PANDORA

by Rebecca Hamilton

  Tonya and I headed to Mr. Arnold’s class and I kept an eye out for Nathan. Usually he met me at my locker, but I hadn’t seen him yet.

  Karin caught us just before the warning bell, which was strange since I rarely saw her during school. She was on the advanced track and most of her classes were at the senior level or college credit. She always stuck out in our group of friends, and she only hung out with us because of Owen. Which, if they paired up, would be even weirder. Thank God, Owen wasn’t interested.

  “Hey,” she said, gasping for a breath. “Bianca and I are planning on going to Town Center tomorrow morning, if you want to join us. Kind of a girls’ day thing before heading to the drive in.”

  “Sounds spiffy,” Tonya said. I nudged her with my elbow. Sometimes she could be so rude, especially to Karin, who was totally unaware of the high level of sarcasm Tonya used with her.

  “Okaaay.” Karin gave Tonya an annoyed look, and then turned to me. “Bianca’s driving, so we’ll pick you up at about ten.” She walked off and gave a little wave.

  “You’re such a bitch to her,” I said, slapping Tonya’s arm lightly.

  “I can’t help it. She’s one of those perfect, snotty, types. I don’t know why we always have to include her.”

  “Because she’s our friend, and she’s the only reason we didn’t flunk History last year.”

  “Okay, so she’s not that bad, but there’s just something about her that pushes my buttons. Guess I’ll come over to your place tomorrow morning, since she’s obviously not going to pick me up.”

  Tonya opened the classroom door and we went in. I expected to see Nathan in his usual seat behind mine, but he wasn’t there. Maybe he was sick. I contemplated texting him, but it would take me too long. It would have been pointless anyways, since he walked in a few minutes later, followed by Vivian.

  He winked at me, while Vivian just smiled. It was her smile that set off every suspicious bone in my body. Completely disregarding Mr. Arnold as he began his lecture, I turned in my seat to look at Nathan.

  “Where were you?” I whispered.

  “Vivian trapped me at my locker.” He focused on pulling his binder out of his backpack.

  “And?” There had to be more to it than that. Vivian’s smile said there was more to it. His avoidance said there was more to it.

  “Nothing.” He checked to see if I’d bought it. “Okay, she asked me if I could help her and her mom move some stuff this weekend.”

  “This weekend? I seriously hope you told her no.”

  “I told her I was busy.”

  “So why was she smiling?”

  “How should I know?” He looked thoroughly confused.

  I huffed and swiveled back to Mr. Arnold. I knew Nathan wasn’t lying, but still, just knowing Vivian was up to her scheming ways again made me mad. And that Nathan was so passively undisturbed only pissed me off more. Didn’t he care that Vivian was most likely trying to break us up?

  A few minutes later I felt a tap on my shoulder and glanced back to see Nathan holding out a folded note. It was simply folded in half then half again, nothing like the intricate fold of the note he and Vivian had been passing months ago, but my stomach still clenched in fear that the message would be the same.

  I slowly unfolded it and tried to make out Nathan’s horrible chicken scratch.

  I know what you’re thinking. Forget about Vivian. Know what I’m thinking about?

  Quickly, I wrote back while Tonya peeked over to see what he’d written.

  What?

  I flicked the paper back at him, not bother with folding it. That kind of crap would have just annoyed me more. Less than a minute later, a soft brush of air swept across my neck, followed by the paper drifting over my shoulder. I snatched the paper and opened it.

  You

  The word was followed by an arrow to turn the page over. I flipped it over, aware of Tonya’s rapt eyes on the note.

  And your hot pink panties.

  I choked on my gasp, while Tonya gave a loud laugh. My face flamed and when Nathan coughed, I knew his face would be, too. He obviously didn’t realize Tonya would be able to see it.

  “Is there a problem, Ms. Matlin?” Mr. Arnold asked from the board. Everyone in class followed his gaze and stared at me. Instinctively, I crumpled the paper and tried to shove it in my backpack.

  “No. Sorry, I just choked on my gum.” I sat up straight in my seat and when he turned to answer a question from someone else, I glanced over at Vivian. She was watching me, some of the glee in her face diminished. I gave her a wicked grin and watched her frustration build.

