Never Slow Dance with a Zombie - By E. Van Lowe Page 0,41

moved to the door. Three-two-one. I yanked it open just as Dirk's sister was about to make contact again. She came flying past me--well, flying for a zombie--into the bathroom, tripped, and fell into the tub.

I threw her toothbrush at her. "You need to use that more often," I called. Then I ran from the room. When I got to the bottom of the stairs I didn't see Dirk's daddy, but I could hear him. The front door hung wide open. As I raced down the hall past the den I heard Mrs. Conrad trying to calm her husband. I figured it wouldn't be long before she joined the rest of her family among the living dead. Her life of denial was coming to an end.

I exited, slamming the door. There. I'd finally met my boyfriend's family.

As we walked home, Baron and Milton were giddy with success.

"We did it, homie!" Milton called.

"The name's Chomsky. Baron Chomsky," Baron called back. They laughed and high-fived down the street.

"Hey. Let's sing a Christmas carol," Baron called.

"Why?" asked Milton.

"It's the holiday season, and I'm filled with the spirit. '0 come all ye faithful... " he began. Within moments Milton joined him.

" 'Joyful and triumphant

Jubilant with their victory, their voices carried into the night. I kept an eye peeled. This was the kind of thing that could attract unwanted attention.

"Baron, you have a lovely voice," Sybil said when they finished. "It's kind of sexy."

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"Really?" I'm sure that was the first time sexy had been used to describe anything Baron had ever done.

"Mmmra, yeah," she said in a voice smooth like velvet.

I gagged. Could she be any more obvious?

"Urn ... thanks."Baron was at a loss for words. He was the one who usually did the flirting. Being flirted with was brand-new for him.

"I think our voices complement each other. Let's do another one. I'm going to carol next to you for the rest of the night."

Baron looked at me. I pretended not to notice, keeping my eyes straight ahead.

"How about 'Silent Night?" he asked. There was an uneasiness to his words.

Sybil sidled up next to him. "I love that one."

"Umm. Me too ... Cute Stuff."

Cute Stuff?

And just like that, two years of pining for me were tossed out the window like dirty dishwater.

She grabbed his hand as we walked, oohing appropriately when he did his phony accent. I was embarrassed for her, pretending to be interested in the pathetic geek just to make me jealous. Sad.

"Umm, what's going on?" Milton asked. Baron and Sybil were halfway down the block. They had finished caroling, and he was demonstrating the zombie death grip he'd learned in the video game Zombie Slayers. "Did you and Baron have a fight or something?"

"No. Why would you say that?"

"I always thought you were Baron's girl."

"Please! Baron is just an annoying classmate. I have a boyfriend."

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"Urn. Okay." He thought for a second. "The antidote we've been working on is almost ready. Maybe you should rethink your relationship with Baron."

"Why's that?"

"Because we're about to be big shots around here. When we turn everyone back to normal we are going to be the big dogs."

"Really?"

"Yep." A beat and then, "Nothing against you, Margot. I think you're cool and all, but I'm going to take Amanda Culpepper to the prom."

I stared at him.

"I mean, how would it look, me going out with the girl my best friend just dumped? Now that I'm about to be The Man I have a reputation to uphold. Sorry."

Talk about delusional. The geeks had convinced themselves that turning everyone back to normal would catapult them to the top of the food chain. Boy, are they in for a rude awakening.

Speaking of rude awakenings, I was in the midst of one myself with Sybil. I couldn't believe she would mislead a poor, defenseless geek. How cruel.

We left Baron and Milton in front of the school. They were headed to their lab to work on the antidote. Sybil and I retreated to my bedroom, where we sipped hot chocolate. The only reason I allowed her to come back with me was to give her a piece of my mind.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"What do you mean?" she asked as she blew on her chocolate.

"Why are you flirting with Baron?"

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"I like him." She plucked a dab of marshmallow from the chocolate and sucked it from her finger.

"No, you don't. Baron's a geek."

"Not to me." She sat on the edge of my bed and pretended to thumb through a fashion magazine.

"And he's my geek."