by T. S. Harvey
‘So? What do you think?’
‘I’m sorry, think about what?’
He smiled back at me, but not mocking like before, ‘Pizza? Saturday?’
‘Oh. Sorry, I can’t. I promised to visit Kacey. She’s not been well.’
‘Right. Of course. No problem.’
If I hadn’t looked so closely at his eyes earlier on and seen how the light danced in them when he smiled I never would have realised just how disappointed he was. He shrugged off my ‘no’ of course but his eyes betrayed him.
‘We could go over to Mainland Park on Sunday though if you’re not doing anything. Apparently they have a great burger van there.’
The light returned almost instantaneously.
‘Yeah, that’ll be great. I’ll call round for you about 1 p.m.’
As he walked down the path toward the road my mind went back to that damn photo. How the hell could I have done that to such a great guy? And how the hell did I get into such a state? I wanted to talk that through with him but how could I? I didn’t want to go backwards, remind him of how much of an idiot I’d been. No, I’d say nothing, after all I knew I’d have enough coming to me from the girls when I went back to school. ‘What the fuck, dating a geek, not cool’ – I could almost hear Britney’s cursing tones but I didn’t care. He’d been the only one to call round to see if I was OK. I’d been surprised when he’d turned up out of the blue but I’d been even more surprised by how well we’d gotten on; he was no longer the geek I’d met on my first day. He’d turned up as Neville Longbottom but had left as Jacob Black and I was falling hard.
‘A date? With a broken wrist? What are you gonna do if you need to fight him off?’ joked Aunt Suze when I told her what had happened. ‘I think I should chaperone you,’ she said, with a stern expression.
‘What! You’re kidding me?’ The panic in my voice was audible.
‘Of course I’m kidding, you fool. Jeez I’d have died of embarrassment if my mother had ever gone along on any of my dates.’
I breathed a visible sigh of relief. Thank fuck. It had been a shaky enough start as it was. Aunt Suze was great, really easygoing and fun to be around, but as a chaperone? No thank you.
Saturday came around quite quickly and Aunt Suze dropped me off at Kacey’s to save me having to take the bus though in all honesty it wouldn’t have bothered me. It was just over a week since the accident but I felt fine. The Doctors had said to expect to be off school for about three weeks to give my ribs chance to mend but I decided I would be OK to go back the following Monday. Convincing Aunt Suze was easier than I expected.
‘Well, you are the best person to make that decision. I’m sure you know if you’re well enough,’ she said, when I spoke to her about it.
I was really pleased that went well. I was looking forward to seeing Erik tomorrow and although I was a little nervous about the backlash I’d undoubtedly get from Kacey, I figured I’d take the chance to talk to her about it today. Better here, in private, than at school where everyone would put their five cents in.
Kacey looked much better today than she had last time I saw her. We’d exchanged texts during the week, and selfies, and joked about comparing ‘war wounds’.
‘Well, Trump, you don’t look nearly as bad as I thought you would.’ She grinned.
I was really pleased to see her. I’d felt bad about not being able to bring her notes from school, although no one offered to do it for me. Fortunately I was quite a good student; I picked things up quickly and was sure I’d soon catch up.
Kacey’s stepmother had gone away the previous day and wouldn’t be back until the following weekend. This probably accounted for why she looked so relaxed.
‘So come on, tell me what happened. How the Hell did you pull out into traffic and get away without breaking your neck?’
I held back for a moment. The truth was I pulled into the traffic because I wasn’t concentrating. My mind had been on Erik. Dare I tell her that right now? My relationship with Kacey was every bit as fragile as my relationship with Erik. In the end, I figured I might as well go for it.
‘Well, you’d laugh really.’
I didn’t sound confident, I know I didn’t. I took a deep breath.
‘I was behind the bus Erik Zauber was on. I saw him get on and through the back window I could see him standing toward the back. I had my mind on him and what I’d done with that stupid photo and I just pulled out. The doctor said I was lucky not to have been hurt more.’
‘For Christ’s sake! You risked your life worrying about that little shit? For fuck’s sake, where’s your self-respect …’ the vitriol just poured out of her like a tap.
I listened, stunned, as she fired insult after insult at Erik. In the end, I just couldn’t take any more.
‘That’s enough. You have no idea what he’s really like. He’s really sweet, and funny, and kind. I hate that you are such a bitch to him. What on earth did he ever do to deserve that, to deserve such venom?’
‘He’s a freak, a pathetic freak. He’s vile. And don’t think I’m gonna apologize for my opinion because I won’t. And if you are gonna be his friend, then you’re not mine. You need to decide which side you’re on, mine or his.’
Her spite repulsed me. I thought I’d made it quite clear to Kacey last time I saw her that I wasn’t gonna bow to her every whim like the others. I was my own person and no one, not her, not Erik, no one was gonna tell me who I could or couldn’t be friends with.
‘Fine. Well, I’ll be going then. Have a nice life with your faux friends.’
She didn’t respond. She just looked really, really pissed. I didn’t hang around. I phoned Aunt Suze and told her I’d meet her back home. I figured I’d have a nice long, hot bath and a pampering session. After all, I had a date with a hot guy tomorrow and I wanted to look my best now didn’t I?
