by Carrie Secor
“Where’s Melody?” Daisy asked.
“Out gallivanting with Andy,” Cadie responded, sitting down at her normal chair, the one that faced the big picture window into the backyard. “Taking pictures and what not.”
Daisy made a disapproving noise. Tom raised an eyebrow.
Cadie rolled her eyes. “You guys can trust Melody.”
“I know I can trust Melody. I don’t trust Andy,” her mother responded.
“Trust me, he’s more interested in the camera than he is in her.”
“That’s why I don’t trust him,” Daisy explained. “He’s not very smart.”
Cadie smiled and took the bowl of salad that her father passed her. “She should be home soon, anyway.”
“How was the first day?” her father asked.
“It was… you know, school.” Cadie took a bite of garlic bread and chewed slowly, trying to think of a way to introduce the topic that she was about to introduce. “Um, Mrs. Davinsizer asked me to be the editor of the literary magazine.”
“Honey, that’s great!” her mother exclaimed.
“Congratulations,” Tom said.
“Thanks.”
The three of them heard the screen door at the front of the house open, then slam shut. The hinges had been broken for about a decade. “I’m home!” Melody called, walking down the hallway and appearing in the kitchen. “Ooh, dinner smells good.”
“What did you want to drink?” Tom asked, immediately standing.
“I’ll get it,” Melody responded, gesturing that her father should sit back down. “I’m late, I know. Sorry. Andy and I took a walk in the woods and then we rode our bikes into the other development to take pictures of cows.” She opened the refrigerator and removed a bottle of grape juice.
“Sounds thrilling,” Cadie answered.
“Who wants to play cards after dinner?” Tom asked.
“I will, Daddy,” Melody offered.
“I might,” Cadie responded. “I’m going to look over some calculus problems first, though.” She felt a little surge of panic go through her again, and she took a deep breath.
“Cadie, is it okay if we pick up Susan again tomorrow?” Melody asked.
“I suppose,” answered Cadie, her heartbeat beginning to slow down. “But we’re going to go the back way, because I told Stacy we could give her a ride too.”
“Stacy Monroe?” Daisy inquired. She sipped her water.
Cadie nodded.
“I haven’t seen her in awhile. How is she doing?”
“Fine,” answered Cadie. “She’s actually taking a couple AP classes this year, so we have physics and English together.” Cadie paused to chew and swallow a bite of lasagna. “Anyway, usually Will drives her to school, but I guess his parents are making him take his cousins and his sister, so he doesn’t have room in the car anymore, and Stacy’s not a huge fan of riding in the glove compartment.”
“Doesn’t he have a trunk?” her dad responded without missing a beat.
Felicia climbed the stairs to the second-floor dance studio on Main Street where Brian had just dropped her off; the dance studio was located above a swap shop. She pushed open the doorway and glanced over the girls in her class. They had been the same girls since she was eleven. Amanda Teller, Lauren Andrews, Elizabeth Markel, and Meredith Wachniki were all cheerleaders. Rachael Dunmyer, Gabrielle Cherry, and Melissa McClellan were all in drama club. There was also Charlotte Henry, who did not go to their school; her mother sent her to a private school simply because the public school mascot was a blue devil. Charlotte also had a twin sister, Charlene, and it made for a confusing time when all three Henrys were around, because their mother referred to both girls as “Char.” The dance instructor, Andrea Townsend, had not arrived yet. One face Felicia had not expected to see was Elliot’s.
Shyness forgotten, Felicia marched right up to Elliot, who was sitting on the floor, stretching forward and touching her toes. “You dance,” she greeted her.
Elliot looked up from stretching, not looking at all surprised to see Felicia. “I dance,” she confirmed. “Why? Are you surprised?”
Felicia dropped her bag beside Elliot. “You don’t look like a dancer.”
“Yes I do. I have no tits. And I’m fucking tall, so we can rule out gymnastics right away. Plus I eat things other than rice cakes.” She interrupted herself at the sight of Felicia’s wince. “What? Are you anorexic? Did I offend you?”
