《Evolve》22 - Dance Fever
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"Okay, now we're gonna talk about demographics," Mr Bender says. "Now I know it sounds complicated, but it's really not. You see, sometimes a company wants to sell a product to men, sometimes to women, or sometimes age is an issue if they want to just-"
A beep cuts him off, coming from Zoey's laptop. I watch Chase lean in to whisper to her and figure that he's the one who sent the message.
"Zoey?" Mr Bender asks.
"Um, yes, sir?" She asks, brightly.
"You knows there's a rule against instant messaging in class." Were you?"
"Maybe," she admits.
He puts his hands on his hips, "well, if your IM is so important then why don't you read it out loud to the class?" I hiss through my teeth at the thought.
A message comes through on my laptop, which is muted, and so Bender doesn't notice.
Loganator: amateurs
I nudge him, and he smirks, as we watch the confrontation occurring just a table away.
"Um, I don't think you want me to do that," Zoey tells Bender.
He insists, "read the message."
"Hey, Zo, you think Mr Bender knows his zipper's down?" She reads the message and people begin to laugh. Bender looks down and hurries to fix his zipper, turning away from us in embarrassment.
"Oh, boy, that's stuck. Uh, does anyone have pliers?"
I send a quick message back to Logan during the kerfuffle.
Harpy: I'm kinda glad they got caught. lol
Two older students enter the classroom, all excited and preppy. "Excuse us, Mr Bender?"
"Hey, Todd," our teacher says, turning to face them with his zip area covered by a clipboard.
"Can Debra and I make an announcement to the class?" Todd asks.
"Yes!"
"Thanks," Debra says. "Hey, fellow PCA students!"
"What's up, Stingrays! Yeah!" Todd adds. The whole class is silent, despite their jovial greeting.
"Now, I know we don't have to remind you that the PCA school dance is coming up," Debra says, and I remember for the first time in a month that there is going to be a school dance.
"And I'm sure that some of you have thought about who you'd like to ask." I catch Chase looking at Zoey as Todd says this, and hide my grin.
"Now, asking someone to a dance can be a little awkward."
"So this year, you don't have to!"
I don't know what he could mean, and luckily Logan asks, "why not?"
"Cause we thought it would be so much funner if we all took personality tests and then had a computer match us up based on how compatible our personalities are!"
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"Personality tests rock!" Todd says, and I roll my eyes.
Debra turns to the class, "any questions?"
Chase raises his hand, "yeah, uh, how do we get out of doing this?"
"Oh, come on," Zebra says, "it's gonna be super fun!"
"You'll all get to meet a new person who shares the same interests as you," Todd says. I think it's odd that they're pairing us up by how similar we are, since that's not really how I gather relationships to work.
"Your perfect match!"
"So just go online to PCAtest.com, fill out your personality test," Todd begins.
Debra finishes for him, "then email it in, the computer will do it's thing, and poof!"
"You've got a date to the dance!"
I've already got the website up and am looking at the test, which seems both too specific and also like it won't learn anything about me.
"Yeah!" Debra cheers, and I frown. The class is as silent as I am unimpressed.
"Got it!" Bender says, as he finally fixes his zip. "Got my zipper up," he explains to the older students.
The class ends and I walk with Logan. "Are you going to take the test?" I ask.
"Probably," he tells me, "but it seems like a lot of work for a dance." I look at him, surprised by his laziness.
"At least it guarantees a date," I mumble, already afraid to find out who my date will be. He scoffs at my response, and I glare at him. "What?"
"Like you'd have trouble finding a date," he laughs.
"Oh, please, when was the last time any guy showed any interest in me?" He goes quiet. "See?"
"Hey, guys," I jump at the sudden pressure on my shoulder as Chase appears next to us.
"Hey," Logan says, as I give a smile and wave. We walk over to a picnic bench, and Chase begins talking about the dance, of course.
"This whole dance, the computer match-up thing, it's a big problem!" I can't help but laugh.
"Yeah, I know what your problem is," Logan says, as we all sit down.
"What do you mean?" The taller boy asks, and Logan and I share a smirk.
"You don't wanna get matched up with someone, cause you wanna ask Zoey," Logan explains.
"Which you can still do," I point out, hugging my legs to my chest.
"Guys, when are you gonna get it through your head that I just like Zoey as a friend?"
"When you only like Zoey as a friend," I say.
