The v Club Page 6

  Mandy suddenly felt sick to her stomach.

  "Um. Wow. Okay, that was romantic," she said, standing up and taking a few steps away. She felt momentarily dizzy and had to shut her eyes to steady herself.

  "I'm sorry, sweetness," Eric said, getting up and walking

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  over to her. He slipped his strong arms around her from behind and kissed her cheek. "You know I only want us to be together when you're ready. It's just. . . if you are ready, we shouldn't let this scholarship get in the way. Especially since you don't really need it. ..."

  Mandy opened her eyes and took a deep breath. "I know," she made herself say. "And you know I want to. Just... I don't know, just let me think about it."

  "Not a problem," Eric said. He turned her around and touched his forehead to hers. "I love you."

  "I love you too." Then her stomach lurched in a way that she couldn't ignore. "I'll be right back," she said, her eyes burning. She rushed to the bathroom and sat down on top of the toilet bowl lid, leaning forward with her head between her knees. Breathing in and out slowly, Mandy told herself to calm down. She just wasn't used to hiding things from Eric. Mandy held her hand over her abdomen. She hadn't eaten much today because of the nervousness in her stomach, which only seemed to be getting worse. And now she had yet another layer of stress, the scholarship. Because even though she'd brought the scholarship up as an excuse, the fact remained that what Eric had said about the scholarship was right. How was she going to convince a panel of faculty members that she--a person who had been caught making out with Eric in the auditorium, in the stairwell, even in the girls' locker room--was pure in body and in spirit?

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  Just breathe. Just breathe. Mandy carefully started to stand. She felt weak but was able to hold herself up fine. As she turned around, a headline on one of the old magazines that Eric's mom kept in a basket by the toilet bowl caught her eye. She sat back down and grabbed the wrinkled issue of Newsweek, barely believing what she was seeing.

  The words Teen Virgins were spelled out in huge letters next to a picture of five kids her age, all grinning out at her. Intrigued, Mandy flipped to the article and started to read.

  "Saving themselves . . . pure by choice . . . healthy decisions . . . Support clubs raise self-awareness. . . . Virginity clubs are somewhat of a trend. ..."

  Slowly Mandy smiled. She had an idea.

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  Chapter 7

  "I'd LIKE TO WELCOME EVERYONE TO THE FIRST MEETING OF THE Ardsmore High School Virginity Club!" Mandy announced. "Although in order to keep anyone from being embarrassed, we're just going to call it the V Club." The fifteen students in the classroom--fourteen girls and Riley Marx--applauded her politely as she stood before them. Mandy smiled at Debbie, Kai, and Eva, who were front and center in the first row of desks, ready to support her.

  I totally pulled it off, Mandy thought, feeling quite proud of herself.

  She'd gone to Principal Shreever's office that morning, gotten her personal approval for the club before homeroom, and rushed a typed statement to the tech office about ten seconds before morning announcements. Leo Katz had snorted a laugh when he read the word virginity over the PA, and everyone in Mandy's homeroom had cracked up, but she

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  didn't care. This was one of the best ideas she'd ever had.

  "Okay, I know a lot of you are wondering what brought this idea about, and if you're thinking it has something to do with the Treemont scholarship, you're not wrong," Mandy continued. "The guidance office has yet to decide exactly how they're going to handle the purity requirement Ms. Treemont stipulated, so I figured we might as well get ahead of the game. If you're a member of this club, you're clearly embracing your choice not to have sex.

  "This club will act as a support system--a place where you can talk about your beliefs and your experiences, but we'll also act as a civic service organization," Mandy continued, pacing the front of the room. "We are going to get our name out there by volunteering and helping out in the community, so any suggestions for club activities will be considered. I've already lined up an activity for this weekend. We'll be meeting at the assisted living facility on Vincent at twelve o'clock on Saturday afternoon to run their Scrabble tournament. I know it's short notice, but come if you can." Mandy paused for breath. "Any questions so far?"

  Liana Hull raised her hand. "Are we gonna have to take a vow of abstinence or something? I read about that somewhere, and I think it's kind of archaic."

  A few people giggled.

