Gravity, a young adult paranormal romance (14 page)

"What's up?" I asked her.
 

"Go up and ask Hugh," she said with a
secretive smile. "Oh, and ask him for my necklace, too, the one
that goes with these earrings."

I trudged upstairs to my parents'
room. Hugh was trying to fix his lopsided tie, standing by the
antique mirror next to their armoire.

"Claire wants her necklace," I said
from the doorway. I leaned against the frame, feeling the latch
bite into my lower back. "The one you bought her last year for
Christmas."

He rummaged around in her jewelry box
for the glittery item and handed it to me.

"What's the big deal?" I asked. "Why
do you guys look like you're going ballroom
dancing?" 

It must have been really important;
Hugh hated wearing ties. The dog collar of The Man, in his opinion.
 

"You know how I've been trying to
wrangle Deborah Strait for months?" he asked.

"Vaguely," I answered, sitting on the
edge of the flowered bedspread. "She's a pretty big name artist,
right?"

"Right," he said. "Well, she's finally
agreed to have a few of her paintings shown at Erasmus. And that
means press and attention, not to mention a little more money
coming our way." He had finally fixed his tie, although it still
hung a touch unevenly. "We're going out to celebrate. Which means
you have twenty minutes to get ready."

I took the necklace back down to
Claire, who was busy carefully applying red colorstay lipstick in
the bad light of the downstairs bathroom. I couldn't remember the
last time we had gone out as a family. It had to have been over a
year.

I took the world's quickest shower,
and ran down two flights to my room to get dressed. Blowing my hair
as dry as I could, and finally settled on throwing it up in an old
butterfly clip. A few whisps fell out, frizzing around my face. I
shrugged, not thinking them too important.

When I was finished and went up to the
kitchen, Claire studied me.

"Why don't you put on Grandma's
necklace? You haven't worn it yet, once." She seemed a little upset
about it.

She was the one who adored jewelry,
not me, but I didn't want to hurt her feelings. I did like the
necklace; I just didn't wear jewelry often because I had a habit of
taking it off without realizing it. Many a pair of plastic earrings
had been lost that way at movie theaters and
restaurants.

I retrieved the green stone from my
jewelry box and put it on. It was heavier than it looked, even with
the delicate silver chain. The oblong pendant fell in a flattering
way just above the cleavage I hoped to have someday.

Claire was sitting on the arm of the
couch in the living room, watching TV when I came up the basement
stairs. An enlarged, pixelated photo of a little girl was on the
screen.

"Alyssa Chapman was last seen in a
blue raincoat and galoshes outside of Three Fire Middle School on
Monday," the reporter said.

Claire paid full attention to every
word. "That's your old middle school," she murmured.

"I haven't forgotten, you know," I
said.

"It's just so sad," she said. "Her
mother must be so frightened."  

Hugh picked up the remote and flicked
off the TV.

"Dinner," he said pointedly. "I'm
starving."  

We drove to my father's favorite
restaurant in town, The Blind Devil. It was always packed on the
weekends, but it was Thursday, so it wasn't too full.

"Since I only have this one dress," I
said to Claire as Hugh pulled our car into a parking space, "can we
finally go shopping?" I didn't bring up my need for fashionable gym
attire.

Claire seemed to be miles away,
absentmindedly tugging on one of her earrings. "Of course." It was
the usual "someday" way she always put it.  

"I'm just saying. I can't make new
clothes out of notebook paper and tape."

"Speaking of which, how is art class
going?" Hugh asked me, locking eyes with me in the rearview
mirror.

"Just fine."

"Don't get too excited, Ariel," he
muttered.

I smirked and looked down at my
ruffled black skirt. I wondered if Theo had any cast-offs in her
closet she would be willing to let me have, even though she was
smaller than me. I probably wouldn't have the confidence to wear
them, though.   

The Blind Devil took being in Hell as
seriously as the next business owner. A full-sized red imp in a
waiter's costume was positioned in the front window, holding up a
tray. Red chili-pepper shaped lights were strung around the window
frame, offering a warning that most of the dishes were spicy. All
the waitresses wore little shiny red horns on their heads, and had
pointed triangle tails.

We were seated at a booth and the
waitress handed out our menus, which had flames on the cover. As I
skimmed down the list, I read off the Halloween-themed titles that
were much like the offerings at Hawthorne. Broomstick Bruschetta
sounded a little too heavy on the straw.   

"How is school going, other than just
art?" Claire asked, flicking her napkin open and laying it daintily
on her lap. "I haven't had much of a chance to ask you." She seemed
to be back from outer space.

"It's been alright," I said, eyes
still glued to the menu, but mostly to avoid hers.

"For one thing, you've mastered the
skill of the vague answer," Hugh said sardonically behind his own
menu. 

"I've heard great things about your
new tutor from your father," Claire mentioned. The woman was not
subtle.  

"Henry is very helpful," I
said.

"He hasn't tried to make a move,
once," Hugh added. "That counts for a lot in a teenage
boy."

"Yes, I would say it does," I said,
glaring at him.

"I want to meet him the next time I
get a chance," Claire said. "I'm glad it's working out for you. I
hope to see those As coming home." I already had straight As in
most of my other classes, but I knew it didn't matter.

"How is your new friend with the boy's
name?" Hugh asked.

I had told him the basics about Theo,
although he hadn't had a chance to meet her. I told them both about
how talented she was, and how she wanted to visit
Erasmus.

"That's a good idea," Hugh agreed
brightly. "If she's as good as you say I'll definitely take a look
at her work."