  Mr. Arnold coughed and surveyed the room, so I picked up my pencil and pretended to copy the notes he’d written on the board; I’d just scan Lily’s from last semester. Instead, I drew a cartoon of Vivian pulling out her hair, while her eyes melted. Maybe a bit childish, but it made me feel a bit better.

  Nathan’s fingers trailed along my neck, and I wished I hadn’t pulled my hair back into a ponytail. I swatted at his hand and shot him a nasty look over my shoulder. Just because I wasn’t taking notes, or giving a hundred percent attention to the teacher, didn’t mean he could totally distract me. I needed to be able to get something out of the class. That he just blew a kiss back caused my stomach to clench. Not the painful cramps of a liar, but with the exhilarating knowledge that I loved playing his game.

  The rest of the day flew by with Nathan managing to make me completely forget about Vivian. I just wish he’d been with us the next day to help me forget about Trevor.

  It was impossible to relax and concentrate on shopping with Tonya’s cell phone continually ringing or buzzing. I glared at her as she smiled over another text from Trevor and waited impatiently in front of her, barely resisting the toe tapping I so wanted to do. Whatever annoyance I projected apparently wasn’t enough, because Tonya started typing away, and I finally gave up on her and wandered away.

  I had a new top to find and it was already one, which meant I had three hours before I had to start getting ready for the Triple Feature. Tonya had been my best hope of finding a cute top since she had some funky radar that practically threw the best clothing at her. She already had four bags dangling from her arm, and she hadn’t even been looking to buy anything. Bianca would help, but she had some Goth cheerleader thing going on, and I wasn’t sure I wanted anything she was feeling. And there was no way I’d follow Karin’s fashion advice. Her clothes were just plain fugly. Not cheap, just outside the realm of normal taste.

  Shuffling through the nearest rack, I pulled out a multicolored halter-top. Nice style, but it looked like the designer had vomited the colors onto the fabric. I hung it back up and went onto the next rack.

  “Hey, why’d you leave me back there?” Tonya asked as she reached around me to pull off a black top. It had a standing half-inch collar, and short ruffles along the buttons that went from the neck to the slight empire waist. It was the best thing I’d seen all morning. Tonya passed it to me. “Here, try this one.”

  “How do you do that?” I asked, taking the hanger and heading for the change rooms.

  “Do what?”

  “Find the best clothes without even looking.”

  “It’s instinct, I guess. God didn’t give just your family gifts.”

  “What did he want?” I asked as we waited for one of the staff to come and open a room for me.

  “God?”

  “Trevor.”

  “Oh, he just wanted to know what time the first movie starts.”

  Somehow, Tonya had suckered me into her plan to deceive Gran. I still felt a bit uneasy about it, but when Nathan guessed that my reluctance was due more to having it out for Trevor, I’d been forced into it.

  Tonya’s phone beeped again, and I groaned. “Just ignore it,” I said. “He’s going to see you in a few hours anyways.”

  She shot me an ‘are-you-crazy’ look, and flipped open her cell. I went into the change room, and pulled on the shirt. It was cute, damn
it. Just once, I wanted to find the good stuff, even if I just passed it off to her. I redressed and slung the top over my arm, leaving the hanger on the floor of the small room.

  Bianca was sitting on a love seat directly across from the change area, while Tonya was on her cell talking. Bianca and I shared a look. Trevor was turning into a pest and he wasn’t even in town yet.

  “You find anything?” she asked, and I held up my shirt in response. “Cute. A bit tame, but cute.”

  “Come on,” I said. “Help me find some earrings.”

  We wandered over to the jewelry racks near the cashier and I let the shiny baubles distract me from Trevor. For a minute at least. Then Tonya giggled and I wanted to puke.

  “You really don’t like this guy, do you?” Bianca asked me. She held up a pair of giant hoops to her ear.

  “No way am I going anywhere with you in those. And I’m trying to like him. He seems perfect, at least everyone says he is.” Everyone but me.

  “He seemed okay the one time I met him,” Bianca said.

