Текст книги "She's So Dead to Us"

Автор книги: Kieran Scott

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Текущая страница: 12 (всего у книги 17 страниц)

ally

Valentine’s Day. The moment Quinn bounced into my homeroom wearing a fake cotton diaper over her Seven For All Mankind jeans, carrying a foam bow and arrow and a quiver full of carnations, I knew I should have stayed in bed. It was an annual cheerleading fund-raiser, selling flowers for V-Day. White meant friendship. Pink meant secret admirer. Red, true love. The order forms had been handed out the week before. I’d torn mine up into exactly forty-eight pieces before tossing it into the garbage.

I wasn’t with David, who refused to return my texts, my e-mails, and my calls and was now sitting with his bandmates at lunch every day. I wasn’t with Jake, who I hadn’t spoken to since our detention stint had ended almost a month ago because he’d never approached me in public, which made me feel like I shouldn’t approach him—which, after all the fun we’d had together, seriously sucked. And my mom was going away to the Adirondacks with Gray Nathanson for the weekend. Valentine’s Day could bite me.

“Flower delivery! Someone loves you!” Quinn announced, bouncing down the aisle distributing flowers. When she stopped next to my desk, I almost dead-legged her. “Hi, Ally! Somebody loves you!”

My heart stopped as she reached into her quiver and extracted a huge bundle of pink carnations tied with a red ribbon. Her grin was wide as she placed them in front of me. Probably she felt happy that I wasn’t as big of a loser as she’d thought. I, however, was stunned speechless. Then she took out one lone pink and dropped that in front of me too.

“Who’re they from?” Annie asked as Quinn moved on.

I flipped over the white slip on the bouquet. It had been decorated by the cheerleaders with glittering heart stickers, but the message was simple and written in careful letters.

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY

—Your secret admirer

Next to the signature was a small drawing of a sword and shield.

My knight in shining armor. I almost laughed out loud. Unbelievable. Jake had sent me Valentine’s Day flowers. What did this mean? Did he like me? Was he going to ask me out? Or was he just trying to do something nice for me? Every day since detention ended, I had missed being with him. Maybe this was his way of telling me he missed me, too. That he wanted us to talk or something.

Maybe Valentine’s Day wasn’t all bad.

“Well?” Annie prodded.

“I don’t know,” I replied, avoiding eye contact. “Pink is secret admirer, remember?”

The tag on the second flower was blank. I had a feeling I knew who it was from, and I suddenly felt unpleasantly warm. Hammond had sent me a secret admirer flower that last Valentine’s Day before I left, even though he and Chloe were already going out. What was wrong with him? Was he just messing with me? Trying to be nostalgic? Or did he actually still like me?

But no. A person who likes you doesn’t help his friends prank you and invite you to parties that aren’t there. They don’t completely avoid talking to you for six months straight and then send you one lame flower. No. He was just messing with me. That had to be it.

Quinn deposited a white flower on Annie’s desk. I could see David’s handwriting on the slip and felt a momentary pang. If we’d never gone out, if we’d stayed just friends, I’d probably be receiving one from him now too. But I’d royally screwed up that one. Even though I understood why he wasn’t speaking to me, it sucked that he wouldn’t let me apologize. I missed him, too. Just in a completely different way than I missed Jake.

“Oh my God,” Annie said, staring at the flower.

“What?”

“Logan didn’t send me a flower,” she said, glancing at Quinn’s retreating back. “For the first time in three years, Logan Pincus did not send me a red flower.”

“But that’s a good thing, right?” I asked.

She slumped back in her chair. “I don’t know.”

I laughed. “Girl, you have some issues. Here. Want this one, too?” I said, tossing the extra pink at her.

“Oh, you have so many that you can give a few away to the pathetic masses?” she joked.

“Fine. Give it back,” I said lightly.

She held the flower to her chest with a pout. “No! It makes me feel loved.”

I laughed as the bell rang and everyone scrambled to their feet. I tried to shove my bouquet into my messenger bag, but there were too many. Instead I was forced to carry them in the crook of my arm like some pageant contestant.

“Well, obviously they’re from Jake,” Annie whispered as we hit the crowded corridor. All around us, people squealed over one another’s flowers, thanking one another and debating who their secret admirers were.

