by L. J. Smith
Cassie waved to Melanie from afar and then spotted Diana. She was wearing all white, and the way the sun was striking her blonde hair, it appeared almost white, too. My God, Cassie thought, Diana is literally shimmering like an angel. And appropriately, she was helping with the charity raffle this year. In fact, she’d organized it. Sometimes Cassie wondered if there was anything Diana couldn’t do.
Cassie gave her mom a signal to let her know she’d be right there and then headed over to the raffle table to say hello to Diana. She’d felt so distant from Diana lately, she thought stopping by would be a nice gesture. Maybe even a first step in clearing the air between them.
Cassie understood the distance was because she spent most of her free time with Adam these days. How could that not make things weird, when not so long ago it used to be Diana who spent all her time with Adam?
But in spite of all that, when Diana noticed Cassie coming her way now, she couldn’t have offered her a more heartfelt greeting. She dropped her clipboard onto the table and jogged across the square to meet Cassie halfway.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” she said. “Your mother’s decorations look fantastic.”
“Thanks,” Cassie said, and then hesitated. She hadn’t known she was going to do this, but in the moment it felt right. “Can we talk?” she asked.
Without waiting for an answer, she took Diana’s hand tightly in her own and led her to the side of the square, where there was a long stone bench they could sit on without the risk of anyone overhearing their conversation. “There’s something I have to tell you,” Cassie said.
Diana’s green eyes narrowed with concern, but she sat down, as instructed. Cassie sat across from her, anxiously rubbing her fingers along the bench’s stone surface.
“I’ve been feeling so bad,” she said. “For all the awkwardness.”
Diana smiled wide. “Kind of like right now?”
“Yeah.” Cassie felt herself blush. “I guess I am being kind of awkward right now. It’s just that I know how close you and Adam were, and the sacrifice you made, and—”
Diana cut Cassie off mid-sentence. “Cassie, I know. I really do. And it has been hard at times, but I think we’ve all grown used to it a lot faster than you have.”
She put her hands on Cassie’s shoulders and gave her a little shake. “There are no hard feelings. Honestly. It’s you who’s making it hard, for yourself.”
Cassie’s eyes filled with tears, and she realized Diana was right. She had been making things unnecessarily difficult. This was supposed to be a new beginning. Everywhere around her, people were embracing change while she clung on to old hurts and past fears.
“Does this mean we can hang out more?” she asked.
“I sure hope so!” Diana brought her in for a hug, and when Cassie closed her eyes, everything felt just right. A new beginning, she thought to herself again. Now she really would be able to enjoy the festival.
Together she and Diana walked through the square, arm in arm, back to the raffle table. Cassie didn’t want their renewed closeness to end, but she had work to do.
“I’d better go help my mom,” she said, and was about to walk away when a girl approached her. The girl had long waves of bright red hair and wore high black boots that caught on the hem of her slip dress.
“Excuse me,” she said. “I’m looking for the bed-and-breakfast that’s supposed to be right around here.” She was about the same height and build as Cassie, and her eyes were a very dark brown, almost black.
Diana pointed west. “It’s about a two-minute walk that way.”
The girl gripped the handle of her overstuffed suitcase and stood gawking at them, as if she were hoping for more. “I’m Scarlett,” she said, offering her free hand to Diana.
Diana introduced herself and Cassie, and then asked, “Are you visiting from out of town?”
“Not visiting. I just moved here.” Scarlett bit at her fingernail, which was covered in chipped black nail polish. “I’m only staying at the B and B for now, if I ever find it.”
Diana raised her eyebrows. “Moving to a new town with only one suitcase, that’s very impressive.”
Scarlett laughed uncomfortably like she wasn’t sure if Diana was playfully teasing or rudely making fun of her. Cassie wasn’t entirely sure either. She knew Diana well enough to sense that she had her guard up around this stranger.
“Will you be going to New Salem High?” Diana asked.
Scarlett shook her head. “I graduated early. I’m working on the docks for the summer.”
