The Secret Identity of Devon Delaney

by Lauren Barnholdt

  “You did?” How sweet. I almost forgot how loyal Lexi is. Over the summer, we entered this DDR tournament, and even though this other girl, Sacha Graves, wanted to be Lexi’s partner, Lexi stuck with me because she’d already promised. Sacha was the reigning champion, and she and Lexi would have totally won.

  “Yes,” Lexi says, nodding. She’s wearing dangly red heart earrings that jangle as she moves her head. “He’s such a jerk, and you’re such a nice person, Devi. Like how you made me feel welcome here when I was new.”

  I did? “I did?” For some reason, this, coupled with thinking about Lexi being my partner in the DDR tournament, makes me feel horrible. I’m a fraud. And a bad friend.

  “Of course!” Lexi nods up and down. “You let me hang with you and your friends. And Jared is just so …” She makes a face. “He’s cute and everything, Devi, but really. You can do so much better.” I relax slightly. If Lexi doesn’t like Jared, then I’m not keeping them apart. Of course, if he weren’t being such a jerk to her, maybe she would like him. She turns around and faces the mirror and reaches up to smooth her hair.

  “Devi, do you think I should get my hair highlighted like yours?” She pulls a strand down and studies it critically.

  “Definitely,” I say. “Then we could be twins.”

  “Fab!” She turns around and gives me a huge smile. Her braces sparkle. “You ready to go back?”

  “Actually, um, I think I’m going to go to the library for lunch. I just think it would be weird seeing Jared right now.” Actually, I want to go to the library because Mel’s there, and I feel horrible about the way we left things this morning.

  “I understand,” Lexi says. “I’ll look for you after school.” She blows me a kiss. When she’s gone, I wash my hands and then take a brush out of my bag and run it through my hair. I take a deep breath. Everything’s fine. Mel will forgive me, I’ll be able to hang out with Luke, Kim won’t have anything on me, and Jared will never find out that I told anyone we were together. Everything can finally go back to being normal. I shove my brush back in my bag. Twenty minutes left of lunch. More than enough time to get back on Mel’s good side.

  Suddenly the door to the bathroom opens and Kim storms in.

  “Devi,” she says. The door slams against the wall from the force of her pushing it open. Wow. Kim’s really strong for someone who is so small.

  “Hi,” I say. “Listen, I just told Lexi that Jared and I broke up, so—”

  “No, you listen,” she says, cutting me off. For a second, I’m afraid she’s going to hit me or something. Am I going to get in a fistfight? “I know Luke likes you. And if you go out with him, if you even think about starting to hang out with him, I’ll tell everyone you lied.”

  “I need to talk to you,” I say, setting my books down on the library table across from Mel.

  “I can’t really talk right now, Devon,” she says, not looking up. She’s bent over her math book, her hair brushing against the table. Her pencil makes scraping sounds as it moves quickly across her paper.

  “Please,” I say, “I’m begging you.” She keeps writing and doesn’t look up. “Okay, look,” I say, sliding into the seat across from her. “I know I haven’t been the best friend lately. I’m sorry. And you’ve been nothing but great to me, and doing what you did, pretending to like Jared when you really think he’s horrible …” I swallow around the lump in my throat. “But Mel, I really, really, need you right now. And I don’t know who else to talk to.”

  She sighs and sets her pencil down. “I only have a second.”

  I nod seriously. I fill her in quickly on what’s been going on, how I fed Lexi the fake breakup story and how everything ended in the bathroom with Kim threatening my life. Okay, so she didn’t threaten my life, exactly, but close enough.

  “I don’t understand why she would do that,” I say. “Why would Kim not want me to like Luke? Does she hate me that much? Is she that determined to keep me out of her group? She hardly even knows me.”

  Mel sighs and looks at me like I’m an idiot. “Devon, did you ever stop to think that maybe Kim likes Luke?”

  Oh. Right. I did kind of suspect that. “But if she likes him, then why doesn’t she just ask him out? She could have any guy she wanted.”

  “Maybe he doesn’t like her,” Mel says, shrugging. “Maybe she’s already tried to get him to go out with her and he said no.”

  “I should pump Lexi to see if she knows anything,” I say, glancing at the clock and wondering if it’s too late to find her again before lunch ends.

