Spring Breakdown

by Melody Carlson

  DJ laughed as she dropped them back into the bags. “That’s exactly what I said, but Taylor thought I could do better.”

  “And she actually looks great in those suits,” Taylor defended her. “Sometimes sexy is subtle.”

  “Okay, Sexy,” said Eliza, “show us what you got.”

  Taylor casually pulled out item after item, and while Rhiannon gushed and oohed over Taylor’s great sense of style and taste, Eliza just looked blankly on—as if she were bored. Although DJ was pretty sure that Eliza was impressed. She just didn’t want Taylor to know.

  “So,” said Taylor as she put her purchases back in her bags, “thus ends show and tell. Thank you, ladies.”

  “Maybe we can get together to check out the boots later,” said Rhiannon.

  “I have a date,” Taylor told her. “But maybe I could pick out some boots before I go, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “A date with Harry?” asked Eliza with way too much interest.

  Taylor looked evenly at her. “Does it really matter?”

  Eliza shrugged. “I guess a girl who’s willing to wear hand-me-down boots shouldn’t mind a hand-me-down boyfriend.”

  Taylor laughed. “Since Harry broke up with you, I would think you’d be considered the hand-me-down—I mean, if there is such a thing.”

  “Hand-me-downs, sloppy seconds…call it what you like. But just don’t forget I had him first, Taylor.”

  “Really?” Taylor cocked her head slightly. “Meaning you were Harry’s very first girlfriend?”

  “You know what I mean.”

  Taylor had her bags gathered up now. “Oh, yeah, Eliza, I know what you mean. But I do think you should get over it, okay? It’s not good to hold onto guys once they’ve moved on, you know?” Then Taylor exited before Eliza could respond.

  “Wow,” said DJ once they were in their room. “That was starting to sound like a catfight.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t stoop that low.” Taylor tossed her bags onto her bed and kicked off her high-heeled short boots. “In fact, I wish I hadn’t stooped at all.” She sank down on the bed and sighed. “But Eliza just gets my goat sometimes.”

  “And you think you don’t get hers?”

  Taylor smiled. “Oh, yeah, I know I do.”

  “You actually enjoy it, don’t you?”

  “I’m not sure what Jesus would do, but maybe Eliza needs someone to put her in her place from time to time.”

  “Do you think Jesus would put her in place with love?”

  Taylor laughed. “That’s an interesting concept.”

  Just then there was a tapping on the door and DJ opened it to see Rhiannon with her laptop. “Ready to do some boot shopping?”

  Soon they were looking at funky old cowboy boots, and before long they’d each picked out a pair and locked in their purchases.

  “Guess that’s it,” said Rhiannon, but she didn’t leave.

  “Everything going okay?” asked DJ tentatively.

  Rhiannon shrugged. “I guess so…”

  “You seem kind of down,” persisted DJ. “Is something wrong?”

  “It’s Eliza.”

  “Big surprise there,” called Taylor from the bathroom. “We were just wondering how you’ve put up with her this long.” She popped her head out and looked sympathetic.

  “That’s not it,” Rhiannon said quickly. “The truth is Eliza’s been pretty nice to me. Especially lately.”

  “Really?” Taylor emerged from the bathroom with a creased brow. “Sometimes you need to keep your guard up when someone like Eliza is being nice to you.”

  “I don’t think so.” Rhiannon looked at DJ. “In fact, I think Eliza gets tired of you guys picking on her so much.”

  DJ pointed to her chest. “Me? She thinks I pick on her?”

  “You both do. And so does Casey.”

  “Casey picks on everyone,” DJ tossed back.

  “You might be surprised to hear that Casey and Seth are going out with Eliza and Lane tonight.”

  “That should be interesting,” admitted DJ.

  “Anyway, I can’t tell you what to do, but I’m trying to be nicer to Eliza and I wish you and Taylor would too.”

  Taylor leaned against the doorframe, folding her arms across her chest, just waiting for Rhiannon to continue.

  “I know Eliza can be, well, kind of a snob,” she said. “But underneath that…she’s okay.”

  “So what are you saying?” Taylor asked.

  “Just that…you guys are both Christians…and maybe you should try being nicer to her.”

  DJ shrugged. “Yeah, maybe. We were actually just talking about that. Sort of.”