Felicia sat down beside her. “Yes, but not because of the rice cakes. I don’t like swearing.”
Elliot sat back and looked at Felicia appraisingly. “You don’t like swearing,” she repeated flatly.
“Well… yeah. Actually…” It was always a little embarrassing to reveal this part of her personality to someone new. Shane, Cadie, and Brian had all dealt with it for years and had grown accustomed to it, but this was the revelation that usually caused people to decide that she was too weird. “I actually have a swear jar and I charge people a quarter per bad word.”
“Are you fucking serious?”
Felicia shrugged one shoulder slightly. “The f-word is worth fifty cents.”
Elliot stared across the room, contemplating this new development. “Well, fuck,” she said finally.
Felicia let that one slide. Instead, she positioned herself across from Elliot and planted her feet so they were touching hers. The two grabbed hands in the middle, and Elliot started pulling Felicia forward in a stretch. “Do I look anorexic?” Felicia asked, her face aimed toward the ground.
“No,” Elliot answered, letting Felicia go. She sat back up. “You look perfectly healthy. I was just saying.”
“I don’t eat rice cakes.”
“Nobody eats rice cakes.” Elliot glanced around the room. “Well, maybe this crowd,” she muttered.
“Actually, I’m kind of glad you’re here,” Felicia admitted. “There were an odd number of girls in the class and they’re all friends. I usually was either partnered with the instructor or I had to do stuff by myself.”
“I bet lifts were fun,” Elliot remarked.
“The barre wasn’t very good at them,” Felicia returned.
Five
On Wednesday, Cadie and Melody picked up Susan, just like the day before. Cadie complained about having to do so, just like the day before. Already they were falling into a routine. However, Cadie had given up on her weak attempt to dress nicely; the polo shirt from yesterday was in the hamper and probably would not be worn again for months. Glasses had replaced her contacts and her hair was pulled back in a haphazard bun. She was glad the fashion show of the first day of school was over.
Melody looked a little more presentable, but then again, she had been trying to catch Andy’s eye for years. Cadie knew her sister’s cute red top and red plaid skirt would be lost on the boy. She would have to show up naked to get his attention.
After pulling out of Susan’s driveway, Cadie did not continue on Sassafras Street, which would have led her to the railroad crossing towards the main road. Instead, she took a right on Walnut Street and another right at the end, on the road that paralleled the railroad tracks.
“Why are we going this way?” Susan piped up from the backseat.
“I’m picking up someone,” Cadie responded. “I have friends, too.”
“Doesn’t Felicia live in the other direction?”
Cadie stepped on the brake, hard. Melody braced herself by slamming her palms against the dashboard. Susan snapped forward far enough to cause her stupid big sunglasses to fall off her face and onto the floor of the car.
“Squirrel,” Cadie said brightly, before stepping on the gas again. Melody shot her a dirty look.
The three of them drove along on the winding back road. Suddenly Melody pointed out the window. “Hey, I think that was a groundhog,” she said.
“No, I think that was a woodchuck,” Susan corrected her.
Melody furrowed her brow and turned to look over her shoulder. “Aren’t groundhogs a
nd woodchucks the same thing?”
“No,” Susan answered pristinely.
“What’s the difference?”
Susan let out a sigh of exasperation. “Woodchucks chuck wood.”
“That’s beavers,” Cadie interjected, growing weary of the inane conversation topic.
“Woodchucks do it too.”
Neither Cadie nor Melody could think of an adequate response to this statement. After about ten minutes, their car arrived at Stetter Road and Cadie took a left.
“So, who are we picking up?” Susan asked.
Cadie took a deep breath. She had been putting off telling Susan that Stacy was going to be riding with them. Because Stacy was on the cheerleading squad, and she was a senior, she knew that Susan was going to fawn all over her. Likewise, she had also avoided telling Stacy that Susan was pretty much a permanent passenger in her car, but for entirely different reasons—namely because she wanted to speak to Stacy again. “Um, Stacy Monroe,” Cadie finally answered.
