by Joanne Levy
She glanced at the group of girls and then back at me. “Because he didn’t want to dance.”
“But he’s your date.”
She frowned. “But this is a dance. And it’s not like I can talk to him . . .”
I grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the other girls. “So how are we going to fix this?”
She just stared at me.
“Livvy?”
“What?”
“You said you wanted me to help you. I’m here to help you. What are we supposed to do?”
“I . . . I don’t know,” she said. “I guess I never really thought that far ahead.”
I rolled my eyes, then looked around the gym, hoping the answer would just pop into my brain, when a slow song came on. My heart lurched as I thought about slow-dancing with Tyler in my living room.
Olivia squealed. “OMG! This is 5Style’s new song. I need to dance!”
“Tyler is still in the bathroom,” I pointed out.
Her face fell.
I heard my name from behind me and turned to find myself face to face with TJ Stevens. He was standing there with his hands in his pockets looking kind of nervous.
“Oh, hey,” I said, guessing what he was doing. “You can’t dance with Olivia; she’s here with Tyler.”
His eyes darted over to Olivia and then back at me. “Uh . . . actually, I was going to ask you to dance,” he said.
What? My face got hot as I realized Olivia had to be behind this. “Oh . . . uh . . . I . . .”
Suddenly I was pushed from behind and almost bashed into TJ. Managing to stop myself just in time, I whipped around and adjusted my glasses before I glared at the person who was supposed to be my best cousin. She didn’t look sorry. Instead she was standing there, giving me a pointed look that seemed to scream, Go dance with him!
But I wasn’t there to dance; I was there to help her. “Thanks, TJ,” I said. “But, um, no thanks.”
“Oh. Okay. Well, I’ll see you later then, I guess.”
He pretty much ran away. I felt bad, but it wasn’t like I could have danced with him anyway.
“You should have danced with him, Kat!” Olivia scolded from behind me. “Why didn’t you?”
“Because I’m only here to help you! For the millionth time, I do not like him,” I half yelled at her, really losing my patience.
The smile disappeared from her face.
I took her arm and tugged her over to the side of the bleachers. “You need to spend time with Tyler. He’s not a very good dancer, and he doesn’t feel comfortable, so you’re going to have to figure out how to talk to him.”
“But I tried that. I can’t,” she whined.
I glanced over toward the bleachers and had a sudden idea. “Why don’t you sit with him up there and I’ll hide underneath and help you?”
She followed my eyes to the benches, and her face lit up. “Oh. So he won’t see you but I’ll be able to hear you.”
“Yeah. But don’t go too high up or you won’t be able to hear me over the music.”
“Okay, yeah, that will work, Kat.”
“But Livvy?” I said, stopping to say one last thing before I ducked under the bleachers.
“What?”
“This is the last time. I can’t keep doing this, okay?”
I held my breath, waiting for her answer.
She looked mad at first, but she sighed and then nodded. “I guess you’re right. Let’s make tonight go perfect, and then he and I will be official.”
And then what? I didn’t say; I just nodded and disappeared under the bleachers. I waited to see her thin ankles and teetering heels so I could position myself underneath them.
It wasn’t long before I heard the metallic thumping as she and Tyler made their way down the third row. The second would have been better, as the third one took them farther up and away from me, but it wasn’t like I could tell her to change places now. The benches creaked as they sat down, giving me full view of their feet and ankles but not much else. I could hear them talking, but not very well over the music.
I lightly touched Olivia’s ankle and whispered, “Talk louder.”
“Sorry, Tyler, the music is really loud. What did you say?” she almost yelled.
“I asked if you liked the DVDs I lent you,” he responded, not quite as loudly but loud enough that I could hear.
“Oh, yes, I did!” she said. “Especially the third one.”
“That one is my favorite, too!” he said. “What did you think of the fight scene?”
“What did I think of the fight scene?” she repeated as she tapped her foot, and I knew that meant I was supposed to help. But I hadn’t seen them! He’d lent the DVDs to her before me!
“I haven’t seen them,” I whispered up to her.
Just then Tyler shifted, making the bench creak.
“What are you doing?” Olivia screeched.
“I thought I heard something,” Tyler said. “Like a voice. Is there someone under the bleachers?”
I jumped back into the shadows, my heart thudding against my ribs.
“Of course not! Why would there be?” Olivia blurted. She quickly changed the subject back to the DVDs. “The fight scene. Right. I thought it was awesome. That was my favorite part.”
“You didn’t think it was a bit much?”
“Uhhhh,” she said, tapping her foot frantically.
I edged closer, getting as close to Olivia as I could, “Tell him you thought it fit the story,” I suggested.
Tyler shifted again, but I ducked back away. This was ridiculous! We were going to get so busted.
“I mean, yeah, maybe it was a bit much, but it fit the story.”
“I guess. But that whole baby thing, right?”
Olivia’s toe tapped like crazy.
Baby thing? I had nothing. “I don’t know!” I whispered.
“Yeah, the baby thing,” Olivia said. “That was . . . amazing!”
There was a long silence, and I would have given anything to know what Tyler was thinking. Also: What the heck was the baby thing?
