I winced and started backing away from the fence. “Shut up you guys! You’ll wake everybody up.” I doubted Jonathan’s parents wanted me lurking in their yard after midnight.
Crap! I gave up and ran back to the porch. Mojo and Buddy gave a few last barks, of joy if I wasn’t mistaken, and then calmed down.
If I was stuck here, I was going for the swing where I could stretch out. Buddy would just have to share.
I sat on the swing and swung my legs up onto the cushions. I leaned back, not too sure what I’d be putting my head in, but I was too tired to care. Buddy jumped up instantly and rested his head on my chest. Mojo must have realized we were in Buddy’s territory because he settled for climbing up next to my feet.
I hadn’t even realized I’d been getting a little cold until the heat from the dogs warmed me up. A blanket might have been more effective, and more sanitary, but I was resigned to spending the night on the porch.
Buddy raised his head an instant before the sliding glass door opened. I jumped but didn’t bother getting up. Running away would look even stranger than lounging with the dogs.
Jonathan slipped out the door. “Hey, I wondered if they were barking at you.”
In the dim light, I could see that his hair was tousled from his pillow. My heart thumped in my chest. Buddy stayed put. I guessed he was comfortable.
“Sorry,” I said in a half-whisper. “They started barking when I tried to leave. So I thought this would be better.”
He eyed me and my two bedfellows for a minute. “You guys look pretty comfy there.”
I was hoping he couldn’t see me blush in the darkness. “I, um, tried the chair at first, but no way could I spend the whole night in that.”
“You do know what they say about lying down with the dogs.”
One of my dad’s favorite sayings. “Yeah, I know. I’ll get up with fleas.” Yuck. “Mojo’s been treated. Plus, that’s really just an expression, right?”
Jonathan smiled. “Buddy usually sleeps in my bed. So I think you’re pretty safe.”
“Did we wake your parents up?”
He shook his head. “I doubt it. I’m just really tuned in to Buddy. I expected him to have some problems, but I didn’t want Mojo to have to be alone. Dad drew the line at two dogs in the house.”
Poor Buddy. He’d been booted out because of Mojo.
“It’s okay, though,” Jonathan hurried to say. “Buddy is having a blast with another dog around.”
Hopefully, he meant it and wasn’t just trying to make me feel better. I didn’t know whether to stay or go. “Mojo will probably be okay now, if I go…” I didn’t sound the least bit convinced.
“Do you want me to stay out here so you can go home?” he asked somehow reading my thoughts. “I don’t mind sleeping here if it would make you feel better.”
“No. I don’t really mind staying. I hate to make you do it.” I was afraid he’d argue, so I said, “Besides, it isn’t really home over there anyway.”
“At least let me get you a blanket and a pillow. I’ll set my alarm for early so you can leave before my parents wake up.”
“You don’t—”
“It’s the least I can do,” he said and slipped back into the house.
He didn’t seem to think I was a total freak for sleeping on his patio.
He came back loaded down with blankets and pillows.
“Thanks, Jonathan. It’s really not that cold out here.” It was still August after all. The nights were cooler but not cold.
He handed me a blanket and pillow and then set another pair down on the ground. “Be right back,” he said.
I tucked the pillow under my head relieving the tension on my neck. Much better. Then I covered myself with the blanket as much as I could without burying the dogs. After just the vinyl cushions on the metal frame, the bedding felt decadent.
Jonathan came around the side of the house carrying a cot.
“The swing is fine, Jonathan,” I said when he reached me. “But thanks.”
“The cot’s for me,” he said, setting it up a few feet away and putting the pillow and blanket on it. “I’m not letting you have all the fun.”
I couldn’t help grinning. “You’re sleeping out here with me?”
“That’s the plan.”
He really was nice. Or else he just didn’t want Buddy hanging out with me all night. “Are you jealous?” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized he probably thought I meant jealous of the dogs because they were in bed with me. “I, um, mean because Buddy’s hanging out with me.”
“No.” I thought I heard a trace of laughter in his voice. “You’re welcome to him. He snores.”
