by Ginger Rue
“I’m sure you could,” Tig said.
“Didn’t you say Pandora’s Box needed a rhythm guitarist? Isn’t that why you said y’all brought Paris on to begin with?” Regan asked. “Since she’s playing bass now, do you think I could try rhythm guitar?”
Everything seemed to stop for a moment. Tig became hyperaware of everything around her, like one of those scenes in the movies where the voice of the person speaking all of a sudden gets really loud and really slow, and their face comes into frame in an extreme close-up.
Tig felt as though the heavens had suddenly opened up and revealed a great truth to her.
“So that’s what all this was about?” Tig asked.
“What all what was about?”
“Robbie warned me you were up to something,” Tig said. “I actually almost believed you wanted to be my friend. But Robbie said you had an agenda. I just couldn’t figure out what it could possibly be. But here it is.”
“What agenda?” Regan said. “I just asked a simple question.”
“Asking to join our band is not just asking a simple question,” Tig said. “‘Can I borrow a pencil?’ is a simple question. ‘What time is it?’ is a simple question. ‘Can I join your band?’ is most definitely not a simple question! It’s a huge, life-changing question!”
“I didn’t know it was that big a deal to just ask,” Regan said. “Why are you getting so uptight?”
“I’m not uptight,” Tig said. “I’m just opening my eyes. I’ve got to hand it to you: you almost had me fooled. Well, the answer, Regan, is no. No, you may not join Pandora’s Box. You tried everything to destroy it last year, and when you couldn’t, when you saw that we were actually getting somewhere, you decided to worm your way in. What? You’re not popular enough already? You couldn’t stand for us to get some attention? You had to have that little bit of limelight too?”
“You’re being ridiculous and you’re really starting to tick me off,” Regan said.
“Oh? Is that so?” Tig said. “Is that supposed to scare me? Guess what. I’m not scared of you. You threw everything you had at me last year, and I survived. What’s more, Pandora’s Box survived. There’s nothing you can do to me now.”
Just then Will walked in and sat down.
Tig gulped. As usual, she’d gotten angry and shot her mouth off again without thinking. Of course there was something Regan could do to Tig: she could tell Will and Olivia about Tig’s crush. Sure, Tig could deny it, but would they believe her? And even if she did deny it and they bought it, once the suggestion was out there that Tig liked Will, she’d be under constant scrutiny, and they’d eventually see what she’d been trying so hard to hide. It was a bell she wouldn’t be able to un-ring.
Regan must have known what Tig was thinking. Regan looked from Tig to Will and back to Tig.
Tig had to think fast.
She could either admit that Regan had her where she wanted her, or she could go down defiantly.
She chose defiance.
“Go ahead,” Tig said. “Tell him. Tell Olivia. Tell the whole world if you want. I haven’t done anything wrong.”
Regan looked again at Will, then back to Tig.
“I said go ahead,” said Tig. She tried to look tough. She crossed her arms in front of her so her hands wouldn’t shake.
“You want me to tell Will?” Regan said.
Will turned around. “Tell me what?”
“Will,” Regan said, “there’s something you should know about your buddy Tig.”
“Oh yeah?” Will said. “What’s that?”
“She really, really likes . . .,” Regan began.
There was a pause.
“Really, really likes what?” Will asked. Tig could feel her face reddening. Here it comes, she thought, bracing for impact.
“Tig really, really likes . . .,” Regan said. She looked once more at Tig. “She really likes books about fairies.”
Will scrunched his eyebrows. “Okay,” he said. “Thanks for sharing.” He turned back around and started unzipping his backpack.
Regan turned around too, putting her back to Tig.
What just happened? Tig wondered. What does this all mean?
Did it mean that Regan wasn’t going to rat her out?
No way, Tig thought. This is Regan Hoffman. She thought of all the things Regan had done to her in seventh grade. Regan was no lightweight. When she wanted to take someone down, she brought her A game.
