Amigas and School Scandals

by Diana Rodriguez Wallach

  “Dad ...” Bobby squeaked, shaking his head at his father.

  Mr. McNabb’s green eyes welled as he absorbed the crushed expression on his son’s face. I reached toward Bobby, but he swatted my hand and darted toward the staircase, brushing past his dad on the way. Mr. McNabb ran after him.

  Emily said nothing. She didn’t stop them.

  Chapter 38

  Emily erupted into spurty sobs as soon as Bobby and his dad stormed away. I wrapped my arms around her as her tears stained my shirt.

  “Em, Em, I’m so sorry. I am,” I whispered as she wept. “You should have told me. I would have never. I mean, you know I would never. I’m so sorry.”

  Shards of agony rippled off her as I stroked her dark hair. I didn’t know what else to say. Nothing like this had ever happened to any of us. Our parents had all been married for more than twenty years. They were friends. They sat next to each other at ballet recitals; they attended each other’s holiday parties; they took each other’s kids on vacations. The thought of Mrs. Montgomery having an affair, and with Bobby’s dad! A mix of anger and betrayal surged through me.

  This was why Emily had been so distracted, so upset by Bobby’s presence, yet so insistent that she had no feelings for him. This was why Bobby’s dad reacted so strangely when he first met Emily at the film screening, and why Emily’s mom was so abrupt with Bobby at my birthday party. I felt like such a fool. I thought Emily was acting immature.

  “Em, I’m so sorry,” I said softly, shaking my head.

  “No, you didn’t know. It’s my fault,” she choked between cries as she lifted her head from my chest.

  “None of this is your fault.”

  Her eyes were swollen red, and her nose was starting to run. She brushed at a tear swimming down her blotchy cheek.

  “It’s been going on for at least a year,” she mumbled. “At first, I thought my mom really was working late. But then, I don’t know, I just knew.”

  She plucked the elastic from her wrist and tied her short brown hair into a high ponytail. Her breathing was growing more stable. She sniffed back the tears that wanted to flow.

  “I didn’t know who he was though. Not until this summer. Not until I went out with Bobby. The way she reacted, it was like my mother wasn’t my mother. I didn’t know what was wrong. At first I got mad; I thought she was being a witch for trying to convince me not to see Bobby. I mean, she didn’t even know him!” She grunted in disgust. “But I guess she did.”

  Not a single person passed us in the hallway, which I considered amazing given the amount of partygoers downstairs and the amount of brothers that lived on the floor. It was as if sheer will was keeping them away.

  “And then, one night, I came home unexpectedly from Madison’s. I was supposed to sleep over her house. My dad was away on business, again. I had forgotten my overnight bag. Mr. Fox ran me home to get it and as we pulled down the street, I saw a man getting into a strange car in my driveway. And my stomach dropped. I don’t know why. I just knew it was him... . He looked right at me as he pulled away. Right at me.”

  She gazed into the distance as she spoke, as if seeing the entire scene playing in her mind. The pain I saw in her eyes was like nothing I had ever seen there before, and it broke me that she felt she had to keep this to herself for so long.

  “When I walked into the house, I called for my mom. I heard her racing around her bedroom, but when I walked in, she was in the master bath with the shower running. She acted like she had just suddenly decided to take a shower. And then I saw the bed; it was a mess. The sheets were all rumpled and tossed around. I knew the maid had been there that afternoon. I knew the bed should have been made.”

  She paused and took a deep breath, then turned to face me. “I didn’t know for sure that it was Bobby’s dad until school started. Until I saw him drop Bobby off one morning. And then, you guys started talking and it just ...”

  “If I had known ...”

  “I know,” she said.

  “But you should have told me.”

  “When you got back, you were so different. Everything was weird. I just, I don’t know... .”

  “I’m so sorry. But this thing, this whatever, with me and Bobby ... it’s over. Right now,” I said with determination.

  “No.” She shook her head. “This isn’t your problem.”

  “Yes, it is.”

