Phase

by E. C. Newman

  Jules rolled her eyes. “Naomi’s room. The parents are on the second floor. Ezra sleeps next to the garage.”

  I pictured Ezra sleeping, all curled up in bed, looking adorable. Then I shook my head to clear it.

  At the end of the hall, she opened the door on the left. “This is my room.” She sounded…awed. She hadn’t shared much about her former foster homes, but I was willing to bet that having her own room was something special.

  A green comforter covered her twin bed. The bare walls were painted an intense blue. Her nightstand and dresser matched each other and the house by being made out of unpainted wood. Her round window gave her a phenomenal view of the woods. The green leaves blocked seeing very far, but during the winter, when the trees were bare, I bet she could see all the way to the river.

  “This is very awesome.”

  She sat at her little desk next to the window. “I love it.”

  I tossed my bag on the floor and went to it to look even closer. “Yeah, honestly I’d stay in my room all day.” I looked at the bare walls. Juliet didn’t have anything to put up, a sobering thought. I went over to her bookshelf, smiling her worn copies of The Chronicles of Narnia. Well-loved.

  “I like The Last Battle best,” she said. I smiled and went to sit by my bag.

  “The Horse and His Boy, which no one likes, but oh well.” I opened my bag and pulled out a chips and cookies. “Time to study, and I brought snacks.”

  “Very healthy too.”

  “Life is too short to eat healthy all the time,” I replied with the argument I often used on my mother. “But I did bring carrot sticks.” I took those out too. “To counteract the chips and cookies.”

  She picked up her math book and sat across from me.

  “So.” I munched on a carrot. “Mrs. Varden seems pretty cool.”

  “She is, but sometimes—”

  “Sometimes, what?” I leaned forward. If Ezra and his friends were mysterious, maybe his family was too.

  “I don’t know.” She twirled a pencil in her fingers. “I feel like they’re watching me. Maybe they think I’ll run away.”

  “Why would you run away?” I half laughed, then saw her expression.

  “I ran away from all the other homes.”

  I didn’t know what to say.

  She kept twirling the pencil, watching it, not me. “I didn’t mean to. I would just wake up outside. Alone. They never believed me when I said I didn’t remember.” She shook her head as if getting rid of the memories. “Anyway, maybe it’s not that. But they’re waiting for something. I don’t know. Maybe I’m paranoid.” She offered me a weak smile.

  “You don’t remember?”

  She shook her head. “Bad case of sleepwalking, I guess. They’d lock the door sometimes.” Her eyes focused on somewhere else, some other time. “I wouldn’t for weeks and they’d relent, and I’d disappear again.” She shuddered.

  “Maybe that’s just how the Vardens raise their kids.” I tried to process what she’d just told me. I didn’t know what life was like without family. To be alone completely.

  “Maybe.” She sighed and looked back at her book. “I hate math.”

  “Me too, sister, me too.”

  About a half hour later, I went downstairs to the kitchen for milk to go with the cookies I’d brought. I made sure I descended those stairs with caution. I then slid in my socked feet down the hall to the kitchen.

  “Oh yeah.” I laughed as I glided into the kitchen. Then stopped in my tracks.

  Ezra Varden stood in the kitchen looking at me.

  “Right, you live here,” I said dumbly. And for more wonderful witticisms by Sophie Todd, stay tuned after the break.

  “Yes I do.”

  I smiled for lack of anything else to do. “I’m uh, studying with Jules.”

  He nodded and went back to reading a magazine on the counter.

  Social, wasn’t he? I didn’t expect the red carpet pulled out for me, but he was usually friendlier than this.

  The refrigerator was one of those with two doors, side by side. I opened up the wrong one—the freezer—and stared. Packages upon packages of meat. Beef.

  Jules hadn’t been kidding about the red meat in the house.

  “Looking for something?”

  “Oh.” I turned.

  He watched me oddly, like I was intruding.

  “Opened the wrong side.” I tried the other door and retrieved the milk. Then I started searching through cabinets.

