Lost Along the Way(26)

“Oh my God,” Jane squealed. “Only you would manage to hurt your butt on a fence you weren’t even climbing over. How does that happen?”

Cara was near hysterics. “You’re right, Meg. You should stay in the kitchen. I love you but you are not meant to be outdoors.”

“You guys!” Meg giggled. “This isn’t funny! What am I going to tell my mom? What if I get tetanus?”

“How is your mom going to know that you have a giant cut on your ass?” Jane asked.

“She won’t! But she’s definitely going to ask why my skirt is ripped! I told her we were going for frozen yogurt!”

“Tell her the truth. That you snagged it on a fence at school. The fact that it occurred while we were trespassing, breaking and entering, damaging private property, and then fleeing from security are details that she probably doesn’t need.”

“You left the bolt cutters on the court, you know,” Meg said. “The poor man who gave them to you is probably going to get into a lot of trouble.”

“I’m sure he’ll talk his way out of it. Besides, it’s not like we did anything terrible. We hit a few tennis balls after hours. So what?” Jane said.

“And broke the lock on the gate,” Cara added.

“And then broke the ball machine,” Meg said.

“Right. And we broke a few things,” Jane admitted. “So what? It’s not like we hurt anyone.”

“How do you feel?” Meg asked Cara. “Was it worth it?”

“I feel better,” Cara said.

“When you think about it, being angry over losing a boyfriend is stupid. You’ll meet someone better at college and would have broken up with Mark anyway, so really all he did was speed up your timeline by a few months,” Jane said.

“Totally,” Meg agreed.

“Whatever. I’m not going to let that loser embarrass me like that. I am way too good for him anyway,” Cara said.

“Totally!” Meg said again.

“Thanks, guys. I really did need that.” Cara sighed. She reached over and tucked the piece of hair that for some reason refused to grow long enough to fit in Jane’s ponytail behind her ear. “What am I going to do without you guys at school?”

“You’ll probably commit fewer crimes without Jane around,” Meg teased.

“If that was supposed to hurt my feelings, it didn’t.”

“I’m just kidding,” Meg reassured her.

“Anyway, I guess we can check breaking into school off our list of things to do before we graduate, right?” Cara asked. “So we have that going for us.”

“Exactly!” Jane said. She laughed and felt so proud of herself for being able to change Cara’s entire mood. “And we can thank Mark for being such a moron that he made that little outing necessary. Without him we wouldn’t have that awesome memory to look back on now.”

“I still really wish I could just break his nose,” Cara said.

“Maybe next time,” Jane promised. “For now, breaking the ball machine will have to be sufficient.”





ten


Jane heard the back door close and the car start in the driveway, which snapped her mind back to the present. She entered the kitchen and found Cara leaning against the refrigerator with her arms wrapped around her middle, staring at the ceiling. Jane had no doubt that if she had slept in five minutes later, she’d have come down to the kitchen and found Cara toasting English muffins. Five more minutes, and Cara might have been able to hide this from her entirely.

“Good morning. What day is today?” Jane asked, trying to figure out if she should let Cara know she had overheard everything.

“Friday,” Cara said, forcing a smile.

“I have my days all mixed up. They became harder to keep straight once I started sleeping through them, you know?”

“I could see how that’d be a problem. Do you want coffee? I made some earlier.” Cara opened a cabinet, reaching for a coffee mug on the top shelf.

“I’d love some. But please be careful, I’d hate to see what happens if you break a mug or something,” Jane said casually, deciding that in this new phase of her life, honesty would always be the best policy—even if that meant intruding on things that had absolutely nothing to do with her.

“You heard that?”

“Hard not to.”

“Please, Jane, I don’t need a lecture. I let you stay here because you had nowhere to go, not because I wanted you to get involved. Just stay out of it.”

“Stay out of it? Are you joking? Cara, what are you doing listening to this crap? How long has this been going on? Please, please don’t tell me since you got married or I swear to God I’ll scream.”

“It’s none of your business, Jane.”

“Yes, it is. You’re my friend and I love you, and that makes it my business whether you like it or not.”

“How can you think you have a right to say anything when we haven’t spoken in years?”

“I’m invoking a grandfather clause. And I may not have seen you for a long time, but I’d never, ever speak to you like that.”

“Well, doesn’t that just make you friend of the year. Should I go try to find my half of the ‘best friends forever’ necklace we had in fifth grade? I’ll put it back on to commemorate this special moment between us.” If Cara was hoping her comment would get Jane to back off, she was wasting her time. Jane knew her moves better than anyone, and sarcasm was not going to be a strong enough weapon to make her drop the topic.