Buddy gave a loud sigh.
I giggled. “He says you’re lying.” Relaxing a little, I sank into the cushions.
“You’ll see,” Jonathan said as he lay down on the cot.
It wasn’t until he was lying down that it hit me. I was practically sleeping with a guy. Sure, it was innocent, but it was also strangely intimate. Being out in the darkness, late at night, stretched out with our pillow and blankets.
It was kind of magical.
“So was today your first day of school?” His voice sounded different somehow when he wasn’t standing up.
“Yeah. It was okay.” Were we really going to have a conversation? “What about you? You started yesterday.”
“It seems okay so far.”
“You didn’t get knifed already? You know that’s what they tell us at parochial school, that the public schools are crawling with knives and guns. Plus, with you being a guy, and a freshman, there’s probably a whole gang of delinquent seniors out to kill you.” He didn’t look like a freshman to me.
His deep laughter filled the air and teased my ears. “As far as I know, nobody wants me dead. Yet.”
“I’m sure Sister Teresa would say it’s just a matter of time.”
“She could be right.”
Sister Teresa was never right. “So, are you going out for basketball?”
He rolled over onto his side and tucked his arm under his head. He seemed even closer to me. “I don’t know. Probably not. I’d rather play church league. The competition’s pretty fierce for junior varsity at Plum. I might wait until next year.”
My church was my school, so it was weird to think of them as two separate things. “What church do you go to?”
“Well,” he said quietly. “We go to a Methodist church sometimes. But I play over at the Presbyterian church with a bunch of my friends. They do a lot of things with teens…lock-ins and stuff.”
“That’s cool. I get tired of the people at my church. You know, because I see them all the time.”
“You can come over to Second Pres. Everybody’s welcome. I don’t know if Caroline’s been there or not. She probably has though. Lots of kids from Plum High and Jefferson Middle go. You could ask her about it.”
Caroline’s been everywhere. I didn’t welcome the reminder. I didn’t have the guts to ask if he had a crush on her; plus I knew he’d never tell me the truth. I wouldn’t want to embarrass him when he was being so nice.
“It must be pretty cool having a stepsister your age. Not like having a bratty little brother.”
How on earth did I answer that one? When I didn’t say anything, he asked, “You get along with Caroline, don’t you?”
“Oh, yeah,” I answered. “She’s nice to me. It’s just weird. My dad only married her mom two years ago. And with us being the same age…I don’t know. It’s just, weird.”
He was quiet for a minute. “I hadn’t really thought about that. Do you like Diane?”
I groaned. “I’d really rather not answer that question.”
“I think you just did.”
“Don’t mention anything to Caroline please. She probably suspects how I feel, but it would be rude to actually say it.”
“No problem. I see you way more than her anyway. The only time I see Caroline is when she’s dashing f
rom the door to the car.”
With a smile, I said, “She does have an active social life.”
“But then don’t we all,” he said, and I totally got that he was mocking himself and not just me.
“My social calendar takes up all my RAM memory,” I teased.
“I have to keep track of mine on the walls of my room.”
I could picture his walls covered with appointments and parties. “Like your parents would let you do that.”
“What are they going to say to me? You should see what Ben’s done with crayon in the living room.”
Having a little brother would be fun. “He’s a cute kid.”
“He’s okay.”
I started to offer a trade—Ben for Caroline. Then I realized he might take me up on it, and that would tick me off.
I’d grown accustomed to the chirping noise, but it stopped and suddenly started again. “What is that buzzing noise anyway?”
“Frogs,” Jonathan answered. “The woods are full of them.”
“They must be to make that much noise. How’d you know that?”
“Two years in the Boy Scouts.”
I’d done a year in the Girl Scouts, but it wasn’t my thing. “You’d think they’d stop being sexist by now, and just have Scouts.”
“No way,” Jonathan said in a teasing voice. “Girls have cooties. Besides, girls can join the Boy Scouts in high school. There’s a branch called the Explorers.”