  I left Emily seated on the stone wall of the outside porch while I went to fetch Madison and Lilly. I didn’t know how I was going to explain everything. Frankly, I was kind of surprised the entire party didn’t hear the argument. But everyone was drinking and dancing, completely oblivious to the life that had unraveled upstairs.

  Before I could maneuver my way back to where they were, I saw Madison charging straight for me. I figured she must have discovered what had happened. I stopped in my tracks.

  “I’m sick of this. I’m so sick of this!” she shouted as we stopped in front of the doorway.

  “What? Huh?”

  “Your cousin. Your freakin’ cousin!” She pointed toward Lilly, who was giggling with the tan, blond surfer-guy Madison had been eyeing before I left.

  “Oh,” I mumbled.

  “He comes over to talk to me, to me!” Madison yelled. “And Lilly just barges in. She literally cut me out of the conversation with her stupid little accent. ‘Oh, you lived in Spain last semester? Hablas español?’ Blah, blah, blah!”

  I pressed my fingers to my temples and rubbed. “Madison, we have bigger issues right now.”

  “No, I don’t care. You’ve been forcing us to hang out with her for months now. And you know what? I don’t like her!” she screamed.

  Heads turned all around us. I seared a hole into the side of Lilly’s giggling face, hoping she’d turn around. She didn’t.

  “Mariana, I’ve been your best friend since birth. And ever since you’ve come back, you’ve been acting like this random chica—who you’ve known for, like, a few months—is more important just because she’s some distant relative! Well, I don’t care! I don’t want her in my life!” She pointed her blood red, polished finger at me. “You brought her here. Now get rid of her!”

  My head jerked back. I really didn’t need another confrontation right now. I had left Emily distraught and alone on the front porch.

  “Madison, she’s my cousin. I know that pisses you off, but you’re gonna have to deal with it. She’s not going anywhere,” I snapped. “Maybe if you took some time to actually get to know her, like I did, then you would like her. But you’ve been acting like a baby ever since you met her!”

  “That’s because I didn’t want to meet her! But I could have dealt with it, I could have dealt with her, if she wasn’t such a conceited snot. She thinks she’s so great. That everyone just loooooves her!”

  Finally, our argument had gotten loud enough for Lilly to hear. She swung her head and spotted me.

  “Madison, look, I’d love to continue this but—” I started.

  “No!” she interrupted. “I don’t want to hear about your little drama! I want you to tell me what you’re going to do about your cousin!”

  “Do about me? What the hell are you talking about?” Lilly asked, as she marched over, her eyes wide.

  Madison flung her hand in my cousin’s face. “I don’t even want to look at you.”

  “Why? Because Brad found me more interesting than you? Not my fault.” Lilly smirked.

  “Oh, what? You think all guys find you more interesting?”

  “Than you? Yes.”

  “Yeah, I wouldn’t be so sure.” Madison pulled her phone from her purse and waved it in the air. “Your pretty boy, Evan, he’s been texting me all night. Actually, he’s been calling me, e-mailing me, IMing me, all week! Ever since Mariana’s party. Seems he found my dancing a little more interesting than your skanky salsa.”

  “You bitch!” Lilly shouted, lunging for the phone.

  “Stop it! Stop it!” I screamed, jumping in between the two of
them before any frat guys got excited at the prospect of a girl-fight. “I don’t give a crap who’s texting who, or who’s talking to who! Emily is on the porch right now in hysterics. And I don’t have time to deal with you two!”

  Madison’s face immediately changed. She swung her head at me, shock in her eyes. “What?”

  “We’ve gotta go. Now.”

  Chapter 39

  When we got to Emily, she had already vomited three times on the porch. Tears poured down her cheeks as we stumbled back to Vince’s dorm, stopping at every bush so she could dry heave. Thankfully, he had given us one of his roommate’s spare keys. We let ourselves in, and she passed out as soon as she hit the pillow. We left an empty trash can by her bed just in case she couldn’t make it to the bathroom the next time the vomit ensued. Then we sat in the hall, and I relayed the entire story. I think Madison and Lilly would have been less shocked if I told them I was pregnant with a kangaroo’s baby.

