“Yep.” She lifted herself onto her elbows. “This is an intervention, Kit-Kat.”
“I don’t have time for an intervention, Kimbles. I have to go to work.”
“We can do this the easy way, or the hard way, but it’s happening,” she shrugged.
“What’s the easy way?”
“You agree to stop being such a grumpy bitch, right now, and promise to at least try to enjoy our last week of high school. Have some fun and stuff.”
“Okay, fine. Easy. Can you get off my car now?”
Kimber shrugged and hopped off my car. “Okay,” she sighed. “Have it your way.”
I tossed my things into the seat next to me and left like I was late. I wasn’t, but I just needed to be as far away from all the things that were reminding me of all the things.
I was getting on the freeway when a ginger with six inches of brown roots popped up from the back seat and said, “Wow. I can’t believe you picked the hard way.”
I screamed. This awkwardly transitioned into “Aaaas I live and breathe! Kayley! Why are you here?”
“As I live and breathe,” she mocked and laughed, and climbed into the front seat. She pushed my stuff off onto the floor and clicked into the seatbelt. “I’m here because you picked the hard way. Duh.”
“Uh. No I didn’t.”
“Yes you did. I heard you, Kats. Did you apologize for being and über biotch? No. Did you promise you’d try and not be such a pain in the ass? No, again. Was there even a hint toward something fun? Also no. See, Kims and I, we know you, we know the difference between sincere Kat, who means what she says and ‘liar liar pants on fire,’ Kat-scat. Scat means poo by the way, in case you didn’t know, Kat-poo.”
“Yeah. I know what scat is, Kays.”
“Look I don’t know details, and Kims told me it was protected by the ‘Crossed Fingers Secret Keeper Code’ so I respect that, but I also know what all this is about — because it’s freaking obvious, and I gotta say, you’re being a complete hypocrite.”
“Am I?” I challenged.
“Omigawd Kat, you’re in a funk because of some guy. A guy, Kat. That’s not you. That’s like aliens abducted you and switched out your brain with creamed spinach or something.”
“Creamed spinach?”
“Yeah. It’s super gross.”
“Except it’s completely not.”
Kayley rolled her eyes. “Agree to disagree, but fine, have it your way, not creamed spinach then… lima beans. Your brain is full of lima beans.”
“Ew. Lima beans are seriously gross, Kays.”
“I know,” she sighed. “They’re bitter, and powdery,” she scrunched up her face. “And it’s exactly like being around your nasty mood that’s all because of a guy!” she scoffed. “Everybody deserves better than lima beans, Kat.”
The worst part was, she was right. I was being a total lima bean. When we got to AIM I parked in my usual spot and held my hand up between us and crossed my fingers. Kayley gasped and returned the gesture.
“You’re totally right, Kays, I’ve become a total hypocrite. And I need your advice.”
“What!?” she squealed. “What the freak kind of alternate universe is this?”
“I’m out of my territory, here, Small Fry. I don’t know what to do.”
“Okay,” she shrugged, undid her seatbelt, turned toward me and tapped the side of her head. “let’s see what I’ve got.”
“I fell in love.”
Kayley lifted her brows and nodded. “With like… a person?”
“Yeah.”
“So far, so good,” she encouraged with a thumbs up.
“And it’s super complicated. For reals, I could write a total fantasy fiction book about how complicated our relationship is and people would still huff about how unrealistic it is because it’s that complicated.”
“Yikes, okay well, give me like, the book blurb version or something.”
“Okay well, let me think about it for a second.” I cleared my throat and put on my best announcer announcing voice. “Okay so… D and Kat met without meeting, and fell in love. Then D and Katie met IRL, and didn’t get on well from the start. The twist is, Kat and Katie are the same person, and she knows if D ever finds out, she’s going to lose the only guy she’s ever loved. Oh, and he’s about to find out.”
“Woah. Is this like a time travel thing?”Kayley looked confused.
“I wish. It’s more secret identity thing. If time travel was a thing I could go back and maybe fix things. Or at least warn myself.”
“Not if you could only travel back 13 seconds. You can’t do much with that, except you know, fix a single mistake you just made and also realized you just made,” she shook her head and rolled her eyes. “So that’s basically useless for anything other than like, tripping over stuff.”
No idea what she was on about. “Huh?”
“It was a movie I watched with Dad,” she explained. “Time travel isn’t really my thing, it’s too confusing. But, look, I get what you’re sort of saying, I think. Bottom line, if this D-bag guy doesn’t love the whole Kit-Kat and Katie-Kaboodle, he’s not worth it. And you’d freaking know that if your brains weren’t made of lima beans.”
And I was suddenly awash with an overwhelming feeling of— DUH! “You’re right, Kays. I mean, you’re totally right! I’ve been such an idiot.”
“In love.” Kayley tacked on. “Idiot in love. It happens.” Kayley shrugged. “But since when do you have a secret identity?”
“It’s only sort of secret.” I got out of the car and pointed out the billboard with me and Jules on it.
