Allegiant (19 page)

“
You too.” Joss gives me a
genuine smile. “We’ll have to do it again sometime.” She eyes the
boys. “With just us girls.”

I laugh. “Sure.”

“
Drive safe,” Thomas says
as I reach the door.

“
Thanks, I will.” I open
the door and step outside. “I’ll be back in a sec with my key,” I
tell Garrett.

“
Sounds good.”

I close the door behind me and walk to my
apartment, shaking my head. That was one of the weirdest
conversations I’ve had in awhile. Finding out Guardians can fall in
love? The idea of Garrett and me together? I almost laugh out loud.
He’s a nice guy and all but...

I open my door and LB comes running. “Oh,
now you come out,” I chastise her. I bend down and pet her roughly
along the sides of her body. “Don’t worry. You’re staying
here.”

Well, Auntie Em looks great. I look
ridiculous.

When I arrived home on Friday, my mom hit me
with the news. Someone named Mildred had to back out of the
Halloween party because apparently her dog, Fluffnstuff, was ill. I
couldn’t stop laughing from the name. Fluffnstuff? Seriously? My
dad proceeded to make a lame joke about the dog being sick because
it ate some fluff…and stuff, which pushed my giggle fit to new
heights. But the really funny part was that I was now bestowed the
honor of dressing up as the Wicked Witch of the West. When my
mother first produced the costume from my old closet, it wasn’t too
bad. Just a basic black dress with a black witch’s hat and a
broomstick. It was the green face paint, wiry wig, and prosthetic
wart that made me cringe.

“
You have to wear it,” my
mom said. “What’s a Wizard of Oz party without the Wicked
Witch?”

And now I stand here, behind one end of a
snack table, watching all the little kids line up as far away from
me as possible. I scare them and rightfully so.

I look around the community center teaming
with people. They really go all out for this event. There’s a DJ,
several trick-or-treating stations, a bounce house, face painting,
multiple games, and four refreshment tables. During a lull in the
snack activity, I ask my mom to take a picture of me with my phone
to send to Shel. She’s going to crack up.

“
This is priceless!” my mom
laughs when she looks at the picture. “Send it to me,
too.”

I shake my head and set to messaging when I
hear someone ask, “Would you like a picture of the both of
you?”

My head snaps up, and I meet the eyes of the
Scarecrow. Except it’s not just the Scarecrow. It’s Dane.

“
Sure, that would be nice.”
My mom smiles and steps to my side, putting her arm around my waist
to pose.

If my face wasn’t covered with green makeup
I’m positive it would be flaming red. My heart feels like it wants
to beat out of my chest. What is he doing here? He holds out his
hand for my phone, and I tentatively place it in his palm. His
gives me a tiny smile and holds the phone up to take the picture,
centering us on the screen.

“
Ready?” he
asks.

“
Yep,” my mom says, hugging
my waist. I do my best to force a smile and hear the audible click
as he presses the shutter.

My mother steps away from me. “Dane? Is that
you?”

“
Unfortunately.” He lets
out an embarrassed laugh. “How are you Mrs. Donohue?”

“
Great!” she says. Dane is
one of my mother’s favorite people, seeing as how he helped take
out Patrick when he attacked me last summer. She turns to me. “Did
you know he was going to be volunteering tonight?”

I shake my head. My mom isn’t aware that
Dane and I aren’t speaking.

She turns back to him. “I didn’t see your
name on the sign-up sheet.”

“
That’s because I’m filling
in for Teag –” He stops and his eyes dart to me. “For a friend’s
dad.”

I avoid his stare. A little boy dressed as
Batman comes to the table thirsty. I busy myself ladling him some
punch.

“
There you are!” a bubbly
voice says. I look up to find Dorothy, aka Teagan, approach us all
decked out in a blue gingham dress, ruby red slippers, and
pigtails. My stomach drops. It figures she would be dressed as
Dorothy and I her nemesis. “Connor, I told you to stay with the
group,” she says sweetly to the little boy. “Go stand over there to
play the game,” she directs him to a nearby beanbag toss. She
stands up straight, leans in to Dane, and smiles at my mother and
me. “Who are your friends?” she asks.