  At around one in the morning, Vince finally realized he had invited his sister and her teenage friends to a frat party and then ditched them to slide down a ramp into a pool of goldfish. He came barreling up the stairs, his white shirt and jeans soaked and his sopping hair slicked back.

  “Oh, my God! You’re not dead!” he cheered, as he darted over to hug me.

  “No, I’m not. No thanks to you.”

  “You have no idea. I spent the last half hour racing around the house thinking some guy was doing ... I don’t even want to talk about it.” He sighed.

  “You left us at that party, Vince!”

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “I couldn’t find you anywhere. We had to walk ourselves home!”

  “I know. I went on a fish run. Chuck and Larry ate half of them, and the rest got lost in the yard when the pool broke... .”

  “Vince, seriously, you have no idea what tonight has been like,” I said.

  Vince glimpsed our sullen faces. “Wait, why are you all sitting in the hallway? One of my brothers, they didn’t—”

  “No, no,” I interrupted.

  Then I told him the whole story.

  We didn’t speak the entire drive home. There wasn’t much to say. Lilly, Madison, Vince, and I had stayed up until the sun peaked through talking about Emily’s mom and Bobby’s dad. We examined it from every possible angle. Even Vince was supportive. Normally his advice consisted of, “dude, whatever, that sucks.” But he actually listened to the entire saga without judgment.

  I think the fact that it was Emily’s mom, someone we knew so well, someone we trusted, freaked us out more. It could easily have been any one of our parents. I had already seen what an affair had done to my father. Given my grandfather’s history, and the chaos his extramarital love life created across multiple generations, I was the last one to say that Emily would be okay. It had been thirty-five years since my family left Puerto Rico, and my uncles were still reeling from the aftermath.

  Emily stared out the window the entire drive, dizzy and nauseated from a hangover mixed with devastation. She would have to confront her mother when she got home. If she didn’t, Mr. McNabb would certainly tell her (if he hadn’t already). I could see the dread mounting in her eyes the closer we got. And when we finally pulled into her driveway, Madison turned off the engine.

  “Do you want us to go in with you?” she asked.

  Emily shook her head. “There’s nothing you can do.”

  “We can wait out here,” I offered.

  “We can make sure you’re okay. Stay in case you wanna run out?” Madison added.

  “No. I have to deal with this.” Emily gripped the door handle and took a deep breath.

  As she walked toward the front door, it suddenly opened. Her mother stepped out. Her hair was mashed on top of her head in a frizzy nest, her glasses sat on her cheeks, a robe covered flannel pajamas in the middle of the day. I looked around and noticed there was only one car in the driveway.

  “Hey, guys. Where’s the SUV?” I asked.

  “He’s not here,” Madison stated plainly, referencing Emily’s father. “What if he already knows?”

  Emily paused a few feet from her mother. Neither said anything. When I saw Emily’s shoulders shake with sobs, I clutched the door handle, prepared to go comfort her.

  “No, don’t!” Lilly said, holding me back.

  I watched as Emily’s mom rushed off the porch toward her daughter. She hugged her, and they both cried. Then her mom looked over and waved us off.

  “Should we go?” Madison asked, twisting her neck to look at me.

  “I think we have to.”

  Madison started the car and pulled away. We left Emily weeping with her mom on the front lawn.

  Chapter 40

  After a few days, the world returned to a more normal state of calm. Emily and Bobby came back to school, ballet practices were in full swing, and Lilly and Madison had even stopped attacking each other. It was amazing how a crisis could solve almost as many problems as it created.

  “So have you talked to your dad?” I asked, as we sat on my back porch sipping sodas and munching on fat-free chips.

  “He’s taking me out to dinner on Friday night,” Emily said as she pulled her knees up and hugged them close to her chest. “He wants to prevent any ‘confusion.’ Whatever that means.”

  “He still at the hotel?” Madison asked.

  “Yup.”

  “At least he’s making an effort,” I stated.

  “I know. It’s not his fault. He didn’t have the affair. But he’s also never home... .” Emily fiddled with the lid of her soda.