“I see,” Diana said, in a tone dripping with judgment.
Diana got like this around Outsiders sometimes. Cassie knew she didn’t mean to be impolite; in fact, she probably wasn’t even aware of it. It was an unconscious self-righteousness that came from always knowing she was special. But Cassie knew what growing up average was like, and she’d once been the new girl in town. She sympathized with how awful and alienated Scarlett probably felt right now.
“Well, thank you for the directions,” Scarlett said. “It was nice meeting you.”
“Wait.” Cassie had the sudden urge to remedy Diana’s inhospitable welcome. “You should come to the festival tonight. It’s right here; you can’t miss it.”
Scarlett giggled in a way that made her sound like a little girl, and Cassie couldn’t help but join in. There was something refreshing about her. “We just met, and already you’re taking a shot at my poor sense of direction?” Then her face warmed. “I’d love to come, thank you.”
“Great,” Cassie said. “Then we’ll see you later.”
Cassie watched Scarlett walk away, and Diana picked up her clipboard from the table. “That was neighborly of you,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“You know.” Diana scrutinized her list of things to do, flipping through its many pages. “Considerate, gregarious.”
“I know what neighborly means, but what do you mean?”
Diana set the clipboard down and rolled her pen back and forth in her fingers while analyzing Cassie’s expression. “You saw something in her, didn’t you? What was it?”
Cassie should have known there was never getting anything past Diana. It was true, she had seen something in Scarlett, but she wasn’t sure what.
Cassie felt a tingle travel up her spine and down her arms, all the way to her fingers. It was an excitement she couldn’t place. “I’m really not sure. But I think it was something good.”
“Well, that’s pleasant news for a change,” Diana said.
“Tell me about it.”
“Maybe it was her hair dye drawing you in.”
“Be nice,” Cassie said.
“I’m not being mean,” Diana said naughtily. “It made me want to drink a glass of wild cherry Kool-Aid. I love that stuff.” Then the two of them broke into loud, uninhibited laughter, the way they used to.
Chapter 6
The moon overhead was a bright white waxing crescent, and the sky was clear. Cassie and Adam were standing by the maypole hand in hand, and she felt radiant in the yellow camisole dress her friends picked out for her. She’d found it in the dining room early that morning. Suzan had dropped it off with a note written in her loopy script: This dress screamed your name!
Suzan had also bought ties for all the guys, and they looked good, but the girls outshone them in their dresses. Melanie was in green chiffon and Laurel in carnation-pink voile. Suzan, always voluptuous, had chosen a copper-colored tank dress for herself that was pushing the boundary of indecent exposure. Diana wore an understated ivory silk tunic.
Deborah, who rarely wore dresses, was decked out in her own way. She had on tight white jeans, a white T-shirt, and a purple leather jacket. “Have you seen Faye?” she asked Cassie and Adam.
Adam shrugged his shoulders, but Sean responded, “She’s out on the lookout for Max.”
Deborah scoffed. “She hasn’t given up on him yet? He’s been evading her all week.”
Sean shook his head. “Not a chance,” he said. “Faye never backs down that easily.”
“What about Nick?” Cassie asked. “Have you seen him?”
Deborah’s face hardened at the question. When it came to Cassie, she was extremely protective of her cousin. “I don’t think he’s coming.”
“Why not?” Cassie asked.
“Because he’s not.” Deborah tried to stare Cassie down, but Cassie brushed it off. Deborah thought she was doing the right thing, guarding Nick from getting hurt any more than he already had, but she didn’t understand that Cassie’s intentions were good. After clearing the air with Diana, she’d felt so much better. She hoped to do the same with Nick tonight.
Diana frowned at Deborah in a way that revealed she sympathized with Cassie’s predicament. “Nick may show,” she said. “If he’s anything, he’s unpredictable.”
There was a moment of silence as Cassie let her eyes wander up the maypole. She admired the multicolored garlands and ribbons streaming down from its apex. Then Diana said, “Hey, Cassie, isn’t that Scarlett?”
