“Lucy?” Allison asked, keeping her eyes on the road.
“Yep.” Lucy’s hand appeared between Allison and me, holding a fifty dollar bill.
Within a few minutes, we were driving past the Shelby cemetery. Cemeteries give me the creeps, especially the one in Shelby. Lucy and I visited it after Lucy’s grandma passed away. We had walked among the rows of graves, all the way to the back where the oldest tombstones loomed, some of them dating back to the early 1800’s. I could feel the age of the place, like the spirits of the long-dead corpses were surrounding me, trying to push me out. I know logically that ghosts don’t exist, but the sudden feeling of panic that scraped across my skin while I was among the dead begged to differ.
Once the cemetery was out of sight, I let out a breath I hadn’t known I’d been holding. I turned my attention back to the narrow road ahead of us. We soon approached what Shelby calls a “mall”. It was more of a hallway according to Allison.
We parked in the partially full lot and stepped out of the car to be met by a cool breeze. I wouldn't have minded hanging around outside for a bit, but I grudgingly followed Allison straight inside the mall to its fluorescent-lit corridor.
The mall was the stuff of nightmares. Salespeople called to us from little kiosks in the middle of the hallway, asking us what cell phone service we had or if we had ever heard of the Dead Sea. Groups of people from our high school were clustered together, laughing and ignoring the fact that they were totally clogging the sporadic flow of foot-traffic. Lucy and I followed Allison as she veered into one of the chaotic, brightly colored stores.
Allison got right to work, like a tiger on the prowl. Soon Lucy and I had piles of clothes draped over our arms. We trudged back to the fitting rooms before Allison could weigh us down with yet more clothing. The fitting room attendant was a petite woman, probably only about 5’1”, with bright red, curly hair. She showed me to my own little stall and hung all of my clothes on the little hooks inside.
Once I was away from Allison’s prying eyes, I picked through her selections for anything that I would actually wear. A miniskirt and a pale pink tank top went immediately into my discard pile. Next was a dark red, long-sleeved shirt made out of an almost sheer cotton. Surprised that Allison had actually chosen something I might wear, I tried it on.
The shirt made me look even more pale than usual, but my green eyes were in sharp contrast, which I kind of liked. When I wore it to school, Allison would probably tell me that it was a bad color for me, then I could tell her that she had picked it out . . . totally worth it.
Along with the red shirt, I bought a new pair of jeans and a fitted, shiny dark brown leather jacket. The jacket was way more class than I was used to, but I figured my regular garb would help to dress it down. Lucy bought a red dress that I would never have guessed she would go for. Allison practically beamed.
We went to several more stores where Allison loaded Lucy and me up with more clothes, without losing an ounce of the same conviction she’d had in the first store. I was coerced into a few more clothing items, but ignored Allison’s attempt to replace my beloved sneakers.
When the clothes shopping was finally finished, Allison insisted that we visit the makeup counter at one of the two larger department stores in the mall. Allison was drawn to the perfume counter like a moth to a flame, so I followed Lucy to browse all of the little sticks and squares of makeup.
Lucy held up two different tubes of lip-gloss in front of my face. “Which one do you think?”
Was she serious? I had never seen Lucy buy makeup before. She never expressed any sort of interest in it. “Um . . . ” I replied, then quickly pointed to one of the tubes with my finger. “That one.”
“You just randomly chose one, didn’t you?”
I bit my lip. “Umm . . . yes.”
Lucy smiled and shook her head at me, then called out, “Allison!”
Allison came trotting over with a little hot pink plastic bag that I assumed contained her new perfume. Upon observing Lucy’s gloss dilemma, Allison turned Lucy back in the direction of the counter and started holding different glosses up against her face. Allison handed a peachy-pink tube back to me without a word. I apparently was to buy it. It was only six dollars so I decided not to argue. I could always just give it to my mom.
By the time Allison had finished with her, Lucy had two hands full of makeup. She shuffled to the counter to buy it all. I was beginning to have a sneaking suspicion that Lucy’s new penchant for makeup had something to do with Dan. It worried me. I did not trust Dan to be with my best friend. I didn’t trust Dan period.