“Uh, no,” I said, even as I blushed.

“Why not? How many other guys have you besotted since you’ve been here?” Annie demanded, sidestepping another quiver-wielding cheerleader.

“Jake is not besotted by me,” I said through my teeth, looking around to make sure neither he nor any of his friends was in earshot. What was I going to do when I saw him? What was he going to do?

“Please. I have the evidence right here in my notes,” Annie said, whipping her sticker-covered notebook out of her bag. “He asks you to dance in front of all his anti-Ally friends, he takes back bad Shannen Moore pranks, he gets arrested for you and lands in detention. Look up besotted in the dictionary, my friend, because there will be a droopy-eyed picture of Jake Graydon. And you like him, too. Look! You’re all red!”

“Can we drop this?” I hissed.

I had just spotted Shannen, Faith, Chloe, and Trista up ahead, and Shannen was holding almost as many flowers as I was, but hers were almost all white.

“Wow. Who’re they all from?” Trista asked Shannen as we walked by.

“Pink’s from Trevor. He sends one every year. And I got a white one from all my friends,” she said, lifting them like a shrug. “Except Jake. He doesn’t do flowers.”

Annie and I exchanged a smile, and I could hardly contain my smug glee.

“He does flowers for some people,” Annie sang under her breath. And I cracked up, this bubbly, silly joy gurgling inside of me. Shannen shot us a look, but I was ninety-nine percent sure it was because we were being weird, not because she’d heard Annie.

I rounded the corner, expecting at every moment to see Jake. Should I say hello? Smile? Ignore him? Play it cool? But as I came into the front hall I found myself face to face not with Jake, but David. His eyes widened and his face paled. And then he noticed the flowers.

“Oh,” he said. “Hi.”

It was the first time he’d said anything to me in over a month. My spirits surged with hope.

“Hey, David!”

“Looks like you’re having a good Valentine’s Day,” he said flatly.

“Oh, these? Yeah, they’re probably from some loser freshman or something,” I said, waving the flowers around like a Fourth of July sparkler. “No biggie. How are you?”

“Fine.” He looked away.

“Good!” I replied brightly.

“Yeah, well . . . see ya.” He ducked his head and skirted around me. “Hey, Annie,” he muttered as he passed.

I let out a breath and leaned sideways against the brick wall. My heart couldn’t take this many emotional shifts so early in the morning. “Well. That sucked.”

“Don’t worry,” Annie said. “He’ll be all right.”

“Yeah. But will we ever be friends again?” I asked.

Annie lifted her shoulders. “Probably,” she said. “Unless you start going out with your ‘secret admirer,’” she added, tossing in some air quotes. “Then all bets are off.”

ally

That afternoon there was a pink slip on my desk in Spanish class. For the past two weeks all the juniors had been getting called to the guidance office to talk about college applications. Looked like it was my turn. As I strolled into the office, my heart instantly sank. Hammond Ross was sitting on the couch in the waiting area, slumped back with his legs splayed. He sat up straight the moment he saw me.

“I’m here for Mrs. Porter,” I said to the secretary.

“She’ll be with you in just a sec, hon,” she replied as she typed frantically on her keyboard. “Have a seat.”

I looked over at the couch. If possible, Hammond sat up even straighter, then shifted his bag to the floor to make room for me. Fabtastic. I walked over and dropped down next to him.

“Hey, Al. Happy Valentine’s Day,” he said.

“Yeah. You too,” I replied flatly.

“Got any big plans?” he teased.

I blew out a sigh. “No.”

“Looks like you got a lot of flowers there.” He leaned forward as if to see them better, his hands folded between his knees. “I’m impressed a Norm would spring for something like that.”

“How do you know they’re from a Norm?” I snapped.

He laughed. Like anything else was inconceivable. Imagine if he knew they were from his best friend.

“Come on, Al. Who’s the lucky guy?”

“I don’t know, Ham. They’re secret admirer flowers,” I said in a condescending tone.

“Huh.” He dropped down against the back of the couch again. “When you get a bunch like that, I guess you don’t notice one more.”

