The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett(11)

“You forgot, didn’t you?” Emily said.

I sighed melodramatically. “This paper is so stupid, Em. The whole thing is stupid. I don’t see why we’re spending an entire quarter on Ohio’s history anyway. Nothing interesting has ever happened here.”

“Well, maybe you should make that the focus of your paper,” Emily said, laughing. She opened the passenger door of my Rabbit, which she could do before I unlocked it, because my locks haven’t worked for well over a year.

My car has a lot of idiosyncrasies like that, things my parents would refer to as broken but I call quirks. My mom was always pointing them out to me because she really wanted me to regret buying the car. She couldn’t get that I wanted a car that was a little broken. When something starts out perfect, it usually lets me down.

That’s why I never mind the broken locks or it taking four tries before my car sputters to life.

“I can’t believe this thing is still running,” Emily said.

I sighed. “I can’t believe I’m about to spend my afternoon at the library researching Griffin Mills.”

? ? ?

It turned out that by “researching Griffin Mills” I really meant sitting at a table with a stack of books in front of me and whispering to Emily, who was actually trying to research Griffin Mills.

Emily had a notebook open and was using one hand to jot down bits of information while the other hand twisted the strand of pearls around her neck. The pearls were something Emily got teased about, along with her sweater sets and penny loafers. At some fancy boarding school, she probably would have fit in just fine, but the Mills doesn’t have much tolerance for sophistication.

Sometimes, I wondered how Emily became so cultured. Her parents own a drugstore. They aren’t the kind of people who know what’s playing on Broadway or what wine goes with what entrée. But I guess I’m not all that much like my parents either, so maybe it’s not that weird.

“I just keep wondering about him,” I said to Emily.

“Who?” she asked, her eyes not moving from the book in front of her.

“Him. Lorenzo Calvetti.”

Emily looked up at me, clearly drawing a blank.

“Lizzie’s boyfriend.”

“Oh, jeez, Hawthorn. Let it go.” She went back to making notes in her neat, cramped cursive.

“He didn’t look special. Just a regular boy. Man, I guess, not boy. The paper said he’s twenty-five. But there was something boyish about him, you know? Anyway, I keep thinking he must be special for Lizzie to be with him.”

Emily looked up again. “I know plenty of guys Lizzie has been with, and there’s not a special one in the bunch.”

“Really? Like who? She dated that Kyle guy through most of high school, didn’t she?”

“I can’t believe we’re having this conversation. This is stupid gossip.”

“People I know? From when we were in high school together?” Then a thought struck. “My brother?”

Emily sighed. “I don’t know, Hawthorn. I shouldn’t have said anything. I don’t think I ever heard about her and Rush.”

“They were in the same clique. I think he was in love with her. Or in lust with her at least.”

“Look. I’m really trying to get my work done, OK? I don’t care who some girl who used to go to our school might have slept with.”

“I don’t care either. I was just making conversation,” I said.

Emily raised her eyebrows. I decided to busy myself with the stack of books in front of me. I grabbed one about the Ohio canals, which a lot of people have never heard of. I found the section that mentioned the Mills and almost started reading.

“Those guys were special though. The guys like Kyle or even Rush. Not that they’re super interesting or bright, but they’re talented in their own athletic way. They look like models, and everyone loves them.”

“Not me. Or you.”

“But you understand what I mean. Lorenzo Calvetti isn’t like them.”

Emily slammed her book shut, and the people around us turned to stare. That’s how I knew I’d crossed a line. Emily wasn’t one for public displays of emotion.

“Hawthorn, you’re my best friend, and I’m glad you found something to care about so deeply. But I don’t have a parent who teaches at a university. I don’t have guaranteed acceptance into a good school. I work hard to keep my grades above average, and right now, I just want to do my research paper, not talk about Lizzie Lovett.”

I felt my face flush. “You’re right. I should go.”

“You probably should.”

“Will you be able to get a ride home later?”

“It’s fine. Just go.”

“Why can’t we do the research online anyway?”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Hawthorn.”

I walked out of the library with my shoulders slumped and decided the incident was one more reason to hate Lizzie.

? ? ?

Both Rush and I were pushing food around on our plates instead of eating. I was doing it because I wasn’t a fan of Indian food. I suspected Rush still had no appetite because he was pouting over Lizzie.

“Then he goes on to argue that putting Clarence on the throne would have actually kept the Plantagenets in power,” my dad was saying.