E-Mial My Heart

Chapter 1

She did it. She clicked the send button and off her letter went. Then the screen changed and a message popped up, “Your letter has been sent.” Nicole’s heart pounded in her chest. She couldn’t believe she had done it. What was she thinking? All of a sudden she had the urge to crawl under her bed and stay there until the end of second semester. Everyone would be talking about her until she went off to college. She could picture the kids at school walking around pointing at her, whispering, “How pathetic is she.”

Nicole clicked the back button so she could reread the sent email. Her whole body clinched as she read the sappy letter.

From: [e-mail]
To: “Travis Best” <[e-mail]>
Date: Friday January 10, 2003
Subject: Hi, Travis…!

Hi, Travis, you don’t know me that well, but I just wanted to let you know that I think you are the hottest guy in our class. Not only are you hot, but you’re also smart, creative and funny. I have wanted to tell you for five years how much I like you. But whenever I see you walking down the hallway I want to run the other way.

I know last month you broke up with your girlfriend, Kim. I read in a magazine that it’s always helpful for you to talk to someone if you break up with someone you’ve been dating for a while. And if you ever want to talk you can email me. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that. I guess I’ll be seeing you in school. 


Suddenly, she froze. When Nicole finished reading her email it was as if a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. She had forgotten to write her name! She had been so busy deciding whether or not to send the letter that she had forgotten to write her name

That night she slept easy, knowing that the next morning she wasn’t going to be the laughingstock of the entire school. She didn’t regret sending the email, she had wanted to tell Travis that she had liked him since they were in the seventh grade and now she had. Well, technically, she hadn’t. She hadn’t written her name, but that didn’t matter to Nicole.

When Nicole awakened on Monday morning she ran straight to her computer to see if Travis had returned her email, but to her disappointment he hadn’t. She waited for an email all weekend but had never received one. He must have been out of town this weekend, she told herself. She hadn’t asked him to email her back. Why would he want to email her back? She was nothing but a drooling mouthed girl with a crush. Depressed, she got dressed before driving to school.

Nicole parked near the school buses, got out and locked her door. As she was walking up the large entrance steps to the school, she noticed the cheerleading squad standing in a group in front of the school mascot’s statue. They were all laughing evilly while the captain, Travis’s old girlfriend, Kim, read from a sheet of paper. Nicole, being curious as what could be so amusing, walked over to the opposite side of the statue and sat her backpack on the ground. The school mascot, a beaver, had leant its name to the Beaver Dam football team, and their ever-popular cheerleading squad, the Beaverettes. She propped against the beaver’s base and pretended to tie her shoe. “…Hallway I want to run the other way.” Kim paused so the others could laugh. Then she started to read again, with a saccharine sweet voice resembling a six-year-old child.

“I know last month you broke up with your girlfriend, Kim.” Kim stopped reading and looked at the anxious faces, scrunched up her nose, and then went on reading. “I read in a magazine that it’s always helpful for you to talk to someone if you break up with someone you’ve been dating for a while. And if you ever want to talk you can email me. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that. I guess I’ll be seeing you in school.’ Isn’t that just the lamest thing you have ever heard?” Kim trilled, laughing so hard she had to hold her stomach. “What was this girl thinking? Doesn’t she have any self-respect?” Kim handed the letter to the other Beaverettes and Nicole’s email was passed around the group.

Nicole sat against the statue with her face in her hands. She leaned her head back against the statue’s base and stared up into the grinning eyes of the Beaver. Nicole hadn’t noticed from far away, but up close, the Beaver’s teeth where slightly crooked. She shook her head at her wild observations. The cheerleading team had just utterly humiliated her. Was that possible? It was. Nicole bent down and retrieved her backpack and was fixing to head to her first class when one of the Beaverettes spoke. “She didn’t even write her name. How are we supposed to know who wrote it?” The Beaverette had a point and Nicole sighed in relief. They couldn’t find out she had written the email and make her life miserable for it. She turned to leave again but Kim started shouting.

“You think I haven’t noticed? Hello, I’m not a complete idiot!” Nicole laughed silently to herself. She couldn’t believe a cheerleader had said that. In the movies, all the cheerleaders were idiots. Nicole was positive that there were some intelligent cheerleaders out there somewhere, she just had yet to meet any. Kim kept talking, ignoring the sniggers from the people who had overheard her shout. “I was thinking of maybe asking the computer geeks to hack their way into AOL to see if they can get a name from her email account.” Kim looked at the others smugly. All of the Beaverettes seemed satisfied except the one that noticed there hadn’t been a name.

“What makes you think they will help us?” The lone Beaverette questioned.