After Lucy purchased her makeup, Allison finally announced that we were done. We left the hallway of horrors behind us and piled back into Allison’s car to drive back to my house. Fifteen minutes later we came crashing through my front door, hands full of bags. Lucy and Allison headed straight up to my room so that Al could give Lucy a makeup tutorial. I paused to toss my new tube of lip-gloss to my mom, who was sitting on one of the couches in our living room watching TV.
“Thanks hon,” she called as I started up the stairs.
When I got to my room, Allison had already spread all of Lucy’s makeup out on the floor. There was a pile of plastic wrappers, which had once encased the little containers, lying discarded to the side. Lucy and Allison were sitting on the floor facing each other, so I sat down near them, forming an uneven triangle.
“What’s this?” I asked holding up a fat pencil with a light gold, shimmery tip.
“Highlighter,” Allison answered, keeping her attention on her job of applying eye shadow to Lucy’s eyelids.
“For what?”
Allison grabbed the pencil from my hand and crooked her finger at me. “Come here and I’ll show you.”
I raised my hands in surrender and scooted a little further away. I watched as Allison continued to work on Lucy’s eyes. I found out what the highlighter stick was for . . . kind of. It didn’t seem to make much difference, at least to my untrained eye. Once Allison was finally finished, Lucy turned to face me.
“What do you think?” she asked me.
Allison had done a good job. You could tell that Lucy was wearing makeup, but it was understated enough that it wasn't the first thing you noticed about her face. “It’s . . . different,” I answered hesitantly.
“It’s perfect,” Allison corrected. She held up a mirror in front of Lucy’s face.
Lucy’s eyes widened. “Wow, Al, I have to hand it to you, you know what you’re doing.”
Allison turned a wicked grin to me. “Your turn.”
I held my hand up to my ear, as if hearing something far away. “Oh, what’s that? I think I hear my mom calling me. Just a sec mom!” I stood and ran for the door before Allison could grab me.
Allison and Lucy left later that afternoon to eat dinner with their families, and I sat in my room to sulk. Spending time with my friends had temporarily distracted me from the fact that we would see Dan tomorrow, but now it was all I could think about it.
I sat with the portable phone beside me on the bed, debating on whether or not I should try to wiggle my way out of our plans. I hated admitting it, but I was afraid of Dan.
I sighed, then reached out a hand to push the phone away from me. I couldn’t cancel. Lucy and Allison seemed to trust Dan. If something happened and I wasn’t there . . . well, I’d never be able to forgive myself, and that’s just for starters. I was going. Everything would be all right . . . Yeah, and pigs can fly.
Chapter Five
By Saturday morning the feeling of dread was a hard knot in my stomach. I was sick with nerves that I didn’t really know how to explain. That’s a lie. About the lack of explanation I mean. I hadn't understood the bad feeling when I first met Dan, but I could explain it now. He was . . . different. Off. Not that different or off were necessarily bad things, but in Dan's case they definitely were.
I ran a brush through my hair and dressed mechanically in a black tank top, more h
oley jeans, and my ever-present sneakers. Allison would loooove it. I grabbed my new shiny brown leather jacket, just in case. The nights were starting to grow colder, warning us of winter, even though September had barely begun.
As I was heading downstairs, I heard a knock at the front door. I grabbed my satchel with my wallet and house keys as I trotted across the living room to answer it. Lucy was waiting in her new red dress and a pair of cute, funky brown boots that gave her a little more height. I hadn’t seen her buy the boots on Friday, but I had avoided the shoe section like the plague, so that wasn’t saying much. The outfit was a little dressy, well, okay, a lot dressy for Lucy’s normal taste.
As soon as I beheld her garb I exclaimed, “I knew it! You bought all that stuff to impress Dan!”
She was even wearing her new makeup. Her almond shaped eyes were delicately lined in black, and her lips were freshly glossed. And was that perfume I smelled? Color me horrified.
I gave her a disapproving look.
