Aries Rising

by Bonnie Hearn Hill

  He looked at it too. “Do you think you can bring that up to snuff if I let you take another stab at it?”

  “ What?”

  “You heard me, McRae. Now speak up before I change my mind.”

  “Yes,” I said. “Oh, yes. I mean, thank you.” Then I headed for my desk, aware that the room had filled up and everyone was watching me.

  “What’s going on?” Chili asked as I sat down across from her.

  I just smiled. I was too happy to speak.

  NOTES TO SELF

  I am totally shocked that Frankenstein gave me a second chance. Maybe there is hope for the fellowship. Or was he just feeling sorry for me because I confessed that I miss my mom? She called tonight and said she’ll be home soon. We don’t pressure her; she has enough of that on tour. Instead, my dad and I walked around the kitchen, each of us holding a phone. “Great,” he said, and I added, “Cool, Mom.” Then we said good night, hung up, and hugged each other.

  6

  AQUARIUS. AN AIR SIGN. AQUARIANS ARE RULED BY URANUS, THE PLANET OF ABRUPT CHANGE, AND SATURN, THE PLANET OF REPRESSION. THE MORE YOU DEMAND CHANGE, AQUARIUS, THE MORE YOU NEED SECURITY. IT’S THE WORLD AROUND YOU THAT YOU WANT TO CHANGE, AND IT WON’T.

  —Fearless Astrology

  That sounded like me, all right. I did want to change. That’s why I didn’t just toss Fearless Astrology back in the box. Did I also need security? I wasn’t sure. All I knew was that the two things I wanted most—the summer school fellowship and Nathan—were a lot closer than they had been before. And it was all because of Fearless. I loved what I was learning, and I wanted to use this magical book to figure out everyone I knew.

  Frankenstein had actually given me a second chance. I’d never heard of that happening, ever. Putting myself in the essay couldn’t be that difficult, could it? I knew I could write, but every time I let my emotions show, my Aquarius side took over, and I analyzed my work to death.

  Dad went back to work to finish a job. Chili invited us for dinner and a sleepover that night, so I made some more brownies and brought them to her mom. Stella hugged me tight and called me honey, which for some reason always made me feel both happy and sad.

  The kitchen smelled of pilaf and some new perfume Stella had squirted around for our approval. She had just bought the line for the boutique she owned with her sister Annie, who, like her, had glossy dark hair and a fondness for what they called bling.

  They were proud of their Armenian heritage and spent many weekends making stuffed grape leaves called yalanchi and layered Armenian pastries.

  While we ate, Chili, Paige, and I discussed how we could get my frugal Virgo dad to finance a shopping trip for my night with Nathan. He gave me a check once a month. After that, it was my job to manage my money until the next check. I hadn’t been too successful at it this March. Chili offered her Neiman card, but I didn’t want to take advantage of her Gemini generosity. There had to be some way I could use my dad’s sign to get what I wanted from him.

  After dinner, we changed into our swimsuits and headed barefoot across the marble floor toward the spa on the patio. The top of Chili’s new black two-piece was secured by only a large chrome ring. If I tried to wear anything that daring, my dad would ground me for the rest of my life.

  Paige had created her own designer knockoff bikini. Lemon yellow, it was covered in a tiny navy-and-white print that she said was taken from a Moroccan tile pattern. My blue-green tank looked as if I’d borrowed it and the body inside it from someone on the twelve-and-under swim team.

  “Don’t you think it’s a little cold for a swim?” Stella asked Chili with that concerned expression that was as much a part of her as the spray of diamonds and gold on her ring finger.

  “The spa’s heated, Mom. Besides, we need to talk.” At the French doors, Chili stopped briefly and added, “Privately.”

  “I want you back in here within the hour, honey. I mean that.”

  Chili ignored her and stepped out onto the deck. I followed, my bare arms and legs prickling when the cool air hit me. What could Chili want to talk about? She wasn’t exactly secretive.

  Once we’d pulled up our hair and settled along the curving ledge in the warm rush of bubbles, I asked, “So what’s going on?”

  Chili looked across the hot tub to Paige. “Tell her.”

