Undercover Tales

by Blayne Cooper

  Then the conversation exploded back into French with several other students rising to their feet and joining in an impassioned discussion. Suddenly, a squarely built guy with glasses told the skinny boy next to him, “I always did wonder about you!”

  And there was pandemonium. The professor forgot that I even existed.

  I watched Keilana in awe, wondering if that’s what she’d intended all along.

  After a few minutes of shouting, Dr. Gallop roared, “Class dismissed!” Flustered, she stormed from the room with the students hot on her heels. Keilana and I were the last two to leave the classroom.

  Well, at least class hadn’t been boring. “Why did you do that?” I asked, truly curious.

  Her eyes twinkled a bit. “Because I wanted to.”

  “And that’s the only reason?” I held the door open for her but she didn’t walk through. “You sort of saved my butt though I’m sure it was unintentional.”

  Her eyebrows knitted as she looked me. “Before ... you said you wanted to be my friend, remember?

  Huh? “Yesterday, you mean? Of course, I remember.”

  She licked her lips and I could see the tiny bit of nervousness she was trying to conceal. “Did you mean it?”

  I answered honestly. “Sure.”

  Keilana looked right into my eyes and I felt her gaze to the bottom of my soul. She was standing so close that I could smell her skin and the faint trace of perfumed soap. “I’m sorry about your nose. I didn’t mean for you to get hurt.”

  “My nose?” God, she smelled nice. I had no idea what she was talking about.

  “It’s a little bruised.” She winced as she reached out cautiously and traced my nose with just the tip of her finger. “I didn’t want you to get hurt. I want to back up things between us.”

  “Back up things?” I was cheering that she wanted to put our bad start behind us. But did she really think she could just rewind life as though it was a big DVD?

  “I was wondering if you’d like to go to a movie or something tonight?” She quickly ran a hand through her hair, then stuck it into her back pocket as she awaited my answer. “The girls here are ... well, you’ve met them. You can’t trust most of them.” She must have seen the slight widening of my eyes because next she asked, “Can I trust you, Cadie?”

  I froze at her words, unable to breathe as the little voice in my head screamed “No! I’m a spy!” But with my mouth the best that I could muster was, “I ... uh ... I mean—” Not more than a second or two could have passed, but that’s all the time it took.

  “I see,” she said briskly, and she sped past me and through the door, disappointment coloring her words. “Never mind. I’m sure you’ll be studying French tonight.”

  I closed my eyes. Shit. “Keilana!” I hurried after her and we emerged from the building into the hot sun. “You didn’t give me a chance to answer.” We trotted down the stairs. Damn but she had long legs. “You just surprised me is all.” I grabbed her arm, stopping her at the bottom step. “Hey, I’d love to go to the movies or something. Have I done anything that would make you distrust me?”

  She sucked in a deep breath. “Not until just now.”

  If she could always read people this well I was going to be in big trouble. I sighed. Who was I kidding? I was going to be in big trouble anyway.

  yx

  It was nearly three weeks before we ended up making it to the movies and, oddly, I had settled into a fairly stable routine of being a retard in class, doing only as much homework as it took to get by, and being Keilana’s invisible shadow the rest of the time. Much to my frustration, she’d hung around campus or Santa Medina every night for the past two weeks, getting to bed by eleven each night.

  Was she on to me? I was truly beginning to wonder. Nobody was that much of a homebody. And yet, if she knew who I was, why not confront me about it? True, she probably got a giggle out of my having to stand up in all our classes and look like I had shit for brains. But other than that, I couldn’t see what was in it for her.

  While we weren’t exactly pals, we’d forged a sort of tenuous ... not exactly friendship, but a part-accepting, part-antagonistic relationship. We were starting to talk a little more and that strained feeling that had been there the first few days had faded.

  A few guys on campus had come sniffing around her, but Keilana didn’t seem to care or notice. I hadn’t seen her with a girlfriend either. She truly seemed to enjoy her own company and I couldn’t really complain about that. What I could complain about was that so far, I hadn’t been able to figure out what in her life was pulling her away from her family.

