I began to look forward to the idea of this party. And I had forgotten how much I liked Mason until I heard him again. His voice over the phone was so warm and genuine. It reminded me of how sweet and cute and sexy he had been at the concert. And how he had become my Prince Charming when he rescued me. Where had Shane been when I needed him then? Why wasn’t he there?
“Then it’s settled. Can I pick you up or do you want to meet me there?”
I thought of The Gator and decided I felt more comfortable arriving with my posse. I figured if everything went well, Mason could always drive me home.
“Why don’t I meet you there?”
Mason had no problem with that arrangement and he gave me the address and time and directions for the party.
“Hey, Juice?” Mason’s voice had turned husky.
“Yeah?”
“I can’t wait to see you.”
My stomach did another series of flip-flops. “Okay, then. See you Saturday, Mason.”
“See you, Juice.”
After we hung up, I sat there holding the phone. What kind of alternate universe was I living in where not one, but two guys were not only talking to me, but were actually interested in me? Okay, maybe one of them technically qualified as dead, but he still dug me nonetheless. All of a sudden, I remembered one of them happened to actually be outside waiting for me right that minute. I scrambled to my feet and dashed outside my front door.
I ran out to the curb and over to the street lamp. Shane was nowhere in sight. Stupid! I felt like I kept letting him down. I tried to remember how long I had been on the phone with Mason. It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes, could it? Had it been more like fifteen? Twenty? Jeez, I was becoming as self-centered as one of those anorexic cheerios Sixx and I loathed from school.
Dejected, I sat on the curb next to the lamp and tried to get my head together. If I went to this party, I needed to keep my eye on the prize. And the prize would be a host body for Shane, right? I brightened up at the thought that a party full of Mason’s friends would be a great place to find one. I sat on the curb for another few minutes just to see if Shane would show up, but he didn’t. I was getting up when I first heard, then saw The Gator come rattling around the corner of my street.
I stood and waved and watched while Creepshow maneuvered the van into my driveway. The side door swung open almost before he had finished parking and Sixx jumped out.
“Hey, Juice. What’s shaking, bacon?” Sixx was dressed in one of her wild outfits as usual. Today she had her dark hair piled on top of her head ala Bride of Frankenstein and she wore a skintight pink silk dress and black tights. I thought she looked fabulous.
“Hey, yourself. I love your dress. Why are you so glammed up?”
“Got tired of wearing sneakers.”
“Well, you look great.”
“Thanks. Why are you sitting out here on your curb? You look like someone shot your dog.”
“Yeah, Juice. I hate seeing you look so sad.” Creepshow came and sat down on the other side of me and I felt Jett come up behind me, playfully tugging on my ponytails.
“I’m not sad. I was just supposed to meet Shane out here and I got a phone call that delayed me coming outside. By the time I got out here, he had already left. I just feel like I keep letting him down.”
“I thought you were coming back to meet us, but Shane said he would meet you here. Said he wanted to talk to you alone. Didn’t he?” Jett walked around to the street and stood in front of me.
“In a way, I guess.”
Jett looked confused, so I explained to them all about the back-and-forth in my notebook and how we agreed to meet outside. I told them how Mason called while I held the phone about to call him and about how we were invited to his friend’s party on Saturday.
“A party. All right!” Sure sounded like Creepshow would be down with the party. “Been a while since we’ve gone to a good party.”
“Not sure we’re going to this one yet, Creep.” Jett glanced at me. “Juice? We going to this one?”
“Well, it would be a great place to canvass for a body for Shane.” I answered, chewing on my nails. “Wouldn’t it?”
“Oh yeah, that’s why we’d be going. For Shane. Tell me another one, Juice. You know it’s all about this new guy, Mason.” Sixx never did let me off the hook.
“So, what if it is? You know the last time a guy showed any interest in me at all? It was, oh, let me think. That’s right, it was never, Sixx. NEVER. And Mason said he likes me. So, what if going to this party is about seeing him? Is that a bad thing? Is it?”
