Night Road(8)

Mia led the way through the hive of students, toward a shiny black Escalade parked out on the main road. She opened the passenger door and climbed in.

Lexi followed her new friend into the leather-scented beige seat.

“Hola, Madre,” Mia said. “This is Lexi. I invited her home with me. Is that okay?”

The woman in the driver’s seat turned around, and Lexi was stunned by her beauty. Mia’s mom looked like Michelle Pfeiffer with her perfect, pale face and sleek blond hair. In an obviously expensive salmon-colored sweater, she looked like she belonged on the Nordstrom catalog cover. “Hello, Lexi. I’m Jude. It’s nice to meet you. And how is it that I don’t know you?”

“I just moved here.”

“Ah. That explains it. Where did you move here from?”

“California.”

“I won’t hold that against you,” Jude said with a bright smile. “Will your mother mind if you’re not home right away?”

“No,” Lexi said, tensing for the inevitable next question.

“I could call her if you’d like, introdu—”

“Mo-om,” Mia said, “you’re doing that thing again.”

Jude flashed Lexi a smile. “I’m embarrassing my daughter. Something I am sadly wont to do these days, just by breathing. But I can hardly stop being a mother, can I? I’m sure your mom is just as embarrassing, right, Lexi?”

Lexi had no idea what to say to that, but it didn’t matter. Jude laughed and went on as if she hadn’t asked a thing. “I’m supposed to be seen and not heard. Fine. Buckle up, girls.”

She started up the car, and Mia immediately started talking about a book she’d heard about.

They drove away from the school and onto a pretty little main street. The traffic was stop-and-go all the way through town, but once they made it onto the highway, the road was clear. They followed one curvy, tree-lined, two-lane road after another until Jude said, “Home sweet home,” and turned onto a gravel driveway.

At first there was nothing but trees on either side of them, trees so tall and thick they blocked out the sun, but then the road curved again and they were in a clearing full of sunlight.

The house was like something out of a novel. It sat proudly amid its landscaping, a soaring structure made of wood and stone, with windows everywhere. Low stone walls delineated magnificent gardens. Behind it all was the blue Sound. Even from here, Lexi could hear waves hitting the shore.

“Wow,” Lexi said, getting out of the car. She had never been in a house like this before. How should she act? What should she say? She would do the wrong thing for sure and Mia would laugh at her.

Jude slipped an arm around her daughter and they walked ahead. “I bet you girls are hungry. Why don’t I make you some quesadillas? You can tell me about the first day of high school.”

Lexi hung back instinctively.

At the front door, Mia looked back. “Lexi? You don’t want to come in, do you? You’ve changed your mind.”

Lexi felt her insecurity dissolve, or perhaps more accurately, it joined with Mia’s and morphed into something else. They were alike; impossibly, the girl who had nothing was like this girl who had everything. “No way,” Lexi said, laughing as she hurried toward the door.

Inside, she slipped out of her shoes, seeing a second too late that her socks had holes in the toes. Embarrassed, she followed Mia into the magnificent house. There were walls of glass that framed a stunning ocean view, a stone fireplace, gleaming floors. She was afraid to touch anything.

Mia grabbed her hand and dragged her into a huge kitchen. There were gleaming copper pots hanging from a black skeletal thing above the eight-burner stove and fresh flowers in several places around the room. They sat down at a long black granite counter while Jude made quesadillas.

She just walked right up to me, Madre. And I told her it was social suicide to sit with me, but she didn’t care. Is that cool or what?

Jude smiled at that, and started to say something, but Mia kept talking. Lexi could hardly keep up with Mia’s steady stream of stories. It was as if Mia had been holding observations and thoughts inside of her for years, and now they were coming out. Lexi knew about that, about holding things inside and being afraid and trying to stay quiet. She and Mia compared opinions on high school, boys, classes, movies, tattoos, belly button piercings, and they agreed on everything. The more they agreed on, the more Lexi worried: what would happen when Mia found out about Lexi’s past? Would Mia want to be friends with a drug addict’s kid?

At about five o’clock, the front door banged open and a group of kids burst into the house.

“Shoes,” Jude yelled from the kitchen without looking up.

Nine or ten kids surged forward, boys and girls. Lexi could tell they were the popular kids. Anyone would have recognized them—pretty girls in low-rise jeans and midriff-baring Tshirts, and boys in PIHS blue and yellow sweats. They’d probably come here from football and cheerleader practice.

“My bro is the one in the gray sweats,” Mia said, leaning closer. “Don’t judge him by the company he keeps. Those girls have the brains of breath mints.”

It was the guy from first period.

He peeled away from the crowd with the ease of one who knew how popular he was and sidled up to Mia, putting an arm around her shoulders. The resemblance between them was startling; Mia’s face was a feminine, sculpted version of his. He started to say something to his sister, and then he noticed Lexi. His gaze sharpened, grew so intense that she felt that fluttering start in her chest again. No one had ever looked at her like that before, as if everything about her was interesting.