“Anyway,” Olivia said. “I’m having such a good time. I like your tie.”
Tie? He’s wearing a tie? I hadn’t noticed before, and I didn’t even know he owned a tie. I tried to angle myself so I could see up, but it was no use; he was hidden by the bench and the supports of the bleachers.
“Thanks,” he said. “You look . . . pretty.”
“I know, right? I got my hair done and everything.”
I rolled my eyes. Subtle, Livvy.
“So . . . uh . . . ,” Tyler said. “Since we’re here together and we have so much in common and obviously we like the same things and all, I was thinking . . .”
I angled myself closer so I could hear, and when I twisted my head just right and looked up, I could see a sliver of each of them through the gap.
“Yeah?” Olivia asked, though I could barely hear it over the music.
“I . . . um . . . I just really like you, Livvy.”
Even though I guess I knew it was coming, I gasped a little and then held my breath as I waited for her answer.
Tyler moved again, and I jumped away, pressing my back against the wall, making myself as small as I could. “Okay, I’m sure I heard something that time!” he said.
“It’s nothing!” Olivia said. “What were you saying? It sounded like something REALLY important.”
He shifted toward her, and I edged closer to hear, even though I didn’t really want to. “I . . . I, um, wanted to know if you like me, too.”
“Yes,” she said without hesitation.
“Oh. That’s great,” he said, sounding a little out of breath. Just as the song ended and a silence fell over the gym, there was a slow creak from the bleachers as Tyler leaned toward her, and I could see through the opening as his hand crept forward toward hers.
My heart felt like it broke into pieces right then. They were going to hold hands! I had to force myself not to run out of t
he gym. Now that they were pretty much official, the last thing I wanted was for him to see me at the dance, no matter how nice I looked.
I was thinking about how best to sneak out when . . .
THBBBFFFBBBTTTT!!!!
A loud fart noise sounded from beside me, scaring me half to death!
“Gah!” I yelled out before I even realized what was happening. Then I heard a bunch of giggles and turned to see that I wasn’t alone under the bleachers—there were a couple of totally immature sixth graders with one of those rubber farting balloons!
“You little stinkers!” I hissed at them, but then I had bigger problems. There were loud, banging footsteps on the bleachers, and before I could even think of what to do or where to go, Tyler was peering at me from the end of the bleachers.
“Kat?” he said, a confused look on his face as he looked me up and down. “What are you doing here? And why are you under the bleachers?”
“Oh, uh,” I looked around at the floor. “I just got here and I lost one of my earrings and thought maybe it rolled under here.”
Olivia showed up beside him just then, all wide-eyed and panicky.
“Maybe I can help you find it,” Tyler said. He crept down under the bleachers toward me and looked around, thankfully not noticing I wasn’t even wearing earrings.
Olivia followed him. She and I exchanged glances, but it wasn’t like we could read each other’s minds exactly, so there wasn’t much I could do other than shrug. Plus, I had no idea what to do. Bolting out of the gym seemed like a pretty good idea at that moment, though.
“Oh, you lost your lip gloss?” Olivia said suddenly. I glanced at her and she was rummaging through her purse and then threw a tube on the floor before pointing at it and yelling out, “There it is!”
Uh-oh! Worse than her saying the wrong thing was that the tube of lip gloss wasn’t all that came out of her purse. Right there, up against Tyler’s foot, were two of the cheat-sheet cards. They must have fallen out with the lip gloss and sailed right over to him, like magnets that knew they were all about him.
“You dropped something,” he said as he bent down to pick them up. “What’s this?”
I was frozen to the spot for half a second and then dove for the cards in his hand, except his zombie-
slashing, lightning-fast reflexes kicked in, and he pulled the cards out of my reach before I could grab them.
I glanced at Olivia, whose face looked like she was watching a horror movie. Mine probably looked the same.
“What the . . . ?” Tyler said. His voice wasn’t curious anymore. It was confused and maybe a little bit mad. Then he looked up at me and Olivia. “My favorite foods, color, sports? Plot of Knights at Sunrise? I don’t understand. What is this?” he asked as he held up the second card and turned it over.
Olivia’s face was frozen, so she was obviously no help, but all I could do was stutter at Tyler.
“Is this some sort of joke?” he asked, and I could tell he wasn’t just a little bit mad. He was a lot mad. “You guys tricked me?”
I wanted to say no, but I couldn’t lie to him when he was staring at me like that, hurt and anger in his eyes. I couldn’t even look at him. I dropped my eyes to my hands. “Tyler, I . . .”
But while I was trying to find the words to explain, he said, “I can’t believe this.” Then he was gone, out from under the bleachers.
I followed him and looked up in time to see the back of him running into the hall.
“Tyler!” I yelled, but he didn’t stop.
I looked at Olivia.
“Now what are we supposed to do?” she asked.
I didn’t even respond. I just ran out into the hall to try to catch him.
Chapter 18
I DIDN’T HAVE TO RUN far (good thing, since running in a formal dress and ballet flats isn’t exactly like running in sneakers) because Tyler was sitting on the concrete steps just outside the school doors.
