Parallelogram Omnibus Edition

by Brande, Robin

  “Yes, um...right...”

  Now it was my turn to keep control over my tears. It was hard to hear Sarah talking about me behind my back, telling me that Daniel missed me without realizing she was telling me. For some reason it meant more to me than if she had told me to my face.

  Even though she just did.

  I cleared my throat and blinked my eyes a few times. I turned my head to the side and coughed. And then accidentally kept on coughing.

  Sarah stood up in alarm. “Are you all right? Should I call someone?”

  “No, I’m fine—just some water...”

  Sarah filled a cup for me and helped me with the straw. I took a few sips and used all that time to gather myself.

  “So...” I said, searching for a safer topic, “have you had the pleasure of meeting my mother yet?” I remembered Sarah had a very poor opinion of Halli’s parents, since she knew all about them abandoning Halli as a baby.

  “No, and I shan’t, thank you very much,” Sarah said indignantly. “She’s already gone. One of the nurses told me.”

  “Gone? As in...”

  “Back to America. Didn’t you know?” Sarah studied my face. “She didn’t tell you, did she? That wretched woman. Not a jot of maternal instinct. I know one shouldn’t speak ill of another person’s mother, but honestly, that woman just makes me so, so…”

  “Trust me,” I said. “I agree.”

  “Whereas my parents have been absolutely sick with worry,” she went on. “They’ve even been trying to locate your cousin, I think. Something I’m surprised your mother didn’t do—”

  The back of my neck tingled. “What do you mean, they’ve been trying to locate her?”

  “Well, don’t you think she should be here?” Sarah asked. “Clearly no one has informed her. I’m certain Audie would fly to your bedside if she knew about your condition.”

  “Yes, I’m sure.” I sat up straighter in bed. “But what do you mean they’re trying to locate her? What have they done?”

  “I’m not privy, you understand—no one feels the need to include me in their secret plans, as though I’m not a member of this family, when clearly I love your cousin nearly as much as you and Daniel do—”

  “Thank you,” I said, delighting in that statement more than she could have known.

  “All this whispering,” Sarah went on. “Audie this, Audie that. I suppose Daniel must have confessed some sort of love sickness for her, because my parents seem very sympathetic every time he mentions her name.”

  Oh, Daniel. I could imagine what those conversations might be. Not about any love sickness, but strategy sessions among the three of them about what might have gone wrong, and how they might be able to help me.

  Maybe that was why they all went to Oxford. Did it have anything to do with me? Or was I just being self-centered, thinking everything in the world had to be about me? It was perfectly possible they went there because Daniel will be graduating next spring. I suppose that even in the midst of a crisis, you still have to deal with your university applications.

  Which was a weird thing to think about. Because I realized I hadn’t been thinking about my own university application—not for a long time. Getting into Columbia University was as insignificant to me now as whether I got a good grade on the last paper I turned in to Mrs. Arnold. That whole prior life of mine seemed so remote. So irrelevant, in a way. Even though my main goal at that moment was still to get back to my old life as soon as possible.

  “Are you all right?” Sarah asked. “Did I say something wrong?”

  “No, not at all,” I said, shaking myself out of my stupor. “Sorry, I just...faded out there for a second.”

  The door opened and Bertrise came in.

  “Ah, your friend is here!” she said.

  Sarah jolted off my bed, looking very guilty. “Sorry, I only came to bring the dog—”

  Bertrise clicked her tongue and patted the air in a soothing way. “Don’t trouble yourself. Who is this beautiful animal?”

  “Red,” I said, and the dog thumped his tail in greeting.

  Bertrise came over and stroked his head. “Did you miss your mama?” she asked the dog, pressing her nose right against his. Red wagged in response.

  “I know how my girls would miss me,” Bertrise said. “Agnes and Coco, my little kittens. How they would cry and cry if I went away...” She shifted her attention to me. “How are you feeling, Miss Markham?”

  “Better,” I said, “now that Sarah’s here.”