  “Glasses are another over,” he said without looking up.

  “Oh. Thanks.” I watched him for a second then opened the cabinet and found the glasses. “We’re working on Pre-Cal if you want to join us.”

  He looked up and met my eyes. His green eyes were the most talked-about characteristic among girls at our high school. Pale like leaves in early spring.

  “No, I’m good,” he answered.

  “Oh. Then maybe you can help?” I knew I was trying too hard.

  His nostrils flared. “I’m sure you can figure it out on your own. That’s what learning is, right?” And he grabbed a banana from the basket on the counter and stalked past me without another word.

  Teenaged boys were rude. When I was ten, I used to play football with them during recess. Well, I’d just tackled. I couldn’t catch or throw a football. But they’d been cool then.

  I poured the milk and put it away. Why were pretty people usually jerks? It was so cliché.

  * * *

  Jules walked me out to my car at nine p.m. on the dot.

  “Thanks for inviting me over,” I said, unlocking my car and tossing in my backpack.

  She nodded, sticking her hands in her back pockets.

  “I had fun,” I went on.

  “Studying?” she asked, the doubt in her voice clear.

  “Well, the company was good.”

  She grinned. “Yeah. Thanks for helping me. Sometimes all the formulas just…lose me.” She waved a hand over her head, signaling where the formulas went.

  “Anytime.” I took a deep breath. “I’ll see you at school.”

  “Right.”

  I told myself to just do it and gave her a hug. I felt her stiffen and then relax as she returned the hug.

  I drew back. “Later.” I got into my car and watched her through the rearview mirror as I drove away.

  She waved until I turned on the main road. I rolled down my windows to let in the night air and reached for the radio to turn it on.

  A howl, long and mournful, split the air.

  I gripped the steering wheel, wondering if I’d imagined it.

  Then I heard it again. Another one. A wolf’s howl.

  Woods meant animals, of course. But I hadn’t much thought about big animals. And after the wolf in Gregory, I was even more jumpy.

  Heart in my throat, I rolled my window back up and locked my doors. I glanced into the dark trees.

  I didn’t see anything, but that didn’t make me feel any better.

  Chapter Three

  “Jules!” I greeted her after she walked out of Study Hall. She jumped, surprised.

  “What?”

  “I got a solo!”

  Jules smiled. “And you obviously are happy about this.”

  “We’re doing a medley of show tunes, and we’re doing some from Into the Woods, which is a great show. And I’m playing Little Red Riding Hood.” I did a little dance right there in the hall. “Sorry, I’m just really excited.”

  “Oh, I got that.” She chuckled. “Little Red Riding Hood?”

  “It’s not Cinderella or the Baker’s Wife, but it’s a good part. And totally in my range.” I spun around, earning stares from classmates walking by. I didn’t care. “I’ve never had such a good solo before.”

  “I’m glad for you. Really. Don’t understand one bit. But happy for you.”

  “We should celebrate.”

  “With what?” Jules said as we started walking toward Geography.

  “Friday.
You should spend the night.”

  Her eyes widened.

  I regretted my hasty words. “I mean, if you want.”

  “Actually, it’s supposed to be really nice on Saturday. I was thinking you could come over and stay with me. We could hang out in the woods, or something. Avoid the guys.”

  “The guys?”

  She rolled her eyes. “They’re always out in the woods. I have no idea what they do for hours and how they get their school stuff done. And the weird thing is that they always come back all dirty and sweaty. The whole house smells like gross boy.”

  I blinked at her, still not used to her talking so much.

  “Maybe they have animal sacrifices,” she said.

  I still hadn’t said anything.

  “You don’t have to come over.”

  “I want to. Really.” That was the truth. I was just amazed at everything she’d just shared. “Animal sacrifices?”

  Jules grinned wickedly. “Satanic rituals.”

  I shuddered. “The Reades go to our church, so I don’t think so.”

  “Spoilsport.” Jules punched my shoulder playfully.

  I waited until she was looking elsewhere to rub it. She was strong.

