It's the End of the World

Chapter 6

8 Days Until Homecoming

The next morning, I had a rotation class during 2nd hour. The rotation class I had was music, but since I'm in band, I just go to practice in band. My friend Bob saw that I was hiding The Black Book of Buried Secrets in my shirt.

"What do you have in your shirt?" he asked.

"Nothing."

"You have something in your shirt."

"No I don't." The bell rang. "Gotta go, bye."

He followed me through the hallway. "What are you hiding?"

"You wanna know the truth? I stole a library book. Bye!"

He tried following me through the hallway, but I managed to ditch him.

During lunch, I tried to get myself to ask Abby to the dance.

"You know what, I don't really need a date to the dance."

"Yes you do, come on," my friends said pulling me with my arms.

"No, I don't want to. No." I tried using my feet to stop, but it didn't work. They pushed me in front of Abby.

"Well, what are you waiting for?"

"You to leave! If I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it alone!"

"OK."

They left me alone with Abby. Suddenly, I wished I hadn't said that.

"So... Hey... How's it going?"

"What were you going to ask me?"

"Um... Please ring bell." It didn't. "So, there's this dance coming up."

"Yeah."

"And..." I thought about telling her the truth for a second, and why I needed a date to homecoming, so it would be less embarrassing. "I was wondering if you would like to go to the dance with me." I rushed saying this last part."

"Look, Jeff, I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to go to the dance with anybody."

"Oh, tough break," I heard Justin say in my ear.

"Oh, OK. Well, that's okay."

"You, know, I need a date to the dance so bad, I'm thinking about asking Catherine out, even."

Let me explain who Catherine is. Let's just say, me and her aren't really good friends. We're not friends at all. In fact a might say some mean stuff about her. OK, I say a lot of mean stuff about her. Looking back, I feel a little guilty. Just a little.

"Ok, we'll ask her for you. We know how you're afraid that she might viciously murder you if you talk to her."

"Thanks, that helps a lot."

To make a long story short, she said no, too.

"You know what I need. I need someone who is actually good at getting a date to help me get a date. Or someone who actually knows a lot of girls, so they can help me find a girl who might like me. Or both," I told my friends.

Sadly, even with that much help, I couldn't get a date.