Paper Cuts (15 page)

Tyler turns onto a side street and drives past several large homes with beautiful landscaping.

I’m perched beside him on the blanket Rachel found in Jason’s trunk. She sent me on alone with Tyler, to follow with Izzy and Carson in Jason’s car. My friends are clearly trying to keep me in the game, but I have never felt less attractive than I do right now. My hair is slick, and the smell of lime fills the car. ‘Sorry to make you leave early,’ I say.

‘No worries,’ he says. ‘I’d had enough horror for one day.’ He grins at me, and with the green makeup and neck bolts, the effect is somewhat alarming. ‘Mariah’s a treat, isn’t she?’

‘You have no idea,’ I say. Still, I’m more annoyed with myself right now. After living with combustible Grace, I know better than to bait people like Mariah. Oddly enough, though, Grace has been mellowing lately, and I seem to be picking up the attitude she’s outgrowing. ‘Thanks for pulling me out.’

He swings his Honda into the wide driveway of his house, puts the car in park, and turns to me. ‘My pleasure.’

There’s something in his expression that makes me think all prospect of romance might not be gone after all. I don’t see how anyone could find me appealing in this condition, but Tyler seems to.

‘This is a beautiful house,’ I say, as an excuse to look away.

Opening his door, he says, ‘Stay there for a minute.’

He jogs around the hood and opens my door for me. It probably has less to do with chivalry than with his not wanting me to touch the car with sticky fingers. But it’s nice just the same.

‘Let me,’ he says, and leans across me to release the seat belt. He pauses, his face close to mine. ‘Can I ask you something?’

‘Uh, sure.’

‘Does green makeup bother you?’

I laugh. ‘Nope. Does lime Jell-O bother
you
?’

‘Lime is my favorite flavor,’ he says, and kisses me. I’m sort of trapped, but even if I could leave, I wouldn’t.

When he pulls away, I ask, ‘Why didn’t you call me back?’

‘I didn’t think you really wanted me to. I thought you were just grateful that I’d saved you from that loser at the dance.’

‘I was grateful. But I really wanted you to call.’

Tyler kisses me again. I close my eyes and forget about everything for a moment. He may look like Frankenstein on the outside, but he’s still Mr Fantastic on the inside. Maybe I should swear back on to guys and give Arty FB another try. After all, the chances of his being Scoop are slim. Even
ruling out freshmen, there must be hundreds of guys who could conceivably write that column. What are my chances of kissing any of them?

Jason has pulled up behind us. ‘Hey, Tyler,’ he calls. ‘Got her resuscitated?’

‘She inhaled a lot of Jell-O,’ Tyler says. ‘But I think she’s going to pull through.’

Tyler’s bathroom is the nicest I’ve ever been in. The shower stall alone is bigger than our entire bathroom. It has glass walls and a huge copper showerhead that sprinkles a gentle mist. And the most amazing thing is that it’s not the family bathroom, but the en suite attached to Tyler’s room. I could totally get used to this. My only complaint is that his products are decidedly masculine. I smell like a cedar forest, but it’s better than lime.

After lingering in the shower, I dry myself with a fluffy white towel and pull my gingham work uniform out of my backpack. Rolling up my spider outfit, I stuff it into a plastic bag for later disposal. There’s no sign of a blow dryer, so I comb out my hair and hope for the best.

Tyler is gone when I step back into his bedroom. I left him checking his e-mails, but he must be downstairs now with the rest of the gang.

Crossing to the desk, I notice a stack of
Dunfield Bulletins
. Oddly, there are multiple copies of each. I have a stack like that at home. Grace says I’m hoarding them to drag out when I’m old and withered, to relive my glory days.

I can’t imagine why Tyler would keep so many, unless he
really is Scoop. Maybe a little judicious investigation could put this matter to rest once and for all.

Nudging the computer mouse, I make the screen saver disappear. It’s not really snooping if I barely touch it. It’s practically an accident.

Another accident takes me to Tyler’s e-mail inbox. And that’s all I really need to do, because my eyes immediately land on a string of e-mails from Mr Sparling bearing the subject lines, ‘The
Bulletin
,’ ‘Revisions,’ or most damning, ‘Scoop.’

As my hand moves to the mouse for one last accident, Tyler calls, ‘Lu? Are you all right up there?’

I stand upright so quickly that my head spins. ‘Coming,’ I call. And with that, Lu Perez retires to the stands again, determined to keep a safe distance from the arena of love.

Dan’s Diner is packed with Halloween revelers. It’s always a busy night, and I am always on duty because Grace refuses to work. Halloween is the worst night for tips and manners. When people put on a costume they think it grants them a license to misbehave. I’ve had my butt grabbed more on Halloween than the whole year put together. In fact, I’ve learned to wear shorts under my uniform because some guy dressed as an angel or a nun will inevitably flip my crinoline.

‘Where’s your costume?’ Dan asks, leaning into the passthrough as I arrive. ‘You promised to dress as a spider.’

Dan himself has augmented his usual Stetson with chaps,
a bandanna, and spurs that jingle when he walks.

‘The tarantula came to a bad end,’ I say, telling him about the haunted house. ‘I was going to change into my uniform after you saw the costume anyway. I couldn’t serve very well with eight arms.’

‘That Mariah deserves to be lassoed and horse-whipped,’ Dan says, ‘If she ever comes in here—’

‘I’ll cast a spell on her,’ interrupts Shirley, who is dressed as a real witch in a flowing black dress. A pointy hat sits atop her backcombed hair, tipping perilously to one side, and there’s a very realistic wart on her nose.

