“Thank you! We are Controlled Chaos!” David said into the microphone. Then he flung it on the ground, causing a loud wail of feedback, and loped out into the crowd. A few girls hugged him, and he slapped hands with some of his friends as he worked his way over to us. “Hey, David! That was incredible!” I gushed. He hooked his thumbs into the pockets of his jeans, all casual. “Yeah. Thanks for coming.” I blinked . This was not the excitable David I had come to know and was starting to like. “Dude. Drop the rock-star act. You know you’re freaking out over all the groupies,” Annie said, shoving his shoulder . David held his too-cool expression one second longer, then doubled over and snorted a laugh. “I know! Isn’t this insane?” he whispered to us. “That girl over there asked me to sign her bra!” “Wow. Not bad for a first gig,” I joked as he leaned up against the wall next to me. “Are you gonna do it?” Annie asked, taking a swig of her soda. David’s eyes widened. “Are you kidding? She’s in my youth group at church. I think that would buy me a ticket directly to hell.” I laughed, and David studied me with narrowed eyes. “I’m glad you came.” “Are you surprised?” I asked. “No,” he said quickly , glancing at Annie. “Well, yeah. I mean, we just weren’t sure you would. Since it’ s a Norm party and all.” My throat tightened, and I looked down at my cup for a second. For days I had actually gone back and forth over whether or not to come. I hadn’t been to a party on this side of town since I was in Brownies, and I’d been worried that Annie’s friends wouldn’t want me here. But so far, no one had given me a second glance. Unlike the two Crestie parties I’d attended where I’d been just about as welcome as the Orchard Hill police. “Well, the Cresties don’ t exactly want me around anymore—” “Oh, so you’re just here by default,” Annie said, an edge to her joking tone. “No! It’ s not that. I’m just saying . . .” I looked around at the couple of dozen people milling around the basement. A few girls had whipped out an old Mouse Trap board game and were attempting to put it together . A couple of guys in the corner were firing up the ancient Xbox on the even more ancient T9 . Everyone seemed
to be having a good time, and I felt relaxed. The way you’re supposed to feel at a party. Even though my old friends probably would have either laughed or heaved if they could see what constituted a party on this side of town. “I’m having fun,” I said finally . “This is way better than any Crestie thing I’ve been to.” Annie grinned. “W ay better .” “Oh, but come on!” David said sarcastically . “They have bars and pools and bathrooms with two sinks!” “Ah, but the company here is of a much higher quality,” I said with a smile. “Norms are far cooler than Cresties.” “I’ll drink to that,” Annie said, raising her plastic cup. “I would too, but I don’ t have anything to drink,” David added. Annie and I laughed and clicked our cups together . “So, Ally, since you’re such a Norm now, do you want to come over tomorrow and help me and David with the Fall Festival? I’m in serious need of volunteers.” Annie had mentioned the Fall Fest before. It was a fund-raiser she organized every year to raise money for the underfunded arts programs at school. Apparently most of our extracurricular cash went to the athletic teams. “You should totally come,” David said. “She promised me free pizza.” “Oh, well, if there’ s free pizza, I’m in,” I said. “There’ s the most beautiful girl in the room!” Logan Pincus, the burly, curly-haired drummer from David’s band, came loping over and threw his arms around Annie, lifting her off the ground in a sideways bear hug. She rolled her eyes, and her whole body stiffened. David pressed his lips together as if to ke ep from laughing. “Logan? Remember our chat about personal space?” Annie said. He r eplaced her on the ground. “Right. Sorry .” Annie took a st ep back as Logan shoved his huge hands under his arms. “So? What do you think? W e rocked, right? Didn’ t we rock?” “Come on, Annie. You’ve gotta admit we rocked,” David said, rubbing his hands together . The two guys exchanged a conspiratorial look, and I got the distinct feeling there was something going on here that I didn’ t know about. “I don’t know. I think we should ask Ally,” Annie said, looking at me pleadingly . “Ally? Do you think they rocked?”