Surprisingly, it was Creepshow who came to my defense. “No way, Juice. It’s not a bad thing. Any guy is lucky you even talk to him. If you want to go to this party, then we’re going. I’m just happy you want us to go with you.”
I looked over at Creep and he immediately glanced down, a blush staining his face. The color made his brown eyes sparkle. Funny, I never noticed how velvety brown his eyes were before. And how dark his skin got from being in the sun. It made his arms look so muscular and cut. Why hadn’t I ever noticed that before?
“Wow, Creep. Thanks.”
“You got it. Anything. You got it.” I looked up at Jett to see if he could shed light on this new attitude, but he just smirked knowingly. I tried Sixx next, but she only nodded sagely. Did I miss something here? Suddenly, Creep jumped up and announced he had to get going.
“Yeah, me too.” Jett ambled over to the passenger side of The Gator and climbed in.
“Okay. See you guys at school tomorrow. You going too, Sixx?”
“Yeah. Might as well. Got some things I want to do. I’ll call you later. I need to talk to you anyway.” She climbed into the side of The Gator and shut the door.
“’Kay. Bye guys.” I waved as they drove away. As I walked back inside my house, I wondered about Creep’s words. They were pretty out of character for him. He’d never been so outspoken before. And was he getting taller?
Chapter Eleven
That night Sixx called like I knew she would. I had finished most of my homework and had been getting ready to go to bed when the phone rang.
“Hey.”
“Don’t hey me. Get to the dirt. What did he say?”
“What did who say?” I wasn’t giving it up that easy. For all I knew getting to talk about a boy that called me may never happen again. I would savor this.
“Are you new here? Mason, for heaven’s sake! What did he say? You know you are dying to tell me, so tell me already.”
“I totally am dying to tell you!” I practically screamed into the phone. I sucked at playing it cool, obviously. “I am beyond excited a boy even called me, let alone asked me out. I was so stoked I almost blew the whole call, Sixx.”
“I totally have to teach you how to be cool.” She drawled.
“What? Am I not cool?”
“Not even a teeny bit.”
“Gee, thanks for that.”
“Just call ’em like I see ’em, toots.”
“Can’t you throw me a bone here?”
Sixx dissolved in laughter. Over the phone I could hear the static sound of her convulsing in loud guffaws.
“Do you want to hear about my conversation with Mason or not?”
Sixx choked off her laughter. “I do. I do. I swear.”
“Because I am not telling you another thing if you don’t knock it off.”
Sixx snorted and snuffled. “Okay. I’m done. I promise. Tell me.”
“Okay. He said the most amazing thing anyone has ever said to me, like, ever. He said he had a great time at the Battle of the Bands and that he can’t wait to see me next Saturday.”
“No lie? He can’t wait to see you? That’s kind of awesome.”
“I know, right? I can’t believe a real live guy likes me.”
I heard Sixx sigh on the other end of the phone. “You mean opposed to the dead one you’ve been flirting with? Juice, are you blind or something?”
; “What? What are you talking about?”
“I’m going to have to tell you this because he is obviously never going to get the cojones to do it himself. Don’t you know Creep has been mooning around over you for the better part of the last year and a half? Are you telling me you’ve never noticed how he acts around you?”
“What? He acts different around me?” I held the phone away from my face so I could yell in it.
“Are you mental? With the exception of today, he can hardly speak a full sentence around you.”
“Yeah, let’s talk about today. What was that all about, anyway?”
“O.M.G. You are stupid as well as blind. That boy is half out of his mind in love with you, Juice. Don’t you find anything appealing about him at all?”
I thought about it. It was true that lately I had noticed Creep looking, well, more put together than usual. I wondered if it was my imagination that his shirts seemed to be fitting tighter and his hair seemed to have these great blond streaks in them that I had never seen before. And that this one piece of hair kind of cascaded over his eyes that he pushed out of his face in a cute sort of way.
