Parallelogram Omnibus Edition

by Brande, Robin

  When I finally did show up, Halli knew she had nothing to do with it. She was just about to go for a run, when suddenly I dropped into my body and greeted her. She knew without a doubt she hadn’t even been thinking of me at that moment.

  She figured it was like a one-way valve: I could come in any time I wanted, but she couldn’t go out. She couldn’t send any kind of signals to reach me, and she couldn’t leave my body. The professor and I had said as much, too. The former way Halli and I communicated was gone. It had died with Halli in that avalanche. Whatever new universe I’d created, I also formed some new path of communication that Halli wasn’t in control of. It all rested with me.

  Halli had tried to explain her feelings about that to Professor Whitfield the night before, but he didn’t agree. He wanted her to keep trying, as many hours as she could every day, until she found me again.

  So instead of arguing with the professor, Halli decided to just keep herself unavailable. She had her own strategy for what to do next, and it didn’t involve sitting in my bedroom for hours upon end calling to me with her mind.

  Halli was tired of her mind at the moment. What she wanted to do was move around in a body.

  And besides, she was curious about Lydia. Halli knew from me that Lydia and I have been best friends since we were little, but that’s mostly because our mothers are best friends. Lydia and I don’t really have that much in common. Not the way Halli and I do.

  But Halli saw something in Lydia that I’ve never really appreciated: a devotion to training her body in a particular way. I’ve always viewed Lydia’s yoga obsession as sort of silly and impractical. What good is spending hours every day contorting yourself and sitting there trying to meditate, when you could be reading physics books and really feeding your mind?

  Of course, that was before I took home one of the meditation CDs Lydia mentioned off-hand one day, and through that, accidentally ended up solving one of the biggest mysteries in physics by not only proving that parallel universes exist, but by actually going to one. And then even taking it one important step further by finding Halli, my own parallel self. So I guess yoga does have its uses. As long as you pair it with physics.

  But in the same way I know Halli would have loved that two-hour insane workout this man named Ferguson put me through over on Halli’s parents’ island, I’m not surprised Halli really took to Lydia’s yoga. It was another way of blocking out the noise of life for a while and just focusing on the pure mechanics of moving her—or my—body just right.

  At the end of the second class, Halli was drenched in sweat, and smiling. She hadn’t felt better all week. She finally, for the first time, felt almost like herself again. Even though she could see in the mirror all during class that she was clearly a different girl.

  When Halli emerged from the yoga room, Lydia stuck out her hand. “Who are you? I don’t believe we’ve met.”

  Halli froze for a second. But then she realized it was a joke.

  “You’re a good teacher,” she said, shaking Lydia’s hand. “Thank you.”

  Then she walked outside to cool off in the fresh air.

  When she looked back through the glass doors, she could see Lydia watching her with a kind of confused look on her face. As if something felt...off. We all get used to how our friends talk, what they say, how they act, and if suddenly they seem down or nervous or different somehow, we pick up on it. At least if we’re not totally self-absorbed, which I’ll admit I’ve always secretly thought about Lydia. But maybe I’ve been wrong about her. Because maybe she did notice some subtle change that afternoon—something beyond just me deciding to try yoga all of the sudden.

  But that change was nothing compared to what Lydia would see later that night.

  11

  It was 6:30 by the time they arrived back at Lydia’s house. My mom was already there, chatting with Elena in the kitchen. Will and the disgusting Gemma were in the living room, mildly bickering over some detail that had to with her parents’ upcoming ball.

  That’s right, an actual ball. As in fancy dresses, men in tuxedos, a private orchestra, a ballroom, the whole thing.

  Because her family is as ridiculous as she is. And as pretentious. A surprise 50th birthday for “Daddy” couldn’t just be like a regular party. It had to involve engraved invitations to the right people, who would then have to spend crazy amounts of money for the proper clothes and some sort of extravagant gift that would justify having been invited to such a gala event.

