Is She for Real? Read online

  The next morning at breakfast, Bethany was wearing both of her presents: her red lip gloss and her ruby ring. She explained to Mr. and Mrs. Carlson how she had mysteriously found the ring in her bag.

  “It’s beautiful!” Mrs. Carlson exclaimed, admiring it between sips of coffee. “It looks very old.”

  Nate looked casually at the ring, as if he had never seen it before.

  “You know,” he said thoughtfully, “Lady Warwick herself wore a ruby ring.” Everyone laughed, and Bethany laughed along.

  “You know what else?” Nate said. “She had ruby-red lips, too.” Bethany stared at him as the other three girls exchanged knowing looks. Nate was definitely flirting.

  “Another scone, milady?” he asked her, passing the scone basket to her. My lady. Bethany was still staring at him.

  Lissa and Lily giggled, and Olivia rolled her eyes, as if this romantic, old-fashioned exchange was kind of grossing her out.

  And Nate was nowhere near finished with this routine. “Now that you’re Lady Warwick, I shall be Lord Warwick!” he proclaimed, holding his spoon straight up in the air as if in official announcement mode.

  “This scone is delicious, milord.” Bethany smiled and made a gesture that looked like a curtsy, even though she was sitting down. She took a big bite of scone and laughed daintily.

  “Okay, Lord Warwick,” Mrs. Carlson said to Nate. “Grab your things. We’ve got to get you to Your Lordship’s soccer game.”

  And then Nate did the most astonishing thing. He stood with a flourish, walked over to where Bethany sat, took her hand, and kissed the ring in a grand, fancy gesture, which made all four girls go completely silent. But then, moments later, they dissolved into giggles.

  Bethany really liked history class. It was great timing that had her studying the history of the town as soon as she’d moved there, and she liked the research topic she had chosen, the role of women in colonial life.

  Today was her turn to share her “top five” points about her research topic. She stood in front of the group and tried not to read directly from her paper. As she spoke, Nate noticed she was twirling the ring around her finger. She had it on her left ring finger, the finger a wedding ring is supposed to go on. Bethany was actually a little glad her parents were spending the whole week in Manhattan. She purposely hadn’t worn the ring when they took her out to dinner for her birthday on Sunday night. It made her sad to take it off, but she didn’t want to explain to her parents where it had come from. At least, not yet. She was pretty sure she’d be able to hide it from them until they got used to her having a boyfriend. In the meantime, she was sure Aunt Mimi wouldn’t notice her wearing it.

  But now she was happy to have it on her finger again, for all to see.

  “My topic is the role of women in colonial life. Let me first say that women have it much better in today’s society. Early colonial life was hard for women. There were more men than women in the settlement of Old Warwick, so the women who were there had an extra burden to carry.” The rest of the class took notes.

  “Second, here is what women did in Old Warwick: They raised children, sewed, cooked, took care of animals, made soap, made candles, made clothes, and did all the other housework while men fished, built, plowed, harvested, hunted, and protected the family from wild animals and Indians.”

  “That’s the way it should be!” one boy said, and a few kids laughed.

  Mr. Parmalee stopped the joking before it got out of hand. “And I’m not sure any of you boys would be too keen on protecting your homes from wild animals, either. I apologize for the boorish behavior of these boys, Bethany. Please continue.”

  Bethany smiled. “Third, the colonists brought with them very traditional attitudes about the status and roles of women. Women were considered to be ‘weaker vessels,’ not as strong physically or mentally as men, and less emotionally stable,” she continued. After Mr. Parmalee’s last warning, nobody was going to touch that one.

  “Fourth, women could not vote or hold public office. And fifth, women were expected to be obedient to their husbands without question.”

  She was done. She smiled and gave her ring another twist as she sat down.

  “Thank you, Bethany. That was very illuminating,” Mr. Parmalee said.

  After class, Nate approached Bethany on their way to lunch. “Nice job,” he said.

  “Thanks,” she said. She got butterflies in her stomach when he talked to her now. She used to feel normal around him, but after Saturday’s scone incident, she felt all tingly inside. She also couldn’t stop staring at his dimples.