Chapter Nine – Slip of the Tongue
Erik
I’d spent the last couple of days in a perpetual state of confusion. I was defying Dad, going against his advice and his orders.
On the other hand, I had a date with the only girl that had ever really lit my fire. I decided not to make too much of an effort with my appearance for our date; that would definitely raise suspicion. Jared never missed a thing, he was really sharp. Dad often ignored the little things; he’d never intentionally embarrass me although he would join in the teasing when he knew it was just fun. If he’d known I had a date he’d have been really encouraging, until he found out who my date was that is. I didn’t want to lie about where I was going, or who I was seeing but I couldn’t risk being grounded. I decided I would tell them where I was going, that I was meeting friends for a burger. That was only the smallest of lies, as I was going for a burger but with just one friend, singular.
I put on T-shirt and jeans, didn’t make too much fuss of my hair, which could be a bit wild if I didn’t use enough product, and I definitely didn’t put on after shave – that would have been a dead giveaway. It was a comfortable hour’s walk from home to Sarah’s. I didn’t want to look too keen so, having arrived a little earlier than planned, I held back a couple of streets down so it was closer to 1 p.m. when I finally walked up the path.
I felt pretty bad when Sarah opened the door. It was clear from the way she looked that she’d gone to a lot of effort. She looked amazing. She had beautiful brown eyes; she didn’t have a lot of make-up on but then she didn’t need it. She had on a summer dress that reminded me of one of those 50s film stars; it was cut modestly but I couldn’t help wondering what it would look like on my bedroom floor!
The conversation was much easier than it had been in the week. As we walked slowly toward the park we laughed and joked all the way. She told me all about her dad, about her life in Europe, which was a bit sad really but she didn’t let it get her down. She’d had eight schools in the last twelve years, no wonder she’d grasped so quickly to the friendship that Kacey had initially offered her. It must have been really tough making friend
s when you knew you weren’t gonna be around long. When we arrived at the part there weren’t any benches free so we got our burgers and went and sat under a tree at the edge of the woodland. I wished I’d thought to bring a blanket; I hated to think of her getting dirty. Although, I have to admit the thought of her getting down and dirty had crossed my mind some time back. I shrugged this thought off as quickly as I could. Any guy who has been in the company of a beautiful woman will know the sheer terror at the thought of the unplanned hard-on!
We spent the next few hours talking about anything and everything. We discussed our favourite food and music; I liked jazz and Rocky Road ice cream and she liked rock and Mint Choc Chip.
‘So what about movies? What do you like?’ I wanted to know everything about her.
‘All time favourite movie ever has to be Ghost. It was the first film I ever cried at. When Whoopi slipped that coin under the door and he forced it up the door and into her hand. Oh wow. I just bawled.’
And so it went on, favourite book, holiday, colour, Sesame Street character etc. etc.
It would be about 4 p.m. when we starting talking about what else we’d done over the weekend. A big mistake.
‘Oh hell, don’t ask. I don’t know what you’ve done to upset Kacey, but I had no idea just how much she hates you. I thought it was just a case of you being the one she decided to pick on but she really hates you.’
I didn’t respond straight away. I wasn’t sure how honest I should be about my ‘relationship’ with Kacey.
‘I guess she just needs someone to hate on. It doesn’t bother me. Honest it doesn’t.’
I wasn’t lying, not really. It had been a long time since I’d had any feelings for Kacey, and they hadn’t been real feelings anyway. If they had, then I wouldn’t have dumped her!
‘So come on, tell me. Why does she hate you?’
She looked deep into me. I knew, at least I thought I knew I could trust her. Just how far and how much I was gonna tell her, I was unsure. As I started to speak, I was surprised at just how loose my tongue was.
‘We were just kids. I had a weekend job with the Country club out in Madison. It was just dishwashing, table clearing, that sort of thing. Well, one Saturday afternoon we had a big party in for some rich guy’s wedding. I’d gone out to empty the trash when I saw her sat on the wall at the back of the kitchens, smoking. She was thirteen, crying her eyes out and smoking her dad’s cigarettes. I felt so sorry for her. It was her dad’s wedding to her stepmother. She ended up pouring her heart out and I ended up getting docked two hours pay, getting threatened with the sack for bunking off work, and somehow managed to get myself a girlfriend into the bargain!’
‘What? You dated?’
‘Yeah. Things were OK in the holidays but she was in private school, I was at Carterbrook and when school started back things just fizzled out. We stayed in touch for a while but, well, I had some stuff going on at home and I guess I just didn’t have time for dating. Anyway, about a year ago she got expelled and we ended up at the same school. The rest as they say …’
‘Yeah … history.’
She looked quite stunned; clearly Kacey had never mentioned anything.
‘I take it she didn’t want to break up?’
‘I guess not.’
I didn’t really want to spend our first date talking about one of my exes, so I quickly changed the subject. It wasn’t too difficult; she was so easy to talk to.
A little while later and it was starting to go dark, I suggested we head back.
‘Come on then, let’s get you home. I don’t want you getting back late again and I definitely don’t want to get your aunt offside on our first date.’ I grinned.
