by Alex Anders
“Because I do have a phone.”
Saki looked at Marnie confused. They didn’t have a phone in the house. Her mother had initially promised to get them all cell phones. But after she got one for herself, she figured out how expensive it would be for all four of them to have one.
Her mother then promised to install a landline. But after Batelco, the government’s telephone company, had pushed off the appointment for a month, her mother canceled it in frustration. After that, she again promised to get them cell phones but then never did. At least, that was what Saki thought.
“What do you mean that you have a phone?”
“She got one for me and Maddie last month,” she replied with an apologetic look on her face.
“So she got you two a phone and not me?” Saki asked, feeling rage build within her.
“It was after you disappeared for two days and didn’t explain where you went. She said that if you are woman enough to do that, then you could get your own phone.”
“I was kidnapped and taken to another island,” Saki whispered, trying to contain her outrage.
“Really?” Marnie asked.
“Yes!”
“Who kidnapped you?” She asked, horrified.
“Lane. It was so I wouldn’t turn in the house and kill all of you.”
“Oh,” Marnie said soberly. “You couldn’t tell Mom that.”
“No,” Saki retorted, sarcastically. “So you have a phone?”
“Yeah, but it’s just a prepaid phone.”
“Do you have any minutes?” Saki asked, trying to assess the situation.
“No. And I told Lane that. That’s why I was late coming back. He took me to get a card.” Marnie took the card out of her pocket and showed it to her. “We have about 10 minutes.”
Saki took the card. Having it in her hand touched her. Living under all of her mother’s restraints, this little gesture was a glimpse at freedom. She did love Lane, and she couldn’t wait to be with him again.
“There’s only one problem,” Marnie said, capturing Saki‘s attention. “Maddie has the phone.”
“Can’t you get it from her?” Saki asked, annoyed.
“She likes to keep it on her.”
“I thought you said it doesn’t have any minutes?”
“It doesn’t. She likes to pretend,” Marnie replied, offering Saki an empathetic look for her twin sister.
“Can’t you just ask her for it?”
“Yeah, but she’s gonna ask me why I want it.”
“Tell her that you just do.”
“Then she’ll get suspicious. Maybe I could just tell her everything?” She asked, sheepishly.
“No!” Saki replied firmly. “No one can know. You shouldn’t know. If she knows, she’s going to tell Mom. Do you know how much Mom would freak out if she found out? You think she’s crazy now? Just wait until she found out what I am.”
“Then what do I tell her about the phone?”
“I don’t know. She’s your twin. Figure something out,” Saki commanded.
Maddie stared at Saki before sighing and leaving the bedroom to join her sister in the living room. Saki laid back in bed, considering the freedom of being able to call Lane. Her thoughts were interrupted by Marnie‘s slightly raised tone coming from the front room. It quickly died down, returning the house to silence.
Saki expected Marnie to walk in at any moment. She didn’t. After minutes went by and then an hour, her bedroom door opened, and to her surprise, Maddie walked in. Without turning to look at her, the twin crossed Saki‘s room to her own and closed the door behind her. Saki stared at the door, confused. Maddie was always the last one to bed. Saki couldn’t figure out a reason for the change.
After a few more minutes, Saki decided to venture out to the front room under the pretense of going to the bathroom. She found Marnie sitting on the couch; she waved her over.
“I got it,” Marnie confirmed.
“Why did Maddie go to bed?”
“She was pouting because I wouldn’t tell her why I wanted the phone. Do you want to call now?”
Saki withdrew the card from her pocket. It felt precious to her. She wanted to hold onto it longer, but not knowing when she would get the opportunity again, she handed it back to Marnie.
“Do you know how to add it?” Saki asked.
“Yeah,” she replied, with a cheerful smile. “Where do we talk so no one hears us? Should we go outside?”
Saki considered it for a moment. “No. Anyone could be listening.”
“You mean that guy you were talking with in the backyard?”
