Anything but Normal - Melody Carlson [26]
“I forgot.”
“Are you okay, Sophie?”
She looked blankly at him. What was he insinuating here? Did he suspect something? Was he able to see right past her cloak of deception? Just the same, she would not give him an inch. She scowled. “Do I not look okay?”
He made a crooked smile. “You look great. But that headline is a little strange.” He pointed to the screen and chuckled.
She stared at the headline that she’d just pasted and read it aloud. “‘Who Will Wear the Crow?’” She frowned. “Huh?”
“I think you dropped an n.”
“Oh yeah. ‘Who Will Wear the Crown?’” She shook her head. “Duh.”
“But I do think it’d be amusing to see Katie Dannon wearing a crow on her head.”
“What makes you think Katie Dannon is going to win?”
“Just a hunch.”
Sophie inserted the n and hit save.
“Uh, speaking of homecoming . . .” Wes cleared his throat. “And crows.”
“Yeah . . . homecoming and crows.”
Sophie knew where he was going with this. She had to come up with a nice way to turn him down. Carrie Anne or not, Sophie did not want to go to that dance.
“I know you’re probably going to say forget it,” he began. “And I wouldn’t really blame you. I just hope you won’t hold it against me for asking. I mean, you’re the coolest girl I know, and . . .” His voice trailed off.
Now she felt guilty. “I’m the coolest girl you know?” she said.
He nodded. “Yeah. And I was just hoping that maybe you’d want to go to the dance with me. I mean, just as friends.”
“Just as friends?” She looked curiously at him.
“Not that I don’t want to be more than friends. I mean . . . well, I like you, Sophie. You’re fun and you’re funny and you’re real, you know?”
She didn’t know what to say. Why did he have to be so sweet about it? He was making this difficult.
“So, if you’re going to turn me down, could you, like, just get it over with?” He smiled nervously.
“Okay, fine,” she said. “I’ll go with you.”
“Really?”
Had she just agreed to go with him? She’d heard the words come out of her mouth, but it wasn’t what she’d meant to say. What was wrong with her anyway? Did being pregnant mess with your head as much as it messed with your body?
“You’re not just jerking me around?” His eyes looked larger than usual behind his dark-rimmed glasses. Sophie studied the color—kind of a blue-green-gray. “You’ll really go to the dance with me?”
“I guess.” She sighed. “But on one condition.”
He frowned. “One condition?”
“Carrie Anne wants to go to the dance with Drew, and unless that happens I won’t—”
“Not a problem.” He grinned.
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. Drew thinks Carrie Anne is hot.”
“He does?”
Wes nodded. “Looks like it’s kind of a slam dunk then?”
“Maybe so.” She forced a smile. “Want me to wear a crow on my head?”
He laughed. “No, you should leave that to Katie Dannon.” “Sophie?”
She looked over to see Mr. Young motioning to her. “Yeah?”
He nodded toward his office. “I need to speak to you.”
“You’re in trouble now.” Wes winked at her.
She slowly stood and walked toward the office. She knew it was unlikely that she was really in trouble, not seriously. But for some reason her heart was pounding like she was. She knew it was impossible that Mr. Young had any idea about what was going on with her, yet she felt like he did. Each step felt heavy with guilt, like her feet were thudding so loudly on the floor that everyone in the classroom was listening, watching, like they knew.
What if the family planning clinic had called the school to reach her? It was unreasonable and unlikely, but what if? What if Mary had blabbed to someone in the counseling center, saying that Sophie Ramsay was about six weeks pregnant and that she needed to schedule an appointment for an abortion ASAP? What if the whole world knew it by now?
“Come on in,” Mr. Young said.
Sophie went into the office. Her knees felt shaky, and her stomach seemed to be following suit. Hopefully she wasn’t about to hurl. She glanced at the wastebasket by his desk.
He closed the door. “I want to keep this private.”
She felt her throat constricting.
“As you know, I haven’t selected the chief editor for the paper