Lucy’s olive skin darkened with a blush. She turned and walked back toward the car where Allison waited, not saying a word.
Lucy wasn’t getting off that easy. I shut and locked the door behind me, then quickly caught up to her side. “How can you like him? All he does is stare! And what about the weirdness at lunch the other day? I know you haven’t forgotten about that. He’s totally whacked,” I hounded her.
“He’s cute,” she replied, “and he only stares at you, and that’s probably because you treat him like he’s some sort of freak. He’s pretty normal once you actually talk to him, and the lunch thing was just a joke.” Lucy glanced through the car window at Allison, patiently waiting in the driver’s seat, then gave me a look that clearly stated don’t tell Allison. She slipped into the backseat before I could say anything else.
Frowning, I opened the car door and took my usual place in the front. Allison took my grumpy look in stride and started the car. She was dressed up as well, but that wasn’t out of the ordinary. She wore dark-wash jeans, a dark purple cami, and one of those fitted vest thingies that were apparently in style in a dark gray. Her suede booted foot pressed on the gas, and we were on our way. The theater wasn’t far from my house, well, nothing in Shelby is really far, but my anxiety at the whole Dan situation made the ten minute drive seem like hours.
Dan was already waiting when we pulled up into the parking lot of the old, dreary theater. The theater was originally built with only three screens, but had been expanded to fit seven. Dan stood with his arms crossed, dressed in casual gray slacks and a black v-neck t-shirt, topped with his brown leather jacket. His near-black hair was styled to perfection, as always. He looked expensive, and dangerous, or maybe I was just projecting. He watched us approach with his pale blue eyes, seemingly at ease. I was feeling anything but at ease.
We reached where he was standing and stopped a short distance in front of him. We then proceeded to stand there in awkward silence. I looked to Lucy and Allison, but Lucy stayed looking down and shuffling her feet, while Allison smiled goofily at Dan. I was surprised to see that Dan looked slightly nervous himself. He usually seemed so macho and self-possessed. An abashed grin began to creep across his face. Could he get any more confusing?
I sighed and gestured my arms toward the theater. “Shall we?”
Everyone nodded and we were finally able to vacate the parking lot. We continued across the sidewalk, past outdoor posters of movies I would have loved to see, but knew we wouldn’t end up with. Allison and Lucy’s boots clicked on the pavement while I followed behind them in my quiet sneakers. Dan held the door for us as we went inside, then stood too close to me as we purchased tickets to a generic chick flick that was detailed on the least appealing poster.
Our movie was in theater seven, all the way at the end of the hall. The walk to the proper screening room seemed to take ages, as did the process of choosing seats. Lucy, Allison, and I would usually sit in the row directly behind the hand railing that cut the theater in half. That way we could put our feet up on the bar, and not worry about any tall people sitting in front of us to block the view.
I almost thought we'd end up with different seats as Lucy and Allison just stood in the isle, waiting for Dan to move, but when he didn't choose either, I sat where I wanted and waited for everyone else to follow.
Lucy sat next to me, then came Dan, then Allison. Lucy smiled a contented smile, while Allison looked less than happy. It seemed like Al had finally realized Lucy’s intent in wearing her new outfit, and was none too happy for the competition. I was pretty sure that Lucy had won the competition before it even started, but for Allison, it ain’t over ‘till it’s over.
We were early. The previews hadn’t even started yet, and the silence was thick. Sighing, I nudged Lucy with my elbow. “I’m going to get some popcorn.”
She nodded, not offering to go with me, so I climbed over the rail to go to the concession stand by myself.
“I’ll join you,” Dan announced, then hopped over the rail before I could protest.
Shaking my head, I walked out of the theater and toward the concession stand with Dan trailing slightly behind me. I was trying my hardest to ignore his presence, when he grabbed my arm from behind and spun me to face him. My heart skipped a beat. I looked at him, startled.
“What are you playing at?” he hissed.
“What are you talking about? Let me go!” I replied angrily, trying to pry my arm loose from his iron grip.
His blue eyes were very close, looking feral. His fingers squeezed my arm, hard enough to bruise. His hand was large enough to enclose my bicep entirely.
