chapter 7
The Washington sky was beginning to cloud over, the rainy season getting ready to start. Glancing at it through Leona’s windshield, I wondered if it were a sign of things to come. Sunshine would feel so much more upbeat right now.
Leona sighed just as she entered my side of town on her way to drop me off at home (no driving until my cast came off). When I looked sideways at her, she was chewing nervously on her bottom lip. Poor thing. She was probably still distraught about Chris.
“Chris is such a jerk, you know?” she said before I could offer my sympathy.
“Oh.” I was obviously way off base on this one. She continued to watch the road as she spoke.
“Did you know that he applied to Harvard?”
Definitely not. “I didn’t know he was that bright.”
She snorted. “He’s not. But he said he wanted to go away to school with me.”
My stomach flip-flopped. “Did he get in?”
“Hell, no. His GPA is, like, a two point four.” Her face fell at little. “But it was sweet of him to try, right?”
“Very sweet.” Worry lines creased her forehead and wished I could say something that would help. But when it came to ex-boyfriends, I wasn’t an expert. In fact, I should write a handbook on what not to do.
Leona turned into my neighborhood and glanced over at me. “Can I talk to you about something?” she asked.
“Of course.”
She paused, almost as if she’d changed her mind, but then she furrowed her dark brows and turned back to the road. “Do you think Izzie has been acting a little strange?”
I nodded, thinking about it. “She’s definitely lost a lot of her shine. What have you noticed?”
“When she doesn’t think anyone is looking, I see her texting and making phone calls; crying in the locker room.”
I gasped. “She’s been crying?”
“Yeah. When I asked her what was wrong, she blamed it on her period. But I didn’t buy it. You know our cycles are all synced.”
“Have been for years. Well, what do you think it is?’
Leona pulled onto my street. “Suspicious. I think it’s suspicious.”
My heart stopped at her words. “You don’t seriously think—”
“No. I don’t think she’s the rat, but there’s something going on, and we’ll need to investigate. Just the two of us. You in?” Leona parked at the curb in front of my house and looked pointedly at me.
Investigating another Kitten felt like a huge betrayal, but then again, if we’d done that last time, we might have stopped Kira before she’d taken things so far. “Light surveillance,” I agreed. “And we’ll talk to her. It might be something completely unrelated. Her and Sam have only been broken up for a month so there might be some residual damage.”
“Agreed.” Just then Leona looked past me toward my house. She chuckled and then met my eyes. “Looks like your boyfriend beat us home.”
“Aiden?” I turned my head quickly expecting to see Aiden, but instead Joel was leaning against his car, not exactly happy to see me.
Leona tsked. “Freudian slip?” I was too red faced to answer. I didn’t know why I expected it to be Aiden. I mean, Joel was closer to being my boy—uh-oh. “He knows about SOS.”
“By the look on his face? I’d say so.”
“Tequila sunrise! What do you think he’s going to say?”
“Well, he’s here. So that’s a good sign.”
I turned to her. “Really?”
She shook her head. “No. But I’m sure you’ll work it out. Just do something cute. He might forgive you. And if he doesn’t, no big loss. I mean, you were hoping it was Aiden anyway.”
“I was not.”
“You so were.”
“Not.”
“Whatever, Tess.” She laughed. “I’ll pick you up before practice. Don’t go running off anywhere.”
I pushed open the door and motioned to my cast. “Don’t think you have to worry about me running anywhere.”
“Point taken.”
I reached into the backseat, grabbing my crutches before climbing out gingerly. I couldn’t imagine three months of this crutching business. It definitely wasn’t worth a handicapped spot at the mall (Kira’s first reaction).
My crutches crunched the leaves as I approached Joel and my stomach was twisting in knots. Would he scold me? Would he tell me off? I almost turned around and hobbled after Leona’s departing car. But before I could, Joel met my eyes.
“Hi,” I said cautiously. My insides were bouncing with anxiety.
Joel chuckled as he stared at the ground. “Hi? That’s it? I mean, you might have a little more to say than that, don’t you think?”
“I was just starting. Thought maybe hi was a good first step.”
Joel raised his head. He was so handsome, dressed in a brown fleece pullover that looked great with his hazel eyes. “Not much stepping for a while though, huh?”
I held up one crutch. “At least three months.”
“Ouch.”
“That’s what I said!”
He smiled. “Are you in pain?”
His concern for me only succeeded in making me feel worse. “I think it depends how angry you are with me.”