“His name is Dax. And, yeah.”
“You mean he could be watching us?”
She didn’t want to tell her sister about him, but now she felt like she needed to. “Yeah. He could be anywhere. He’s the one that could kill me if I don’t come up with a plan by Sunday.”
“But, why?” Marnie said with real concern.
“It’s complicated.”
“But I don’t understand,” the twin replied, anxiety written all over her face.
“He wants me to be a part of his pack. He thinks that Lane stands in the way. I convinced him to not kill Lane. But if he finds out about me and Lane, he’ll probably kill me instead.”
Marnie fell onto the couch in shock. Obviously, she hadn’t been prepared for the news. Saki could tell she hadn’t felt afraid until this moment.
“Are you going to call him?” Saki said, prompting her on.
Marnie hesitated. But then she dialed the phone and handed it over to Saki. Saki moved the phone to her ear. It rang twice before Lane picked up.
“Hello, Lane?”
“Saki?”
She was acutely aware that it was the first phone conversation they had ever had. “I got the minutes. Thank you,” she offered, expressing only a fraction of the gratitude she felt.
“Is it okay for me to admit that I just wanted to talk to you?” He asked in a low, sexy tone.
Saki‘s face turned hot. She considered sneaking out at that moment but thought better of it when she saw Marnie‘s piercing gaze.
“I’m here with Marnie. Do you know any way we can get the medallion?”
“Your sister said something about using the janitor?”
“Yeah. I was thinking that she could do what I did. Maybe she could stay late at school and then get into the administration building when he opens up. She could take the medallion when he opens Mr. Jenner‘s office.”
Marnie spoke up. “How would I get there late? Mom wouldn’t let me stay late.”
Saki looked at her sister. She was right. Her mother was not going to allow one of her precious twins to stay late at school. Her mother would not “forget” her, either.
“Or, maybe you could take her back after school.” Saki addressed her sister, “Maybe you could make up some excuse like staying with a friend? Then Lane could take you back to school and you can do it then.”
“But, who would I say I’m visiting? And how do I do it without Maddie coming with me?”
Lane chimed in, “What about if it was a date? I could get Dwayne to help.”
Saki relayed the message to Marnie. “You think mom and Maddie might believe that?”
Marnie’s eyes flashed open, and she bit her lip. Saki knew she had never been on a date before, and she saw Marnie literally break out into a sweat at the thought of talking to boys.
“What do you think? Will they believe it?” Saki asked again.
“Do I get to meet him first?”
“It’s not a real date,” Saki corrected.
“I know that,” Marnie said, slightly heartbroken. “I mean, in case Maddie asks about him. Because you know she will.”
Saki thought for a moment. Marnie was right. They had to meet. It had to be believable in case one of the two asked.
“Lane, can we get them together to meet each other before?”
“Yeah, that’s not a problem. He might even like her.”
Saki thoug
ht it better not to relay that part of the message. “Yeah, you too can meet.”
Lane continued, “But what do we do once we get it?”
“We have to get it to the island and hide it.”
“And how do we do that? I’ve held it. It does strange things to your mind. That’s how you found it. I couldn’t hold it any longer, so I tossed it in the grass. I couldn’t really control myself. I just had to get it as far away from me as possible. It took everything I had not to throw it over the building. How do any of us carry it to the island if it makes us feel like that?”
Without a word Saki looked up at Marnie, considering the possibility. “I might have a plan for that. But let’s get it first. We’ll worry about that afterwards.”
“So, when am I going to meet the boy,” Marnie asked, still biting her lip.
“When can we get the two together?” Saki asked Lane.
“When is her lunch period tomorrow?”
“When do you have lunch tomorrow?” Saki relayed.
Marnie thought for a second. “Fifth period.”
“Fifth.”
“That’s when I thought. Tell her to join us at lunch. You know where we sit.”
“Okay. I will,” Saki pulled the phone away from her face to see how long they had been talking. “Maybe we should save the minutes in case we have to talk again?”