  “Maybe I should be ragging on Nathan to call me more,” I said. “Then again, it’d be kinda creepy to have him calling me every two minutes.”

  Bianca shushed me with a chuckle as Tonya pocketed her phone and scanned the store for us.

  “What was it this time?” I asked, doing a horrible job of hiding my irritation. This was supposed to be about enjoying a shopping trip with my best friends and instead I was battling Trevor for attention.

  “He was just wondering what we were up to, and to double check what time he was meeting us.”

  “The last text you sent told him that.”

  “I think it’s sweet that he keeps wanting to talk to her,” Bianca said. She smiled and I knew she was enjoying stirring the pot.

  “It’s annoying.”

  “Ha!” Tonya nudged my shoulder, then said to Bianca, “I think Phoebe’s jealous that Trevor cares enough about me to want to know what I’m doing.”

  “Jealous that my boyfriend doesn’t boarder on stalkerish? Yeah, I don’t think so.” I could tell that pushed Tonya’s buttons and knew if I kept going, we’d end up in a massive fight. Not what I’d been aiming for. “Anyways, I’m getting the shirt, and from now on you’re picking out everything I buy.”

  “Hey, don’t I get to pick anything?” Bianca came over and wrapped an arm around each of us. Tonya and I glanced down at Bianca’s slightly bizarre ensemble, a tattered purple and black plaid mini skirt with a hot pink polo shirt, then looked at each other and laughed. Bianca looked at her outfit then back at us. “What?”

  “Nothing,” I said, giving a lame cough to cover my slight chuckle. “Hey, what happened to Karin?”

  “She went next door to try to find something for tonight,” Bianca explained.

  Tonya made a gagging sound. “The only things there are penny loafers and golf shirts. I think I’d take your advice on clothing before I asked her.”

  I went over to the cashier and handed her the shirt to ring up. Tonya and Bianca kept browsing, but I was completely broke. I’d considered raiding Chloe’s closet, but after the disaster with the dress I’d figured it was better to play it safe, and with Lily being almost seven inches shorter my options with her closet were pretty limited. After paying, I took my bag and headed over to the racks of skirts Bianca and Tonya were searching through.

  “Oh, my God! Look at this! It would go perfect with that purple top I bought last week.” Tonya held up a deep purple mini-skirt for us to inspect. “I’m going to try it on. Here, hold this.” She thrust her purse and bags at me, then took off for the changing room.

  “This is why I never like going shopping with you guys,” Bianca said with a groan. “I’m starving and we can’t even get out of the first store we go into.”

  “Hey, it’s not me. I’m done. And I’m hungry, too.” I glanced toward where Tonya had disappeared into the tiny room. Tonya was a delayed shopper. If she tried on something she liked, it took forever for her to get it off. She’d probably spend the next ten minutes imagining it with every other top in her wardrobe before she came back out.

  I walked over and knocked on the door to her change room. “Hey, we’re going to go and find Karin, so we can grab a bite to eat before we all starve to death.”

  “Sure. Oh hey, pass me my wallet.” Her arm reached over the door and I dug through her purse to pull out the red faux snakeskin wallet.

  “Thank God,” Bianca said as we left the store. “I think I’m going to die of starvation.”

  My eyes rolled and I barely contained a snort. Bianca was one of those naturally ultra-thin girls that never set foot in a gym, or tried a diet. Not that she was as bad as Karin with her fake complaints about not being able to gain weight, but one day I hoped karma would catch up with her, or both of them. Not that I wanted them fat, but still a little chunkier would make me feel better. I’m sure Dad would simply tell me that I should hit the gym like Chloe if I wanted that perfect size six, but honestly, I was just too lazy. Size ten was working for me.

  Tonya’s cell phone rang just as we went into the clothing store to get Karin. Both Bianca and I groaned, then laughed at the absurdity of a guy calling fifteen times in the span of two hours.

  “Are you gonna to answer it?”

  I pulled the cell from Tonya’s purse and saw Trevor’s name floating across the screen. Tonya would want me to answer it, even if it was just to say that she’d call him back. Before I could change my mind, I hit end and then held it down until the phone powered off.