  That was about to change.

  A couple of doors down from the movie theater was a coffee shop and we stepped inside to get a drink. We were greeted by a blast of some of the best smelling stuff on the planet—strong coffee, sizzling bacon, and grease.

  “I can’t believe you’re hungry,” I said to Keilana, truly amazed, even though I wouldn’t have minded a french fry or thirty myself. “You eat twice as much as I do and you’re as thin as a rail.”

  I had to watch what I was doing or I was going to fall victim to the freshman fifteen, fifteen years late. Keeping a covert eye on Keilana meant that I wasn’t getting my normal amount of exercise.

  “You’re not fat,” she said, reading my mind. Then we headed to a booth that had just been cleaned. The place was crowded and we were lucky not to have to wait. After we settled in, she plucked a menu from behind the saltshaker and began perusing it with predatory intent. “It’s not like I can help it,” she commented, picking up the trail of our conversation even after it was cold. She did that a lot and I was starting to get used to the fact that she needed a lot of time to process things before speaking. “I have a fast metabolism.” Then her face lit up. “Ooo ... pie.”

  The corner of my mouth twitched upward. “You have the metabolism of six men.”

  She was reading the menu so intently, I’m not sure she realized she was speaking out loud. “You should hear my father. He hates the way I look and is always shoving food my way.”

  I tried to hide my surprise. This was the first time Keilana had mentioned her family at all. “Really?” I said lightly. “So he doesn’t think thin is good?”

  Keilana glanced up at me, slightly startled at herself for revealing that tidbit. “Never mind.”

  “C’mon.” I smiled kindly. “Tell me.”

  She wrestled with herself for a moment before wrinkling her nose. “He thinks that mainlanders are obsessed with being thin and that I’m this way only to spite him and make myself less attractive within our social class.”

  “What class is that? Richer than God?”

  “We prefer to say”—she threw her nose in the air for effect—“Hawaiian aristocracy.”

  I laughed, enjoying the rare moment of playfulness from her. “I’m sure your parents have your best interests at heart.”

  Her gaze clouded for a moment. “That makes one of us.” Then she flipped the page of her menu and I knew that was the end of that particular line of conversation. There was a lot of hurt and resentment hiding behind Keilana’s baby blues and not for the first time I wondered how much of it had been caused by my clients.

  “So,” she said quietly, after a few minutes. “Did you like the movie?”

  I could accept a change of subject gracefully. “No, as a matter of fact, I did not.”

  She blinked, looking utterly bewildered. “But why? It was fantastic!”

  “I’m no fan of the President, but Michael Moore is an obnoxious, slovenly, enormous Muppet. Now Starsky and Hutch”—I smiled unrepentantly—“ that was a movie. Action, humor. It had it all.”

  Keilana looked at me as though I was an alien. “You have imbecilic tastes.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest defiantly. Just a couple of weeks ago her comment would have set me off. Keilana wasn’t shy about offering her honest option, but I’d quickly learned that it was just part of her personality and not
an attempt at meanness. “Right back at ya, sister.” I pulled out a few sugar packets and began building a tower with them. “So what other movies do you like? Would I have heard of them? Or do they all have subtitles?”

  She smiled tentatively and I was relieved that she wasn’t bothered by my gentle return tease. “I like popular films too,” she said wryly. “But only the good ones.”

  I arched a blond eyebrow. “Oh, really? Name one.”

  She arched an eyebrow right back. “New or old?”

  “You choose.”

  “Rocky.”

  Beaming, I said, “That’s one of my favorites!”

  Her eyes lit up and her smile relaxed into something beautiful. “Really? Mine too. What’s your favorite thing about the movie?”

  This was more like it. “Same thing everyone likes, I guess. Kick-butt boxing. Good music. And best of all, Rocky made his dreams come true even if he didn’t win the fight in the end.”

  “Mmm ...” Keilana leaned back in her seat.

  “What about you?” I prompted.

  She shrugged and grabbed a sugar packet of her own and focused on it. “I liked the dream part too. But what I liked the most is that he did it with no one, ya know?”