  "Some clubs come up with their own honor code for everyone to sign instead of just making it like a ritualistic vow of abstinence," Mandy said.

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  She picked up the Newsweek magazine from her desk. "Does anyone want to try writing one for us?"

  Liana's hand shot up again and Mandy handed her the magazine to help her with ideas. "See what you can come up with by our next meeting."

  "Cool," Liana said.

  Mandy walked over to Madame Kopec's desk, where the teacher was lounging back, eating bite-size Snickers and apparently not stressing too much about her role as faculty adviser. Mandy picked up her notes and they slipped from her fingers. When she stood up after grabbing them from the floor, her mind swam. She had to close her eyes to get her balance.

  Okay, no one noticed, she told herself, flushing as she looked out at the expectant crowd. Mental note: Eat something after practice. All the stress was doing nothing for her appetite, but she was going to have to try to force something down. She'd been dizzy all day. "Now, the first thing I think we should do is nominate members for various administrative positions," Mandy said, turning slowly toward the blackboard. She picked up a piece of chalk and swallowed against the nausea. "Our officers will be responsible for drafting a mission statement, and they'll really decide the direction of the club. We'll vote on the nominations next week. Any nominations for president?"

  Eva raised her hand as prearranged by her and Mandy at lunch that day.

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  "Eva?" Mandy said with a smile.

  "I'd like to nominate Mandy Walters."

  "Thank you, Eva," Mandy said, turning to write her own name on the board. When she turned back, Kai's hand was up.

  "Kai?"

  Kai stared her straight in the eye. "I'd like to nominate myself."

  Debbie and Eva looked at Kai, surprised.

  "You . . . what?"

  "I can do that, can't I?" Kai said with a shrug.

  "Uh . . . yeah, I guess," Mandy said. "I mean, sure."

  She turned and wrote Kai's name under hers, trying to keep her hand from shaking. What the hell was Kai doing?

  "Anybody else?" Mandy asked, trying her best to sound normal. No one moved. "Then we'll move on to nominations for vice president."

  As Mandy took down the names of the other nominees, her mind was reeling. This club was Mandy's idea--Mandy's club. Why would her friend try to take it away from her?

  "What's up with Mandy?" Kai asked, swinging her backpack over her shoulder as the meeting broke up. Kai could have sworn Mandy's hands were trembling as she packed up her bag. "She looks kind of... I don't know, iffy."

  "Yeah. I agree. Before, when she dropped her notes, I

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  sorta thought she was gonna faint," Eva said. "All the color went out of her face."

  "She's probably just pissed that Kai nominated herself," Debbie said.

  "Ya think?" Kai asked.

  "Dude, you do not mess with Mandy's upward mobility," Debbie replied. "She'll kill ya dead."

  "Whatever," Kai said. "It's just one club. I need it for my application, and Mandy's president of, like, everything."

  "This is true," Eva said.

  Mandy was now wrapped up in a conversation with Liana, so Kai headed for the door to wait.

  "So Kai, when do we get to meet this hot Spanish guy of yours?" Debbie asked, leaning back against the wall to let a few club members pass.

  "He's not really t
hat interesting."

  "Please! He's Spanish. From Spain," Debbie said emphatically. "Who cares if he's interesting? Or even good looking! I bet he has the sexiest accent."

  Kai looked away, suddenly recalling the little encounter she'd had with Andres that morning in the hallway outside the bathroom. He'd just gotten out of the shower, and apparently they didn't know how to dry off in Spain, because his whole body was glistening with moisture. He was holding a towel around his waist but it barely concealed a thing. Kai had frozen in place, experiencing a momentary lapse of logic, and Andres had said, "Good

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  morning," flirtatiously. His eyes had danced like he just knew that she wanted him. And at that very second Kai had wanted him. She'd wanted to jump his very sexy bones. And she hated herself for it.

  "Okay, fine. If you're not gonna spill, then I gotta get to lacrosse," Debbie said.

  "Yeah, Coach Davis is probably gonna hit me with extra laps," Kai said.

  She shot one last glance at Mandy, hoping to catch her gaze and smile. But Mandy wouldn't even look in her direction.