“Why, Heather, those geeks literally have a party if a cheerleader even looks at one of them.” Kim explained to her teammate. “I’ll ask one of them, they’ll blush, and we’re in. Got it? Now follow me.” All the Beaverettes marched through the entrance door and Nicole followed at a distance behind them as they walked to the computer lab.

Nicole couldn’t believe Kim knew about hacking. She had the IQ of a titsi fly. Nicole had actually started to worry. There was nothing a good hacker couldn’t hack into these days. Was this day going to get any worse? Yes, evidently it could. Before the cheerleaders reached their destination, Travis himself stepped into their path. He brushed his dark brown hair out of his face, which was pinched in anger, and snatched the printed email from Kim’s hand.

“What do you think you’re doing reading my email? We’re not dating anymore. You have no right checking my email. I just wanted to let you know that I called AOL and had them change my password this morning after I checked my email and discovered that they had already been read.” Travis furiously crumpled up the email and stuffed it into his pocket.

Nicole stood a few feet back, propped up against the wall as if she was waiting for the bell to ring. Kim had started fidgeting and pleating the bottom of her orange and gold striped cheerleading skirt. She tossed back her long blond mane and started to defend herself with lame excuses.

“I haven’t logged in on my computer since we broke up and when I logged in on Saturday it took me straight to your email box.” She ran her fingers through her hair and tilted her head to the side in an attempt to look innocent. She failed. Miserably.

“Okay, if that is the truth then why didn’t you just sign out of my account instead of reading my emails? Tell me that, Kim.” He asked angrily.

“Well, I was curious that’s all. No harm done. I just wanted to see if you were dating anyone new. But I see you have an admirer.” Kim started laughing, but Travis’s angry eyes glowering at her stopped her cold. “Come on,” She said seriously. “Don’t tell me you think that email is flattering?”

“What if I do?” Travis asked. “It’s nothing to you, what I do is my own business. Now stay out of my email. Got it?” Travis crossed his arms over his chest and waited impatiently for a reply.

“Fine, I hope you have fun with your desperate girlfriend.” Kim and the Beaverettes stormed off down the hallway. Nicole couldn’t believe this. Travis had defended her email. Now Kim couldn’t find out who had written it. She no longer had Nicole’s email address. But could Kim remember it? Nicole had to find out, so she slowly walked down the hall and passed Travis getting a knock out sniff of the spicy cologne he wore. She inhaled just enough to make her melt. He looked gorgeous standing there with his long arms crossed over his broad chest. He stood about a foot and a half taller than she. He didn’t even notice her as she walked by, she noted.

Nicole kept her head high and walked down the hall after Kim.

Chapter 2

Nicole couldn’t find Kim anywhere. She had been to the computer lab, the cafeteria, the library (as if), and to the lady’s restroom. If I were a ditzy cheerleader, where would I go? Nicole hit her head with the heel of her hand. Of course! Practice!

After first period she marched down to the football field. And there she was, with the rest of the cheerleading squad, practicing a routine along with a chanting song that could be heard from miles away. “Go Beaver Dams. Go, Go Beaver Dams Go. Go, Go, Go!” How original.

Nicole walked to the bottom of the bleachers so she could hear what they said after they had finished the cheer. After a few minutes of the same routine, they finally took a break. They walked over to the water canteen at the bottom bleachers, which happened to be beside Nicole. They paid Nicole no attention as they filled paper cups full of water. When they drank every drop of water they could get their hands on, no calories in water you know, Heather started a conversation about Nicole’s email.

“Do you really think the computer geeks can hack into AOL? I mean, they’re one of the best Internet services around, aren’t they?” Heather squirted herself another cup of water and sat on the bleachers.

“Of course they can. They’re hackers. They can hack into anything. I mean, it’s just an email address, how hard will it be to just get a name?” Kim drank the rest of the water in her cup then crumpled it and threw it to the ground. “And I know just the guy to ask.” Nicole bit her lip; she knew whom Kim was going to ask. Kim continued. “Cory James. Everyone knows he is the smartest computer geek in the whole school. And he has a major crush on me. One time, in tenth grade, I tripped over his backpack in the hallway and got a run in the knee of my tights. The next day he bought me a new pair and drove to my house to give them to me. He said he was so sorry for making me trip. I laughed for days. How pathetic is he?” Kim laughed along with the others. Nicole noticed that Heather hadn’t laughed. Maybe some cheerleaders weren’t all that bad, Heather just needed some new friends.

Nicole frowned, she felt the urge to punch Kim right in the face. How dare she talk about Cory like that? It was okay for Kim to talk about Nicole but not Cory. Cory was one of Nicole’s best friends. He was sweet, smart, sensitive and cute. And they had been friends since their freshman year. Nicole knew the end of Kim’s little story. Right after he handed her the tights she laughed in his face and slammed the door. Cory hadn’t had a crush on her; he had just wanted to be nice. That’s how he was, kind. After that fateful day, he said that he would never do anything nice for a cheerleader again. And he hadn’t.

