CHAPTER NINETEEN
FOR THE ENTIRE WEEK, I KEPT MY DISTANCE FROM Joel, not just because it felt a little awkward now, but also because Kira shot me dagger stares every time his name was mentioned. Let’s just say she wasn’t all that appreciative of the ride home he gave me after the party—even when I’d explained myself three times.
And though at this point I had less than stellar feelings toward Mary, what she’d said about the drama—that the shift in captainship would strain mine and Kira’s relationship—rang true. But having to pretend-cheat with Kira’s boyfriend wasn’t going to make it any better.
In reality, I was doing this for her, for all of us. It was my responsibility to catch the copy-Kitten and save our high school. That was what the Smitten Kitten skirt stood for. And if I had to fake it to make it, so be it.
The day of the dance, the Smitten Kittens were huddled in my bedroom while I got dressed. Even though we’d all gotten our hair and makeup done together, I was the only one in a gown. They were dressed in black for the mission, but it was still kind of cute with the dangling earrings and updos. When I came in from the bathroom, Izzie clapped.
“Tess, you look beautiful!”
I smiled. The dress I had was awfully pretty. My mother had surprised me with it the weekend before. Unfortunately my parents were in Seattle this weekend, but I promised to take lots of pictures. I didn’t mention that some of the pictures would be of the spying variety.
My dress was a pale yellow with soft, shimmery fabric billowing out below my waist. Due to a conflict in the schedule, the homecoming game was moved to tomorrow, and luckily, between planning out this mission and navigating best-friend jealousy, I’d put together some fabulous cheers.
Leona looked over the top of the magazine she was reading as she lounged on my bed. “Looks better on you than it did while it was hanging up.”
“Thanks,” I said, blowing out a deep breath. In my depression, I’d ramped up my yoga routine, easily losing the five pounds to make this dress now look perfect. I missed my talks with Joel. And I wouldn’t even begin to think about Aiden.
None of the other Smitten Kittens had a date to the dance. Marco had been seeing someone else, Sam had dumped Izzie, and Kira’s boyfriend, well—we weren’t allowed to talk about him in that context.
“Hey,” Leona said, tossing the magazine on my bed as she sat up. “I need to talk to you about something.”
Kira snickered and I could hear Izzie gulp. Never a good sign.
“Okay…” I was a little worried. Seemed like every time someone wanted to talk to me, it was terrible news. Why didn’t people ever want to talk to me about good things? Like bunnies or cotton candy?
Leona looked into her lap, seeming uncomfortable, then straightened up to meet my eyes. “I’ll just say it.” She exhaled, shaking her head. “Chris Townsend asked me to homecoming.”
I gasped, completely surprised.
“Seems her little outfit worked,” Kira said, playing with her hair in the mirror. “Guess you should have dressed up more, huh, Tess?”
That stung. I turned back to Leona. “Really? Wait, did you say yes?” I wasn’t exactly offended or jealous that he’d asked her. Just…surprised.
“I did,” Leona said, scrunching her nose. “Is that okay with you?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. I mean, I think he’s a nice guy and all. I just…I didn’t know you were into him.”
Leona smiled a little to herself. “I didn’t either. But after the fight and after you left, we started playing pool and…we just clicked. Did you know that he’s planning on majoring in business next year?”
“No,” I said. When I thought about it, there wasn’t much I did know about Chris Townsend other than the fact that he was a good football player.
“He has a total five-year plan,” Leona said, sounding way more interested than I could have thought possible.
“Well, I think it’s spectacular,” I said. “He’s a total catch. I’m really happy for you, Leona.” I smiled at her, completely proud that my Kitten had just found her Tom Cat. Leona grinned back and thanked me.
“Gets you off the hook,” Kira said, applying some lip gloss. “Not that you liked him anyway.” She looked over her shoulder at me, narrowing her eyes.
I felt like the curls in my hair were going to wilt next to the negativity that Kira was sending my way. I understood that she didn’t want Joel involved with this operation, but truly, if she wanted to catch this copy-Kitten and move on with him, she needed to adjust her attitude. I sighed, turning away from her.
“Here’s the plan,” Izzie said as she sat crisscross applesauce in the pink beanbag in the corner of my room. She unfolded the itinerary that Leona had printed up for her. “In”—she checked her watch—“twenty minutes, Tessa will call Joel and tell him she has to speak to him urgently.” She flicked an uncomfortable glance at Kira, but Kira wasn’t listening. She was sitting on my desktop, painting her nails and blowing on them. Izzie cleared her throat and continued.
“Tessa will ask him to meet her under the bleachers in the gymnasium.” Izzie paused to sigh. She looked at me wistfully. “That was the first place Sam kissed me.”