  Mandy let her eyes unfocus on the checkerboard squares of the volleyball net. On the other side of the court Cheryl Christiansen was getting ready to serve, but Mandy was paying no attention.

  "Mandy! Yours!"

  She looked up just in time to see the ball arcing over her head toward the net from behind. Mandy jumped up to spike it and missed the mark, sending the ball careening off the side of her hand into the bleachers. Her teammates groaned and stared at her, annoyed.

  "Water break!" Coach Davis shouted, blowing her whistle. Mandy started to jog off the court with the rest of the team, but Davis stopped her with a hand to the arm.

  "All right, Walters, what's going on with you lately?" Coach asked, dropping the whistle against her flat chest. "Your head hasn't been in the game these last two days."

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  "Sorry, Coach," Mandy said automatically. She looked down at the floor.

  "I don't want 'sorry,'" Coach said firmly. "I want you to tell me that you'll shape up, and then I want you to do it. We've got state semis next week. This is no time for my star player to crack."

  I know we have state semis next week! Mandy wanted to snap. Haven't I been playing in them for the past three years ? Haven't I won the MVP award for the past two ? Get off my back already!

  Her anger surprised her.

  "You got anything you want to tell me, Walters?" Coach asked.

  "I'll shape up, Coach," Mandy said.

  "That's what I like to hear," Coach said, whacking her on the back. "Now go get a drink and get back here for cooldown."

  Mandy jogged out into the hallway, averting her eyes as she passed Kai, who was walking back in, swiping at her mouth with the back of her hand. Between her father's disappearing act, Eric's sex pressure, Davis's little lecture, and Kai stabbing her in the back, she felt like she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

  Twenty-eight more minutes, Mandy thought as she bent over the water fountain. Just twenty-eight more minutes and you can get out of here.

  Unfortunately, she couldn't think of a single place she wanted to go.

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  Chapter 8

  "This is the last stop on the tour," Eva said, pausing with her back to the day-care room at 4-H. Riley looked at her expectantly and pushed his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. He was wearing a black Atari T-shirt that was somehow totally sexy. Eva was so proud of herself. She'd been showing him around for half an hour, and she was actually starting to sound like a functional human being--an intelligent one, even. She hadn't said a single stupid thing since they'd passed the janitor's closet where the middle school kids were constantly getting caught playing Seven Minutes in Heaven and she'd said something about how she would show it to him, "except then people would expect us to make out."

  She shuddered now just thinking about it.

  "Don't keep me in suspense," Riley said, flashing his dimple.

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  "Oh, right. This is where I spend my time," Eva said, opening the door and letting the noise of little-kid chatter fill the hallway. "This is the day-care center."

  Riley stepped past her into the room and paused. Eva watched him take it all in. The couple dozen kids seated at four low tables, the huge reams of paper covered in bright splotches and smears of thick paint, the little vats of primary-colored blobs the tiny Picassos were dipping their fingers into.

  Eva absolutely loved it in there, but she knew that to some people, it could be a little overwhelming.

  Slowly Riley turned to her and raised his eyebrows. "Where do I get my smock?"

  Eva leaned back against the cinder-block wall behind her. Everything he said was completely perfect.

  Sharon Bates, the always-chipper day-care supervisor, was walking around the room, encouraging the kids along. When she spotted Eva, her face lit up.

  "Well, look who it is!" she called out. "Hey there!" She bustled over, her long skirt flowing behind her, her silver bangles all a-jangle. "Eva, I'm so glad you're here." She pushed a paint-caked strand of hair behind her ear. "I have a meeting upstairs I have to get to. Would you mind taking over here for a bit?"

  "No problem," Eva said. "Sharon, this is a new volunteer, Riley Marx."

  "Well, hello there, Riley Marx," Sharon said, turning her infectious grin on him. "Hope you don't mind getting messy."

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  "I live to get messy," Riley replied.

  "I like this one," Sharon said to Eva.