“Don’t be stupid. I can smell you, just tell me,” he snapped.
Smell me?
Taking in my puzzled expression, he hesitated, cocking his head to the side like he usually did when observing me. He gave me a crooked smile. “You don’t know, do you?”
I kept the same stupid expression on my face, jaw slightly agape.
He laughed to himself and shook his head. “Um . . . nevermind, forget I said anything.” He continued chuckling.
I opened my mouth to argue, but he simply turned around and walked back toward our section of the theater, moving with a carefree skip to his step.
I stood, stunned, rubbing my arm where he had grabbed me. I stayed like that for several minutes, not sure what my reaction should be. I finally walked back into the movie without popcorn. I had lost my appetite. I climbed back over the bar and sat down, ignoring a puzzled look from Lucy. At least the previews had finally started.
I rubbed my arm again where Dan had grabbed me. Yep, there was definitely going to be a bruise. I gave Dan a dirty look that he didn’t notice, then settled in to watch the movie. Once the movie started I tried to get into it, but ended up letting my mind wander. The feeling of dread was back in my stomach and my thoughts were dark. I was no longer simply creeped out, I was scared. I replayed my unnerving experience with Dan in my head, trying to puzzle out exactly what had happened.
By the time the movie ended I was no closer to coming up with an explanation. The credits began to roll and we all stood to leave the theater. After waiting behind the few shuffling people who had managed to reach the aisle before us, we finally made our way through and walked outside. The chilly breeze made me glad that I had brought my jacket. I slipped it on while only half listening as Lucy and Allison talked about the movie on the way back to Allison’s car. I caught Lucy claiming that the movie was decent, once you got past the done-and-done-again plot . . . I hadn’t noticed.
I walked a little ahead of our group, huddled in my jacket. I stopped and waited at Allison’s car for everyone to catch up. I avoided Dan’s gaze as they reached me and looked to Lucy instead. She had Dan’s jacket draped over her shoulders.
Allison looked toward Dan and Lucy, then glanced at me. “Irvine’s?” she asked the group.
Dan looked confused.
“It’s a pizza parlor,” Allison explained.
Dan no
dded. “Yeah, we’ll meet you there.”
We? Dan gave a slight wave and walked away with Lucy tagging a short distance behind him.
“Where are you going?” I called after her.
“I’m riding with Dan. I’ll see you guys there,” Lucy replied nonchalantly as she looked over her shoulder at me. She paused at the worried look on my face, but quickly recovered and hurried after Dan.
I slid into the passenger seat of Allison’s car with her already talking about Dan. “ . . . . I can’t believe Lucy snagged him. She has the best luck with guys . . . ”
Allison prattled on about Dan as she started the car and pulled out of the parking lot, but I couldn't hear her as I became lost in my own thoughts. What was Dan’s deal? What was I playing at? Why would he ask that? I shouldn’t have let Lucy go with him. My original perception of him seemed to be holding true . . . he was a creep.
After we had been driving for a few minutes, Allison realized that I wasn’t listening to her. She glanced at me with an annoyed expression. “Hello? Xoe? Are you listening?”
Snapping out of my thoughts, I answered, “Sorry Al, I just have a lot on my mind right now.” I gave her my full attention.
“Like what?” she prompted, looking concerned as she watched the road in front of us.
“Um, Dan said something weird to me,” I replied after a moment of hesitation.
Allison waited a few seconds, and then seeing that I wasn’t going to elaborate questioned, “Well? What did he say?”
As a scowl formed on my face, I began to rant, “First, he stares at me all week in English, but never says a word. He talks to you guys like you’re perfectly normal. Then he manhandles me in the theater, demanding to know what I'm up to!What is that supposed to mean!”
Perplexed, Allison asked, “What you're up to? I should think it quite obvious . . . you’re up to being crazy. And what do you mean, manhandled?”
“He grabbed my arm and got in my face!”
The Xoe Meyers Trilogy (Xoe Meyers Young Adult Fantasy/Horror Series) Page 4