“Stay on task,” Leona said, rolling her eyes.
“Sorry. Okay, so Tessa will meet him under the bleachers. Before she gets there, we’ll set our positions in the rafters and in the hallway, the back door and the school entrance. No way this copy-Kitten is getting in undetected.”
“We’re going to nail her,” I said to Izzie, trying to sound brave.
Kira scoffed. “It’s ‘screw,’ remember, Tess?”
I opened my mouth to correct her but then decided not to. I motioned with my hand for Izzie to continue.
“Well,” she said. “Once the copy-Kitten intersects your call with Joel, they’ll probably figure out a way to bug you or him. I mean, that’s what we’d do, right?” She glanced around and we all nodded.
“So once you two are there…you’re really going to have to play it up.” She winced a little. “You know this might end your friendship with him, right? I mean, you’re sort of going to be throwing yourself at him.”
I thought I heard a sound from behind me, but I didn’t turn to Kira. I just nodded. I’d considered that, and even though I absolutely didn’t like the idea of ending my friendship with Joel (especially by looking improper), I knew it was for the best.
I glanced over to Leona, who pressed her lips in a smile and nodded at me. “You’ll be great, Tess,” she said softly, possibly reading the sadness in my face.
“Thanks,” I whispered.
“Wonderful. Now let’s go over it one more time,” Kira said, hopping down from the desk to grab her backpack from the floor and unzipping it. She’d finally agreed to help with this case, even though she clearly didn’t want to. “I have the zoom lens, the binoculars, and the infrared camera. Leona has the rope packed in her car. My course is in the rafters.”
“It’ll be perfect,” I said. Above the gym there was a walkway that the janitors had erected to get to the lights and ceiling during some recent renovations. It would be the prime spot to spy from. And since it was her boyfriend down there, Kira probably knew that.
“It’s almost time,” Izzie said, checking her watch. She and Leona exchanged a worried glance.
I took a steadying breath, glancing toward my phone where it sat on my side table. It was convenient that this year the dance would be held in the cafeteria. Not nearly as glamorous as a restaurant or even the gym, but it suited our situation well.
“Have you figured out what you’re going to say yet?” Kira asked, trying to look disinterested.
“Sort of. I’m thinking of telling him something happened with Aiden and me? I don’t know. Do you think that’ll work?”
“Just be hot,” Leona said, not looking up. “All guys care about is hot.”
“Excuse me,” Kira scoffed. “That’s my boyfriend you’re talking about.”
“Right,” Leona responded. “Then play dumb, Tessa. That seems to work.”
I was about to scold her when the doorbell rang, startling me. I looked toward the door, my dress shifting with an adorable whooshing sound.
“Were you expecting someone?” Kira asked, maybe a little suspicious.
“No.” And I really wasn’t. With my eyebrows pulled together, I walked through my house and crossed the kitchen to the front door. I swung it open and gasped.
“Hi.”
It was Aiden. He was standing there, unshaven, disheveled. Wait, was he wearing pajamas? I shook my head, as if to ask him what he was doing here.
“I know you don’t want to talk to me right now,” he said, his voice scratchy. “I know…you probably hate me. But I just wanted to see you before you went to the dance. You look beautiful.”
I felt my cheeks blush, but I quickly pushed any affection I had away. I was about to start a mission. I couldn’t let Aiden distract me.
“I can’t talk to you right now,” I said, folding my arms across my chest.
“Will you ever?” he asked back quickly. “Will you ever talk to me again?” He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “I’m going crazy, Tess.”
I stared at him then, looked at him for a long moment before responding. I closed my eyes. “No. I don’t think I will.”
I couldn’t see him, but I heard him let out a soft cry. There was a stabbing pain in my chest and I opened my eyes to look down at the fabric of my dress, wishing I could just spin around to watch it flow around me, forgetting about Aiden and Mary.
When I finally got up enough courage to look at him, his head was hanging, his hand was over his mouth. I saw tears drip from his cheeks to the ground. It was too much—watching this was too much right now. I needed to get back inside and call Joel.
“I’m sorry, I have to go,” I said quickly, swiping under my eyes to make sure my makeup was safe. “Thanks for coming by, Aiden. But tonight’s homecoming and…” I had started to go back inside when he reached out to take my arm.
“Tessa…”
“Have a good night,” I said, pulling my arm out of his hand and not looking at him. “Goodbye, Aiden.” My voice cracked on his name, but I swished my way through my door.
“I still love you, Tessa,” Aiden called after me before I shut the door.