“Yeah. Am I going to see you tomorrow?”
“I can’t get out just yet. I’m grounded,” she said with a sigh.
“I heard. Wednesday night then?”
“If I can. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“Bye,” she said sadly.
“Bye,” Lane replied before both hung up the phone.
Marnie stared at Saki as she gently stroked the phone with her thumb in thought. Saki looked up at her. She could see the hope written all over her face. She wondered if it was a mistake, getting Marnie’s hopes up for a boy who wasn’t really going to date her. But she couldn’t do much about it, either.
Chapter 9
The next morning when Saki woke up, her raspberry face hurt to touch. The sun poisoning that she had used as an excuse the day before had actually set in. She felt more than a little nauseated and did not want to get out of bed. She considered asking to stay home but decided it wasn’t worth the argument. Her absences from school were starting to add up, and she knew they would eventually catch up with her.
Summoning all her strength, she got out of bed and ready for school. She couldn’t eat much for breakfast and couldn’t talk much during homeroom. Gully and the others weren’t interested in talking much, either. In fact, they didn’t even look at her much. If she wasn’t so nauseated, she would have been worried.
After the end of first period, she had to report to the nurse. She was feeling awful; she wouldn’t survive another class. Immediately seeing the cause, the nurse offered her painkillers and a bed. Closing the shades of the window, she shut her eyes and tried to sleep.
After the nurse suggested that she call her mother to pick her up, Saki got up and returned to class. She didn’t feel quite as bad, but she was sure that the difference was the drugs. With her head on her desk, she made it to sixth period lunch, then struggled until the end of eighth period. She had made it through the day. Again seated behind the unusually quiet Gully, she wondered how Marnie and Dwayne had done.
After Saki dragged herself to the bench under the cross, she met a very excited Marnie. Saki had to give her credit; she actually did look like she had a crush on the boy. Marnie was setting the scene well by talking about him to her twin. As far as Saki could see through the haze of her pain, Maddie was eating it up.
After the mercifully quiet ride home, Saki was lying in bed when she heard a phone ring. Through her bedroom door, she could hear Marnie‘s voice talking excitedly. More than once, she heard the name Dwayne. Marnie was doing better than Saki could have ever guessed, setting up her imaginary boyfriend. Marnie couldn’t have done anything better. Saki just hoped she realized her imaginary boyfriend was not her actual boyfriend.
During dinner, Marnie had a stroke of genius “Mom, can I have some money to get some minutes?” she asked in front of everyone.
Saki‘s mom immediately looked at Saki, waiting for a response. Saki wasn’t sure how she should feel. As far as her mother knew, it was the first time Saki was hearing about the phone. But she couldn’t make too much out of it, or she risked causing problems for Marnie.
“So you got a phone for them, hey?” she said as if expecting such injustices.
“Well, maybe if you started acting more like a part of this family, you would have one, too,” her mother replied.
“Marnie wants it so that her boyfriend can call her,” Maddie chimed in.
“Boyfriend?” Her mother asked surprised, yet tickled. “I hope he’s nothing like Saki‘s boyfriend,” she said, trying to make a tasteless joke.
Saki displayed the proper amount of offense, then turned her attention to the food on her plate.
“Please, Mom?” Marnie insisted.
“I’ll think about it. Now, who’s this boy?”
Maddie interjected. “He’s a senior. His name is Dwayne.”
“A senior? Saki, do you know this boy?”
“I don’t know who she’s talking about. Do you see me up in her business?” Saki said, putting as much distance between her and Dwayne as possible.
“Please, Mom?”
“I said I’ll think about it,” she answered, clearly in a better mood. She smiled at her oldest twin daughter with pride in her eyes. If Saki hadn’t already felt nauseated from the sunburn, her mother’s biased love would have done the trick. But at least Friday’s cover was pretty much set.