After listening to the cheerleader’s pathetic conversations about hair, make-up, and dresses for the senior prom, which incidentally, was months away, Nicole heard the bell for second period. She dashed off the football field suddenly feeling glad that her second period class wasn’t that far from the field. She ran into the room just as her teacher started roll call.


After second period and lunch she hurried down to the computer lab hoping she could catch Cory and discover if the Beaverettes had asked him to hack yet. Breathlessly, she swung the door open to find Cory sitting in a chair facing the door smiling at her. “To late, Nic, they’ve already come and gone. And I have already hacked my way into AOL.” His smile grew larger at the expression of horror on her face. She was now officially the laughingstock of the entire school. The two juniors who got caught kissing in the supply closet and sent to the emergency room after getting their braces entwined were now old news.

“When Kim asked me to hack into the AOL account of class senior ’03 to obtain the identity I turned her down. Then they all became flirty and told me the 411; I still declined. But I was curious as to who would email something like that, so I hacked into AOL to satisfy my own curiosity.” Cory picked up a piece of paper fresh from the printer and smiled down at the paper. “I tried searching for the screen name class senior ’03, but there was no such account. And then I got to thinking. Maybe they got parts of the name inverted, so I typed in senior class ’03. But guess what? That wasn’t the correct account name either.”

Nicole knew he had found out it was she who had written the email. He was just playing with her. At this point, she was utterly terrified at what he would say and quite relieved that he hadn’t helped Kim. She felt her face flush. Cory looked up from the sheet of paper with an expression of amusement.

“Then I typed in senior class two thousand and three, and guess who’s name popped up? Nicole Annabel Crafter. Yours!” He folded up the paper and slid it into his back pocket. “Do you know what Kim would pay to know who wrote that email? I bet I could easily get a hundred bucks from her.” Nicole was furious.

“No!” Nicole shouted before she could rein in her temper and ran toward him. He caught her by the arm but she struggled to get her other hand into his pocket. Cory twisted and yelped when she ran her nails down his arm. Finally, he got hold of both her hands and pushed her a little away. He fumbled in his back pocket and handed her the account information.

“I don’t need the paper.” He said smiling and rubbed at the red welts on his arm. “You didn’t have to scratch, you know. I would have gladly given you the paper. You fight like a girl.” He laughed lightly.

“What do you want?” She muttered angrily. Tossing the black strands of her long hair out of her face and focused her blue eyes on Cory.

“What did you say?”

“You heard me, what do you want?” Nicole asked again through gritted teeth.

“Now, Nicole, what makes you think I want something from you?” He asked smiling.

Nicole eyed him in a way that told him she knew him better than he did. “Well, the last time you threatened me, you made me pretend to be your girlfriend while your cousin Russell visited last year. All because he already had four girlfriends at the age of thirteen.” Nicole glared at him and waited to see what this punishment was going to be.

“This is sort of gonna be like that. Except this time you don’t have to pretend to date me.” He explained while tugging his shirt straight, which had gotten pulled up on one side during their brief struggle and ran is fingers through his dirty-blonde, bowl-cut hair.

“Really? Then what is it?” She asked impatiently.

“I want you to go on a date with me.” He smiled smugly and waited for her answer.

“Isn’t that dating?” She asked in confusion.

“I’m asking you on a date. If it leads to dating, real dating, then that’s okay.” A streak of uncertainty flashed across his face and he crossed his arms over his chest.

“You’re asking me on a date? Why?” Nicole didn’t understand what was happening. One of her best friends was asking her out on a date. What was this world coming to? Friends don’t ask friends out on dates. Do they? Well, with the exception of Dawson’s Creek. “I thought you had your eye on Emily Higgins?” She asked carefully.

“I had my eye on you. I told you I liked Emily to see what your reaction would be. But you didn’t get jealous or even look upset. You actually tried to talk her into dating me. Nicole, I’ve liked you for a long time. I wanted to see if you liked me as well. Do you?” He asked.

“Of course I like you, you’re my best friend. But I don’t like you like that.” Sadness fell across his face and he put his hand by his side.

“What do you mean you don’t like me that way?”

“I like you as a friend, not as a boyfriend, Cory.” The sadness only deepened in his eyes. Nicole felt horrible. She didn't like seeing him like this. When did he start liking her? Nicole knew what it felt like to have a crush on someone who didn’t return your sentiment.

“If you don’t go out on a date with me, I’ll tell Kim you wrote that email. Just one date, Nic. That’s all I’m asking from you. If it makes you uncomfortable then we’ll go back to being just friends.”