  Mel pulls a Baggie of trail mix out of her backpack and takes a handful, munches on it thoughtfully, and then holds it out to me. “Thanks,” I say. With all this drama, I’ve completely forgotten to eat lunch.

  “You know,” Mel says, glancing at me out of the corner of her eye. “The other thing you could do is just tell the truth.”

  Gasp. “No way.” Is Mel crazy? “You know that if I do that, I’ll be a social outcast.”

  “Maybe, maybe not,” she says. “At least you could relax a little bit.”

  “I’ll think about it,” I lie. Ten minutes left in lunch, which means if I sprint back to the cafeteria I can be there in two minutes, one minute to find Lexi, one minute to get her away from everyone else, and six minutes to pump her for info about Kirn and Luke. “Listen, I’m going to head back to the caf. Call me later and we’ll make a plan to hang out. I promise.” I grab another handful of trail mix and run back to the cafeteria.

  “Lexi,” I say, approaching the A-list table. Kim looks up and glares at me. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

  “Of course!” she says. She has a sympathetic look on her face, probably because she thinks it’s about Jared dumping me. I wonder if I should have spun the story the other way, that I dumped Jared. How cool would that be, me dumping the hottest guy in school? Of course, it was a fictitious relationship, which means it would have been a fictitious breakup, but still. “Are you okay?” Lexi asks, once we’re out of earshot. She strokes my arm and looks at me seriously.

  “Yes,” I say Lexi looks surprised. “I mean, I’m okay I will be okay, anyway.” I lean closer to her so that there’s no chance anyone will overhear us. “So listen, I was wondering, um, do you know if Kim likes Luke?”

  “I don’t know,” Lexi says, shrugging. “I don’t think so.”

  “Oh, okay.” Relief floods my body. If Kim liked Luke, Lexi would know about it, right? I mean, they’re friends.

  “Why?” Lexi asks. “Do you like Luke?” She looks at me excitedly. “Maybe you should just ask her.”

  “Uh, I don’t know if I like him. I’m definitely not going to go after him,” I say, hoping by telling Lexi it will get back to Kim. “I don’t know if I’m ready to start liking someone else.”

  Lexi pats me again. “I totally understand.” Matt O’Connor comes up behind Lexi and pulls her hair. She squeals in delight and turns around. “Matt, stop!” she says, but you can tell she’s totally loving it. He grins at her and heads toward the lunch table.

  “What’s going on with you two?” I ask.

  “I dunno,” she says, flushing. “We went to play DDR this weekend, and it was really fun. He wouldn’t let me pay for any games, and he kept trying to win me stuffed animals.”

  Lexi still has her head turned, watching Matt walk through the lunchtime crowd to our table. She turns back to me. “Devi, I’m so sorry, here I am going on and on about Matt and how cool he is, and you’re totally having a romantic crisis.” She squeezes my arm. “So do you want me to ask Kim if she likes Luke?” she asks. She twirls a strand of her hair around her finger and looks at it critically. “I totally need a haircut. I’m definitely going to get mine like yours.”

  “Yeah, that would be cool,” I say. “You talking to Kim, I mean. And getting your hair like mine too.” I nod. “Just make sure that Kim doesn’t know you’re asking for me.”

  “Of course, Devi,” Lexi says, nodding seriously. “You
can trust me.” I don’t point out that the last time she promised I could trust her, she ended up leaking the secret. Of course, that was a made-up secret, but still.

  “Great.”

  “Devi, can I talk to you for a second?” Jared asks, walking up to us.

  “No, you cannot,” Lexi says, putting her arm around me. “She doesn’t want to talk to you.” She glares at him. Jared looks confused.

  “It’s okay, Lexi,” I say, detangling myself from her grasp. “I’ll be okay.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes,” I say, trying to sound forceful.

  She heads back to the lunch table, but not before she throws Jared a mean look over her shoulder.

  “Dude, that girl is seriously hostile,” he says, shaking his head.

  “So what’s up?” I ask, giving him my brightest smile. I wonder what Jared would think if he knew he’d just broken up with me.

  “I just wanted to talk to you about this Lexi thing.”

  “Yes?”

