Because It Is My Blood (Birthright #2)(19)

“You look utterly miserable,” I said to him.

Simon Green laughed. “Parties aren’t really my thing.”

“Mine neither,” I said. “What’s your reason?”

Simon Green took off his glasses and wiped them on his sleeve. “I’m afraid I had a very lonely childhood. Never got used to being with people.”

“The opposite for me. Everything was too crowded. Middle-child syndrome I think they call it.”

Simon Green nodded toward the corner of the room. “Is that Yuji Ono?”

“Yes.” I didn’t want to talk about him.

“And who’s that?” He was pointing at Alison Wheeler, who was dancing with a girl from my history class.

“Ah, that would be my ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend. We’re friends. It’s all very grown-up and civilized.”

“Her?” Simon Green’s tone was one of utter incredulity. “We’re talking about the redheaded girl with the pixie cut?”

“Yes, her.” I paused. “Why not her?”

“Just not what I expected.” I tried to convince him to elaborate, but Simon Green would go no further.

I continued my rounds. Before I knew it, it was 11:20, and the only ones left were Scarlet and Gable. Scarlet told me to go home, but I stayed. I knew Gable wouldn’t be much help cleaning up.

“It wasn’t awful, was it?” Scarlet asked me. “You weren’t hating me the whole night?”

“Of course not, you silly duck.” I kissed Scarlet on the cheek. “No one has ever been a better and more loyal friend to me than you have.”

“How completely touching,” Gable said sarcastically. “Can we please go home now?”

I asked Scarlet if she wanted to ride the bus back with me. She informed me that she was planning to spend the night at Gable’s.

“Scarlet!” The Catholic schoolgirl in me was scandalized.

“No, it’s fine,” she insisted. “Gable doesn’t like me traveling uptown at night and his parents don’t mind if I use the spare room.”

As it was late—ten minutes until city curfew—my cousin Fats insisted that he see me back to the Upper East Side.

We were waiting for the bus when a black car pulled up to the stop. The door opened. For a second, I wondered if I was about to be shot, if this was how it was all going to end. (But we are only on page seventy-one of the second volume of my life, so surely this could not be the end.)

Fats reached into his pocket. Just in case he had to shoot, I suppose.

Yuji Ono leaned out of the car. “A ride, Anya?” I nodded to Fats to let him know I was fine and then I got in the car.

I had had several cups of coffee that night to aid in the illusion that I was in possession of a sparkly party personality. As soon as I sat down, I started feeling the effects of the caffeine in my body. My heart beat like a hummingbird’s. I was flushed, too bold, too sharp. More like Scarlet than myself. “I thought you were mad at me,” I said to him.

“I am,” he said. “Outraged.” I couldn’t tell if he was serious.

“How is my brother?” I asked.

“Very well,” Yuji promised me. “I have a present for you, but only after you tell me why you’ve been neglecting Mickey Balanchine.”

Daddy used to say that the only people who made excuses were failures. “It was harder coming back from Liberty than I thought it was going to be.”

“You mean finding a secondary school?” Yuji Ono made a face. “Why do you even need a high school diploma?”

“You would rather me be uneducated? A fool?”

“That is not what I am saying. But the things you need to learn, you cannot learn in school.”

“Every time I see you, you lecture me,” I complained.

“That is because I am counting on you, Anya. I think you will agree that I have gone to great lengths for you.”

“Of course, Yuji.”

“You are my investment.”

“I don’t belong to you though.”

The car was just passing the southeastern edge of the park. Yuji reached into his pocket. He took my hand and pried it open. On my palm, he placed a small wooden lion.

“Did Leo make this?” I asked quietly.

“Yes, he has taken up carving.”

I looked at the lion, my miniature miracle. Leo had touched this. Leo was safe. I smiled at Yuji and tried not to cry. “He’s good at this.”

I turned to thank him. I was about to kiss him on the cheek when the car passed over a pothole and I ended up kissing him on the mouth. It was not romantic in the least. His teeth knocked against mine. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I was aiming for your cheek. Potholes, you know. This city!”

Yuji blushed. “I know, Anya.” He turned his dark eyes on me. “You would never try to kiss an old man like me on the lips.”

“Yuji, you’re not old,” I protested.

“Compared to you, I am.” He turned to look out the window. “Besides, I have heard that you are secretly with your old boyfriend. The politician’s son.”

I twisted in the seat. “What? That absolutely isn’t true! Who said that?”

“Mickey and Sophia suspect it.”