“Fine, I’ll do it. But just one date. If I like it we’ll make it two and then so on. Is that okay?” Nicole asked.

“It’s perfect. How about we go out this Friday? I’ll pick you up at seven.”

“Okay…” she agreed with a smile. Cory smiled back, then walked over and hugged her before he went off to third period.

Chapter 3

Nicole was frantic. She didn’t know what to wear. It was already six-thirty Friday afternoon and she wasn’t even dressed. She had been debating on wearing casual or dressy clothes. This whole dating-Cory-thing was already making her uncomfortable.

Finally, after two hours of deliberating, she chose a pair of khaki flare Capri’s, a pink daisy tank top, and three inch khaki clogs with embroidered daisies on the side. It was partly dressy, partly casual. It was perfect. Then she glanced out the window at the bare trees and sighed. It was January. She couldn’t go outside in the thirty-degree weather wearing Capri’s and a tank top! What was she thinking? Unless they were flying to Florida or Hawaii for dinner she was going to freeze her tush off.

She threw on the very first outfit she had tried on, denim flare jeans that laced up the side and a tan v-neck lacy blouse that flared from her elbow to her wrist, just in time to hear her computer shout out “You’ve got mail.” Nicole scrambled to get her shoes on then she jetted to the monitor and clicked the mail icon. Nicole was surprised to see that the letter was sent from Travis.

Nicole’s fingers shook as she moved her mouse over the email. After a minute of deep breathing to calm herself she opened it.

From: “Travis Best” <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Date: Friday January 17, 2003
Subject: re: Hi, Travis…!

Sorry it took me so long to reply. I hope you didn’t think I wasn’t going to write back. I just really haven’t had that much time for anything, you know, with the football games and all. I really wish I knew your name. I really don’t know what to say. I am very flattered that you’ve liked me for five years. Have we ever met face to face before? I’m guessing since you didn’t write your name on the last email that you wouldn’t write it on the next. But could you please give me a clue? Can you tell me about yourself? You know, things you like and don’t like just to see if we have anything in common. Email me back. –Travis

Nicole had no idea what she would write. Should she tell him about herself? Would that be giving him too much information? Nicole told herself she would worry about Travis after her date because any moment now Cory would be arriving.

When seven-thirty arrived and Cory hadn’t picked her up for their date Nicole sat at her window seat and peered up and down the road. With every car light she saw coming down the road she expected to see Cory’s blue Honda Civic. But he never came.

After another ten minutes of waiting her phone rang and she rushed to her nightstand to retrieve the cordless phone.

“Hello.” She half-yelled into the phone receiver.

“Hey, Nic, it’s me.” Cory said. “I don’t think we should carry out this date.” Nicole was shocked; he had been so excited about it yesterday.

“Well, why?” She asked.

“I don’t know. Yesterday, when I got home, I started to think. I shouldn’t blackmail you into going out with me. That’s just not judicious. I want you to go out with me because you want to, not because I’m forcing you.” He sighed deeply into the phone.

“Well, why didn’t you tell me this today at school? I got all dressed up and everything.” She asked bitingly.

“I guess I was still deciding whether I should or shouldn’t.” Cory explained gently.

Cory had never backed out on a threat before. She had no idea what he was talking about. It’s not judicious! What did judicious mean anyway? She made a mental note to look it up later. “Okay, Cory, I guess I’ll see you in school on Monday. I have to go.” She was, of course, lying. She didn’t have to hang up she just didn’t want to talk to him anymore.

“You’re not mad at me for standing you up are you?” Cory asked hesitantly.

“No, of course not. You’re the one who wanted to go on this date. But anyway, I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay.” He said. Nicole hung up; she didn’t even say goodbye. She couldn’t. Nicole felt upset and disappointed. She didn’t know if the feelings had to do with the email or… had she really wanted to go out with Cory? No, that wasn’t possible. Cory was one of her best friends. She didn’t have feelings for him, at least, not that way. Or did she?

Nicole pushed her thoughts aside and focused on the email from Travis. What am I going to do about that? She silently asked herself.

An hour later, she sent Travis an email and told him about herself. Such as what sort of music she liked, what books she read, and what type of movies she watched. That night she didn’t receive a reply, nor did she receive one over the weekend.

On Monday morning, Nicole didn’t even want to get out of bed. Just knowing that she was going to have to see Cory, not to mention Travis, made her want to lie in her bed for the rest of her life. What was she going to do about Cory? How was she supposed to act normal around him? Should she acknowledge the date they almost had and talk about it with him? She decided to worry about that when the time came.

