by Jordan Lynde
She laughed, but followed my orders. I returned my attention to Arden, who was still sauntering to the lane line. He stopped just before it, tossing a smug look over his shoulder at me. In one swift movement he sent the ball down the lane in a perfect line. It hit the front pin, which in turn knocked down all ten of them.
‘Strike!’ he cried, pumping his fist. ‘And I didn’t fall over!’
‘Ha-ha,’ I responded with a frown. I turned to Oliver. ‘Well, Oliver. Now if you don’t get a strike you’ll be even more embarrassed.’
Oliver didn’t comment. He simply stood up, not even bothering to look at the weight of the ball he grabbed. As soon as the pins were set up, he smoothly sent the ball down the lane as if he wasn’t putting any effort into the swing at all.
‘Strike,’ he commented just as smoothly, returning to his seat as the sound of all ten pins falling to the ground echoed around us.
‘It’s on,’ I returned, narrowing my eyes at him.
Five turns later, I was dead last. Even behind Elliot. Arden and Oliver were tied for first, both having perfect scores. Arden gave me a smug look as he sat down from his seventh strike in a row. Oliver passed by me next, using his aloof attitude as usual. I figured he was probably celebrating on the inside but was too cool to show it. However, this time the ball slipped from his hands before he was ready. He swore quietly as the ball bounced against a bumper. But then, much to everyone’s surprise, it magically returned to the middle and ended up knocking down all the pins.
‘What?’ I gasped.
‘Awesome!’ Arden cried, leaping up from his seat. ‘Oliver, that was amazing!’
Oliver turned with a grin, reaching out a hand to slap Arden five. However, instead of just slapping Arden five, they did a fancy high-five routine – it kind of reminded me of a hand-clapping game I’d played when I was younger. When they finished, you could feel the surprise in the air. Zak and Tucker shared a bewildered look while Oliver stared at his hand.
Arden was also staring at his hand. Then he turned to Oliver, his eyes wide. ‘Dude,’ he started slowly, lowering his hand, ‘I cannot believe you remember that!’
Oliver looked embarrassed. ‘I can’t believe you remembered that.’
‘What? Why wouldn’t I? That was our handshake!’ Arden responded, sounding slightly offended. ‘We did that at least twenty times a day.’
Zak suddenly laughed. ‘Do you remember that time in history when you guys decided to see how many times you could do it before being yelled at?’
‘That was with the substitute, right?’ Tucker added in a thoughtful tone. ‘The one who thought you two were mute and communicated by clapping hands.’
Arden burst out laughing, waving his hand at Tucker. ‘Oh my God! Yeah! And then when Oliver said bye to her, she almost had a heart attack!’
I turned to Oliver, my mouth gaping. Oliver was chuckling quietly, throwing me even more off guard, and I briefly wondered if this was what a person who won a small fortune in a lottery felt. All the boys, Oliver and Arden particularly, were getting along. They were reminiscing about the past together – the past from when they were friends!
‘So your sub thought you two were mute?’ I asked, not wanting their conversation to drop.
Arden nodded, turning to me. ‘Yeah. That was our thing.’
‘We always pretended we were mute,’ Oliver explained, smirking slightly. ‘It was really a bombshell for people when they realized not only was I not mute, but also I was British.’
‘That’s mostly the reason they never got in trouble,’ Tucker added, rolling his eyes. ‘Everyone would swoon over the Brit.’
Oliver rolled his eyes. ‘That’s not true.’
‘Yes it is, and you know it, Oliver,’ Zak responded with a grin. ‘You definitely took advantage of it.’
‘I did not—’
‘Remember that time you tried to fake an American accent and that grumpy old guy yelled at you for it?’ Arden mused. ‘I kind of wonder how he knew you weren’t actually American.’
Zak let out a bark of laughter. ‘Oliver’s accent was horrible.’
‘Squirrel,’ Tucker commented in a crappy half-British, half-American accent. ‘He could never say squirrel.’
Melissa suddenly snickered. ‘He still can’t say it.’
Oliver abruptly stood up, looking irritated. He glared at the group for a moment, his eyes lingering on Arden. ‘Will you all shut up?’