Then I saw the look in her eyes and I realised what I’d just said. I felt my heart start to quicken. I didn’t often feel panicked but I did now.
‘What do you mean late again? How do you know about the last time I was late home?’
Chapter Ten – The Truth
Sarah
I hadn’t told anyone about that. Everyone knew about the photo and all, but I’d never said anything to anyone about getting home late.
‘How do you know I was late home? Tell me, tell me now!’
For the first time since we’d met he looked nervous. I could sense his hesitation to respond and it just wound me up more. I started to think back to the state I’d been in when I got home, the rips in my pantyhose, the pulls on my skirt. I’d managed to put all that to the back of my mind but now it all came flooding back. He was hiding something, I know he was, and if he thought for one minute he could fob me off with some lame excuse or outright lie then he’d better think again.
I pressed him to respond. ‘Well? Answer me.’
‘OK, I’ll tell you. You have to promise you will keep an open mind, though.’
I nodded but said nothing.
‘You followed me home. I sensed you were there, I should have waited at the top of the lane and told you to go away but I guess I thought that in some ways it was just a bit of fun. I knew Kacey would dare you at some point to do something to help humiliate me; she’d done it before with other girls that had tried to get in with her. Anyway, I let you see it through. It would be about 5 p.m. – you’d seen me on the balcony …’
‘No. No. I saw you on the balcony just before I left. It was about 8 p.m. not 5 p.m.’ I argued.
‘Let me finish, please.’
I was annoyed as I knew what time it was and it wasn’t 5 p.m. I could feel a lie coming on, so I figured I’d just let him dig his own grave.
‘OK, go on.’
‘I went back inside leaving the patio door slightly open. You climbed up the trellising and onto the balcony. I was just gonna come out on the balcony and shout at you for being there but I didn’t; I took things too far. It was stupid and it was cruel and I’m sorry.’
He paused again, like he was trying to think of the rest of the story. I didn’t say anything, the silence was painful and, after what felt like an eternity, he continued.
‘Instead of shouting at you, I did something really dumb. I levitated. You panicked and ran, falling over the side of the balcony in the process.’
I couldn’t help but laugh. I was expecting something imaginative but that was just ridiculous. He was insulting my intelligence now and I started to feel really angry.
‘How gullible do you think I am? Levitated? Yeah, right. You really are a freak. Kacey was right; I should have stayed away from you.’
‘I’m not a freak, Sarah, but I am different.’
‘Different? No, you’re not different. Creative with your lies maybe, but you’re not different. You’re just the same as every other liar I’ve ever met.’
I was starting to feel quite emotional; he’d gone too far with his lies. I wanted him to stop, to shut up but he didn’t. It was almost like someone had turned a release valve in him and he just carried on.
‘There are things about me you don’t know. Things no one knows. When I knew you were there, on the balcony, I reached up as if to get something off the top of my wardrobe, something out of reach. Instead of doing what anyone else would do, you know, get a chair to stand on, I simply did what comes naturally. I levitated. It worked a little too well – you were terrified. At first I thought it was just a bit of fun. I didn’t mean it to upset you as much as it did. I didn’t mean it to go that far.’
‘Really? So what the hell am I still doing here, if I fell off your balcony?’
I can’t believe I’d asked him that. I should have just dismissed what he’d said and walked away; questioning him almost implied that I believed him.
‘After you fell, I jumped down after you and called out for help. Jared came out and … well he … he fixed things. After I knew you were OK to get home I walked you to the top of the lane. I should have left it at that, but I didn’t. I Influenced you to come back the following night thinking you were coming round for the same reason but instead of frightening you this time we ju
st sat and talked. I couldn’t believe how well we got on. It was pretty epic. But I couldn’t let it continue, that’s why I let you take the photo the next day, so we could move on.’
‘Shut up. You’re making fun of me. People don’t just levitate. You’re lying. What did you do? Did you drug me, Rohypnol or something?’
I was crying now. My mind was spinning with what might have happened, I had no memory of what he was saying so if it were true, then he must have drugged me. I started to feel afraid. I grabbed my jacket off the floor and started to make off across the park.
He caught up with me and grabbed me by the arm.
‘I’m not lying, Sarah. I can prove it. Please don’t go. Look at me. Look at me. Give me your hand.’
I was shaking and I was scared but there was something about the way he spoke so gently to me that made me want to listen.
‘Come with me,’ he said, as he led me toward the seclusion of the woods.
I hesitated for a moment and then he smiled at me, I couldn't help but follow.
‘OK. Now remember to keep an open mind. Close your hand and make a fist.’
I was curious now, not as scared so I did as he said and made a fist with my left hand.
‘OK,’ he said again, stepping back slightly. ‘You can open it now.’
I laughed as I opened my hand to see an old Indian head coin.
‘Huh. I’ve seen David Copperfield do something like that a dozen times.’
‘OK, fair point. But did he ever do this?’
He held my hand and without touching the coin it moved through the air to my right hand.
‘Oh, my God!’
I must have looked stunned, I know I felt it. My insides were shaking; I could barely believe what I’d seen.
