by Jo Ho
“More people, yay!” Mark said, but I wasn’t feeling the same excitement. The group looked over on our approach, but didn’t smile. I took that as our cue to leave them alone. I steered Mark away from them, to the swings. He climbed on one, and I moved behind him. He kicked off, whipping his body as fast as he could to get the swing going. I began pushing, making it easier for him.
“Wheeee,” he yelled.
The girls snickered, but there wasn’t any warmth in it. I got the distinct feeling they were laughing at him… or me. It made me uneasy so I ignored them, focusing on Mark. A few moments went past before I noticed he was staring at me funny.
“What?” I asked.
“Aren’t you going to talk to them?” he asked.
“Why would I do that?” I said, surprised by his question.
“How else will you make friends?”
“I don’t think these are the kind of friends I want,” I managed to reply. He tilted his head at them, observing.
“They’re just girls?” he said.
“Wrong. They’re teenage girls. That’s like a whole different breed.”
“I don’t get it.” He turned back to me, eyes confused.
“You will when you start dating, believe me.”
He pulled a face at me, not understanding my drift at all, but I was already done with the conversation. He continued swinging while I kept a wary vigilance on the others. One of them — a girl with pink tips in her blonde hair — seemed to take offense by that however as she glared over at me, before whispering to the others. Suddenly, five faces turned to look at me. I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach then Glarey Girl got up and started walking towards us, clearly the ringleader. Quickly the rest followed. Great.
She marched up to me, looking me over, head to toe.
“You’re new,” she said. It wasn’t a question — I heard the challenging undertone of her voice. She wanted to see if she could intimidate me. I knew if I showed any weakness, that would be it for me. Before I could answer though, my sidekick piped up.
“Yeah! We just moved here from The Bluff. Do you know it?” Mark said.
Glarey looked startled, not expecting to deal with him while I cringed inwardly, shut up Mark!
“Can’t say I do,” Glarey responded.
“It’s nice,” he continued, oblivious to my mental warnings. “Much nicer than here.”
Glarey shared a look with the other girls.
“Oh yeah, why’s that?” She smirked down at him, but Mark just carried on talking, Mr Motormouth.
“It’s way cleaner. And everyone has these big houses with pools.”
“Pools… right.” Glarey repeated, a hardness now in her eyes. “Did you all have cleaners too?”
“Once a week. Mrs Gonzales. She brought me cookies sometimes.” Mark revealed innocently. Suddenly, he jumped off the swing, bored with it. “I’m going on the slide,” he informed me as he took off, leaving me there, surrounded by Mean Girls 2.0. Glarey narrowed her eyes at me.
“Good luck fitting in. We don’t tend to like spoiled little rich girls like you around here.” With that, she spun on her heel and marched away. The others smirked at me before following after her like the lemmings they were. Girls like them always irritated me. They thrived in packs and could never think for themselves. If Glarey hadn’t said anything, they would’ve just been on their way. As it was, I had just made myself some enemies without even opening my mouth!
I hated this place.
Keeping my eyes on Mark who was doing loops around the place, I wished desperately that I could talk to Donna. She was my best friend from back home, and outside of Chris, the one I would usually go to with any problems, but she, along with the rest of the girls in my group, were off in London on a holiday that until recently, I was also supposed to be on. With the six hour time difference, she would be out to dinner now.
So I tried Chris.
He should have finished his shift by now. I really needed to hear his voice, hear the love and concern I knew I would find there, but the call went straight to voicemail. I sat on the swing, despondent, and opened the Kindle app on my phone. At least looking after Mark gave me plenty of time to read.
After some time, Mark remembered I was there and came up to me.
“Those girls were nice, weren’t they? Told you it’s easy to make friends!”
It took all my restraint not to yell at him.
We hung out for another half hour or so when my phone beeped. I grabbed at it, eager to hear from Chris, but it was my Dad.
“Finished for the day. Where are you guys?”
A few moments later, he pulled up by the park in our van. I opened the back door as Mark climbed inside. Dad smiled at me through the rearview mirror.
“Why don’t you take some time off. You’ve been looking after him a lot lately, go have some fun!” he said, encouragingly.
Fun, right.
I didn’t say anything, keeping my expression neutral until they disappeared around the corner. I took a deep breath and looked around.
A row of shops sat across from me. A pharmacy that was open “twenty for hours” (apparently, no one had ever caught the spelling mistake); a florist that looked like it was probably a front for more nefarious goings on; and a greasy diner that I was at risk of catching something from, just by looking at it.
Despair washed over me.
I was contemplating just going home when I caught sight of an old building on the corner. It was a Victorian building that looked like it had seen better days, but the newly painted sign outside proudly announced it as the local library. But more than that, it housed something that caused a bubble of excitement to surface.
A coffee bar!
I crossed the road quickly and headed inside.
4
Coffee Date
The unmistakable aroma of coffee flooded my nose as I stepped inside.
The place was pretty quiet, with only a few java fans around and it looked like the barista was busy, chatting up her co-worker. Acoustic versions of popular tracks played in the background. Perfect, I thought to myself, no one was going to pay any attention to me here.
