Megan grabbed Gaia’s hand consolingly, her French-manicured fingers light against Gaia’s arm, her face the very picture of sincerity. She opened her eyes wide, resembling a cartoon kitten. “I’m sure he’s going to ask you. Come on. He’s just being a moron—like a typical guy.”
Gaia smiled. It was comforting—more comforting than she would have thought—to be bitching about her boyfriend to her girlfriends in math class. This was what she’d been missing, and once she had named Jake’s transgression aloud and laughed with these girls about it, she could see it for what it was—a simple oversight that would soon be corrected. And more specifically, something that every girl went through with her boyfriend at one point or another. If dealing with boyfriend-girlfriend weirdness with her friends in class was the average teen experience, then Gaia had arrived.
Was this what relief felt like, then?
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Re: Operation Revenge
Forget about getting back at Gaia. This thing with Jake is going to fall apart all on its own. Poor thing.
To: [email protected]
From: [email protected]
Re: Re: Operation Revenge
I know. And you know what? I actually feel a little bit sorry for her.
Wannabe Backup Dancers
LIZ RODKE WALKED DOWN THE HALL, relieved to have heard the final bell of the day. English class was her favorite, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t ready to go home. There was only so much Samuel Beckett a girl could take in one afternoon. Life itself was plenty absurd on its own.
She was looking for Gaia. She hadn’t had much chance to talk to Gaia after the party on Wednesday night, and Gaia had been acting very, well… witchy. She’d been freakishly insecure about her dress (and it was all Liz could do to bite back an “I told you so”) and hopelessly uncomfortable at the party. Liz didn’t get it. From the moment they’d met, Gaia had seemed to her like a girl who could more than hold her own. It was her badass, couldn’t-give-a-shit attitude that had attracted Liz to Gaia in the first place. But suddenly Gaia was jittery and unsure of herself. Liz just wanted to check in and make sure she was doing okay.
Standing on the front steps of the school entrance, she spotted Megan, Tammie, Laura, and Melanie congregated. All four wore nearly identical boot-cut, dark rinse jeans and crisp, stretchy button-downs. Like they were extras in a music video, just waiting for Avril to arrive so they could assume their positions for the line dance. No doubt headed out for some after-school group excursion from which she was excluded. It didn’t matter; Liz knew this was her “punishment” for having been caught bringing Gaia to her father’s party after telling the rest of the girls that she herself wasn’t even invited. Whatever. She certainly wasn’t going to be intimidated by a bunch of wannabe backup dancers. It would take little more than a well-directed approach to finagle her way back into their good graces. That was the beauty of dealing with a group of social lemmings. She squared her shoulders and marched over to the group.
“You guys have plans?” she asked, breaking into their circle physically and almost daring them to say no. She knew that, annoyed though they were, they weren’t going to rebuff her. That wasn’t the way these things worked.
“We, uh, we’re going to pick up Megan’s prom dress at BCBG” Laura stammered, aware of the nasty looks she was getting from her friends. No one wanted to be the girl who wouldn’t talk to Liz—it was generally accepted that she was far too cool to be ostracized—but no one really wanted to be the one to make it easy on Liz, either. She could read them like a book—or at the very least, like a well-thumbed copy of Us Weekly.
“Cool. I told Chris I’d meet him. Errands for Mom,” she said, letting them off the hook. She wasn’t interested in dragging her ass to SoHo, anyway. She rolled her eyes. “Parents.”
The girls all laughed conspiratorially, palpably relieved to have the tension behind them. This was the signal that the social balance had realigned, that Liz was forgiven. As though the issue of her forgiveness had ever really been a question…. “Really” Laura agreed.
“Funny running into you the other night,” Liz continued, bringing the sore point in question smack into the open when it was clear no one else would. “It turned out Dad had some extra tickets, and Gaia was around and free, so we decided to check it out.”
“Yeah, totally, we understand” Megan said as the FOHs echoed their agreement in the background. “How could you pass that up?”