Saki woke up the next morning feeling better. She was already beginning to peel. She knew that once she turned, her face would look perfect again. Her instant healing would undoubtedly raise a few eyebrows. But luckily, she still had a few days before then.
Arriving at school, she found Dax’s pack was still acting strange. Saki didn’t know what to think about that. The situation could get dangerous with only a few days before they all left for the island. Had they met with Dax? Had Dax seen her with Lane? Her chest clenched at the idea. They were playing a dangerous game. On that island, someone was going to die. With one wrong move, that person could be her.
“What did you all do last weekend while I was getting burnt to a crisp?” she leaned forward, asking Gully.
Gully leaned back and replied without looking at her. “We went to the island,” he said with an undecipherable intonation.
Saki thought for a moment. “Hey, where do you guys dock your boat?”
Gully turned around and looked at her knowingly. “Why do you ask?”
“I don’t know. Just curious, I guess.” There weren’t too many boats docks on Nassau. Where Lane docked his boat was the most popular. If they saw that Lane‘s boat was gone, connecting that point to Saki’s sunburn wouldn’t be much of a stretch. Everything was getting complicated.
“We have a dock at the Yacht Club.”
Saki calculated where that was in relation to Lane’s dock. It wasn’t very far. You couldn’t see there from the Yacht Club, but it was a boat. They could have driven by and seen that Lane‘s boat was gone. Saki now had a pretty good guess as to why the boys were so quiet. A storm was brewing, and they were calm around her because she was at the center. She was the eye of the storm.
Mercifully, homeroom came to an end. Going their separate ways, Saki knew that she had to come up with another plan. She couldn’t see Lane, at least not at night. If Dax had any reason to be suspicious, he would be waiting in the bushes at her house. She was in danger. Actually, her whole family was in danger. Her options were diminishing. One way or another, her time with her family was coming to an end. And the only way to stop it was for her to bet on the biggest long shot of her life.
To do that, Saki had to stick as close to Dax‘s pack as
possible. Every time she saw either of the boys, she said hello. When she had a class with one, she talked to him throughout, much to the dismay of her teachers. At lunch, she sat as close to Mark and Gully as she could. She wanted her allegiance to seem clear.
“Do you want to hang out tonight?” Gully asked to Saki‘s relief.
“I’m grounded,” Saki responded, truly seeming disappointed.
“For what?”
“My mother saw a C I got on a test. She flipped out.”
“Over a C?” Mark asked disbelieving.
“Yeah, I never used to get C’s. I got grounded for a week.”
“Luckily, you won’t have to put up with that much longer, right?” Gully asked.
Saki wondered how much Dax had told Gully and the other boys. Apparently, Dax had informed them that she would be moving to the island. “Right,” she agreed, not knowing what emotion to display.
“If I got a C, my parents would throw me a party,” Mark announced.
“Mine, too,” Patrick agreed.
Saki looked at Patrick. He was the one member of Dax‘s pack she didn’t know much about. He was really good looking and very private. They both had English class together, but he always seemed to be lost in thought. Perhaps he wasn’t as comfortable with being a wolf as the rest of them were. Maybe he was just quiet. Saki couldn’t tell. But apparently he wasn’t very good at school.
“So, you can’t come?” Gully confirmed.
“No. I’m just going to hang at home and do homework.”
Gully gave a brief grunt and turned around. Deciding it sounded convincing enough, Saki considered actually doing just that. She didn’t know what would happen after Sunday. She could actually end up living on the island. She liked school, at least the school work. It was possible that this was her last week there ever. Perhaps Maddie was right. Sometimes it was good to pretend.
As soon as Marnie got in the van for their trip home, she was all over her mother. “Greatest mother in the world, most beautiful mother ever, did you happen to get me some minutes?”
It disgusted Saki whenever either of the twins sucked up to their mother like that. Watching her mother blush, and withdraw the phone card, Saki felt queasy. They didn’t do anything to deserve what they got.