  “We’re doing an intervention,” Paige blurted.

  “What are you talking about?” I whirled around to Chili.

  Her highlighted hair picked up the fiber-optic lighting that lit the water swirling around us. At the moment, it looked green with purple streaks.

  “Not an intervention.” She glared at Paige. “I said it was going to be like an intervention. All right, Logan, here’s the deal. The idea was to get you somewhere where you couldn’t easily escape and then force you to tell us what’s going on.”

  As if I couldn’t escape a five-foot-round spa. “I have no idea what’s going on here,” I said. “And I’m not sure how I feel about the two of you conspiring behind my back. We’re supposed to be friends.”

  “We are friends, and we’re not conspiring,” Chili said. “Are we, Paige?”

  “Of course not.” She shook her head so vigorously that a chunk of blond hair dislodged and fell over one eye. “We just want you to tell us what’s going on with you.”

  “Don’t deny it,” Chili said before I could protest. “First Nathan would barely talk to you. Now he’s all cozy at school, texting you, and asking you out.”

  “I’m as surprised by that as you are.”

  “And you’re suddenly, bizarrely all buddy-buddy with Frankenstein,” she said.

  “I was going to tell you about that.”I slid down until the water was around my neck, and the pressure pushed my legs up.

  “There’s more,” Chili said, her expression accusing. “You’re different lately, Logan. It’s like you’ve got some big secret, and you aren’t sharing it with us.”

  “You wouldn’t believe me,” I told her.

  “Ha. She admits it.” Paige shot up in the water so fast that she nearly lost her top. Not that that would be so tragic. She was as flat as I was, and the only cleavage she had was built into her bikini top.

  “So?” Chili demanded.

  “Well, remember that big black leather book I found the other night when we were going through the closet in my house?”

  “What book?” Chili asked.

  “The one with the stars on the cover.” Paige could hardly contain her excitement. “I knew you weren’t telling us everything.”

  “It’s about astrology.” I lowered my voice. Was I really sharing this? Would they think I was a total flake?

  “Go on.” I could tell Chili was unconvinced. “Are you saying this book is the reason Nathan’s so into you?”

  “In a way. If he is, I mean.” I took a deep breath. “Don’t tell a soul, but I tried to do what the book said. It was about appealing to his Sun sign, and it seems to be working.”

  They balanced on the ledge in stunned silence for a moment. Then finally Chili spoke. “Hunh. Think it might work for me to get Trevor?”

  “I already told you. You’re going to get him anyway once he’s over the breakup with Kat. My situation is different. I’m not gorgeous like you.”

  Neither of them denied that.

  “Let me get this straight,” Paige said slowly. “You used Nathan’s Sun sign to find out how to make him like you?”

  “Right.”

  “And what about Frankenstein?”

  “You guys know I need a good recommendation from him. He’s head of the fellowship committee, and he has ties at the college in Monterey.”

  “Are you using his Sun sign to make him like you too?” Chili asked.

  I nodded. “He’s a Taurus, which means sensual.”

  “Ew,” Chili said.

  “No, no, not sex. Tauruses are foodies too. I gave him some brownies, but it’s going to take more than that to get what I need out of him.”
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br />   I felt a flush of shame on my cheeks. Did I sound as ridiculous to them as I did to myself?

  To my surprise, my friends’ faces were lit with expressions I’d never seen before.

  “Brilliant,” Chili said to Paige. “Why didn’t we think of it? Freakin’ astrology.”

  Paige sat up, and her top slipped. “Brilliant,” she repeated. “Let’s put this to work.”

  “Me first.” Chili was bouncing in the water now, splashing as she talked. “Trevor, Logan. Come on. Tell me what I can do to get him.”

  “Do you know his sign?” I asked.

  “No, but I have his birthday in my address book.”

  “What about you?” Chili asked Paige. “Who do you want Logan to help you with?”

  “I don’t know,” Paige said, her voice barely audible, as if she were holding something back.

  “Well, what about . . .” Chili hoisted herself onto the built-in ledge and began to count boys off her fingers. “There’s Jared Hamilton. He’s cute but kind of dull. There’s J.T. That might be fun, even though he’s awfully tall. He and Nathan hang out with Trevor. We could all go out together.”

