I was a liar with a monster tail. I felt disgusting all the way to the core of my soul. I stood in the shower for over an hour, head down, eyes fixed on my purpling foot blisters. At one point, I nearly blacked out from the steam and the thoughts that I carried with me—dark, overwhelming, shameful thoughts.
If I had been a different person, maybe it would have been enough to say, We found Izzy. Izzy is safe. Everything worked out. But the images hung in my mind like ornaments on a tree. And the anger dug a hole in me and hatched, and I was all clogged up with images and anger, and a nagging fear that Jean wouldn’t forgive me and the Unlikelies would disband forever. And a nagging fear that Gordie Harris didn’t like me anymore.
I dabbed ointment on the foot blisters and put on my soft cotton robe. I sat on the bed, with all the fans blowing on me, and stared at my phone. I had to try again. Jean, I am so sorry I said that. I was stressed out and I got pissed when you called me a whiner and it just came out. Our friendship means SO much to me. Please forgive me. Sadie.
And then I fell asleep.
I woke to the smell of garlic and the sounds of dishes clattering. I was starving.
“Well, well, well, look who it is.” Dad put his paper down and stood up from the kitchen table to hug me. I wanted to cry. “Tell me about the trip.”
I didn’t have the energy to search for lies. “It was so hot. Look at my feet.”
“Oh, man, you need to wear better shoes when you’re walking around.”
“Woody, do you want salad?” Mom licked sauce off a wooden spoon.
“Nah, just give me the good stuff.”
I could hear the news guy’s voice from the living room. “Here’s a bizarre story out of the East Village. A drug operation has been outed by a mysterious group calling themselves the Unlikelies.” I casually grabbed a section of Dad’s paper and wandered over to the couch.
The building near Fourteenth Street was sectioned off, accessorized by yellow tape, bustling with police and reporters. They showed footage of people being taken out late at night in handcuffs. At the very end, before they cut back to the reporter, I saw Izzy. She looked like how I had imagined a heroin addict would look. She no longer looked anything like Neigh from Girl Scouts. It broke my heart.
According to the news, the nest was a movement, an insidious barter system where desperate young addicts went to exchange sex and stolen merchandise for drugs. And the main headquarters, which had eluded authorities until the Unlikelies’ tip, was in a grungy building off Fourteenth Street. By the time Izzy’s parents got there with their lawyers and their hired security, multiple agencies had pulled out nearly a hundred minors, including Izzy, and twenty-seven lizards.
It was a lizards’ nest.
The shellacked news guy turned to his coanchor. “This Unlikelies group has established itself as an anti-trolling, anti-bullying network on the Internet. Its reach extends as far as Scotland and Singapore. It appears the group has now taken to the streets,” he said.
“Really? So it’s like a group of vigilantes, of sorts?” the coanchor said.
“Seems so.”
I texted Gordie, How did I just see we’ve been anti-trolling in Scotland and Singapore?
Remember I was developing a program to sniff out troll and bully threads and hit them with our avatar? Mission accomplished. (Working on translating to other languages.) You’re a genius!
Really? I thought I was nerd boy.
That was it. No I have to see you. Nothing. And not a word from Jean.
Me: Do you want to hang out?
Gordie: Can’t. Stuff going on at home.
Me: Are you sure you’re not mad at me?
Gordie: I’m sure. Talk soon.
Me (to Jean): Please. Please. Please. Please. Talk to me.
Jean: Silence.
Val: I just wanted to tell you guys they are talking about the Unlikelies on the Today show. I cannot believe this.
I turned the channel and caught the very end of the segment. They were talking about the nest bust and how we were taking down troll mill chat rooms all over the world with the avatar. It was so weird to see the masked Civil War soldiers, to see us, on national TV.
I FaceTimed Val. “I am stunned right now.”
“How are we all over the world?”
“Gordie figured out a program that sniffs out troll bully language and slaps the avatar on the threads. His genius nerd boy ass is figuring out how to translate the software, or something like that.”
“That’s much more efficient than dropping off care packages,” Val said.
“I like the care packages,” I said, biting into a day-old bagel. “Hey, are you going to forgive Alice? Because I need us back together. I have anxiety.”
“I already forgave Alice. I’m a very forgiving person, Sadie.”
“So why isn’t she responding to our texts?”
“I think she’s in a bad place.”
“Let’s check on her later,” I said. “Hey, Val?”
“Yeah?”
“I miss us.”
“Us will be back, Sadie. We’re just all taking a little break.”
“I don’t like little breaks.”
“Clearly.” She laughed.
“You okay?” I said.
“You’d be proud of me. Javi texted to see if I wanted to talk and I ignored it.”
“I am proud of you. Love you, Val!”
“Love you, too, mi amiga.”
I was glad to get back to the farm stand and the regulars and even the city people with their white pants and expensive shoes. Daniela laughed when a lady with a gravelly voice and oversize sunglasses held up a bunch of sunflowers and asked me how much in Spanish.
“I don’t speak Spanish,” I said flatly.
I delivered lemonades to the farm stand guys and was exchanging my hummus and carrots for their doughnut holes, when an old Lincoln town car showed. I nearly passed out because, for a second, I thought it was Mr. Upton.
It was Sissy.
I left the rest of the hummus with Papi and rushed out to the car. Sissy felt like my only living link to Mr. Upton, and my relationship with the old guy had gone from The peach is fine–stop inspecting it to Thanks for nominating me as a homegrown hero to I guess I’ll unlock the suitcase and make amends for your dead lizard to What the holy hell am I supposed to do with a heaping pile of yellow diamonds?
“Sissy! It’s so good to see you. The farm stand hasn’t been the same without you guys.” I greeted her with a big hug and she filled me in on her life. Mr. Upton had been true to his word, and Sissy received an inheritance from his will. She had taken her kids and grandkids down to Trinidad for a wonderful family reunion.
“I wanted to check on you and see how you’re healing. How are you, my dear?” She ran her fingertip over the monster tail, now mostly covered by my growing bangs.
“I’m good. Thank you for asking.” We moved under the shade of the willow tree. “Oh, Sissy, wait. I have a treat.” I ran into the farm stand and brought out a container of wild blueberries, the ones that come out only two weeks a year.
We ate berries and talked about Trinidad and my parents and some of the regular customers, and then I just said it. Because I was a balloon, so full of secrets, so ready to bust open, I couldn’t keep it in one more second.
“Sissy, I really need to talk to you about that suitcase Mr. Upton gave me.”