  Gemma let slip about the ball one night while we were all hanging out at Will’s and Lydia’s. It was clear Gemma hadn’t intended to invite any of us except Will, but once she talked about it in front of us, even she knew she couldn’t be so rude as not to invite us all. My mother and Elena politely declined, but not me. I was all over that invitation.

  Why?

  Because Gemma also let slip that her older brother, Colin, would be flying in from England to surprise his father. And in the same way that Gemma is a parallel version of Sarah, I knew this Colin would be the parallel version of Sarah’s brother, Daniel. I just had to see what he was like—the whole idea of it was too juicy to pass up.

  “You will wear the hat,” Gemma was telling Will in her prim and proper British accent.

  “If I have to wear it, I’m not coming,” Will answered in a friendly, sort of teasing way.

  Gemma gave him her best pout, then flipped her hair and pressed her chest into Will’s side. It was the first time Halli had seen that particular move, so it didn’t annoy her nearly as much as it always does me. Still, she could already tell Gemma was going to be quite the spectacle to watch.

  “Lydia,” Gemma said, seeing them come in, “you must tell your brother to do as I say.”

  “Do as she says,” Lydia said dully. She didn’t care what Will did or didn’t do. She usually didn’t want to get involved in any of these discussions with Gemma.

  “Audie girl, what are you wearing?” Gemma asked in her usual disdainful tone. “Something suitable, one hopes. Just this once.” Then she tossed her hair again and winked.

  And right there, Halli could see what I’d been talking about: that disgusting combination of meanness, superiority, and then the weird attempt to cover it up by looking cute. But instead of Halli wanting to stab out that winking eye with a plastic fork the way I usually want to, the whole display secretly cracked her up. From then on, it’s like she settled in for the show. She wanted to see what this strange girl who looked like Sarah would do next.

  Halli reached into the bowl of nuts Elena had set out on the coffee table, and popped some into her mouth. She gazed at Gemma with the same kind of neutral, emotionless expression she’d seen on camels’ faces while they chewed their cud.

  Gemma narrowed her eyes. “I’m quite serious, Audie. There will be important people at this ball—people my mother has invited. I’d like to be able to assure her that any of my guests will be dressed appropriately.”

  “I’m sure you would,” Halli said. She scooped up another handful and chewed some more.

  “So what are you wearing?” Gemma persisted. “I’d like to know.”

  “I can see that,” Halli answered.

  Will suppressed a smile. Lydia went ahead and snickered out loud.

  “Will, make her answer me!” Gemma said.

  “What are we talking about now?” Halli asked in such an off-handed way, it made Gemma even crazier.

  “The ball! You know that!” she snapped. “And I am asking you—politely,” she added for Will’s benefit, “to assure me you’ll buy, or if necessary rent—” She said it with such a tone of distaste, it was as if she could barely stand the idea of even knowing people who might have to rent their ball gowns. “—a dress that will not embarrass me in front of my parents or their friends.”

  Halli gazed back at Gemma coolly. And picked up another handful of nuts.

  “Will, TELL HER TO ANSWER ME!”

  Will reached over and squeezed his girlfriend’s h
and. “Gemma, enough,” he said quietly. He gave Halli an apologetic look. “I’m sure Audie will look fine.”

  But Gemma still wasn’t getting the message. Either that, or she just couldn’t stop herself from constantly picking on me.

  But Halli is not me. And Halli hadn’t spent a year with this girl, putting up with all sorts of humiliation for the sake of getting to hang around Will.

  Halli didn’t care about Will. She didn’t know him any more than she knew Gemma. She had absolutely no stake in this game.

  So when Gemma went on with, “It’s a simple question, Will, and I think she can do me the courtesy of answering,” Halli smiled. That same fake smile she’d been giving my mother.

  “You’re right,” Halli said. “Courtesy is important. You should try it.”

  12

  Halli left the living room and wandered back into the kitchen to see if she could help Elena with any cooking.

  My mom and Elena had been eavesdropping the whole time. They both welcomed Halli with big grins and silent thumbs-up.