  Bertrise wagged her finger at Sarah. “I remember you. So sad. But look! Your friend is nearly well.”

  “Completely well,” I corrected her.

  “Only the doctor can say.” Bertrise smiled and patted my arm. “But you have good color today—red rosy cheeks. Your dog and this young lady are good medicine.”

  Sarah looked very pleased. And also relieved that she wasn’t going to be kicked out.

  But that relief only lasted a second.

  “What are you doing here?” came a voice from the doorway. “Who let you in? You’re not supposed to be here.”

  “Hello, Jake,” Sarah answered bitterly. “Back again so soon?”

  39

  For a generally polite girl, Sarah had a lot of very impolite things to say to Jake.

  Bertrise pretended she had a lot of work to do on my monitors, my bedding, swabbing my forehead—anything to get to stay in the room while the whole drama played out.

  “As if WE are the problem,” Sarah shouted at one point, “banning my family instead of yourself! When you’re the one who insisted I show you and Bryan where I thought Halli Markham and my brother might be. Now I see they were hiding with good reason! Daniel told me everything about it. We had no business barging in there like that, just so you could satisfy your prurient suspicions about what they might be doing—when I’ve already told you Daniel fancies the cousin—”

  “There is no cousin,” Jake said. “Halli’s parents don’t have any siblings. So I don’t know who you think this Audie person is, but that’s beside the point. What did your brother say the two of them were doing in there? I’d really like to know.”

  As if I weren’t in the room, sitting right there listening. Jake and Sarah were too wrapped up in their own fight.

  “Planning something very romantic, I can tell you that,” Sarah said haughtily. “Something involving the cousin—and yes, she exists, I’ve met her, you fool—and if you hadn’t forced me to interrupt them, then all of this might have ended happily...”

  I don’t know what Daniel told Sarah the two of us had been plotting. Something romantic involving me? The real me? That sounded much more fun that what we were actually doing.

  “You’re delusional,” Jake said.

  “And you’re a disgrace,” Sarah answered. “All I’m asking is that you allow my family and me to visit Halli Markham whenever we please. We’re her friends—we have no wish to harm her.”

  “Sarah, I don’t have anything against you,” Jake said.

  “Humpf!” she answered.

  “But I do have something against your brother,” he continued. “I don’t care what he says he was doing, whatever it was obviously put Halli in danger. It’s my duty to her parents—to everyone—not to let anything else happen to her. Look where we are!” he told Sarah. “Do you think I want her to be here?”

  “Do you think I do?” Sarah returned. “I love Halli Markham with all my heart! If I thought Daniel had anything to do with her condition, I’d bludgeon him on the head myself! But clearly my brother didn’t cause any of this. It was us—you and Bryan and me—banging into the room like that and causing some sort of brain episode from the shock—”

  “That isn’t what caused it,” Jake said.

  “Oh, you know so much,” Sarah answered back.

  Throughout the whole argument, Red had continued happily snoring at my side. The poor dog probably hadn’t slept the whole time we were apart. Now he was making up for it. Occasion
ally if the shouts grew too loud, he’d snort and shift and bury his nose a little deeper under my arm. I admired his concentration. Especially because I was starting to feel an exhaustion like that, too.

  I wanted to stay awake—fought for it—but as the noise continued it also started hurting my head. And just like I suspected before, once I reached a certain threshold of pain—not very much, so they must have had the whole thing adjusted very low—I could feel a druggy sort of haze seeping behind my eyes. Like clouds closing in before a storm.

  “Guys...” I murmured at one point, and even though they didn’t hear me, Bertrise did. She came around to the side of my bed where I could see her.

  She bent over and spoke softly, probably so she wouldn’t interrupt the very juicy fight she was enjoying so much. “Sleepy, Miss Markham?”

  I nodded. I licked my lips.

  “Thirsty, too? No wonder, all the heat in this room.”

