As Autumn Leaves (6 page)

Kayla leaned in too, and their foreheads nearly touched. “Yeah,” she agreed, smiling softly, “we are.”

“I HAVE
a plan,” Althea said one morning, dropping into step beside Kayla in the hall on the way to English. “Also, hello.”

“Hi,” Kayla said with a laugh. “What’s your plan?”

“It’s more an idea. For our project. A location to shoot at, if everyone agrees to a change.”

In their allotted time in class, the four of them tried to come up with a location to film. Some of their ideas were shot down by either Mr. March or their parents, like an abandoned lot or building, which they considered trespassing or too dangerous. The group wanted to go for atmosphere, but to find a haunted place in their urban setting was more difficult than they’d imagined. The best they had was Hannah’s big backyard, but it didn’t have enough of an impact. They might have to resort to some random alleyway in the business district.

To avoid running into a cluster of students walking in the opposite direction, Kayla sidestepped out of the way but ended up bumping into Althea. Althea’s hand settled on the small of her back to steady her, and an unexpected chill coursed through Kayla’s body. It surprised her, because that wasn’t the norm for her. Althea didn’t seem to notice anything amiss, like Kayla being confused and momentarily breathless, and her hand dropped away naturally.

She tried to focus on their conversation. “What’s the location?”

Smile wide and open, Althea happily answered. “I talked to my dad about it. His idea, actually. If you’re free next Sunday, he’ll drive us to the Johnston Resort!”

“Oh! Wow, that place is beautiful,” Kayla said. “I’ve been a few times to the beach. Is it even open this time of year?” Popular and bustling with tourists during the summer, it was off-season and they might not be able to go.

“We looked it up online,” Althea said. “Some cabins are available for rent, but all the hiking trails are open to the public. I bet all the trees and stuff look gorgeous. Changing leaves, or maybe already bare.”

“I bet they do!”

“It would be cooler if we could go in the evening when it’s darker, but my dad doesn’t think they’re open too late, and it probably wouldn’t film well without the daylight. Plus, it’s a couple hours away and he doesn’t want us to be on the freeway after dark. And he insists that he and Darnell come so they can hang out for a few hours and make an afternoon of it, but he said he’ll make sure to leave us alone.”

Their path to the classroom came to an end, but there were some people milling around outside. Unusual for them all to get there before Mr. March, Althea and Kayla stood back at the edge of the crowd while they waited. Kayla didn’t see their friends yet.

“Here’s the thing,” Kayla said, resuming their conversation. “The resort isn’t exactly… urban. Contemporary.”

“No,” Althea agreed. “We might have to change the concept a little bit. With shorts of you dancing along the paths at the resort, it’ll look like your dancing through a forest when I splice the recordings together, so it’s more… country rustic? I think we could make it work.”

“That’s an idea,” Kayla said, mulling it over. “I think we could too. It’s not like we’d have to change the music. I wouldn’t have to change the dance routine either. It’s just the setting.”

“And I could get some cool outside shots,” Althea said, sounding excited by the idea. “Plants dying with the change of season, wind rustling leaves, stuff like that. Even of the lake. Oh, and Chantelle has a fire pit in her backyard, I could take some close-ups of flames or burning leaves or something. I mean, there’s a lot we can work with in nature that will make it more Halloween-y, like Mr. March wants.”

“We could carve a pumpkin into a smiling jack-o’-lantern. And then show a frame with a frowning jack-o’-lantern. And then have a shot of it smashing to the ground!”

Althea laughed loudly. “That’s perfect!”

Kayla started to giggle, but was cut off with a call from down the hall. She recognized the voice as Jason’s without having to look over.

“Well, well, well,” he said in a drawl. “What do we have here? The dyke jock princess and her new Ice Queen?”

The guys around him laughed and a couple girls giggled. Althea took a step away from Kayla, and she felt the loss of their easy conversation with the way she threw up her guard. Kayla didn’t like to get into it with that group of kids—it would only make matters worse—but suddenly angry, she was ready to fire back at Jason.

She didn’t have to. Mr. March appeared at the right moment.

“Excuse me, Jason,” Mr. March said harshly from behind the group. Jason turned around in surprise at being caught. “You know the school policy on such language.”

“I didn’t say anything,” Jason said. He pulled an innocent face.