  “So how do you like your ruby ring, milady?” he asked shyly.

  “I love it, milord,” she responded just as shyly. She held her head low and looked up at him. Then she got brave.

  “Thank you for giving it to me,” she said, looking right into his eyes.

  “You’re welcome,” he said. And there it was. She promised herself she would never take the ring off.

  That night, in bed in her pajamas, Bethany wrote in her journal:

  Well, the ring is definitely from none other than Nate, who shall from now on be referred to here as milord. Get it, my lord? Because I am his lady. (He calls me milady, how cute is that?) I can’t believe this is happening.

  I did my report on the role of women in Old Warwick yesterday. It went pretty well. It’s funny, when I first started my research, I thought it sounded like the women of Old Warwick had it SO bad. But I’ve changed my mind. The idea of cooking and quilting all day actually seems kind of nice. I imagine me as Lady Warwick and Nate as Lord Warwick, and our little colonial house, with smoke coming from the chimney. I’d bake some corn bread for him to enjoy when he got home from fishing. And I’d fry up the fish he caught. Yum!

  This has been such a weird day. I was so happy in school when Nate and I talked and I thanked him for the ring. I know he really likes me, but tonight I keep thinking he’s going to change his mind about me and start liking someone else. I don’t know what I would do if that happened. I would just be heartbroken.

  But that is totally ridiculous. Why am I worrying so much? And this insecure feeling is so not me. I just need to keep looking at my beautiful ring and remind myself of that.

  Then Bethany fell asleep. And a few hours later, she woke up suddenly to a loud yowl. And something scratching at her feet.

  She opened her eyes and couldn’t believe it. She was standing up, first of all.

  Second of all, she was standing in front of Nate and Lissa’s house. In her pajamas.

  Third of all, Howard had ambushed her feet again and was running away to hide in the bushes.

  She had been sleepwalking … which had never happened to her before.

  The Carlsons’ house was completely dark. As was the whole sky. Bethany could barely see a thing.

  Once she caught her breath and realized what had happened, her first thought was, Oh my God. I’m so glad no one saw me! They would think I was some kind of stalker.

  She began to walk home.

  I hope this doesn’t happen again, she said to herself over and over, a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. This is crazy. I am so glad Mom and Dad aren’t home and that Aunt Mimi is such a deep sleeper. With that, Bethany hurried back to her home and tried to fall back asleep. But she barely slept a wink for the rest of the night.

  A few weeks later, it was finally time for end-of-school-year elections. Bethany’s parents had returned home, and Bethany had not had any more sleepwalking incidents. She’d kept the whole thing a secret. Now her parents were out of town again, but they had promised this would probably be the last time. Bethany didn’t mind too much. When the Carlsons heard that her parents were away, they practically insisted she spend as much time as possible at their house. And Bethany definitely didn’t mind that!

  She was there now, as were Lily and Olivia. The girls helped Nate make a ton of “Vote for Nate” posters. Their slogans were “Nate the Great,” “Turn Over a New Leaf
with Nate” (decorated with fall leaves), and “Nate Carlson, the People’s President” (decorated with color copies of yearbook photos of every student in their class). The “People’s President” one had been Bethany’s idea.

  “It’s important that every kid feel like he or she is part of Nate’s presidency, like they each have a voice,” she pointed out. It seemed like a great idea, and she happily glued the individual photos, collage-style, onto those posters.

  “I can’t believe how much work you guys are doing on these,” Nate said, wandering into the kitchen, where the girls had set up a whole poster-making workshop. He was talking to all four girls, but his eyes were on Bethany. He picked up a marker and began coloring in the bubble letters on one of the posters.

  Bethany held up her glitter pen and reached over and touched his nose with it so he had a sparkly nose. “Of course we are, milord.” The others rolled their eyes.

  “You know, Lord Warwick became the first governor of Old Warwick,” he said. “That’s a sneak preview of my report in history. And history repeats itself, doesn’t it?”