Coed Boy Scouts? I’d never heard of it. “So they like go camping and hiking and stuff.”
“Yes. You could join. My friend Colin goes on hikes all the time.”
Uh, yeah. “I’m not actually that into camping and hiking.”
“Then why were you complaining?”
“I just think girls should have the choice. Do you know what the Girl Scouts is like? Cookies, crafts, and singing songs in rounds just didn’t do it for me. That doesn’t mean I want to sleep with the snakes and bugs.”
“You’re sleeping outside right now,” Jonathan pointed out.
“Yeah, but I’m steps away from air conditioning and bathrooms, and cold beverages.”
“That’s true.”
“Plus, you can’t take your dogs camping with the Scouts.” I scratched behind Buddy’s ears.
“True,” he said looking over at the dogs. “They look pretty cozy cuddled up with you.” And I thought I heard him murmur, “Lucky dogs.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
A wide grin nearly split my face. He had said it.
“Ally?”
“Yeah?”
“Good night.”
I pulled the covers up to my chin and tried to stop smiling. “Good night, Jonathan.”
Loud barking penetrated my sleepy fog and I opened my eyes to see that it was daylight. I squinted at the brightness. I must have left my blinds open. My roof open? I was outside?
“Buddy doesn’t like it when people walk or jog by our house,” a deep voice said from next to me.
What the—. I heard some kind of squeaking sound coming from myself. Then I remembered. Jonathan, the dogs, slept on the porch. I turned my head to see Jonathan sitting up on the cot facing me.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said swiping at his eyes.
“Uh, no.” I struggled to sit up, swung my legs to the ground sending the swing creaking and swaying, and perched on the edge for a moment.
The barking got really vicious.
“Somebody must be walking their dog,” Jonathan said. “Buddy really hates that.”
“What time is it?” I reached for my cell phone even as I asked.
Five forty seven. “I better run. Your parents aren’t up yet?” I did not want to see what they thought of our sleeping arrangements.
“No. I don’t think so.”
I pushed the woven blanket aside and jumped up. The cover was a peculiar shade of orange. When my breasts started jiggling from the sudden movement, it hit me that I wasn’t wearing a bra. I was braless and standing right next to a boy. I crossed my arms over my chest, but Jonathan hadn’t noticed. He was already grabbing the cot and folding it up.
“Go on home, and I’ll stash this stuff.”
“Thanks, Jonathan.” I took off at a run for the gate. The dogs chased me, abandoning their campaign against the joggers. Leaning down, I gave each of them a pseudo-hug. “I’ll be back after school,” I said to Mojo. Then using my leg to hold them back, I went out the gate.
The last thing we needed was two dogs running loose through the neighborhood. Especially when neither would come when we called.
Chapter Eight
When you have to buy tampons, there will always be a hot, young guy at the register.
–Ally’s Brutal Teen Truths
Twenty seconds later I slipped in through the back door and hit the stairs at a run. I was at the hall bathroom when the door to my dad’s room started to open. I darted into the bathroom and started the shower to avoid discovery. But as long as I was there I may as well wash all the dog hair off.
As I shampooed my hair with Caroline’s expensive shampoo, I tried to wrap my mind around my life. This had to be the weirdest morning. I’d slept outside with a boy. So far I hadn’t gotten busted, and it was fun. Hanging out with Jonathan, and our dogs of course, was pretty cool.
The thing that I didn’t quite get was why Jonathan had come outside with me. He didn’t have to. Did it mean something? At the very least, it meant that he was a good guy right? And if it meant more? What did it mean? I’d never been friends with a guy. And a guy had never liked me. Well one had, but I hadn’t liked him back. For one thing, he was even more of a nerd than me. And for another, it made me way nervous that he liked me.
But anyway, Jonathan was not a nerd. He was a total hottie. I finished in the shower and grabbed my robe from the hook on the bathroom door. I’d had Mom buy me one after the Naked Incident with Diane. Maybe she’d learn from my example of modesty. Oh, crap and there was that grotesque image again.
Ewww.