Scarlett had spotted them and was making her way through the crowd in their direction. She was wearing a cornflower-blue baby-doll dress, and her long red hair was stuffed beneath a brown felt bowler hat. She waved when her eyes locked with Cassie’s, and then she picked up her pace to a trot.
“Who is that?” Adam asked.
Cassie noticed a shard of fascinated curiosity in Adam’s voice.
“Ooh, I love that hat,” Suzan said.
Deborah nodded. She always appreciated a girl stylish enough to successfully pull off wearing an article of men’s clothing. “Those boots are killer, too,” she said.
Scarlett was all smiles and confidence as Cassie introduced her to the rest of the group. Her dark eyes passed over each of them individually, and she greeted everyone with the affection of an old friend.
It wasn’t just Scarlett’s fashion sense that was captivating, Cassie noted. It was her nature; she was immediately comfortable with everyone she met. And she was pretty. Sean’s tongue was practically hanging out of his mouth when he shook her hand.
Scarlett extracted herself from Sean’s grasp with a chuckle and turned to Diana.
“Good to see you again,” she said.
“Yes,” Diana answered, in a way that made Cassie cringe. But Scarlett flashed a white smile that showed she refused to take Diana’s indifference to heart.
“The egg toss is starting,” Sean said excitedly, trying to regain Scarlett’s attention. “We should go cheer on Chris and Doug. The grand prize is a five-hundred-dollar gift certificate to Pete’s Candy Store, and they’re determined to win it.”
Scarlett scanned the many booths and food trucks. “Actually,” she said, “I’m famished. And I’m dying for one of those chorizo skewers.”
“I’ll come with you,” Cassie said. She was anxious to learn more about Scarlett and, come to think of it, she was pretty hungry herself.
The group split up then, everyone heading over to the egg-toss lawn, except for Adam and Diana, who were on their way to visit Melanie and Constance at their jewelry booth.
Cassie and Scarlett each bought a skewer and struggled to not talk with their mouths full as they walked the festival’s perimeter. “So you’re staying at the B and B?” Cassie asked as innocently as possible.
Scarlett nodded, chewed, and swallowed.
“Where are your parents?”
“My mom passed away,” Scarlett said abruptly, like she wanted to get that information out of the way as fast as possible.
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“She grew up here,” Scarlett continued. “That’s why I wanted to come to New Salem, to kind of reconnect with her, and my past.” She looked away then, perhaps afraid she was oversharing.
Cassie searched her mind for the right thing to say. “I think that’s great. I mean, I think that’s a really brave thing to do. Even if it’s painful.”
Scarlett nodded. “I guess I’m just looking for a new start.”
“I know what you mean,” Cassie said.
“So tell me something about you.”
Cassie’s mind raced. She wanted to change the subject to something less heavy, but it occurred to her that every good and exciting thing she wanted to tell also involved the Circle, so she was left speechless. For the first time since she moved to New Salem, she understood why being friends with an Outsider could be such a challenge.
“Well,” Cassie said, “that’s my mother over there selling raffle tickets.” But when she pointed her mother out, she also caught sight of Adam and Diana off in the corner, sharing a vanilla ice-cream cone. They were laughing because Adam had gotten ice cream on his nose and chin, and the more he tried to wipe it away, the more ice cream he smeared around.
Cassie felt her stomach drop. But why? It was only an ice-cream cone. A shared snack between friends was nothing to get upset over. She would just join them. She led Scarlett their way and then noticed Faye approaching from the opposite direction.
Faye was wearing a sheer black dress that fit her like a corset. A few paces behind her was Max, who, even in his casual polo shirt, still looked like he’d just stepped out of an Abercrombie catalog.
Adam and Diana stopped laughing and regained control of their ice-cream situation once they noticed Cassie and the others heading their way.
Faye introduced Max and then sized up Scarlett. “Who are you?” she asked.
“This is Scarlett,” Cassie said. “She’s new to town, just like you, Max.”