  Ditto, Eva thought as Riley headed for a bin of old paint-spattered shirts. Sharon leaned in to Eva's ear to whisper, "Now, Hayden's been acting up a bit today--too much sugar, I'm afraid. Little bugger snuck an extra cupcake when I wasn't looking. Just keep an eye on him."

  "Sure," Eva said.

  Riley buttoned on a huge blue shirt with a bright yellow splotch of paint on the front and joined one of the tables. He sat down next to a little boy named Mesach.

  "Hey, man. Whatcha got there?" Riley asked, pointing at Mesach's painting.

  Eva tried to hide her smile behind her hand. Riley Marx in person was even better than her dreams.

  The door behind her opened and Eva turned to see Mandy walking into the room in a pair of mesh shorts and a T-shirt.

  "Hey!" Eva said, surprised. "What're you doing here?"

  "I went to help out in the gym, but they've actually got too many volunteers," Mandy said, pulling her ponytail holder out of her hair, then gathering it all up again to retie it. She paused, hands to head, when she spotted Riley.

  "Am I imagining things or is that Riley Marx sitting over there bonding with a five-year-old?" Mandy asked.

  Just then Riley dipped his finger in red paint and

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  swiped it across a little girl's nose, sending her into a fit of giggles. "Nope. It's really him."

  "Okay, not that I don't appreciate a guy who has the guts to basically declare himself a virgin and then hang out with toddlers the same day, but is he trying to get the other guys to beat him to death?" Mandy joked as she refastened her ponytail.

  "Hey!" a little girl named Lisa shouted.

  Tow-haired, sugar-hyped Hayden was reaching toward Lisa with a tiny paint-covered hand. Before Eva could jump into action, Hayden had swiped a giant maroon stripe across Lisa's nose.

  "Hey! Don't do that!" Riley said, standing up.

  "Why not?" Hayden snapped. "You did it!"

  "Because . . . ," Riley started to explain, but just then Lisa retaliated by dumping a little cup of blue paint right on Hayden's head.

  "Lisa, no!"

  But it was too late. Mesach laughed and flicked a wad of black paint at the boy across from him. The little boy shoved his hand into some yellow and launched it at Mesach but ended up with his hand in little Tina's red hair instead. Suddenly every kid in the room was flinging paint, laughing, and giggling. Eva, Riley, and Mandy tried to intervene, but before they knew it, they looked like a se
t of walking Jackson Pollack paintings.

  "It's anarchy!" Riley called out as three little ones ran around his legs, trying to catch each other. Eva wrangled kids

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  into separate corners, but whenever she turned her back, they escaped and jumped each other again. Mandy finally just sat down and took it, letting herself get spattered from every angle. Pretty soon she was laughing uncontrollably.

  Eva looked at Riley, who dropped his arms at his sides in submission.

  "What are we going to do?" Eva asked as the mayhem increased.

  Riley picked up a cup of blue paint and walked across the room to Eva. "Well," he said. "You know the old saying." He dipped his finger in the blue paint and looked at her mischievously.

  "What're you going to do with that?" Eva asked, backing up a step.

  "If you can't beat 'em," Riley said as a screech filled the air. "Paint 'em!"

  He reached out and painted a blue streak right across Eva's forehead. Her mouth dropped open at the cool stickiness and she laughed. She looked Riley in the eye and suddenly forgot who she was and who he was. All she could see at that moment was revenge.

  Exhausted and achy, her skin tightening thanks to the impromptu body painting she'd just been subjected to, Mandy dragged herself up to the front door. She paused to close her eyes and wish for an uneventful evening. Her father's car was in the driveway again, and the last thing she wanted to deal with right now was more drama.

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  Mandy walked in and closed the door behind her, listened, and waited. Sweet silence. Maybe the fighting had officially ended. At the very least, a cease-fire had been called.

  Mandy started up the stairs, thinking of how fabulous the hot water of the shower was going to feel on her body. She'd only made it halfway when she heard her father's heavy footsteps approaching the foyer. Mandy's pulse started to race. She swallowed hard, her hand on the banister. Since when was she afraid to see her father?

  "Hey, pumpkin!" her dad said as she turned around. He made a mock shocked face and laughed. "What happened to you?"