A Midsummer's Nightmare(9)

I looked down at my green cotton tank top and low-slung Tommy Hilfiger jeans. “Thanks.” The girl deserved some credit. At least she knew good fashion when she saw it. If there was one thing I cared about, it was my wardrobe, and I had certainly mastered the “I don’t give a shit” look. Believe it or not, it took a lot of talent to pull off that style without looking sloppy.

“We should definitely go shopping,” she said again.

“Um… maybe.”

“Awesome,” she said. “My birthday is in August. I’ll have money after that. We could go to the mall in the next county over before you leave for college. That would be fun.”

“Maybe,” I repeated. I wasn’t committing myself to anything. But it was impossible to flat out reject this girl. I wasn’t a pushover or anything. Far from it. She just had those big puppy eyes that made you feel guilty, you know?

That’s why, when she asked, “Do you want me to go? So you can unpack and get settled in?” I shook my head and let her stay.

“So do you, like, have a boyfriend?” she asked, pulling her legs into a crisscross position on the bed. “Is he going to miss you while you’re here?”

“I don’t have one,” I told her. “And I don’t want one, either.”

“Why not?” she asked.

“Boys are a pain in the ass.”

Bailey laughed, like she thought I was kidding. “I’m allowed to date once I start high school. I’m going to try out for the cheerleading squad this summer. Boys like cheerleaders, right?”

“I guess,” I said, walking over to stare out the window. “I wouldn’t really know. I didn’t hang out with the cheerleaders much. We weren’t in the same crowd.”

“So what crowd were you in?”

I looked over at her, thinking of how to answer.

I remembered being thirteen and thinking that high school would be some great new adventure. I’d even dreamed of being a cheerleader, too. At the time, though, I’d been in the middle of an awkward growth spurt. I was all knees and elbows, and I could barely walk without tripping, let alone do a decent cartwheel.

By the time tryouts rolled around the next year, though, my ambitions had changed. I’d started partying and drinking and getting a reputation for being easy, which was funny, I guess, since I wasn’t even having sex when the rumors first started. The prissy little cheerleaders thought I was a wild-child slut, and I thought they were stupid bitches. So it just hadn’t worked out.

It was weird to think I’d been so much like Bailey once.

I cleared my throat, suddenly aware that she was still waiting on my answer. “Well, I was in the… the…”

“Bailey!” Sylvia’s voice called from downstairs. “Honey, come help me set the table for supper.”

“Coming!” Bailey yelled. She hopped off the bed and walked over to the door, looking back at me with that same happy smile. “We’ll hang out again later, okay?”

“Sure,” I mumbled.

“We eat dinner at six,” she added. “I’ll see you downstairs in a little while, Whitley.”

Then she was gone.

And I was finally alone.





5


“You’ve got to be kidding me. Getting married?”

“Yeah. This fall.”

“Wow.” Mom was quiet for a moment before asking, “So… what’s she like?”

I scowled at the phone in my hand, wishing she could see the annoyance on my face. “I don’t know, Mom. She’s a lawyer, has two kids, lives like freaking Martha Stewart. Does it matter?”

“Is she pretty?”

“Yes. Gorgeous. Is that what you’re hoping to hear?”

I wanted to throw my phone across the room, to scream. Even this was about her. About Dad moving on without her. About how she compared to Sylvia. She didn’t even seem to think about me.

“Sorry, sorry,” Mom said with a sniffle. Was she crying? A weight pressed into my chest, and I wished I hadn’t snapped at her.

I still remembered the days when she’d make me call in and lie to her boss, tell him that she was sick and couldn’t come in. The days when I ate only cereal because she wouldn’t even get up to cook. She hadn’t done that in years, not to that extent, at least, but this could be the thing to send her over the edge again.

“Mom, I’m just… I’m really upset right now. This is all piling up on me at once, you know?”

“Oh, I understand. God, this is so your father. I can’t believe he didn’t warn you. He is so selfish.”

I gritted my teeth. Now she was going too far in the other direction. Did she really think this was helping me? I don’t even know why I called her. I guess… I just wanted to talk to someone. I wanted someone to listen to me complain and to sympathize with me for a few minutes. I wanted someone to understand how lost I felt.

I had tried to call Trace first, but all I got was his voice mail. And this wasn’t exactly something you left on the machine: Hey, did you know Dad is engaged to Carol Brady? No? Well he is and I’m pissed. Please make me feel better.

Mom was my only other option. I didn’t have friends I could turn to. I didn’t have anyone. But calling her had clearly been a mistake.