Piranhas in Pink: Piranhas in Pink Book One

by Nova Knightley

  “Eden was right. You are a good fit.”

  Seiko said nothing, and I didn’t bother to see the expression on her face.

  Eden pulled a notebook from her backpack. “It’s so annoying when they do that. They want our help so badly, but when it’s time to pay up, they want to squirm their way out of it.”

  “Ungrateful,” Dani said, turning a page in her book.

  Kyla nodded. “Unappreciative.”

  “Ingrates,” Seiko added.

  Since I couldn’t think of a synonym to add right on the spot, I stayed quiet. I spotted Theresa sitting at a table in the corner with a couple of girls. She glanced at us over her shoulder, but when her eyes locked with mine, she looked away quickly. I had to get used to that—I was a piranha.

  ***

  Track practice sucked, and I hadn’t even participated. Eden “suggested” that I come to practice and sit on the bleachers and watch so that I would be with the group. I was scheduled to have a physical that week, then I could try out. I wondered what would happen if I didn’t make the team. I wasn’t fast or a long-distance runner. The other girls were good at it, but they had a system. They were good enough to not look like losers but not good enough to participate in the weekend track meets against other schools. Eden said we had no time for that. We were there simply to have an activity to add to our college applications and to stay in shape.

  Coach Caldwell led the team in stretches before they started their laps around the track. A text message popped up on my phone as I was in the middle of a yawn.

  Brody: Hey, beautiful. How was your day?

  I smiled and replied, It was a Monday. U?

  We’d decided that we should text regularly to keep up appearances.

  My phone dinged again. I looked down to read Brody’s response, but it was a text from Bree.

  Well?

  I rolled my eyes. She can’t even give me a day? My gaze travelled over to the fence, where Bree stood waving. I shoved my phone into my backpack. Something had to be done about that girl.

  21

  My PIPS

  Being a PIP that week wasn’t so bad. It would have been almost perfect if memories of Mei hadn’t been gnawing away at me. I didn’t expect the others to talk about her in public, but in private, they never mentioned her either, and I didn’t understand how they could go on as if the whole thing had never happened. On Friday, we had a sleepover at Eden’s. In the morning, we were going to go to the children’s center together for our first day of service.

  I hadn’t been to a sleepover in a long time. The last one I had gone to had been at Abby’s house. No one else had shown up because I was going to be there.

  The night at Eden’s started off as a typical sleepover. Eden ordered white pizza and grilled chicken wings. We blasted music while they trash-talked kids at school. I didn’t know anyone well enough to join in. Seiko braided Dani’s hair while Kyla typed up a blog post and Eden did some sort of weird yoga.

  “This is how I stay perfectly calm and centered,” she boasted.

  Around ten o’clock, Eden announced that it was movie time and we needed to go down to the theater. We nestled into the comfy, cushioned seats, except for Kyla, who settled down on the floor. The faded graphics told me that the movie was old.

  The words My Fair Lady popped up on the screen. I’d heard of the movie before, but I’d never seen it.

  “This is one of my favorites,” Eden said.

  I had a feeling they watched an Audrey movie at every sleepover.

  Because I was too busy watching the girls, I couldn’t get into the movie. Seiko rested her head on Eden’s shoulder. Dani was doing the same thing on Eden’s other side. Kyla sat between Eden’s knees while Eden played with her hair. It was one of the weirdest things I had ever seen. Somehow, Eden had gotten them under her thumb, and I had to figure out how.

  The basement had been remodeled into a guest room, and we slept down there since it had more space than Eden’s room. As usual, my sleep was restless. Not sleeping in the bed I’d grown used to didn’t help either. Every time I almost fell asleep, I would hear a sound that kept me up.

  It was after one when the light from someone’s cell phone brightened the darkness. Eden’s silhouette made its way toward the door. Where is she going? The room had a bathroom, so she wasn’t leaving for that.

