“That the one who is older isn’t a family member, anyone from the government or…” Katie trailed off, answering her own question from earlier.
“Or…?”
Katie sighed. “Or a teacher.”
Mr. Carmichael smacked his hands together. “Correct! So if, hypothetically,” he grinned at them, “we were discussing Mr. O'Reilly, and the legal possibility of him having a relationship with a student here at Stony Creek, then yes! He can legally date anyone here, if!” he shouted over the loud whispering that had overtaken the room. “Mr. O'Reilly wasn’t a teacher.”
The whispering ceased instantly.
“But he’s not a real teacher!” a girl somewhere in the back said, dejection evident in her tone.
“Ah, but he is. The school has essentially hired him on as a student-teacher. He is bound by the same rules that govern all teachers. He is forbidden to have relations with any student who goes to the school he is teaching.”
Chapter Four
“We are not keeping that!”
“Oh come on, Katie! Look at it!”
“I am and I still say no.” She turned on her aunt. “We had a deal, Aunt Hannah. What was the deal?”
Her aunt’s shoulders dropped. “I take care of the paperwork while…”
“While?” Katie pressed when her aunt faltered.
“While you handle the front.” Her aunt pouted. “But Katie…”
“No buts. Now leave me to my job.”
With a final glance of longing towards the nude statue of Apollo brandishing his bow and arrow, Aunt Hannah shuffled through the shop to the back.
It had been three weeks since Kaleb O’Reilly bowled her to the ground, a week since she learned he was absolutely untouchable, and still she was completely unable to get him out of her head, which sucked because he was everywhere. Her only solace came after school and weekends when she could lose herself in the shop and the new floor plan she’d drawn up in art class.
The plan was beautiful. It left a whole lot more space in the front for a feeling of spaciousness and easy maneuvering. It had taken some serious debating, threatening, blackmailing, and pleading before her aunt agreed to go along with Katie’s plan, and only because Katie had gone in prepared with a full graph and pie chart, describing all the margins of error in the current floor plan. The only downside from her aunt’s perspective was the amount of things they would need to get rid of—or put into storage in this case, which was the compromise they’d both come to in the end.
Katie started with the shelves lining the walls, taking down ancient magazines and books so faded they no longer had titles. She organized them into boxes and set the boxes aside to take to the storage unit she’d made her aunt rent. That was the easy part. The battle began when Katie reached the tables of clutter; her aunt kept finding things she wanted to keep, like naked God statues. The thing was pretty and very anatomically correct. No fig leaf there. Someone had taken a great deal of time and attention to get everything from the neck down just perfect, right down to the size of his marble feet. The only problem Katie could see was his height. The thing went to her waist, whilst standing on a platform. But it was useless to them. What were they going to do with a statue? Wasn’t it bad enough that they already had five toasters, three microwaves, a million lamps, and four sets of TVs? That didn’t include the creepy portraits of people they didn’t even know, an assortment of cat figurines, and clocks. But Katie had to draw the line somewhere. It baffled her how her aunt ever managed to sell anything when she kept taking junk up to their apartment.
She was wrapping a set of porcelain cats in newspaper when Ashlee barreled in, waving something over her head.
“It came!” her friend squealed, practically tackling Katie.
“What did?” Katie placed the figurine into the box with the other chipped, cracked and useless knick-knacks.
Ashlee stopped bouncing long enough to hold up the white envelope clutched in her gloved hand. “Our invitation to paradise. The party!” she said when Katie just stared at her.
“What party?”
Ashlee gasped. “How could you forget?”
Katie frowned, reaching for a statue of a pudgy cherub with a broken wing. “I’ve kind of been busy.”
With an exasperated growl, Ashlee held out the envelope for Katie to read.
“You have been cordially invited…” Katie stopped, looked at her friend. “Is this that—”
“Yes!” Ashlee squealed, doing a little hop on the balls of her feet. “I got this in the mail today. I’m thinking we need to go.”
“When?”
“Next weekend.”