"No, no, fine," Logan says, gesturing to me that he's got this, "then we won't tell you how you could take Zoey to the dance."
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He gets up and Chase blocks his path. "Well, you know, just out of curiosity," Chase says, stumbling over his words. "How could I take her?" He pushes Logan back to the bench and I laugh at his obvious crush, which he barely tries to hide.
"Okay, the computer matches you up with someone based on the answers you give on your compatibility test, right?" I listen carefully, not sure where he's going with his advice.
"Yes?"
"Yeah, so?"
"Then all you gotta do is answer your questions the same way Zoey would."
I freeze, "that's smart. Logan you said something smart!" He looks a little too proud of himself, and I almost regret the compliment.
"But I don't know how Zoey's gonna answer the questions," Chase says.
"Well, then you'd better find out. Cause if you can match her answers, then you get matched up with Zoey," he tells Chase.
"Oh, come on, that's, that's brilliant!" Chase says, realising halfway into his sentence that Logan has a good point.
"Hey, some guys are brilliant, some guys are great looking, I just happen to be both! Later, man." The do a handshake and I follow Logan, slapping a hand on Chase's shoulder as I pass him.
"Later."
"Bye, Chase."
The next day, we're walking around, hoping to find a nice place to do the tests together, but Logan is acting a little weirder than I'm used to.
"So, where're we doing these tests?" He asks, and I shrug. "Hey, how about on the grass, right here?"
"Sure," I say, throwing my bag down and settling in with my laptop. Logan leaves for a few minutes, and returns with a kid, some beach towels, and a radio.
"Hey, Harp, take a seat," he says as the kid lays out the towels next to each other.
"Uh, Logan," I say, watching him put his shirt into his backpack and lay down. "What are you doing? Did you get changed?"
"We're doing the personality test, right? Well I'm gonna get a tan at the same time, because I'm brilliant," he tells me, and I don't know what to say.
So I sit down.
The towel is comfy, and I lay on my front, laptop in front of me, and the sun warming my back. I look to my left and can't help the expression of disbelief that crosses my face as I look at Logan's face, since he's now wearing sunglasses. The other kid joins us, sitting to logan's right, and begins the test.
We do the tests, and I'm halfway through when the kid asks, "okay, what is your best quality?"
"Just one?" Logan asks. "That's insane, I have, like, nine hundred amazing qualities."
"Put down that he's super humble," I say seriously, then break into laughter, even at the thought.
Nicole walks by and stops when she sees us, "Logan, what are you doing? Harper, why are you encouraging this?" I smile awkwardly at her.
"We're answering our questions for the dance match-up thing. Patrick's typing for me."
"I wasn't sure at first, but it's so comfy here," I tell her, and then, "and Patrick's fine with it." I point at the red headed boy, who nods at what I'm saying.
"Why?" She asks him.
"He gave me nine dollars," he says.
Nicole turns back on our mutual friend, "can't you type your own answers?"
"Not while I'm tanning," he states.
"Nicole, usually I'd agree with you , but please don't ruin this," I beg, sipping the Blix that Patrick had gotten for me when I'd mentioned that I was thirsty.
"Hey, hand me that lotion, would you?" Patrick passes Logan the lotion and then returns to the quiz.
"Alright, so, I need your best quality."
"Just put," Logan sits up for the first time in an hour, thinking about it seriously. "All of them."
The rest of the test is easy, and I finish mine up, then watch Logan's get typed out. When the tests are both finished we just stay on the towels until we get hungry, turning the radio on and tanning. I don't think about the test again until the results are posted.
"Okay, settle down, settle down," Todd says. "The computer has tabulate the results of your personality tests!"
"And we've posted your matches for the dance on the board behind us!" Debra says.
"So, if you'll just form an orderly line-" Todd goes ignored as people push to see who they're going to the dance with.
I hang back, until it clears a little. I go over when most people have left, and try to find my name.
"Oh, man," I hear Logan say, and look over. "Dana?"
"Logan? No way," Dana says, and I grin, already considering a betting pool for how long it'll take for her to kill him.
I find my own name and see that I'm paired up with a boy called, "Mason Potts?"
"You must be Harper," I hear, and turn to see a tall boy standing in front of me. "I'm Mason!"
I smile at him, "nice to meet you, Mason. So, we're going to the dance together, huh?"
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