By the time I got back to my bedroom, my makeup was a lost cause. Once my ex-boyfriend set foot on my property, I was a goner. But the minute I walked in my room, I grabbed the box of tissues off my desk and began blowing.
“Who was it?” Kira asked, sounding annoyed.
“Aiden,” I answered, my voice thick with tears.
“I still can’t believe he went all the way with Mary,” Izzie squeaked, getting up to come over to the bed and sitting next to Leona. She patted it for me for sit down too. I nodded, unable to talk as I blew my nose into the tissue.
“Well, Mary is pretty,” Kira said from across the room. I looked up at her, blurry eyed.
“But in a skanky way,” Leona added, smiling for support. “Like some other cheerleaders we know.” Kira narrowed her eyes but didn’t respond.
After another minute of feeling sorry for myself, I felt Leona’s hand on my shoulder. “I know you’re sad, Tess,” she said. “But it’s after seven. You have to pull yourself together. Let’s finish this assignment and then we’ll all set out on a new mission. To get boyfriends.”
“Um, hello,” Kira called. “I still have one.”
“Yeah, whatever.” Leona climbed off the bed and stood in front of me as I sat on the edge of my bed, tissue still covering my nose. “Sharpen up,” Leona said, bending down to get close to my face. “Mission starts now.”
With the Smitten Kittens’ help, I managed to look halfway decent and lose my blotchy crying skin. We tweaked the plan, and I decided to call Joel once I got to the gym, making it a little easier for the copy-Kitten to intercept. Chances were, they were already following me.
I walked into the gymnasium, my heels clicking on the wood floors and echoing in the air. It was creepy. I knew that the girls were already here, arriving twenty minutes before me, but I didn’t dare look toward them. In case the copy-Kitten was here, I didn’t want to give up our position.
I sorted through my purse and pulled out my pink phone, dialing Joel’s preprogrammed house number. He answered on the first ring, and I smiled. I loved promptness.
“Hello?” He sounded confused.
“Hi, Joel. It’s Tessa.”
“Really?” He laughed. “I thought you were avoiding me.” I shifted in my heels, surprised he had noticed.
“I wasn’t avoiding you. I was…busy.”
“Busy avoiding me.”
I twitched my nose, wondering if I’d hurt his feelings by not talking to him. I really didn’t like the idea of that. “I’m sorry,” I said.
“Fine. You’re forgiven. But you owe me a vanilla Frappuccino.”
I smiled, wishing I could just do this tonight—talk with a friend. But that wasn’t part of the deal, and after tonight, Joel might never speak to me again.
I walked over to the wall, my heels clicking. I bent down to sit against it—even in my pale yellow dress. Once on the floor, I exhaled.
“Aiden came to see me today,” I confided, only half acting.
The phone made a rustling sound on Joel’s end. “Again? What did he say? Are you all right?”
“I don’t know,” I murmured. “I don’t know anything anymore.” I almost started crying, but I sniffled and straightened my back, ignoring the slight twitch there.
“He’s being a jerk off,” Joel said, sounding authentic. “He needs to leave you alone now.”
I appreciated the protective tone in his voice. I let it soothe me.
“Is there anything I can do?” he asked softly.
Here it was, my chance. But for a second, I wanted to tell him to meet me somewhere else altogether and maybe go for corn dogs. There was a noise from above me.
I closed my eyes. “Can you meet me?” I asked, trying to focus on the mission. “I’m at the gym.”
“What are you doing there?”
“It’s a long story.” And it certainly was.
“Um…You need me now?”
“Yes. Right now.” I couldn’t believe I was doing this.
Joel was quiet. Then, “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
ASSIGNMENT 5
6:50 P.M., SEPTEMBER 25
The operative bit off the ends of her red nails as she watched from the supply closet. It was a perfect view to where Tessa was standing under the bleachers. She looked nice, dressed up so delicately. It almost was enough to forget the fact that she was a liar.
The operative watched through her night-vision lens as Tessa talked on her phone, walking over to the wall to slide down to the ground. For a minute, the operative felt a small pang of regret, seeing the sadness on Tessa’s face. But she pushed it away. Tessa had brought this upon herself.
Under the bleachers, Tessa clicked off her phone and dropped it to the floor next to her feet, exhaling loudly. She looked nervous.
She should. The operative just needed to get through this, and then she had a revenge planned that would be so much worse than what happened at the party. So much more damaging.
Tessa pushed herself up off the floor. She swiped at her dress with both hands, making sure it was clean.
For a second, the operative froze as Tessa’s gaze touched on the half-open storage closet across from her. But a sound from the hallway made Tessa turn.
Just then, the door pushed open just enough for Tessa to react to who was about to enter.
She smiled.