"Of course. Go get ready," she ordered. "Daddy and Mrs. Fennel expect us both to be preparing for tonight. They just don't know the target. Go!" she ordered when she saw I was still hesitating.
I hurried to my room. Marla swooped in like some buzzard moments after I began my preparations.
"What do you want?" I asked her. She was annoying me now.
"I just want to watch. You're so lucky going out with Ava again, especially tonight."
I tried to ignore her, but she was making me jittery and uptight. Nothing was going the way I wanted it to go. My hair was difficult, and whatever I chose to wear seemed wrong. Finally, more curious about her now than she was about me and my night, I turned to her to put her in the spotlight instead of me. "Tell me something, Marla. Did you ever have a secret crush on any boy? Do you have one now?"
"Crush? No," she said. "Not like you mean," she added after a moment.
"How do I mean?"
"Love and all that gook."