  I wasn’t sure I did, but I nodded, encouraging her to continue.

  A weary bitterness, unbefitting someone Keilana’s age, crept into her voice. “He didn’t have any real friends who cared about him. Maybe that old guy, but that wasn’t enough. And the people who acted like they were his friends really weren’t. Adrian’s brother, for example. He didn’t care about him at all. He only cared about himself and was just using Rocky.”

  I visibly flinched, a sliver of guilt piercing my chest.

  “Rocky was so lonely he was barely living,” she said thoughtfully. “His heart was a wasteland. But somehow he dug down deep inside and made it. That’s what I liked best.”

  I swallowed thickly, never having heard such a gloomy assessment of the crowd-pleasing film. Did she think she was all alone, her heart a wasteland?

  Then, unexpectedly, she let loose with a hopeful smile. “Kind of makes you think anything is possible, doesn’t it?”

  I guess it did. But it was time to take things down a notch. We were supposed to be having fun. “You’re not going to become a boxer, are you?” I pantomimed a few punches.

  She snorted, then when I flopped back into my seat, pretending to take a hard punch on the chin, her chuckles turned into a full laugh. “Hardly.” Her voice was soft and sweet. “Cadie, I’m much more of a lover than a fighter.”

  My mouth went bone dry. Was she flirting with me? The tips of her ears turned bright red at the same time mine did. She was! She was flirting with me, and I was loving every second of it. This wasn’t Keilana admiring my ass. This was Keilana laughing and smiling and opening up just a tiny bit. And it was ten times as effective as her overt attention had been.

  Just then, our waitress showed up and I turned over my coffee cup, which she silently filled. I hadn’t taken out a menu so she focused on Keilana, who also turned over her cup. “Anything to eat?”

  “Strawberry pie,” Keilana said, giving a satisfied nod.

  My eyebrows popped in surprise. Even for Keilana that was a fairly moderate choice.

  “Good pick,” the waitress murmured. She finished pouring Keilana’s coffee and made a quick note on her pad. “Anything with that?”

  The very tip of Keilana’s tongue appeared as she thought. She looked like a little kid when she did it, and I privately thought it was endearing. “Yeah, a submarine sandwich and onion rings. The large size.”

  I smirked at the stunned look on the waitress’s face. “I ... um ... I think she meant like ice cream or cool whip or something, Keilana.”

  She blinked. “Oh. Good idea. I’ll take some ice cream.” A pause. “But don’t forget the sub.”

  “It’s your funeral.” The waitress, who was at least fifty pounds overweight, gave Keilana an envious look and headed back toward the kitchen.

  I was about to try to steer things back to the topic of her family when I saw the expression on Keilana’s face change. Her gaze was fixed over my shoulder and I turned my head to see just what had caused her radiant smile.

  A tall, tanned woman with short, raven-colored hair and piercing green eyes strode into the coffee shop as quickly as her tight mini-skirt would allow.

  Keilana stood up. “Billie!” She waved the woman over.

  “Lana!” she screeched, causing my eardrums to bleed and everyone in the place to stare at us.

  I judged the newcomer to be a few years older than me and even though she had the weathered look of someone who had been ridden hard and put away wet, something about her was undeniably attractive. Not to mention the fact that I was certain her breasts would arrive at our booth at least three seconds before the rest of her did.

  When Billie sidled up to the table, she and Keilana shared a warm hug.

  “I guess you two know each other,” I said, trying not to look annoyed that they were both ignoring me.

  “Where’ve you been keeping yourself, Lana?” Billie drew a pointy red fingernail down Keilana’s cheek, then throat, in such a brazenly sensual fashion that I felt my cheeks heat.

  Keilana grinned wildly. “I’ve been ...”—her voice cracked on the word—“around.”

  The tiny hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention.

  Envy. That’s what I was feeling at that moment. Billie was doing something I never could. I’m not a violent person by nature, but there was no doubting that I wanted to chop the interloper up into tiny bits and feed her to Smelly alongside his kibble.

