chapter Sixteen
"Tryouts for holiday carolers are being held in the gym this coming Thursday afternoon. All interested students should come and bring your best singing voices. Hot apple cider will be served. No zombies allowed."
I finished the morning announcement and turned to Principal Taft. He was frowning at me.
"Did I say something wrong? I know it's a little early for caroling, but I thought I'd get a jump on things."
"No, no, you were perfect. It's just that--"
A storm of doubt raged in the pit of my stomach. "You don't want us caroling at all?" I said, interrupting.
"No, caroling is commendable."
"You don't like the cheerleader uniforms?"
"Glamorously gorgeous."
"My hair, my attitude, the way I run the committees?"
"Excellent, excellent, excellent."
"Then what am I doing wrong?"
"It's not you. You are doing everything right. But my supervisor, Mr. Pennyfield, loves our Holiday Pageant. I'm sure he'll
want to stop by. And I was hoping you could cook up some little extravaganza for him."
"It will be a little extravaganza with only me and Sybil in it."
"See, that's a problem. He's going to ask why there aren't other students participating."
"Because they're zombies!"
"Right. But of course we don't want him to know that, do we? Margot, you're a terrifically talented young lady..."
Compliment!
"I know you can come up with something to convince him nothing is amiss at Salesian High. Am I right in trusting you with this responsibility?" He smiled into my eyes.
"Of course you are, sir."
"We're going to stage a huge holiday musical with zombies? Have you lost your mind?"
Sybil, Dirk, and I were seated in the cafeteria on our lunch break. We had become our own pack. No longer were we required to tag along with other zombie packs to get around school. With Dirk in our lives we had our own inner circle. Just the three of us.
Sybil was staring at me as if I'd gone bananas.
"We can do it. We'll hold the Holiday Pageant and a week later the Winter Dance. And the best part is Amanda Culpepper can't participate in either of them. She's gonna be so jealous."
"I hate to rain on your parade, Margot, but jealousy is an emotion--and zombies don't have any."
Amanda and the Twigettes were seated across the room at a table with some nerd zombies.
"Wanna bet?" I whispered. "Look at her." We glanced over
at Amanda. "She's glaring at us. She knows this is the first year she won't have the lead in the Holiday Pageant."
"No, I think she's eyeing that hunk of raw meat you just shoved into Dirk's mouth."
"I bet she wishes she'd bit us now." I scowled in Amanda's direction. "Well, it's too late," I mouthed. "Tough noogies. You had your chance. This school belongs to me now." I grinned at her like an eight-year-old with a brand-new Barbie, then slid my arm lovingly around Dirk's shoulder.
He tried to bite it. Smack!
"Yeeeeee!"
I turned to Dirk all apologetic. "Baby's sorry she had to do that to Snookie, but Snookie can't bite Baby." I pulled another hunk of raw meat from a Baggie and threw it to him. He grabbed the meat in midair and gobbled it up. "I taught him that," I said proudly.
"Snookie?" Sybil's lips twisted into a frown.
"That's what I call him--Snookie. I think it's cute when couples have pet names for each other."
"What does he call you--Lunch?"
"Sounds like somebody needs to sit over there with the other jealous girls."
Tin not jealous of a zombie," Sybil barked. She folded her arms across her chest and began to pout.
"Good. Then you won't mind if I cancel tonight."
"What? Again? You canceled on me last night."
"Well, somebody's gotta choreograph the Holiday Pageant." I leaned in and lowered my voice. "Besides, I'm teaching Dirk something new, and he's a little slow."
"Oh? And what are you teaching him?" she asked through clenched teeth.
I fixed her with a firm, steady gaze. "Well, if you must know, I'm teaching him how to sing."
She stared back, her eyes narrowing. I could practically see slow wisps of steam rising off her forehead. "You're teaching a zombie to sing?" Her voice was low and filled with scorn.
