Pretty Crooked (8 page)

“What happened to the new shirt, Willa?” she asked, frowning, as she reached out to feel the fabric on the sleeve.

“I don’t know—I tried it on again and it was a little too big.”

“We’ll have to exchange it then, won’t we?” Kellie said, linking my arm with hers as the three of us walked across her lawn. “I love returns just as much as shopping. Maybe we can look at the new jackets, too. Next week?”

“Absolutely!” I said. Actually, it was more of a squeal. I wasn’t sure how I could score more money from the safe without my mom noticing, but I’d worry about that later.

Two guys holding cups of beer walked by. One was tall with light brown hair and a rumpled button-down shirt; the other was blond and shorter with a soccer-player build. Both were seriously cute in the preppy private-school way, which was starting to grow on me.

“Hey, Kellie. Hey, Cherise. Hey, Willa.”

Did I know them? I never remembered seeing them before. I smiled anyway, not really knowing quite how I got here, how this could actually be a scene from my own life. But it was, and it felt like an amusement park.

“This is Willa’s first Richardson throw-down,” Cherise said. “We have to make sure she has fun tonight.”

Like it would take a lot of effort. This place was a hotbed of awesome.

“Totals,” Kellie said. “Feel free to wander around, you guys … the hot tub’s going. The keg’s in the gazebo. We’re putting
Superbad
on in the theater. I’ve gotta check if Donovan’s here yet. I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Who’s Donovan?” I asked, after she left.

“Donovan’s her new man,” Cherise explained, eyebrows lifting suggestively. “He’s a senior at Willard. But who knows with her? There might be someone else by the end of the night.”

“So that’s why she’s infamous?” I asked, watching Kellie from a distance as she draped her arms around the blond guy who’d just passed us.

Cherise laughed in a surprised chirp. “Sssh. No. That’s not what I meant.” Then she looked around to see if anyone else had heard us. “You never know who’s gonna blab to the Buzz.”

“I haven’t looked at it since that day in the mall,” I admitted. “Though I
have
heard people talking about it at school.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, it’s best just to ignore it. That thing is bad karma.”

Cherise and I milled around outside between the palm trees. She stopped to talk to a guy she said she knew from her parents’ tennis club. I could tell by the way she was tilting her head to the side that he was crush material, so I left her for a moment and continued on to check out the grounds. Who knew what else was out here? A Ferris wheel? A petting zoo?

Outside the lighted windows of the garage I could make out a silhouette of a figure. As I got closer, I recognized him as Tre Walker, the kid Kellie had pointed out in the lunchroom. You couldn’t
not
notice him, then or now. He was at least six foot five, wearing a thin windbreaker and jeans that barely seemed to contain his muscular frame. He was holding a red plastic cup between his teeth as he typed into his phone. He put the phone away when he saw me, and his forehead was crunched into a serious expression.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt,” I said.

“No, it’s cool. I just needed to step away from everything for a minute.”

“I’m trying to put my eyes back into my head. This place is reedonkulous.”

He smiled, the seriousness melting away to reveal the soft folds of his face. “I hear you. I’m Tre. You’re Willa, right?”

Someone else who knew my name. Amazing. “Yeah.”

“You should see the cars in there,” he said.

I peered into the garage. “What’s the one with the orange stripe?”

“That’s a Bugatti. It’s an Italian company—very rare. They cost about two million. Jay-Z has one, supposedly. Beyoncé bought it for him.”

“Jeez,” I said. “For two million, I hope it pumps its own gas.”

He laughed, a deep infectious laugh. “It flies and sails and makes dinner, too.”

“In that case, I’ll put it on my Amazon wish list.”

“Hey, you never know around here.” He pointed to the gatherings of people in the yard around us. “Buddy up with the right ones and you just might get your wish.”

I sighed. “A girl can dream. But if not, a girl can bike. So I heard you just moved here.”

“You heard right. My dad’s coaching the Suns. Big deal, right?”

“I don’t know anything about basketball,” I confessed. “But it definitely sounds like a big deal. I mean, I’m impressed.”

He flicked his head to show his indifference. In the yellow light his long-lashed eyes were even and opaque, but there was a mystery to them, too. They would never give too much away. “I’m not a fan, either, to tell you the truth. It bores me.”