Mr. March wasn’t buying it. “I heard exactly what you said, and this school has a zero-tolerance policy. Detention after school.”

“I have practice—”

“I’ll inform your coach as to why you will be late,” Mr. March said. He made his way around the students and to the classroom door to open it.

With Mr. March’s back turned, Jason made a face. He muttered softly, but not softly enough, as he said, “Damn fag.”

There were gasps in the crowd, and Kayla’s eyes went wide. She wondered if Mr. March would ignore this, like he did when Jason muttered in his classroom, but he pulled up straight and turned around. Kayla had never seen him look so angry.

“Office. Now.”

“But—”

“Now!”

Jason finally seemed to realize the severity of the situation, his face paling considerably. He grimaced nervously, but turned down the hallway as Mr. March went into the classroom and used the intercom to let the head office know of Jason’s arrival.

“Come on,” Kayla said, grabbing Althea by the elbow and pulling her to the classroom. Althea seemed stunned that Kayla touched her, but quickly followed.

“I’m sorry,” Althea said as they went through the door.

“You didn’t do anything,” Kayla said. As she spoke, Mr. March glanced at them. Kayla didn’t want him to draw any more attention to her and Althea, but she smiled as they walked by him. He didn’t respond, and she was grateful he didn’t, but she swore he gave a small wink. It strengthened Kayla’s resolve that there was nothing wrong with being Althea’s friend, and she wasn’t going to let Althea think it either.

Chantelle and Hannah arrived a few minutes late to class, handing a note to Mr. March. “Sorry. This is from our music teacher,” Hannah said. “Got caught up talking to her about our project.”

“Take a seat, ladies,” Mr. March said. “Speaking of projects, we’re going to go through the latest set of questions for
Frankenstein
, then you’ll have a few minutes at the end of class to get together with your groups to catch up on progress.”

Kayla grinned as Chantelle and Hannah slipped into their seats and Althea whispered, “We have the best idea to tell you!”

She could swear Mr. March smiled as he turned back to the whiteboard.

“HONEY, ARE
you here?”

“In my room, Mom,” Kayla called. She pulled a sweater on over the unitard and tights she wore for dance class, and shoved her green flowing skirt into her backpack. She’d have to remember to ask her classmates if they had a black one she could borrow. It would go better with the film project than the brightly colored ones she owned. If not, then a trip to the secondhand store would have to be made. There wouldn’t be a problem finding some sort of black, flowing skirt there.

After dumping her belongings near the door, she went into the kitchen to grab a quick bite to eat before leaving. She put some soup to heat in the microwave, and her mother came into the kitchen.

“Hey, not staying for dinner,” Kayla said. “I want to get to class early. Miss Desharnais said she’d be happy to take a few minutes and help me with a routine for the project. Or at least give me a few ideas.”

“You have the music ready?”

“Yes, Chantelle and Hannah recorded it the other night, with help from Ernie who lent them part of his drum kit to do the beating heart part. We had permission from Mr. March for that bit of help. Apparently it took way longer than they expected—they thought, like, an hour, but it took four. Then Chantelle needed a couple days to find time to edit it, but she sent me the file yesterday and I’ve been listening to it any chance I get. It’s pretty awesome!”

“That’s good, honey.” She sounded unusually flat and reserved, the conversation unlike the usual bubbly after-school ones they had.

Kayla gave her an odd look. “Mom, what’s up?”

She crossed her arms and frowned, the usual foreshadow of an impending lecture that Kayla couldn’t help but sigh in frustration. “Oh, no. I don’t have time to get yelled at tonight.”

“You’re not getting yelled at,” her mom said, shaking her head. “What makes you think you are?”

Kayla waved her hand absently. “You have your I’m-Going-To-Yell-At-You look.”

“I’m not. But I do have some questions.”

“No, I’m not rejoining cheerleading.” The microwave dinged, and Kayla got a spoon and carefully removed the soup bowl.

“It’s not about that.” She followed Kayla to the dining room table.

“Wow,” Kayla said. “Then I have no idea what’s going on.”

“Neither do I. What is going on between you and that Ritter girl?”

“Excuse me?” She tried to remain nonchalant, and blew on the soup to cool it off before putting the spoon in her mouth. When her mother struggled with her next words, Kayla went ahead. “Let me guess. Hearing more rumors at boosters?”

