldo,” Cassidy said. “I'll remind my parents to stop eating at their restaurant.”

Some of the others laughed, agreeing to boycott the hotel too.

“And the other hotels are already booked for our prom night,” Bryn explained.

“Everything is booked?” Amanda asked.

“So far it is. From mid-April on out I haven't found a thing.” Bryn sighed.

“Why can't we have prom right here in our school?” Cassidy asked. “In the gym.”

Naturally, this resulted in a lot of protests and complaints, not to mention just plain whining. Cassidy was about to tell them that they were a bunch of babies, but decided that wouldn't help matters. “But what if we really decorated the gym up big time?” she suggested. “If we made it look like something completely different than a gym. Maybe go with a theme.”

This was followed by more groaning, along with some snide comments.

“But just think of the money we'd save,” she pressed. “Money that could go to Sofia.” She picked up one of the
Sofia posters now, holding it up so that they could all look into the little girl's big brown eyes.

“We could probably make the gym work,” Emma said cautiously. “It would take a lot of work to make it look, uh, different. But it could probably be done.”

“Prom in the gym?” Amanda sounded scandalized. “You gotta be kidding!” She pointed at Bryn. “Seriously, you're saying out of all the hotels in town, there's not one ballroom available for us?”

“Not for free.” Bryn folded her arms in front of her. “Not on our date anyway.”

“Well, how about a different date?” Amanda said. “A later date perhaps?”

Bryn picked up her notes. “The next date that we can get—I mean, one that's donated for free—isn't until late May. And it's not a very nice venue either.” She pointed to her paper. “Or else there's this night at Le Chateau, but it's—”

“
Le
Chateau?
” Amanda exclaimed. “They've offered us their ballroom for free?”

“Le Chateau is gorgeous,” Mazie said.

“Yeah,” Cassidy agreed. “I went to a wedding there. It's really beautiful.”

“Yes, I know,” Bryn said crisply. “The problem with Le Chateau is the date they've offered.”

“When is it?” Emma asked.

“The Saturday right after spring break,” Bryn told them. “And like I told the manager at Le Chateau, that's just too soon.”

“Who says it's too soon?” Cassidy demanded.

“I say it's too soon,” Bryn replied.

“Why?” Emma asked. “That's, like, three weeks off, isn't it?”

“But we're barely off the ground,” Bryn told her. “So far
we haven't sold a single ticket. I told you guys already that planning prom is a lot like planning a wedding. You do not rush it.”

“But if Le Chateau gives us their ballroom for free,” Cassidy argued, “wouldn't that be worth rushing for?”

“But there's so much to do. Not just for prom, but we all have to get our dresses and everything,” Bryn said. “It takes time.”

Cassidy held up her iPad to where she'd pulled up a calendar. “But we actually have three and a half weeks. See. That's plenty of time to find a dress and shoes.”

“And we already got the promposal prize,” Emma reminded them. “I'll get those posters designed and up in just a couple of days. I might even work on it at home tonight. We can do this, Bryn. I know we can.”

Amanda looked doubtful. “I'm inclined to agree with Bryn on this. Seriously, three and a half weeks? And one of them is spring break? It feels too rushed to me.”