I grabbed my cell out of the drawer where I’d put it to minimize the impact of all the steam. Then I headed to my room. Diane passed me in the hall.
“Good grief, Ally. I thought Caroline was bad. Even she doesn’t take her cell phone in the shower with her.”
I just smiled like she was being funny. I’d had next to no sleep, but I didn’t feel tired. I felt excited and special. I was so developing a big crush on Jonathan. He was extra cute in the morning with his husky voice and tousled hair.
I closed the door and sat down on the bed. Ooh. Soft. Too bad I couldn’t move it out to the yard next door.
Or move Mojo in here. And that was what was really bothering me. Last night was way cool. Was I going to have to tone down my outrage at Diane? After all, her ridiculous allergies were the reason I’d seen Jonathan. Last night. This morning. Almost every time come to think of it.
A tap on my door barely registered before a bleary-eyed Caroline came in. “G’morning.”
“Hi.”
“Oh good,” she said as she took in my robe and wet hair. “You already showered. I wanted to be sure we both had enough time in the bathroom. Did you bring your blow-dryer, or do you need mine?”
I hadn’t bothered with things I’d known she’d already have. “No. I need yours. Sorry. I usually don’t wash my hair in the morning so I wasn’t thinking.”
Caroline sighed. “I guess we’re going to have to get up this early every day.”
“I’m not really a morning person,” I admitted.
“Me neither,” she said before giving in to a huge yawn. “I’m jumping in the shower. I’ll leave the door unlocked in case you need something.”
“Thanks.” The downstairs bath in the laundry room wasn’t conducive to getting ready.
I dressed in my uniform and got the blow dryer from the bathroom. I sat at the desk and dried my hair. When Caroline got out of the shower, I did the whole wash your fa
ce brush your teeth thing. Caroline appeared in the bathroom door in a cute t-shirt and jeans. She pulled out three different brushes and got to work.
Caroline either had some natural talent for make-up and hair, or she’d snuck into a L’Oreal training program one summer. Maybe the whole modeling thing she’d done had hooked her up with some training. She’d said the whole print ad thing was boring and time-consuming, so she’d quit. Whatever the reason for her skills, she put me to shame. My half of the counter held one hairbrush (I mean really shouldn’t one be enough?), a toothbrush, face wash, blush, eyeliner (which I rarely used), and lip gloss. Applying eye shadow was far beyond my capabilities. Sure, it looked easy, but it wasn’t.
My hair looked great though. Her snazzy shampoo really did the trick. I watched Caroline as she finished her hair and started on her makeup. She didn’t just put on base, blush, eye shadow, eyeliner, and three different lipsticks. She did some kind of shading and blending thing. Had she learned this from her mother? Because it really wasn’t working out that well for Diane. She looked hideous even with all the makeup.
“You can use anything you want,” Caroline said, not for the first time since I’d known her. She selected some eye shadow and lipstick. “These would look good on you.”
“I’m not all that good at putting on eye shadow.”
“Oh, well I know all kinds of tricks. I can show you, maybe tonight?”
“Okay. I guess I’ll grab some cereal.”
Caroline laughed. “Oh, no you won’t. Mom’s on a new kick. She’s cooking.”
We walked into the kitchen together to see Diane wearing…an apron?
“Hi girls,” she said wielding her spatula. “I made soy sausage patties and egg-beaters. And wheat toast.” She smiled like she’d done something amazing. “Sit down.”
We each took a seat at the kitchen table and she served us some shriveled up egg-looking things and fake sausage. The sausage wasn’t bad. The eggs…I wouldn’t have fed them to Mojo.
I wouldn’t have fed them to Diane.
We all piled into Diane’s Land Rover. She chatted about some guy coming to buy her kiln and pottery wheel. I resisted the urge to ask how much of my college fund she’d wasted on making the two crappy, crooked pots that cluttered the shelf over the stove. We dropped off Caroline first. I searched for a glimpse of Jonathan but of course he wasn’t among the sea of students outside Plum High.
My Life as the Ugly Stepsister Page 7
