The Book of Masks (Vol. 2)

The Reluctant Friend

Previously: "It's a Gift" 

You beckon Evie over to your seat with a smile and a wave. She gives you a wary look, but approaches.

"How are you doing?" you ask her. "I missed talking to you yesterday!"

"I'm okay." She pauses. "How about you?"

"Exhausted! Between swimming and gymnastics and everything in between! You have fourth lunch, right? Right!" you exclaim when she nods. "I always see you sitting over by the door with, um, a bunch of guys. I guess Paulina has fifth lunch? So it's just you and those guys?"

"Sure."

Your lips twitch. "You like any of them?"

Evie stares, and a slow flush creeps up her cheeks. "We're all friends," she says.

You titter. "That's not what I asked! But come sit with me and my friends at lunch tomorrow. What are you doing after school today?" You glance over at Lindsay Cho, who is staring with an open mouth at you and Evie from the classroom doorway. "I've got gymnastics, but you?"

"Nothing." There's trepidation in Evie's eyes.

"So hang out with me? You've got a car and I'll need a ride home anyway." You unfurl a wide smile at her.

Evie must have caught a glimpse of Lindsay out of the corner of her eye, for she glances over at her friend. "You want Paulina to come along too?" she asks through frozen lips.

"No, just you and me. Maybe we can go find Paulina later. Or some of your other friends. Or we can go find some of mine." You lean forward to touch her arm with forefinger. "We missed you the other night over at Julie's!"

Evie nods, and on stiff legs stalks over to where Lindsay is waiting. You pull out your phone and pretend to smile at the screen, but out of the corner of your eye you watch Evie and Lindsay. They put their heads together and whisper furiously to each other as Lindsay gives you a lot of sidelong looks.

* * * * *

The end of the day can't come soon enough for you, especially after you get to gymnastics. That after-school class is stressful enough as it is. Not only is one of the current cheerleaders—Gloria Rea—in there, but there's another girl, Sydney McGlynn, who is rumored to have been on a cheerleading squad that went to the national finals last year. (But no one knows for certain. Sydney—who certainly looks like a champion cheerleader, what with her toned body and shimmering sheets of golden hair—is a new girl at Westside, and keeps to her new friends up in the senior class.) But Kaylee Mercier and Wendy Adler are in there too, so there's that rivalry to keep things interesting. Even worse, Leslie Osbourne is in there too, contributing a bitchy attitude even though she clearly has no hope of making it onto the cheerleading squad. And today, those three girls are in no mood to be nice to you and Dana after the way you hit them up with contributions to the party you're planning.

"I'm gonna go do a couple of laps in the pool," you huff at Dana after class is done. "God! I need to cool off!"

"You worked really hard," she agrees.

"It's not that! Freaking Leslie. Did you hear what she said to me? While we were in line to the parallel bars?"

"About turning tricks for money?"

"Yes! I wanted to smack her face off!" You toss your hair. "She's overcompensating, you know. On account of her loser brother!" Leslie's older brother, Spencer, is a scruffy pothead up in the senior class.

"I could use a dip too," Dana says.

"No. If you don't mind I just wanna do a couple of laps by myself, cool the freak off, you know. If you're there I'll just get wound up all over again, talking about Leslie and them. Oh!" You give Dana a quick hug when you see the look of disappointment in her big eyes. (Also, she feels so good in your arms, so small and soft. You want to bury your face in her dark hair and snuffle up the scent.) "You and Tenille go hang out," you add as you see another friend approaching. "I'll call you later, we can do something together!"

"Don't you need a ride home?"

"I'll call around till I find one, don't worry about me!" You smile at Dana and give Tenille a quick wave before turning on your heel and prancing off into the natatorium.

There's a solitary figure doing laps when you enter: Andrea Varnsworth. You duck into the changing room before she can come up for air and spot you. Andrea, the team captain, terrifies you and Madison both. She is so beautiful, and so talented a swimmer, and so coolly aloof that you don't feel worthy of breathing the same air as her. Talking to her is even worse than trying to talk to Ethan, because there's never a hint of sympathy or interest in Andrea's eyes.