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, we stood there, the wind blowing softly through the trees, sending orange and red leaves around us. Just when I was about to repeat myself, he sighed.
“Can I come in?” he asked.
My heart rate sped up. “Really?” Even though I knew Joel was a nice guy, I half expected this to be a practical joke. Like Blaze and his cronies would jump out any second and laugh at me.
Instead, Joel stepped forward and took my hand from my crutch, holding it in his. “We should probably talk.”
I stayed mostly silent as Joel led me to my house, held the front door, and let me in. The inside still smelled like last night’s lasagna, and it was almost calming. But it wasn’t until I was sitting (un)comfortably at the kitchen table that Joel actually began speaking.
“How bad was school?” he asked quietly, sitting across the linen-cloth-covered table from me.
“Badly bad. People where calling us all sorts of horrible names.”
He winced and looked down at his fingers as they twisted the tablecloth. “Damn. I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”
“Why weren’t you there? You were part of the reason I went.” Well, that and the fact that I didn’t want to look defeated.
“I … just didn’t feel like going. After I heard about your accident, I was out of my mind with worry. Then I started getting the calls. People are very angry with you.”
“Are you angry with me?” In a way, I’d wished I’d told him myself. But it was too late for that now. I needed to accept whatever he said.
“Do you really spy on people?” he asked.
Sheesh. I wasn’t expecting him to dive right in. “Sometimes.”
He shook his head and looked away from me. “Ever spy on me?”
“No.”
“What about your ex-boyfriend?”
Uh-oh. “A couple of times.”
Joel scrunched his face as if he didn’t like the sound of that. “You know that most of the school hates you right now?”
“I got the picture. You know, with all the name-calling and messages. But feel free to elaborate if you need to.” I admit I was getting a bit snarky. I mean, yes, Joel was upset hearing about my double life, but he didn’t need to rub it in.
“Don’t be like that,” he said quickly, spreading his hand across the table. “I just got dealt a huge blow here, Tessa. I mean, you’re a f*cking spy. That’s kind of crazy.”
“Could … could you not swear?”
He stared at me for a second and then laughed. “Don’t be cute,” he said. “Right now I want to decide what to do about you, and I can’t think clearly if you’re being adorable.”
I smiled, my anxiety easing. “You think I’m adorable?”
“So adorable.”
“That’s nice. Thank you.”
Joel stood up, slowly walking around to bend down in front of me, checking out my cast. He ran his hand down it slowly, as if it were bare skin. I felt my breathing catch.
“I don’t like what you did,” he said quietly, continuing to caress my calf. “I think it was completely unethical.”
“So does my father.”
He flicked his eyes toward mine, a small smile on his lips. “Guess that’s something he and I have in common.” I nodded. He grabbed a pen from the table, his fingers grazing just above my cast, behind me knee. He put the pen on the plaster and began to write something.
But his touch. Good gravy, it felt nice. My eyes closed as he continued to hold me there, continued to press against my skin.
“Did you know that my parents are divorced?” he asked offhandedly.
My eyelids fluttered as I looked at him. The blue pen was scrolling across my cast, writing something I couldn’t see. “I didn’t know that. I’m sorry.”
“I live with my mom during the week but stay at my dad’s on the weekends. It really sucks, splitting my time like that. They hate each other.”
I swallowed hard. “My parents are divorced, too,” I said. Joel stopped writing and looked up at me.
“What? Don’t … don’t you live with both of your parents?”
“Yes. But they got divorced when I was in seventh grade. I think my father was seeing another woman.”
Something flashed behind Joel’s eyes, but he looked away and wrote a final word on the cast before standing up. He paused there, really close. Then as if rethinking it, he tossed the pen onto the table and backed away before going to sit across from me again. I was out of breath. I missed him touching me.
“What’d you write?” I asked as I tried to lift my heavy cast to read it. It took a bit of head twisting, but I was finally able to make it out.
“In 3 months, the leg under this cast will kick your a**, so don’t even think about messing with me. Oh, and Joel is cute!”
I burst out laughing. He even drew the stars to block out the bad word! “People aren’t going to think I wrote on my own cast,” I said, grinning over at him.
“No, but they will know that you think I’m cute.”
He had me there. I sat back in my chair, glad he was flirting with me. At least, that way I knew he’d overlook my newly destroyed social status. He was a keeper.
“So,” he drummed his fingers on the table, “what’s the deal with school? Are you expelled?”