  Rhiannon brightened. “Good. I thought you’d understand.”

  Taylor’s mouth twisted into a half-smile. “This could be a challenge, but it might be kind of fun too.”

  “Thanks, you guys.” Rhiannon stood now. “I don’t think you’ll be sorry either. I mean, it’s not like getting into fights is fun, right?”

  “I don’t know.” Taylor chuckled. “I used to kind of enjoy it.”

  “But that was the old you,” Rhiannon reminded her. “God’s at work in the new you. Remember.”

  “I’ll try.” Taylor looked at the clock by her bed. “In the meantime I’d better get ready. Harry will be here soon.”

  DJ thought about what Rhiannon had said while Taylor was getting ready for her date. It actually made sense. Not that it would be easy being nice to Eliza. But it was probably the right thing to do. And who knew…maybe in time Eliza would change. After all, Taylor had changed—was still changing. And so was DJ. So miracles could still happen.

  6

  “Harry and I are going to host a dinner before the Rockabilly dance,” Taylor announced at the breakfast table on Tuesday morning. “Naturally, you’re all invited.”

  “Naturally,” Eliza repeated in a saccharine tone.

  Taylor’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly as she smiled at Eliza. “It’ll be at the beach house.”

  “Sort of a repeat of the dinner party we had before the Winter Ball?” Eliza ventured.

  “Except for one thing.” Taylor looked directly at Grandmother now. “There will be no alcohol served.”

  “Goodness!” Grandmother looked shocked. “Was alcohol served at the other dinner party?”

  Everyone got very quiet.

  “As a matter of fact, there was,” Taylor continued carefully. “But that won’t be happening this time. Harry and I will make sure of it.”

  Grandmother sighed. “Well, that’s a relief. I’d hate to think that any of my girls are participating in underage drinking.”

  “And if anyone brings alcohol to the dinner party”—Taylor looked directly at Eliza now—“it will be confiscated and disposed of.”

  Eliza put on her most innocent face. “Well, of course it will. Not that any of our friends would do something like that.”

  “No,” Taylor nodded. “I’m sure they wouldn’t.”

  Thanks to Rhiannon, the conversation now shifted to dance clothes. Her plan was to have everyone try their outfits on Wednesday night. “I’ll have to miss youth group,” she said. “But there’s really no other way to get this done. We’ll have a fitting and then I can do my final alterations on Thursday after school,” she told them.

  “And I’ve decided to go with a slightly different rockabilly style,” Eliza said. “Actually, it’s more authentic than what Rhiannon’s putting together.”

  Rhiannon sort of rolled her eyes. “It depends on how you define authentic, Eliza.” Then she smiled. “But if you want to look like Marilyn Monroe goes country, I’m okay with it.”

  Eliza laughed. “I happen to think Marilyn Monroe is hot.”

  “This will be such fun,” said Grandmother happily. “I love seeing you girls all dressed up for these little events. Maybe I should invite the general to come with his camera again.”

  The plans continued and before long it was time to head to school.
/>   “That was brilliant,” DJ told Taylor as they drove to school.

  “What was brilliant?” asked Casey from the backseat.

  “Banning alcohol from the dinner party.”

  “Oh.”

  “Thanks.” Taylor put on her shades. “I figured we’d just nip this thing in the bud. A preemptive strike.”

  Casey laughed. “You seriously think Harry can keep the other guys from bringing booze?”

  “Conner and Harry will talk to them,” said DJ. And although she hadn’t mentioned this to Conner, she knew she could count on him.

  “And I think Rhiannon can convince Bradford to climb on the wagon,” Taylor continued. “He’s never been a big boozer anyway.”

  “And I’m pretty sure that Josh only drinks to be social,” added DJ.

  “Meaning that just leaves Seth and Lane?” asked Casey.

  “Pretty much.” Taylor turned around to look at Casey. “I’m sure you don’t want Seth to drink, Casey.”

  “What makes you so sure?” Casey’s tone was sharp now, almost like a challenge.

  “For your sake, I don’t think you’d like to have Seth drinking.”

  “Remember what happened with Garrison,” DJ reminded her. “Going to the Winter Ball in a barf-soaked dress wasn’t too—”

  “In case you forgot, I never made it to the dance.”