I turned and looked him in the eye for the first time, my heart pounding blood through my veins at an alarming rate. Hammond’s dark blue eyes danced happily, like he was oh so proud of himself.

“So, it was from you.”

He shrugged and looked away. “Maybe. Maybe not.”

“Have you forgotten that you have a girlfriend?” I said through my teeth, feeling warm and conspicuous and like I wanted to be anywhere but there.

“So?” he said, grinning at me. “Didn’t matter the last time.”

“You are such a pig!” I blurted.

The secretary looked over at us with that expression of impatience that half the faculty wore every day.

“I’m just kidding!” Hammond replied at a half whisper, like I was being so immature. “Calm down.”

“I am calm,” I said. “But just so we’re clear, that night was a mistake, okay?”

A slight, embarrassed blush rose up onto his cheeks, and I instantly felt bad for being so blunt.

“Whatever,” he said. He slumped down on the couch and crossed his arms over his chest, looking like a petulant kindergartner. “I was just trying to be nice. I figured no one would send you flowers, and I didn’t want you to walk around school all day feeling all pathetic.”

“Well, guess what? I did get flowers. So you didn’t have to take pity on me,” I shot back.

Mrs. Porter walked out of her cubicle with another student and sent him on his way. I was out of my seat, clutching my bag and my carnations, before she could even say my name.

“And if you want to be nice to me, how about you stop acting like I don’t exist when you see me in the halls?” I said, looking back at Hammond. “I’d appreciate that a lot more than a flower.”

He shook his head in exasperation, still staring straight ahead, but I could tell by the increased blotchiness of his face that he’d heard what I’d said. Maybe, just maybe, I’d finally gotten through to one of them.

ally

I sat in history class the following afternoon trying desperately to stay awake, my eyes crossing as I retyped Mr. Lewis’s notes from the board and into my laptop. Outside, snow swirled and the wind whistled past the windowpanes. I was just about to let it all lull me to sleep when I saw my phone light up out of the corner of my eye. It was inside my bag but sticking out of the interior pocket just enough for me to see the screen. I glanced at the back of Mr. Lewis’s balding head. He hadn’t turned around in at least fifteen minutes, so enthralled was he with his own musings and getting every word of them down on the board. I snatched the phone into my lap. My heart started to pound, and suddenly I was wide awake. The text was from Jake.

Will any1 notice if I start snoring?

I glanced over my shoulder at him. He smirked and flashed his phone at me under the desk. How had he even gotten my number? I texted quickly, my fingers trembling.

IDK. How loud do u snore?

His response was immediate.

IDK. Sleep over some time and u can tell me.

I laughed out loud and slapped my hand over my mouth. Chloe turned around and shot me a reproachful look, her perfectly pink lips pursed. That was Chloe for you. Captain of the Manners Police. I loved how she didn’t feel the need to acknowledge my existence unless she was silently telling me what to do.

“Something funny about the war of 1812, Miss Ryan?” Mr. Lewis asked.

“No,” I squeaked.

“Good. Then let’s get back to it,” he replied.

My phone lit up again.

Busted!

I smiled and texted back.

Tnx 4 the flowers.

What flowers?

LOL V funny.

I have no idea what ur talking about.

I froze. It wasn’t possible, was it? It had to have been him who sent the secret admirer flowers. He drew the shield and sword. No one else would have—

Gotcha!

I bit my tongue to keep from laughing. We texted for the rest of the class period. I found out his birthday was coming up in March. I told him that mine was in May. He confessed that his favorite snack dip was hummus. I told him mine was pineapple salsa. I asked if he really liked Hammond or was just taking pity. He said Hammond was cool when he wasn’t licking his own reflection in the mirror. That earned him another laugh and me another lip-purse from Chloe. Toward the end of the period, Jake sent another text.

Ready 4 big game 2nite?

Valley High is going down! U coming?

Will b there cheering 4 u.

I blushed so hard I thought I might pop.

Cool.

When the bell rang, I tucked my phone away and closed my laptop. My pulse raced as I wondered what to do next. Clearly Jake and I had just taken our relationship, whatever it was, to some new level. Should I go talk to him? Was he going to come talk to me? Maybe just a smile over my shoulder and—

But then Jake walked right by me and over to Chloe and Faith, without so much as a nod. My heart fell. Apparently, the text fest hadn’t changed a thing. But then why had he started it? What was the point? Was he really just that bored? Maybe he spent every class period texting someone, and he’d simply run through his entire address book.