Liz grinned to herself. Liars. They understood. Please. They would have avoided her for days if she had let them.
“Was it fun?” Tammie asked.
“Totally. Although I’m not sure if Gaia had such a great time. She seemed a little nervous. Or maybe just bored by my dad’s lame business associates and stuff.” She laughed.
“Yeah, well. Gaia’s got a lot on her mind lately,” Megan explained, lowering her voice as if they were being watched. “I think she’s worried about things with Jake.”
This was news to Liz. From the little she’d seen, Jake was clearly crazy about Gaia, and though she didn’t think Gaia was much for the mush factor, she could tell Gaia was equally into Jake. “What about things with Jake? I saw them in the hall before, holding hands and laughing. It sure didn’t look like anything was wrong.”
“I don’t know,” Megan answered in a singsong tone. She didn’t sound especially unhappy to be the bearer of bad news. “She was talking to us in calculus, and she sounded like she might be worried. He hasn’t even invited her to prom yet!” As soon as the words left her mouth, Megan dropped her head. She had obviously realized how unclassy it was for her to blurt out the nuances of Gaia’s personal life to someone who had an actual investment in Gaia’s emotional well-being. “I mean, that’s what I heard. That she’s worried.”
“He gives her reason to worry,” Melanie chimed in sharply. “The way he flirts with any girl with a pulse.” Melanie was all too eager to cut Jake down—possibly because she felt resentful at having been passed over for someone who didn’t give a crap about social politics, Liz conjectured.
“Whatever,” Tammie cut in, feigning boredom with the discussion. “The Gaia-Jake relationship debate can be continued this time tomorrow. I’m sure Liz can get the straight story herself if she’s really interested. Right?” She winked at Liz. “In the meantime, we’ve got a dress to buy.”
The FOHs turned as one unit and stalked off in the direction of Houston Street, leaving Liz to ponder the conversation. If she’d been concerned about Gaia before, now she was starting to be bona fide worried.
one cool chick
As unsettling as the feeling was, she couldn’t turn away from him.
Girlie Input
LIZ WAS RELIEVED TO SEE A GAIA-shaped figure emerge, finally, from the front entrance of the school. She had been waiting nearly twenty minutes since the FOHs left and was just about ready to give up when she spotted the familiar slim, muscular shadow. Messenger bag slung over one hip, perpetual look of anxious suspicion etched across her features—it was unmistakably Gaia. Liz smiled. Sure, she’d noticed a shift in Gaia’s behavior since their initial meeting, but she was still one cool chick. She didn’t give a crap about what anyone thought of her; at least, that was the message she gave off, wearing yesterday’s cargos. And she didn’t take any bull, either. Just looking at Gaia alleviated most of Liz’s concerns over what the FOHs had just told her. Still, Liz did want to check in with Gaia.
Gaia peered around, hearing her name, then spotted Liz, smiled, and approached her. “Hey, what’s up?” she asked, obviously pleased to see her friend. “Were you looking for me?”
“Yeah, I never got a chance to talk to you after the party; you blew out of there so fast. I wanted to make sure everything was okay.”
A look of guilt flashed across Gaia’s lovely features. “Yeah, I’m really sorry about that. I totally forgot that I promised Jake I would meet him later
. But I should have at least said goodbye. I suck.” She leveled her gaze at Liz, feeling not great about the fabrication. “I had an amazing time. I’m sorry I sort of freaked out beforehand. I really appreciate that you invited me.” She smiled shyly.
“Hey, no worries—I totally get it if you had to meet your man,” Liz assured her. “So… things are good with Jake, then?” she asked tentatively. She didn’t want to create a situation for Gaia that didn’t exist. False alarms were never fun, and Gaia seemed so touchy these days….
Gaia’s face clouded over once more. “Yeah, I guess. Typical guy stuff,” she explained, shrugging it off, hoping against hope that Liz didn’t know her well enough to know that she knew nothing from typical guy stuff. “Megan and Tammie helped me put it in perspective.”