  I waited a minute then tiptoed out of the basement and stood on the first floor of the Blackwood home. Using the light from my cell, I looked around but saw no sign of Eden. Slowly, I made my way up the stairs to her room. The door was ajar, and the room was dark. I stuck my head in. If she asked me why I was in there, I could tell her that I had cramps and needed to get some Midol from my bag.

  Her bathroom door was closed, but the lights were on. She wasn’t using the bathroom, though. Drawers and cabinets opened and closed, and the water was running. I needed to know what she was doing and why she had to do it at one o’clock in the morning.

  I grabbed my purse from beside Eden’s bed and rummaged through it until I found a bottle of pills. Standing by the bathroom door, I hoped she hadn’t locked it. She probably hadn’t, thinking everyone was fast asleep. Taking a deep breath, I counted to three, then I barged in.

  Eden jumped, dropping an orange bottle of prescribed medication. Large white pills bounced into the sink. “Lennox!”

  “Oh god! Eden, I’m so sorry. I thought everyone was downstairs sleeping.”

  She moved in front of the sink like I hadn’t already seen what she was doing. “Why are you up?”

  I cradled my belly. “Oh, I’m having really bad cramps. I needed to take some Midol.”

  She cocked her head to the side as if she was trying to decide whether she should believe me or not. Even if she didn’t believe me, I could hold on to a lie like it was a life raft in the middle of the deep blue sea. I grinned, holding the bottle up and shaking it. “Just needed some water.”

  Eden didn’t move for a long time. I didn’t either. Finally, she turned and scooped her pills out of the sink. We locked eyes every time she glanced in the mirror and caught me staring. She was hiding something, and I was going to find out what it was. If it was scandalous, I would use it to destroy her. She reached into her medicine cabinet and removed a tiny paper cup. Slowly, she filled it with water and handed it to me.

  I rested the Midol and the cup of water on the counter as Eden went back into her bedroom. If I wanted my lie to be believable, I had to fully commit. I popped two pills into my mouth and washed them down with water. Just as I was screwing the top back onto the bottle, pitiful sobs came from Eden’s room.

  I left the bathroom light on but closed the door. Eden leaned back against her headboard, covering her face with her hands. She was something else, kind of like me, so I watched for a bit. Is she putting on a show because I caught her with some pills, or are her tears real?

  After assessing the situation, I decided on the latter. I crawled across her bed and sat beside her. “What’s the matter?”

  She didn’t say anything at first. After a minute, she lowered her hands and looked at me. The light from the bathroom cast an eerie glow on her. The rims of her eyes were red, but just like Mom, she was a pretty crier. “I can’t tell you. I can’t tell anyone.”

  She had a juicy secret, and extracting a secret was a delicate procedure. You had to say just the right things at the right times. Your face had to hold the perfect expressions. There could be no interruptions and most definitely no sudden movements. Luckily for me, the world around us was fast asleep. It was just the Queen PIP and me.

  I slid my hand into hers and squeezed it gently. “I know you’ve only known me for a few weeks, but whatever it is, you can tell me. We’re sisters now. I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”

  She squeezed my hand back, and I knew she was about to spill her guts.

  “Lennox, do you really promise not to tell?”

  I placed my free hand over my heart. “I promise.”

  �
��Not even the other girls. Especially not the other girls.”

  “I won’t tell a living soul.”

  She bit her pink bottom lip. “Okay. I’m sick. Really sick.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I have lupus.”

  Lupus was bad. When I was ten and I wanted to get out of my dance recital, I told my parents I had it. Mom didn’t bat an eyelash.

  Dad scolded me for always pretending to have ailments and diseases. “Lennox, you’ll get something for real one day if you don’t stop.”

  Piper would always say, “When you’re really sick, no one’s going to believe you.”

  I needed Eden to talk, so I played dumb. “Lupus? Like that werewolf disease from Harry Potter?”

  Eden chuckled. Making someone laugh was another way to get them to trust you.

  She ran her fingers over the buttons of her silk nightshirt. “No. It’s a disease where your immune system attacks your body—your heart, lungs, skin, kidneys, brain—all the important stuff.”

  I took a deep breath. “Wow. Does it hurt?”