“Maybe, Sixx. I just haven’t ever thought of him that way.” It wasn’t the entire truth, but if I added Creepshow into the mix, that would make it three guys I would be juggling. And that would be just too romance-novel trashy and completely unbelievable to be true. I shook my head at the ludicrousness of it all.
“Well, he’s never not thought of you that way. He’s had a crush on you since forever and he swore me to secrecy, like, a thousand years ago.”
“Are you serious? I can’t believe it.”
“You better. And now you’re making him nuts, stuffing Shane, and now Mason, in his face all the time. It wasn’t bad when it was just the four of us, you know, hanging out and goofing off. He didn’t have to compete with anyone. But now, it’s friggin’ ridiculous. Every time the poor boy turns around, another guy crawls out of the woodwork.”
“Sixx! You are so totally exaggerating! It is nothing like that!” But as I thought about it, I realized it was exactly like that. In just one week, I met Shane on Monday and the following Saturday night, while I spent the night skulking around trying to find a host body for him, thank you very much, I met Mason. And Creepshow got introduced to both of them almost immediately afterward. Sixx wasn’t wrong. I had been jamming my “boyfriends” down Creep’s throat. “Oh, shoot, Sixx, what should I do?”
“Just stop yapping about them all the time.”
“Okay, I will.” I yawned. I was getting tired now.
“And take another look at Creep, why don’t you? That boy is hot. He always has been. And he’s hot for you, sister.”
Hot for me?Okay, now I was awake again. “Whatever, Sixx.”
“I’ve been taking a long, hard look at Jett myself. I’ve always had a thing for the strong, silent type. And his whole Zen surfer thing is starting to make me sweaty.”
“You are killing me, Sixx. Would you stop already? I recently ate.” I made gagging noises in the phone until I could hear Sixx snorting she was laughing so hard.
“You’re crazy, Juice. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.” Sixx hung up. I could still hear her laughing as she did.
I pushed all my homework into my backpack and crawled under my covers, suddenly super tired. Tomorrow would be a week since I’d met Shane. Funny thing was, the last person on my mind as I drifted into sleep wasn’t him and it wasn’t even Mason. As I closed my eyes for the last time that night, my last thought was of Creepshow.
Chapter Twelve
The next morning, I woke up early enough to go down to the beach and watch Jett and Creep surf before school like always, but something stopped me from going. It just felt weird. Instead, I dawdled over my cereal and took unusual care choosing my outfit. I stood in front of the closet so long, I finally got disgusted with myself and dressed in my standard shorts and a hoodie. It was too late to go to the beach so I walked straight to school.
I got there before The Gator, so I only found Sixx lounging on our regular place on the wall. When she saw me she called out a greeting.
“Morning, Glory. What’s up?” Sixx perched on our wall as effortlessly as if she were gracing the top of a baby grand piano. She apparently had dressed for it, too. Today, she wore a leopard print tank dress with black satin gloves and a matching pillbox hat, à la Jackie Kennedy. Sixx had a natural exotic style without even trying.
I looked down at my faded jean shorts and navy blue tights with my trusty Converse sneakers and wondered for the millionth time how anyone even saw me standing next to Sixx, much less talked to me. She embodied being an alternative fashionista and I looked like a street urchin.
“Sixx, you look amazing. That would have been a great outfit for the party this weekend. You should’ve saved it for that.”
“Maybe I will. But I might find something else equally awesome by then. You should come with me. Find something stunning for the big date and all.”
“I don’t know if I’d call it that.” But a tiny part of me thrilled to the idea that it was a ‘big date’ and that I even had one at all.
The rumbling in the parking lot signaled the arrival of The Gator. Soon, Jett and Creepshow joined us on the wall. Jett came up and hugged both Sixx and I then assumed his usual position, but it was Creep I watched with interest. I had wondered if there was going to be any weirdness between him and me, and sure enough, he hung back and didn’t immediately come up to me like he usually did.