“Yeah?”

“But don’t tell him I said that—he’d probably cut me
out of the will. If I’m even in it to begin with. He’s got like six kids. That we know about.” He swigged at his beer, and I wondered if he was a little drunk. He was certainly talking freely.

“So I take it you two aren’t tight?”

“I grew up in Detroit with my mom. Lived there all my life. But, you know, they decided it was time for me to get to know my pops. It’s your typical
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
story: boy from the streets gets sent to live with fancy relatives. Fancy relatives try to mold him into a gentleman.”

“But then the fancy relatives come away with street smarts they never expected,” I said, “and everyone wins.”

“Exactly. Well, we’re working on the warm and fuzzy part. So far they’re still treating me like the pool boy. But I’ll let you know what happens.”

“Hey, guys.” Kellie was loping toward us across the grounds. At first I thought it was just her heels sinking into sandy soil, but as she approached I could tell it was the martini that was throwing her off balance. “Willa, I’ve been looking all over for you.”

“Hey,” I said. “You two know each other, right?”

“Yeah, we’ve met. Hello, Tre,” she said sweetly. “Can I talk to you for a minute, Willa?”

“Sure. What’s up?”

“But not here, okay?” She gestured me away from the garage with a tilted head.

Figuring it was girl talk, I shrugged in Tre’s direction.
“Well, smell ya later.” I heard him laughing as we turned away.

Her ankles wobbled and she grasped my arm before she almost bit it right there in her yard. I pulled her straight but I could feel that her body was already gelatinous, saturated in booze.

“Whoa,” I said, tightening my grip. I was worried that she’d slip again. “Easy there.”

There must have been more than one cocktail in the time since I’d seen her last. I hoped she hadn’t overdone it.

“I’m okay. I’m okay. So—” She swallowed, pushing her chin down against her chest. “So I saw you over there—and it’s just—I don’t think he’s such a great person for you to talk to.”

I pulled back in surprise. “Why not?”

“I’ve heard some things,” she whispered, but probably not as quietly as she thought she was whispering. “Like, he was sent to one of those boot camps before he came here, Willa. You know, he’s got a
record
.”

I had to laugh. After what he’d just told me about his past, I could see how a rumor like this could start. Detroit was worlds away from Paradise Valley. Possibly galaxies.

“It’s not funny,” she insisted. “I’d already invited him here and everything, before I knew, but, like, I don’t think we want him glomming on to us.”

“I don’t know if he’s a glommer. He seems pretty
laid-back. Are you sure it’s not just a story?”

“I’m sure.”

“Who’d you hear it from?”

“I don’t know. That doesn’t matter,” she snapped impatiently.

I recoiled a bit, surprised at her suddenly sharp tone. “You don’t know this place like I do, Willa. People don’t take well to shadiness.” Her voice strained with impatience and annoyance. It was too dark to see her eyes but I could see her metallic makeup glinting. “Don’t you get it? I’m just trying to look out for you.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I appreciate that, but I don’t want to go around judging people—”

She convulsed with a hiccup and her chipper mood from earlier returned. “Don’t worry about him, okay? Let’s have fun.”

“Hey, Kell.” A skinny, awkward-looking guy in a brown shirt walked toward us. He had to be in his mid-twenties at least—maybe even thirties, because he was balding.

She gave him a flirty little wave. “Hey, Doug!”

He pointed to a brown manila envelope that was tucked under his arm. “So where do you want me to put the goods?”

“Oh, just throw it on top of the desk in the library. I’ll wire you the extra cashola tomorrow,” Kellie replied.

My stomach tied into about ten sailor’s knots. From where I was standing, this kind of looked like a drug deal.
One of the nicest, cleanest drug deals in the universe, but a drug deal nonetheless. I never wanted to admit that Kellie and Company were too good to be true, but if ever there was a moment of reckoning, this was it.

“It’s a pleasure doing business with you, K. As always,” Doug said. Then he spun around and disappeared into the crowd.

“What was that all about?” I asked, praying that Kellie wasn’t about to invite me to do a few lines with her in the library.

“Oh, Doug is my tutor—my parents pay him to help me maintain my stellar GPA.” She leaned in and whispered, “Don’t tell anyone but he basically writes my papers for me. It’s kind of an agreement we have. I give him extra money to do all the work so I have more time to, you know, hang out with friends and throw parties.”

