by Rachel Shane
Her words raised the hair on my arms. “Please. You’re killing me. I need a little more info than that!” I spoke my next words very clearly, so there would be no room for misinterpreting. “What exactly did you say to my sister?”
“The truth of my whereabouts. When I watched Kingston disappear into Quinn’s car the other night, I figured I better secure myself an alibi. Had a little 2 A.M. hankering for some hot chocolate. Too bad I’m such a bad cook and set off the smoke alarm. Firemen had to come.” She flicked a leaf off her jacket. “So clearly there was no way I painted all those roses, since I’m on record speaking to the firemen.”
I relaxed my posture, rubbing my arms to keep warm. “That’s great! You’re off the hook.”
“For now, yeah.”
Still, I knew the investigation wouldn’t stop there. Eventually Lorina would run out of roads. And her main one led right back to me.
“But the bastard used my glue outside Town Hall with his stupid message,” Whitney said. “So I’m expecting a criminal callback audition.”
The breeze picked up pace and sent a shiver through me. “What did the message say?” And I can prove it, perhaps? Completing the message he never got to leave during our heist?
She whipped her head toward me. “You don’t know? I figured your sister interrogated you, too.”
I shook my head. She couldn’t have. It’s hard to talk to someone when you’re giving her the silent treatment.
“He wrote, ‘If you continue to cover up the truth, we’ll cover up your beautiful town.’”
Huh. Different than I’d expected. “What does it mean?” I stretched my dress over my legs. It had felt like it fit perfectly when I left the house, but now it seemed too short, whipping around my thighs whenever the wind howled. Between my soaked shirt clinging to my nonexistent curves after the flood and my peep show in front of Kingston’s headlights, I’d had enough public displays of indecency for one school year. I didn’t need to add a Perez Hilton–esque underwear shot to my legacy. “You know what he’s after, right?”
“The only thing I can think is what he’s after isn’t what he told me. Because even I can’t decipher this riddle. Maybe he’s been keeping things from me.” We all were, weren’t we? An aggressive breeze made the trees dance in the distance. Even nature was in Homecoming spirit tonight.
My teeth chattered in the cold air. “We should probably go in.”
“Yeah, I hope Kingston’s here already. He didn’t come home after school.” She craned her neck. “But I don’t see his truck in the parking lot. Wuss has been avoiding me.”
As we approached the school, a silhouetted figure came into view, leaning against the side of the building. The outline of messy hair made me think of Chess, sending a sharp ache through my chest. Whitney was fun, but she wasn’t exactly my ideal date for a dance.
“Is that Chess?” Whitney squinted into the distance.
I wondered if she had gained a new talent for mind reading. Or maybe we were both having hallucinations.
The figure stepped into the illumination of a streetlamp and my breath caught. It was him!
My legs challenged my heart to a race, and my long hair blew away from my face, making my smile the first thing he would see. My insides danced, swaying harder than the trees or any of the students enjoying the music.
I crashed into him so hard, I knocked the wind out of him with an “Oof.” That wasn’t all I knocked. He stumbled and we both fell over, crashing into the soft lawn. Our limbs tangled together, everything blurry and spinning, and I wasn’t sure if it was the world righting itself or turning upside down.
“Well, hello to you, too,” he said.
I lifted my head, realizing I was on top of him, straddling him. Not the worst position to be in. I pushed my tangled hair out of my face. He wore a smile that was definitely brighter than I remembered.
I bent down and kissed him. It was crazy and passionate and definitely not appropriate for school grounds. We kissed like we were trying to make up for the week without each other, and maybe some extra time for good measure. My hands knotted in his hair and when his arms wrapped around me, I didn’t want them to ever let go.
“I guess I’ll go in and check out the scene,” Whitney said.
“Wait,” Chess gasped, cutting a kiss short.
I rolled off him and pushed myself into a standing position.
