Finally Aunt Bette springs into action. I hear her struggle with my door on her side for a second, and then it swings open fast.“Thank goodness,” I say, relieved. I’m about to step into the hallway when I spot some stuff on the floor. It looks like white sand, or a chalk of some kind. To the left I can see it was laid in a thin, perfect line, but directly in front of my door it’s been totally messed up by Aunt Bette’s footprints.What in the world?I think about stooping over and touching it, but I’m a little spooked.Aunt Bette has always been into weird things, like smudgings and crystals and channeling different energies. She used to always bring back trinkets and lucky charms whenever she went overseas. I know that stuff is all harmless, but I point down at the chalk and say, “What is that stuff?”Aunt Bette looks up guiltily. “It’s nothing. I—I’ll clean it up.”I nod, like Okay, sure, while stepping past her. “I’ll see you in a few hours.”“Wait,” she says urgently. “Where are y
Selena lets out a howl of victory and does a spin, whipping the flannel around over her head like a lasso. “This is a teachable moment, Dan. When I want something, I take it. Boom. End of story.” Dan’s face turns bright pink. I bust up laughing because she’s so crazy.Selena must hear me, because immediately she looks over to where I’m standing. She nudges her chin my way the slightest bit. I smile back, quick, and am about to climb on my bike and ride away, when Selena does something surprising.She holds up a finger, like I should wait up for her.It happens so fast I wonder if maybe I imagined it. We haven’t really ever done this before. Acknowledge each other in public, out in the open. I guess we can now, since our whole revenge plan is over. But I take out the book I need to read for English class and flip through it, so I don’t look obvious. I watch as she grinds out her cigarette.“Come on, Selena. Give it back.”Selena puts it on over her sweatshirt. “But I want to wear it. I
So Kim did steal from Paul? I guess Frank can see the shock on my face, because he shakes his head, like I’ve got the wrong idea. “Think of it more as an inevitable lawsuit settlement.”“But it’s not like this place makes that much money. What could it have been? Maybe a thousand dollars, max? That’s not going to get her far. It’s not like that’s buying her a mansion or something. She hasn’t talked to her parents in years. She could be . . . homeless.”“She’ll be okay,” Frank says again, but this time he’s less sure.The tears come right then. I can’t stop, and Frank looks uncomfortable as shit. Wiping my nose with my sleeve, I say, “If she calls, will you tell her I came looking for her?”Frank nods, but it’s the kind of nod where we both know that won’t ever happen. Kim’s gone for good.I’m crying my eyes out as Frank leads me out of a side door and into the alleyway. He tells me good-bye and then shuts the door in my face. I try to call Kim’s cell, but the number’s disconnected. Of
He’d do the same thing for me,” Rennie says, and I can’t believe she can keep a straight face saying it. As if Leonid would lift a finger for anybody but himself! “Oh, and speaking of that, I’m not going to be at practice for the rest of this week. Leonid got a few appointments off island to see a sports-medicine specialist.” She smiles to herself, pleased. “He’s getting his hard cast off tomorrow, right on schedule.”My head snaps up. “Why do you have to miss practice for that?”Rennie ignores me and says, “Ash, can you be in charge?”Ashlin casts an uneasy look my way. “Sure. Lil and I can do it together—right, Lil?”Incredulously I ask, “Are you quitting the squad or something?”“No, I’m not quitting the squad,” Rennie snaps. “That’s not what I said.”“Well, you have missed, like, three practices already,” I say, and my voice shakes a little as I say it, because I’m scared. I’m actually calling her out on her BS for once.Rennie’s cheeks heat up. “When I signed on to rep Leonid’s n
But my biggest problem right now is that I don’t have enough booth coverage. I got Nadia and her friends to do the scavenger hunt, and I got the drama kids to do a campfire story hour, but I still need judges for the costume contest.And then there’s the face-painting booth.Ever since freshman year, Rennie and I have manned the facepainting booth. We’d paint butterflies and stars and tiger stripes on the little kids’ faces. It was our thing. I think it will be a perfect opportunity for us to talk, away from Ashlin and Leonid and everybody else. Just me and Rennie, like it used to be.I take a deep breath and say to her, “We’re still doing the face-painting booth, right?”Rennie scrunches her face up. “I don’t think I can. Sorry.” Except she doesn’t look sorry.“That’s okay,” I say. But it’s not. It’s far from okay.“I need time to get into my costume. Fall Fest is at what, five? And over at eight? There won’t be enough time, even if I rush home after school.” Rennie shrugs. “Plus, so
I watch Alex chase a group of girls with the chain saw. He almost trips but catches himself. Across the room I can hear Leonid’s guffaw. It echoes throughout the gym.I bite a piece of candy off my candy bracelet. In an hour and a half it’ll all be over. I wasn’t going to go to the haunted maze because I didn’t want to see Rennie, but now I think I will go. I have as much right to be there as she does. They’re my friends too. Look how Leonid and Alex showed up for me tonight. They’re not in her pocket as much as she thinks.I don’t think I ever understood the power of a Halloween costume before tonight. Probably because I never had a very good one.When I was a kid, my mom made my costumes herself. Other kids would buy theirs at the drugstore, the kind that came with a mask and a plastic suit to put on over your clothes. Those kids would run around, breaking sticks as Superman or shooting pretend webs out of their wrists like SpiderMan.Mom wouldn’t allow it. “There’s no creativity in
I reach out and touch his arm. His shirt is so unbelievably soft, and I feel his bicep underneath. It’s big and tight and cut, probably from the weeks he’s spent on crutches. I say, “I’m so sorry you got hurt at the dance.” And despite everything Leonid did to me, it feels good to apologize. Because I truly did not mean for him to be hurt so bad that his whole life might be screwed up.He shrugs his shoulders. “Shit happens, you know?”“Yup,” I say, nodding, because it is true. “Shit happens.” It happens to all of us.There’s an awkward second, where neither of us knows what to say. Leonid rustles his hand through his hair. “I should go find my friends. Hope you make it out of here alive.” He positions his crutches and goes to take a step forward, but I shift my body so he can’t. It gives me a surge of adrenaline.Put myself out there. That was Selena’s advice.What do I have to lose?“It’s, um, been a long time, huh?” The words get kind of caught up in my throat.Leonid’s head falls
You’re such a good guy,” I say, nodding. I glance over at Leonid. He’s struggling to his feet, balancing on one crutch. Rennie says to him, “Where are you going?”His face is red. “Home. This sucks.”Rennie makes a pouty face, but he isn’t even looking at her. He’s already leaving, swinging away on his crutches. “Leonid, just stay a little longer,” she pleads. “I’ll drive you home in a bit.”I call out, “Byeeee! Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!” and then laugh hysterically.He ignores me and lurches off into the night. As soon as he’s gone, Rennie comes over and gets in my face. She hisses, “Are you serious right now?”Before I can say yes, I am totally 1,000 percent serious right now, Alex says, “Dude, she’s drunk. She doesn’t know what she’s saying.”“I do too!” I say, poking him in the chest.Rennie’s face is flushed as she says, “I don’t care if she’s drunk. She’s being a bitch.”“Takes one to know one,” I mutter.Rennie blinks. “Excuse me?”I sit up straight. “You baile