“Megan and Tammie?” Liz probed, cocking a suspicious eyebrow. “Perspective?” Those girls wouldn’t have known perspective if it hit them square in the middle of their designer-clad chests. Now Liz’s inner warning bells were sounding in earnest.
“Yeah, well, I mean… they know that Jake can be a real flirt and that guys can be totally dense, so it was good to just get it off my chest, get some girlie input, you know?”
“Yeah, totally. I’m all for girlie input, Gaia. But those girls…” She sighed, arranging her thoughts in her mind before she spoke. “Look, Gaia, they’re obviously your friends and they’re my friends, too, but I’m not sure they’ve always got the most, uh, unbiased advice to offer, that’s all I’m saying. Don’t put too much stock in what they have to say. They don’t do too much original thinking.” She hoped she didn’t sound melodramatic, but she wasn’t sure.
Gaia laughed. She understood what Liz was getting at, and though she wasn’t about to shrug off the FOHs’ friendship, however tenuous it was, it was nice to know that someone else was looking out for her. Someone who understood the murky social waters she was sailing.
“I’m serious,” Liz pressed. “I don’t want to go all high drama on you, but girls like that… well, they usually have an agenda. Just take their advice with a grain of salt,” she emphasized.
Gaia’s look of bemused appreciation shifted to one of mild panic. What exactly was Liz saying? Were the FOHs out to get her or something? Did Liz know something concrete?
Gaia’s spirits sagged. The warm sense of belonging she’d had only moments ago—the acute sensation that the FOHs accepted her and that Liz cared for her—was replaced suddenly by cold dread. Jake was a flirt who had no intention of staying with her. He’d probably already asked someone else to the prom. Her “friends” were at some Starbucks downtown, plotting her social demise over nonfat lattes. Her mood, shaky as it was, deflated like a popped balloon.
“Hey,” Liz broke into her thoughts softly, reading her panicked expression. “No one’s conspiring against you or anything like that. It’s not, you know, so dire. I’m just looking out for you because you seem a little fragile lately.”
Gaia laughed shortly. Fragile. That was what she had become. If Liz only knew.
“Liz!” A booming male voice cut into their conversation. “You ready or what?”
Gaia and Liz turned simultaneously to see Skyler Rodke loping easily toward them. “Hey,” he said, once he was standing before them.
“I thought Chris was meeting me.” Liz sounded confused. “We were going to go pick something up for Mom uptown. Something big and heavy” she said pointedly. “It’s a classic Skyler must-miss scenario.”
Skyler grinned. “Chris wasn’t man enough for the task. I told Mom I’d help you.”
“Well, that’s awfully kind of you, Your Highness, to come all the way downtown to help your poor, downtrodden sister. I’m sure the fact that there’s a beautiful blond along for the ride had nothing to do with it,” Liz said sarcastically.
“That’s sisterly trust for you.” Skyler laughed, flashing his even white teeth at Gaia. She suddenly felt flushed. Skyler was hot, no doubt about it, but it was more than that. It wasn’t even that he was checking her out, because in spite of what Liz had said, Gaia didn’t see it. But something about him did make her nervous.
Let’s face it, just about everything makes me nervous these days, she admitted to herself. But this was a different nervous. Yet as unsettling as the feeling was, she couldn’t turn away from him. She was mesmerized. She loved the fact that he was teasing her, loved the fact that he lumped her into the same group that he lumped his little sister. The vibe between Gaia and him felt familial. It was like he was the anti-Jake—unconcerned with the new bizarro Gaia’s constant anxiety. Willing to take care of her. His smile was warm and inviting. She didn’t share any of Liz’s skepticism about his motivation for offering to help.
She shook her head. It was only a smile, for chris-sake.
“You wanna come?” Liz offered. “Hot times at ABC Carpet are guaranteed.”
Gaia smiled again but shook her head. Tempting as the offer was, whatever this magnetic draw to Skyler was, she couldn’t act on it. She couldn’t let Liz see her spontaneously become her older brother’s lapdog. “I should be getting home. But you kids have fun.”