They both seemed happy that I wasn't
as depressed anymore, and they didn't seem to be tiptoeing around
conversation topics like usual.

The waitress brought our dinners. I
had ordered fettuccini alfredo, one of my favorite splurges. Claire
hated it due to the high calories. She had basically lived on water
and parsley since I was born, and made occasional hints for me to
do the same.

For a strange moment, it was almost as
if the pendant on my necklace heated up, right when I had a forkful
of food between my fingers. I reached up to my neck without
thinking and spilled greasy cream sauce down the front of my
dress. 

"Crap," I muttered, dipping my napkin
in my water glass and trying to pat it dry. I excused myself to go
clean it off in the bathroom. Claire almost stood up to go with me,
but I gave her a "no" look.

"I can handle going to the potty by
myself, thank you," I said shortly. She sat back down.
 

I walked by a table of popular-wannabe
girls, the barnacles that clung to Lainey's fame. I was sort of
surprised they would be slumming it at the RD, but maybe they spent
all of their money on clothes.

"Her purse is totally a Vuitton," a
red-haired girl said.

 
"It looks like a
knock-off to me," said another girl, who was wearing huge black
sunglasses in the restaurant.    

The redhead scolded her. "Why would
she need to buy a knock off? Do you know how much her dad made last
year? He owns seven businesses, you know."

I tried not to pay attention to them,
but it was hard as they were talking so loudly. I knew they were
talking about Lainey. A cluster of small, sticky-faced children
scrambling around in front of me as their parents tried to get out
of their booth, so I was stuck.  

"Did you guys hear?" chimed in another
girl with an ear-splittingly high, nasal voice. "That new guy Henry
Rhodes asked Lainey out."

Even though the family in front of me
had finally cleared off, I stopped where I stood and listened. My
heart paused for a moment, waiting with me.   

"That's old news," said the red-haired
girl. "He asked her out yesterday. It's not like it's
surprising."

"It was only a matter of time," said
the one wearing sunglasses. "They, like, belong
together."

All of a sudden I felt like the time
Jenna tried to pierce my navel. Like I was going to pass out and
throw up at the same time. I rushed to the restrooms, hearing the
awful girls giggling behind me. I pushed open the door with a black
cat in a witch's hat and went in.  

Thankfully, the bathroom was empty. I
grasped the sides of the sink basin. The nauseated feeling passed,
replaced by a wave of sadness that burned me to a crisp at the
edges, as fragile as paper. What little hope I had been cultivating
was gone. Why didn't he tell me? Wasn't this counter to everything
he said the other night? Maybe it was all a game after all, just
pulling a prank at my expense.

I caught a glimpse of myself in the
mirror over the sink. My cheeks were flushed and I had the heavy
feeling in my chest I now associated with sorrow.

The pendant on my skin warmed up
again. I wrapped my hand around it, encasing it in my palm. It
definitely wasn't my imagination this time.

Footsteps passed outside the door. My
skin bristled and for a brief second I had the sense of dread I had
felt the night in my room when I was sure there was an intruder.
For the moment, my Henry drama was forgotten.

I peeked out into the tubular, murky
hall. A shadowy figure rounded the bend at the end of the hall and
disappeared. I didn't see the man's face, but something about him
struck me as suspicious. Against my better judgment, I found myself
walking that way. Around the corner was a narrow hallway, the walls
paneled in cherry wood. A door stood at the end. I didn't know what
was compelling me to spy, but I felt as though I couldn't help
it.

I crept over to the door and pressed
my right ear up against it.

"Were you followed?" asked a gravelly
whisper on the other side. My heart skipped a beat, thinking
whoever these people were, they had already found me out.
 

"No. I made sure."

"Are you absolutely
certain?"

I'm not an idiot." I recognized
Principal McPherson's voice through the door almost immediately,
from the morning announcements he was so fond of giving.

"That's still up for debate," said
another man. It shocked me that anyone would talk to McPherson that
way without getting a detention. "Do we have clearance?"

"As much as I can manage," McPherson
said. His voice was louder than the others, though intentionally or
not I couldn't tell.

Another of their voices sounded
familiar to me, but I couldn't place it as it was so much quieter.
"That's not good enough," the person barked. I couldn't tell if it
was a man or a woman, as the voice was high and reedy. "It has to
be absolutely clean. No tracks."

They seemed to be talking in code, of
a sort.

"It will be," McPherson said. "No one
will know. No one knew before, did they?"

"Make sure that's the case. Go
now."

I panicked, turning around and
tripping over my feet as I ran. I heard the door open behind me the
second after I cleared the corner. I hoped that he hadn't seen me.
 

I arrived back at my family's table
out of breath. I had gotten lucky in not getting caught. I watched
out of the corner of my eye as McPherson went out the back exit, a
dark trenchcoat hunched up on his shoulders.
  

"Are you okay?" Claire asked. "That
took an awfully long time."

"I'm fine," I said, trying to act like
I hadn't lost my breath. "It was just a difficult stain to get
out."

I realized I hadn't even bothered with
the spot, which stuck out like a snitch on the bodice of my dress.
  

My pasta was cold and I could no
longer taste the sauce. The rest of dinner was much more somber.
I'm sure my parents wondered what had happened, but I no longer
felt like talking.

I avoided Henry at school
the next day. Maybe the flighty girls had their gossip wrong. But
they were not the only ones saying that about Lainey and Henry.
Several times I caught people putting their names and
dating
together in the
same sentence. And I saw them walking together at lunch. This was
not so unusual, until she linked her arm in his, and he didn't pull
away.  

My mouth went dry. That was all the
confirmation I needed.