"Wow," Eden said. "You made me look beautiful."
It was true. Eden was standing under the window in the third frame. Cory had obviously spent most of his time drawing her. The clothes, the hair, her face, were all exactly as they were that night.
"Earth to Eden," I said. "That's how you look. You *are* beautiful."

 
On Wednesday, Cory Fleet flew across the cafeteria and dropped into a chair at our table. He looked distracted and upset. Then, suddenly realizing what he'd done, he asked, "Oh, hey, can I sit here a sec?"

"You're already here," I replied, smiling. "What's wrong? You don't look very happy."

"I've been censored," he said, "And I'm not even supposed to tell anybody."

"So why are you telling us, then?" Eden asked, sipping her juice.

"You already know about Marcie climbing the walls," he replied. "I made a cartoon about it, and as soon as I handed it in, it was like they were waiting for it! They didn't just tell me that it couldn't go in the paper, they said I couldn't show it to anybody."

He frowned and scrabbled at his backpack as it slipped from his hands and slid to the floor. He was also holding a portfolio, but I noticed he kept a firm grip on it.

"It's supposed to be a public safety issue," I said.

"Yeah," Cory said, eyeing me suspiciously. "That's what they said. How did you know?"

"It's what Mr. Bryant said when he suspended me," I said.

"Oh, right, I forgot. Talk about not fair! You get suspended and I can't use my cartoon!" Cory slumped. I didn't think the two events were really in the same category, but I didn't want to make him feel worse by saying so. Honestly, I was kind of glad that another picture of me wasn't going to appear. Maybe Cory thought he was doing me a favor... more likely, he hadn't taken my feelings about it into consideration at all.

Still, he was obviously very upset, so I kept my thoughts to myself.

Cory's jaw worked spasmodically, and then in a low voice he said, "Do you want to see the cartoon?" We nodded, and after a quick look around the room, he pulled some xeroxed sheets from his portfolio and said, "Don't let anybody see."

I have to say, it was beautifully drawn. It was a six-panel comic in black and white. And yet...

"I don't think my skirt was quite this short," I observed drily.

He grinned sheepishly. "Artistic license."

It showed me climbing the wall like Spiderman, without effort, and when I tossed the backpack down, Cory's friend fell over catching it. Again, he made me look like a super-confident superhero, with hair and skirt rippling in a personal breeze.

Eden was in the picture, too, and the real-life Eden couldn't get over it. "Wow," she cooed to Cory. "You made me look beautiful."

It was true. Eden was standing under the window in the third frame. Cory had obviously spent most of his time drawing her. The clothes, the hair, her face, were all exactly as they were that night.

"Earth to Eden," I said. "That's how you look. You *are* beautiful."

Eden and Cory were both blushing. Carla and I exchanged a look. Cory quickly took the sheets back and tucked them furtively into a folder.

"Aren't you having lunch?" I asked him.

"I'm too upset to eat," he said.

"Hey, how come the cartoon is so big? Did you think they'd let you use a whole page?"

"No," he scoffed. "The original is even bigger. You draw it big, and shoot it small. You get better quality that way."

I didn't know that.

"What really bothers me," he went on, "Is that I spent hours on that cartoon, and now I can't use it."

"Does it really take that long?" Eden asked.

"Yes!" he replied. "First you have to work out the story and the layout, before you sketch it. After that, you draw it in pencil, and then you ink it. Plus, this one had a complicated background, with all those bricks..."

And all the details in Eden's mini-portrait...

"Couldn't you have left the bricks out?"

"If I left the bricks out, how would you climb the building?"

"Wouldn't it save time if you just drew it in ink in the first place?" I asked.

"No, because then you can't correct mistakes. One slip, and you have to start all over, from zero. You can't erase, cause it would smudge, and you can't use white-out, because it will look crappy."

Cory fidgeted and shifted in his chair. He looked over his shoulder at the food line. He jiggled his leg and licked his lips. "Uh, thanks for listening," he said abruptly. "I think I could eat something now. Laters!"

After he was gone, Carla beat me to the punch: "Oooh, Eden, did I see sparks fly? Did you hear music playing? Violins and angels singing?"

Eden turned red, and said, "What do you mean? I don't know what you're talking about."

"You like Cory don't you?" I said. She turned redder by way of response.

Carla observed, "And Cory obvious has the hots for you, girl."

Eden looked down and asked in a careful voice, "Why do you say that?"

"Why do you think he spent so much time drawing you?" I replied. "Everybody else in the cartoon was kinda sketchy, but he took a lot of time with you — it was like a tiny portrait."

"Oh," she said, smiling happily. "I didn't notice."

The Bye, Bye, Birdie dance tryouts were Thursday after school. We were almost the last ones up. I guess they were going in order of class, so as freshmen we were at the end of the line. By the time our turn came, I had it figured out. Anybody with real talent or training would get to be a featured dancer. The rest of us would be a dancing chorus.

I don't know exactly what a dancing chorus would do, or how it was different from the singing chorus, or the people who made up the crowds, but anyway, the dancing chorus was clearly for people who wanted to dance, but couldn't.

Eden started the music, and we ran through the routine. When we finished, there was silence. At first I didn't know what to think. I thought we'd done a good job. Nobody clapped or smiled. The two women running the tryouts whispered to each other for a couple of minutes. I glanced quizzically at Eden, and she shrugged.

Finally, one of the women asked, "Where did you get that routine?"

"Eden made it up," I said.

"And she taught it to you," she said. It wasn't a question, but I nodded in response.

"Have you ever danced before?" she asked me.

"No," I said.

"How long did you two practice?"

"About a week."

She nodded, then turned to Eden. "Listen, I can't make you a featured dancer because you're only a freshman. But how would you feel about helping me teach the actors to dance? I don't think we can count on them knowing one foot from the other, but they all have to dance."

"I'd love to!" she cried.

The woman looked relieved.

"Great!" she said. "I *really* need help with the one-on-one teaching. A number of kids here can dance, but you're the first one who can teach. You'll get a mention in the program for it."

Eden beamed.

"Good," the woman said. "Put your name, address, and phone number on this sheet here. I hope you can make this your only after-school activity until the show." Eden nodded. "And will you be available weekends?"

"Whatever it takes," Eden replied.

Wow! Talk about making a splash.

"And what about Marcie?" Eden asked.

"Who?" the woman asked, puzzled. Eden gestured to me. I waved and smiled.

The woman looked as if she'd utterly forgotten me.

"Oh. She can be in the chorus."