As I lifted my bag onto my shoulder and started for the door, I loathed myself for getting so excited. Just before I got to the hallway, my phone lit up again. It was from him.

Same time tomorrow?

My heart, all of a sudden, was back from its trip to my toes. I texted back.

I’m in.

jake

The gym was packed. I’d been to a lot of Shannen’s games last year, but I’d never seen it like this. One side was all yellow and purple, the other all maroon and gold. And everyone was screaming. Including me.

“Let’s go, Shannen! Get the ball!” I wanted to yell for Ally, too, but I was surrounded by my friends. Still. I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

The girl was effing good. Even better than I’d thought. All night she’d been hustling—taking shots when they were good, passing off when she was double-teamed, stealing the ball, getting in her player’s face when she was on D. She didn’t stop. I’d never seen anyone play so fierce in my life.

It was beyond hot.

“Come on!” Hammond shouted, leaning forward. “Don’t let them hog the ball!”

“Let’s go, Hill! Let’s go, Hill!” the Idiot Twins shouted. They were shirtless behind us, their chests painted with tiger stripes, each wearing a huge burgundy frizz wig. Every time they cheered, the crowd cracked up.

The fans around us joined in the chant. “Let’s go, Hill! Let’s go, Hill!”

Time was ticking down. Only fifteen seconds left on the clock, and we were down by one.

“Come on, Shannen!” Chloe cheered politely.

“Yea, go,” Faith said as she texted on her phone. She lifted a fist at shoulder level. “Whoo.”

Hammond and I rolled our eyes at them.

“Ohmigod yes!” Trevor shouted suddenly.

“Go, Ally!” Todd added.

Suddenly the entire Orchard Hill side of the bleachers was on their feet. In the two seconds Hammond and I had taken our eyes off the court, Ally had somehow stolen the ball and was now sprinting toward the basket. I jumped up. One of the Valley players chased after her, probably intent on fouling her, but Ally was too fast. She made a perfect layup. The crowd went nuts. The scoreboard clicked. We were up by one with four seconds left. The whole team surrounded Ally, hugging her and slapping her hands. She nodded but didn’t smile. The game wasn’t over yet. She was all business.

Did I mention she was beyond hot?

Valley called a time-out and everyone relaxed into their seats. The cheerleaders jogged onto the floor to start a chant.

Faith finally looked up from her phone. “What happened? Did we win?”

“Not yet,” Hammond said patiently. “They get one more shot.”

“God. This game takes forever,” she complained.

Chloe gave her a sympathetic pat on the knee.

The whistle blew.

“This is it.” I had to stand up, because everyone in front of me did. The whole crowd was on its feet as two Valley players lined up at the end of the court. With only four seconds left they raced to the key. Coaches screamed, parents wailed, cheerleaders shouted. The taller girl passed it off to the lead scorer, and Shannen raced forward to get in the girl’s face.

“Three! Two!”

The girl lifted her arms to take her shot, her eyes focused on the basket as if Shannen weren’t even there.

“One!”

The shot went up. Shannen jumped. She reached. Time froze. And then, her fingertips just grazed the bottom of the ball, sending it sailing off the court.

“Yes!”

The timer buzzed, and the Orchard Hill bleachers emptied out onto the court, surrounding the team. Everyone was jumping up and down, hugging, screaming, crying. I was looking for Ally, hoping to congratulate her in the mayhem, when suddenly Shannen was in my arms.

“Did you see that?” she yelled.

“That was awesome!” I replied.

“We’re going to Jump, right? Did Hammond drive?” She slung her arm over my shoulders, tugging me through the crowd. Hammond had scored an Explorer for his birthday, so he pretty much drove everywhere now. He’d been worried he wasn’t going to get a car, but apparently his parents were selling their shore house after this summer to pay for his college, so now they felt like they had spending money again or something.

“Yeah. Let’s find everyone.”