Regan must’ve had a good reason for waiting. Perhaps she wanted to prolong Tig’s anxiety, to let her suffer with wondering when and how the secret would be revealed.
That was why Regan hadn’t told Will, Tig decided. Regan was planning something horrifically spectacular.
Chapter Forty
Part of Tig wanted to tell the girls about it at lunch. But she couldn’t. First of all, she didn’t want to admit that Robbie had been right. For all Robbie’s coolness, she wasn’t above a good “I told you so.” And second, Tig was afraid that if she told the girls about Regan, it would get around to the fact that Regan had something on Tig, and she certainly didn’t want any of them asking what that might be. So Tig kept her mouth shut—so much so that everyone at the lunch table kept asking, “What’s wrong with you?” She finally told them it was cramps just to get them to back off. What was one more white lie when she had become so adept at hiding her feelings for Will?
There were only about ten minutes left in the lunch period when Regan came over to their table.
“Hi, Regan,” Kyra said. “Did you want to sit with us?”
Tig rolled her eyes. Of course Kyra never failed to hold out hope that she would finally be chosen to join the Bots.
“No, thanks,” Regan said. “Tig, why don’t you come sit at my table for a minute? We need to talk.”
Tig started to tell Regan that she didn’t take orders from her, but then, Regan hadn’t really commanded her to join her at her table; she’d suggested it. And if Tig had balked, Robbie and the other girls would’ve known something was up. The wisest course of action seemed to be to go to Regan’s table and hear her out, so that was what Tig decided to do.
Regan waved her hand at Sofia and Haley, who scurried over to the Pandora’s Box table. Tig watched Kyra fall all over herself to make room for them while Robbie looked on in horror. The other Bots at Regan’s table turned their backs to Regan and Tig to give them some privacy. With all the noise in the lunchroom, Tig felt reasonably comfortable that no one would overhear the two of them.
“You owe me an apology,” Regan said.
“For what?” Tig replied.
“For going psycho on me in algebra,” Regan said. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t deserve to be treated like that.”
“Do you really expect me to believe that you’ve been nice to me this year for no reason?” Tig asked.
“Of course there was a reason,” Regan said.
“Aha!” Tig said. “So you admit it! Finally! Let’s hear it. What’s your game?”
“Okay,” Regan said, “you’re right. I have had a reason for being nice to you this year. And just as you suspected, it’s the same reason I was out to get you last year.”
Tig was a little taken aback that Regan was being so up-front about the whole thing. “So what is the reason?” she asked.
“Because I think you’re cool,” Regan said.
Tig sat in silence for a moment, then replied, “You what?”
“I think you’re cool,” Regan said. “I wanted to be your friend.”
“Wait,” Tig said. “Are you trying to tell me that you treated me like dirt last year because you wanted to be friends with me? That makes no sense at all.”
“It didn’t start out that way. I tried to be nice at first. But you were always so rude to me for no reason,” Regan said. “Whenever I saw you in the halls, you’d scowl at me. Whenever I said anything in class, you’d roll your eyes.”
“That’s because you’re a Bot,” Tig said.
“That’s exactly what I’m talking about!” Regan said. “You never tried to see who I really was. You just categorized me: Bot. You never tried to be nice to me.”
“As if you needed me to be nice to you,” Tig said. “Everybody in the whole school bows before you! You’re the Queen Bot!”
“You’re right,” Regan said. “I’m the most popular girl in school. Pretty much everybody wants to be friends with me. But not you. It was like you thought you were too good for me. But I tried being nice to you. At first. Like that time I told you I liked your shirt.”
“When did you do that?”
“The beginning of last year. I said, ‘Nice shirt,’ and you said, ‘Whatever,’ and looked at me like I’d just kicked your dog or something.”
“I probably thought you were being sarcastic,” Tig said.
“Well, I wasn’t,” said Regan.
Tig felt embarrassed. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t know. . . . I guess I don’t like to let my guard down.”