  I didn’t think the room was particularly hot, but I did need a drink. Bertrise poured water into my cup and held the straw for me while Sarah and Jake kept arguing.

  “He is yours, no?” Bertrise whispered to me.

  “My what?”

  “Your young man.”

  “Oh...kind of...” I mumbled. “I don’t know...” I felt one step from passing out. My tongue and eyes felt so heavy.

  “Be careful,” Bertrise told me. “You sleep and they stay awake.”

  “Huh?” I wrestled with my eyelids to keep them open just a few seconds longer. I wanted to understand what she was saying.

  Bertrise held up her index finger from one hand, then her index finger on the other. She brought the two fingers together, pressed side by side. Then she gave me a significant look.

  I tried to see what she was seeing—some sort of connection between Sarah and Jake?—but it was all too much for my medicated head. Let the two of them do what they wanted. I was too busy being unconscious.

  “You’re despicable,” was the last thing I heard Sarah say.

  Jake said something equally rude, and then it was lights out for me.

  40

  It was Thursday afternoon back in my world, and Halli was currently kneeling on a yoga mat, head bent backwards, hands gripping my ankles so she could arch my chest higher toward the ceiling in another one of those impossible yoga poses I could never see myself doing. But apparently I was wrong.

  Lydia came over every now and then during the class to help Halli make some slight adjustments to what she was doing: straightening a leg here, lengthening an arm there, tucking my hips at one point so Halli could stand even taller.

  And that’s what was really amazing: how tall Halli looked inside my body. Like she’d found an extra inch or two somewhere just by standing straight and relaxed instead of always slouching the way I didn’t even realize I was doing. It’s like seeing someone else wear an outfit of yours and thinking, “Wow, that looks so much better on her.”

  When the yoga class was over, Halli once again left sweating and smiling. She stepped outside for a few minutes to cool off in the fresh air.

  “I don’t get it,” Lydia told her when she came back in. “You’re a complete natural. Are you sure you haven’t secretly been doing this at home?”

  Halli repeated what she’d said before. “You’re a really good teacher.”

  “That wasn’t me,” Lydia said. “You were perfect all on your own.”

  Halli shrugged and changed the topic. “Any word on Gemma’s brother? Has he come to town yet?”

  “No, he’s supposed to get in some time tomorrow. Why?”

  “Curious,” Halli said. “And hoping he’s the opposite of her.”

  “I don’t know about personality,” Lydia said, “but he is cute. Gemma showed me some pictures of him last night.”

  “Hm,” Halli answered noncommittally. She thought Daniel was attractive enough, but he wasn’t really her type. She liked guys with dark hair, dark features—more like Will, as a matter of fact.

  Plus, it was hard to think of Daniel as cute when she knew he was already taken—by me. She wasn’t in the habit of poaching other girls’ boyfriends.

  “Let’s talk about Saturday,” Lydia said.

  “All right.” Halli wiped a towel across my face, then draped it around my neck.

  “My house or yours?”

  “Excuse me?” Halli asked.

  “Getting ready,” Lydia answered, as if it were obvious. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with your hair now that you cut it—maybe I have some combs or something we can use. Or I might crimp it. You should probably come over in the morning so we can try a few things in case you need to wet your hair down again before we really do it.”

  Halli gave my head a quick shake of confusion. “Lydia, what are you talking about?”

  “Your hair. And your makeup.” Now it was Lydia’s turn to look confused. In the past, I’d always willingly turned myself over to her on the few rare occasions when I actually agreed to attend some party or other event. She knew I was completely incompetent when it came to making myself look presentable. I never wore makeup in my regular life, and the most effort I ever put into my hair was shampooing it, putting a little conditioner on the ends, and then letting it air dry while I went on to more important things like eating breakfast or finishing my homework.

  But a fancy ball? Where I’d have to wear a fancy dress and might even have a chance to impress Will for once? Of course I would have wanted Lydia’s help—I would have begged her for it if she hadn’t offered. It’s just that Halli didn’t feel that way at all.