In the changing room you switch from gymnastics clothes to your swimsuit, but cover it up with baggy shorts and a short-sleeve blouse that you leave unbuttoned. You sit on the bench and text Evie: Hey still up at schol and wnat to hang out. Evie replies not half-a-minute later: Where r u? You: Meet u n parkng lot. You slide on some flip-flops, and pull your bag onto your shoulder.

You almost run into Andrea as she comes into the changing room. "I'm closing up here after I shower," she tells you bluntly.

"That's fine," you gulp. "I changed my mind about doing laps anyway." You duck your head and dodge past her.

You don't glance back, even though you're sure you feel Andrea's eyes boring into the back of your neck. I wonder if that's how Evie feels about me? you wonder as you scurry out of the natatorium. About Madison, I mean, you correct yourself.

* * * * *

Evie is shy, and can't seem to find much to say as she drives you and her back into town. You fill the time with chatter, groaning about your day in gymnastics, until you are parked at the Gemini Drive-Thru, a fifties-themed carhop on the other side of town. "But you're on the soccer team," you conclude as you sip a diet cherry limeade. "I bet you got stories too."

"Sure." Evie shrugs and stares into her lap. Almost mechanically, she takes a sip of her own drink.

You give her a moment to expound before you lean in to share confidences.

"Listen, I was serious when I said I wanted us all to be friends. You and me and Paulina. That's how come I want you to come out to that unbirthday party I was telling you about."

"Me and Paulina?"

"And anyone else. Your friend Lindsay. Those guys you hang out with."

"Really?"

You slide your straw up and down. Those guys are a bunch of nobodies—freaks and geeks—and they'd look out of place.

"Sure. But if you and them're gonna come, you really should contribute to the party fund, and I don't want to ask you to do that. So do it like this. You and your friends just show up there at Monte Viso on Saturday, you know, like just to play minigolf the same time as all of us. That way it looks like it's just, you know, a coincidence or something. And then you won't have to pay but you'll still get to be at the party!" And, you add to yourself, it won't look like I asked you and those guys to come out.

"I don't know if Paulina will want to," she says.

"She's not still mad at me, is she? You're the one who should still be mad at me." You reach over to lightly fondle a long strand of her hair, and she jumps a little. "I told you I'm sorry, and I really am. But I'm all about making it up to you. Paulina too. So you should come and eat lunch with me tomorrow, come out to that party, hang out, become one of my friends. You and Paulina both. There's a lot I could do for you." You put your feet up on the console, and rest your free hand on your silky-smooth knee. "Me and Madison." You suck your limeade to the bottom, until it stutters in the straw.

"Thanks," Evie stammers. "Um ... "

"Um?" you prompt her.

She start to turn pink. "Nothing. I don't know." She twists the key in the ignition. "I should get home."

"I should too. I'll call you over at lunch tomorrow. Wait for me to call you. I want it to look like I want you to come over, not like you're trying to push in. You know?"

"Sure."

She puts the car in reverse, but you grip her by the arm before she can pull away from the restaurant.

"Because I really do want you to be my friend, Evie."

* * * * *

Back home you help put supper on the table; then after eating you go down the hall to your bedroom, where you do homework with ten percent of your concentration and check in online with the other ninety percent. You text Dana for help with geometry and casually drop word that you got a ride home with Evie after school. You're hoping that Dana will reply with something like Evie is such a sweet girl but instead she changes the subject to talk about Darrell Jackson, who she has lately become obsessed with, probably because he is one of Ethan's best friends.

You're still not done with your homework when you get a text from Caleb. Htting the cemetery tnite, he says. Come with me.

You blow a loose bang from your forehead. There is no way Madison Crawford can go out to raid a graveyard.

But you hesitate before giving Caleb such a firm negative. Madison can't go out, but Will Prescott could, if you stripped the mask off after lights out and snuck out through the bedroom window.

Next: "Projects and Projections" 

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"Table of Contents (Vol. 2)" 
"The Book of Masks (Vol. 2)"