That morning was like any other day at South Pigmond High School. The cheerleaders practiced their cartwheels across the school lawn, groups of people chatted while they waited for the bell to ring that signaled the beginning of class, and, of course, the football team played with a hack-e-sack as if it were actually a football. They threw it to each other as they dove to catch it. And yet in the midst of the hack-e-sack football game, there sat a lone football player under the beaver statue looking out at all the girls with suspicion on his face. Travis was perusing all the girls as if one were going to jump up and scream I am your admirer!

Nicole climbed up the entrance steps and walked past Travis and the beaver statue without a backward glance. She knew if she paid too much attention or stared at him for any length of time he would probably think she was the one. Which she really was, but he didn’t know that, not just yet. Actually, she didn’t know if she wanted him to know, ever.

As Nicole turned the corner she saw that Cory stood next to her locker waiting for her. Nicole hadn’t expected to see him this early. She hadn’t even figured out what she was going to say to him. But as she drew closer to him, she was relieved when he spoke first. But her relief quickly evaporated and turned into disgust at what he had to say.

“So, I saw your boyfriend waiting for you outside.” Cory began in a teasing tone.

“He’s not my boyfriend. Now what do you want?” She asked curtly.

“I just wanted to talk about Friday night.” He said cautiously as if he were afraid she was going to get angry.

“What’s there to talk about?” She asked calmly, not wanting to lose her temper.

“Well, for one, why did you hang up the phone on me?”

“I told you, I had to go.” Nicole explained while working her combination. She didn’t want to look into those pleading green eyes. Nicole was getting mad at her locker, for some reason the numbers didn’t seem to want to work.

“Sure. Do you know that’s not your locker? This one is.” He pointed to the one he was leaning on.

“Oh.” She turned then worked the numbers into the lock of the locker Cory was leaned up against and it opened. “Is that all you wanted to ask?” She sorted through her locker and retrieved the books she needed for her first two classes.

“No, that’s it for now. See you later.” And he walked away. Nicole slammed her locker door shut as the bell rang.

Chapter 4

Nicole had no idea why she was in such a rotten mood for the rest of the day. She knew it had something to do with Cory. She had never realized how angry he could make her. Sometimes, after an argument with Cory, she felt like ripping her own hair out, but then she thought about how much doing so would hurt. So she remained in a nasty mood until she heard a rumor that Kim fell off the top of the human pyramid and had cut her eye on something. Now she had to wear a patch over her eye like a pirate for two weeks.

Nicole was in fifth period English class when she heard the news and couldn’t stop laughing. Not that someone getting hurt was funny, but Kim walking around resembling a female buccaneer with French-tip cotton-candy-pink fingernails was hysterical. Mr. Baker made her stand in the hallway until her fit of hilarity ended. She even had five points deducted from the surprise Shakespearean quiz they had to take. A punishment for talking, Mr. Baker had explained. Fifteen minutes later she returned to class giggle free.

As Nicole was walking toward her car after school she heard someone calling her name from the top of the entrance steps. She turned to find her friend, Rachel, scurrying down the steps trying to catch up with her. Nicole waited for her friend at the bottom steps before she asked Rachel what she wanted.

“Oh, I just wanted to ask you to do me this big favor. You know I helped you get He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named’s email address?” Nicole smiled at the Harry Potter reference. Then frowned as Rachel continued. “Now it’s pay-up time.” Rachel stood at the bottom of the steps with her hands on her hips and glared at Nicole with an expression that spoke volumes. Something that said “If you don’t help me, I’ll spill the beans to Travis about your email.” Nicole had no other choice but to agree to whatever it was that Rachel wanted her to do.

“Okay, but what do you want me to do?” Nicole unlocked her door and threw her bag into the backseat.

“Good. My decorations partner for the Senior Winter Dance bailed on me. The dance is next week and we haven’t even started yet. And I was thinking since you’re so good at art and all that you could help me.”

“Well, I guess I have no choice, do I?” Nicole turned back to her car and relocked the door before she followed Rachel back up the steps.

“You could say no if you wanted to.” She smiled evilly at Nicole. Nicole snorted and Rachel’s grin grew larger.

When they made it past the cheerleaders and football players standing in front of the gym Rachel quickly shut the door in their faces and placed a sign that read, “Students at work. Do not disturb.” on the window. Nicole could have sworn she saw every one of them stick up their middle fingers at them.

When Nicole got over being flipped off by the Beaver Dam’s team she turned and saw that art supplies were already sitting in the middle of the gym floor. Rachel had brought everything from scissors and glue to four-foot wide roles of tissue paper and regular white construction paper. There were red, purple, green, yellow, and four shades of blue tissue paper.

Rachel sat in the middle of the supplies. “What do you see when you think of winter, Nicole? Have any ideas for me?” she asked.

“When I think of winter I think of snow, frost, ice, and bare-limbed trees.”

