“Are you okay?” I asked as I gave her a hug. At least she was cool to the touch. “I heard you were sick.”
“Sick? Me? Never! I just needed a little Kat time.” She turned to my grandmother. “It was very nice to meet you, Mrs. Bradley. You have a lovely home.” So polite she was.
So bizarre.
Nana beamed. “You, too, sweetheart. And thank you very much for the compliment. You girls have fun, okay.”
“We will,” I said.
Nana gave me a thumbs-up, so proud that I’d finally made a friend, before leaving me alone with Kat.
“Your parents let you take time off just to take time off?” I asked, envious.
“Yep. My dad—and uh, my mom—say kids deserve breaks, too.”
My mom would have told her mom to wash that crazy talk out of her mouth. You should never take time off from learning.
“Are you sure you’re okay? Because I—”
“We are so not breaking out the violins and pity partying.”
I couldn’t help but snort. If I’d needed convincing that we were meant to be friends, that would have clinched it. “You just turned pity partying into a verb.”
“Well, I’m cool like that. So aren’t you curious about how I knew where you lived when you’ve never given me your address?” She pinched her fingers together. “Even a tiny bit?”
“Well, yeah. So how did you?”
With a clap and a twirl, she said, “Frosty texted me all day long, checking on me. I told him to make himself useful and find out about you. I would have texted you and asked you, but word on the street is that you spent the morning with Cole and I didn’t want to interrupt anything illicit. And by the way, I’ll want the entire story when I’m finished with mine. Anyway, Cole knew your addy, the naughty boy, so Frosty knew your addy, and boom, here I am.” She splayed her arms. “In all my exquisite glory.”
“Wait. Back up a bit. Are you and Frosty getting back together?” All that texting had to mean—
“No! Yes. Oh, I don’t know.” She threw herself on top of my bed, bouncing up and down. “I mean, I firmly believe that if a guy walks away from you, he should have to crawl back. Frosty hasn’t done enough crawling.”
I thought for a moment. “What if Cole was being truthful, and Frosty never actually cheated on you?” As rough as the guys were, I couldn’t imagine them lying about, well, anything. They wouldn’t care about consequences. What I could imagine was both of them getting in everyone’s face and saying, I did it. That’s right. Me. What are you gonna do about it?
“Here’s a free life lesson for you. Boys always cover for other boys. They will lie to your face and behind your back.” After fluffing the pillows and finding a comfortable position, she said, “Now it’s your turn. Spill what happened today!”
As I paced in front of the bed, I told her that Cole and I had gone for a drive. That he’d asked me slashed commanded me to meet him at Reeve’s party for a non-date, and that I’d said yes. She listened, enraptured, as if I were proclaiming that the end of the world was near and there was only one way to save herself. I didn’t mention the forest, though, or the tree trap, or the visions. As Cole had said, those were private.
“He never goes to parties, especially for non-dates,” she said, gaping at me. “I think he really really likes you.”
“Really?” Okay. How pathetic was I? “Well, it doesn’t matter because I’m going with Justin Silverstone. As friends.”
A slow smile lifted the corner of her lips. “Justin. The same Justin who spoke to you at lunch?”
“Yes.”
“When did you two have time to hook up?”
“It wasn’t a hookup. We ride the same bus and started talking.”
“Oh, sweetie…I can’t wait…this is gonna be so epic, and even though you don’t know why and I won’t tell because that would spoil everything, you just made me the happiest girl in the world—and now, I’m gonna make you the second happiest. I’m taking you to spy on Cole.” Gleeful, she rubbed her hands together. “Life lesson number two. Spying is the best—and only—way to learn the truth.”
I’d been all set to interrogate her about Justin when my attention snagged on two words. Cole and spying. No way. Just no way. He’d catch us.
“I bet we’ll get to see him shirtless,” she said.
“I’m in,” I found myself saying.
“Awesome! Because we’re going tonight!”
In the dark? I almost yelped. “O-okay.”
“So enthused,” she said drily.
Too many things could go wrong. What if I saw the monsters out in public? How would I react? And then there was the tiny crossbow Cole had stashed in an ankle holster. Surprising him was so not a good idea.
“Maybe we should rethink this. I’m not sure—”
She popped to her feet and grabbed my hand. “Nope. No reneging. You’ll thank me for this. I promise.”
“But…”
“La la la la, can’t hear you.”
Emma sooo would have done that, and I kind of grunt laughed.