Free Vegan Virgin Valentine by Carolyn Mackler Page A

Lola is the seductress who works for the devil. She’s also the best part in the play.
    Mindy Vance tapped my shoulder. “Isn’t she, like, your niece or something?”
    “Yeah,” I said, nodding.
    When the bell rang, I darted into the nearest bathroom. We’re not supposed to use our cell phones in school, but I speed-dialed my dad.
    “Did you hear?”
    “Mom and I have both heard! V called us from her cell phone when she saw the cast list. She was crying.”
    V crying?
Wow.
    “It’s a wonderful day for the Valentines,” my dad said.
    The day got even more wonderful when Mr. B summoned me into his office on my way out of school.
    “I heard about your … errr … about Vivienne,” he said.
    I set my bag down next to my chair. “You mean V?”
    “Ms. Green told me that she was highly impressed with her stage presence. I’m glad that Vivi … V was able to turn things around from her initial bumpy start. That’s what we’re about at Brockport High School. Second chances.”
    I glanced at the bowl of Jelly Bellies on his desk.
    “I bet you’re wondering why I called you in here,” he said after a moment.
    I nodded.
    Mr. B raised his unibrow like a levitating caterpillar. “I wanted to talk to you about your grade-point average.”
    “My GPA? Everything’s okay, right?”
    Mr. B laughed. “Of course, Mara. We wouldn’t expect anything less from you.”
    Phew.
    “I imagine you know that third-quarter report cards are coming out this Friday.”
    I nodded.
    “And I imagine you know that I already have those scores in my computer.”
    I hadn’t known that, but I nodded anyway, just to hurry him to the finish line.
    “And I imagine you know how close your GPA is to Travis Hart’s.”
    Oh, yeah, maybe I knew something about that.
    “You two have been neck and neck all year,” he said. “In all my years as vice principal, I’ve never seen such a close race for the number-one class ranking.”
    Come on, come on!
    “But I just wanted to say—and I’m going to speak with Travis about this, too—that there are no winners or losers…”
    Yeah, right.
    “And whoever gets that second-place title has to remember that they are still number
two
in the entire class and they’ve still…”
    I could barely stand it. I squeezed my hands into fists and bit down on my tongue.
    “ … made Brockport High School proud and they still are—”
    “What’s my GPA this quarter?”
    Mr. B laughed. As he did, his long strands covering the bald spot slid precariously forward. “I can’t reveal your exact grades, but as I said, I’m going to discuss all of this with Travis as well. I want you both to know how the next few months will play out. Toward the end of May, we’ll get the remainder of your grades from your teachers, calculate everything, and determine valedictorian and salutatorian.”
    “So finals don’t count?”
    “Don’t take this as carte blanche to blow off your final exams,” Mr. B said, smiling. “But, no, we don’t count seniors’ finals in the GPA tally. We need to determine class ranking sooner, so we can print up graduation programs and so the valedictorian has time to prepare his”—Mr. B caught my eye—“or
her
speech.”
    I crossed my legs and started kicking my heel back and forth. “May I ask one thing?”
    “Of course, Mara. Anything.”
    “Can I just ask how my new GPA stands in relation to Travis’s?”
    Mr. B took a deep breath before saying, “You inched ahead this quarter. Not by a lot, but if you continue to exhibit the same high-caliber work for the next three months, you will be our valedictorian.”
    I LOVE YOU, RON BONAVOGLIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    I clapped my hands together. Mr. B held the bowl of Jelly Bellies in my direction. I helped myself to a green apple and two tangerines.
    *   *   *
    That night, my parents took us out to dinner in Rochester. We went to Aladdin’s, which has falafel for me and red meat for V. V talked and laughed all throughout