“Well, that’s a good start. But what kind of activities would you do in the winter?” Rachel reached into her backpack and pulled out a spiral notebook so she could start writing ideas down.

“Some people ski. There is ice skating, the winter Olympics, snowball fights, sledding, and outside jacuzzis.”

“I definitely like the skiing and the ice skating, but snowball fights and sledding is a bit childish for a senior dance. The winter Olympics aren’t till 2006, and I don’t know about the jacuzzi idea. Maybe Cory will have some other ideas…”

“You didn’t tell me Cory was coming. Why did you ask me to help you if you had already asked Cory?” Nicole did not want to work beside Cory for hours. She would go mental and possibly stab him with her scissors. She probably wouldn’t do that, but she certainly didn’t like the idea of hearing him make fun of her over that stupid email. And then he would get Rachel to make fun of her because they both knew.

“Cory won’t be here for an hour, and I needed help now.” Rachel was sketching mountains with ice caps on top and a little ski guy sliding down the side.

“Why, what’s he doing?” Nicole wanted to leave before he arrived.

“I don’t know. He’s building a website for the school. He said an hour but who knows what time he’ll show up?” Rachel stopped drawing and looked up at Nicole. “You’re not going to leave before he comes are you?”

“I was thinking about it.” Nicole jerked the notebook out of Rachel’s hand and started drawing a couple drinking from champagne glasses sitting in a large jacuzzi with snow falling all around them.

“Why?” Rachel asked insistently.

“It’s awkward.”

“Awkward? It’s not because of that date thing is it?” Nicole was shocked.

“How did you know about that? Is he telling everyone?”

“He didn’t tell everyone. Just me.” She jerked the notebook back and stared at the new drawing beside her mountains. “You know, now that I see the jacuzzi thing on paper I actually like it. Except we would have to change the champagne into like Pepsi or something. This is really good.”

“Thank you. Use grape juice instead of Pepsi. What did he say?” Nicole asked curiously.

“Grape juice would be cool. He said that he really wanted to go on that date, but he didn’t want to force you to go. He really likes you, Nicole. He told me he’s wanted to ask you out since freshman year, but you two became such good friends and he didn’t want to ruin that. He said he would rather have you as a friend than nothing at all.”

Nicole sat staring at Rachel for a few seconds in silence before Rachel continued. “Nicole, I know you like Travis and all, but come on. I know you’re pretty, but Travis only dates the cheerleader type. Once he finds out it was you that wrote that email he won’t give you the time of day.”

Nicole started to get angry. Rachel didn’t know anything about Travis. He was kind and smart. He would date her even though she was not a cheerleader. “For your information, he emailed me back and said he was flattered that I’ve liked him for the past five years.”

“Of course he is. He has another girl at South Pigmond High School groveling at his feet.” After that telling statement, Rachel and Nicole lapsed into silence. When Cory came running through the door an hour later Rachel whispered firmly, “If you leave I’ll tell the whole school you are the anonymous person who emailed Travis Best.”

Nicole didn’t respond. She felt her face turn red with anger. Cory walked up and gazed at Nicole’s red face, and smiled. “What did I miss?” he asked.

They had decided to use the jacuzzi idea. “It shows romance in a winter scene. We definitely need a little romance at the dance. We could combine winter and Valentine’s Day. That would be fun, don’t you think?” Corey asked.

“Ya know, I had totally forgotten about Valentine’s Day. I can see how I would forget, I mean I don’t have a boyfriend. I have no life. But I guess it would be a cool idea. ‘Winter Valentine’s Day Dance’. It has a nice ring to it. What do you think, Nicole?” Nicole was too busy cutting out snowflakes to answer, so she just nodded.

An hour later they had a box full of snowflakes and hearts. Nicole was coloring white swirls in her newly cut navy blue jacuzzi so it would look marble. Cory helped Rachel cut out her fifty-foot long mountain range.

Nicole thought, what if people wanted only a Valentine’s Day Dance instead of ‘Winter Valentine’s Day’? “You guys, I was thinking maybe we could section off the gym. One half will be dedicated to Valentine’s Day and the other half to winter. Then everyone could choose which one they want to celebrate. Don’t you think that would be cool?”

“Yeah, and on the winter side we can rent a fog machine, and on the Valentine’s side we can throw rose petals on the floor.” Rachel suggested excitedly. Cory liked Nicole’s idea, too. He offered his brother’s fog machine for the dance.

Chapter 5

By the time Nicole got home it was six-thirty. She was too tired to eat dinner with her family so she told them to save her a plate and she would eat it later. She ran upstairs and climbed into bed for a quick nap. She woke up at seven-forty.

She went straight to the kitchen and ate alone at the kitchen table thinking about the decorations for the dance. She totally liked the idea of the rose petals on the Valentine’s side. She decided it would be prettier if they used a mixture of pink and red rose petals.