  Halli shrugged. Considering everything she’s been through in her life, it was no great achievement to stand up to some bratty girl—even though I’ve never managed to do that even once in the year since Gemma has been hanging around. Halli was just sorry to see how Gemma basically ruined Sarah’s personality. Halli would have liked to spend time with her if she were normal.

  “Do you need anyth—” Halli started to ask, but Elena held her finger to her lips. The fight was still going on.

  “She’s your friend,” they could hear Gemma saying. “If she can’t act properly, she can’t come!”

  Will mumbled something Halli couldn’t hear.

  “I didn’t invite her,” Gemma said. “The girl practically invited herself! It’s no surprise. She has no manners or taste.”

  “Shhh,” they heard Lydia say.

  “You did invite her,” Will said. “Remember? I was here for it.”

  “Only under duress,” Gemma answered. “The way she was looking at me.”

  Halli chuckled to herself. Gemma was everything I’d described, and worse.

  “This is your fault anyway,” Gemma continued. “Always trying to foist that girl on me, as if we have anything in common—”

  “Just let it go,” Will said. “I’ve told you: Audie is my friend. And Lydia’s.”

  “Yes, and now who pays the price?” Gemma said. “Does that girl even own a proper dress?”

  My mother made a face. “I forgot all about that,” she whispered to Halli. “I meant to go shopping with you when I got back from my trip. But then you were sick—”

  “She can borrow one of mine,” they heard Lydia say in the other room. “Calm down.”

  “I suppose you have suitable clothes?” Gemma asked, a little more nicely.

  “I won’t embarrass you, if that’s what you mean,” Lydia answered.

  The next thing they knew, Lydia turned up in the kitchen. She rolled her eyes at the assembled eavesdroppers.

  “Hairball,” she muttered, using our favorite nickname for Gemma.

  “Where are you going?” they heard Gemma demand.

  “To the bathroom!” Will answered. “If that’s all right.”

  Lydia and the two moms snickered.

  “And by the way,” Will added, “I’m not wearing a top hat to this thing, so you can just forget it. I don’t care what your friends from England are wearing. I live in Arizona, in the twenty-first century. We dress normally here.”

  “Will...” she whined.

  “I’m renting a tux, and that’s enough. But if that’s not good enough for you, then maybe I shouldn’t come, either.” Then they all heard the bathroom door slam shut.

  A few seconds later, there was a clattering against the wood. It sounded like Gemma had thrown a handful of nuts at the door.

  “You know, honey,” my mom said now that the show in the living room seemed to be over, “we really do need to do something about a dress.”

  “No, we don’t,” Halli said, leaning comfortably against the counter. “I’m not going to whatever that is she’s talking about.”

  “Excuse me?” Lydia said. “Of course you are! I’m not going by myself.”

  “You won’t be by yourself,” Halli pointed out. “Will and Gemma will be there.”

  “Very funny,” she said. “You’re going, Audie. Don’t even think about trying to get out of it.”

  “I have better things to do with my time,” Halli said.

  “You have nothing to do with your time,” Lydia said. “You’re going.”

  Normally Halli had very little tolerance for being bossed. But she’d had a fun afternoon with Lydia, and so she was willing to overlook it.

  “Why don’t you show her your dress?” Elena suggested. “Dinner’s still going to be a little while—you have time.”

  Lydia lit right up at that. “Come on.” She tugged at Halli’s sleeve until she willingly followed along.

  Halli sat on Lydia’s bed while Lydia pulled the dress out of her closet and modeled it on the hanger.

  “Very nice,” Halli said. The dress was light green, made of a delicate-looking fabric that fell in layers all the way to Lydia’s feet. With her olive skin and long black hair, she’d look like a Greek goddess in that outfit.

  “I still need shoes to go with it,” Lydia said. “Now, what about you?”

  “What about me?”

  “Stand up,” Lydia directed.

  When Halli didn’t comply right away, Lydia pulled her by the hand. Halli shook her head as she rose, faintly amused.