  * * *

  “You haven’t asked Mr. and Mrs. Varden yet?” I asked on Friday.

  “No big deal. Ezra has guys over all the time.” Jules reassured me with an arm around my shoulders. I’d only known Jules for two weeks. So much had happened in that time. I couldn’t really believe her arm was around my shoulders, and we were friends.

  We exited the school and headed to my car. Nearby, Ezra sat on the hood of his station wagon, talking with Micah and Nick. Jules strode toward them without hesitating. Was it possible they didn’t affect her like they affected every other girl in the school?

  “Hey,” she said to Ezra. “Can you call your mom and tell her that Sophie and I are coming later? She’s gonna spend the night.”

  Nick snorted with amusement. Ezra popped him on the back of the head.

  “You’re supposed to ask your parents before you invite a friend over,” Micah said. He sounded very authoritative. “They might have something planned.” He looked really bothered by something that didn’t have a thing to do with him.

  Jules didn’t even spare him a glance. “They’re not my parents. Can you, Ezra?”

  “Yeah.” He shrugged at Micah, who continued to look annoyed. “I’m sure Mom’ll be fine with it.”

  The way he said it made me think his dad wouldn’t be. Strange. I hadn’t even met Mr. Varden.

  “No good reason to say no,” Ezra said to Micah. I didn’t think I was supposed to hear that.

  “Cool.” Jules turned, her hair flipping out in the way that I thought only happened in movies. I watched Micah and Nick stare at her, but Ezra merely slid off the hood to get into his car.

  Jules looped arms with me. “Let’s go.”

  “Does Micah always talk like that?” I asked when we got into my car and started away. “To you?”

  “When he talks to me, sure. He’s got a pole ten feet long up his butt.” She fiddled around in her bag. “Gum?”

  “No thanks.”

  “I mean, at least I gave some warning about you coming.” Jules huffed. “Micah can go shove it somewhere. Ezra is probably the only normal one of the group.”

  I wondered if that was a good thing or bad. Did normal guys like crazy Show Choir girls?

  * * *

  “Your mom is great,” Jules said once we were on the road from my house. I’d packed an overnight bag quickly, and we were back in the car before an hour was up.

  “Huh?” I turned down the oldies station and glanced at her. She had pushed back the seat and put her feet on the dashboard, completely relaxed.

  “Your mom. I mean, she’s just really nice. I dunno. You’re lucky. I wouldn’t mind a mom like that.”

  I didn’t know what to say. I knew how lucky I was to have my parents. Even when I felt like yelling at them for some stupid reason, I realized how much they loved me.

  “Do you remember your parents?” I asked softly, hoping that maybe if she didn’t want to answer, we could pretend I hadn’t asked.

  “I never knew my mom. I had one, I’m assuming.” Jules stretched out, staring blankly at the windshield. “Dad never talked about her.”

  “You remember your dad?”

  “Yeah, he didn’t ditch me till I was like six. So he’s most of my childhood.”

  “What was he like?”

  “It’s funny. Not really funny, but odd. I can’t remember what he looks like. I remember that he had a beard, ’cause I remember that it scratched my cheek when he held me. He smelled good. Like cookies or something.” She swallowed. “He had a dog.”

  I smiled. “A dog?”

  “Really pretty one. Fluffy fur. I loved that dog. Can still see him in my mind. A husky or something. Blue eyes. The dog.” She pursed her lips abruptly. “But he left. Both of them. I waited every day for two years until I figured out he wasn’t coming back.” Her voice had gone hard.

  “Maybe he couldn’t—”

  “Don’t, Sophie. Don’t make excuses for him.”

  I parked behind Ezra’s station wagon in their driveway. Jules opened the door and climbed out, pushing up the seat to scoop up my bag.

  “I can get that.”

  “You’re the guest, right?” She grinned, apparently over her dark thoughts.

  I laughed. “Of course, that’s why I wait on you hand and foot when you come over to my house.”

  She shrugged, swinging the bag onto her shoulder. “Come on.” We entered the house.