I looked at her and smiled with relief. Cheating was bad, but nowhere near as bad as speedballs.

She linked her arm through mine again. “But seriously, that’s top secret. You’re the only one I’ve ever told. Not even Nikki or Cherise knows and they’re like my BFFs.”

“Lips are sealed,” I said, flattered by her confidence, even if the secret was a little incriminating.

“I knew I could trust you, Willa.” She let her head drop on my shoulder, and I could smell the booze on her breath.

“Are you okay, Kellie?”

“Just a little … dizzy…” She trailed off.

I guided her to the door. “Maybe we should go inside.”

“Yeah, maybe I should just lie down for a little bit,” she slurred. “My room’s over here.”

We walked down a long hallway past at least ten doors.

The room was, in keeping with the rest of the house, giant and luxurious. The adjoining closet from my view reminded me of a TV show I’d seen on Mariah Carey’s house—rows and rows of clothes like a boutique, but color-coordinated. I guided Kellie to the four-poster bed and then helped her unbuckle the straps to her sandal heels. She fell back against the pillows and closed her eyes.

“Just a quick nap,” she murmured. “Wake me up when Donovan gets here.”

“Okay,” I said, though I wasn’t sure she was in any shape to see Donovan, or anyone else, at this point.

I shut the door behind me and started back toward the rest of the party. Kellie was going to have to sleep it off, big-time.

After a quick trip to Kellie’s bathroom to freshen up, I stepped out of the room to look for Cherise or Nikki to let them know that Kellie was potentially out for the count. I did what I hoped would be an easy walk-through of the wing off the living room. A doorway opened into a family room lined with mahogany shelves,
which opened into a game room where a bunch of dudes were playing pool, and another room, which looked like the movie theater, and beyond that, some sort of library. The house just kept going.

“Hey, Willa.” Nikki was waving at me. She was sitting with three guys at a table, wearing a lace cami. “We’re playing beergammon. Wanna join us?”

“I don’t think so,” I said, feeling dizzy myself now. Maybe it was the enormity of the place, or just the over-stimulation of all the sights and sounds. After surveying the damage with Kellie, the last thing I wanted to do was start playing a drinking game. “I just took Kellie to lie down. She was kind of wasted. Do you think we should kick people out?”

“No way,” Nikki said with a rasping laugh. “She’ll be up in like an hour.”

“If you say so.” I shrugged, signaling my ignorance. I didn’t know Kellie well enough, either drunk or sober, to suggest otherwise. “Have you seen Cherise?”

“No. Maybe she’s hooking up?”

“Your turn, Nikki,” one of the guys said.

Nikki waved sloppily. “Let me know if you find her, Willa. Come back and visit me in a little while, okay?”

I nodded and turned to make my way back through the labyrinth. I could have easily gotten lost in the house, never to be seen again.

Through the window in the hallway, I saw Tre sitting alone on one of the stone walls surrounding the
property. He was holding his red plastic cup and staring up at the sky. I wondered if Kellie had gone around and told everyone at the party about him. I still didn’t know what to think, but if she was taking the time to look out for me, it was probably best to just trust her. These were my people now, and they knew the scene a lot better than I did.

“Willz. Sorry I was MIA,” Cherise called. She was standing at the opposite end of the corridor and her voice echoed my way. “I had to use the bathroom, and you know how it is—I ended up running into a million people.”

“What happened to tennis-club guy?” I asked, walking to meet her.

“Eh, he has a girlfriend, it turns out.”

“Sorry,” I said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, he’s kind of a douche, anyway.” She shook her mass of curls. “I’m over it.”

“Kellie got really drunk, so I took her back to her room to lay down,” I said. “Maybe we should check in on her at some point.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. She’s been known to ride the regurgitron on a few occasions. Party’s crazy, right?”

I nodded enthusiastically.

“Told you it would be hot.”

She pointed beyond me to the window. “Hey, look,
there’s your best buddy.”

At first I thought she was talking about Tre, but then I turned to see Aidan Murphy strutting across the yard. A tingling buzz ran through my extremities. Was I
happy
to see him? This was going to have to stop.