He joined me a second later and slid his arm around me, a much more G-rated form of PDA. “I’ve already done some recon. Nothing seems out of the ordinary, which is why it’s weird. Are you sure Kingston said something was happening tonight?”
“You guys are so fucking impatient,” a new voice said from behind.
I craned my neck to see Kingston ascending the steps with Quinn on his arm. Her dress fit her so tightly, her boobs were making a bid for freedom over the top. She always defied the rule that redheads couldn’t wear red. Instead, she owned it.
“Alice, guess you were wrong, huh?” Quinn shot me a triumphant smile and pulled Kingston closer to her.
No, I wanted to say, you were the one who thought Kingston was asking me to the dance. “I’d say that’s yet to be determined. Right, Kingston?” I tilted my head. “When does the fun start?”
“A magician never reveals his methods.” Kingston wiggled out of Quinn’s clutches and flexed his hands. “But you can kiss my hand if you like.” He held it out to us. “Trust me on this.”
“Um, I’d rather not,” Chess said.
“I’m all for not seeing him kiss again for a while.” Whitney jerked her thumb in Chess’s direction.
“That could be arranged.” Kingston adjusted the crown on his head. He wasn’t in the running for Homecoming King but that didn’t stop him. “After all, Chess doesn’t go to this school anymore.”
Quinn raised her arm in solidarity, looking at Kingston as she did. “He should be escorted off the grounds!”
I pressed closer to Chess. I’d just gotten him back; I wasn’t going to lose him over something so silly.
“Good try, but if he doesn’t go here, you don’t have the authority to remove him.” Whitney’s eyes bore into Kingston’s.
Quinn pouted and yanked Kingston away from us. He stumbled for a moment but then blindly followed her into the building.
“I better go play private eye and follow them.” Whitney took a step toward the school. “Take a moment of privacy, will you?” She opened the door, music blasting until it careened shut, sealing out most of the sound. Just a few stray chords seeped through.
I really wanted to use the privacy time for kissing, but I also had questions. “God, Chess, I was so worried. Are you okay?”
“I’m okay. And very, very punished.” He slid his arm out from around me and tilted my body to force me to face him. “Grounded doesn’t even cover it. Think Amish. I had to tell my dad everything.” He drew his finger across his throat. “Took a lot of begging and bribery to finally get my cousin to lend me her cell so I could check my email.”
“I figured. Either you’d been cut off or you believed me when I fake broke up with you.”
He laughed. “No, the only thing I believe in is us.”
A couple of students dressed in outfits more fit for a nightclub than a school dance giggled all the way up to the door, eyeing us with curiosity. He squeezed my waist. Flutters swept through me.
I fake-pursed my lips. “You’re just trying to get me to say the phrase I owe you.”
“The phrase was definitely not I owe you. You messed up one word.”
“I owe glue? Because if so, Whitney has some I can lend you.”
He shook his head. “That wasn’t the word, but it is an interesting idea. If I glue myself to you, my dad can’t take me back.”
Music blasted when one student held the door for his date and friends, making the melodic beat linger. It was some kind of slow song I’d never heard of, but that was no surprise. Sometimes it seemed like the only music I listened to was th
e kind forced upon me in elevators.
“Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the dance? Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, won’t you join the dance?”
“As soon as we go in there, we’re not going to be alone.” Chess leaned into my ear. “I’m sorry, Alice. For not asking you to the dance earlier.”
I wrapped my hands around his neck. He smelled so good, like apple pie, a scent I’d never smelled on him before. I nuzzled closer to him. He was right—as soon as we went inside, this moment would be over.
I had imagined us at the dance together, me in a dress that actually fit and didn’t come from Baby Gap. Him looking all dapper and clean in a suit. I pictured myself slaving over my hair, trying to coax a curling iron into altering my image. Because I’d want him to tell me I was beautiful. I’d want him to actually think I was. But that wasn’t real.
This was.