Max gave a nod to Scarlett, but his focus was clearly on Diana. “I saw you at the assembly on Friday,” he said. “You were the only one paying attention to my dad’s boring speech.”
Diana appeared flustered. “You saw me?” she said, and then added, “It wasn’t boring.”
“No? Are you sure?” Max stared at her roguishly until she cracked.
“Okay, maybe just a little.”
“Thank you for your honesty.” Max reached for Diana’s hand and squeezed it between his thick fingers. “Now we can be friends.”
Diana blushed, and Cassie noticed Adam shift uncomfortably.
“My dad’s here somewhere,” Max said, still addressing only Diana. “If you find him, you should let him know what a great orator you think he is.”
Faye was clenching her jaw so tightly, Cassie feared her head might explode.
“I’ll do that,” Diana said. “But if you’ll excuse me for right now, we were about to go cheer for our friends.” She gestured toward the egg-toss competition.
Max looked a little disappointed. “Yeah, I should go find my dad,” he said.
Faye made a move to follow him, but he stopped her. “I’ll see you later,” he said, and then disappeared into the crowd.
Adam, who’d been deathly silent till now, had a look of disgust on his face. “Well, that was weird.”
“Adam,” Diana scolded. “He was just trying to fit in. That’s what people do when they’re new. They’ll do anything to impress you.”
Scarlett looked down, assuming that was a knock at her. Cassie opened her mouth to say something, but before any words came out, Faye stormed off.
“Max wasn’t working so hard to impress her,” Adam said.
“Faye’s been sexually harassing him since the moment he got here,” Diana said, raising her voice. “He doesn’t have to try for her.”
Cassie wished Scarlett wasn’t witnessing this strange moment of tension. It was actually embarrassing, how petty her friends must have appeared.
“Let’s go,” she said to Scarlett. “They’ll catch up.”
Together they crossed the square. “Diana and Adam aren’t usually like that,” Cassie said. “You just happened to catch them in a weird moment.”
“I get it.” Scarlett smiled. “Couples get jealous; they fight.”
Suddenly Cassie felt sick again. “Adam’s my boyfriend,” she said quietly. “Not Diana’s.”
<
br /> “Oh.” Scarlett bit her lip. “That was stupid of me, I didn’t realize—”
“No, it’s fine. I can see why you’d think that. It’s kind of complicated.”
When they found the rest of the group clustered at one end of the cheering section, Cassie was relieved for the chance to change the subject. The competition was down to Chris and Doug, and a brother-sister team who couldn’t be a day over eleven years old.
“They really like candy,” Cassie said to Scarlett, as if that were a reasonable explanation.
“I can respect that,” Scarlett said. “I really like candy, too. I once ate so many Skittles, I sneezed rainbows for three days.”
It was a dumb joke, but Cassie recognized it for what it was. Scarlett was trying to lighten things up, to comfort her, and she appreciated that. Outsider or not, she liked this girl.
Just then, a scream for help came from the north side of the square, and everyone’s attention shifted. All eyes searched for the source of the bloodcurdling sound, but the group recognized it immediately as Melanie’s voice. They dashed toward the jewelry booth. Even Chris and Doug let their eggs fall to run and help.
When Cassie reached the booth, she pushed through the crowd to find Melanie’s great-aunt Constance sprawled out on the ground. Melanie was crying out for someone to call an ambulance. A few townspeople with medical training kneeled over Constance, taking her vital signs, ordering everyone to stay back and give her some air. One of them had a hold on Melanie, who was thrashing and swinging at him before Diana and Laurel caught her by the arms and pulled her off to the side.
A woman who’d been about to purchase a necklace from Constance said, “She was fine one second, and then she got this panicked look on her face and just collapsed.”
Adam eyed the crowd for anyone suspicious. Cassie searched the mass of strangers’ faces for her mother but couldn’t find her. Maybe she’d gone for help. Or maybe the sight of Constance dropping to the ground was too much for her. In moments of crisis her mother tended to break down rather than rise up. It wouldn’t have surprised Cassie if she’d gone running home.