“Leona is skilled in the art of negotiation. We’re suspended for two days.”
“That’s it?”
“Yep.”
“She is skilled.”
“I know!”
“I’m glad. It’d be really boring at school without all the cheerleaders flitting around in short skirts.”
I raised my eyebrow. He coughed and then cleared his throat.
“I mean without you there with your perky attitude?”
“Thanks.” I smiled, but I saw his face grow more serious as he looked back at me.
“Tess,” he asked. “You are done spying, right?”
I froze at his question. No, we were definitely not done spying, but that was level-one top secret. “Yes,” I lied. “Completely done.”
“I’m glad. It’d be hard to defend you if you still were.”
Would I ever learn? Keeping things from the men in my life always came back to bite me in the backside. It was just that this time, it was really important. I was torn.
“Are you still going to cheer?”
I flinched. “Flying monkeys! Of course, I am. Why would you think that?”
“Broken ankle?”
I straightened my posture, ignoring the fact that there was not only a bright white plaster cast on my leg but also an unsightly black boot over it. “I am perfectly capable of leading a cheer squad. Besides, most of it’s spirit and not physical.”
Joel’s eyes widened like maybe he thought I was crazy.
“In fact, I have practice in a few hours.”
“You’re a machine, Tessa. A perky, intense little cheerleading machine.”
“That’s sweet. Thank you.”
He laughed. “All right then, what about tonight? Do you have plans for tonight?”
“Not at the moment.”
“Then can I take you and your cast out to dinner?”
This was an excellent turn of events! Not only was Joel not mad at me, he still wanted to date me. This boy might just be smitten. “I would like that.”
“Cool. What time should I pick you up?”
Hm … my parents would be home by seven, and I didn’t really want them to intersect with Joel. Not when I’d have to explain the whole suspension thing. “How about six?”
“Perfect.” Joel stood up and smoothed out the tablecloth after it snagged on his pullover. I watched him, admiring how calm and thorough he was. He made me feel very safe. “Do you need anything else before I go?” he asked, turning back to me.
“I’ll be okay. And … thank you for taking me out tonight.”
He smiled. “Tessa, I’d take you out every night if you let me.” My stomach fluttered as he crossed to the door. “But one thing,” he added.
“What?”
“Leave your binoculars at home.”
I laughed. “Promise.” And then he left, clicking the door shut behind him.
Once he was gone, I went to my room and took a seat at my wood desk. I pulled up my e-mails. Fifty-six new messages. I blew out a hard breath. There was no way my psyche could take that kind of negative overload. Instead, I just scanned the senders. I saw the e-mail from Joel, one from Leona with the subject line, “I will kill them.” Poor thing. So much pent-up anger.
But oddly enough, there was nothing from Aiden. No mention of my ankle or how he’d come to see me in hospital. Why he was even in town. Just … nothing. I felt a pain begin to build up in my chest, and I quickly shut off the computer and hobbled away from my desk.
Not going there. Not now. Instead, I lay across my pink comforter and looked at my phone. I had missed a text message from Kira. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to open it. She’d totally outvoted me in front of the squad.
“BTW, THANKS”
I wondered if maybe she knew that Joel was here. She could be saying it sarcastically. I slowly typed in “FOR WHAT?”
She answered quickly as if she’d been waiting for me. “FOR LETTING ME BACK ON THE SQUAD EARLY”
I was surprised by her answer. Kira and I … we had some serious issues. And it seemed that every time I gave her an inch, she took the proverbial mile. I had let her on the squad because I needed her, but not just for the mission. She was part of the team, and I didn’t like seeing her left out. But instead of thanking me, she made a fool of me.
“YOU HAVE AN ODD WAY OF SHOWING THANKS”
I waited, hoping Kira and I could finally have it out. Put our issues aside. Maybe become friends again. But when ten minutes passed without a response, I put my phone on my side table and curled up. Yeah. I guess things didn’t really work out that easily.
From: Darrell Tremont <[email protected]>
To: Tessa Crimson <[email protected]>
Sent: Wed, October 9, 4:00 PM
Subject: WTF
Girl, what have you gotten yourself into? I’ll tell you, I’m straight pissed at you and Kira over this shit. Kira used to be my girl and you’re Aiden’s girl. Then I find out this mess?
I’m done with you. With all you cheerleaders. A bunch of sneaky bitches! Don’t talk to me again. And tell your new little squad member to stay the f*ck out of my locker room. Peace.
Darrell