My eyes scanned the gym, still looking for a glimpse of Ally. Finally I found her, standing over by the door, grinning at her mom. Dr. Nathanson and Quinn were over there too, Quinn bouncing around in her cheerleading uniform like a toddler on too much Kool-Aid. I guess the high of a big win canceled out whatever negative feelings she had about Ally. Then a couple of guys from the basketball team—Marshall Moss and Chad Lancaster—went over and gave Ally these big bear hugs. Marshall practically swallowed her into his varsity jacket even though she was covered in sweat. A lump rose up in my throat. What was that all about?

“Jealous?”

I blinked. “What?”

Shannen stood in front of me, her arms crossed over her jersey. “Want me to go invite her to Jump?” she asked sarcastically, nodding over her shoulder at Ally and her growing entourage. Her friend Annie was over there now too, plus Dorkus Drake, though he was hanging back looking pouty

“What? No. What are you talking about?” I said.

She rolled her eyes at me. “You so like her. Why don’t you just admit it already?”

“I was looking for Hammond and Chloe.” I spotted them standing next to the bleachers. “There they are. Let’s go.”

“Yeah. Sure you were. I have to hit the showers first,” Shannen said, clearly irritated. “I’ll catch up with you guys.”

I watched her jog toward the door, which also gave me a chance to check if Ally and Marshall were holding hands, or worse. But they weren’t. Which was good, at least. Ally turned and followed Shannen toward the locker room, and her family went out to the lobby to hover and wait—Marshall and the rest of them included. A surge of envy nearly knocked the wind out of me as Marshall yucked it up with Ally’s mom. Marshall and those guys got to be close to Ally—to help her celebrate after one of the biggest wins of the year. And I—just because of where I lived and who my friends were—couldn’t.

jake

“Where the hell are we going?”

“Have you learned nothing yet?” Shannen asked, turning around to walk backward so she could face me. “When I’m in charge, you don’t get to know till you know!” A freezing cold wind whipped her hair in front of her face. She and Faith giggled and walked ahead again, looping their arms together. Hammond cursed under his breath. I kicked black snow from the curb onto Fourteenth Street and got cursed at by some crazy dude on a bike.

It was fifteen below outside. No one should have been out in the city—on foot, on a bike, or at all. But for some reason, we had let Shannen talk us all into driving in and going to Paddy B’s, this one bar in the Village that Cresties had been going to since the dawn of time because they didn’t card. All of us except Chloe, who had some big family event tonight. I didn’t get what the big urge was to hit Paddy B’s all of a sudden. We’d been there before Christmas, and we could have gone again when it wasn’t cold as a witch’s butt cheek.

And now, after an hour of playing pool and drinking beer, we were out on the street again, following Shannen to do who knew what who knew where. Only the Idiot Twins had stayed behind at the bar, wanting to finish a game of darts with a couple of NYU dudes who had challenged them. We were supposed to swing back there and pick them up after we completed Shannen’s latest mission. Whatever it was.

Shannen and Faith suddenly stopped in front of a brightly lit window. They peered inside, clutching each other, standing on their toes.

“Holy shit. It’s him,” Shannen said.

Faith doubled over laughing. “Oh. My. God. Come on. Let’s go in!”

Hammond looked up from the turned-up collar of his coat. He stared at the sign, which read FIFTH AVENUE GOURMET.

“Oh, shit,” he said.

“What?”

But he was already following the girls through the door. Why couldn’t anyone answer me? I grabbed the still-closing door and tromped into the warm shop. Shannen had her cell phone out and was holding it up as if to take a picture as Faith strode up to the counter.

“Mr. Ryan?” Faith said with a gasp. “Oh my God! Is that you?”

My heart took a nosedive. Mr. Ryan? As in—?

The man behind the counter was tall, slim, graying, and stunned. He wore a white shirt, a stained black apron, and a matching visor. He was getting paler by the second. Ally’s father. I was looking at Ally’s father.

“Hello, Faith . . . Shannen. How are you girls?” He looked at Shannen, who was still holding up her phone. “Are you—is that a camera phone?”

“No,” Shannen said, waving her phone around. “I just can’t seem to get any bars in here.”

My fingers clenched into fists at my sides. Suddenly I realized what she was doing. She was taping this onto her video card. And he had no idea.