“Have you noticed that you never let your guard down?” Regan asked. “You’re like that thing in Julius Caesar. About dying a lot of little deaths instead of one big one. You’re always so worried about something happening, you can’t enjoy anything.”
Tig thought about what Regan had said. She had a point. When was the last time she wasn’t worried about what might happen—with Regan and the Bots, or with Kyra, or with Claire, or with Robbie and Paris, or with Olivia and Will? “Okay, for argument’s sake, let’s say you’re right. I expect the worst. But you’re telling me that you were out to get me last year because I’d hurt your feelings?”
“It sounds pathetic when you say it that way,” Regan said. “Let’s just say I wanted to rattle you a little bit.”
“Oh, you rattled me,” Tig said. “You rattled me plenty.”
“It never seemed that way,” Regan said. “And then this year I thought maybe we could actually be friends. But of course, you were always on the lookout for some reason to hate me.”
Tig sighed. “I just never wanted to be like Kyra—always chasing after the popular crowd. That just seems so lame.”
“It is lame,” said Regan. “It’s kind of funny, I guess. I didn’t want to be friends with Kyra because she tried so hard to be in my crowd, and I guess I wanted to be friends with you because you tried so hard not to be.”
“Yeah,” said Tig. “Kyra has been dying to be friends with you for years now.”
“No, she hasn’t. She’s never been dying to be friends with me. She’s been dying to be in my crowd. There’s a big difference.”
Tig nodded. “You’re pretty perceptive for a Bot.”
“Wow, thanks,” said Regan.
“I’m just kidding,” Tig said. “But look, this doesn’t mean I’m going to become a Bot. You can’t push me around and tell me what to do like you tried to do with Claire last year.”
“I wasn’t really trying to push Claire around,” Regan said. “I really liked her. I just didn’t want her to like you. I figured you’d turn her against me.”
“I worried about the same thing with you.”
“You won,” Regan said. “Sofia and Haley sort of like me telling them what to do.”
“And I’m sure you don’t enjoy that at all,” Tig said.
Regan smiled. “Maybe a little bit. Being the queen does have its perks.”
“I’m sorry,” Tig said again. “For everything. I really am. But know this: I’m not putting you in the band.”
“I understand,” Regan said. “I’d probably be terrible anyway. And I guess I don’t really deserve to be in your band. I did try to kill it a few times.”
“That’s true,” Tig said. “But to be fair, you kinda helped us, too.”
“Oh, you mean with the Kyra problem.”
“Not just that. Remember last year when you told us we didn’t look like rock stars at all?”
Regan winced. “Yeah, sorry about that.”
“Don’t be. It was actually helpful. We needed to hear that. That was the whole reason I changed my hair and we worked on costuming and stage choreography. If it hadn’t been for you, we might have looked like total losers in UA’s fake commercial.”
“Oh. Well, you’re welcome.” Regan grinned. “See, I knew that all along, and that’s why I did it. It was all part of my secret master plan to help you!”
“Yeah, right!” Tig laughed. “Tell you what. If you really want to learn to play guitar, take some lessons. Try it out for a while. If you get any good in a few months and we’re still looking, I’ll talk to Robbie and the other girls about letting you audition.”
“Come on,” Regan said. “Like Robbie’s ever going to give me a chance! Just go ahead and say no. Don’t drag it out like that.”
“You never know,” said Tig. “Robbie’s pretty open-minded once you get to know her. People can change their minds. If you’d told me last year that I’d be sitting here having this conversation with you today, I wouldn’t have believed it. Would you?”
“No way,” said Regan. “All right, then. Fair enough. I’ll give guitar lessons a try. I might not even like it. Or I might get really good. Maybe I’ll start my own band.”
“If you do, here’s a piece of advice,” Tig said. “Don’t let Haley be your lead singer.”
Regan laughed. “Not in a million years!” she said.
