thank Robert, but he was already out the door. I turned to Claudia and smiled.
"Should we go in?"
Chapter Twenty-Three
Popping into the party from the laundry room seemed risky. Probably no one would notice, but if someone did, it would be tough to explain. Instead, we slid out the side door and walked to the front, making sure no one saw us lurking in the shadows.
"Wait," Claudia said as I was about to open the door. "We stick together tonight, right?"
Claudia shifted uncomfortably, tugging on her hem and adjusting her jacket. Was she nervous?
"We totally stick together."
Claudia nodded. I opened the door, and we walked into our first Populazzi party.
Despite the title, not all the guests were Populazzi. They were there in force: all the juniors, a few seniors, a bunch of sophomores, even a couple freshman Populazzi had made the cut. But the house was full, and a lot of the partiers were plucked from upper-level Cubby Crews, like the Cosmopolitans, the Jocks, the Alts, the Cheer-Girls (Cheer-Boys were so not upper-level), and the Scenesters.
Claude and I did a recon loop. The living room was all about people playing and watching Wii on a big-screen TV. The kitchen was packed with people, food, and drinks—including a keg of beer. The dining room was the heart of the party. All the furniture had been pushed against the wall, and a docked iPod blared old-school funk for everyone on the crowded floor.
Trista Camello danced in the absolute center of the room, surrounded by friends and admirers. She wore a black strapless, lacy sheath of a dress with an impossibly high hemline. No one else at Chrysella could pull off that look. On her it looked perfectly natural.
"Behold the Supreme Populazzi," I whispered to Claudia.
"You think?" Claudia whispered back. "I can already feel myself falling into orbit."
That was exactly it. Trista was the sun. The whole party rotated around her gravitational center. She dazzled with heat and light. The closer you were to her, the hotter and brighter you glowed, too.
I was so grateful Claudia was there. On my own I'd have felt awkward and out of place. With her by my side, the party felt like a grand sociological experiment arranged just for us. We'd love every second.
I was about to point out the rest of the guest highlights when I felt someone sidle behind us. A low voice said, "Hey ... you don't go to Chrysella, do you?"
It was Marsh Kinsey, a junior class Penultimate. He was meltworthy ... and he was staring at Claudia like she was a work of art.
"I don't," she said simply.
Claudia never said anything simply.
Then she smiled shyly.
Shyly?
"I didn't think so," Marsh said. "If I'd seen you around, we'd definitely have been hanging."
That was his line? I tried to catch Claudia's eye, but she was all about Marsh.
"I'm Claudia," she said.
"You're beautiful," he replied. "You like dancing?"
"I love it," Claudia said—which was a total lie!
Marsh took her hand and led her closer to the sun. Of course they looked beautiful together, dancing in Trista's glow. Marsh's eyes seemed glued to Claudia, but when he finally glanced away, she looked at me and mouthed, OH MY GOD!
Wait—didn't Marsh have a girlfriend? I'd always seen him in the halls with Ree-Ree Wenderoth, another junior class Penultimate. I looked around, but Ree-Ree wasn't in the room. Had I seen her in the living room or kitchen? I couldn't remember for sure, but I didn't think so. Was she sick? Was Marsh fooling around on her? I doubted it. Ree-Ree was one of Trista's girls. If Marsh was fooling around on her, Trista would have to say something or at least look unhappy about it, right?
Marsh and Ree-Ree must have broken up. And Claudia was his rebound girl. Awesome.
I was psyched for Claudia, but I was also exactly where I didn't want to be: alone at a Populazzi party. I was very aware of standing by myself, watching the Populazzi dance. If people noticed me, they'd think I was pathetic. I had to move.
I wandered back to the living room. Eddie Riegert and another guy were having a Wii Sports Resort sword duel. I wondered how they'd react if they knew they were playing pretty much the exact same game as the two Happy Hopeless across the street. Then again, Robert had said he and Eddie used to be friends, so maybe it wasn't that big a coincidence after all.
I scanned the crowd for friendly faces and found none, so