CHAPTER 19 – Mismatch!
"Wow! Everything looks amazing!" Julie exclaimed as soon as she and Portman arrived at the Eden Hall gym. They were among the first people to arrive at the Dance.
Portman had to agree with her. A local band that was hired was up on the stage. The decorations committee had gone all out, and everywhere were balloons, streamers, and confetties, all in red, pink and white. Even the refreshment tables had tablecloths that were covered with hearts, and large cardboard cutouts of kissy-lips, cupids and hearts were taped all over the walls.
"Hey Portman!" Jesse called. He, Averman, Goldberg and Dwayne were standing by the refreshment table when he saw Portman and were now approaching the latter.
"Where's your date?" Dwayne asked.
At the same time, Goldberg saw Julie hovering right behind Portman. "Catlady! What are you doing here so early? And where is YOUR date!" Goldberg exclaimed.
Julie's eyes darted around the place. "I… uhm… uh… well," she stammered.
The four guys looked from Julie to Portman and back again. Suddenly, Averman burst out laughing. "Wait, you mean to say…" Julie glared at him.
Jesse and Goldberg started laughing too. "Do you want me to rearrange your faces!" Portman growled, while Julie's face turned beet red.
"What's so funny, guys?" Dwayne asked, confusion etched on his face.
Averman sifted his laughter and whispered in Dwayne's ears. "Oh!" Dwayne said and started laughing with the others.
"Argh! C'mon Portman, let's leave these pests here!" Julie then dragged Portman before he could open his mouth. The four just laughed even harder.
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"You would never guess who Rick Riley's with!" Adam announced. Jesse looked at him with great interest. "Ellen McAllister!" he said.
"Violet Fleming's best bud? The equally queen of the freaks!" Jesse inquired.
"The very one!" Adam said, popping a chocolate heart into his mouth. "Talk about an odd couple!" he chuckled.
"Speak of an odd couple, here comes Kenny… with…"
"Angela Wood!" they said in unison.
"Uh-oh! I don't like the way Riley looks at them." Jesse said. Everyone knows that Rick Riley has the hots for Angela. "I think he's ready for the kill."
Ken must have felt Riley's eyes that he excused himself from Angela, who just shrugged her shoulders and went directly to where her boyfriend is standing with his date.
"Hey Kenny man!" Adam greeted, slapping Ken a high-five. "Have a seat."
"Thanks, where're the others?" Ken asked, helping himself to a cookie from the table.
"Ah, just around somewhere… so, you got lucky, huh?" Jesse teased.
Ken almost choked. "Are you kidding? It's like having a death wish! Don't get me wrong, I like Angela… she's a real nice girl. But I'm not really keen with the idea of being bullied once again by Riley and his gang. I'm better off without her."
"Forget about Rick or Angela. You'll have more fun with us." Adam said.
Just then, a girl with red hair stopped in front of Adam. "Um, Adam, would you like to dance?" she asked shyly.
Ken and Jesse looked at each other. Adam turned red. "Uh, sure. Excuse me, guys."
"Who's that chick?" Ken asked as soon as Adam and the girl took off.
"I don't know. Cake Eater's been asked by random girls all night." Jesse replied, shaking his head. "That's his fourth dance in the past half an hour!"
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A short time later, Averman, Jesse, Goldberg, Dwayne, Ken, and Adam were gathered at their table having lots of fun watching in amazement as one odd couple after another showed up. Sarah Owen, the girl Guy had tutored, stalked in, followed by Cole. He kept trying to put his arm around Sarah, and she kept shrugging him off, an annoyed and disgusted look on her face.
"Look, Catlady. You could have done worse!" Goldberg commented.
Julie and Portman just joined their table. Julie, whose face is still flushed from dancing, smiled. Portman glared at Goldberg.
"Yo guys, check it out!"
The boys tried hard not to laugh as they saw a disgruntled Russ entering with Katrina Jones at his side.
"You look really nice, Katrina." Julie said politely, suppressing a giggle.
"Thanks, so do you. Don't we look good together?" she asked, linking arms with Russ.
"Oh, just stop it!" sputtered Russ.
All, except Katrina, gave him an I-told-you-so look. "Don't even think about it!" Russ muttered.
"We weren't about to say anything!" Averman retorted.
"Come on, Russ" she stalked off toward the dancefloor dragging Russ with her.
Things couldn't get any stranger – that is, until Charlie and Dylan Keller came together. Not one of them was smiling. Dylan Keller is a punk, the total opposite of the hockey-loving Charlie. They made their way to the refreshment table not long after Charlie nod his head at the Ducks' direction. They waved back at him.
"Whoa, talk about weird combination." Adam said.