Him in jeans and his same old striped shirt. My hair as boring as it always was. The two of us outside, making the most of what we had. I rested my head on his chest, and he pulled me closer to him until our bodies sealed together.
He kissed the top of my head. “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too.”
He smiled and I wanted to freeze it there on his face forever. “And . . . ?” he prompted.
“And I love . . . teasing you,” I said, instead of saying what he wanted to hear. He groaned.
We stayed like that, swaying to a stolen song.
“How’d you get away from your dad?” I asked after a verse went by, when I knew I had to snap out of the moment.
“Claimed I was job hunting. I’m guessing I have another hour or two until they figure out I’m still gone.”
“Job hunting? On a school day?”
“Yeah, that . . . I kind of quit for good after I left Wonderland. It was the only bargaining chip I had to try to get back here.”
That left a bad taste in my mouth, but I didn’t want to argue about it now. Chess wasn’t a quitter. “How does quitting get you back here?”
“My dad doesn’t want me to be a high-school dropout, and I told him the only way I’ll continue to go to school is at Wonderland High.”
But in order for him to have that chance, and not end up in jail if Kingston was planning something huge that drew Lorina’s attention, we had to go face the music.
I tugged him toward the dance.
CHAPTER 27
Inside the school, Whitney perked up when we entered, peeling herself off the white, concrete wall. “I was starting to think you guys ran off to elope.”
“That would be one way to get my dad off my back.” Chess grinned, but I made a face. I was all for marriage, but not until the very, very distant future, like when I could be legally tried as an adult for my crimes plus a few more years.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Nothing. Kingston took Quinn onto the dance floor,” Whitney said. “Which is why I’m out here trying to figure out what the hell he’s up to.”
I sucked on my lower lip. “Maybe Kingston was bluffing?”
“I don’t know. There has to be a reason he’s staying with Quinn beyond the prank,” Whitney said.
We headed inside the gym where the tropical theme exploded with paper cutouts of palm trees, clouds lining the walls, and flamingos stationed in front of tables. The DJ was infusing Caribbean backbeats into the pop music that blasted from the speakers. Students congregated in groups around the punch bowl, while a few brave ones danced on the floor. Teachers gossiped on the perimeter, looking out of place and uncomfortable.
“See? Disappointing.” Whitney wore a grimace.
“Disconcerting is more like it.” Chess swept his eyes over the room. “Kingston wouldn’t threaten without reason.”
I tugged at the fabric of my dress, nervous.
Chess brought his lips close to my ear, his hot breath embossing goosebumps on my neck. “You look beautiful.”
My cheeks could have cooked eggs. I loved how he had the ability to absorb my nerves.
A group of girls migrated from the corner, revealing the scene behind them: Quinn and Kingston in an intense shouting match. The girls glanced back in disgust and burst into giggles as they rushed over to another set of friends whose heads all turned in to watch. Oblivious to anything except Kingston, Quinn flailed her arms, face contorted in an epic battle against tears. He was too busy fiddling with his cell phone to pay attention to her. When she tried to reach for him, he stepped away and raised his arms in the universal symbol for “don’t touch me.”
“Looks like Quinn got her exit papers handed to her,” Whitney said.
I snapped my fingers. “Darn, I really thought they would last.”
“Why go through the elaborate gesture of showing up at the dance with her only to break up with her immediately?” Chess asked.
Whitney pursed her lips. “To make sure she shows up as well, and isn’t, you know, bawling her eyes out at home.”
We all pondered that for a moment as Kingston moved over to the snack table and downed a few handfuls of popcorn while Quinn continued to try and break through his barrier. My skin prickled all over. Now there was nothing stopping Quinn from revealing my involvement in vandalizing her house.
I turned to my friends, speaking in a rush, as if we were running out of time. “We know he most likely stole a key from Quinn. Why would he want that?”
“Maybe it’s unrelated,” Chess said. “Like he wanted to steal test answers or something.”