  Billie whispered something into Keilana’s ear that I couldn’t quite make out and I saw Keilana’s eyes darken with what I was sure was desire.

  I swallowed hard. Oh, yeah, at some point these two were lovers. The only question was, how current was their affair? If Billie didn’t know that classes had started for Keilana it couldn’t have been too recent, could it?

  “I’ve been busy. School’s started,” Keilana finally said, putting just a tiny bit of distance between her and Billie as they both sat down. “I’m actually trying to do a little better this semester so I can graduate and get out of there.”

  Billie smiled at Keilana. “Ah, that makes sense. You’re a smart cookie, so I know you’ll graduate, Lana. But I admit that I’ve been missing you and wouldn’t mind seeing you every now and then.” The genuine fondness in her voice was mirrored by Keilana.

  Shit.

  Keilana gave Billie’s hand an affectionate squeeze but slowly released it after she said, “Same here.”

  All right, I let out a relieved breath. “Billie and Keilana” were the recent past, but not exactly ancient history.

  Keilana finally gestured toward me. “This is Cadie.”

  “Hi Cadie,” Billie said inattentively, before scooting closer to Keilana. “How about we make up for lost time starting tonight?”

  To my disgust, Keilana genuinely seemed to consider the suggestion.

  Billie didn’t miss the torn look on Keilana’s face and her smile turned into a full-on, shit-eatin’ grin. Of all the nerve! What made her think that Keilana wasn’t my date tonight? I allowed all of the emotions thrumming through me to show plainly on my face.

  My expression must have been a sight, because Billie backed away from Keilana as though her skin was on fire. If this was the mainlander scum after my roommate’s money, then it would be more than my pleasure to make quick work of her. Besides, she wore too much makeup and perfume, and the smell was starting to make me sick at my stomach.

  Keilana glanced back and forth between me and Billie and gave us a confused look. “You’ll see me soon, Billie. I just need to get a handle on my classes first. I’ll call you.”

  I frowned.

  Billie screwed up her courage and moved close to Keilana again. “Unless you’ve already got plans, you can still come back to my place tonight. I won�
�t keep you up too late.” There was no missing the smoky timbre to her voice.

  Keilana squirmed in her seat and I couldn’t even blame her. Billie could flip on the sex appeal like few women I’ve ever met. “I want to fuck your brains out” vibes literally oozed from her pores.

  Keilana glanced up at me and licked her lips. “So I guess we’re done for the night, huh, Cadie?” She leaned forward a little, watching my face closely. I couldn’t tell if she wanted me to agree with her or not. Personally, I was leaning way toward “not.”

  I wanted to shout out my frustration. How could I break this case if most of my encounters with Keilana were hit and runs? “I dunno,” I scrambled for an excuse for us to stay together for the rest of the evening. “I need a ride back to campus at least, and ... well ... I was sort of hoping you could help me with my French tonight before Dr. Gallop skewers me in front of the class again. I’ve been thinking about asking you to be my tutor.” Not bad. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t feel so proud of myself when I was roasting in hell for all this lying. But at the moment I was feeling pretty clever.

  To my surprise, Keilana threw her head back and laughed, something that shaved several years off her appearance and made her look like a happy teenager. “Oh, man, and you need a tutor too. Dr. Gallop is killing you!”

  I chuckled, then groaned. “I know. And that bitch Shauna is enjoying every minute of it. I think I can deal with the philosophy work. It’s the French that is kicking my butt. I really need your help.”

  “You really need me?” Keilana asked, her forehead creased. “There are other students who are better at philosophy and French than I am.”

  Uh-oh. “Uh ... I’d rather have you.”

  Her gaze softened, but I doubted she was aware of it. Billie, however, who was watching her like a hawk, didn’t miss a beat. She didn’t look too happy. Heh. That’s right, bitch. Keilana is coming home with me tonight.

  Keilana drew in a deep breath. “Billie—”

  “Lana—”

  They shared slightly uncomfortable smiles as the waitress came by with the food.