“Perhaps. I heard your ex-boyfriend Jason has a three-day in-school suspension.”

Kayla snorted. “Not long enough.” She had more soup. “He’s an idiot. He used homophobic language toward a teacher.”

“And to you and that Ritter girl.”

“Althea, Mom. Her name is Althea. And not that Althea girl, either.”

“All right, I’m sorry. Althea. She lives in this building, doesn’t she? I think I’ve seen her around.”

“Yes, with her dad and her brother. I think her mom passed away a couple years ago, but she doesn’t talk about it much.”

Her mother looked sympathetic for a moment, but her face steeled in a way that meant she wasn’t about to be deterred from the topic at hand. “And she’s….”

“What, Mom? In my grade? A fantastic volleyball player? My class project partner? The answer is yes to all of the above.”

“Do not take that tone with me. I’m only trying to find out some information here.”

“Then ask it!”

“Is she a lesbian?”

After the outburst, the silence hung heavy between them. Kayla promised Althea she would keep her mouth shut, and while she hated lying to her mother, sidestepping the topic was probably the right course of action.

Besides, the concerned looked on her mother’s face made anger on Althea’s behalf flare in Kayla’s stomach. And it caused worry and doubt to cross her mind too.

“If she was, it would be no business of yours,” Kayla said snippily.

“It is if she’s corrupting my daughter—”

“Oh my God!” Kayla said, throwing her hands up in the air in disgust. “Do you hear yourself? I can’t believe you said that, I can’t! I dated a dickbag teenage boy and you should’ve been worried then, but I become friends with a nice girl my age, and you’re worried about corruption? Seriously?”

Her mom looked vaguely guilty. “I didn’t mean it like—”

“I’m not hungry,” Kayla said, pushing the bowl of soup away. “I need to get going anyway.”

“I’m not done here!”

“Well, I am.” Kayla got up from the table. “What does the sexual orientation of the people I’m friends with matter anyway?”

“So you’re friends? Just friends?”

Kayla turned on her heel to face her mother again. Her face burned like it was on fire, but she couldn’t stop the next words from tumbling from her mouth. “Mom. I don’t like touching my own private parts, what makes you think I’m going to touch hers?”

“Kayla Margaret Caruso!”

Hysterical laughter bubbled in Kayla’s throat, threatening to spill so she slapped her hand over her mouth. It didn’t stop her, and she hunched over in laughter.

“Mom! Your face!”

“I can’t believe you said that.” She sounded baffled by what had happened. Kayla looked at her, and burst out laughing again. Kayla was a little bit too, because she couldn’t believe it. It’d been the closest she’d ever come to admitting she was… who she was. As good as it felt to say it out loud, she also wanted to throw up and run away and not face any impending disappointment.

“Mom, I have to get to class,” Kayla finally said, standing straight. “And Althea and I are friends. That’s all.”

“If you say so.”

“I do say so. I….” Kayla paused, worry taking over the hysteria. “Would it matter if I was—not what you expected?”

Kayla’s worry must’ve shown on her face, because her mother’s softer reaction was instant. “Oh, honey, no. I’m so sorry. My comments about Althea were… not appropriate. Not at all.” She stood and pulled Kayla into a hug, squeezing tight. “I’m worried because you’re not talking to me about something. And I need you to know you can come to me about anything, all right?”

Kayla nodded into her mother’s shoulder, but the words she should have said snuck away to hide again. Instead, she said, “There are probably videos on the Internet for this.”

“Daughters saying inappropriately sexual things? I’m sure there are.”

Kayla pulled away, and brushed away an unexpected tear. “Mom, I think it was the exact opposite of sexual.”

“Okay, I don’t know if I can take any more of this conversation.” She laughed and patted Kayla’s cheek. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. Are you?”

“I—yes. I’m sorry if I seemed… unsupportive.”

“You are
the
most supportive mom,” Kayla said. Overbearing and off the mark sometimes, maybe, but Kayla loved her mom. However, she needed some space. It was too much to handle right now. “I need to go.”

“Go, go.” Her mom shooed her away. “Have a good class, honey.”

“I will, thanks,” Kayla said. She grabbed a granola bar and an apple to take with her in case her hunger came back, and picked up her backpack from by the door. She was thankful to leave and ready to dance the confusion away.