The Weight of Blood (41)

“Then what’s the problem?”

She checked at the door and huffed, frustrated to the point of tears. “Why . . . can’t you all just leave me alone?”

The crack in her voice made him pause, but he still felt determined to change her mind. He took in her wool sweater, and a question popped in his head. “Hey, that stuff about you having lupus. Is it true?”

She blinked, thrown off by the sudden change in subject. “No.”

“Then why lie?”

Maddy sighed, her shoulders slumping. “I didn’t . . . want to lie,” she mumbled, staring at her feet.

He nodded, gripping the mammy statue, and placed it back on the display. Maybe they had something in common after all. “Yeah, my parents make me do a lot of things I don’t want to, too.”

Maddy stopped shaking, eyes sweeping over his face, and it finally occurred to him what seemed so off—he’d never seen her without glasses before. The afternoon sunlight beaming through the door turned her brown eyes hazel; she almost looked like a completely different person.

“But why me?” she asked. “You’re with Wendy Quinn.”

So she does notice things, he mused. “Wendy doesn’t want to go. And I guess I know how it feels to pretend to be something you’re . . . not.”

She gulped, wringing her hands. “I . . . I don’t know.

“It’s just one night.”

Maddy sighed in defeat. “If I say yes, will you leave?”

He shrugged. “Maybe.”

Her eyes flared and he laughed. “I’m messing with you! Of course! But I . . . want you to say yes because you want to go. Ain’t trying to force you or nothing.”

Arms wrapped around herself, she glanced outside for a long while, but not checking for her father. Seemed like she was staring right into Sal’s. The panic melted from her face.

“Okay. I’ll go with you.”





Ten


May 24, 2014

JASON’S PARENTS WERE out of town, which meant only one thing: house party. Half the school took up every inch of his massive ranch-style home in the same subdivision Jules lived in. A speaker blasted from the kitchen, next to the kegs, chips, and boxes of Sal’s pizza. Bodies in the outdoor pool glowed, the fire pit roaring. In the living room, Jason played bartender, tossing a shaker in the air, mixing various concoctions that Kayleigh happily tried as Chris played beer pong on the dining room table. Wendy snuggled on Kenny’s lap, sipping a beer, laughing at Charlotte retelling cheerleading fumbles. A lightness had returned to their group after weeks of tension. But still, all anyone wanted to talk to them about was Maddy.

“I can’t believe you two are really going through with this,” Kayleigh said from the sofa.

Wendy shrugged. “Well, I wasn’t going to prom anyway. And after everything that happened, Kenny just wanted to do the right thing.”

That was her carefully crafted answer. In truth, it killed her to give up prom, but she hoped her orchestrated efforts would pay off big further down the road, where it really mattered. And it seemed to be working. Everyone commended her on being a selfless person, giving up prom for the less fortunate. She had received a ton of interview requests and hoped she could parlay the opportunities into possible summer internships where she could forge even more connections to help Kenny when he entered the league. Kenny shrugged off the attention. Their after-prom plans hadn’t changed, still heading to Greenville to party with their friends at the Hilton hotel.

“You know. I don’t think Maddy got it too bad,” Jason mused. “My dad told me some of the stuff him and his buddies used to do back when they were at SHS, and man . . . they pretty much ran people out of town or back to the East Side. All anyone did was laugh at her hair.”

Kenny stiffened beneath Wendy. She quickly tried to change subjects.

“OMG, did anyone watch The Vampire Diaries last night? It was so good.”

“What do you think she’s going to wear?” Charlotte chuckled, ignoring her. “OMG! You think she’ll come in that dusty sweater?”

Wendy rubbed small circles in Kenny’s shoulder, hoping to calm him.

“No clue,” she quipped, and changed the subject again. “But! You’re still going to help me with decorations, right?”

“You expect me to help decorate both proms?”

“Please,” Wendy whined. “You promised. We’ll do the All-Together prom first. It’ll be real quick.”

“Uh-oh,” Chris said, staring at the front door, holding a pong ball midair.

Jules walked in wearing tight dark jeans, boots, and a midriff top, Brady not far behind her. People cleared the foyer. No one had seen or heard from her in over two days. They had started to wonder if her dad had sent her away. Jules scanned the house until her eyes locked on Wendy. The temperature in the room plummeted.

Jason toggled between Wendy and Jules and chuckled. “Welp. I’m out of here,” he quipped, heading for the kitchen, but Kayleigh grabbed his arm.

“Don’t you dare,” Kayleigh growled, glancing back at Jules. “We may need your help tearing them apart.”

Jules strutted across the room, her head held high, stopping a few feet in front of Wendy, a cruel smile on her lips. Wendy tried to keep her red cup from shaking.