  “Look, your parents are fighting with each other. Not you,” Lilly offered.

  “That’s very insightful, Lil,” I stated.

  “Thank you. I try.”

  “What about Bobby?” Madison asked. “Have you seen him?”

  “I’m avoiding him like the plague. It’s just too weird.” She looked at me.

  “Hey, he hasn’t spoken to me either. Today was his first day back in school, and he stared at his notebook all through chemistry.”

  “I can’t believe you kissed him,” said Madison.

  “Gee, thanks for bringing that up.” I rolled my eyes and stared at the trees in the rear of my yard.

  “Don’t. He’s a nice guy,” Emily offered. “If you like him ...”

  “No, no way.” I tossed my hands in the air.

  “My mom said she broke it off with his dad... .”

  “Still, could you imagine if we actually dated? How could I ever look his father in the face?”

  “Well, it wouldn’t be his father that you’d be dating,” Lilly stated simply.

  A lull fell over us as we stared at the leaves dripping from the trees.

  “So, Madison, you still hate me?” Lilly blurted out, breaking the silence.

  I nearly choked on my sip of soda. She was blunt.

  “What? We’re all sitting here acting like everything is normal. I thought I might as well bring it up.” Lilly shrugged.

  Madison stared vacantly at her. “I don’t know what you want me to say to that.”

  “The truth.”

  “I don’t know you very well,” Madison stated.

  “And whose fault is that?”

  “Maybe it’s the swarm of jocks you’ve surrounded yourself with since you got here. Or all the guys you’ve been chasing after simultaneously. Or the best friend you stole out from under me.”

  “Mad,” I whined, staring at her with concern.

  “I didn’t steal Mariana. Not like you stole Evan,” Lilly stated, an eyebrow raised.

  “Like I’m gonna apologize for him calling me.”

  Lilly rolled her eyes. “You knew I liked him. But, whatever, I’m not gonna make a big deal out of it.”

  “Well, good. You shouldn’t,” I said.

  Lilly’s eyes snapped toward me.

  “What? You don’t remember what you did with Alex this summer? You deliberately kept us apart ’cause you
were jealous.”

  “I was not jealous!”

  I cocked my head. “Yeah, you were.”

  “Was not. And anyway, these are completely different circumstances.”

  “Not really. You felt overshadowed by ‘the new person,’” I said, wiggling my fingers for effect.

  “That’s because all my guy friends were falling all over you.”

  “The way the Spring Mills guys are falling over you!” I pointed out.

  “You had guys falling over you?” Madison asked, peering at me. “You never told us that.”

  “That’s because you never asked,” I said with a shrug. “Anyway, Lil, you of all people should understand where Madison’s coming from. And Madison, Lilly’s not my best friend. She’s my cousin.”

  Madison grunted.

  “I know you feel like she doesn’t count because she hasn’t been around my whole life, but look at the family who has! My uncles practically ruined my birthday party, my cousins are spoiled brats, and my aunts are nit-picking snobs. I mean, can you blame me for wanting to cling to the few family members I actually do like?”

  Madison and Lilly eyeballed each other.

  “I’m still gonna talk to Evan,” Madison stated.

  “And I’m still gonna talk to Mariana,” Lilly added.

  Just then my father slid open the glass doors to the porch and stepped outside. His work shirt was unbuttoned on top and his tie was loosened. He looked toward Emily.

  “You girls all right?”

  We nodded. “We’re fine, Dad.”

  “You sure? You don’t need anything?” His gaze stayed locked on Emily.

  “Mr. Ruíz, you don’t have to pretend you don’t know,” Emily said. “The entire town of Spring Mills knows. ‘Swarthmore professor has affair with UPenn professor, news at 11.’ ”

  My dad offered a sad smile. “I’m sorry you have to go through this.”

  She thrust her shoulders. “At least it’s out in the open now.”

  He nodded, knowingly.

  “Well, if you need anything ...”

  “Thanks,” she said.

  My dad stepped back inside and closed the glass door.