Silence filled the group immediately and I blinked at Oliver’s sudden mood change. He let out a frustrated sigh before stalking away. Arden had his mouth slightly open as he stared after him, while Zak had an uncomfortable look, and Tucker and Melissa looked guilty.
‘Olive!’ Elliot cried, staring after him.
‘I’ll be right back,’ I said quickly, turning to follow Oliver.
Oliver had made good distance by the time I caught up with him. He was by the vending machines, standing stiffly in front of one, his hands in his pockets. When he noticed me, he tensed even more. I frowned slightly.
‘What was that back there?’ I asked, deciding not to beat around the bush.
‘What are you talking about?’
I gave him a flat look. ‘Come on, Oliver. You guys were actually getting along. And then you had a mood swing and completely ruined it.’
Oliver scoffed. ‘We weren’t getting along.’
‘Oliver.’
‘Look,’ Oliver started angrily, turning around to glare at me. ‘I dropped them for no reason when I moved. There was absolutely no reason I stopped being friends with them besides the fact that I made the decision. I decided I didn’t want to be friends any longer with Arden, Tucker and Zak.’
My brows furrowed in confusion. ‘Why not?’
‘There is no reason. I just decided it. I was moving anyway.’
‘But what does that have to do with getting along with them today?’
Oliver gave me a hard look. ‘I never said I wanted to be friends with them again.’
I stayed silent for a moment, holding Oliver’s gaze. ‘Are you sure about that?’
‘Positive.’
‘I don’t think so,’ I commented casually. ‘I think you want to be friends again.’
Oliver’s face twisted into a snide expression. ‘Well, you’re wrong.’
‘No, I’m not,’ I defended stubbornly. ‘If you really didn’t want to be friends with them, you wouldn’t have come today!’
‘Elliot—’
‘That’s not the reason, Oliver, and you know it. You’re trying to convince yourself you don’t want to be friends with them. Why, Oliver?’
Oliver suddenly stepped toward me, gripping my shoulder tightly. ‘OK, so what if I wanted to be friends with them again? What would you do? There’s nothing you can do, Harley. You’re not a miracle worker.’
‘Why do you need a miracle worker?’ I shot back at him. ‘Oliver, are you blind? Can you not see the others are trying to get along with you too?’
His face became hard. ‘Why would they?’
‘Maybe they want to be your friend again too!’
‘Yeah, OK,’ Oliver snorted.
‘Are you a sociopath or something, Oliver?’ I demanded angrily, giving him an irritated glare. ‘Why can’t you realize that maybe people can forgive you even if you dropped them as friends a few years ago.’
His expression faltered. ‘They shouldn’t forgive me.’
‘They can do what they want.’
‘I screwed everything up, Harley. Just because I wasn’t brave enough to explain what I was going through,’ Oliver snapped at me, a muscle in his jaw twitching. ‘Just because I didn’t want to tell them how messed up my family is. Because I couldn’t let them see how I was hurting after my mom died. Arden called and called and called me. I hit ignore every time. Zak and Tucker did everything they could to find out where my new house was. I shut the door in Zak’s face once. So tell me, how can they forgive me for that? I gave no reason; I just
left them. Acted like I couldn’t care less, because I was a coward.’
Oliver’s admittance threw me off guard. For a moment I stood there, gaping at him, taking it all in. He turned his head away from me, hands fisted tightly at his sides. ‘Oliver,’ I started slowly, putting my hand on his arm. ‘Oliver, no, you’re not a coward. Don’t think that. There are some things you want to keep to yourself, believe me, I know. That doesn’t make you a coward.’
‘But I left them.’
‘So you made a bad choice. It doesn’t make you a coward,’ I told him, squeezing his arm. ‘And if they want to forget it, you should too. Maybe apologize? It might make you feel better.’
Oliver stared at me for a moment, face a blank mask. Then he sighed, leaning down and resting his forehead on the top of my head. ‘It’s that easy?’
‘Yes,’ I told him.
‘Why is my life suddenly so easy? My friends want me back, I can see my little sister again—’
I jolted away from him, eyes wide. ‘What? You can see her? What?’
‘Yeah, I just have to call,’ Oliver told me, a reluctant smile breaking out on his face. ‘And Andy even said they plan to tell Lily the truth when she’s gotten a bit older. She’ll know I’m her brother.’
