The Night Sister

“Yeah,” Piper said, her palm sweaty as Amy held it tightly, gave it a squeeze. Piper had never kissed anyone, but she thought about it all the time. She stared at the lips of all the boys she knew, studying their shape and the way they moved when the boys talked. She tried to imagine their lips touching hers, wondering if it mattered whether or not they had the soft, peach-fuzz beginnings of a mustache. She wondered if it tickled, and how you arranged your heads so that noses didn’t get in the way.

Jason Hawke was in their grade, a scrawny boy who lived practically next door to Piper and Margot, in one of the condos on the back side of the hill Amy lived on. His hair was a little too long (but not long enough to be cool), and he was always creeping around with a magnifying glass, trying to show them how neat tree bark or a little green beetle looked through it. Margot said she felt bad for him, because he seemed lonely. Piper thought he was just a geek. A few months ago, he’d given Amy a note written in secret code. She hadn’t even tried to decipher it, which had seemed a terrible disappointment to Jason.

“I’ll show you,” Amy said, and before Piper could say anything or even think about what was going to happen next, Amy’s lips were on hers, slick with lip gloss. Her small tongue probed gently at Piper’s mouth, coaxing it open. Piper opened her lips and tasted strawberry lip gloss and the moist heat of Amy’s breath. Piper made a soft moaning sort of sound, an I-surrender-to-this-and-whatever-might-happen-next sigh, and leaned into the kiss. The tower around her seemed to shift and spin a little. Piper was sure it was going to come crashing down on them right then, at that very moment.

Then she sensed movement, actual movement—not from the tower, but from a shadow that passed over them. She looked up. Someone was there, in the doorway, watching. She froze, jerked away.

The shadowy figure backed up into the light, and Piper saw his face.

“Jason?” Piper heard Margot call; she must have been coming up the driveway that led toward the tower. “Have you seen Piper and Amy?”

Jason bolted from the doorway without answering, and disappeared outside.

“Hey! Wait a sec,” Margot called. They could hear her footsteps running after him. Then both their footsteps stopped.

Piper and Amy held very still and listened. Piper leaned back against the wall; the stones felt cool through her T-shirt.

“Where are you going?” Margot asked.

“Home,” Jason said.

“So did you see Piper and Amy?” Margot asked.

Piper crouched lower in the shadows and looked over at Amy, but couldn’t read her expression. She didn’t look worried or stressed, that was for sure. If Piper had to guess, she’d say Amy seemed mildly amused.

“Nah,” Jason said.

“Want to help me look for them?” Margot asked.

“Can’t,” Jason said.

“Are you going to be around later?” Margot asked. “You were going to show me the telescope you got. Remember?”

“Not tonight,” Jason said. “Maybe another time.”

“It’s just that I was thinking of asking for one for my birthday, and I wanted to see yours. To see if maybe that’s the exact kind I should ask for.”

“It’s a Tasco. My mom got it at the hobby shop.” Footsteps crunched on the gravel again, fading, like they were heading up the hill. Jason going home.

“Okay, see ya!” Margot called. Jason didn’t answer.

“I think your little sister has a crush on Jay Jay,” Amy whispered.

“Does not,” Piper said.

Margot was close now; they could hear her footsteps approaching the doorway of the tower.

“Piper? Amy?” she called, her voice echoing.

“Shh,” Amy hissed, finger to her lips, smiling. “Come on.” Still holding Piper’s hand, she led her to the ladder. Piper followed Amy up to the second floor, trying to move up the splintery ladder as silently and gracefully as Amy. They crouched below one of the three long slit-shaped windows. It was darker up there. Amy squeezed Piper’s hand. Piper tried to slow her breathing. She wondered why they were bothering to hide; it seemed kind of mean, but exhilarating at the same time.

Piper reached with her right hand, and touched Amy gently on the face. Amy turned and looked at her, smiling a conspiratorial smile, and then the smile faded. Amy looked so serious it made Piper’s stomach hurt.

“You’re a better kisser than Jason Hawke,” Amy whispered, leaning close.