Liz and Skyler said their goodbyes and Gaia wandered off, more perplexed by the day’s events than she’d been in a good while.
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Re: Prom
Jake—
I know things have been a little off between us lately; even a freak like me can tell that there’s trouble in paradise. And I’m sorry, because I take the full blame. I’ve been a complete weirdo lately, looking for reassurance and afraid of my own shadow. Nothing like the girl you first met. But I think we can work things out, and I think it’s worth it to try. If you can be normal, Jake, I can be normal, too. Apparently I can be normal and cheesy and write totally pathetic e-mails to my boyfriend practically begging him not to be mad at me so that we can go to the prom like every other red-blooded American teenage couple….
[delete]
Verboten
“DAD?” CHRIS PUSHED THE DOOR TO his father’s home office open slowly. He knew his dad was busy; after all, Dr. Rodke hardly ever worked from home. And when he was at home, the office was verboten to the rest of the Rodke clan, and it was a given that the rest of the family’s activity had to be restricted to a dull roar. Chris knew he wasn’t supposed to be bothering his father with anything that wasn’t seriously important.
He hoped, then, that his father would agree that his news was important.
Stepping inside the office, he saw his father hunched in front of a flat-screen PC, tapping away intensely at the keyboard, wearing his lab coat for no apparent reason other than pure habit. A small microscope stood to the side of the desk. A stand containing several test tubes lay next to the microscope, small amounts of fluid slopping back and forth slowly. Chris wasn’t sure what was in the test tubes, but he had an idea.
“Dad?” he repeated, suddenly less sure of the significance of his information.
His father swiveled in his ergometric chair and looked at Chris as if he were some sort of lab rat that had escaped its cage. One that wasn’t really worth recapturing. “Yes?” he asked impatiently. “Can I help you with something?”
“I, uh…” Chris swallowed. “I don’t mean to disturb you. I just wanted to tell you that the cops were questioning Liz today. In the park. This morning.”
His father’s level of interest instantly soared. He pushed aside the file of documents he’d been so engrossed in only moments before. “About what? Is she in some kind of trouble?”
“No, of course not” Chris assured his father, shaking his head vigorously. “Of course not,” he repeated.
“Then what?”
“She was walking through the park this morning on her way to school, and the cops pulled her aside to ask her if she knew anything about Invince. About God. They were looking for leads “
His father’s steely blue gaze mirrored Liz’s own from lunch this afternoon. “And
did she have any?”
“No, I don’t think so. I mean, she hasn’t bought, used, or sold any Invince, you know. So why would she know who God is?”
“Well, I don’t think she would,” Dr. Rodke agreed, somewhat amiably. “I don’t think she would at all. Thankfully.”
“She wouldn’t really have any idea where Invince came from,” Chris repeated, as though in a trance. “I mean, she’s got nothing to do with it. But she might be coming too close.” Chris revealed his true concern. True, the cops hadn’t been able to get any information out of him—which was hysterical, in and of itself—and they certainly weren’t questioning Liz for any reason other than the fact that she’d been walking in the park this morning and had seemed the right age, the right demographic for their inquiry. But they hadn’t truly had anything to link her with God. With Invince.
With Chris.
Dr. Rodke replaced the pen he’d been holding on the surface of his desk.
“Chris, Liz was asked routine questions by some semi-competent police officers who were simply doing their job. The same questions that would have been asked of anyone walking through the park this morning. As such, she wouldn’t be any more suspicious than anyone else. How often do unusual things happen in Washington Square Park?” Dr. Rodke pointed out. Those were the same thoughts that Chris himself had used to rationalize the incident, but they were somehow more comforting coming from an authority figure, a doctor, a father. “There’s no reason to be concerned that she is coming too close to the source of Invince. Unless there’s something you aren’t telling me,” Dr. Rodke continued with ominous finality.
Chris shook his head again, as assertively as he was able. “No, of course not. What would I be keeping from you?”
Wired Page 4