I mention that we went to Tyler’s house, skipping the part about my snooping on his computer. That’s something that must stay between my friends and me. Rachel was pretty shocked when I called her after Tyler dropped me off – shocked at what I did, shocked at what I found, and shocked that I was able to hide how I felt while I was still at Tyler’s. Obviously I’ve gained some valuable skills through writing an anonymous column. The old Lu was totally transparent; the new one is a master of obfuscation. Still, I think Tyler suspected something was amiss when he kissed me goodbye. I couldn’t quite rise to the enthusiasm I’d shown earlier.

‘You take the mermaids and Abe Lincoln,’ Shirley says, handing me a stack of menus. ‘I’ve got Cleopatra, Elvis, and the swamp monster.’

The rest of the shift passes in a blur, and at midnight I walk out to the bus stop. Someone has already claimed the old wooden bench, and when I get closer I see that
it’s Joey Carella. Like me, he’s traded his costume for his uniform.

He doesn’t look surprised to see me, which makes me wonder if he’s been waiting for me. ‘You’ve been de-slimed,’ he says.

I settle beside him on the bench. ‘What are you doing here? Didn’t your shift end an hour ago?’

He shrugs. ‘Buses are slow tonight.’

It’s usually the reverse on Halloween, but I don’t say so.

‘Plenty of freaks around, too,’ I say. ‘At least, there were at the diner.’

‘How are you feeling?’

‘I’ve had better days. There’s a stiletto mark on my chest.’

He fights a grin and fails. ‘I don’t suppose you’d care to show it to me?’

‘Can’t risk exciting the freaks. What did Mariah do after we left?’

‘Danced around as usual and gloated. I didn’t stay long. Someone was covering for me at work.’

There will be even more gloating at school on Monday. ‘I underestimated Mariah. I didn’t really think she’d follow through.’

‘What are you going to do about it?’

‘Either keep a lower profile or bribe Grace to beat her up.’

He laughs. ‘Was this your first fundraiser event?’

‘I’ve been to a few. But I was surprised to see you there. You don’t seem like the school-spirit type.’

‘I’m not. It’s the first year I’ve participated in any school
activities, but it’s for a good cause. And a good end: I’d really like the two extra weeks off.’

‘I bet you’d just take more shifts. Like I would.’

This sparks a joint lament about how hard it is to work and go to school. It’s a relief to be honest about it for a change. I can’t complain much to Izzy and Rachel because I don’t want them to feel sorry for me, and it’s even harder to talk to my mom.

Joey understands, but I still feel the need to add, ‘Of course, it could be so much worse. I’m lucky to have what I have.’

He nods. ‘I know. But it would be nice not to worry sometimes, wouldn’t it?’

That’s it, exactly. I don’t mind wearing Grace’s castoffs, and I actually like working at Dan’s, but it would be nice not to worry – about my mom, our finances, my grades, and everything else.

Joey sees me glance at my worn jacket and reads my mind. ‘Try wearing your father’s hand-me-downs.’ He explains that his mother used to buy clothes for his father that he never wore. They sat untouched for years, and after Joey hit a growth spurt, the clothes started appearing, gift wrapped, at Christmas and birthdays. ‘I guess Dad didn’t think I’d recognize them,’ he concludes. ‘But it’s hard to forget an acrylic sweater with a snarling wolf on it.’

‘Did you wear it?’

‘Not that one. A son’s love does have its limits. But I’ve worn some of the other stuff so that he wouldn’t feel bad.’

Obviously mine isn’t the only family where much goes unsaid.

The bus arrives and we take a seat at the back, chatting easily. He doesn’t seem in the least interested in me, and it’s a huge relief. I can just be myself. After all, he’s seen me at my worst – knocked down and slimed by the hottest girl in school.

‘Where’s your stop?’ I ask as we approach mine. ‘Three streets back,’ he says. ‘But I’m going to a Halloween party. Want to come?’

‘I’d better not. It’s late.’

‘We’ll only stay an hour. It’s close to your place.’

‘But my costume is in the Dumpster behind Dan’s.’

‘I wouldn’t be caught dead at this party dressed as a potato,’ Joey says. ‘So we’ll go as we are: a waitress and a factory worker.’

It would be nice to have a positive end to one of the worst days of my life, so I stand and smooth my crinoline. ‘Okay. But in case you get any big ideas, I’m wearing shorts under here.’

Joey leads me to the door. ‘Life is full of disappointments.’

‘Imagine my surprise,’ Grace says, watching me pull out the sofa and spread my duvet on the bed, ‘to see my kid sister walk into a party with Joey Carella.’

‘Imagine
my
surprise to see my sister sitting on the lap of her ex-boyfriend at that same party.’

‘There were no other seats,’ she says. ‘I had to sit somewhere.’

‘Is that how we ended up with Keira?’

She throws a pillow at me. ‘If you think so, someone should teach you the facts of life.’

‘It probably shouldn’t be you.’

Grace thinks about pursuing this but remembers she has an ax to grind. ‘What were you doing there with Joey? I thought you hated the Donner guys.’

‘What were you doing there with Paz? I thought you’d broken up.’

‘You don’t want to go out with Joey Carella.’

‘We’re just friends.’ And barely that. We spent an hour chatting with some of his coworkers and he walked me home. End of story.

‘I hope so, because Joey isn’t your type. He’s one of Paz’s guys.’

‘Meaning?’

‘Meaning he’s going nowhere.’

‘Grace! You’re the one who’s always accusing me of being a snob. Besides, I’m sure Joey’s going somewhere. He’s smart.’

‘So’s Paz,’ she says. ‘And look where that got us.’ She comes around the sofa to harass me from closer range. ‘Of all the guys you could go out with—’

I cut her off. ‘You don’t want me seeing
anyone
.’ At least, that’s how it’s starting to seem.

‘How about listening to me for a change?’ Grace asks, her voice rising.

‘How about staying out of my love life?’

‘What love life?’ another voice asks.