Dane clears his throat. “This is Mrs.
Donohue and…”

I don’t know what comes
over me, but I have the overwhelming urge to introduce myself to
Teagan. Maybe I just want to see Dane squirm, to make him pay for
lying to me. “I’m Emmmma,” I say as sickly sweet as I possibly can.
What’s that saying? Kill them with kindness? “You’re Teagan, right?
It’s so nice to
finally
meet you! You look great.” I nod, indicating her
costume.

Teagan narrows her eyes at me
infinitesimally. She keeps her smile plastered on her face, but I
can see her body tense. “Thank you!” she says, her response equally
as fake as mine. “How do you know Dane again?”

“
Hasn’t he mentioned me?” I
ask, wide-eyed. “We spent a lot of time together over the
summer.”

She tilts her head reflexively and her smile
wavers.

“
Working at the golf
course,” I lean forward and clarify.

“
Oh, that’s right!” She
looks up at Dane. “This is Matt’s friend; the one you sent the
furniture to.”

She knows about that?

“
The one you said couldn’t
afford to get herself anything new.” She fakes sympathy for me with
an exaggerated pout.

Did she just call me poor?

Dane speaks up. “No. I never said –”

“
You must be mistaken,” I
cut him off, feeling the need to set her straight. “The furniture
was a birthday gift.”

Teagan forces an obnoxious
laugh. “How silly of me! I must have forgotten.” She smiles, but
her eyes shoot daggers. “Now I remember you. Your picture on the
Bay Woods website doesn’t do you justice.” Her look is smug as her
eyes roam my body. “You look
so
much prettier in person.”

Really?! She wants to call
me poor
and
ugly?
It’s time to bring out the big guns. I maintain my sugary tone.
“And you look just like your picture in Dane’s apartment.” I look
directly at him. “You remember, right? I saw it the night you took
me to your place?”

I can feel Teagan’s eyes boring into me, and
Dane looks slightly pale. I must have a death wish, because I add,
“You know. The night you tried to kiss me for the first time?”

My eyes skip to Teagan, and she finally
loses the smile. Her jaw flexes, and she moves her right hand to
her left, noticeably playing with her engagement ring. Hmmm. I’ve
found a way to get under her skin. “I don’t remember it being there
after that, though,” I continue, feigning confusion. “But then
again, we didn’t spend much time in the living room.”

I can feel both Dane and my mother staring
at me in shock. Teagan’s snobbery has unleashed something inside of
me that I can’t control and, little do they know, there is so much
more that I could reveal.

“
Emma,” my mom politely
interrupts our tense conversation. “We really should get back
to…”

“
Yes,” Teagan releases me
from her death stare. “We should be getting back to the kids.” She
flashes my mom a smile and obnoxiously loops her arm through
Dane’s. “It was nice to meet you, Mrs. Donohue,” she says,
intentionally neglecting to tell me the same.

My mother nods although I can tell she’s not
impressed. I glance at Dane before he’s led away, and he looks
amused, almost like he approves – like he’s just seen the most
entertaining thing ever. It irritates the hell out of me.

“
That was quite the
performance,” my mom says after they’ve gone. “I didn’t know you
could be so dramatic. Care to let me in on what’s going
on?”

I sigh, finally relaxing my shoulders. “Dane
and I…we’re not friends anymore.”

“
Apparently.”

“
We got close…”

“
Hence the kissing?” She
raises her eyebrows at me.

I blush under my green skin. “Turns out he
was engaged the whole time. I just found out.”

“
Engaged? To that sassy
thing?” My mom blanches. She steps over to me and raises her hand.
“Give me five.”

I slap her hand. “For what?”

“
The way you handled that…”
she drifts off and wraps her arm around my shoulder. “That’s my
girl.”

