What If... All Your Friends Turned On You (9 page)

This dynamic seemed to work for the couple, but Haley would hate to see Devon being bossed around by Darcy that way. It just wouldn't seem right.

In the kitchen, Irene heated milk for hot cocoa as Darcy ran her hand along the smooth marble counter-top. “Everything in here just looks so … expensive,” she cooed, her eyes on Shaun, who looked away sheepishly. Haley thought she'd never seen the unembarrassable Shaun look so uncomfortable. You'd never know by the sight of him, but yes, Shaun's parents were well-off. Very well-off. The trouble was, most of his friends weren't. Shaun didn't care; he didn't have a materialistic bone in his body and dashed headlong through life, always looking for fun, not dollar bills.

But apparently Darcy did care. She and Devon were neighbors in the Floods, the “wrong side of the tracks” in this basically affluent suburban town. Devon had turned his lack of means into a persona, outfitting himself from the thrift store where he
worked and reveling in retro-seventies chic. But from the way Darcy was drooling over Shaun's luxurious house—and then, suddenly, Shaun himself—she was clearly looking to move into fancier precincts.

Irene poured the steaming milk into mugs and mixed in the powdered cocoa while Shaun took a bag of marshmallows from a cupboard. “I like my cocoa to be half marshmallow, half coconut,” he said, pouring half a bag of coconut flakes into his cocoa. “Who's with me?”

“I'll stick with just the 'mallows. Toss me a couple of those, bro,” Devon said. Shaun shot two marshmallows at him. Devon caught the second one in his mouth.

“I'll try it your way,” Darcy said suggestively, leaning across the counter so that her boobs were bobbing in Shaun's direction. She reached out her arm and dipped a finger into Shaun's coconut-cocoa, lifted it up to her mouth and then gave it a good long lick. “Yummy.”

“Rini, I don't know about you, but I think I'm suddenly in the mood for cider,” Shaun said, dumping the contents of his mug down the drain. “Wanna help me retrieve some from the cellar?”

Irene whispered harshly to Haley, “You've got to do something about her. Now.” And then Irene and Shaun headed downstairs.

“Is all that property out there Shaun's?” Darcy asked Haley, staring out the floor-to-ceiling windows onto the rolling lawn bordered by tall old trees. “How many acres does he have?”

“I wouldn't know,” Haley answered truthfully.

“Do you think he'd mind if I had a look around for a minute?”

“Go ahead,” Haley said, relieved to see Darcy disappear down the hall. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had a private moment alone with Devon. “So, how did you guys like the movie the other night? You left so quickly, we didn't get a chance to talk about it.”

“What do you mean? You were the one who dashed out.”

“Um, no.”

“But Darcy said you were catching a ride with a neighbor,” Devon replied, looking confused. “I just assumed she meant Reese.”

That little skank!
Haley thought, outraged that she'd been outmaneuvered by Darcy for the umpteenth time. She wouldn't let that happen again, that was for sure. “Reese? Not a chance. I haven't seen him in weeks, and the last time I did see him, he was cradling a swimsuit model on his lap in Nevis. Or didn't you see the text messages that bounced around over break?”

“So you're not—”

“Not even close. Wherever did you get that idea?”

“Well, Darcy said you two were—”

“I didn't realize Darcy was an expert on my social life. Remind me to ask her later what I'm doing for my birthday.” Devon smiled and moved a little closer to Haley.

“So, the movie. I thought the cinematography was incredible,” he said. “The way Korsikov played with light and shadow to emphasize the gray areas between good and evil …”

“Exactly,” Haley said. “Especially given the title,
Days of the Sun, Nights of the Moon
…”

“The moonlight is a reflection of the sun,” Devon said. “I got that too! It's like, some of the goodness of day spills over into night, to save the people of the village from being completely overwhelmed by evil.”

“And Tatiana Morakova was so beautiful,” Haley said breathlessly.

“Did you see her in
Sad Little Liudochka?”
Devon continued. “Where she becomes a heroin addict and then a prostitute, and soon she's so far gone that even when this artist who loves her tries to save her she can't be saved? It was so touching.”

“I saw
Liudochka
last year,” Haley said, locking eyes with Devon. Haley's father wanted her to have a good film education, and made sure she kept up on the classics and all the latest foreign films. “By the
end, it was so bleak I could hardly watch it.” Haley felt her eyes well up a bit.

Devon grabbed her hand and squeezed.

“What are you two talking about?” Darcy said, suddenly breezing back into the kitchen. Haley instinctively pulled her hand away, then wished she hadn't. Devon looked hurt.

“Just the movie the other night,” he said lightly.

“Not that again. Yawn.” Darcy dipped a cinnamon stick into Devon's hot cocoa and began sucking it like a lollipop.

“Excuse me, I think I need to hit the boys' room,” Devon said, ducking out of the kitchen.

Then Irene and Shaun reappeared carrying a jug of cider. “Now, for the gingerbread,” Shaun said, setting the jug down and spinning on his heel to head toward the pantry.

“Let me help you,” Darcy volunteered. Irene's hair stood on end—Haley could feel the static electricity from across the counter.

“Oh no she didn't,” Irene said, moving closer to the pantry to keep Shaun and Darcy within earshot. Haley joined her.

“This pantry is, like, the size of my whole house,” Darcy was saying. “You know, Shaun, I never realized what a cool guy you are. You're such an individual, you know? I can tell you're a real artist because you have that artist personality. Nobody tells you what to do or how to live.”

“I guess,” Shaun said mechanically.

“So what do you feel like doing now, Shaunessy?” Darcy said in a seductive voice.

“Oh, she's going down,” Irene whispered.

“Don't worry,” Haley said. “Shaun can handle her.”