  “Just my point, Casey,” persisted DJ. “Why go back there again?”

  “I’ve never seen Seth wasted like that.”

  “Trust me,” said Taylor, “you don’t want to.”

  That shut Casey up, but DJ could tell that she was fuming. And as soon as the car was parked at school, Casey grabbed her stuff, jumped out, and took off.

  “Guess I stepped on her toes,” said Taylor as she slung a strap of her bag over her shoulder.

  “I don’t know why she’s being so hypersensitive.”

  “Probably because she’s a little insecure,” said Taylor evenly, “and because she feels things deeply.”

  DJ considered this. Taylor was right. Casey was insecure and she did take things hard. But what good did it do her in the long run? She usually just ended up hurting herself as well as those around her. “Casey needs God in her life,” stated DJ as they went into the school. “That would make a huge difference.”

  “Amen, sister!” Taylor gave DJ a high five and laughed.

  It wasn’t that DJ hadn’t been praying for Casey. And DJ sometimes tried to share her faith with her. But Casey usually acted like she knew it all, like she’d heard it before. After all, Casey had been raised in a “Christian home.” Never mind that her parents fought like they wanted to kill each other sometimes. But Casey wasn’t exactly open to listening to anyone talk about God. Plus, she continued to question Taylor’s sincerity. In some ways, Casey seemed like she was the on path to fall flat on her face…but maybe that would get her attention and help her to rethink some things. DJ hoped so.

  But DJ wasn’t prepared for how Casey suddenly seemed to be aligning herself with Eliza. It just made no sense. In so many ways, Eliza was everything that Casey claimed to hate—superficial, materialistic, stuck-up, and insincere. DJ had even heard Casey refer to her as “plastic.” And yet, there was Casey, sitting next to Eliza at the lunch table, laughing together like they were the best of friends. It felt even weirder when DJ saw Rhiannon joining in—like the three of them were the new It group, surrounded by several guys and enjoying the attention. Kriti was there too, although she had her nose stuck in a book. But the really odd thing was that no one had saved DJ a seat.

  DJ glanced around, looking for Taylor, and saw her just coming into the cafeteria. She waved and together they found empty seats at a nearby table.

  “This is different,” said Taylor as they sat down. “Are we being shunned or something?”

  “I don’t know. But it seemed a little weird to me.”

  “I’m sure we could’ve forced our way in, but this might be more interesting.” Taylor nodded toward the table where Eliza was keeping her little audience of girls and guys entertained with a story about what she’d done for spring break last year. It seemed she was speaking loudly so that DJ and Taylor would be sure to notice, not to mention embellishing it for the sake of her listeners, but who could know for sure?

  “She seems like she’s up to something,” observed Taylor.

  “And that surprises you?” DJ opened a ketchup package and squirted it onto her burger.

  “Hey, ladies,” Harry called out as if he’d just noticed that Taylor and DJ were at another table. “What’re you doing over there?”

  Taylor just smiled. “Eating lunch…by ourselves.”

  He frowned. “Intentionally?”

  Taylor pointed to the table. “No room over there.”

  Just then Conner showed up, taking the seat next to DJ. Within seconds their table filled up, and suddenly Taylor was the center of the conversation. DJ wasn’t sure if Taylor was enjoying this attention or not, but she did notice that Eliza was watching. It felt like there was some kind of secret competition going on between the two girls.

  “I’ve made it clear to everyone that our dinner party will not involve alcohol,” Taylor was explaining to Harry.

  “What kind of party is that?” asked Garrison.

  DJ frowned at him. “A party where someone doesn’t end up barfing on his date.”

  “Low blow,” he said to her.

  “Besides, you don’t even have a date, old boy,” Harry pointed out.

  Garrison nodded over toward Haley and Daisy. Both girls had just joined their table and had been listening in with interest. “I might have a date.” He winked at Daisy now. “But I heard that the girls are supposed to do the asking.”

  DJ wanted to tell Daisy to run for her life, but it was too late.

  “Is that a hint?” Daisy asked him boldly.

  He grinned at her. “Yeah, I can rockabilly with the best of them.”

  Now she looked perplexed, like maybe she was rethinking this.

  “Come on, Daisy,” he urged her. “It’ll be fun.”