Kayley twisted her head one direction and then the other looking at it, and then she looked at me, then back at the billboard. “Okay, weird. I seriously never noticed that was you. How long has that been up there?”
“Almost a year.”
“Wow. Okay. I’ve really got to start paying better attention to stuff. I guess that explains my grades,” she sighed.
Chapter 38
Kayley’s pep talk was surprisingly helpful, but — no surprise here — it was Julian who finally managed to get me completely un-bitched.
He was relentless during practice. Everything we did we did again, and again, and again. It sounds harsh, but I’ve never felt anything other than encouraged by Julian. It’s hard not to when he smiles at me and says, “Again.”
And he always demands all of my attention and focus while we’re practicing or performing, but I got so caught up in him and what we were doing that it wasn’t until well after practice had ended that I realized I hadn’t thought of anything outside of Julian and our routine since we’d started. I’d even forgotten Kayley was there.
It was a good reminder that I needed to get the rest of my life focused on other things. I was moving to Las Vegas in a week. It would only be part time, but it was happening. I was about to become a big sister… that was going to have basically no impact on my life other than not feeling weird about being in the kids and babies section of stores.
That was pretty much all I had going on, aside from some reading I wanted to get caught up on. Apparently book six introduces the white wolf, who according to Kimber, “—turns the whole story completely upside-over.” Her exact words.
It doesn’t sound like a lot, but when I stopped to consider that in a little over a week my life would be unrecognizable by comparison, it was everything. It was me completely not focusing on what I was doing and where I was going, and if I didn’t lift my head up and start paying attention I was going to walk straight into a pole.
Julian took Kayley and I out to dinner and Kayley told us all her grand plans for summer, which included coming to visit us in Vegas at least once a month, working off her abysmal citizenship grades, and becoming a blond.
After dinner he walked us to my car, and asked Kayley for a moment alone with me. He didn’t say anything, he just held my hand and stood next to me. After a minute he said, “I have to be out of town this week
end. Are you mad?”
I shook my head. “It’s just a thing.”
He considered me for a minute more and then leaned in and kissed me on the forehead. “I loves you, Kat.”
“I loves you too, Jules.”
“I’ll see you Thursday.”
I nodded and he kissed me again. As he started to step away I threw my arms around him and hugged him tight. “Thanks, Jules.”
“I can catch a later flight,” he hugged me back.
“No no no. It’s not a thing. I promise. I’ve just been in a funk and being with you always sets things right again.”
“Are you sure this isn’t about graduation?”
Reluctantly I confessed, “It was about a guy.”
“Gross,” he chuckled.
“I know, right?”
“Besides, I’m the only man you need in your life.”
I laughed. “I feel like I should argue that just on principal or something, but it makes sense.”
Julian opened my door for me. “Drive safe, Darling.”
“Will do.” One more kiss and I hopped in the car.
The rest of my day and the next day was mostly assuring people that the funk I’d been in the day before had passed completely. I was chalking it up to not sleeping well over the weekend, and now that I was back in my own bed, getting a full 8 hours per — the rest of the week was going to be awesome.
The last week of school is always awesome because it’s not really an actual school week. It’s assignments just for fun, and cleaning out lockers, and returning books, and other kids scrambling to get in that last bit of extra credit, and class parties, and movies that are longer than class which is still bullshit, but easy enough to fix with access to a Netflix account.
・❀・❀・❀・
And then it was the last day. Kimber revealed our graduation outfits. We would be wearing black dresses with red and grey accessories to match the school colors.
For the day, I slipped into a pair of comfy jeans, sandals, and a comfy tank top. It was totally not dress-code approved, but it was the last day, nobody was gonna care.
Aunt Josie made waffles for breakfast. Kimber and Kayley covered theirs with fruit and whipped cream, powdered sugar and syrup. I went for fruit and peanut butter.
Everybody got their yearbooks first thing, and moving class to class with the bell schedule was mostly about finding the other people who had that class so they could write, ‘Have a great summer!’ next to a scribble of their name.
By the start of second period the jocks had settled into their spot in the cafeteria and were letting people come to them. I didn’t have that kind of popularity. Most of the signatures I’d gathered so far were from teachers. And most of them had written really nice things. Mrs. Wall wrote:
Ms. Franks,
It’s been a pleasure. And an adventure. But mostly, it’s been a pleasure.
Mrs. Tennison Wall, English
And Coach Ray wrote:
Work hard. Play hard. Win hard.
-Ray Cavenaugh
But I think he may have written the same thing for everybody.
Ryan reached for my yearbook and popped it open to a picture taken during homecoming week. He and Dominic and the rest of the football team were belting out a tune center stage, I was perched over his shoulder, dressed like a bird, swooning.
“This day!” he laughed. Then she shook his head and hunched over to write something in the white space next to it.
I took his book and opened it to the same page to write my message to him. I wrote:
Ryan,
I’m never going to marry you.
I love you always.
Kat
P.S. Thanks for helping me pass Calculus.
In mine, Ryan wrote:
Kat,
Will you marry me? Y/N?
I’ll love you forever either way.