“Hi, Mr. Ryan,” Hammond said, walking up to the counter. “Sorry to surprise you like this. Shannen didn’t tell us where we were going,” he said through his teeth, staring Shannen down.

“What? I didn’t know he worked here,” Shannen said. Her acting was completely believable. “Do you actually work here?” she asked, training her phone on Mr. Ryan.

“Well . . . yes. I do. I have . . . for about a year now,” Mr. Ryan said, looking suspiciously at the phone. “Chloe’s father was kind enough to give me a job while I get back on my feet. I’ve been trying to get my old job back.”

“Yeah? And how’s that working out for ya?” Shannen said, leaning her elbow on the countertop and keeping the lens trained on him. “I mean, it’s gotta be tough after you cheated dozens of people out of, what, millions of dollars?”

His lips clamped together, and he looked like he was about to hurl. “It . . . it wasn’t like that,” he said. “It’s complicated. You kids couldn’t understand—”

“Well, why don’t you try explaining it to us?” Faith said snottily.

He slipped his visor off. Bowed his head. Mopped his brow with the back of his hand. “I . . . I didn’t . . . I never meant to . . .”

That was it. I couldn’t take it anymore. “All right. That’s enough.”

Shannen whirled around, surprised. It was like she’d forgotten I was there. I grabbed the phone out of her hand and exited camera mode.

“What’s your problem?” Shannen asked.

“Excuse us, sir,” I said, clamping my arm around Shannen’s shoulders. “We were just leaving.” I dragged Shannen out of there, feeling her tense under my arm.

“I just wanted to say thanks a lot, Mr. Ryan,” Faith said behind me. “If it wasn’t for you, my parents wouldn’t be getting divorced.”

Unbelievable. This was why we’d come into the city? To torture Ally’s dad?

“Faith, I’m so sorry,” he replied. “I didn’t—”

“Whatever.”

We were back out on the cold sidewalk, but my skin was so hot I didn’t feel the chill anymore.

“What the hell was that?” Shannen shoved me away from her with both hands. “You don’t get to throw me around!”

“What were you doing in there, Shannen?” I demanded. “You can’t just ambush somebody like that.”

“Why not? He ambushed us when he stole all our money!”

“He’s right, Shannen,” Hammond said, joining us. “That was not cool.”

Shannen rolled her eyes. “Of course you guys would defend Ally’s dad.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Hammond blurted.

“Are you forgetting what that guy did to us?” Shannen said, ignoring his question. “So what if seeing us made him feel bad for five minutes? I feel bad every fucking day of my life thanks to him!”

“She’s right. He deserves it,” Faith put in, shoving her hands into the pockets of her white coat. Her nose was all red and her eyes watery, but I couldn’t tell if it was from the cold or because she was upset. “I can’t even believe Chloe’s dad would give him a job.”

“Not to mention a place to stay,” Shannen said, looking up at the apartments over the deli. Another stiff wind nearly blew us all off our feet. “What a traitor.”

“He’s not a traitor,” Hammond spat, turning up the collar of his coat again. “He saw a friend in trouble and helped him out. Any one of us would do the same for you.”

“Yeah, Shannen,” I said. “You of all people know that it’s not all black and white when it comes to friends.”

Her eyes flashed, and she glared at me. We both knew I was walking a fine line, talking about the Hammond/Chloe/Ally situation right in front of the others. But I was right. I knew I was.

“What I don’t get is, why tonight?” Hammond asked. “Chloe spilled back before Christmas. Why the sudden motivation to come find him?”

Shannen shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. Something happened after the game last night that inspired me,” she said, looking me right in the eye.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked. Was she doing this because she thought I liked Ally? Trying to remind me that the Norm wasn’t worthy because her dad worked in a deli? How shallow did she think I was?

“Whatever. I’m over this conversation,” Shannen said. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

She turned around and grabbed Faith’s hand, speed walking down the street. Hammond and I looked at one another, sighed, and followed. All I could think about for the rest of the night was the look on Mr. Ryan’s face when he’d seen Faith. He looked scared. Like he was watching his life pass before his eyes. I knew the feeling. I’d seen Ally’s dad. I knew right where he was. Where he worked, where he lived.

The question was, what the hell was I going to do about it?