“No, thank you.” I make straight for Sofia’s jacket, which is bundled up on the ground nearby. I pick it up and walk away.
Halfway back, I pause and look around. No one can see me, so I lift the jacket to my face. I breathe in Sofia’s familiar scent. She feels close and yet so very far away. If I want to be honest with her, I have to be honest about everything. Then I have to tell her about the past.
Can I do that?
I want to try at least. I don’t want to push her away from me. I want to bring her closer. I want her to look at me the way she did just now. Every single day.
As I lower the jacket, I spot something sticking out of her inside pocket.
Curiously, I pull it out and see that it’s a postcard. The picture on the front almost takes my breath away.
Stunned, I stare at the big blue lake with the trees around it, the lake that made such an impression on me I could draw it with my eyes closed. I wished the summer vacation we spent there could have gone on forever. We swam, built forts, and ate as much ice cream as we could shovel down. We were happy, for the first time and the last.
How did Sofia get this postcard? Did someone she know go there on vacation?
But then I see something lying on the ground. It must have fallen from Sofia’s pocket when I pulled out the card.
I bend to pick it up, but I freeze halfway.
It’s a photograph—with two faces staring up at me.
Even in the flicker of the flashlight, I recognize them immediately, but I can’t see how they fit.
Not here, not on Fright Night.
And definitely not inside Sofia’s pocket.
SOFIA
Why’s Dylan taking so long? Just as I’m about to go look for him, I see a flickering beam of light. Dylan’s coming back with my denim jacket. Just as I’m about to take it from him, I see what he has in his other hand.
The photograph of him and his mom.
“Where did you get this?” Dylan’s voice sounds different. Deep, distant, miles away. For a moment, I forget to answer.
“What is it?” Quin looks at his friend. “What did you find?”
“I asked you a question.” Dylan’s staring at me. “Where did you get this?”
Why’s he so mad about it? I feel myself automatically taking a step back.
Dylan’s eyes narrow. “And did you go into my room?”
He knows…My cheeks flush.
“What the hell are you doing?!” yells Dylan. He’s firing all these questions at me, but barely giving me time to answer.
Quin’s eyebrows rise. “No, what are you doing? Calm down, man.”
“I am calm.” Dylan’s voice trembles. “I want to know why Sofia’s doing…research into me.”
Research? This is going all wrong.
“It’s for your birthday,” I say quickly.
But Dylan’s not listening. The words are pouring from his mouth like lava.
“You’re researching me! That’s why you were asking all those questions about the past. That’s why you wanted to know all about my dad. That’s why you want to come see Mom tomorrow. And I thought it was because…because…”
What’s he talking about? I’m desperately searching for the right words, but Quin beats me to it.
“Why would Sofia be doing research into you?”
Dylan holds up the photograph. “So she’s just carrying this around for no reason?”
Quin tilts his head to look at the picture. “Hey, that’s—”
“I know who it is!” Dylan points at me. “I just want to know why she is walking around with it!”
“She just told you, didn’t she? It’s for your birthday.”
“Keep out of it, Quin!” I’ve never heard Dylan yell, certainly not at his best friend. And judging by the shocked look on Quin’s face, it’s the first time for him too.
“What?”
“This isn’t about you. This is about her!”
It feels like I’m slowly disappearing into a whirlpool. I’m spinning around and around, and I can’t get out. What is happening here?
Quin grabs Dylan by the arms. “Calm down, idiot.”
DYLAN
“Let go of me!”
Quin’s hands are like two vises around my arms. The people in the hospital sometimes held me like that when I needed another injection. Mom often helped them too. Her hands always left the most bruises.
I jerk away and my arms shoot free. My right hand smashes into the side of Quin’s head.
Quin clutches his face and gapes at me. The silence that follows is deafening.
His eyes start to gleam and before I know what’s happening, he takes a swing at me. As his fist hits my face, I hear something crack.
* * *
—
My head is thumping as if little men are kicking my skull from the inside. It won’t take Mom long to notice my headache. And then she’ll use it against me.
After school, I don’t cycle home but go downtown to an optician’s office.
“Do you sell these frames?” I put Mom’s old glasses on the counter.
The assistant looks at the brand and shakes her head. I’m about to leave when she says, “But we do stock something similar.”
I breathe a sigh of relief. It’s going to be okay.
The woman picks up a pair of glasses that are just like Mom’s.
“How much are they?”
“The frame’s seventy, but if you add in the lenses—”
“I don’t need prescription lenses,” I say quickly. “The lenses that are in them will do fine.”
The woman frowns. “But they’re just plastic and—”
“That’s okay.”
I reach into the pocket of my jeans. It took all my savings, including the birthday money the neighbor had given me, but it’s worth it.
“Here you go.” I put my money on the counter and pick up the new pair of glasses. When I put them on, the world looks normal again.
I leave Mom’s old glasses behind on the counter.
