As Told by Ginger copyright Viacom

Chapter 7: Chet's Surprise

Posted: 31 Dec 2008

"Dodie! Wait!"

Dodie ignored his pleas. He had had his chance. And he had blown it.

Big time.

She was so upset that she didn't talk to anyone for the rest of the night. Everybody seemed to show her concern, but she didn't care. None of what they said actually made her feel any better. So when Macie and Courtney began discuss her immediate future, she had nothing to add. She was just too depressed to think of anything.

Dodie basically kept to herself until the Dance started to wind down. There's nothing that she wanted to say to anyone at the dance, not even Macie or Courtney? But where was Ginger? There was something on Dodie's mind that she was sure that only Ginger could help her with. What exactly was she helping her mother with? They were supposed to be best friends. What's this about keeping secrets from each other? Ginger was probably off somewhere having the time of her life with Darren!

"It isn't Ginger's fault that Chet turned out to be a complete jerk."

Dodie looked up. Was she saying that stuff? "I know that."

"Then why are you blaming her?"

"I'm not, Macie."

"Well it sure seems like it."

Dodie snapped. "How did this turn into be about Ginger?"

"I don't know, Dodie. You tell me."

Dodie sighed. "This isn't getting us anywhere. I want to go home."

"Are you sure, Dodie? The party is-"

"Yes, I'm sure, Macie. I want to go home."

The trip home with Macie and Andrew didn't improve Dodie's mood any, despite their well-meaning attempts to raise her spirits. She asked them to leave her be, so they spent the rest of the trip to the Dodie's in silence. And her only company was her thoughts. Which, despite her not wanting them to, seemed to dwell on Chet's betrayal. He probably only pulled the fire alarm to ditch her. "If he didn't want to go to the dance with me," she said suddenly, "he should have said no."

"You did hold his books hostage, Dodie," Macie said from the front passenger side.

"That's different."

Macie shrugged. "If you say so, Dodie."

Soon after they arrived at Dodie's house. Her family met her at the door, but she paid them no mind as she went straight up to bed. She didn't bother to put on her pajamas. She just stripped off her gown and fell onto the bed. She was asleep in no time at all.

She was awakened a short time later by a knock on her door. "Yes?" she answered without raising her head. She was hardly in the mood for distractions.

"It's Chet." Her mother sounded something. "He wants to talk to you."

"I don't want to talk to him. Tell him to come back. In the morning."

"He's got a surprise."

"He can leave it on the porch for I all care."

"But he had came all this way to see you."

"He doesn't live that far away."

"Deidre Hortense," Mrs. Bishop said sharply.

"All right, mother. I'm coming." She got up, put on a pair of jeans and the T-shirt she had gotten at last year's fair, and went downstairs. Where she found Chet waiting for her. "Hello, Chet," she said icily. "What brings you by?"

"I, uh, wanted to make up with you."

"A likely story," Dodie huffed.

"But it's true."

Dodie grabbed his arm and dragged him into the closet and shut the door behind them. "Okay, what's the real reason that you're here?"

"Like I told you already. I wanted to make up with you. I know I was a complete donkey tonight and I wanted to show how sorry I was."

"You mean a complete a-"

"Yeah, something like that. So you will take me back then?"

"What about the fire alarm."

"Oh that. Mitchell lit up a cigarette at the dance tonight. Who knew that the sprinkler system could be so sensitive?"

"Yeah." She reached for the knob. "I'll think about it." What that 'it' was she wasn't sure, but she will definitively think about it.

She tried to turn to the knob, but the door stubbornly refused to open for her.

"Oh, my gosh!" Dodie said. "We're trapped!"

Chet smiled. "Hey. It could be worse."

"Could be worse? How can it get any worse?" Dodie started to pace as much as she could in such a confined space. "This is all your fault I'll have you know!"

Chet lowered his head. "You're right, Dodie. It is."

Dodie froze in mid-step. She had been wanting to get an admission of guilt for him. But this had been far too easy. She immediately suspected a trick from him. "You really think so?"

Chet nodded. "Yes, Dodie. This whole evening has been my fault."

"But I'm the one who held your-"

"That's all right. You were probably just eager to take me to the dance."

"Yeah." Dodie kicked her foot bashfully. "Now what do we do? We're still stuck in here you know."

"Not anymore."

"What do you mean? We…." Dodie trailed off there when she saw Chet turn the knob and the door open. "How did you do that?"

"Someone on the outside must have unblocked it," he explained cryptically.

"'Unblocked it'? Who would have blocked it in the first place?" She made a funny face. "And why?"

"So that you two can finally get together."

Dodie gaped. "Mom! You did this?"

"Of course, Deidre Hortense. Who else around this house would have done this?"

"Uhmm…" Upon reflection, though, her mother did have a good point. Nobody else would have done something this. It wasn't like her father. And Hoodsey wouldn't dare. "But why?"

Mrs. Bishop shrugged. "He seems a nice enough boy." She nodded toward the kitchen. "Come. There's something that I have to show you."

"What is it?"

Mrs. Bishop smiled. "It's a surprise."

Dodie frowned, but followed her mother anyway. There was something that she wanted to show her. And Dodie was a little curious as to what it was herself.

She gasped when she saw what was waiting for her in the kitchen. "Oh my gosh! You really shouldn't have," she said. She even sort of meant it. But most of her screamed to herself that she really did deserve this. She had been through a lot tonight after all.

Standing around the table were her family, Ginger and her family, and Macie and Andrew. And on the table was apparently a full-course meal covered by a green tablecloth that Dodie had never seen before. "Go ahead, Dodie," Mrs. Foutley said. "Take the cloth off. It's your party after all." She smiled. "But be careful. This cloth doesn't belong to me. It's the Griplings'."

Oh my! Even Courtney was involved in this. "What did I ever to do to deserve all this?"

"It was your turn," Ginger said shrugging.

"Okay." Dodie didn't know what she was talking about, but that was all right. Her friends and family wer all together for this Christmas, and that was what counted.

She, with some help from Ginger and Macie, took the tablecloth from the table.

She began to weep from joy. All of Dodie's favorite Christmas fixings right there all laid out on the table. Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing and cranberry sauce. "Thank you all. But couldn't this wait until my birthday."

"Why wait?" Chet said, with his hands in his pockets and half-looking in Dodie's direction. "Christmas is so much closer than your birthday, Dodie."

"And the whole thing was Chet's idea too," Ginger added.

Dodie smiled bashfully. "Ah I see." She kissed Chet on his cheek. "Thank you, Chet."

Chet began to blush all the more. "You're welcome."

Hoodsey pulled out a chair and sat down. "Now that's settled, let's eat. I'm starved."

Dodie laughed. This was turning out to be the best Christmas ever.