I stared back at her. Clearly there was a right answer to this question, but I had no idea what it was. The two guys watched me expectantly . What was I going to say? That they didn’ t rock their first gig? “Um, yeah. They totally rocked,” I said. Annie groaned, leaning backward. David and Logan bounced up and down so boisterously the bookshelves along the walls started to shake. “We’re going to the Harvest Ba- all !” Logan sang, grabbing Annie and dancing her around. “W e’re going to the Harvest Ba- all !” “Thanks a lot!” Annie said to me, her head lolling around as Logan manhandled her . “What just happened?” I asked David with a laugh. “Logan’ s been asking Annie to every dance for the past two years, and she always says no, but last week they made a deal that if we rocked our first gig, she’d go with him,” David explained. “Y ou just sealed it.” “Oh. Oops.” I bit my lip and smiled an apology as Logan twirled Annie past us toward the far wall. The other party-goers scrambled out of their way to ke ep from getting their toes crushed. “Sorry , Annie!” “You’re going to make this up to me!” she shouted back. “Tomorrow you’re on glitter duty!” “Glitter duty?” I asked David. “She loves to have glittery signs for the Harvest Fest but hates dealing with glitter,” he r eplied. He looped his arm around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze. “Aren’t you so glad we crashed your table on the first day of school?” I rolled my eyes as he headed off to the bookshelf that was serving as a makeshift bar. Someone turned up the music, and a few of the freshmen girls started to dance with the other members of David’s band. As the party swelled around me, my heart fluttered with excitement. The truth was, I couldn’ t have been happier that Annie and David had crashed my table that first day. And I was psyched that Annie had invited me over to hang out with her and David tomorrow . For the first time, I was starting to believe that I could make new friends in Orchard Hill. That I could have a life here. A life that was Crestie free.
o c t o b e r
You guys! I think Jake Graydon is going to ask me to the Harvest Ball! Why would you think that? Well, you know , after Friday night . . . plus he totally just smiled at me in the hall. Well, I hear d he alr eady asked Lacey Goodman. What? Lacey? Why? She’s Lacey Goodman. Do you r eally have to ask? Ew. Really? No. Lacey’s going with Chris Harrington. I heard Jake was gonna ask Cori Ranger . But Cori doesn’ t even hook up! She didn’ t used to. Befor e she met Jake at Josh Schwartz’ s Satur day. I think I’m gonna thr ow up. Don’t worry . You still have a chance. You think? It’s Jake Graydon. Pr etty soon he’ s going to have worked his way thr ough the entir e school and he’ll have to make a second r ound.
The door to my room opened and I dropped my Xbox controller and lifted my Physics text onto my lap. Then I saw it was Shannen and let the book slide to the floor . “Nice try, Graydon, but even your mom would’ve caught that one,” she said. “Everything okay?” I asked. Usually when Shannen came barreling into my room unannounced, it was because her dad was on a bender and she needed to es cape. “Y our dad?” “Oh, he did the ‘come home and pass out’ thing tonight. I’m just bored.” She shoved her hands under my arms from behind to lift me up. “Come on. Hammond and the Idiot Twins are downstairs harassing your brother, and Chloe’s in the car .” I shut of f the TV . “The car?” She shot me a wicked look over her shoulder . None of us had our licenses, but that never stopped Shannen when she had a plan. And when Shannen had a plan, it usually meant a good time. I followed her down the stairs at a jog and into the kitchen, where Jonah sat at the counter trying to do his algebra homework. The Idiot Twins were sandwiching him between them, shouting numbers in his ears so he couldn’ t concentrate, while Hammond stood across the room, throwing popcorn from our popcorn machine at all three of them. The popcorn machine was right next to our sundae bar. Mom had it all installed over the summer in an attempt to turn our house into party central. She loved it when my friends were around. “Quit it,” Jonah complained, trying not to whine. He elbowed the twins on either side, but they clung to him as Hammond laughed. “Dude. Not cool.” I grabbed the back of his polo shirt to drag him out of there. W ith my free hand I slapped T revor on the back. “Let’ s go.”