  “The thing is, I think she likes Matt.”

  “Why do you think that?” I ask, frowning.

  “Because they’re always flirting and talking,” Jared says. “And they went to the mall together this weekend, alone. And Matt said, ‘I like Lexi, and I’m pretty sure she likes me.’”

  “I don’t know if that’s quite true,” I say, looking over Jared’s shoulder to where Lexi is sitting next to Matt. She takes the hat he’s wearing off his head and puts it on her own. Matt starts tickling her, and she giggles.

  “Yeah, well, that’s what it seems like. So I think maybe I should just tell her I like her.”

  “No!” I practically scream. Oh, God. Can this day get any more complicated? How is it that one lie has spiraled out of control into all these little subplots? Is it like quantum physics or something? If you lie once, it will reverberate through your universe, screwing everything else up?

  “Why not?” Jared asks, frowning. “I don’t want her to start going out with Matt. And being mean to her obviously isn’t working. She acts like she hates me.”

  “She doesn’t hate you,” I say. “Listen, um, just give it some time.”

  He looks at me skeptically. “Why?”

  “I mean, um, give me some time. To talk to her. I’ll find out what’s going on between her and Matt, and I’ll ask her what she thinks about you.”

  “You will?” Jared beams. “Thanks, Devi.” I’m starting to worry a little bit about Jared’s mental state. Being mean to Lexi is obviously not working, and yet even though I’m the one who gave him that obviously horrible advice, he’s willing to trust me again.

  “No prob,” I say, grinning back shakily. Now what?

  That night, in an effort to distract myself from the impending doom that is my life, I let Katie convince me to watch The Cutting Edge with her. Not that I really have a choice. My parents are seeing their counselor, so I’m stuck babysitting. As Olympics movies go, The Cutting Edge is one of my favorites. Skating, cute costumes, romance, and drama. Plus the whole overcoming obstacles to achieve your dreams thing. I mean, what’s not to like?

  “This is gonna be so fun, right, Devon?” Katie asks. She pulls the DVD out of its case and throws the case on the floor.

  “Right,” I say, not really meaning it. The problem with watching a movie with Katie is that since she watches her DVDs over and over, she usually has the movie memorized. And she quotes it. Like, actually says the lines along with the actors as they’re saying them. Which is really annoying.

  “Fun, fun, fun,” Katie sings, dancing over to the DVD player and popping in the disc. “Say it, Devon,” she instructs. “Fun, fun, fun.”

  “Fun, fun, fun,” I recite, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. I’m sprawled on the floor wearing my favorite pair of pajama pants (they’re pink and say SLEEPYTIME on the butt—they’re my favorite because my mom bought them for me right before I went to stay with my grandma for the summer, and even though they were new, for some reason they smelled like her, so I wore them every night), and a big T-shirt of my dad’s that says CORNELL on it. I have my math book open in front of me because I have a ton of homework, but I plan on using it as an excuse for why I’m not paying exact attention to the movie.

  “You didn’t say it right,” Katie admonishes. She grabs the DVD remote and settles into the couch. “And don’t pretend you’re doing your homework so you don’t have to watch the movie. It is a very good flick.” She expertly scrolls through the title menu. “And after this movie is over, we will watch it with the director’s commentary.”

  Great.

  The opening sequence starts.

  “When I become an ice skater I’m going to have a pink costume, very flowing, with no sequins,” she says. “I watched them make one just like it on Project Runway.” She frowns. “But I forget the name of the person who made it.” She looks upset for a second, but then shakes her head. “But by then, I’ll be famous, so it won’t matter, I can find out.”

  The doorbell rings, saving me from having to hear more.

  I scramble up from the floor. “Devon!” Katie screams. “You know we’re not supposed to answer the door when Mom and Dad aren’t home!”

  “I’m not,” I say. “I’m just going to look out the peephole.” Not like it would matter. With the way Katie just screamed, anyone who’s at the door definitely knows someone’s home and that whoever it is isn’t supposed to answer the door when their parents aren’t home.

  I step up on my toes in the front hallway and look out the peephole. Oh my God. It’s Luke.

  “Ohmigod,” I say. “It’s Luke.” Why is Luke here? And who does that? Just shows up at someone’s house like this? Without calling or anything?