  Mrs. Varden poked her head out of the kitchen. “Ezra said you would be joining us, Sophie. Hope you like spaghetti.”

  “You’d be hard pressed to find a food I don’t like, Mrs. Varden.”

  “Call me Meredith.” She waved us in. “How was school, Juliet?”

  Jules shrugged. “Had a pop quiz in Algebra 2. Passed.”

  “That’s great,” I told her. “You didn’t tell me that.”

  “No big deal.” Jules started out of the kitchen. “I’m gonna throw this in my room.”

  “OK.” I looked back at Meredith. “It is OK that I’m spending the night, right?”

  She smiled warmly. “I’m very glad Juliet has you as a friend. I worry.” She didn’t expound even though I wanted her to. “Juliet said you’re performing at the fair?”

  “Yeah. Saturday night. ” I grinned big, not just because of getting the solo. Jules mentioning it to Meredith thrilled me. “We’re doing medleys of some Broadway songs. I’m singing as Little Red Riding Hood from Into the Woods. Can I help?”

  “Sure, would you stir the noodles so they don’t stick?” she asked.

  I shuffled over to the big pot on the stove and took the wooden spoon.

  “That’s wonderful. You like singing then?” She stirred sizzling ground beef. The aroma was heavenly.

  “I love it. It’s about the only thing I’m good at.”

  “And Little Red Riding Hood is a big solo?” She poured in a jar of Prego.

  I shrugged. “It’s not huge. It’s more for an alto. Sopranos always get the main parts.” Unfair world.

  “Little Red Riding Hood?”

  I turned to see Ezra standing in the doorway. He’d changed into a ratty T-shirt and frayed jeans. He looked amazing.

  “Yes. It’s Sophie’s solo for the fair.” Meredith sounded enthusiastic. “We should make sure to see her.”

  Ezra glanced at me with an unreadable expression. I supposed I should have at least appreciated that he looked.

  “Do you get chased by the Big Bad Wolf?” he asked, insinuating something I couldn’t catch.

  Meredith shot him a strange look. Almost a what-are-you-doing-crazy-boy? type of look. If I was someone who could interpret mother looks.

  “Um, kinda?” I stirred the noodles.

  “Who’s still here, Ezra?” Meredith asked. />
  “Nick, Micah, and Gil.”

  “Staying for dinner?”

  “Guess so.”

  “Ezra.” Total mother voice. “Call their parents and ask if it’s OK.”

  I smiled to myself. There was something nice and normal about watching Ezra with his mom.

  Big sigh. “Sure looks like we’ve got a full house though.”

  I swore I could feel his eyes on me.

  “The more the merrier,” Meredith replied, not missing a beat. “I’m glad for a few more females. Can you set the table, too, Ezra?”

  “Yeah. Sure.” He left the kitchen.

  My shoulders relaxed. “Is that why you took in Jules?” I asked. “More females?”

  She chuckled. “Didn’t really think of that, but maybe subconsciously. With the pack over here all the time, it’s usually just Naomi and me.” She stilled for a second and then swallowed.

  “Pack? You mean Ezra and the guys?”

  She barely nodded.

  “That’s a good way to describe them. They’re always together.” I smiled. “I think the noodles are ready.”

  Meredith looked far less calm. “I’ll drain them. Will you go tell everyone dinner is nearly ready?”

  “Sure.” I hurried up the stairs and knocked on Naomi’s closed door. “Naomi, your mom said dinner’s ready.”

  The door opened, and she looked at me suspiciously. “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m spending the night.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Right.” She walked past me, muttering under her breath, and then disappeared down the stairs.

  Was it something about this house that made the girls not like me in the beginning?

  * * *

  Dinner with the Vardens was…different. Mr. Varden was there. He had the same eyes as his children, except more tired. He showed up about halfway through the meal, looking worn out. He said hello to me, but other than that he didn’t really talk. I wasn’t sure what kind of work he did, but judging from the state of his clothing, it was manual labor.

  “So, what are you and Jules going to get up to out here?” Nick eyed me.