Katie swaddled the cherub in the sport’s section and set it down with the other defectives in the box at her feet. She reached for a boy pulling a faded red sleigh. He was missing a leg and part of the sleigh was chipped off.
“I’ll have to ask Aunt Hannah.”
“And still go if she says no, right?”
Katie chuckled. “Not sure how, seeing as neither of us have a car.”
Ashlee threw her arms up and let them drop back down to her sides. “Are you kidding?” She waved the invitation in Katie’s face. “Do you have any idea what a big deal this is?”
Disliking the idea of being stabbed in the eye with a piece of cardboard, Katie snatched the card from her friend. “Have you even done any research on this? Who are these people? What is the party about? Where is it?” She flipped it open to look it over.
“It’s being held at the Grand Majestic Hotel by who cares!”
Katie ignored her as she read over the invitation.
“Congratulations Ms. Lauffer and Ms. Lambert.” Katie stiffened. Her head came up so she could stare horrified at her best friend’s grinning face. “Lauffer? You used the dead girl’s name?”
Ashlee shrugged. “I had to! She’s the one who got invited. How else was I going to explain how I got the invitation?”
Katie smacked her in the forehead with the cardboard. “Then you don’t go! God, Ash. This is like super wrong, even for you.”
Pouting, the other girl swatted back at her. “Shut up and keep reading.”
Inhaling and exhaling sharply, Katie went back to the card.
“Your request to attend this year’s annual Indulgence gala at the Grand Majestic ballroom has been accepted by our choreographers. The gala will be held Saturday, Dec 15th between the hours of eight and midnight. The purpose of this event is to celebrate the season of giving by making a little magic happen for a select few.
All attendees must appear in formal attire in honor of the holidays. All donations are appreciated but unnecessary.”
“Come on, you have to go with me,” Ashlee was whining when Katie finished. “I can’t ask anyone else because I don’t want to.”
Katie passed her back the invitation. “I have to ask Aunt Hannah, but if she says no…”
“Let’s go ask her now!”
Before Katie could protest, Ashlee was running towards the back. With an annoyed sigh, Katie shuffled to her feet and followed.
“Where is it?” Aunt Hannah was saying when Katie joined the pair in the kitchen.
“The Grand Majestic,” Ashlee said. “It’s only for a few hours, on a weekend.”
Aunt Hannah eyed the invitation, her pale brows furrowed over her thin rimmed glasses. “I don’t know … who’s Rebekah Lauffer?”
Ashlee had the decency to shift uncomfortably. “Well, it’s her invitation, but I wrote the RSVP and they accepted it.”
As Katie expected, Aunt Hannah looked uncertain. “I don’t know if I like that. If they’re not expecting Katie … I don’t want there to be any confusions.”
“There won’t be!” Ashlee jumped in quickly. “They won’t even look at the names. They just want to see the invitation and we’re in.”
Aunt Hannah sighed. “But it’s still such a risk and it’s rude to crash someone’s party when they’re not expecting you. What if this Rebekah person shows up? Or someone r
ealizes Katie isn’t her?”
“Oh, trust me, she won’t and it’s not like we’re going to hang a sign around her neck saying I’m Rebekah!” Ashlee rolled her eyes. “It’s a charity event and the last party of the year that we may ever get invited to.”
“That’s another thing.” Aunt Hannah set the card down on the table. “Everyone there will be so much older than either of you and they’ll be expecting some type of donation—”
“Donations are appreciated, but not necessary,” Ashlee interrupted. “This Rebekah girl was roughly our age and she got invited, which means the chances are good there will be other people our age present.”
“Was?” Aunt Hannah’s eyes widened.
“She’s kind of dead…” Ashlee mumbled.
“What?”
Ashlee winced at Aunt Hanna’s exclamation. “Or she might not be. We don’t know.”
“Ashlee…”
“Please!” Ashlee clasped her hands together and stuffed them under her chin. “Please. I swear it’ll be the only thing I ever ask for.”
Aunt Hannah glanced up at Katie standing in the open doorway. “What do you think, Katie? Do you want to go?”
