A Little Friendly Advice (16 page)

After the last-period bell, I take my time walking to my locker. The hallway feels too crowded, with people yelling and screaming louder than I’ve ever heard them before. I stick my fingers in my ears and walk close to the wall, keeping my head down until I reach my locker. After twirling my combination, I sink to the floor and pull textbooks from the bottom where they’ve been chucked.

I think about just walking home alone, but when I stand up and slam the door closed, Beth’s waiting behind it, leaning against the locker next to mine. I don’t know who goes first but we both turn and walk to the front door together. We don’t talk.

It’s like Beth has turned into my mom or something.

Today is probably the coldest day of the year. Maria is already inside her car, I guess to keep warm. I fold up the collar of my peacoat up around my neck and then stop dead in my tracks.

Beth’s scarf. It’s missing. I must have left it on the lawn at Kent State.

I feel terrible, probably more than I should, but there’s nothing much I can do now. Maybe Charlie picked it up and forgot to give it back to me. I hope I can find it before she notices.

Katherine’s in shotgun, laughing into her cell phone and holding her hands up to the heating vents. She should be in the Period Seat, but I guess she’s trying to make a statement or something. So I slide in and take her spot, making sure I keep my neck hidden by my long hair.

Katherine clicks her cell phone closed and spins around to stare at me. “Hey, Maria and Beth, you want to go hang out at my house?” No one says anything, but Katherine cackles. “Seriously, I can’t wait to tell you this secret, just as soon as we drop Ruby off.”

I grind my teeth. I know I’m not going to say anything to Katherine, but I really want to smack her in the face.

“Shut up, Katherine,” Beth says in a quiet, tired voice.

“What? I’m just saying —”

“Well, don’t. Don’t say anything.”

Maria heads to my house first. A mercy drop-off, thank God. Charlie is there, sitting on the grass in his cute uniform, with his BMX tossed casually to the side. He flips through some papers on his lap, and he keeps brushing his floppy hair out of his eyes. My heart races a little bit. One nice surprise.

“Thanks for the ride,” I say, exiting the car and slinging my book bag over my shoulder.

Beth glances at Charlie and then she turns away from me. “So I guess you’re not coming over?”

I duck back into the doorway. “Was I supposed to come over today?” I don’t think we had plans. In fact, I’m sure of it. She defended me a moment ago, and now she’s trying to start a fight? I don’t get it.

Beth doesn’t say anything. Not even good-bye. So I just close the door.

The girls pull away and Charlie waves. I plod toward him, trudging every step like my New Balances are filled with cement.

He sticks his arm out and pulls me down onto the crispy grass. “Rough day?”

I let myself fall into him. “I guess.”

“Did you say anything to Beth?”

“Yes, but I don’t want to talk about that.”

He nods his head and hands me the stack of papers. “I Googled your dad last night. Didn’t come up with much, but I found a few articles where he’s mentioned in the forestry service and stuff. I think he was once stationed at Crater Lake National Park.”

He hands me the papers, but I don’t take them. “So?”

“So … I thought you might want to read up before you saw him.”

I cross my arms. “Who said I was going to go see him? I never said that.”

“I know that, Ruby. I’m just saying if you decide to.”

“Hey! You didn’t happen to pick up my scarf from off the ground when we were at Kent, did you?”

“No … why? Did you lose it?”

My heart sinks. “Let’s just go inside,” I say, pulling him by the arm.

“Are you sure? I can leave you alone if you want. You seem like you’ve got a lot on your mind.”

My mind is overflowing, but I don’t want to be alone. Because then I’d have to think about stuff. “Nonononono. Please. Come in.”

“Good,” he says and folds up the papers and tucks them into his coat pocket.

I use the spare key and Charlie stands quietly behind me. Once we are inside the house, it doesn’t take us very long before we are making out. Just enough for him to take off his coat, get the quick tour of the downstairs, and for me to ask him if he wants something to drink.

But kissing Charlie against the cupboards doesn’t feel as good as it did when we were at Kent State. I guess all my problems are way too close to me now. So I press my mouth against his harder and harder and push down on his shoulders until we are both on the kitchen floor. My hands are going crazy, rubbing all over his back and arms.

The automatic door clicks open from the garage underneath the house. The vibrations scatter over the kitchen floor and up through my skin. I should stop kissing him, but I don’t.