* * *
—
Something’s really wrong. I can feel it. When I take off my glasses, I groan.
The frame’s completely bent, and one of the arms is sticking out at a weird angle.
It slowly dawns on me. Quin bust my glasses. The glasses I bought to fool Mom.
I fought back. For once in my life, I fought back. And I wear the proof on my face every day, but now that proof is broken.
“Sorry.” Quin’s words come from a long way off. “I didn’t mean to…”
Tears blur my vision as I look up. Quin would never understand. If anything of his breaks, his mom and dad just buy him a new one. That’s just what his parents do.
Blood rushes through my body and I dive forward. I catch Quin off guard, and we fall onto the ground. I feel a foot in my ribs and kick him wherever I can with my good leg.
“Hey!” shouts a loud voice. “Stop that! Now!”
Someone pulls me away. The fist that was meant for Quin hits thin air. I struggle and shout, but it doesn’t help. Someone throws me up against a tree.
“You done?”
Now I see that it’s Marouska. Martin’s holding Quin by his T-shirt, and there’s blood pouring from his nose.
“What’s going on here?”
“Sorry,” I hear Martin saying as he lets go of Quin. “They—”
“Were fighting,” says Marouska, finishing his sentence for him. “I saw. And we don’t tolerate any violence at Fright Night.”
Martin nods. “I completely understand. But it’s over now. Right, guys?”
It isn’t over at all. This feels like it’s just the beginning. How did Sophia get hold of that photo? There’s only one and it’s on our old windowsill, half hid
den behind the curtain. She must have been inside the house, but how? And more important: why?
“I’m going to have to disqualify you.” Marouska takes out her walkie-talkie again.
Martin shoots forward. “No, please don’t. They’re best friends. It was just a misunderstanding.”
I look again at Quin’s nose. The bleeding’s getting worse.
“Hey, and Dylan did eat that cockroach, after all.” Martin puts his hands together. “Please…”
Marouska looks at me, and her expression softens. “That’s true. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“Exactly.” Martin seizes his chance. “It won’t happen again. No more fighting. Promise.”
Marouska narrows her eyes, as if trying to read me. There’s a few seconds of silence. And then she says, “Go on, then. One last chance.”
“Thanks. Thanks so much.” Martin drags us along the path. As soon as we reach the next arrow, he explodes at us.
“What was all that about? You were like a couple of wild animals, the way you were rolling around! Quin, you’re going to need to pinch your nose. Or you’ll bleed out.”
Quin leans against a tree and does as Martin says. It doesn’t help much. The blood keeps coming.
Was it really me who did that to him? I look away, but then my eyes meet Sofia’s. She’s looking at me like I’m what Martin just described me as: a wild animal. And maybe it’s true. My whole body’s tingling. I’m like a volcano that’s about to erupt. I am lethal. I was right—this is just the beginning. When I explode, I’d better be as far as possible from Quin and Sofia, before I do damage that can’t be repaired. I fold up the glasses with the bent arm and put them in my pocket.
“I’m leaving.”
They all stare at me.
Martin shakes his head. “What? Where are you going?”
I shrug. “Away from here.”
SOFIA
No one does anything. We just watch, stunned, as Dylan leaves.
Where is he going? Why did he explode like that?
I don’t get it. This isn’t the Dylan I know. The Dylan I know is patient and kind. He lets everyone push in front of him in line in the school cafeteria, he gives extra lunch money to freshmen, and he lends me and Quin his notes. So how can he suddenly change like that? When he hit Quin, it was like a scene in a movie.
I watch Dylan disappear into the darkness. He’s dragging his right leg more than usual. Quin must have kicked it. How far does he think he’s going to get without a flashlight? It’s pitch dark, especially off the main path.
I have to go after him. I have to bring him back.
“No. You’re staying here.” Nell sees what I’m thinking. “I don’t think it makes sense for the two of you to be around each other right now.”
Nell’s right—of course she is—but what I am supposed to do? This is all my fault. Dylan feels betrayed and I get that, but I never meant to hurt him. I just wanted to make a nice gift for him. I want to help him. I should be able to explain that to him, shouldn’t I?
“I’ll go,” says Quin. His face is a battlefield, and his T-shirt is covered in splashes of red.
“Is that such a great idea?” says Martin, looking at Quin’s nose. “He might attack you again.”
“It’s Dylan,” says Quin. “He won’t do that.”
“He didn’t seem to have a problem with it just now.”
“Something must be wrong. He doesn’t usually act that strange.”
Quin’s right. That’s definitely not the Dylan we know. Is it because he saw the photo? But why would that make him flip out? Or is it because I went into his room without asking? Was he scared I might find something there?
“Are you okay?”
A feeling of uneasiness comes over me when Quin looks at me with that worried expression. I don’t deserve it. Okay, Dylan’s reaction was over the top, but I was the one who tore our group apart.