“Tyler,” I said, ignoring the cool autumn wind that seemed to blow right through my dress.
His shoulders stiffened, but he didn’t say anything. Instead he stood up and started walking away from me.
I panicked. “Tyler, wait.”
He stopped and folded his arms but didn’t turn toward me, which really hurt. But of course the way he was acting was all my fault. Well, Olivia’s, too. But I’d known the whole time that it was a bad plan, and I’d still gone along with it. I hurried around him so we faced each other, but he still wouldn’t look at me.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, my voice cracking.
Finally he looked at me, anger all over his face. “For what? For tricking me or because I found out?”
“I never meant to trick you,” I said.
His eyebrows went up on his forehead as he snorted. “Really? You hid under the bleachers to feed Olivia lines . . . you wrote a cheat sheet about me—don’t deny it, I know your handwriting—and you weren’t trying to trick me?”
“Well . . . uh . . .”
He glared at me, making me fidget and shift my weight from foot to foot.
“How many times, Kat?”
“How many times what?”
“How many times did you and her fool me, make me think she liked all the same things I do? Into thinking she was interested in me?”
“She is interested in you,” I said, almost choking on the words. “That part is real!”
“I thought we were friends, Kat,” he said. “Best friends. We’ve known each other forever, and I thought . . .” He rubbed his forehead and then looked back up at me. “Why? Why would you do this?”
“Because . . .” I knew you wouldn’t like me. “Because you and Olivia belong together,” I blurted out. “You just didn’t see it.”
He shook his head. “What makes you think that? We have nothing in common. Like, absolutely nothing—I knew that, but then . . . Why did you trick me into thinking we did?”
“She’s beautiful and on the dance team and is fun and popular, and I thought . . .” My voice fizzled out because my throat was so dry and I was suddenly just tired of faking it. All I wanted was for all this to be over and to have my friend back, but now I’d gone and messed everything up. Probably even forever.
“You think I care about those things? You think I would like someone just because they’re pretty and popular?” The anger in his eyes turned to hurt. That was worse than anything. I wished the ground would open up and swallow me whole so I wouldn’t have to see how bad I’d made him feel. But the earth below me was solid, and Tyler wasn’t done with me yet.
“Is that what you think of me, Kat? Because that is worse than the lies!”
I could barely breathe. My tongue was frozen in my mouth, but even if I had been able to speak, I wouldn’t have known what to say. I was the worst friend ever. All I could do was stand there and try my hardest not to cry, but there was no stopping the tears that were filling my eyes. I couldn’t even bring myself to stop him when he started to walk away from me.
But after just two steps he stopped and turned back toward me, holding up the cheat sheet that was still in his hand. “By the way, you got one thing wrong.”
I swallowed and managed to croak out one word: “What?”
“My favorite thing isn’t playing Zombie Slashers,” he said. “My favorite thing was playing Zombie Slashers with my best friend. You, Kat.”
The tears rushed out then, and I tried to swipe them away.
“It was you playing that day on Xbox, wasn’t it?”
I nodded.
Looking away from me, he let out one of those dry laughs that have nothing to do with anything funny and shook his head. “I should have known she would never be that good.”
Without another word he turned again and walked off, leaving me standing on the school steps.
I knew I should go inside to talk to Olivia, but my brain was tired and sad, and I just wanted to go home, crawl into bed, and sleep for a week. Then I’d deal with the mess I’d made.
So I decided to just walk the few blocks home and get there just before Mom was set to leave. There was only one problem with that: Tyler lived right next door to me. Which meant I was going to have to go right past his house, unless I took the long way and came to my house from the other direction. That wasn’t a bad idea, since Tyler was walking home too; the last thing I wanted to do was run into him now that he hated my guts.
I gave the school doors one last glance, a little hurt that Olivia hadn’t come to make sure I was okay. But maybe she was hiding in the bathroom or something. If that was the case, I was being just as bad a friend by not seeking her out, but I still couldn’t bring myself to go back inside.
With a heavy sigh I started down the stairs and headed home.
When I finally got there, both cars were in the driveway and the lights were on in the living room. I couldn’t face my family and pretend I wasn’t devastated. Not yet. I walked around the back of the house and up to the tree between my house and Tyler’s. For a second I considered climbing it right up to Tyler’s bedroom window, but I wasn’t going to do that now, not after what had happened, and especially not in a dress. I hadn’t done it in a while—not since our last scavenger hunt.
I looked up at the window and watched as the light went on in his room, making me back up against the tree, but I knew he wouldn’t look out the window anyway. I tucked the dress under me and sat down on one of the gnarly roots, folding my arms up against the chill, which still kind of felt good in a weird way.
“I have to fix this,” I said aloud to myself. I tried to think up a plan, but then I realized that plans were what had gotten me into this mess.
It was time to tell everyone the truth. No matter how hard that might be.
Coming clean to Olivia felt like it would be slightly less hard than doing the same with Tyler, so I’d start with her first.
Chapter 19
AFTER A WHILE I GOT so cold sitting out on the tree that I started to shiver and realized there was no putting it off any longer; I had to go inside my house.