After the party ends I head to the restroom
to change out of my costume, removing my wig and my wart, but
leaving the green face. It’s too complicated to remove with paper
towel; I’ll just deal with it when I get home. I pull on my comfy
jeans and sweatshirt then carefully pack the black dress and
accessories. Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I make my way to
find my mother and help with the clean-up. I find her standing
behind our snack station, studying her phone with a smirk.

“
What’s up?” I
ask.

She looks at me. “Are you missing
something?”

I frown. “I don’t think so.” I look behind
me to make sure I didn’t drop anything.

“
Your phone
perhaps?”

Awww, crap. I turn to her slowly. “Dane
still has it.”

She nods and hands her cell to me so I can
read the message.

Mrs. Donohue please ask Emma to meet me in
the parking lot. I have her phone. Thanks.

I pull out the best wounded puppy dog
expression I can muster. “Can you go get it for me?” I beg.

She laughs. “You know that only works on
your father.” She plucks the phone out of my hands. “You can do it.
Now go.”

My face twists. “You are the worst mother
ever,” I say dramatically, slamming my bag down on the table.

She smiles sweetly at me and starts to pack
up the cups we didn’t use. I sigh and start to make my way to the
front door, wishing I could just let him keep the damn thing. If I
didn’t have to pay to replace it and lose all my contacts and
pictures…

“
Emma?”

I turn. “What?”

“
You might want to take
that paint off your face.”

Ugh! I change direction and march back
toward the restroom.

“
I’m not such a terrible
mother now, am I?” my mom calls behind me.

I push open the bathroom
door and head for the paper towel. I yank a bunch from the
dispenser and run the towels under hot water. I start to wipe my
face, but the green makeup is dried on and giving me a hard time.
It takes several wipes in one spot just to see the skin underneath.
I abandon the paper towel for a moment, squirt some soap into my
hands, and rub my entire face. This turns my fingers green, too. At
home I applied the makeup with a sponge, so I didn’t have this
irritating problem! I move to grab some fresh towels, run them
under the hot water, and start wiping again. The soap helps, taking
off the majority of the paint, but not all of it. By the third wipe
down, my skin is starting to feel raw from the paper towel, yet my
face still carries a slight green hue.
Oh
well
, I think, and toss the towels in the
trash.
So you’re green. Get over
it.
I glance at my hair, which is still
pulled back from being tucked under the wig, and I remove the pins
and release my ponytail. I quickly run my fingers through it.
There. Maybe that will hide some of my pea green skin.

I make my way to the front doors of the
community center and step outside. It’s a busy place. The DJ loads
his equipment into a nearby van and several people pass me,
entering and exiting the building as they pack up and say good
night. I walk into the parking lot and frown. Where is Dane? My
eyes sweep from left to right. Did I take too long washing my
face?

I cross my arms against my chest. It’s cold
out here. I decide to head to my right and look down a few rows of
cars. Why does he have to make this difficult?

“
Hey.”

I spin around. Dane pushes himself off the
wall of the community center to walk toward me. He’s no longer
dressed as the Scarecrow. His straw hair hat and patchwork costume
are gone and have been replaced with a chocolate brown leather
jacket and dark denim. His complexion is clear of the stitch marks
that were drawn on his cheeks, and his nose is no longer a faux
black triangle. As he comes closer, I can see that his jaw is set
and his eyes burn. I must have pushed things too far earlier. Maybe
it’s a good thing I’m already green because my stomach has twisted
itself into knots.

“
You may have
single-handedly ruined my engagement,” he says.

I open my mouth to…what? Defend myself?
Apologize? Does he even deserve an apology?

He stops walking when our bodies are inches
apart. He stares down at me, and before I can utter a word he says,
“Thank you,” and lowers his lips to mine.

“
What are you doing?” I
push him away. “Are you insane?”

“
Not last I
checked.”

I step back and look around, half expecting
Teagan to appear out of nowhere. “Just give me my phone.”

“
Emma…”

“
I said give me my
phone!”

He plants his feet and crosses his arms.
“No.”