  “Oh,” Katie says, looking annoyed. “Just your boyfriend. Don’t answer it, we’re watching a movie.’

  “Um, I have to,” I say. Katie starts to protest, so I rush on. “It’s about school.” I put my hands on her shoulders and steer her back toward the living room. “Now go watch the movie and I’ll be back in a second.”

  She stomps off.

  “Luke!” I say, opening the door. “What are you doing here?”

  “I was hanging out with Jared for a while and I just thought I’d stop by and drop this off.” He holds up a piece of paper with drawings on it. “It’s a scene-by-scene drawing of our project. Kind of like a storyboard.”

  “Luke, that’s amazing!” I exclaim, looking at the paper. He has little drawings of all of us, saying our lines, and what should happen from scene to scene, complete with camera angles.

  “Yeah, well, Matt gave me the idea, and I had some time in study hall.” He shrugs, and I think I see him blush. Is Luke blushing? Did I make Luke blush? How cute! He runs his fingers through his hair and looks at the ground.

  “Do you want to come in for a little while?” I ask before thinking. “So we can work on the project,” I add quickly. Even though there’s really nothing left to do on the project. Except film it, which we’re not doing until the weekend.

  “Sure,” Luke says, moving past me and into the hallway. He’s wearing a puffy dark green vest over a long-sleeved T-shirt and a pair of baggy jeans. The sleeve of his shirt brushes against my bare arm as he moves by, and I’m reminded of the time he held my hand. I’m also reminded that I’m wearing a pair of pants that say SLEEPYTIME on the butt, and an old T-shirt. Great.

  “Um, I actually just got out of the shower,” I lie. “And I was about to get dressed.”

  He frowns. “You were about to get dressed?” He checks his watch. “It’s almost eight o’clock.”

  “I know, but I don’t like to lounge around too much in my pajamas. It makes me unproductive.” He looks at me skeptically. “And,” I rush on, just in case he’s wondering, “my hair isn’t wet because I just dried it.”

  “Okay.” He thinks I’m a freak.

  “So you wait here,” I say, “and I’ll run upstairs and get dressed.”

  “Okay,”
he says again, sounding doubtful.

  I race up the stairs to my room, stubbing my toe on my doorframe in the process. A searing pain shoots from my toe all the way up my leg. Ow. I pick up a pair of jeans off my floor and slide them on. I hope Luke doesn’t realize that these are the same pants I wore to school today. He might think I’m a slob if I’m putting dirty clothes on right after I just got out of the shower. I pull my new pink-and-maroon striped sweater out of my closet and slide it on, then smear some lip gloss onto my lips.

  I hobble back downstairs, but when I get to the hallway, Luke’s not there. I find him in the living room, sitting next to Katie on the couch.

  “Do you think they’re going to fall in love or not?” Katie asks him.

  “Who?” Luke asks.

  “Those two!” Katie says, pointing at the TV and looking exasperated. “Even though they hate each other now, do you think they’re going to fall in love or not?”

  “Hello! “I say brightly.

  “Devon, you left Luke standing in the hallway. That wasn’t very nice,” Katie says. “And why are you limping?”

  “I’m not,” I say, limping over to the chair in the corner and plopping myself into it. My toe is killing me.

  “Let me check,” Katie says, hopping off the couch. “Let me check your legs!”

  “No, I’m fine,” I say. Luke smiles uncomfortably.

  “Katie, Luke and I are going to go work in the kitchen,” I say, figuring it’s better to get away from her than it is to stay in here, where she’s obviously feels it’s appropriate to act like the ultimate embarrassment. “You stay in here and watch the movie.”

  I hobble into the kitchen. Luke follows me. I wonder if my toe is broken. That would be horrible. Although maybe they’d give me crutches and everyone would feel sorry for me and I’d get to leave class five minutes early in order to get to my next one on time.

  “So,” I say, not sure what’s supposed to happen now. “Do you want something to drink?”

  “Sure,” he says. I pull the grape juice out of the refrigerator and take two glasses down from the cupboard. My toe is throbbing. I never realized how many steps it takes to get around the kitchen. I wonder if Luke would notice if I started hopping on one foot.