‘That’s so great!’ I cried, nearly jumping up and down. ‘Wow! I’m so happy for you!’
Suddenly looking embarrassed, he coughed, dropping his gaze. ‘Tone it down . . .’
‘Really, Oliver, that’s great,’ I told him, my grin so wide it was beginning to hurt.
‘Why do I feel the need to thank you?’ he muttered, shaking his head.
I blinked, surprised. ‘Thank me? I didn’t do anything.’
‘I know that,’ he responded, rolling his eyes. ‘But I still feel the need. Maybe to thank you for being nosy and pushy.’
‘Hey—’
‘But thanks, Harley.’
I didn’t reply, only beamed at him, trying to hold back my grin but failing. He noticed, pursing his lips and turning away from me.
‘Come on. Let’s go back,’ I said, grabbing his hand.
‘I’m staying here,’ he stated stubbornly, trying to pull his hand free. ‘It’s going to be awkward!’
I chuckled quietly. ‘Are you embarrassed because of your little outburst? Come on, Oliver, it’ll be fine. People aren’t as harsh as you pin them, you know.’
This time when I pulled on Oliver’s hand, he followed me back to our lane. Arden was with Elliot, teaching him a different way to roll the ball while Melissa and the others had returned to their game. Oliver paused right before we stepped down to the bench area, but I ushered him on, basically dragging him down the stairs.
Arden looked up at me immediately. ‘Oh, you two are back.’
Oliver grunted while I gave Arden a large grin. ‘We’re ready to play again.’
‘Well, then,’ Arden responded, standing up. ‘Oliver, you’re up. Here’s a ball.’ Arden handed the ball he was holding to Oliver. ‘If you mess up, I’ll be in first spot. And we both know how much you hate it when I do better than you.’
Oliver scowled, snatching up the ball. ‘That’s not going to happen this time.’
Arden grinned back. ‘We’ll see, won’t we?’
‘Guess so.’
I shot Oliver a smug look when our gazes met. For a second he glared at me, but then his expression relaxed and he sent me his small, genuine smile that made my heart skip a beat. I blinked in shock, raising a hand up to my chest. I definitely had not expected that reaction.
Chapter Twenty-three
Since the day had been going so well, I wasn’t that surprised when our van suddenly stopped moving on the way home. Melissa muttered something, turning around to give Oliver an annoyed look. ‘Did you put gas in the car like you were supposed to?’
‘Nope,’ he responded casually. ‘I figured someone else would do it.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me before we took it today?’ she demanded.
‘Why didn’t you stop to get gas before we picked everyone up?’
Melissa gave him a flat look. ‘Because you were supposed to, yesterday!’
‘Why didn’t you just check the gauge?’ Zak chipped in, looking confused.
‘It’s broken,’ Melissa responded with a sigh.
I frowned slightly. ‘Now what?’
‘We wait for someone to bring us gas,’ Melissa responded, sounding depressed. ‘Where are we?’
She looked out the window, and I followed her gaze, realizing with a shock that we had broken down in the dark, right in front of a cemetery. Not just any cemetery, though – the cemetery where my parents were buried. My breath caught in my throat as I stared though the foggy window of the van at the snowy graveyard before me.
‘Whoa,’ Zak commented, turning to look out the window too. ‘We ran out of gas in front of a cemetery? Weird. Let’s go explore!’
‘I wanna come!’ Elliot cried, turning to give me a pleading look. ‘Pig, can I go with him?’
I blinked when I realized he was talking to me. ‘Um, sure . . .’
Without another second’s hesitation, Zak unsnapped his seatbelt and hopped out of the car with Elliot. Tucker followed quickly, as well as Melissa. Arden turned, frowning at me for a second, looking worried.
‘Harley, is this . . .?’
‘Where my parents are buried?’ I finished for him, dropping my gaze. ‘Yeah.’
‘Well,’ Arden started, clapping his hands together, ‘I do believe I’ll go pay my respects to them then.’
I stared at him in bewilderment. ‘What?’
Arden cocked his head to the side. ‘You know. I’ll go introduce myself to them and stuff.’