  “I think I have a few that might work,” Lydia said.

  She fished in her closet for more long dresses and held up several of them in front of Halli. One was from the prom a year ago, two were bridesmaid dresses she had to get for two different cousins’ weddings.

  “Here,” Lydia said. “Look.” She was holding up the second bridesmaid dress. It was light blue, sleeveless, and didn’t look half bad.

  Halli pressed it against my torso and looked in the mirror. True, the dress wasn’t awful. But that didn’t change the fact that the ball itself sounded like a colossal waste of time.

  “Why do you need me to go to this thing?” Halli asked.

  “I don’t need you to, but you said you would. Come on, I thought you said you wanted to see what her brother’s like.”

  Now Halli remembered. I’d mentioned something about that—about Colin flying in for the party. And since Colin would be a parallel version of Daniel, now Halli was curious, too. She liked Daniel. She wouldn’t mind seeing what he was like over in my universe, as long as it didn’t interfere with her plans.

  “When is this supposed to be?” Halli asked.

  Lydia rolled her eyes. “You know when. This coming Saturday. Stop trying to get out of it. You know you really want to go.”

  “Frankly, I’d rather chew rocks.”

  “But you’ll go,” Lydia said.

  “Yes,” Halli conceded, “I’ll go.”

  Lydia beamed. “Excellent. You can take the dress home tonight.”

  Halli handed it back to Lydia for the time-being, then headed for the door.

  “Hey, what was all that, anyway?” Lydia asked. “That thing with Hairball?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Don’t get me wrong,” Lydia said, “it was great. I’m all for anything that makes that girl’s head nearly explode. Even Will looked like he thought it was funny. But I’m just...surprised, you know?”

  She looked at Halli as if waiting for some easy explanation. Like I’d been faithfully taking my Stand-Up-to-Gemma pills this whole time, and they’d finally kicked in.

  And in a way, Halli’s explanation was easy—it just wasn’t what Lydia expected.

  “People are interesting,” she said.

  Lydia waited, but that was all that Halli offered.

  “And...?” Lydia tried.

  But unlike me, Halli wasn’t
about to sit around and gossip about Gemma. It wasn’t her style.

  “And I’m hungry,” she answered, opening the door.

  “Audie?” Will said as soon as she emerged. “Can I talk to you?”

  13

  Halli suppressed a sigh. She wasn’t very enthusiastic about talking to Will about anything—she really was hungry, for one thing, and would have preferred heading back to the living room for some more of those nuts—but she crossed the hall anyway and followed Will into his bedroom.

  He closed his door behind them.

  “Listen,” Will said, keeping his voice low, “I’m really sorry about Gemma. She’s been pretty stressed about this party, but it’s no excuse for being rude to you.”

  Halli shrugged. It’s a wonder how unoffended you can be when you don’t really care about people’s opinions.

  And that went for Will’s opinion, too. He seemed nice enough, even though he clearly had horrible taste in girlfriends. It was hard for Halli to respect someone like that. Still, it was decent of him to say something, even though he wasn’t the one who should apologize.

  Halli looked around his room. It was full of laptops, monitors, and other computer equipment. Will owns his own business, doing house calls to fix people’s computers. Sometimes he buys people’s broken hardware so he can use it for parts, or fix it and resell it later.

  Halli picked up a smartphone she found on one of the tables. Professor Whitfield had one just like it. She had watched him use it often during that day she spent with him in Colorado before she had to fly home and start pretending to be me.

  “Just got that one this morning,” Will said. “Owner dropped it in the toilet.”

  Halli quickly set the phone back down.

  Will laughed. “I’ve already disinfected the case,” he said. “Don’t worry.”

  “What will you do with it?” Halli asked.

  “Dry it out. Fix it. Sell it.”

  Halli didn’t hesitate a second. “Sell it to me.” She didn’t have any money yet, but she had some ideas about how she was going to get it. And having a small tablet like that smartphone might be useful for her overall plan.