[Daph's BBE] Day 7: Bad Taste in Boys deleted scene!

Welcome to Day 7 of my Birthday Bash Extravaganza! It's the last day of my Birthday Week, but we're going out with a BANG! It was my birthday on 17th August and I'm celebrating with an entire week packed with guest posts and giveaways. Click the "Daph's Birthday Bash Extravaganza"-tag to see all posts of this week!

To close off the week, the fabulous Carrie Harris is here! What better way to close off a birthday week than with someone who writes about ZOMBIES?! Carrie is the author of Bad Taste in Boys and she's currently working on the second Kate Grable book; Bad Hair Day, which will come out in 2012.



A little bit more about Bad Taste in Boys;

Someone's been a very bad zombie.

Kate Grable is horrified to find out that the football coach has given the team steroids. Worse yet, the steroids are having an unexpected effect, turning hot gridiron hunks into mindless flesh-eating zombies. No one is safe--not her cute crush Aaron, not her dorky brother, Jonah . . . not even Kate!

She's got to find an antidote--before her entire high school ends up eating each other. So Kate, her best girlfriend, Rocky, and Aaron stage a frantic battle to save their town... and stay hormonally human.

Just in case you haven’t read it, BAD TASTE IN BOYS is about a science geek named Kate who discovers that her high school football team has been zombified. Which is bad. So she’s dashing hither and thither trying to avert the zombocalypse. And in the process, she gets thrown together with the guy of her dreams. Who asks her to Homecoming.

Unfortunately for Kate, her genius mama is in Germany doing a visiting professorship in theoretical physics, so in this deleted scene, she’s stuck dress shopping with her dad and her geektastic little brother Jonah. Because even zombie hunters need dresses.

We stop by Dance Explosion first to get Jonah’s tights, and he asks me to pay for them so no one will know they’re really his. I’m tempted to tell him no, because he’s the kind of guy who runs around in elf ears so it’s not like a little tight-buying is going to hurt his street cred. It’s already dead and buried. But I figure that it’s worth it to worm myself a little more into his good graces, so I swallow the smart alec comments and do it.

After we get the tights, we head to one of the big department stores. My mind is only half on this trip; on one hand it’s tres cool to be shopping for a Homecoming dress because I actually have a date. On the other hand, I keep looking around behind us just in case there are any zombies lurching around the food court and, you know, eating.

My paranoia makes me pretty slow, so I end up following Dad and Jonah into the store. Dad heads straight for formalwear without even having to ask for directions, and he starts rummaging through the racks with a level of gusto that is almost embarrassing. He may be a science geek, but he’s got an innate sense of style. In fact, he’s the only guy in his department that has never once worn a pocket protector.

I stop in front of a rack of sparkly dresses, trying to figure out if there’s anything that’s going to make me look any less like a prepubescent boy. Seriously. If someone cut off my head and put it on Jonah’s body, no one would notice the difference. I mean, I would of course, but no one else.

“I’m no expert on dresses,” says Dad, “but it seems to me that you need to show exactly the right proportion of skin. It’s a mathematical proportion, see? You want to make this guy want to see more without giving him the idea that he’s going to get it. Because he’s not going to get it, right?” He looks at me with mock sternness, and I nod with as much meekness as I can manage. Which isn’t much. “This one is nice. Where’s Jonah?” He pulls out a shiny silver dress and thrusts it at me. The cut isn’t bad, but the fabric makes me think of fish scales, and I don’t really want to look like the Little Mermaid, especially if Coach is on the loose. His mermaid fetish is bad enough to begin with, but combining that with cannibalistic tendencies reaches a whole new level of bad. “Let me get your brother; we need an adolescent opinion. Jonah? Jonah!”

After a couple of minutes of shouting, Jonah finally makes his way down the aisle toward us. “Can we go now?” he asks. “I feel like crap.”

“Not yet,” says Dad. “I need your opinion. We’re trying for the appropriate skin to dress ratio. What do you think?” He takes the dress from me, holds it up for Jonah’s inspection, and shakes it.

I fully expect Jonah to run away screaming his teeny little head off, but he doesn’t. He looks carefully at the dress and then gives me the up and down look, like he’s actually trying to determine where I would sit on the ho-prude continuum. I have the sudden urge to throw my hands over my chest, because my little brother absolutely should not be giving me the up and down look.

“I don’t think that’s a good one, Dad. She’ll look like an anorexic mermaid.”

I was thinking something similar a few seconds ago, but it still stings.

“Hey!” I exclaim. “Quit talking about me like I’m not here!”

“No offense.” Jonah starts rummaging through the racks and holds up a black dress. It’s not bad except that it’s one of those one-sleeved things that make your boobs look lopsided. Or it would if I had any.

I am starting to regret saying yes to Aaron. I don’t need this kind of pressure.

“What do you think of this one?” asks Jonah, and I start to reply, only he’s not talking to me. He’s talking to Dad.

“I think she needs some more on the top, if you know what I mean,” says Dad, and then he actually makes boobie gestures in front of his chest.

I hide my face. This trip is becoming more horrific than the zombies. When Jonah shakes my shoulder a moment later, I look up in a panic, thinking that I shouldn’t have tempted fate with the zombie crack, even if I didn’t say it out loud. But there are no undead in sight. It’s just Jonah, holding up a wine-colored silk dress. It’s definitely the kind that you’d freeze your boobs off in.

“What is this?” I say, taking the dress dumbly.

“It’s your Homecoming dress, you idiot,” he says.

  

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Thank you so much for sharing this scene with us! Kat sounds like the ultimate zombie hunter and personally, I cannot wait to see how this whole Homecoming will turn out.. :D Thanks so much, Carrie! <3

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And of course, this post wouldn't be complete without a giveaway. I'm giving away one (1) hardcover copy of Bad Taste in Boys to one lucky winner. Make sure that Bookdepository ships to your country, as the prize will be shipped out by myself using BD. All you have to do is read the rules listed on top of the form, and fill in the form *HERE*. That's it!

This giveaway is now closed. Winner TBA

You don't need to be a follower to be able to enter, but it is of course much appreciated if you'd follow the blog :) 

Thanks for stopping by in my EPIC Birthday Week! This was the last day of my Birthday Bash Extravaganza (all together: AAAAAAAAAAWW)! I hope you had as much fun as I did, you guys made my birthday awesome! 

Today's question: Which fictional character would you leave in charge of organising your birthday party? What theme would you pick for that party?