I had, too.
After Shay and Priya bounded up the front walk again, Shay holding a bag, we all went into the living room and sat down. Mom peeked in and smiled so wide I thought her head might explode. “Well, hello, everybody! It’s really great to see you!”
“Hi, Mrs. Barnes,” they all said.
“Can I get you anything?”
We shook our heads.
“No? Okay, well, I won’t bother you. Stay as long as you’d like!”
I pretended not to see Mom mouth “Thanks” to Katrina before she left.
“So, we have something for you,” Priya said. She pulled a box out of the bag and handed it to me.
“Oh?” I wanted to be mad. But they looked so goofy. “Okay?”
They’d wrapped the box in pink paper and tied a big white bow. I opened it, knowing there would be some sort of silly joke gift inside. Priya loved giving joke presents. For my birthday she’d given me “the perfect man,” a man-doll keychain who, when you pressed his belly, said things like, Okay, honey, whatever you say, and Honey, what I really want to do is go to Bed Bath and Beyond. So totally sexist, I know, but it cracked me up anyway. I still had it somewhere.
But this wasn’t a joke. Inside was a pair of the prettiest, softest turquoise pajamas I’d ever seen.
“They’re silk,” Shay said.
“They’re beautiful.” I got a little teary. I fingered the white lace at the neckline. The same lace lined the cuffs of the pants. “Thank you.”
“We bought them for you a couple of weeks ago, but we weren’t organized enough to actually mail them. We’re sorry,” Priya said.
“Really sorry,” Shay added.
“It’s true,” Katrina mouthed.
I was still mad. Don’t get me wrong. They’d totally blown me off. But Katrina was right. The whole thing—me being in Wallingfield—was weird. I didn’t even know how to address it with other people, and I was the one who’d been there. “It’s okay,” I said, and I meant it.
“So,” Katrina asked, clearly relieved. I could practically see her checking us off her mental to-do list. “When are you coming back to school?”
“Tomorrow.”
“That’s awesome!”
I wasn’t so sure.
“What else is going on?” Katrina asked. “Who have you talked to?”
I wasn’t sure whether to mention Tristan or not.
But these were my friends. “So, I’m sort of friends with Tristan McCann now.”
Katrina looked at me, face blank. “Tristan?” She furrowed her brows. “Tristan McCann? Charlie’s Tristan?”
I nodded.
“Wow. How did that happen?”
Priya squealed a little.
I told them everything. When I finished, I pulled out the brass ring from under my clothes.
“Holy crap. Are you going to go out with him?” That was from Shay.
“Tristan is pretty hot, in his own dark and brooding way,” Priya added.
Katrina just waited for me to actually answer the question.
“No! No. I mean, I don’t think so. We’re friends. He just sort of gets me.”
“Wow. So, just friends, huh? You sure about that?” Katrina raised one eyebrow.
“Yes! Totally. Just friends.” At least, I thought we were friends.
“Okay, if you say so.”
An alarm went off on Katrina’s phone. “Damn it. I have to go. Mom will kill me if I’m late for my session. Come on, you guys.”
They couldn’t leave. I wanted us all to curl up on the sofa and talk until it got dark. “Do you have to go?”
“I’ll text you later.” Katrina hugged me and stepped out into the sunlight. Priya squeezed me, too, and so did Shay. “I’m really sorry about not calling,” she whispered in my ear. “But I’m so glad you’re home.”
“Me too,” I said back. And for the first time since leaving Wallingfield, I meant it.
45
My menu called for chicken stir-fry with fresh veggies for dinner. I was almost looking forward to it. Mom made a mean stir-fry. She used almost no oil. As she cut the chicken, she weighed the pieces on the scale Dad had picked up that afternoon after his conversation with Sally. I loved that thing, even if I was forbidden to touch it.
I got a text right after I’d sat down. My phone was on the counter, just past the table.
I stood up to get it, but Dad frowned. “No texting until you finish dinner.”
It was pointless to argue, so I ate as fast as I could, only struggling with the last bit of white rice. If I’d had more time, I might have enjoyed it even more. I’d missed vegetables so much at Wallingfield.
The last bite was still in my mouth when I asked, “May I be excused?”
“Maybe we should have people text you more often,” Dad said, clearly astounded at my eating speed. To tell the truth, so was I. “You’re excused.”
“Thanks!” I jumped out of my seat and pretended not to hear him ask me to clear my plate. In my room, I flung myself on my bed, opened up my phone, and found a text from Tristan:
You surviving?
It had been thirty minutes since he’d sent it. I hoped I hadn’t missed him.
Me: You there?
Tristan: Yes, I’m still here.
Tristan: What are you doing?
Me: just finished dinner
Tristan: I’m going somewhere. Want to come?
Me: Where?
Tristan: Does it matter?
Me: I guess not.
Tristan: Good. I’ll be there in ten minutes.
Me: Where are we going?
Me: Hello?
Me: Tristan?
I threw the phone down and jumped off my bed. I had nothing to wear. Everything was so small. I had larger clothes that I’d boxed up a few months ago and put in the attic, but there was no freaking way I was going to drag them down now. What if they actually fit? Just the possibility made me want to go downstairs and throw away all the food in the fridge. Besides, there wasn’t time to try anything on now, and even if there was, they’d probably smell weird from being up there—like attic, all dusty and old. And who wants to smell like that? Not me.
I’d just dumped my clean laundry bin out on the floor and was about two seconds away from total meltdown mode (tears, general hysteria) when Mom appeared at my door. “Elizabeth, honey, what are you doing?”
I dug through the pile of T-shirts and sweatpants in frustration. “I don’t have anything to wear. What am I going to do?” I could hear the shriek in my voice. “I’m going to look awful. I should never have agreed to go.”
Mom didn’t ask any questions, like where I might be going, or who with. She just said, “Take a deep breath. I have something for you. I was going to give it to you tomorrow, but maybe now is a better time.”
She disappeared and returned a minute later with a large Urban Outfitters bag. Inside were four pairs of the same jeans, in different sizes. Bigger sizes. Same with four pairs of green corduroys, two cute black dresses, two blue sweaters, and two white long-sleeved shirts.