  “It can, but I’ve been lucky. The worst thing I deal with is my joints and body hurting sometimes. It’s like being an old person with arthritis. Being in the sun makes it worse.”

  I let go of her hand, turning over on my side and propping myself up on my elbow. “Really? Then why the hell are you running track every day outside in that bright afternoon sun? That can’t be good for you.”

  She shook her head. “I started the track thing before I was diagnosed with this. I couldn’t back out. Besides, as long as I keep up with my meds, I’ll be fine.”

  Sometimes people with lupus got rashes on their faces. Eden was lucky to not be displaying that symptom.

  “That’s terrible, Eden. You can’t die from it, right?”

  She looked at me sharply. “Sometimes. It can cause kidney and organ failure. If it’s treated carefully, most people can live to be old and gray. There’s always that ten percent, though.”

  “That won’t be you.” I took her hand again. “You’re doing great. I wouldn’t have even suspected you were sick.”

  She gave me a small smile, then her gaze settled on an Audrey poster across the room. “Thanks. I guess that’s one of my biggest fears—looking sick. You can’t hide or explain that. People start treating you differently. I don’t want that.”

  “Totally understandable.”

  Eden slid underneath her comforter. “I think I’m just going to sleep up here. You can stay if you want.”

  I turned off her bathroom light then got under the covers beside her. “Hey, why don’t you want the other girls to know? They’re your best friends.”

  Eden took so long to answer me, I thought she’d just decided to ignore my question. Finally, she said, “I can’t tell them. You can’t tell them.”

  “But why? They’re your friends. They should know.”

  She rolled over so that she was facing me. “I know what people call us. Piranhas. They’re right. If those girls smell blood, forget it.”

  An uneasy chill crept down my spine and back up again. “What does that mean?”

  When she spoke again, her voice was barely a whisper. “I’m afraid of them.”

  22

  To Whom Much Is Given, Much Is Expected

  The next morning, I woke up alone in Eden’s bed. The girls were down in the guestroom, deflating the air mattresses.

  “Good morning, Princess,” Seiko said when she saw me.

  Princess? Not even my father made the mistake of calling me that. “What?”

  Kyla knelt down to roll up a blanket. “Eden told us the air mattresses weren’t comfy enough for you so you slept in her bed.”

  I glanced at Eden, who shrugged. There was no easy way to explain why I’d woken up in Eden’s bed, so I let it go.

  We were expected to be at the center by ten. I hadn’t seen or met Eden’s parents, but earlier, I’d heard them moving around in the kitchen, I assumed getting ready to head to work. Eden said her mother did half days on Saturdays and took Sundays off. Her father, being the chief of police, almost always worked on the weekends.

  When we did service activities, everyone was required to wear baby-pink tops and black pants or jeans. I’d chosen to wear a pink pullover sweater, my black Lucky Brand jeans with sequined pockets, and black-and-white Converse sneakers.

  In the kitchen, Eden put on a pot of coffee, and we ate our fill of apples, bananas, strawberries, and bagels. At nine thirty, we prepared to leave.

  Eden pulled her crossbody bag over her head. “Seiko and Dani will ride with Kyla, and Lennox will ride with me.”

  There was an awkward pause. Everyone was wondering why Eden wanted me to ride alone with her. I was wondering why too. Eden wasn’t dumb. She had to sense the question hanging in the air, but she didn’t bother addressing it.

  Eden’s Mercedes was spotless and smelled like cherries. Everything about Eden was spotless. We rode in silence, and the quiet gave me too much time to think about the secret Eden had shared with me. I’d hoped it would be something like toe fungus. How can I use a debilitating and potentially fatal disease against someone? I was messed up, but I wasn’t Satan. Why is she so afraid of the other girls when she’s the one in charge? They did whatever she told them to. I had to be missing something.

  I was about to put in my earbuds and listen to some music on my phone when Eden started to speak. “About last night… that conversation never happened.”