Ryan
For some reason Dominic was reluctant to hand his yearbook over to me. He held it out for me to take, but then, didn’t let go of it. “What?” I met his eyes.
“I don’t know, I just… don’t want you to write anything regrettable, like ‘have a good summer.’” He let go of the book, and pushed a smile. “But you should definitely still give me your number, or email, or whatever,” he added.
Most of the signatures in Dominic’s yearbook had numbers and emails and snapchat handles next to them. I found a blank spot next to a bunch of pictures from the Halloween party. I didn’t recognize anybody in any of them and that seemed fitting.
Dominic,
Before you, I didn’t think falling madly in love was a thing that was going to happen to me. And now — the ache I feel for you is real, and deep, and has that sort of permanent feel to it — like freckles. You’re amazing, Dominic. I hope you know that and I hope you always remember it. Have a great summer. You have my number. I’m 5886…
In love and friendship and whatever else life brings us,
Kat
In my book, in the grassy field area of a picture taken during the state championship game for football he wrote:
Kate, Katie, Kiddo—
I’ll never forget this day, or that you were there to cheer us on. And also cheer for the cheerleaders. Okay, so, you were mostly there for the cheerleaders. But you cheered us on too. You’re the best! I’m never going to forget you and how amazing and brilliant and wonderful you are.
Dominic
XXX-XXX-1590
He didn’t immediately read what I wrote — nobody did that, not really anyway — not that he could if he’d wanted to. After I wrote my little spiel, Kayley took Dominic’s book from me, flipped to a new page and wrote her own note. It was something along the lines of:
So happy I got to know you this year. Hope I see you this summer — I’ll be the one in the bikini!
Kiss Kiss — Kayley Emerson
After that his book got passed to Kimber, and then Ambree, and it basically made the rounds… by the time he got it back he just set it on the table next to him and continued his conversation with Trey and Ryan.
I knew there were going to be a billion different opportunities for my ‘not really a secret’ identity to be revealed today, and I had resigned myself to take it as it was going to be and not let it ruin the whole ride — as if it were turbulence. I was flying into a storm cloud, I’d delayed as long as I could, but it can’t be avoided any more, I know it’s going to suck, but it’s not going to kill me — even if it totally feels like I’m going to fall a million miles and crash in a fiery death. I’m fine. I’ll be fine. Eventually. It’s the perfect analogy really. And while I’m being flung about in the sky, and struck by lightening, and not actually dying, I might as well enjoy the show, right?
Huh… Maybe I’m an optimist after all.
・❀・❀・❀・
Graduation was being held in the Basketball Gym. They’d set up a low stage at one end with a huge screen and a slide show. Guests got the bleachers and graduating seniors were in chairs on the court. Except for the ones who would be speaking, among others this included: Aimee Millington because she’s Valedictorian, Colby Ryerson our Senior Class President, and Ryan Mathers because his father made a phone call. Ryan was mildly pissed about it, but I got the impression he was more upset about not having found a way to get back at them with it in some way.
As far as order of names being called, it was sort of random, depending on where you were sitting. Everybody on stage was announced first, after that it was row by row, starting at the back. When it was your rows turn you’d walk to the side of the stage and hand Mr. Wendell a card with your name and a QR code on it. He’d scan it, and as you walked across the stage your name and pictures of you taken throughout the year would flash on the screen and some guy with radio voice would say your name. Your proper name — the one that would be listed on your diploma. This meant that the second my name was called — unless Dominic had completely blacked out, or left — I would be officially outed as Kat
arina Franks.
And yet, I told myself — and others — that I wanted to sit on the front row to have the best view of Ryan’s speech, and Aimee’s speech, and it’s not that those reasons didn’t have some truth to them, but I was still totally lying. It’s kind of a thing I do when it comes to Dominic Weedon.
Principal Howard welcomed everyone. “Blah blah blah, blah blah blah…”
Colby spoke. He quoted song lyrics. No surprises there.
Aimee spoke for the longest. “I know a lot of my fellow classmates refer to me as Aimee GPA behind my back. I gotta say… Best. Nickname. Ever!” She also got the most laughs.
When it was Ryan’s turn he got up to the mic, cleared his throat, took out a huge stack of 3x5 cards from his pocket, squared them on the podium, looked out at the crowd, shot me a wink and said, “We did it, we graduated!” And then he sat back down.
And everybody cheered. Probably not his parents though.
I really wished I could have seen their faces at that moment.
Kimber, sitting right next to me, yelled out, “I love you, Ryan!”
And he yelled back, “My future wife, everybody!” And blew a kiss and pointed at me.
He had to know it had been Kimber. I think he just liked keeping the getting married joke going.
And then Vice Principal Stephens got up to speak. She picked up Ryan’s 3x5 cards and noted, “These aren’t blank.” She flipped through them. “None of these are blank.”
Ryan shrugged. “Said what I needed to say.”
“Okay,” she fumbled. “I like brevity. Ladies and Gentlemen, the following are Parkwood High School’s graduating class.”
Kit Kat & Katie Did Page 48