  She patted Lydia on the arm. “Thank you, but I think I can manage.”

  Lydia gawped at her. Then she laughed. “Audie, you’re not going to try to do this on your own? Come on!”

  And now a kind of coldness crept across my face. Halli never appreciated an insult—even when it was aimed at me, not exactly at her.

  “I can take care of myself,” she said. Then she forced on a smile. “But I’d love a ride from you that night, if you don’t mind.”

  Lydia’s eyebrows furrowed. She probably couldn’t believe Halli was sticking to her no. But she must have sensed enough about Halli’s mood not to press it any further.

  “Of course I’ll give you a ride,” she said, looking down as if she were suddenly very interested in the carpet. “You think I’m walking in there alone?”

  “Good,” Halli said. “Thank you.”

  Having eased the tension, Halli asked Lydia for a ride home from yoga, too.

  “Sure,” Lydia said. “But I need to clean up first. If you don’t mind waiting.”

  “I don’t mind,” Halli said, and proved it by settling into one of the chairs in the lobby and pulling out a stack of algebra worksheets from my backpack.

  Lydia stood there for a few seconds more, like she might want to say something else, but whatever it was, she let it go and went about her work. Pretty soon Halli could hear her running the vacuum in another room while Halli ran through her new studying routine:

  Do a worksheet, do ten pushups. Another worksheet, then ten squats. She had a whole series worked out now so she could build my body at the same time she got ready for the test. It was a lot better than just sitting in one place and whipping through worksheet after worksheet.

  She didn’t hear Lydia come back into the room. Right then she was in the middle of doing jumping jacks.

  “Who are you?” Lydia asked again, just like she had that first day after yoga.

  This time Halli wasn’t caught off guard. She stopped jumping and gave Lydia a smile. “Ready?” She gathered up her worksheets.

  “I’m serious, Audie. Are you ever going to tell me what’s really going on?”

  Halli gave her the standard answer. “I just want to make some changes.”

  “I guess,” Lydia said. “Like an entire personality transplant, if you ask me.”

  “Do you really think I’m that different?” Halli asked.

  Lydia
snorted. “Let’s see: telling off Gemma, telling off my brother—yeah, I heard about that—advanced yoga poses, voluntary exercise, voluntary algebra, of all things—so yeah, I think you’re that different.”

  “Haven’t you ever wanted to change anything about yourself?” Halli asked.

  “Of course!” Lydia answered. “But not overnight. You might want to change something, but it’s not like it’s just that easy.”

  “What would you change?” Halli asked. She was genuinely curious.

  Lydia rolled her eyes. “Come on. I have a paper to write for Mr. Varney’s class.” She headed for the door.

  They walked together across the darkened parking lot. A cold breeze made them hurry to get into Lydia’s car. I’ve always appreciated October, because it finally starts getting cold enough to wear sweaters just before Halloween. It’s such a relief after what feels like a six-month summer.

  As soon as they slammed the doors, Halli asked her again. “Tell me one thing—one thing you think you would change.”

  Lydia sighed. “Really? Just one?” She started the car. “Okay, but you’re going think it’s really stupid.”

  “I doubt that.”

  Lydia shook her head, like she still wasn’t sure she wanted to confess it, but as she drove out of the parking lot she finally spit it out.

  “I’m sick of this problem I have about guys.”

  “What problem?” Halli asked. I would have asked the same thing. Because even though Lydia and I have been best friends since we were little, we never really...talk. It’s weird. But it’s like neither of us wants to get too personal.

  I understand it from my side, since the only boy I ever could have talked about was Will, and I wasn’t about to reveal all my feelings about him to his twin sister. But I’ve never really understood why Lydia doesn’t like to talk to me about the various guys she’s had crushes on over the years or dated. It’s like I’m allowed to know the basic facts—“James and I went out last night”—but then she doesn’t want to tell me much more. Not about how much she might like a guy, or how the date went—any of it.