I snapped my head in Sixx’s direction, accusing her with my eyes of spilling my most recent revelations. She rolled her own eyes in response. Clearly, she hadn’t said a word. Just as clearly, I would have to burst this tension bubble. I hopped off the wall and walked over to where Creepshow stood, trying to look necessary.
“Hi, Creep,” I said, far too brightly. “How were the waves this morning?”
Creep gazed at the ground and shuffled his feet. Finally, he looked up at me. “They were great. How come you didn’t come down like you usually do? I thought we’d see you there.”
I thought fast. “Oh, I overslept. Barely made it to school on time.” I laughed nervously.
“You know I’ll always give you a ride to school, Juice.”
“I know. Thanks, Creep. I’ll probably make it down there tomorrow or the next day. Especially if the waves are that great.” Creep looked pretty happy about that prospect.
Jett came up to us then. “Okay if I interrupt the lovefest? Let’s talk about this party this weekend. What up with that, Juice?”
Sixx sauntered over and the four of us hovered together while we talked about Mason’s invitation. Of course, we all decided it would be the perfect opportunity to scout for a new host body for Shane. I finally had to admit to everyone that I hadn’t heard from Shane since the day at the beach parking lot.
“He really hasn’t shown up anywhere since then, Juice?”
“No, Jett. He hasn’t.”
“You think he’s torqued over you gettin’ with a new dude?”
I shot an annoyed glance at Jett. “I did not ‘get with’ Mason. I met him is all. And I hardly think Shane is shallow enough to punish me over just meeting someone.” But in the back of my mind I wondered if Jett hadn’t hit on the real reason Shane had made himself scarce lately. And I wondered when I would see him again.
“I wouldn’t worry about it, Juice. He needs you. He said so himself. And he waited for you, like, sixty years, right?” Sixx tried to make me feel better, but it had the opposite effect with Creep.
“I don’t know why he had to choose Juice anyway! There’s hundreds of other kids in this freakin’ school. Why her!” Creep exploded. He grabbed up his backpack and stalked off in the direction of the school gym.
I was blown away. I’d never seen him act like that before. Was that him “crushing” on me like Sixx had been talking about? I turned to her for confirmation but she just stood there with her mouth open. I tried Jett n
ext, but he just shook his head.
“Knew that would be coming,” he said. “My boy’s been holding it in for a while now.” Jett got up and slowly started after him. He took a couple steps and turned back, like he had forgotten something. “You know, Juice, Creep’s been spun on you for a long time now.” He paused again. “He’s one of the good ones, you know?” He didn’t wait for an answer, just eased back around and strolled off after his best friend.
Sixx and I stood in place. Apparently she was as unable to move as I was. “Wow. That’s about the longest I ever heard Jett talk at one time.”
“Me too. I hope Creep isn’t mad at me.”
“Didn’t you hear anything Jett the Prophet said? Creep can’t be mad at you. He’s in love with you.”
“What-ev. I don’t think I can handle anymore of this. I feel like I’m living in some kind of alternative universe. Boys don’t like Juice! That’s the world I know and understand! What the heck is happening here, Sixx?”
Sixx leaned over and gave my shoulders a squeeze. “It’s a brave new world, girlfriend. And you are smack in the middle of it.”
I’d just opened my mouth to give her a smart answer, when the morning class bell rang. Finally!
Chapter Thirteen
I got into the groove of the school week and happily nothing strange or supernatural happened. The only bad thing that didn’t happen that I wanted to was that I still hadn’t heard from Shane. Every time I went into a classroom I was careful to open up a notebook to a blank page and leave it lying face up on my desk so Shane would have a way to communicate with me, but nothing happened all week. He never showed up in any of my classrooms.
Mason called me a couple times after school during the week and we firmed up plans for our date. I would meet him there with Sixx and the gang, traveling in The Gator and he would drive me home after. As we got closer to the weekend, I got more and more excited. But, I also became concerned as more time went by and I hadn’t heard from Shane. I began to think maybe I would never hear from him again.
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