“Let’s see, he licked my neck—and not in a sexy way, in a Great Dane kind of way. Sloppy,” I said, securing part of the garland and shimmying across the step stool to drape the rest of it. I reached out for more tape.
“That’s it? One flaw was enough to make you blow us off for the rest of the weekend?” she asked. She pulled the tape away as I reached for it, forcing me to turn to her.
“What?” I asked, grabbing it.
“There’s more to this, Wren. I know it. Caleb was hot, funny, and here for two nights. In a word, perfect.”
“Then why didn’t you offer Jazz that perfection?” I asked, taping the last bit of garland to the crease where the wall met the ceiling.
“I did. She wanted to rest up for her long run on Sunday, so she said. I think she’s just afraid that no one will live up to her movie-romance ideals,” she said, giving me a hand down. “Besides, Caleb was really into you.”
“What do you think?” I asked, stepping back to admire my work.
“I think you’re above decorating the hallway,” Maddie said. “Wren, why did you join this lame club? You know it’s like—”
“NHS lite, I know. It’s not all about decorating the hallway. They do some cool community-service projects too. I just want to do something, Mads, not sit back and wait until I’m worthy enough for the NHS.”
“What about yearbook? You’ll be up for editor next year.”
I loved yearbook. Of course, it helped that both Jazz and Mads were on the committee. The solitude of working on copy or figuring out the puzzle of an interesting layout was perfect for me, but I wanted to do something different too.
“Yearbook’s great, but it’s not exactly social, is it? I need to get myself out there. Prove being quiet doesn’t mean I don’t want to be a part of anything. So Spirit Club it is. I think that garland looks exceptional, don’t you?”
“It’s crooked,” said a voice from behind us.
We parted to see Ava Taylor, vice president of the Spirit Club and all-around annoying suck-up. For some reason Ava liked to pretend that she wasn’t once the third corner of the Maddie/Wren/Ava triangle of St. Vincent de Paul grammar school. During the summer between eighth grade and freshman year, she got her first kiss from a high school guy and dumped us as if we were some Barbie-playing ten-year-olds. At freshman orientation she already had a circle of friends and made it clear we weren’t welcome by completely ignoring us. Soon after we stopped analyzing why and went on with our own social lives. We met Jazz, and she more than filled the void Ava had left.
But, still.
Our disbanded friendship was the big pink elephant in a tutu pirouetting in the hallway. Part of me believed that if I stared into Ava’s eyes long enough, the girl who could write in cursive backward and touch the tip of her nose with her tongue would still be in there. The same girl who insisted we build a tent of blankets in her room to sleep under, but who later laid out such a whomping fart, we had to vacate and sleep in her den.
These days it looked like Ava farted pixie dust, if she farted at all. Her cool, green eyes surveyed my work. The corner of her mouth downturned slightly. She got up on the stepladder and moved the end of the garland two inches to the left.
“Perfect,” she said, stepping down.
“Big difference,” Maddie said under her breath.
Ava folded up the stepladder, put it against the wall, and clapped her hands together as if she were trying to get dust off of them.
“That’s all for today. Be here fifteen minutes before the first bell tomorrow. That should be enough time to finish up.”
“Why can’t we finish up now?” I asked.
“I have dance-team practice. Competition season is coming up. Don’t worry about being late to your first class. Spirit Club is always excused.”
“Great,” I answered, not thrilled with the prospect of having to wake up earlier all for the sake of hanging decorations.
“You know, I’ve been dying to talk to you, Wren,” Ava said, coiling her arm around mine. My body stiffened. Maddie’s eyes nearly popped out of her skull. My expression had to be the same.
“About what?”
“Darby Greene told me Grayson Barrett picked you up after school last week? Is that true?” She asked the question slowly as we strolled down the hallway, keeping her eyes forward until the last word.
“Yes.”
She snickered. “Oh my God, I didn’t believe her. How do you know him?”
My skin prickled.
“She saved his life,” Maddie said, stopping in front of us. I’d been about to give a less informative answer.
Ava unhooked her arm from mine and her hand went up to her mouth. She puzzled a moment until her eyes charged with understanding. “Wait, so you’re the cocktail waitress?”
“Cocktail waitress?” I said. How could she possibly know any of this?
“That’s right. You work at your parents’ catering place; Gray was at his cousin’s wedding. Now it makes sense, sort of. Still, why did he pick you up after school?”
“I don’t know why he picked me up. He just did. Why do you care?” I asked, my eyes narrowing.
She stepped back, her full ponytail swaying with the movement. “I don’t. Just wondering how you know him. You don’t exactly hang out with the same people, do you?”
“Where do you get off—” Maddie began, but I put my hand up to stop her and then glared at Ava.
“We work together. At the Camelot. We’re pretty tight,” I said, fabricating.
“Seriously? Grayson works with you?”
I spun away from her, done with the conversation, angry with myself for giving her one shred of information. Why didn’t I just keep quiet? Maddie caught up to me, her mouth a thin line.
“Why did you stop me? I wanted to let her have it,” she said.
“I can fight my own battles,” I snapped, galloping down the stairs ahead of her to the locker dungeon.
“Wren, why are you mad at me?” she asked, calling after me.
I growled and ignored her question, stomping off to my locker. I took out my frustrations by shoving books into my messenger bag. I wasn’t even sure what I needed. I flung my scarf around my neck, grabbed my coat, and slammed my locker shut, turning the lock dial in a violent twist. Maddie was waiting at the top of the stairs in the vestibule.
“Sorry for losing my shit,” I said.
“I know, but hey, that’s what friends are for,” she answered, leaning against the wall.
“How did Ava even know what happened?”
“She must know him. It’s sort of big news, Wren. He wouldn’t be breathing if it weren’t for you.”
I pushed open the door and squinted in the sunlight.
“But did you hear her? That tone in her voice? Is it so unbelievable that Grayson would pick me up after school?” I asked.
Maddie stopped midstep. “Omigod, you like him! I’m so stupid.”
“No, it’s not like that.”
Maddie studied my face. “Oh, yeah it is soooooooo like that. It’s the way you say his name. That’s why you weren’t into Caleb. That’s why Queen Bitch got to you. I thought you said you thought he was a bit of a jerk after he gave you a ride home. Why didn’t you just say you changed your mind?”
“I don’t know what I’m feeling, okay?” I answered. This budding friendship with Grayson, his explosive entrance into my life—it was mine and mine alone. Something apart from school, my family, Jazz and Maddie, the Trevor hump-and-dump. I didn’t feel like analyzing it; I was enjoying just letting it happen.
Maddie swayed into me as we continued to walk the tree-lined driveway toward the street.
“Hey, he has a shitty ride, but otherwise you have my blessing, Wren.”