  “It does, milord,” Bethany said, sounding awfully old-fashioned, and Nate blushed.

  Lissa exchanged a look with Olivia and Lily. This is really annoying, the look said. The three girls had secretly discussed that they thought Bethany and Nate were taking this “milord, milady” thing a bit too far. “She was talking about learning to cook fish in case he ever catches any!” Lissa had said to Olivia and Lily in exasperation. “I mean, seriously? Is she for real?”

  As if she somehow knew what her friends were thinking, Bethany excused herself and went into the bathroom. Lissa immediately felt guilty for thinking disloyal thoughts about her friend and shared a tense, nervous look with the other girls.

  But then Bethany called to her friends from the bathroom. “Hey, you guys! Come here!”

  “Lookit,” she said, indicating her hair, which was parted straight down the middle. “Why didn’t you tell me my hair looked like this?”

  “I thought maybe you were going for a seventies look,” Lissa said, and they all laughed.

  “Oh yuck,” Bethany said, and made a face in the mirror as she fixed her hair. “My hair has been acting totally bizarro lately! You have to tell me if it does that again!”

  “Why, are you worried Nate won’t like it?” Lily teased. Olivia and Lissa paused, unsure of how Bethany would react. But she just made a funny face in the mirror, and all four girls cracked up laughing together.

  The tension, it seemed, had passed.

  There was a week of campaigning before the elections, and Nate’s posters looked better than any other candidate’s. His speech at the class assembly went perfectly. It was all about how he cared about the concerns of each and every student in the class, and how anyone could come talk to him anytime about any question or problem. He said that even if he didn’t win the election, he felt proud to be a member of the class and valued his relationship with every single one of his classmates.

  After the assembly with the speeches, Bethany and Lissa walked to lunch to meet Olivia and Lily at their usual table.

  “Nate did great, right?” Lily said right away.

  “Totally,” Olivia and Lissa said at the same time.

  “Whatever,” Bethany said quickly. “Next topic.” They all looked shocked by her comment.

  “Where did that come from?” Lissa said, opening her bag of baby carrots.

  “Sorry,” Bethany said. “I didn’t mean to sound harsh. It’s just that, well, I didn’t really like what he said about each and every kid being able to talk to him anytime about anything.”

  “Why not?” asked Lily. “It seems like a good thing to say in a speech like that.”

  “Yeah, but that means other girls can call him anytime,” Bethany said, as if that should have been obvious to the others.

  Lissa, Olivia, and Lily couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re a jealous girlfriend!” Lily cried.

  Bethany sighed. “I know. And I don’t know what’s the matter with me.”

  Nate won the election. He was going to be class president.

  Their school always had the spring dance right after elections, and the new class officers—president, vice president, secretary, treasurer—all appeared at a sort of “welcoming” line as kids entered. It was the beginning of their formal duties as class officers. Nate had his tuxedo ready (the officers got more dressed up than the other kids), and the girls had done their dress shopping at the mall. They were each pleased with their decisions, except Bethany, who had seemed sullen and withdrawn and hated everything she tried on. She left the mall without buying anything.

  “What’s the matter, Bethany?” Olivia had asked when they were all in the dressing room.

  “Nate hasn’t asked me yet,” Bethany replied, her eyes filling with tears. “And the dance is next weekend!” The others were shocked to see her so upset.

  “Maybe because he’s president, he feels like the dance isn’t really for having fun at,” Lissa offered gently, touching Bethany’s arm. “Maybe he feels like it’s part of his presidential duties and he has a responsibility to the whole class or something.” Lissa hadn’t really thought of this before, but it sort of made sense, and she was trying to help Bethany feel better.

  “Yeah, maybe,” Bethany said, but she didn’t sound too convinced.

  Mrs. Carlson picked them up soon after, and the four girls left the mall with three dresses. They went back to Lissa’s, where Mr. Carlson and Nate were sitting on the front porch drinking iced tea.

