I saw the surprised look on my dad's face. As we let them out the front door, he looked at me. "So.. that Ryan. Great guy, huh?"
You have no idea, I thought.
With a Little Help From My Friends "I get by with a little help from my friends…"
USUALLY AFTER A BREAK, I dreaded going back to school But I couldn't watt to see Ryan, to see if things were really okay between us.
We fell quickly back in place, and I practically ran to my locker between classes. instead of dread, I started to look forward to my between-class teasing session. Usually I told him how many ways he wasn't perfect, and he commented on the unfortunate shape of my head from my bunk bed trauma.
"Come to think of it, I never see you wear hats — is that because of the, you know, accident" He tugged on my scarf as I was buttoning up my wool coat.
"Gee, let me think. I've never seen you play a musical instrument
— is that maybe because you're completely inept at anything related to music?"
I wrapped my scarf around my neck so it smacked him in the head every time it circled around.
"Oh, excuse me. ," "Penny!" I heard someone cry from across the hall. I saw Jen running toward me, with Tracy following quickly behind her.
This couldn't be good.
Tracy broke the news. "Principal Braddock told her that we can't have the karaoke night in the gymnasium anymore."
"What?" I screamed. "It's four days away!"
Jen took a deep breath, "He said that he feels it's turned into a Lonely Hearts Club event and that it can't be on school grounds!' "that doesn't make any sense!' I protested, "Were raising money for the basketball team. We're just helping because you're our friend. Everybody's invited."
Jen put her head in her hands. "I just don't know what we're going to do. We've all worked so hard."
Tracy sat down and put her hand around Jen's shaking body. "It's okay, we'll just have to postpone it until…"
"the hell we are!" I proclaimed. Both Tracy and Jen looked up at me in shock. "We're going to have this party and raise so much flippin' money that the basketball team is going to have the best uniforms in the school's history."
Tracy looked at me like I had gone insane. "But, Pen, we can't use the school."
"then we'll find somewhere else to have it. I am so sick of all the drama. Seriously, what's the point of having the Club if we can't find a way to overcome these little obstacles?"
"But all of the flyers have been put up… " Jen argued.
"So we'll make new ones. Screw Principal Braddock — let's show him how much power we really have," Now even I was a little surprised by myself. "Let's go to my house — we've got some phone calls to make."
In less than an hour, all thirty members of the Lonely Hearts Club were at my house, ready to step into action. My parents had ordered pizza for the group as we analyzed our options.
"I still say all the parents need to get together and talk to Braddock," Dadsaid, opening up a pizza box and helping himself to another slice.
I shook my head. "No, we need to do this on our own and show him that we can stand on our own two feet. We can handle whatever he's going to throw at us."
Dad nodded while he chewed, looking around the room, clearly happy to be in the middle of all the excitement, "All right, here's the deal," Eileen Vodak said as she came into the basement. "My uncle will let us use the event space at the Bowlarama for free, but since it's a Saturday night and he'll have to turn away paying customers, he asks that we don't bring in any food but have people buy sodas and snacks. Or, if we give him $5 a person, they will cater the event for us with soda and chips and stuff" "But that's going to cut into the profit," Jen replied as she sat nervously on the floor.
"Exactly how many people are you expecting?" Dad asked.
Jen picked at her uneaten slice of pepperoni, "I have no idea —
fifty?"
"But fifty hardly covers the Club and the basketball team," Diane reminded us.
"Wow, you're right. I guess a hundred or a hundred and fifty." Jen started writing figures down in her notepad.
Dad looked over Jen's shoulder at her writing. "Come to think of it, Jen, I don't think the Bloom Dental Office has made a donation to the team this year. How about this — you guys pull this off and I'll pay for the refreshments?"
Jen looked up at my dad with her big blue eyes, and for the first time all night she smiled. "Dr. Bloom, thank you so much." She got up and threw her arms around him. "I promise to start flossing every day!"
Dad laughed. "Well, that's just great."
I think that might have made his day more than saving the basketball team.
"Okay." Jen nervously bit her lip. "I guess all we need to do now is to let everybody know about the location change. We've got flyers… I guess that will be enough." She didn't seem convinced.
"We should make an announcement over the PA system," Tracy said, drawing a microphone on poster board. "Like Braddock would ever let that happen. I just wish I could find a way to get in there and do it."
"You can't," Diane told her, "Well, I know that. I was just joking," Tracy responded.
Diane stood up. "No, I'm just saying that you can't, but I can."
I stared nervously at the clock before homeroom and took a deep breath to calm down. I hoped Diane could pull this off and that she wouldn't be suspended for it.
Since Diane was the president of the student council, she was responsible for the Friday morning announcements.
Usually, she just edited the announcements that all the clubs had submitted for the week and let other members read them over the PA.
Not this time.
Hilary Jacobs and I exchanged glances as the bell rang and everybody started to take their seats.
We had been distributing the new flyers all week in the school parking lot. We had to take different shifts to make sure we didn't get caught. One girl hung outside the school office with cell phone in hand, while two others monitored the exit closest to the parking lot. the rest of us were each assigned a row in the parking lot to hand out flyers. Another group came in later to make sure that nobody had littered so there wasn't any evidence.
To my knowledge, Principal Braddock had no idea that we were even still having the karaoke fund-raiser. I couldn't watt to see the look on his face when Jen presented him with the money on Monday. the buzz of the intercom sounded. "Good morning, everybody, and happy Friday," Diane announced. "the following are your announcements for the week. the Key Club's annual flower drive begins next week. Carnations are a dollar, and you can get. "
I could hardly concentrate on the announcements as I was too nervous for Diane, I prayed that Principal Braddock wasn't too close by and that she would have enough time to do it.
"And, finally, please note that the girls' basketball karaoke fund-raiser on Saturday night at seven p.m. has been switched from the gymnasium to the Bowlarama on Cook Street." there was a noise in the background, but Diane sounded as calm as ever. "the entrance fee is five dollars, which includes food and drinks. We look forward to seeing you all Saturday night at the Bowl — " The intercom went dead.
"You're my hero, Diane," Jen said as we headed into the Bowlarama. She was beaming as we bought tickets. "There are so many people here already! I've got to go check on the sign-in sheet for the songs. Remember, you guys aren't off the hook yet."
I didn't want to be reminded.