It was on the tip of her tongue to say no. She wasn’t a partier at the best of times and the thought of rubbing shoulders with people she didn’t know was even less appealing. There were several things she would much rather be doing on a Saturday evening, like watching all the Christmas programs that came on. Hell, she’d rather do homework. Just the effort it would take to get ready … but one look at Ashlee’s face and she caved.
“Yeah, I would,” she grumbled.
Ashlee squealed, doing a little clap-hop thing as she pivoted back to Aunt Hannah. “Please?”
Aunt Hannah sighed. “What do your parents say, Ashlee?”
“My mom says it’s okay, but only if Katie goes.”
Aunt Hannah pursed her lips. “Well, I guess it would be okay, but!” she said before Ashlee could squeak again. “I drop you off and I pick you up. You don’t go anywhere or with anyone. You stay with the party the entire time. You do not accept drinks from anyone or leave your drinks unattended and you call me the minute anything seems weird. Those are my conditions.”
When both girls agreed, Aunt Hannah peeled off her glasses and set them down on the table. She rubbed the bridge of her nose. “I’m going to call the hotel and verify this and talk to your mom, Ashlee, and let her know the plan.”
Ashlee nodded like an excited puppy. “She’s home now.”
As Aunt Hannah reached for the phone, Ashlee turned to Katie. “Come on. I want to talk dresses.”
“But I—”
Ignoring her, Ashlee already had her by the wrist and was dragging her upstairs.
“It’s the perfect time to wear it!” Ashlee spiked the volleyball over the net.
“I’m not wearing a dead girl’s dress.” Katie lunged and punched it back.
Ashlee volleyed it back. “It’s not like she needs it.” She stumbled when Katie served it back. The ball struck her wrist and snagged on the net. She cursed and jogged over to catch it before it rolled into the next court. “It’s sitting at the back of your closet collecting dust. If you didn’t want to wear it, you would have given it away.”
Katie hated that her friend knew her so well. “It just feels wrong.”
“No.” Ashlee served, sending the ball soaring over the net. “What’s wrong is you not making use of it.”
Katie bumped the ball back. “The girl is dead! You don’t wear—”
“You’re right!” Ashlee caught the ball and tucked it against her hip. “Because she might want it back. How awkward would that be?” Her eyes narrowed. “Didn’t you keep all her clothes? Even the ones you’ve been wearing every day?”
Katie shifted, folding her arms and adjusting her weight from one foot to the other. “Maybe.”
“So, it’s wrong to wear her dress, but not wrong to wear her five hundred dollar t-shirt.”
When put like that, Katie had no argument. “Okay. Fine. If you’ll drop it.”
Ashlee grinned, volleying the ball over the net. “I don’t know why you argue with me. I’m always right.”
Katie rolled her eyes. “No, you’re just extra annoying when you want something.”
“Which is why you shouldn’t argue with me.”
“Okay!” Coach Daniels waved her lean arms to gain everyone’s attention. “Class is nearly over. I want everyone to help take down the nets. Put away the balls and hit the showers.”
Chapter Five
They crammed into the back of Aunt Hannah’s Range Rover the night of the gala and hit the darkened road toward downtown. The Grand Majestic shone brilliant against the night, the lights shimmering a soft, pale gold. She pulled up in front of the gleaming glass doors and cut the engine.
“Are you girls going to be all right?” She turned in her seat to glance at the two in the back.
Ashlee already had one leg out the door.
Katie nodded, slipping across the leather bench after her friend. “We’ll be fine. Thank you.”
“Okay.” Her aunt nibbled on her bottom lip. “Call me!”
With a wave, Katie hopped out of the SUV and slammed the door shut. Her heels crunched on ice and snow as she hobbled her way to the lush, red carpet rolled out like a tongue lulling from the jaws of a dog. Ashlee was already through the doors, bathed in sparkling gold and heat when Katie rushed in after her, gasping from the cold.
The entire place was decorated for Christmas with no less than five, fully decorated trees circling the foyer. Silver ribbons and bows hung in loops along the ceiling and twirled down marble columns. A giant banner wishing everyone happy holidays hung behind the registration counter.