I nod. “Be quick. And please bring him back.”
KELLY
I can hear furious yelling and shouting somewhere nearby.
“What’s that?” I feel my eyes widening. “Nell…”
“No, wait!” Sandy stops me. “You look like hell, you idiot. If you go over there now, she’ll run away screaming.”
I know he’s right, but I have to make sure she’s okay. As I shoot through the trees, the shouting dies down. I wait another couple of minutes and then creep the last few yards toward them.
“Are you okay?” I hear a boy ask.
“Be quick,” a girl says. “And please bring him back.”
I breathe a sigh of relief when I see Nell isn’t there.
Someone walks away, and I quickly hide behind a big tree. Sandy squeezes himself in behind me, and I feel his breath on the back of my neck.
“Just give me a moment,” says the same girl.
“Are you sure?” This time it’s Nell. I’d recognize her voice anywhere.
“Certain.”
“We’re here if you need us.” There’s the sound of footsteps again. They stop a few yards in front of our tree.
“This isn’t fun anymore, Martin,” Nell says quietly. Before Sandy can stop me, I peer around the tree trunk. Nell’s standing less than fifteen feet away, and she looks frightened. But she’s still beautiful, maybe even more beautiful than ever. Fear suits her.
“It’s all going to be okay,” says the boy, who’s tall and apparently called Martin. I’ve never seen him before. How do the two of them know each other?
“I think we should stop.” Nell looks at him. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Stop? But we’ve already come so far!” Martin puts his arm around her. All I want to do is jump out from behind the tree and knock him away from her, but instead I have to watch as Martin pulls Nell closer.
“Are you still mad?” I hear him asking. “You know I only get upset because I’m worried about you.”
“There’s no need. I can take care of myself just fine.”
“I know that.” Martin has a look in his eyes that I can’t quite place at first, but I’m shocked when I recognize it. That must be how I look at Nell too.
“Hey, don’t get any ideas in your head.” Nell smiles. “I see that look on your face.”
I feel Sandy’s hand around my wrist. He knows I might do something dumb at any moment.
“I’m not getting any ideas,” Martin says, smiling back. “But I do want you to be careful. Those guys are there for a reason.”
“I know,” says Nell. “And you’re right.”
Their words slowly get through to me. This is about our housing complex, about Sandy, about me.
“Can I tell you something?”
Martin nods. “Of course.”
“Promise you won’t just explode?”
“I’ll do my best.”
Nell takes a deep breath. “I was talking to a boy this week. He hasn’t lived with his parents for a while now, and I think he’s had a really hard time.”
This is about me. I want to put my fingers in my ears, but at the same time I want to hear everything.
“We talk a lot. I like him.”
I feel a smile on my lips.
“You like him?” I can hear the jealousy in Martin’s voice.
“Yes, he’s always so friendly. Actually, he’s the one who suggested we should both quit smoking.”
That was Nell’s idea, but I don’t care. I feel like I’m floating.
“He sometimes confides in me, about things that happened in the past. His parents died in a car accident, and he was bullied a lot when he was first placed in care.”
“This is about that Kelly, isn’t it?”
“Exactly.”
My heart thumps hopefully against the tree trunk. So they’ve
talked about me before. What does that mean? I’m on Nell’s mind—that much is clear. Maybe that’s why Martin’s so jealous.
“But what did you want to tell me?”
Nell hesitates for a moment. “Well, at the beginning of this week, something strange happened. When I was talking to him, I got this weird feeling.”
Did she feel the same as me? I was right. Nell likes me as much as I like her. That dumb Martin—he thinks he’s in with a chance. He’s too late. She’s already mine.
“Weird? How do you mean?”
“Well, he was telling me about how he ended up in care. Said he’d done something terrible. That he destroyed someone’s life because he thought he had every right to.” Nell pauses. “It wasn’t even what he said. It was the way he said it. The look in his eyes was so dark. I was scared of him.”
I feel Sandy’s hand tighten around my wrist.
“I understand. What happened then?”
“I wanted to run away, but I didn’t dare.”
Inside my body, something breaks. I feel shards swirling through me, all the way down to my feet.
“So what did you do?”
“I just said we all sometimes do stuff we’re not proud of. Luckily that dark look in his eyes disappeared then, and I was able to get away.”
Sandy curses quietly.
“You did the right thing.”
“Do you think so?”
“Of course.”
“You’re so sweet.”
“Oh, I am, am I?”
“Of course you are.” I can hear Nell smiling as she says, “Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“You know what I mean.”
“Does it bother you?”
“Maybe not…”
* * *
■ ■ ■
Branches whip my face. I stumble and fall, hitting my knee on something hard.
“Kelly!” Sandy’s voice sounds a long way off. “Wait.”
I was scared of him.
Everything Nell said to me, everything she did—it was all one big lie. Why didn’t I see that?
Fright Night Page 7