Beat the Band (Swim the Fly #2)(76)

“No,” she says. “It’s fine. It’s just . . . the whole thing’s so dumb.” She takes a deep breath. “It was in eighth grade. You probably didn’t see it, but I was in the school musical. Grease.”

“Sean told me he saw you in the junior-high yearbook.”

“Yeah, well, back then, Prudence and I were best friends. And this guy she was dating, Drew Avery, had already been cast as Danny. So we decided to audition because we did everything together. She’d go for Sandy so that no other girl would get to kiss Drew in the show. I just went along to support her. I thought I’d try out for one of the Pink Ladies. ’Cause it’d be fun for us to hang out and do a musical together.”

“Uh-huh.”

“So, I do my audition, and Mr. Krantz, the director, stops everything and says that he doesn’t need to audition anybody else. That I was going to play Sandy. Prudence didn’t even get a part. I told her I wasn’t going to do the show but she said I had to. She’d rather have someone she could trust playing Drew’s girlfriend than some skank she didn’t know.” Helen shakes her head like she’s still trying to figure it out. “Anyway, everything seemed fine until a few weeks later, when Drew started acting all weird around me. Saying how talented I was. How exciting it was to work with me. The next thing I know he dumps Prudence and asks me out.”

“Oh, crap.”

“Yeah. ‘Oh, crap’ is right. I mean, what am I supposed to do? Even if I did like him — which I didn’t — I was never going to date him. Prudence was my best friend. And so, Drew is furious with me when I turn him down and then he goes crawling back to Prudence, saying I was the one who came on to him. That I convinced him to break up with her by saying all this nasty stuff about her.”

“The hell? And she believed him?”

“I tried to tell her the truth but she wouldn’t even listen. And that was it. She stopped talking to me. Except to tell me that she’d make sure I never stole anyone’s boyfriend ever again. It only took her a few days to get all our friends to ignore me. And shortly after that, the whole Hot Dog Helen rumors started spreading.”

“Jesus,” I say, feeling this rage rise up inside. At Prudence. At her friends. And at myself for being sucked into it all.

“For the longest time I tried to figure out what I could have done differently. I kept questioning everything. Was it my fault? Did I lead him on? It got to a point where I almost felt like I deserved it or something. It’s totally warped.”

“And she’s still pissed about it, two years later?”

Helen laughs. “You obviously don’t know girls very well. We’re like elephants. We have long memories. Even if those memories aren’t true. Besides, it was right around then that she became so popular. I think it gave her this weird sense of power. Like she could crush anyone she wanted. I don’t know. I stopped trying to figure it out.”

“Did you ever think about trying to get revenge?”

“No. Not really. I guess I was hoping it would blow over eventually and I’d get my old life back. Pretty pathetic, huh?”

“We should do something. For payback. What do you say?”

Helen looks at me with her gorgeous hazel eyes. She smiles. Then leans over and kisses me.

Deeply.

Intensely.

Until I think I might lose my mind.

We part and I swallow hard. “Is that a yes?”

Helen laughs. “No. I just thought it was sweet of you. I couldn’t help myself.”

Sweet of me? Oh, God, if she only knew . . .

I can’t believe what a supreme mess I’ve made of everything. All I can do now is pray that she never finds out the truth.





“WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?” Dad says the second I walk through the door. He’s vibrating with excited energy, his fingers wiggling, like he’s been standing there waiting all day.

I drop my backpack on the floor of the vestibule. “I had to stay after school with Helen to do our Health presentation for Mrs. Turris.”

“Oh.” He looks a little embarrassed. “Well. How did that go?”

“Fine,” I say. “She gave us an A.” I don’t mention the fact that it was probably because she felt sorry for us. But I’ll take it anyway I can get it.

“An A? Wow. That’s great.” He claps his hands and rubs them together. “So. You ready for a surprise?”

“Sure.”

He grins and waggles his eyebrows. “Okay, then. Follow me.”

I trail Dad to the basement door. He covers my eyes with his hand and carefully leads me down the stairway.

“What’s going on?” I ask. “Why all the secrecy?”

“Just shut your pie hole and wait.”

For the last week he’s only come up from the basement for meals and to shower. We’ve heard a lot of hammering, sawing, carpet tearing, and drilling down here, but nobody’s been allowed to see what he’s been up to.

“We’re almost there.” Dad’s got a hold of my right arm as I feel for the next step with my outstretched foot.

Finally we reach the bottom of the stairs, and Dad guides me across the basement floor. The air smells of sawdust and lacquer and fresh paint.

“Okay. Are you all set?” he asks, his calloused palm a scratchy blindfold on my face.