“I think your mom’s home.” Charlie pulls back away from my face but I push on him until he rolls onto his back. “Hey!” he says, plucking my fingers off his shiny, metallic Western belt buckle. “What are you doing?”

I laugh, but it doesn’t sound like my voice. And I hold on tighter.

Footsteps creak up the stairs, but I want to push the envelope. The door opens. Charlie tries to pull away but I won’t let him. My short brittle fingernails dig into his neck.

A gasp escapes from my mom at the sight of us in a tangle on the floor. “Ruby!” Her face is twisted up and she covers her eyes with her hand, like we’re naked or something.

Charlie breaks free and stands up. “Hello,” he says, his voice shaking. And then “I should go” quickly thereafter. “I’ll call you later, Ruby.”

This time I let him. Mom is staring at me. Her eyes are welling up. When the front door opens and closes, she says, “You know that boys are not allowed in this house when I’m not here.”

“Sorry, I forgot you were running a convent.”

“Ruby —”

She ruined her life, but I’m not going to let her ruin mine. “Mom, just because you’re afraid to be with guys doesn’t mean I am too.”

“Don’t talk to me like that.”

“Fine. I won’t talk at all. I know you like it better that way.” I stand up, snatch Charlie’s papers, and go to my room to finish my costume.

We’re parked outside of Katherine’s house and she’s taking forever.

I shield the morning sun from my tired eyes and discreetly flip through the stack of pictures hidden in the front pocket of my book bag. I almost forgot the locker-decorating stuff again this morning, but thankfully Maria called to remind me. So on my way out of the house, I grabbed a bunch of random old pictures of me and Beth, along with some streamers and curly ribbons and a roll of tape. Though the whole sentiment feels totally phony.

I should have decorated yesterday, so Beth would arrive and be surprised this morning. But her birthday was about the last thing on my mind. I’m actually not thinking too much about it now, either. I’m just flipping through picture after picture of what our friendship used to be like. Even ones we took last May, during our freshman trip to Lake Erie, seem old and nostalgic.

“Should I call Katherine or something?” Maria asks, tapping her horn again. “I really can’t be late today.” She catches my attention in her rearview mirror and rolls her eyes. Maria was supposed to stop by the office this morning and fill out a slip so that the PA announcers would mention Beth’s birthday over the loudspeakers during homeroom. But at this rate, it’s not going to happen. We’re not even going to make homeroom.

“Here she comes,” Beth says, pointing across Maria’s lap.

Katherine’s front door flings open wide and bangs against the outside railing. Her arms are flailing wildly, and she’s pointing and screaming at someone inside I can’t see. A little girl with white-blonde hair up in a sloppy, slept-on ponytail runs past the front door in a lilac nightgown and ballet slippers. She’s hysterical and grabs onto Katherine’s legs. But Katherine doesn’t seem to notice, too focused on whatever argument she’s in the middle of. She eventually shakes her sister free, steps outside, and pulls the front door closed so hard that the brass door knocker taps down three times. Then she stalks down the driveway, squeezing her book bag to her chest. As she passes in between the two cars parked side-by-side in her driveway, she kicks the old chocolate-brown sedan in the passenger-side door as hard as she can.

“Uh-oh,” Maria says quietly, unlocking the back door. I slide over to the Period Seat, even though it’s Katherine’s second turn in a row skipping it.

Katherine gets inside and fumbles for a cigarette, her hands raw and red and chapped. She pushes down the lighter on the console in between us and chews on the end of her filter while she waits for it to heat up.

“Are you all right?” Beth asks, turning around from the front seat. She tries to brush away a piece of Katherine’s hair from her eyes.

Katherine leans back, just out of Beth’s reach. The lighter pops up. She ignites her cigarette and takes a huge drag that leaves behind a long line of gray ash. “I’m fine,” she says calmly, smoke pouring out the sides of her mouth. “Here,” she adds, fishing something purple and sparkly out of her pocket. She hands it to Beth.

“What’s this?”

“Just a bow I got at the drugstore last night. I thought you could pin it to your shirt or something today. For your fake school birthday.”