After she ate, took a bath, and put warm pajamas on fresh from the dryer she went back to her room. Her computer caught her eye when she entered her room. There was a red flashing box on the screen that read “You’ve got mail.” Happily, Nicole quickly walked to her computer and checked her email. It was from Travis.

From: “Travis Best” <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]
Date: Friday January 20, 2003
Subject: Hi you?

I looked for you today. I looked for a girl wearing a No Doubt T-shirt but had no luck. Did you see me sitting under the Beaver checking out all the girls that walked passed? You probably did. Listen, I really want to meet you. There is this dance coming up next week, maybe we can meet there. Just tell me what color dress you’re going to be wearing and I’ll keep a look out for you. Let me know soon, okay? -Travis

After Nicole finished reading Travis’s email, the phone rang. She was so startled that she almost fell off of her seat. Nicole slowly walked to the phone and answered it on the fourth ring.

“He-Hello?” She asked.

“No, Nicole, this is not Travis.” Nicole was shocked at how Cory had known what was running through her head.

“Huh?” Was that all she could come up with? Where was her witty repertoire? Where were her sassy comebacks? She sighed deeply.

“I’m at Brad’s house,” Cory informed her. Brad lived next door to Nicole. His bedroom window directly faced hers. She walked over to stand in front of the window and looked out over at Brad’s balcony. “You have your curtains pulled open and when I saw you hurry to your computer, I hacked into your account and read the email as you did.”

“Why did you do that? You know, email is private. That’s why every account has a password so people as nosey as you won’t read other people’s email.” Nicole was so mad she punched the OFF button on the handheld and threw it onto the bed. After a few seconds, she heard tapping on her window. She knew who it was and she did not want to see him.

Tap-tap. “Come on, Nicole, open your window.” It was Cory standing on Brad’s balcony. “Please? Come out! I have to talk to you.”

Nicole raised her window halfway. “What about?” she yelled angrily. As if she didn’t know.

“About the email and Travis.” Surprise, surprise, she thought to herself. Finally, Nicole pulled her window all the way up and stuck her head out.

“Go on, then, talk.” She urged.

“Okay, well, anyway. I’ve heard that Travis is dating Kim again.” Cory broke the news with concern.

“And what does that have to do with me?” Nicole asked sarcastically.

“Well, why would he want to meet up with you at the dance if he already has a date?” Cory crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the balcony railing. “I’m thinking he’s playing you and he’s going to pull some kind of stunt and pour pig’s blood on you.”

“Cory, you’ve been watching too many movies.” Nicole laughed but stopped when Cory didn’t laugh with her. “Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself.” Nicole closed her window and blinds. She sat back at her computer and emailed Travis. She told him that she would be happy to meet him at the dance. She told him she would be wearing a yellow dress, all the while, planning on wearing her new purple sheath just in case Cory was right about the pig’s blood.

The week passed by quickly and the dance props were set up and looked perfect. It looked exactly the way Nicole had pictured it in her head. Foggy on the winter side with petals on the Valentine’s side. The whole room sparkled with red and silver glitter. Nicole, Cory, and Rachel were, of course, the first ones to arrive and were very happy to see the awed expressions on the seniors’ faces when they arrived in their formal wear. All three of them handed out pink and red roses to the girls.

Moments passed and more people arrived. Some accompanied by dates, some with groups of friends and some showing up stag. About thirty minutes into the dance, Kim and Travis arrived together. So Cory was right about their reconciliation, Nicole thought to herself. Kim snubbed Nicole as she handed her a rose, but Nicole made sure she gave Kim the rose with the brownest spots. When Kim looked at the old flower she threw it to the floor and glared at Nicole through her one good eye. Nicole wasn’t going to give Kim the pleasure of handing her another rose. “One rose per person. Sorry you threw yours on the floor,” Nicole said with a smile.

“You meant to give me a dead one.” Kim shrieked with anger. Yeah, Nicole thought, it matches your personality. Dead.

“Move along, you’re backing up the line.” Rachel warned Kim. Kim stuck up her nose and strutted away clinching Travis’s arm.

“That wasn’t nice.” Cory scolded Nicole with a smile.

“Was that a pirate’s patch? Let me just say fluffy, pink dresses don’t go so well with a patch over your eye. She looked ridiculous. This isn’t Halloween. Why do you suppose she wore that?” Rachel asked looking at Cory and Nicole who were laughing so hard they couldn’t answer.

After they explained that Kim fell off the top of the pyramid and cut her eye on a pom-pom string Rachel laughed. “Serves her right for being such a snob.” Rachel said without compassion.