At that moment, Fulton walked in with Linda. Immediately, her eyes fastened on Charlie and Dylan, and she scowled.
"Yikes! She doesn't seem too happy!" Jesse noticed.
"Neither does he." Ken said.
With Fulton trailing behind her, rolling his eyes, Linda marched over to the refreshment table. "What do you think you're doing?" she asked Charlie and Dylan.
Dylan looked at her as if she's from outer space. "Talking," she said, raising an eyebrow.
"Good!" Linda said, squeezing herself between Charlie and his date. "I'll join you."
Fulton stood there dumbfounded for a moment. Then he noticed the rest of the team motioning him to join them. "I'm going to the table," he told Charlie. Charlie looked at him helplessly. Fulton patted his shoulder sympathetically and hurried off.
"Tough Luck!" Dwayne commented as Fulton sat beside him.
"Tell me about it!" Fulton answered. "Some dance we're having, huh?"
Moments later, Luis arrived alone, clutching a bouquet of wildflowers.
"Hey Speedy! Got dissed?" Portman teased.
"No, as a matter of fact, I'm meeting her right off this moment. The prettiest girl in pink and a white ribbon in her hair." Luis said smugly, fixing his tie.
"I wonder who he's waiting for." Jesse commented in a low voice.
A second later, Violet Fleming burst into the room, wearing pink, and surprisingly, a white ribbon in her hair.
"I see a girl in pink and white ribbon but she certainly isn't the prettiest girl!" Ken said. The rest craned their necks to see whom he was referring to.
"QUE HORROR!" Goldberg gasped, horrified.
Luis looked as though he were about to faint. "Hide me! Please get me outta here!"
Too late, Violet had already spotted the bouquet of wildflowers and started to squeal. "Yoo-hoo! Latin Lover! Let's boogie!" she immediately reached to him and pulled him into the dancefloor.
"Help me," Luis croaked as Violet kept tugging him until they disappeared into the crowd.
"Wow," Julie said, wide-eyed. "I think you were right, Goldberg. I did get off easy with Portman."
"Hey!" Portman exclaimed, pretending to be mad.
"Holy Smokes!" said Averman. "Look who're finally here!"
The whole Ducks table suddenly stopped talking as Guy and Connie made their entrance, hand in hand. Even Charlie, having caught up between Linda and his date, suddenly looked shocked at the their appearance together, much to the increasing irritation of Linda for being completely ignored.
"I don't believe it!" Adam said under his breath.
"Guy was Rugged Jock!" said Julie, a smile forming in her lips.
Guy and Connie didn't seem to notice them. They drifted to one side of the room, eyes still locked together and flowers still clutched in Connie's hand.
"Well! At least some people here are happy!" huffed Russ as he came up to their table.
"Where's Katrina?" Fulton asked.
"Who knows? And who cares?" replied Russ. "What about you? Who was your 'perfect match'?"
"Linda," said a disgusted Fulton.
"Oh," was all Russ had said.
"I know."
"I guess your perfect match didn't turn out to be perfect, huh?" Jesse said sympathetically.
"You can say that again!" Russ said.
"I guess your perfect match didn't ---" Dwayne started.
"Shut it!" snapped Russ.
"It's pretty funny, actually. The guy who believed he got the best girl ended up getting the worse!" Averman said, pointing to Luis.
Luis and Violet are still on the dancefloor. Violet, who shows no sign of letting up, kept giggling and twirling herself around. Luis on the other hand, looked as if he was already crying and pleaded every guy to take over.
"Poor Luis," said Ken.
"Yeah…" agreed Portman.
"Shall we go help him?" Goldberg asked. All, except Julie, looked at one another.
"Nah!"
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After hitting the dancefloor, Guy and Connie were sitting side by side at a corner table, gazing deeply into each other's eyes. They stayed that way for a few minutes until Connie spoke up, "I never knew you liked anchovies on your pizza."
Guy smiled. "Yeah, not too many people like them, though."
Connie smiled back. "Well, you are pretty unusual. I mean, it's not everyday I meet a guy who's not into pom-pom girls!" she teased.
"What can I say? I prefer a kick-ass hockey playing babe!"
"Yeah, right!" laughed Connie.
"May I have this dance?" Guy asked, holding out his hand, as the local band started playing another slow song.
"Absolutely!" Connie replied, taking his hand.
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A/N: I'm back! Sorry for the very long delay! I think it's been a year since my last update. It's because of writer's block and lack of interest, I guess, but I'm definitely back! I'm down to my last chapter. Hopefully I'd be able to update before the month ends or the end of the year. LOL! Thanks to my readers for supporting this fic! Please R&R! I'd greatly appreciate them!