  Before we could continue, I heard a loud “Woo,” from the bushes that lined the swimming pool. “Yo, girls,” a deep male voice shouted.

  Just then three guys in black ski masks—and nothing else—streaked across the backyard. I watched them disappear through Stella’s sago palms, but not before I saw everything.

  And I mean everything.

  Chili shrieked and slapped her hands across her chest.

  Paige sat frozen, staring at where they had been.

  Stella rushed out on the patio. “Honey, was that you screaming? What’s wrong?”

  “The Gears of War,” Chili said in a voice that tried too hard to be calm. “Guys from school, Mom. Naked. They went through the back.”

  NOTES TO SELF

  I’m writing in my notebook in Chili’s bedroom, so that I can remember exactly how it happened. I’m not sure how those boys just appeared out of nowhere. As I sit on Chili’s bed staring at what I’ve just written, I realize what’s really on my mind, and it’s not the naked streaking Gears. Fearless Astrology isn’t just my secret anymore. How do I feel about that? All right, I think. Paige and Chili don’t think I’m weird. They might even be as excited about this fabulous book as I am.

  7

  WHEN OUT OF CONTROL, FIRE SIGNS CAN BE FOOL- HARDY, EGOTISTICAL, PLAYFUL, AND CARELESS. THINK OF FLAMES. THEY ARE BEST COMPATIBLE WITH OTHER FLAMES, SOMETIMES EVEN WITH AIR. FIRE SIGNS MUST AVOID EARTH SIGNS THAT SMOTHER THEM AND WATER SIGNS THAT EXTINGUISH THEM.

  —Fearless Astrology

  The Gears were out of control. They had dashed naked across the backyard of the one high school sophomore whose father would kill them without hesitation. Older than most of the parents at the school, Chili’s parents had given up on the possibility of being able to have a family until she came along, and they were beyond protective.

  Stella had actually taken off in the direction Chili had pointed. She’d then called Chili’s dad, who raced home from the car dealership and, red-faced and out of breath, joined us at the Chiliderians’ long dining room table.

  Amazing how naked boys all looked the same when their faces were hidden. We couldn’t begin to identify them, and the more Chili’s parents questioned us, the more confused we got. We couldn’t even prove it was the Gears, but we knew.

  The phone at Chili’s began to ring. The Gears hadn’t stopped after leaving her place. They’d shown their naked selves all over the neighborhood, from Geneva’s to Charles Bellamy’s. Chili’s dad took that call. He said the guy phoning was Charles’s guardian, and that Charles was “deeply disturbed” by what he’d observed from his bedroom window.

  Stella murmured something about “that poor boy.” Once the parents had excused us, we changed for bed. Chili wore her teal-colored monkey slippers and a tank top. Paige and I had put on our matching sleep shirts that Stella had picked up for us during one of her numerous shopping trips to “the city,” which was, of course, San Francisco.

  Chili and I stretched out on our stomachs on the pink comforter that covered the bed. She’d already turned up the new Alicia Keys CD in case Stella was still in protective mode and eavesdropping outside the door.

  “They’ll probably post pictures of us all over school,” she moaned.

  “You, maybe,” I said. “I don’t know why they’d bother with me, but I didn’t see any flashes, and I think they were moving too fast to take photos anyway.”

  Paige sat across from us in front of the cherry wood armoire where Chili’s computer lived. Her long blond hair, which had gotten soaked during the Gears’ invasion, was pulled straight back from her face. Without her glasses and in spite of her pale lashes, her eyes looked enormous.

  “Do you think you could help identify them, Logan?”

  “How?” I asked. “I didn’t see them any longer than you did.”

  Then I realized Paige had that awestruck expression on her face again. “You know,” she said.

  “Of course! By their Sun signs.” Chili jumped from the bed. “Can you figure out what sign someone would have to be to be a member of the Gears?”

  “Maybe.” Could I really find out something like that with my limited knowledge?

  “What do you mean maybe?” Chili asked. “What does the book say?”