“I feel like eating gingerbread and sipping on some cider,” Shaun said, grabbing what he had come for and exiting the pantry as Irene and Haley hustled back to the kitchen counter. Before Devon returned from his bathroom break, Irene yanked the ponytail holder out of Haley's hair and fluffed up her shiny auburn mane.

“This is all-out war,” she advised. “I wouldn't normally advocate such extreme measures, but you need to use everything you've got to defeat that little prostitot,” Irene said. “We've got work to do.”

Darcy may have shown her true colors at the movies, but now she's really bared her teeth. Her lack of brainpower would be fine if she were at least a nice person, but that's clearly not the case. Is she really so impressed by wealth that she'd try to steal Shaun from Irene? Those methods tend to work only in the high-powered Coco scene. Fortunately, that's not the way this crowd rolls
.

If you want to take Irene up on her offer to win
Devon's heart by force, turn to,
AMERICAN GOTH
.

But does Haley really want to continue chasing after Devon? Anyone who could be caught in Darcy's web is clearly not as gifted and talented as Haley first thought. Not that she isn't fond of the arty trio of Irene, Shaun and Devon, but the addition of Darcy sucks the air out of any room. People tend to get extremely tense whenever she's around, and lately she's always around. Maybe Devon just isn't worth the trouble. There are, after all, other fish in the sea—like, for instance, Reese Highland. To take him back, no questions asked, after his scandalous trip to Nevis, turn to,
RAPID RECONCILIATION
.

There's also the supercute and supersmart Alex Martin. He's always had a thing for Haley. Devon might be the cooler catch, but maybe it's time Haley stopped fighting the tide and went with the flow. If you think Haley has had it with Devon and Co. now that Darcy Downer is a staple playmate, and wants to turn her attention to the future, turn to,
COLLEGE BOUND
.

Meanwhile, school's been back in session for a mere week and Principal Crum is already on the warpath. He's been heard around the halls of Hillsdale High muttering the words “scandalous” and “frightening.” Haley doesn't know what it's all about, but it sure seems as though something big is up. If you'd rather discover why
Hillsdale is currently on high alert, turn to,
PRINCIPAL CRUM'S LITANY
.

There are a lot of paths Haley could take at this point, and they all lead down wildly different roads. Luckily, you're the one in the driver's seat
.

“A
re you sure you don't mind this, Annie?” Haley asked for the tenth time. She sat nervously behind the wheel of Annie's brand-new electric car, with Annie riding shotgun and Dave and Alex in the backseat. Dave had a notebook in his lap and a pen at the ready to write down every mistake Haley made, since Annie had offered to let Haley use her car to practice for her driving test. Dave was pretending to be the Department of Motor Vehicles road tester so that Haley wouldn't be so nervous when she faced
the real thing. And Alex, he was busily doing a seating chart for the upcoming inauguration dinner.

Haley was impressed he'd come along for the ride, actually. Alex kept saying how busy he was at his internship with the governor-elect, but then, at every chance he got, he seemed to find a way to be around Haley, even if it meant lugging his work with him and staying up a little later at night.

Haley already had her learner's permit, which allowed her to practice driving with an adult over twenty-one. There currently was not an adult over twenty-one in the car. What she was about to do was totally illegal, and she knew it. But she wasn't driving on the open road, just in the mall parking lot, so she told herself it was okay. Besides, her parents had been too busy to practice with her, and she needed practice desperately. If this was the only way to get it, what other choice did she have?

She was, however, surprised that Alex hadn't objected. He was hoping for a political career of his own someday, and getting arrested by a mall Pinkerton for letting a permit driver take the wheel wouldn't exactly be a boon for his résumé.

“Sure I'm sure,” Annie said. “What could happen in a parking lot? Put the car in drive and let's do a slow circle around the mall.”

Dave leaned over the front seat to watch as Haley shifted the car into drive and gingerly stepped on the gas.

“Dave, do you mind?” she said. “You're making me nervous.”

“How do you think you'll feel when it's not us watching you but some fat, chain-smoking DMV drone with body odor?” Dave asked.

Haley rolled her eyes. “Just sit back a little, please.” She started slowly around the lot, turning carefully.

“Good,” Annie said. “You're doing great.”

“This isn't so hard,” Haley said.

“This is the easy part,” Annie said.

Haley made it all the way around the lot without incident. “Great,” Annie said. “Now let's practice vertical parking. Pull over to that empty area over there.” She pointed to a far corner of the parking lot where hardly any cars were parked.

“Aye, aye, cap'n.” Haley felt her confidence growing. She drove slowly down a crowded row of parked cars toward the desolate corner of the lot.

Suddenly a black SUV backed out of a spot right in front of her. “Brake, brake!” Annie yelled. Haley slammed on the brakes just in time. Everyone in the car bolted forward, restrained by their seat belts. Haley had missed the SUV by a hair. The driver mouthed angry words at her through the closed window of his fortresslike vehicle.

Haley sat frozen.

“Back up, Haley!” Annie yelled. “Before the guy plows right over us!”

Haley snapped herself out of her trance and put the car into reverse. She looked around in every direction for telltale red taillights—nobody backing out that she could see—before tentatively touching the gas pedal. The SUV jerked the rest of the way out of its spot and roared off. Haley put the car into park and tried to catch her breath.

Annie undid her seat belt. “Okay, Evel Knievel. I think that's enough for today.” She jumped out and ran over to open the driver's-side door. Still in a daze and on the verge of tears, Haley got out of the car and returned to the passenger seat, her driving lesson over almost as quickly as it had begun.

“That was close, too close,” Dave said, a nervous shake in his voice. “Why did I get into a car with a student driver? I'm an idiot!”