  “If you ask Garrison,” Haley challenged her, “I’ll ask Nick Jefferson.”

  Daisy’s eyes gleamed like this was a dare. “Okay,” she declared. “You better not embarrass me now, Garrison.”

  He waited, and DJ cringed to imagine how humiliated Daisy would be if he was just jerking her chain. Poor Daisy was still getting used to her new image since her transforming makeover. And DJ wasn’t sure if the inner Daisy was really ready for the outer one. Fortunately, thanks to Daisy’s continued interest in sports, Eliza had given up on trying to turn Daisy into her permanent patsy. But even so, Daisy had changed.

  “Okay,” Daisy continued. “Want to go to the dance with me, Garrison?”

  His brows lifted in a flirty way. “Oh, yeah, I sure do.”

  “You should dress up like Daisy Mae,” suggested Taylor.

  “Daisy Mae?” Daisy looked confused.

  “It’s a rockabilly dance,” Taylor pointed out.

  “So?”

  “Haven’t you ever heard of Li’l Abner?” Taylor asked her.

  As it turned out, most of them hadn’t heard of the old classic comic strip, but Taylor borrowed Harry’s laptop, clicked onto a website, and explained the hillbilly characters to everyone with so much dash and style that her audience quickly grew. Funny what it sometimes took to draw a crowd. “My dad was a big fan of Al Capp,” she told them.

  By now several others had abandoned Eliza’s table and joined this other group, and Lane was looking on with interest. “Hey, I should tell my mom about this,” he said with enthusiasm. “She’s helping with decorations and stuff, so she might find some inspiration here.”

  “Wow, Daisy Mae is hot,” said Garrison as he pointed to the blonde bombshell in skimpy clothes. “I think Taylor’s right, Daisy.” He pointed to his date. “You should go as Daisy Mae.”

  Lane nudged DJ. “You’d make a good Daisy Mae too.”


  Conner’s brow creased. “Shouldn’t you be saying that to Eliza?”

  Lane just laughed. “Hey, it’s a free country. A guy can look, can’t he?”

  “You can look,” DJ said in a forced light tone, “but don’t touch.”

  Conner laughed, but still looked slightly uncomfortable. “Yeah, that’s right.”

  Lane grinned with an odd twinkle in his eye. “Hey, Conner, did I hear you’re not joining us in Palm Beach next week?”

  “Soccer playoffs.” Conner tossed DJ a sympathetic look. “But I might try to make it by the end of the week.” Then he turned to Lane. “If I’m still invited.”

  “Oh, sure,” Lane said easily. “I don’t back out of an offer.” He glanced around the crowded table. “And for you guys who’re thinking about the Rockabilly dance, you better get your tickets. I hear they might be sold out soon.”

  “Isn’t he the best promoter?” said Eliza as she joined Lane, slipping her arm into his elbow possessively. “I’ll bet your mama is proud of you.”

  He just laughed. “Come on, Liza Jane, we need to discuss how we’re going to make you into a Daisy Mae in time for the dance.”

  “She’ll need implants,” Taylor whispered into DJ’s ear as she pointed to the voluptuous Daisy Mae character on the website, “or maybe a set of falsies and a good push-up bra.”

  DJ laughed. But then she got it. So that’s why Lane was suggesting that DJ could be Daisy Mae. The insinuation was rather irritating. But the first bell rang and the cafeteria began to empty out.

  “That Lane is a real piece of work,” Conner told DJ as he walked her halfway to her class. They stopped in the hall between the science and math departments. “Tell me you couldn’t see that he was flirting with you.”

  “I think he flirts with everyone,” DJ said lightly. “I’ve seen him hitting on Taylor too.”

  “Well, I don’t trust him.”

  DJ just shrugged. “He’s just a jerk, Conner. Don’t let him get to you.”

  Then it was time to go. As DJ hurried to Botany, she felt conflicted. On one hand it was a little aggravating for Conner to be that possessive of her. On the other hand, it was kind of nice. But she felt that his concern about Lane was overblown. Seriously, why would Lane be that interested in her? And even if he was, she wasn’t the least bit interested in him. Plus there was the Eliza factor. DJ had no intention of attracting that girl’s jealousy—even if it was unfounded.