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it’s really cool.
    â€œWhy don’t you come to my place for supper instead?” I offered. “Mom made a big boiled dinner, so there’ll be lots.” Mom never minded me bringing someone home for a meal.
    â€œI think I’ll just stick with fries,” Betts answered. “Anyway, I think that Graham is going to be at The Scream Machine, and I want to remind him about a couple of things for the dance.”
    Graham was Betts’ new boyfriend. He’s a nice enough guy I guess, but not the hunk Betts made him sound like when she told me she was going out with him. He’d been hanging around her for a while, though she hadn’t been interested in him at first. I guess he sort of grew on her.
    I realized then that Betts didn’t know I was going to the dance with Greg. I took a deep breath and told her.
    â€œNo way!” she squealed, getting all excited. I gave her a minute to calm down and stop waving her armsand doing this funny kind of spastic bounce she does when she gets animated.
    â€œOh, I knew it! I just knew it!” She hugged me then, a big squeeze that almost made me lose my balance when she let go. “I knew he liked you. Oh, this is perfect.”
    I laughed in spite of myself. It’s nice to have a friend who’s really happy when she thinks something good is happening to you, even though in this case she was wrong. Betts is loyal to the end, not like some girls who say stuff about their friends behind their backs.
    â€œI’m just going to the dance with him, Betts,” I tried to calm her. “It’s not like some big romance or anything.”
    â€œWe’ll see.” She smiled and giggled as if she knew a secret.
    I didn’t have the heart to burst her bubble, so I just let her think what she wanted to.
    At least one of us was happy about my date with Greg.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    â€œWow! You look beautiful!”
    Greg was standing in the living room, holding a pale blue wrist corsage in his hand. I’d just come in through the hall doorway, regretting that we didn’t have a big circular staircase like you see in the movies. You know the scene, when the heroine comes floating down, pausing a couple of times while everyone watches her, awestruck.
    Not that I think I’m glamorous or anything, but in a long dress, with my hair done up in a French braid, I felt like someone else altogether.
    â€œThanks.” Greg looked nice too, in a black suit with a white shirt and burgundy tie. I was just about to say something about it when Mom spoke up.
    â€œDoesn’t your date look handsome in his suit, dear?”
    It made me mad that she’d butted in.
    â€œYou look great,” I told him, but it must have seemed as if I was just agreeing with Mom. Maybe he thought I was just saying it because I had to, because she’d trapped me into it with her question.
    He seemed happy anyway, although a bit embarrassed by the compliment.
    â€œWhat a lovely corsage,” Mom broke in again.
    â€œOh, yeah,” Greg looked startled, and I figured he’d forgotten about the flower in his hand. “This is for you.” He slid it onto my wrist. It really was pretty, a cluster of tiny pale blue flowers among sprigs of white baby’s breath.
    â€œSorry, they had no orchids left.”
    I assured him it was beautiful and thanked him while Mom hovered around us making comments. I tried to give her a hint that her interference wasn’t wanted, but if she noticed the covert frowns and glares she managed to ignore them completely.
    â€œWell, I guess we’d better be going,” I said in desperation. Where was Dad anyway? He was supposed to drive us to the school, but he was nowhere to be seen.
    â€œGo?” Mom cried, as though I’d just proposed killing someone. “Not before I get some pictures you won’t!” She ran off to get her camera.
    I felt as though I was trapped in some sort of pre-dance