  “Okay.” I wasn’t going to bother to ask why she was afraid of the girls. She wouldn’t tell me. She wasn’t the vulnerable Eden I’d caught sneaking her medication in the wee hours of the morning. She was the head PIP in charge, and she was in boss mode.

  A picture of her family dangled from her rearview mirror. It looked like they were on vacation—somewhere tropical. “How old are your sisters?”

  “Harlow’s twenty. She’s a sophomore at Haven and lives in the dorms, but she sometimes comes home on the weekends. Melody, AKA Little Miss Perfect, is eleven and in the sixth grade.”

  I couldn’t imagine anyone being more perfect than Eden. “Little Miss Perfect?”

  Eden rolled her eyes. “When you meet her, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.”

  Melody was at a sleepover with her friends, so I hadn’t gotten the chance to meet her.

  “I bet your sisters say the same thing about you,” I told her.

  She grinned and shrugged. “Maybe. We are very competitive. I guess all sisters are.”

  There was no way to put into words how much I missed having a sister. I pried my eyes away from the picture.

  “Anyway,” she said as we pulled into the parking lot, “today is going to be great. We’re going to make those kids so happy.”

  I shuddered as we entered the children’s center. The sounds of kids made me itch—laughing, shouting, singing. The center was shaped like a hexagon. In the middle was a lobby with a help desk. Two women were there talking, and another was on the phone. Next to the help desk was a sitting area filled with bright-red chairs. Rooms with walls made of glass circled the lobby. In one room, a class was in progress. A man spoke to a group of kids sitting on the floor, watching him intently. In another room, kids were taking a karate class, and in another, children sat at long tables, doing schoolwork.

  Eden approached the desk. “Hello, Ms. Beverly.”

  One of the women turned her attention to Eden. “Hello, Eden. We’re so happy to have your group here today.” She came from behind the front desk and shook each of our hands. “I’m Beverly Anderson, the center director. I am so thankful to you girls for volunteering your time to us. I know the children will love you.”

  Ms. Beverly’s red curls were pushed back into a messy ponytail. She wore khaki pants and a teal button-down shirt. Reaching behind her, she grabbed a clipboard from the desk. “Okay, so, Eden, I thought I would put you and Seiko in the homework room. You can help the kids if they need assist
ance and make sure they stay on task. Daniella?”

  Dani raised her hand. Ms. Beverly smiled and nodded at her. “You can help Ms. Diane in the arts-and-crafts room. The kids are making fall trees out of pinecones and paint. They turn out really cute, but they are a mess to make.”

  “Great,” Dani muttered, looking down at her pink Burberry sweatshirt.

  Ms. Beverly looked at the two of us who remained. “Kyla and Lennox, I’m going to put you in the free-play room. The kids can play games, draw, do whatever. Just interact with them and make sure they don’t kill each other.”

  Why does it sound like the other girls get the calmer assignments, while Kyla and I will be volunteering at the zoo?

  Ms. Beverly gave us a quick tour of the facility and talked some about grants and government funding before dropping us off at our various assignments. The free-play room wasn’t as bad as I thought. Two other adults were supervising, leaning against a large bay window. They waved when they saw us but continued with their conversation. About twenty kids were in the room. Some were drawing at an art center, a handful of them played board games, a small group seemed to be playing school in front of an easel, and a group of boys had the Lego table monopolized, trying to see who could build the highest tower.

  Kyla immediately moved in their direction. “Oooh. That’s a good one,” she said to one boy. “Can anyone make one taller than that?”

  “I can!” the group shouted as they immediately went to work.

  All I wanted to do was blend in with the cheery yellow walls, but I had to make myself look busy. I scoured the room for the least annoying activity. It definitely wasn’t going to be school, where the teacher was screaming at the children to sit on their happy little heinies.

  I spotted a girl sitting alone at a round table, but each chair had a stuffed animal sitting in it. She was flipping through the pages of The Secret Garden but not reading it at all. Her strawberry-blond hair was held back with a headband, and she wore a shirt with a cat that had a taco for a body. She looked like the type of kid I wouldn’t mind wasting the next two hours with.