“Thank you so much!” Beth says, flipping down the visor and pinning the bow on her red polka-dotted blouse. I hug my book bag and watch the clock on the dashboard. I’ll have to figure out a way to decorate her locker before Beth notices. I can’t let Katherine show me up.

“You’re welcome. Now, listen. I have a favor to ask. About tonight.”

With one more day until the party, the plan is to spend the night at Beth’s house so we can take care of any last-minute preparty stuff like the food, our costumes, and a good mix for the dance floor. We are also going to dip into the little airplane bottles and laugh our way though the lame and unscary Halloween movie marathon that always runs on cable.

“Okay,” Maria says, stopping at a yellow light. “What’s up?”

“Well, do you guys usually go out and mess around on Mischief Night?”

Beth takes a spiral curl and coils it around her finger. “I think last year we TPed someone’s house.”

Maria laughs and changes the radio station. “It was Joey’s house. And he totally deserved it, remember?”

I don’t really remember who Joey is. And honestly I don’t know how Maria does it. I couldn’t imagine kissing anyone other than Charlie. Could she possibly like all the guys she dates? Is Davey really someone special to her, or are they all just interchangeable warm bodies?

Beth turns to face Katherine. “Why?”

Katherine cracks the window, sending a rush of cold air pouring into our toasty car. “Because I’ve got a prank I want to pull on my dad, but I’m going to need your help.”

“Oh, Katherine, I don’t know …” Beth says.

“I’m not going to do anything crazy, okay? I’m just going to cover his stupid-ass car in shaving cream so he won’t be able to sleep over at my mom’s tonight.”

“Don’t you think he’ll just clean up the shaving cream and drive over anyway, if he really wants to see her?” I ask.

Katherine completely ignores me. “They spent all last night fighting and screaming at each other, because my mom wants him to move back in, but he says he wants his independence and whatever. I could barely sleep, and of course my sister and brother are freaking out. Then this morning, they’re making plans for a ‘date night’ tonight like nothing happened. It drives me crazy!”

“But, what about —”

“And we’ll still be able to finish all the stuff for the party and everything. Don’t worry, Beth. It will seriously take like five minutes out of our night.”

“Umm,” Beth says, drumming her fingers on the window. “I still don’t know …”

“Come on! This’ll be fun!”

“I don’t think this is a good idea.” I say this really loud, so I can’t be ignored anymore. I can just see Katherine freaking out and things getting scary.

“I honestly don’t care what you think, Ruby.”

“Well, I’m not going.”

“Who says you’re invited, anyway?”

“Fine with me,” I mumble. “Whatever.”

Nobody says anything else for the rest of the ride. I’m all kinds of uncomfortable, sitting there next to Katherine. She’s obviously trying to make me feel excluded because of how things went down yesterday at the library. I hate that it’s working.

Just as we walk in the doors to school, homeroom bell rings.

“Hey, we should all probably go right to class,” I say, hoisting my book bag onto my shoulders. Thanks to Katherine, we’re officially late, and I don’t want Beth to go to her locker. Maybe I’ll have a chance to decorate it before her next class, if I can convince Mr. Reynolds to give me a bathroom pass. He’s such a Nazi, it’s like he doesn’t believe in peeing.

“I need a pencil,” she says.

“I’ve got one you can borrow in my book bag!” I call out, but she’s already running down the hall. She doesn’t need a pencil. She wants to see how I’ve returned the favor for all the awesome birthday stuff she did for me last week. My stomach rolls over.

Of course, her locker looks like everyone else’s — plain gray institutional metal. She stares at it like she’s waiting for something to happen, for some birthday surprise to materialize.

“Beth, if it wasn’t for Katherine being late, I could have —”

“No.” She shakes me off. “It’s cool. You could have done it yesterday, but you wanted to hang out with your boyfriend or whatever.”

I try to stammer out an apology. I actually feel really bad about this, regardless of all the crap going on between us. Not decorating your best friend’s locker on her birthday is a huge jerky thing to do.

She plants her hands on her hips. “And don’t think I haven’t noticed that you’ve stopped wearing your scarf. What’s wrong? Did you lose it?”

I shake my head, but I know she doesn’t believe me. She just gets angrier and walks away from me, toward her class. “Whatever, Ruby. I guess I’ll just call you later or something.” The way she says it, all sharp and pointy, makes me know that I’m not going to get a call. I’m going to get the
or something.