  She and Paige both seemed to be holding their breaths, waiting for my brilliant response. Only problem was I didn’t have one.

  “Aries, Leo, Sagittarius are fire signs.” I sat up on the bed. “You’re an air sign, Chili.” Oh, was she ever. I nodded toward Paige. “The Fish over there is water.”

  Paige wrung out her ponytail. “Well, at least I look the part.”

  “So the Gears are what?” Chili asked.

  “Fire signs, I’d say. Not for sure. I just mean a fire sign might do something like this, but so would a lot of signs, especially those with fire in their charts.”

  “You mean you can have fire and not be fire?” Chili asked.

  “That’s right.” I turned to her and asked what I’d been wondering since we started this conversation. “Hey, Chili, why is it so important for me to figure out who the Gears are?”

  “They invaded my backyard,” she said. “Naked.”

  “Shocking.” Paige made no attempt to hide the amusement in her voice.

  “Naked boys,” I added, and made a creepy face at her. “Kind of fun, wasn’t it?”

  “Maybe,” Chili conceded, “but what they wrote about Ms. Snider was pretty rotten. You agree with that, don’t you?”

  “Of course, but why do we care who they are?”

  “Because it’s important. If we identify the Gears, do you realize how cool we’ll be?”

  “Cool so that you can get Trevor?” I should have seen that one coming. “How many times have I told you that you’re going to get him anyway?”

  “Based on recent events in a certain school parking lot, I find that pretty doubtful.” It was indifferent Chili again, and I knew what she was trying to cover with it.

  “You have his birth date in your address book, right?”

  “Let me get it.” She stood up and opened the armoire to a Gemini clutter of paper, index cards, and sticky notes. A couple of mouse swipes, and she had it. “November one,” she said, then got up and flopped down on the bed. “Tell me everything.”

  “Scorpio.” I’d already memorized the dates for Sun signs.

  “What does that mean? Is it good?”

  “Intense and emotional,” I said. “Secretive too. Doesn’t sound much like Trevor, does it? Isn’t he kind of just your basic jock?”

  “Basic hot jock.” Chili glanced at Paige. “What do you think?” Paige drew her knees up under her nightshirt, only the tips of her toes peeking out. “Well, last night with Kat sounded pretty intense and emotional, wouldn’t you say?”

  “And maybe he is secretive,” I said. �
�I mean, he’s supposed to be split from Kat, yet she obviously doesn’t think so.”

  “I don’t like secrets.” Chili clasped her hands together and rested her chin on them. “But I like him.”

  “It wouldn’t be a bad match,” I said. “There have been some famous Scorpio and Gemini couples in history.”

  “Oh, tell us,” Paige said.

  “I’d need the book for that and I left it at home.”

  “Well, let’s go get it.” Chili was already off the bed, digging in her closet for something to throw over her very short tank top and boy shorts.

  “Are you sure?” I asked. “You know if we get caught, your parents will kill us.”

  “If the Gears can run naked through my backyard, we can drive down the street to get a book.” She tossed me a long sweater. “The garage is on this side of the house. They won’t even know we’re gone.”

  “Except for Stella, who’s probably crouched outside your bedroom door,” Paige said.

  “That’s where you come in.” Chili grinned. “If she is around, just tell her we’re in the bathroom, washing our hair, and we can’t come out just yet. Mom understands hair.”

  “I can handle that.” Paige seemed relieved that she didn’t have to accompany us on our wild ride to my house.

  “That might work,” I said.

  “Of course it will.” Chili clicked open the lock on her sliding glass door that led to the side yard, that led to the garage, that led to the book, that led to who knew what?

  I followed her. The sweater didn’t provide much protection from the cold.

  “It smells like rain,” I told Chili.

  “We’ll get back before it starts.”

  Miraculously, we managed to get out of the tandem garage and the driveway with no problem. Chili glanced at me from the corner of her eye.

  “Once you figure out the Gears, Frankenstein will realize how brilliant you are. You know that, don’t you?”

  I hadn’t thought about that. Maybe I could use Fearless to help me find them. Maybe that would win Frankenstein’s approval.