Susan gasped. “Oh, my God. Really? Stacy Monroe? I love her. She is so sweet.”
All Cadie could think to say was, “Yeah.” She pulled into Stacy’s driveway and leaned on the horn.
Stacy emerged and Cadie could not help but laugh. Today she was wearing a black sweater, black leggings, black heels, and a denim skirt.
“She has great taste,” Susan gushed.
Cadie elbowed Melody. “Can you get in the back and let Stacy sit up front?”
“Sure.” Melody obediently unbuckled her seat belt and got out of the car to join Susan in the backseat as Stacy approached.
“Hey,” Stacy said, clamoring into the front seat. “Thanks for the ride.”
Cadie just looked at her.
“What?” Stacy asked.
“Your clothes amaze me,” Cadie answered, throwing the car into reverse.
“Whatever. When the eighties come back, and they will, you’re going to be rushing out to buy clothes just like this.”
“Where do you even get clothes like that?” Cadie asked as she pulled out of the driveway.
“They were my mom’s.”
“ ‘Vintage! So adorable.’ ”
“ ‘That is the ugliest effing skirt I have ever seen,’ ” Stacy responded, finishing the Mean Girls quote. The two of them laughed.
“Hi, Stacy,” Susan erupted, poking her head between the two front seats. Cadie could tell that she had been holding her tongue ever since Stacy had gotten in the car. She had probably been waiting to be noticed, but simply could not take it any longer. The need to talk to Stacy was too great.
Stacy started and looked at Susan in genuine alarm. “Hello,” she said, sounding confused. She shot Cadie a look.
Felicia’s fifth period art class was much closer to the cafeteria than Cadie’s fifth period physics class, which was upstairs. Therefore, she had been bestowed the responsibility of reserving their table at lunch. The first few days of school were usually kind of tricky in this area; fortunately, by week two, everyone generally accepted their established places and nobody tried to horn in on anyone else’s territory. However, it was only the second day of school, and Felicia took her responsibility very seriously. Yesterday, she had scored one of the round tables for herself and Cadie. Each round table was surrounded by eight chairs, and there were very few of them in the cafeteria; the others were long and rectangular and sat about thirty people. Getting a round table seemed to be a popularity competition. In Felicia’s case, she just did not want to be stuck sitting next to other people.
Their table from yesterday was vacant, and Felicia snagged it immediately, setting her stuff down on one of the chairs. She pulled a brown paper bag out of her tote and sat down. Felicia had never been big on buying school lunches. She began very slowly eating her peanut butter and jelly sandwich, keeping her eyes on the rear entrance to the cafeteria.
Cadie came in a few moments later, accompanied by Stacy Monroe, like she had been yesterday. Cadie met eyes with Felicia and waved her hand in greeting. Stacy looked up, saw Felicia, and administered a polite wave as well. Felicia waved back automatically, and dropped her hand as soon as Stacy’s eyes flicked away. Cadie and Stacy parted ways as they approached, with Stacy weaving her way through the cafeteria to sit at a different round table in the corner that had a few other cheerleaders and some football players.
Cadie dropped her physics book, binder, and purse on the table. Felicia felt a sense of trepidation. “Man, I’m hungry,” Cadie remarked, digging some bills out of her purse and tucking them into her back pocket. “Too bad this cafeteria doesn’t serve food.”
“I invited someone to sit with us,” Felicia blurted, not quite as smoothly as she had intended.
Cadie nodded. “Okay.”
“There was this girl in my theatre class,” Felicia continued. “She just moved here and she didn’t know anybody. So I invited her to eat lunch with us today. You know, because she didn’t know anybody.”
Cadie nodded again. “Okay.” She stared at Felicia.
“She’s in my dance class too,” she went on after a pause, only because Cadie kept staring at her. “I went to dance last night and… and she was there.”
Cadie raised her eyebrows expectantly. “Does she have a name?”
“Oh! Her name’s Elliot.”