Chapter Forty-One
The other girls were beside themselves wanting to know what had gone down between Tig and Regan at lunch. Kyra kept pestering Tig about whether the two of them were finally “in” with the Bots, and Robbie kept asking Tig if she’d lost her mind and why she would even consider sitting at the Bots table for any length of time. Tig promised both of them, and Olivia and Claire, a full explanation after school. But of course, Tig didn’t trust Kyra with a full explanation of anything anymore, so she simply told her that she and Regan had buried the hatchet.
Kyra, who had hoped that Tig would be moving up the social ladder—and taking her along—was disappointed that the two of them wouldn’t be sitting with the Bots at lunch. But she wasn’t as disappointed as Tig had anticipated. Instead she recovered pretty quickly and wanted only to talk more about Milo. Same when Tig texted the relevant details about the conversation to Olivia, who quickly turned the conversation to Will. And, of course, his lack of crazy over her. Did Tig have any idea whom he might like? The answer to that increasingly tiresome question was still no.
Next, when talking to Robbie, Tig left out some of the details, such as Regan’s asking to play rhythm guitar for Pandora’s Box. No reason to get Robbie up in arms, Tig decided. Instead she told her about how Regan had pointed out Tig’s tendency to worry too much. Robbie agreed that Regan had made a good point, but she still advised Tig to watch her back. If Regan hoped to win Robbie over, it would take a while.
Only Claire got the full lowdown about Regan and Tig’s argument and resolution—well, minus the part about Regan’s not telling Will that Tig secretly liked him. Everything else, though, Tig confided in Claire. Even the part about Regan’s asking to play rhythm guitar.
“I figured it’s best not to tell Robbie about that,” Tig explained. “It would only upset her, and honestly, I don’t think there’s really any reason to be upset about it. Regan was cool when I told her no. No threats, nothing. She took it well.”
“I understand,” Claire said. “There’s a difference between keeping secrets and not telling somebody something they probably don’t need to know.”
“And you know what?” Tig said. “I’m not going to worry about it. Regan was so right about all that. I worry way too much!”
“My mum says it gives you gray hair and wrinkles,” Claire said. “That would be ever so attractive on a teenager!”
“Yeah, that’s just what I need,” said Tig. “Claire, do you think I’m doing the right thing by trusting Regan? Robbie still thinks I’ve lost it.”
“Of course there’s a chance Robbie is
right,” Claire said. “But hey, if she betrays you, she betrays you. You might as well be happy in the meantime. And who knows? Maybe the betrayal won’t happen.”
“I would never admit this to Robbie,” Tig said, “but I actually kind of like Regan. More and more all the time.”
“So did I, last year,” Claire said. “You know, up until she forbade me to sing with the band. But she’s apologized for that, and now that she’s being so nice to you, too, I’m willing to give her another chance. She really can be a lot of fun.”
“It’s weird how different things are this year than last year,” Tig said. “Things change so much every year. At the beginning of sixth grade, Kyra was my best friend. Had been since we were born. I used to tell her everything. Now everything’s changed.”
“Well, a lot has happened,” Claire said. She didn’t have to say any more. Tig knew she was talking about how Kyra had betrayed her secret about not liking Paris.
“It sure has,” Tig said. “But it’s not just Kyra and me. Robbie and I aren’t as close as we used to be—not that anything’s wrong; it’s just that she spends most of her free time with Paris now And I guess that’s cool. I mean, Paris is awesome. It’s just different, that’s all.”
“On the upside,” Claire said, “you and I barely knew each other last year, and look at us now. We can talk about anything.”
“Yeah,” Tig said. “You’re right.” There was a benefit to change after all. She remembered how much she liked Claire from the get-go last year, and how sad she’d been when Regan had tried to prevent them from being friends. And now here she was, confiding everything to Claire with full confidence that Claire would understand . . . and that she could be trusted. “And weirdest of all, who would’ve ever thought that I’d get to be friends with Regan Hoffman?”
Claire laughed. “Life is funny, isn’t it?”
“Yes. But I’m not going to think too much about it. I’m just going to enjoy it, like you said. Hey, do you realize we have only one more week before the reunion gig?”
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I can hardly wait!” Claire said.