Whitney was already shaking her head. “No, this is related to everything. He wouldn’t make sure we were all here if he didn’t want us to witness something.”
Her words spun in my head and as they did, my ears started ringing. He wouldn’t make sure we were all here . . . But he hadn’t made sure of that. He had only made sure I would be here. I was the one who got Whitney and Chess involved.
My body felt hot as an impossible thought occurred to me. Nonsensical, even. Kingston abruptly turned and darted out of the dance. Di and Dru and some other girls swooped in to surround Quinn.
“I’ll be right back.” I turned on my heels and tried to saunter out the door but found it impossible and broke into a run.
Footsteps chased after me. I paused with my hand on the exit door. “I want to talk to Kingston alone.”
“Alice, that might be what he wants. He might be setting you up.” Chess pushed open the door and grabbed my hand, willing me to let him tag along.
Chess was right; that was what he wanted.
“Kingston! Wait up!” I called after him before he disappeared down a darkened hallway.
He slowed his steps, then stepped back into the light.
“Don’t.” Chess pulled me back to him.
“Meltdown, melting, molting, mold.” Kingston stared at us. “Can’t contain it. It will just spill and drench and soak.”
“Are we writing poetry now?” Whitney asked, joining the party.
“No. Instructions.”
Sounded like witchcraft to me. “Instructions for what? Your plan?”
“Maybe you’re just paranoid,” Kingston said, smirking. When you had all the answers, you also had the ability to watch people squirm while they tried to figure them out. “Thinking I’ve got something planned when clearly there’s nothing going on.”
“Kingston,” I said, my voice a little shaky. I cleared my throat. “I’d like to talk to you for a moment.”
His eyes flicked to Chess. I dropped my hand from his, crossing it over my chest.
“So talk. They can’t hear you anyway.” Kingston gestured at the air in front of him. I didn’t want to point out that unless Chess and Whitney had shoved earplugs in their ears when I wasn’t looking, they could very well hear me. Though I guessed he wasn’t talking about them.
A group of students breezed into the hallway at that moment. They took one look at Kingston and their smiles disappeared.
“Not here
.” I flicked my eyes toward the students.
“Fine, come with me.” Kingston paused and studied us. “But just you.” He was looking at me, but he pointed toward the wall.
Chess gritted his teeth. “Alice, I don’t feel comfortable—”
“What do you think I’m going to do, Chess?” Kingston sounded offended. “Kidnap her? Would have been easier without advance warning.”
“I think I might be able to get answers,” I whispered, trying to keep my voice low enough to prevent Kingston from hearing.
“Fine,” Chess said, squeezing my waist. “But if you’re not back in five minutes, I’m sending out a search party.”
Kingston and I stood there awkwardly for a moment. I didn’t want to lead the way because I wanted to watch where he would take me, in case it gave any clues to what he was trying to hide. If he avoided certain parts of the school, I’d check them later.
He rolled his eyes and stalked off. I hustled to keep up. As soon as we rounded the corner, darkness settled over us. My eyes took a while to adjust, and I didn’t realize he had stopped until he caught my arm. “Is this private enough for you?” he said, voice low and cautious. He stood so close to me, I could feel the heat emanating from his skin.
“Let’s go somewhere with more light.” I wasn’t scared of him, not anymore, but that didn’t mean I wanted to be in a dark hallway with him. “I have an idea,” I said. I turned around and went in the direction of the senior lounge. A sliver of light from the next hallway guided my way.
“Hey, wait, you can’t go in there!” He grabbed my arm, stubby nails digging into my flesh.
An image of his violent turn of anger while clutching the pig flashed in my mind. I jiggled my arm, trying to break free.
He dropped my wrist and backed away, hands raised in the air in police-style surrender. “I didn’t mean to—” The foot of space separating us felt too claustrophobic.
“Why can’t we go in there?” I asked, desperate to break the awkward silence. He stood close enough for me to make out his shadowy features through the darkness. He stuffed his hands into his pockets.