After the three of them finished handing out flowers they joined the dance which was in full swing. Nicole caught sight of Travis roaming through the throng of dancing students searching for a girl in a yellow dress. Travis glanced over at Nicole and slowly walked up to her. For a second, Nicole thought he knew it was she he was searching for, but he just wanted to know if while she had been handing out roses had she seen a girl walk in wearing a yellow dress. Nicole informed him that she had seen a lot of girls wearing yellow dresses. Travis thanked her and walked off.

Nicole followed him to see where he was headed. He walked all the way to the winter setting and stopped when he reached Kim. Nicole hid behind an iceberg and listened closely to Kim and Travis's conversation.

“I can’t find her. Every girl in a yellow dress has a date.” Travis informed Kim.

“Well, you better find her. We can’t expose her if we don’t know who she is.” Kim whispered.

“Why exactly do we want to expose her?” Travis asked.

“Because I’m curious to see who could be so corny. This girl has to be put in her place. If she’s not, I’ll go crazy.” Nicole heard Kim stomp her foot to the floor. “No one talks to my man.”

“But we weren’t dating then.”

“That doesn’t matter. You were still my man. Now go find her.” Kim instructed Travis. And to Nicole’s surprise, he did as she said.

But Nicole had strange feelings about all that they had said. She didn’t care that Travis didn’t like her. Actually, she didn’t like him all that much either. Why had she thought she had liked him all these years? Her heart hadn’t broken in two at his deception. She didn’t feel sad or angry. Then Nicole started to think that the only person who could really ever make her angry or sad was Cory. Was it true? Did she actually have feelings for him?

Nicole started to remember the night they were supposed to have gone out. She had been sad for some reason. She had thought it had been over the email that Travis had sent her. But now she knew. She had been disappointed that Cory hadn’t shown up. She was in love with Cory. She had no idea when that had happened. Maybe she had always been in love with him and just hadn’t known it. A rude, idiotic, football player had blinded her from her true feelings.

Nicole scanned the gym looking for Cory. She spotted him standing in the middle of both scenes looking at the photo booths. He must be trying to figure out whether to have a nice normal Valentine’s photo taken or whether he wanted to have a picture taken with the abominable snowman. The abominable snowman had been a last minute idea that seemed to be a hit. Looking at him from across the room, she relized that she had never known how handsome he was. He was more gorgeous than Travis could ever be. Nicole casually walked toward him and stood by his side. “Are you happy that you were right?” Nicole asked him.

Cory looked down at her. “What?” Cory asked.

“You were right about Travis. He and Kim wanted to expose me. And I think Kim wanted to kick my butt for emailing her boyfriend.” Cory gazed at her in sympathy. There was also a trace of sadness in his green eyes.

“Sorry, I knew how much you liked him.” Nicole couldn’t help but think that she had broken his heart. Nicole mentally slapped herself.

Then she started to laugh and couldn’t stop. Whenever she started laughing she had always had a big problem stopping. Cory looked at her as if she were crazy.

“I don’t see why you’re laughing. Isn’t your heart broken because the guy you love doesn’t reciprocate?” He eyes narrowed in his confusion.

“He does.” Nicole smiled at Cory who was still looked confused. “Want to dance?” She asked him. Realization dawned in his eyes and he smiled slowly. “Sure,” He said. He took her hand and they walked to the Valentine’s Day section and started dancing to Britney Spears, E-Mail My Heart.

That night when Nicole got home she went straight upstairs and emailed Travis.

From: [e-mail]
To: “Travis Best” <[e-mail]>
Date: Friday January 31, 2003
Subject: YOU…

I’m sorry to inform you that I no longer have a crush on you. Actually, I think I never did. And, if truth be told, I don’t think I’m all that sorry. Yes, I think you're cute and you are a good football player but I think you would make a terrible boyfriend. You’d have to be to date Kim. I overheard your conversation with Kim. About how you both wanted to expose me. Anyway don’t email me back. See YOU at school. -Anonymous

About five minutes after Nicole sent the email she received one herself. It was from Cory.

“Very well written.” Said the one-lined email. Nicole’s eyes narrowed. Why did he insist on hacking into her account? Nicole opened up a new page and began to type.

“Stop hacking into my account. I know we’re dating and all, but it still doesn’t give you the right to invade my privacy. And I want a copy of our picture with the abominable snowman.” Nicole typed. She waited for his reply. And sure enough she got one.

“Fine. I’ll give you my password so you can check my account. Deal? You’ll have a copy of the picture tomorrow.” Nicole thought this was fair so she emailed him her reply.

“Deal, what’s the password?” She emailed.

He emailed her a digital greeting card. It had a bunch of hearts on it and then a little bear came walking up carrying a sign with a message.

It read, “My password has always been, ilovenicole…”