  “Nope.”

  “You know she’ll just call him back as soon as you tell her he called,” Bianca said, her eyebrows raised.

  “True. Or we could just not tell her he called. She won’t even know her cell is off.” I would have done the same even if it hadn’t been Trevor calling. Really. “Besides, it would add on another ten minutes until we could get to the food court.”

  “You are so bad,” Bianca said, an evil grin that matched mine spreading across her face. Her stomach gave a well-timed rumble. “I never heard her phone ring. It must have been covered by the grumbles of my stomach.”

  I shoved the turned off cell phone back in Tonya’s purse, and tried to arrange her junk so it made the thing hard to find. The less chance she had of coming across it, the less chance she had to think of its silence. For a brief moment, guilt assaulted me, then I thought of how annoying the calls had been, of the bruises on Tonya’s arms, of the voice that rang through my head when he lied.

  I wouldn’t lie. If she asked, I’d admit he called, but otherwise I wasn’t going to tell her. Not really a lie. Just a simple, not so innocent, omission.

  Chapter 11

  Not so simple, really. And I have to admit, it wasn’t even close to innocent either. Not that I was about to admit that fact to Tonya as she stood at my front door four hours later.

  “Did you turn off my cell when we were at the mall?” she demanded, holding the offending phone up as if presenting evidence.

  “What?” That came out sounding so guilty.

  “What the hell, Phoebe? Trevor called and left like fifteen messages. He thought something was wrong.”

  Nothing had been wrong. After I’d turned the thing off, the four of us had enjoyed a fun, and Trevor-free, lunch and then gone home to get ready. I’d even forgotten about doing it until Tonya arrived completely pissed.

  I considered lying, but despite my gift at reading other’s lies, telling them wasn’t a talent of mine, so I opted for some partial truths and possibly a bit of deflection.

  “I’m sorry. I only turned it off because I wanted us all to spend some girl time together.” The truth, minus my continued distrust of Trevor. Now for deflecting. “Can you help me get Lily dressed. She’s totally flaking right now. Saying she’s too tired. And if she doesn’t go, Dad says I can’t go, which means you won’t have me as your cover.”

  “What?!” Tonya marched passed me, heading for the stairs and an unsuspect
ing Lily. “What’s up with her lately anyways? She a bit more freaky than normal.”

  “I don’t know. She’s just been tired a lot.” I knew the healings she did sometimes wiped her out, but this was more than normal. Then again, it could just be she was realizing what a prick Dylan really was.

  “Well, she’s going tonight, because if you can’t go then I’ll be totally screwed if Gran calls your dad.” She stomped down the stairs, went straight to Lily’s room, and gave one short knock on the door before flinging it open.

  Lily practically jumped up from her bed where she’d been laying. “Tonya! You scared me.” She gave a slight chuckle that didn’t quite make it to her eyes.

  “I can’t believe you’re trying to ditch this,” Tonya said, crossing her arms over her chest. I couldn’t see her face, but I was sure she gave Lily the evil eye.

  “What are you talking about?” Lily asked, completely confused.

  Okay, so maybe I’d lied a bit, but hopefully Lily would at least pretend to be mildly put out about going. Behind Tonya’s back, I tried to do some kind of charades gesture that would get my point across to Lily, but I sucked at games, and this whole mess of Tonya confronting Lily perfectly demonstrated how I sucked at lying even more.

  “Phoebe said you were trying to bail tonight.”

  “Uh...” Lily hesitated and I got in one more chocking motion before Tonya twisted around as if sensing my frantic attempts to get Lily to cover for me. But it must have worked, because Lily said, “Oh yeah. I’m a bit tired.”

  “Come on, please. I really need Phoebe to cover for me, and since she’s suddenly developed some kind of conscience and doesn’t want to lie to my gran, she has to go tonight.”

  “And I have to go because...?”

  “You know Dad won’t let me go with Nathan if you’re not going.” I practically crossed my eyes trying to signal Lily to keep going along with everything.

  “Ah, well I suppose I could go.” Not that she had been intending to bail, but there was a reluctance in her voice that made me wonder if she really wanted to.