"Yes. Christmas carols. As president of the Caroling Committee it's my job to make sure we have the best carolers the school has to offer. And in case you haven't noticed, we need a bass to offset your soprano and my alto."
"We cannot take Dirk caroling with us," she said, eyeing him with contempt.
"Why not?"
"Because instead of caroling Dirk will be consuming everyone in his path. He's a zombie, remember?"
I lowered my voice and again leaned in. "Don't be a name caller." I wagged a chastising finger at her. Then I turned to Dirk. "Hey, Snookie, wanna go for a walk before class?"
A low moan rose from deep in his chest.
"Me, too." I got up and faced Sybil. "We're the in-kids now, but remember where you came from, Syb. You didn't like anyone calling you names. Let's not become them," I said, throwing a glance over at Amanda and her green-with-envy ghoul-friends.
Sybil shook her head slowly. "You don't get it, do you?" she said, her eyes softening. "Margot, we have an opportunity to do something good this semester. We should be trying to make our time among the zombies mean something."
"I am doing something good. I'm teaching Dirk how to sing."
Sybil opened her mouth to say something more, but must have thought better of it because she closed her mouth and just stared.
A moment later Dirk and I blended into a pack of zombies
passing through the cafeteria. I didn't look back, but I was certain Sybil's eyes were burning a hole in the back of my head.
Later that evening, Dirk and I sat in my room. I was alternately feeding him scraps of ground beef and flipping through my songbook in search of just the right holiday songs for caroling. I felt a pang of guilt knowing Sybil was at home alone. But isn't that what an it-girl does--dump her friends for her boyfriend?
"Margot!" my brother Theo called from the other side of my bedroom door. "Are you guys eating in there? You know Mom doesn't allow food in the bedroom."
"We're not eating. And if we were eating it wouldn't be any of your business."
"I smell food," the little brat chimed.
"You smell your upper lip," I countered. Oh, how I wanted to yank open the door, tie a leg of lamb around his scrawny little neck, and let Dirk have at him. But the thought of Theo roaming the Earth forever sent a chill up my spine. I couldn't do that to the human race. "Go away," I called. "We're busy."
"Margot and Snookie sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g," he sang as he clomped off down the hall, snickering all the way.
A sudden emptiness drifted over me. If only Dirk and I could share a kiss. 1 sighed. Most girls spend half their lives romanticizing about their first boyfriend, wondering what the first kiss will be like. First kisses are important. Now that I had a boyfriend I had to face the reality that a kiss between us could never be. It's all right, I told myself, A girl can't have everything.
Technically I had my first kiss back in the eighth grade. Sybil thinks I did--with Percy Paulson. If she only knew it never came off.
Percy was this cute boy with sandy-colored hair and freckles. I met him at the walkathon for breast cancer that Sybil dragged me to soon after we'd met. Percy hung out with us the entire day, cracking jokes and keeping things lively. It was obvious I was attracted to him.
At the end of the day Sybil left us alone to exchange phone numbers. That was all we did, although I let her think something more happened.
Sixteen years old and I've never been kissed, I thought. That's a secret worth keeping.
"Grrwl," Dirk called, dragging my thoughts back to the present. I was out of meat scraps and he was eyeing my arm, drool running down his chin. I sighed again over the fact that kissing between us was a definite no-no.
"Wait here," I said, brandishing the newspaper. Then I left the room, making sure I shut the door, and raced down to the fridge, where I replenished my supply of raw ground beef. I couldn't have been gone more than five minutes, but when I got back to my room the door hung open. Dirk was nowhere in sight.
Frantically, I yanked open my closet door. "Dirk?" I dove under my bed. "Dirk?"
I stepped back into the corridor. 77 Theo, I thought. I'll kill him.. . if Dirk hasn't done it already.
"Mmmmm." A throaty moan... coming from the living room. Bad. Very bad. Mom and Dad were in the living room.
"Grrwwwwl!"
Oh, no! That growl sounded feisty. I took off for the living room at a dead run.