‘Why?’
Arden cocked an eyebrow. ‘You’re one of my closest friends, that’s why. I want to meet your parents.’
My mouth dried at Arden’s words. He wanted to meet my parents? I couldn’t help but smile at him. ‘You’re weird.’
Arden grinned back. ‘Come on, let’s go.’
My smile dropped. ‘Oh, I don’t know if I want to go . . .’
‘Why not?’
‘I just . . . I . . .’
‘Go,’ Oliver ordered, nudging my shoulder. ‘I’m coming too. Let’s all go visit them.’
I gave Oliver a questioning look. Why was he so pushy? He shoved harder on my shoulder and I resigned, scooting to the middle of the van. Arden opened the door and hopped out, helping me onto the frozen ground after him. Oliver jumped down after me, shutting the door behind him. I pulled my jacket tighter around me as a gust of chilly wind nipped at me. It blew my hair into my face, momentarily blocking my vision of the graveyard. When I managed to push it away, the black iron gates and grey headstones came back into vision, looming ominously.
‘Ready?’
I glanced at Arden briefly before refocusing on the cemetery. An odd feeling washed over me – sort of like a mix of fear, excitement, and sorrow. It made me feel a little sick. Did I want to go visit their grave right now? After having so much fun?
Suddenly a warm hand enveloped my cold one. My eyes followed the hand holding mine to the arm connected to it, all the way up to the face. Arden gave me an encouraging smile, then pulled on my hand, taking the lead.
My free hand shot out to grab Oliver’s. His eyes widened slightly, but he said nothing. Instead he gave my hand a gentle squeeze, and allowed me to drag him behind Arden and myself as we headed toward the kissing gate that led into the cemetery.
Row upon row of headstones protruded from the ground on either side of us. Some of them were large and elegant, while others were small and quaint. Each one had a small blanket of white snow on top of it – in the moonlight, it kind of looked peaceful.
‘Do you remember where to go?’ Arden questioned softly, as if talking in a loud tone would somehow disturb the silence of the cemetery. It was like the snow buffeted any sound, but it wasn’t in a creepy way; it was in a pleasant, peaceful way.
&nb
sp; I hesitated for a moment, staring at a small gravestone as we passed it. ‘No,’ I finally lied. ‘It’s been a while since I’ve been here . . . I think they’re near the back, though.’
I silently begged for Arden to buy my lie. I hated lying to him, but I didn’t want anyone around me when I went to the grave. It was my first time in a little more than half a year and I didn’t know how I was going to react – and I didn’t want Oliver or Arden around to see how I did.
‘Why don’t we split up then?’ Arden suggested, thankfully believing me. ‘We can shout or something if one of us finds them. Are they next to each other?’
I nodded meekly. ‘Yeah . . . let’s split up then. I’ll head to the far right.’ I pointed in the said direction, turning back up to Arden. ‘Why don’t you start on the left?’
‘Sounds good. What about you, Oliver?’
‘I’ll start in the middle, I guess,’ he responded.
Arden nodded. ‘All right.’ He dropped my hand, and immediately it felt like ice. ‘I’m going to go start looking then.’
‘I will too,’ Oliver said, also letting go of my hand.
A frown flickered across my face at the absence of their hands. Arden waved to me once more before trudging through the snow to the left of the cemetery. Oliver waited another moment, scrutinizing me with his eyes.
‘Will you be OK?’ he finally asked.
I blinked at him, a bit taken aback by his question. ‘Oh, um, yeah.’
He nodded once more before turning his back on me and heading further down the path we were on. I stared after him for a moment, my heart beating a little quicker than usual. When he disappeared from my view, I turned to the right and began hurrying down the rows of headstones. The snow crunched under my feet as I carefully trod around each headstone, keeping a vigilant eye out for the flat ones so I wouldn’t accidentally step on them.
Snow flurried from the sky as I trekked across the hard ground. A very familiar, gnarled tree entered my vision, and I dragged my hand across its trunk as I passed it. I shut my eyes for a moment, trying to remember exactly where my parents’ grave was. It was somewhere around there. I remembered leaning against this tree during the funeral, hands clasped over my ears, unable to listen to the morose words and tears of friends.