Hannah’s eyes widened with excitement. “The music videos look cool. Wearing Daisy Dukes, riding on tractors, drinking cheap beer, making out with hot boys with big trucks. Looks like a blast.”
Allie had done none of those things, so she wasn’t sure how to reply. Hearing the wall clock above her ticking, she tried to figure out what Bitty would say in the same situation. Apparently Hannah hadn’t yet noticed she was a social misfit, and Allie didn’t want her to.
Why did I think I could possibly be friends with this girl? she asked herself, wringing her hands together.
Every once in a while a MacBook on the side of Hannah’s bed would make a ringing sound and Hannah would lean over and check something on the screen. “Hey, what’s your Facebook?” Hannah asked, typing something on the keyboard.
Allie had heard of Facebook but wasn’t sure what it was. “Facebook?”
“Yeah, Facebook.” Hannah looked up. “You’ve got to be kidding me. You’re not on Facebook?”
“No.”
“I mean, who doesn’t have a Facebook?” Hannah said, flopping on her stomach. “We’ve got to get you an account. You can find anyone on Facebook.”
Hannah’s words were slurred and practically spilling out of her mouth. Apparently whatever the pills were that she had taken were kicking in.
“So, you ever go alligator wrestling?”
The girl was definitely odd. Allie just stared at her.
Hannah knitted her beautiful brows together. “What?”
Allie shrugged. “Never heard of it.”
“Wha-at? I read that it was, like, a favorite pastime of yours down here in the bayou. There are a ton of videos on YouTube.”
Footsteps sounded in the hallway outside the door. Then a woman’s voice. She was talking to someone and sounded angry.
A few seconds later, there were three sharp knocks at the door.
“Dinner, Hannah!”
Hannah bristled and finally stopped talking. She wiped her nose with her forearm. “God, I hate her.”
A pause. Then, “Did you hear me?” the woman called through the door.
“Yes, I heard you!” Hannah yelled.
“Well, come on then.”
“She so gets on my nerves,” Hannah muttered. “She probably doesn’t even know you’re here. That’s how well she pays attention to my life.” She reached for the tin again, drew out two more pills, and chased them with her Sprite. “I could be blowing an entire hockey team in here and she wouldn’t know.”
Allie stood. “Well, I should probably go.”
Hannah squinted at her. “So is Miss Bitty your mother?”
“No. She’s my, uh, foster mother,” Allie said, the words feeling weird coming out of her mouth.
“Get out! You’re an orphan?”
The word took Allie by surprise. But she was, wasn’t she? It was the first time she had heard the word associated with her. It sounded weird. Her . . . Allie . . . an orphan. “Yeah. I guess I am.”
Hannah gazed at her with those big, beautiful brown eyes.
“What?” Allie demanded.
“I know it’s probably rude to ask, but what happened to your parents?”
“My father left when I was a baby, and my mother’s dead. When she died, my older brother took care of me, but he ended up killing himself last year,” Allie said, surprised to hear the words leave her mouth. But once they did, she instantly felt a little better. As if talking about it, just that little bit, had maybe helped.
Hannah’s eyes widened. Then her mouth spread into a skeptical smile. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No.”
“Holy shit,” Hannah said, apparently still processing everything. “Your brother killed himself?”
Allie nodded.
“Seriously. All of this is the truth?”
“Yeah.”
Three more sharp knocks on the door. “Hannah, baby, are you coming?”
Hannah rolled her eyes, then looked at Allie. “Hey, want to stay for dinner?”
Allie shrugged, squirming a little on the inside. Spending time with Hannah was one thing. But she wasn’t so sure it would be a good idea to meet Hannah’s parents.
“Please? Pretty please?”
The girl looked so beautiful, so hopeful, and before she knew it, Allie heard herself say, “Okay.”
“Oh good!” Hannah squealed. She scrambled off her bed; then she pulled at the short, uneven inseam of her shorts and grinned at Allie.
“Uh, where’s your bathroom?” Allie asked.
“First door on your left. I’m going to go ahead to the table just so her head doesn’t explode. Just meet me in the dining room when you get out. It’s by the front door. You can’t miss it.”
“Okay.” Allie opened the door and stepped into the hallway.
“Oh, and Allie?”
Allie turned to see a mischievous smile on Hannah’s face. “Get ready for a circus.”
Allie stared at choice parts of her face in Hannah’s bathroom mirror. If she looked at certain features and not her face as a whole, maybe she looked okay. Pretty, even. Well, sorta. That is, if you didn’t see her from any of her bad angles and didn’t look too carefully, and if the lighting was decent.
She took several long, deep breaths and tried to get it together. She had just begun having a decent time with Hannah, but now the thought of meeting the girl’s parents made her stomach hurt.
They wouldn’t approve of her.
No one ever did.
Maybe the new clothes would help. Maybe, too, the fact that she lived with the ever-so-popular Miss Bitty would win her some points. She wanted a chance at a friend. Wanted it badly. More than she would’ve thought mere minutes ago. Just the little bit of acceptance she’d already gotten from Hannah had been addictive and she craved more.
She had just gotten a small taste of what Miss Bitty must feel with having so many friends . . . and so many admirers. Miss Bitty had it good. Really good.
Even more reason to be like her.
Be good, she coached herself in the mirror. Don’t say anything stupid and maybe, just maybe, they’ll let you be her friend.
With that, she pushed the door open and forced herself to walk to the dining room.
CHAPTER 24