They walked across glossy marble, following the signs pointing the way to the ballroom where the Touch of Grace event was being held. They stepped through the yawning doors into the large room and paused.
There were people everywhere, talking, laughing, dancing. Fairy lights glittered from everywhere. Snowflakes, angels and crystal balls hung from the ceiling, swaying with the breeze blowing the glitter around. Music blared from hidden speakers, something upbeat and Christmassy. Across the room was a giant glass bowl brimming with scraps of white paper. Every so often, someone would walk up and drop another into the mix.
A smartly dressed man with a charming smile stopped them before they could join the crowd.
“Invitations, please,” he said smoothly.
Ashlee passed it right over without taking her eyes off the commotion on the other side of the person standing in their way.
The man looked it over carefully. “Ms. Lauffer?” he said, sounding more than a little surprised, and excited, like he couldn’t believe his luck.
Katie cleared her throat. “Uh huh?”
She hoped her smile didn’t resemble a grimace.
The man stared at her a moment, before turning his attention to Ashlee. “Ms. Lambert?”
“That’s me!” Ashlee cheered.
The man smiled and inclined his head. “Enjoy your evening, ladies.”
Katie didn’t expel the breath wedged in her chest until they were well away from the man at the door. She clutched at her chest.
“That was close.”
“What was?” Ashlee shouted over the music.
“He knew.” Katie was sure of it.
Ashlee snorted. “No he didn’t! Stop being paranoid. Look at this place. It’s amazing!”
“Ashlee, the rules—”
But Ashlee was already barreling down the stairs in heels that would have decapitated any regular person. At a much slower, more cautious pace, Katie followed, hoping to catch up to her friend before one of them got swallowed by the horde of people.
“Ashlee!” She grabbed the blonde’s arm. “We have to stay together.”
Ashlee spun around, her face a mask of elation. “Will you relax for five freaking minutes? We’re at the party of the centu
ry and you’re being Aunt Stick-in-the-Mud!”
It was Ashlee that grabbed Katie this time and dragged her through the writhing bodies to the other side of the pounding room and the glass bowl.
“Put your name in.” Ashlee snatched a scrap of paper off the table position next to the giant bowl and shoved it into Katie’s hand along with a pen.
“Name in for what?”
“For a chance to have your wish come true.” The boy moving up behind them was tall and lean with sandy brown hair. His lips bowed into a hint of a smile. “One lucky person will have their name drawn near the end of the evening.”
“Any wish we want?” Ashlee asked, batting her long, fake lashes.
The boy grinned as all boys did when Ashlee poured out the charm. “Anything you want.”
Biting her lip, Ashlee swooped down and scribbled down her name and wish before Katie could even think to decide what she wanted.
“Done!” Ashlee said triumphantly, holding up her folded scrap of paper.
The boy held out his gloved hand. “Allow me.”
Grinning flirtatiously, Ashlee dropped the piece of paper into his open palm. “Thank you.”
He inclined his head before turning to Katie. “And you?”
“Will you lighten up?” Ashlee hissed when Katie continued to stare at her piece. “We’re here to have fun.”
“But I don’t know what to wish for,” Katie admitted. “There’s really nothing I want.”
That wasn’t technically true. She wanted to make valedictorian. She wanted to get accepted into Yale, or Harvard. She wanted her aunt’s shop to be a huge success. But those were things no one could give her. Well, maybe money to accomplish all that, but she wasn’t going to accept that from a total stranger.
“What did you wish for?” she asked Ashlee.
“I’m not telling.” Ashlee laughed. “It won’t come true.” She sent the boy a saucy wink. He grinned at her. “I know!”
Before Katie could ask, the paper was snatched from her hand and Ashlee was writing for her.
“A night of mindless passion with Kaleb O’Reilly.”
“Ashlee!” But it was too late. She had passed the note to the boy, who had already folded it and tossed it into the bowl. “What were you thinking? You can’t wish for a person.”
My Soul For You Page 4