I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, paid, then finding myself a dark corner, I lowered into a chair. I was hoping that by taking small sips, they would allow me to stay without having to pay for anything else. I tugged at the collar on my sweater, hoping I wouldn’t dehydrate in here since the heating was cranked up to high. Someone here had a low cold threshold.
Taking out my cell, I opened the Kindle app again and started reading the latest series I had picked up during a promo. It was a thriller about a runaway girl and the genetically modified dog she meets on the streets after he escaped from a secret lab. When the dog jumped in to protect her from harm, he ended up badly wounded leaving the girl frantically seeking help. The girl had no money (I was beginning to know how that felt) and was on her own. I had no idea how she was going to save him and I couldn’t wait to find out.
Engrossed in the tale, I had been reading for some time when I felt a presence in front of me. Tearing my eyes from the book, I looked up to see a girl standing there. She was around the same age as me, with dimples on her cheeks and a wool hat that she wore pulled down low over her head. She smiled at me shyly.
“Hi. Hope this doesn’t sound weird, but I haven’t seen you around before, so thought I’d introduce myself. I’m Lacey.”
I blinked, startled at the first friendly face I’d seen since moving to Austin. A million thoughts raced through my mind, fighting each other for space, so much so that I didn’t reply at first. Was this a trick? Was she part of the park girl gang? Lacey’s smile wavered.
“I can go if you want to be left alone?” she offered tentatively.
Suddenly I realized how rude I was being. I jumped up, gesturing at the chair next to me. “No, don’t! That’s fine I mean. You can sit if you want to. I’m Kim.”
Smiling, Lacey sat.
; “We just moved here, two weeks ago, that’s probably why you haven’t seen me before,” I said.
“Ah… Where from?” Lacey asked, eyes bright with interest. Either this girl was a fantastic actress or she really wasn’t one of the Mean Girls.
“A little town called Lake Bluff. It’s about an hour’s drive from here. It’s pretty, by the water. It’s the kind of place where everyone knows everyone.”
At this, Lacey’s eyes widen. “Seriously? Sounds like heaven. Why on Earth would you leave there for Austin?”
A cloud covered my eyes. “It wasn’t really by choice. My dad had an accident, it left him unable to do his job and our insurance didn’t cover it… something to do with the small print. We lost our home and this house was super cheap for some reason, so we came here.”
Sympathy shone from Lacey’s green eyes. “That’s horrible. I’m so sorry. You must really miss everyone.”
“Yeah,” I continued. “My boyfriend, Chris… he’s back in the Bluff. We’re still together, but we can’t see each other most days now, like we used to.” I fell silent, trying to curb the sadness welling up in my chest whenever his name was mentioned. I was surprised at how I was blabbing all my personal business to this girl, but it probably had something to do with how lonely I’d been feeling lately. Apparently all I needed was a kind smile and I was ready to tell my life story.
“I can sympathize. I don’t get to see much of my loved ones now either but you know what I try to do? I try to look around me, open my eyes. There’s always someone who has it worse than you,” Lacey said.
“I know, I just miss him so much you know? We speak all the time, always when we wake up and last thing at night, and we send messages throughout the day. I think, as long as we’re talking, I can ignore the distance a bit.”
“That’s probably best. No point tearing yourself up over something you can’t change, right?”
I nodded. “Right. Do you want to see a picture of him?”
“Sure,” Lacey replied.
Activating my phone, I pulled up several pictures of Chris. “Here we are at the prom last year. And this is us on his birthday. He wanted to go paint balling but he was pretty bad at it as you can see.”
Lacey smiled, looking at the photographs. “Oh, he’s a hottie! You guys look so cute together.”
I smiled as I switched back to my Kindle app, but something caught my eye behind Lacey.
“I know I sound paranoid, but I swear the barista keeps giving me weird looks.”
Lacey looked over her shoulder at her, but shrugged. “They probably don’t like that you’re just drinking water and I’m not having anything, but it’s not like they need the tables.”
She gestured at my phone.
“So, what’re you reading anyway?” Lacey asked.
“This YA book. It’s a new series. Haven’t heard of it before but a friend from home recommended it to me.”
“Nice,” Lacey replied. “I like to read too, though I’m more of a history buff.”
Without meaning to, I pulled a face. Seeing my expression, Lacey laughed.
“It’s really cool, I swear. You get to learn about other cultures, how they lived. A lot of what came before was crazy bad compared to what we have now. Sometimes it’s good to learn about others, makes you more grateful for what you actually have.”
“I don’t know,” I replied. “You’re not quite selling it for me.”
Lacey smiled ruefully. “Yeah, I can never get the sales pitch right. But, I don’t know, I just like learning about people. For example, did you know that roughly thirty-five million American people are descended from the one hundred and two British people who originally came over on the Mayflower? Thirty-five million from just one hundred and two?!”
I looked at her, impressed yet amused. “That’s a lot of getting down that must have been happening. Then again, it was before television.”