Cadie nodded a third time. “Okay.” She pointed at the growing line of kids who were all waiting to be fed. “I’m going to go get food.”
“Okay,” Felicia said as Cadie walked away. She started eating her sandwich again, more slowly. She did not know why she had been so nervous in telling Cadie that she had invited someone else to eat with them. It was not like they had rules that they were eating exclusively with each other.
She sat up slightly when she saw Elliot. She came out from the lunch line, holding her blue plastic tray and looking around in that obvious way. Felicia raised her arm and waved, swinging it back and forth to get Elliot’s attention. She felt like an idiot, but it had served its purpose; Elliot saw her and started walking over. Felicia felt her heartbeat speed up.
“Hi,” Felicia said.
“Hi,” Elliot answered, lowering her tray to the table and sitting down. “Jeez, do they serve anything other than chicken at this school?”
“Um, rarely,” Felicia responded, looking off into space as she considered the question. “I remember when I was in ninth grade, they tried to have tacos once, but then like half the school got sick.”
Elliot stared at her. “Are you joking?”
Felicia shook her head. “It turned out to be just a stomach bug, because people were getting sick that hadn’t even eaten the tacos, but we still called it the Taco Epidemic. I’m pretty sure they haven’t had tacos since.”
Elliot raised an eyebrow as she speared a chicken nugget with her fork. “I may never eat tacos again.”
As they continued talking, Felicia started feeling less anxious about the new addition to their lunch table. She was fairly convinced that melding Elliot and Cadie was not going to be a problem. However, when she saw Cadie appear with her tray of chicken nuggets, she felt her nerves kick in again.
Cadie sat down next to Elliot, which Felicia chose to take as a good sign, and she introduced herself immediately. “Hi,” she said. “I’m Cadie.”
“I’m Elliot. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too. You’re in my gym class, right? Rosenberg, second period?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“I was just telling Elliot about the Taco Epidemic,” Felicia said.
“Yeah. Sorry you missed that,” Cadie said to Elliot, who laughed. Felicia’s jitters calmed down considerably. It looked like lunch was going to go smoothly.
“Cadie, I hope this isn’t too personal, but I really need to ask you something,” Elliot said. Felicia tensed up again.
Cadie looked alarmed. “Yes?”
“Was it really hard to stop swearing around Felicia? Because, I have to tell you, I’ve been here
for five minutes and it’s driving me fucking crazy.”
Shane walked into his last period calculus class. He wondered how long it was going to take before people figured out that he was actually supposed to be in this class; they kept looking at him like he had wandered in here by mistake. Thankfully, today, Cadie only glanced up, saw him, and looked back down at her opened textbook on her desk. He made his way to the back of the class and sat down beside her again.
Neither one of them said anything for a few minutes, and finally he looked over at her. She looked like she was having an internal dialogue with herself. She glanced at him, looked away, and then glanced back.
“Chicken nuggets?” he guessed.
“What?” she said.
“Yesterday you looked weird and you blamed it on the chicken patties,” he reminded her. “I thought it might have been the chicken nuggets.”
Cadie waved a hand dismissively. “No, it’s—” She paused, then plunged ahead. “I ate lunch with a random girl today.”
“Don’t you and Felicia have lunch together?” he asked.
“Yeah… She brought the random girl.”
Shane stared at her. “Felicia brought another human being to eat lunch with you?”
Cadie sighed. “Thank God that I am not the only one who thinks this is bizarre.”
Shane thought hard. “She brought a girl and it wasn’t you?”
“I think I would have noticed if it was me,” Cadie said flatly.
He sat back in his seat, considering this new information carefully. “But you’re the only person she talks to,” he said finally.
“I know, right? I know! And you know what was really weird? She just met her yesterday.”
“And she’s already spoken to her?”
“I think she was expecting me to say something,” Cadie said slowly, ignoring his last comment. “Like, I think she was expecting me to react because she was bringing someone else to lunch, but I couldn’t really do that. I mean, I didn’t want to act surprised that she was hanging out with someone else.”