  “Well, let’s see those dresses,” Mrs. Carlson said. Lissa, Olivia, and Lily all pulled their dresses out of their bags and held them up. As the Carlsons admired them, Bethany suddenly bolted from the porch, ran home, and went straight into her bedroom.

  She threw herself onto her bed, where she cried and cried. Maybe he’s taking someone else to the dance, she thought over and over again. She couldn’t stop thinking it. Until she heard the doorbell ring and her aunt Mimi answer it.

  Aunt Mimi appeared at her door moments later. “Bethany, there’s a young man here to see you. His name is Nate.”

  “Okay,” Bethany said, smiling through her tears. She stopped crying and went to the bathroom to splash her face. After doing so, she looked in the mirror and realized he’d be able to tell right away that she’d been crying. That’s okay, maybe women really are weaker vessels, not as strong psychologically as men, she thought, remembering her history report. She applied her red lip gloss and fixed her hair (which had parted itself in the middle AGAIN!) and headed downstairs.

  When she got downstairs, Nate was standing in the doorway.

  “Why did you run off?” he asked kindly. “Why didn’t you get a dress like the others did?”

  “I guess I wasn’t sure I was going,” she said neutrally.

  “Aren’t you going to go with me, milady?” Nate asked, incredulous.

  “Well, you haven’t exactly asked me,” Bethany pointed out, trying to keep the relieved smile off her face.

  Nate’s face fell. “I’m really sorry, milady. I just assumed!” he exclaimed. “You need a formal invitation, do you, milady?”

  “I suppose I do, milord,” Bethany said demurely.

  Nate ducked his head. He seemed suddenly shy. “Will you go to the dance with me, milady?”

  “Yes, milord,” Bethany said, and smiled so hard she thought her face would break.

  A few days later, the night of the big dance arrived. The girls got ready together in Lissa’s room, Bethany borrowing a red dress of Lissa’s that perfectly matched her ruby ring. They did one another’s hair. Olivia, who was a whiz with hairdos, came up with a pretty updo that actually worked well with the middle part that Bethany’s hair seemed to be stubbornly falling into.

  “That dress really makes your ring stand out,” Lissa told Bethany, and Bethany’s face lit up.

  Once they emerged from Lissa’s room, Mr. and Mrs. Carlson were eagerly awaiting
them with cameras. Nate still hadn’t come downstairs, but that didn’t stop them from snapping away.

  “You’re like the paparazzi!” Lissa complained, but she didn’t really mind. Then Nate appeared in his tuxedo.

  “Spiffy!” his dad said.

  “Dapper!” his mom said.

  “Black and white!” Lissa said, and everyone laughed. Bethany only smiled slightly, afraid to be too obvious about how handsome she thought he looked.

  As the Carlsons opened a bottle of sparkling cider and poured a glass for everyone, Lissa’s date, Teddy, arrived. Teddy was just a friend, but the two had decided to go to the dance together last week. Olivia and Lily were going solo, which plenty of other kids were also doing.

  After snapping tons of pictures on the front lawn in front of the magnolia tree, which was now in full bloom, Mr. and Mrs. Carlson each loaded up their car with kids to drive to the dance.

  Everyone was arriving at the same time, and it was fun to see kids all dressed up. Nate had to stand at the entrance with the other newly elected class officers to greet everyone. Once most kids had arrived, everyone gathered around the stage, where Mr. Parmalee, the student council adviser, welcomed everyone and congratulated the new officers: Nate, class president; Joseph, vice president; Michelle, treasurer; and Zoe, secretary.

  Then Mr. Parmalee made an announcement that caused Bethany’s stomach to lurch.

  “I now invite all the four elected officials to begin their term in office with a special inaugural dance.” That meant that Nate would be dancing with either Michelle or Zoe. How could this be happening? Bethany thought. He’s my date, and he’s dancing the first dance with another girl! She bit her lip to keep from crying.

  The music started, and Joseph looked at Michelle and offered his hand, which meant that Nate would be dancing with Zoe. Zoe is really pretty, Bethany thought. She watched as Nate placed his hands on Zoe’s waist and the two danced together. Everyone made a big circle around them and watched.