Lacey rolled her eyes, continuing unabated. “Well, you know how Austin has a pretty high rate of crime? Back in Roman times, a Roman citizen could walk anywhere on Earth and be safe from harm just by declaring where he was from, so great was the retribution of Rome. Imagine that now? Imagine being able to walk through any country at night, by ourselves and know we would be completely safe just because we were American.”
“OK, so that is pretty cool and I didn’t know that,” I conceded. “Still not feeling the urge to dive into a history book any time soon.”
“Well, you must know that the Chinese created some of the greatest inventions, like gunpowder and paper?”
My expression turned puzzled. “Why would I know that? Are you saying that because I’m Chinese? That’s racist.”
It’s a moment before Lacey realized I was joking. “For a moment there, I thought you were being serious.”
I grinned, unperturbed. “I know. That’s part of the fun.”
“I’m kinda jealous actually. Must be great to be from such a cool culture.”
“Are you crazy?” I said. “Do you know how many jokes about terrible karaoke singing or eating dogs or slitty eyes — which, clearly I don’t have — I’ve had to endure?”
“The people who say those things are just ignorant. It shouldn’t make you any less proud of who you are.”
“True,” I agreed. I tilted my head, studying Lacey. “Aren’t you hot wearing that hat in here? They seem to be over killing the central air today.”
Lacey reached up and touched her wool hat. “No. I’m fine. It’s not really affecting me. Besides, it’s always like this in here. You get used to it.”
“It’s a nice hat though, cute.”
“Thanks. It’s my favorite, I like that it doesn’t scratch.”
I looked outside and suddenly noticed how dark the sky was getting. Glancing at my phone, I gasped at the time. “It’s getting late. I hadn’t realized. I should head home, or my mom will worry. She thinks this place is the ghetto and I’ll be murdered if I’m not home by six.”
“Very wise,” Lacey said, laughing. “The killings typically occur after seven.”
Standing, I gathered my things. “It was nice to chat. What’s your Facebook? I’ll add you as a friend.”
“Oh, I’m not on Facebook anymore,” Lacey said.
“What about What’s App? What’s your number?” Kim asked.
“Yeah, I don’t actually have a phone anymore either. It was cut off,” Lacey replied.
“You don’t have a phone or Facebook? That’s like saying you don’t need air,” I said, momentarily unable to take it in. I was picking up my bag when my stomach tightened as another, unwelcome thought came into my head.
She didn’t want to give me her details!
But why? We were having fun, I thought we were connecting. I was finally making a friend. Why wouldn’t she want to talk to me again?
Lacey didn’t offer anything else but her guilty expression said everything. My thoughts jumped back to the girls at the park. Maybe they were in cahoots with each other after all. Maybe this was just another way to get at me.
Suddenly furious, I glared at her.
“Wow. And here I was thinking you were different, but no, you’re just like all the other horrible girls here.”
Spinning on my heel, I stormed out of the place before Lacey could respond.
5
Social Network
Hours later, I was still angry by Lacey’s slight. It just didn’t make sense. Why would she even talk to me if she didn’t want to be friends? It’s not like I initiated anything, she came over of her own accord.
Changing into my favorite night clothes — a tank top that had long faded from wear and some shorts — I moved onto my bed, but the night was cold and I found myself tugging on a wool hoodie, though it still didn’t dispel the goose bumps that ran up and down my arms. It was weird. No matter what the temperature was outside, I always found it cold in here.
I sipped from a herbal tea my Mom had recommended. It had a nice mellow taste, min
ty and lemony, and was supposed to help troubled sleepers. By drinking it, I was hoping to finally sleep through the night. As I finished the drink, ahead of my end-of-day call with Chris, a message chimed from him.
“Sorry babe, I’m out at the bowling alley tonight, then I think we’re heading to Frank’s Diner after. Looks like it’ll be a late one. Go ahead and sleep and I’ll call you in the morning. Love you. Xoxoxo”
Disappointment surged through me.
It wasn’t the first time he had gone out without me, but I had really wanted to talk over what happened today with him. Sighing, I lay down, but my mind was flying. I was wound up so tight, I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep. Seeing my laptop on the bedside stand, I opened it.
The screen blinked on. I moved my finger over the track pad until I hit the Facebook bookmark and the familiar blue site appeared. Feeling homesick, I only meant to check up on my friends in London when some pictures landed on my news feed.
There was Chris, his handsome face grinning into the camera at the bowling alley with his friends. Despite how I was feeling, I smiled to see him. I couldn’t help it really, he’s just always had that effect on me. I was still smiling when I saw the girl hanging onto his arm.
She was blonde and blue-eyed. Some people thought she was pretty, but she had always put me on edge — she had a way of looking down her pert little nose at me. I’ve never done anything to offend her, but I could never shake the feeling that she disliked me, and now, seeing her with Chris, it finally sank in why… she had a thing for my boyfriend!
Seriously, how had I missed this before? Her claw-like red talons were wrapped around his arm, and she seemed to be next to him in all the pictures. Though Chris wasn’t touching Nessa himself, I couldn’t help but see that it didn’t look like he was discouraging her either.
We would be having some words about this tomorrow, that I knew for sure.