Dreamland Social Club(48)

“Oh, no.” She said it out loud this time.

“Oh, no is right,” he said. “They are seriously evil.”

“My arms hurt,” she said, because it was the only thought she was having that she felt she could share, and Leo said, “Mine, too,” and so they went back the way they’d come—down the rungs and through the hatch, and down the ladder and out the door and then through the proper gate this time—with a thank-you for the guards—and then back out onto the boardwalk. And the whole time, all Jane could think was that she had to tell her father about Loki. About how awful a company it really was—fake health code violations?—and how he could not sell them the Tsunami.

“Two down, two to do,” Leo said, and Jane pushed everything else aside but the keys and said, “I guess Wonder is next, since I still have no idea what ‘Bath’ means. But I still don’t know if it’s the Wonder Wheel or Wonderland.”

“It sounds to me like a reconnaissance mission is in order.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t after school tomorrow—”

Jane had seen new signs for the Dreamland Social Club meeting. Was that why? Or was it Venus? Or both?

“But after school the next day, we’ll scope out the ‘Wonder’ stuff.”





Sneaking back in was as hard as sneaking out. Either way you were caught. But just knowing that Leo was watching from beside that lamppost made her feel stealthy and calm and confident. She wondered what he thought while he watched her, what parts of her, specifically, he kept his eyes on, and whether he wondered those kinds of things, too, about her, when she was the one doing the looking. Then inside she wondered whether she’d ever find out what the deal was with him and Venus, and then up in her room she wondered whether he’d ever touch her or kiss her or want to. With Leo in her life, there were endless things to wonder about—not just the keys.





CHAPTER six


IT WAS A NIAGARA OF CONDOMS when Jane opened her locker before Pre-Calc. Hundreds upon hundreds of XXLs in square packets cascaded into the hall and formed a river of jagged rapids on the floor. She slammed the door shut, disappeared into the girls’ bathroom, and started to cry. The temptation to scratch something awful into the stall’s thick pink paint was enormous, but Jane wasn’t sure what she’d even write.

She hadn’t been in there more than ten minutes before she heard a voice.

“Jane. It’s Principal Jackson. Collect yourself and come to my office.”

She took some toilet paper and blew her nose, then came out of the stall and went to the mirrors. She wiped the tears off her cheeks, took a deep breath, and headed out.

Harvey Claverack was already in Jackson’s office. Cliff was there, too. “I’m telling you,” Harvey said, “I didn’t do it!”

Cliff said, “Me neither.”

“And I’m telling you that I don’t believe you.” Principal Jackson was twirling back and forth on her rotating desk chair. “You’ve been orchestrating a campaign of intimidation based on this nonsense about your grandfather and that dumb carousel horse and I want it to stop.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Harvey said, and the principal snapped, “I know what goes on in my school, Harvey.” Which was a surprise to Jane. Why did the principal even know or care? And how?

Principal Jackson opened a desk drawer and pulled out the naked baby doll that Jane had dumped in the trash.

“But it wasn’t us,” Cliff said.

“This is your first and only warning,” the principal said. “One more misstep and you’re both suspended. Now apologize to Jane and go.”

“Sorry, Jane,” Harvey said, in a sort of fake singsong.

“Yeah,” Cliff said. “Sorry.”

The whole scene was pathetic. It wasn’t like they meant it. Though their denials had been rather convincing, even Jane had to admit.

“Now go!” Principal Jackson pointed to the door. “All of you!”

“I want to meet with your father or your grandfather,” Jane said to Harvey’s and Cliff’s backs in the hallway, and they both turned. “I want to talk to someone else. Someone other than the two of you.”

“And why should we let you do that?” Cliff said.

“Because I have the horse.”

“Fine,” Harvey said. “Come over after dinner. My grandfather’s always home, and my dad gets home from work at like seven.”

“Fine,” she said.

And that was that.





Jane watched Leo closely all day, hoping that he’d validate what she felt, which was that last night had changed things between them. The way they’d sat so close and talked for so long, the easy way they had with each other, the charge she was sure had been in the air. It had to mean something. And nothing having to do with Loki or the Anchor could ever change that. It took the better part of the day before she got any indication that maybe he had felt it, too.

“Hey,” he said to her on the way out of the cafeteria after lunch. He had a funny look in his eye, and she feared he was going to say something about the condoms, about her “date” with Legs. How had she gotten herself into such a mess?