Infinite (Strange and Beautiful, Book 1) (26 page)

I
spent the afternoon reading until I realized I should probably take a shower
and put on some decent clothes. As comfortable as my pale yellow cotton pajama
bottoms and thin black camisole were, I didn’t think they’d be considered
appropriate bowling apparel. Not to mention, it wasn’t exactly warm and cozy
outdoors.

Instead
I chose to wear my new “worn and torn” dark wash jeans that Mom hadn’t exactly
been thrilled over.

“It
seems a bit ridiculous to buy jeans that are already worn out,” she complained.

“It
takes the work out of getting them ready to wear,” I countered.

Mom
had relented once I tried them on, though. They really were comfortable and fit
like a dream. By some miracle, they actually made me look like I had a butt.

I
also wore my new aquamarine tank top with a brown cotton hooded v-neck pullover
over it. It felt soft and warm, and I would have got one in every color if Mom
hadn’t limited me to just one. Tegan got a pink one, and we decided we’d trade
whenever we wanted to wear a different color.

After
my shower, I dressed and did my hair and make-up. I decided to brave eyeliner
and managed to apply it without any disasters. My hair dried as flat as a
pancake, as usual, so I just pulled it back into a ponytail. I went back into
my room and took out my new black low-top Converse Chuck Taylor’s and started
to lace them up. I hadn’t worn them yet because I’d been wearing my other new
shoes—blue and white ADIDAS originals—since I got them. I hated breaking in new
shoes, but I thought the chucks would be okay since I’d be changing into
bowling shoes soon anyway.

As
I was finishing with my shoes, Skylar let herself into the room. The only
people around the house that seemed to know how to knock were Dad and Luke.
Although I kind of thought that with them it was more out of not wanting to
walk in on someone undressing than any actual respect for privacy. I was
grateful either way.

Skylar
and Mom didn’t seem to care. They’d just barge in whenever they felt like it.
Sometimes I thought about just locking the door for the heck of it and seeing
what would happen when they couldn’t get in. The mental image of Skylar
slamming her face into the door when it didn’t open as she expected always
brought a smile to my face.

“Tegan
called while you were in the shower,” she said, leaning against my dresser.

“Am
I supposed to call her back?”

“No,
she was just calling to say they’d be by to pick you up at seven thirty, but I
told her they didn’t need to.”

Frowning,
I asked, “Why did you do that?”

“Because
I’m going to drive you.”

Because
Skylar hardly ever did anything out of the goodness of her heart, my guard
immediately went up. “Why?” I asked cautiously.

She
shrugged. “I’m going with you. Thought I’d save them from having to stop by.”

I
stared at her with wide eyes for several beats. My heart seemed to drop into my
stomach. I was beginning to wonder if my heart was ever allowed to just stay in
my chest. It was in my head yesterday. My stomach today. Where would it end up
tomorrow?

“Excuse
me,” I said, shaking my head. I was convinced I’d misunderstood somehow.
“You’re what?”

This
time she smiled as she repeated, “I’m going with you.”

After
the initial shock wore off, the confusion set in. “What do you mean you’re
going?” I asked. “How do you even know where I’m going? And who invited you?”

“Yesterday
in art class Jackson mentioned he was going bowling with you and some other
people,” Skylar replied. “Since there’s a bunch of people going, I thought it
was an open invitation.”

I
stared at Skylar for at least a minute trying to process her words. I couldn’t
for the life of me figure out why she would want to go. She didn’t like
bowling. She also didn’t want anyone to know I was her sister, yet she was
going to go into the bowling alley
with me.
It simply didn’t add up.

“You’ll
be seen out in public with me,” I commented.

“So?”

It
was official. Aliens had abducted my sister and replaced her with a look alike.
That was all I could come up with because Skylar would never hang out with me
at her own free will. Then it hit me. Skylar would never hang out with me
unless she had an ulterior motive.

During
the ride to the bowling alley, I was on guard as I tried to figure out what
Skylar’s angle was (and also annoyed as she puffed on her stinky cigarette),
but it wasn’t until we were inside Suburban Lanes that her motives became
blatantly obvious.

I
spotted Tegan as soon as we stepped inside. Trying to ignore Skylar’s presence,
I walked straight over to Tegan.

“Hey,”
she greeted with a smile when she saw me, but then her brows furrowed at
something she saw behind me. “What’s she doing here?”

Without
looking, I knew she was talking about Skylar. “She invited herself along,” I
replied, crossing my arms over my chest. I turned and looked over my shoulder,
watching as Skylar talked with Tierney and Jesse and a few other people. “Have
you seen Jackson?” I asked.

“Not
here yet,” Tegan replied. Then she motioned for me to follow her. “Come on.
Let’s get our shoes.”

Disappointed
that Jackson hadn’t arrived yet and annoyed with Skylar’s honing in on my
evening, I sighed drearily but followed Tegan. Once we got our shoes and put
them on, we went to join the others.

“Hey,
Sil,” Tierney greeted as soon as she saw me. She gave me a hug, squeezing me
extra hard, and I wondered if Tegan had told her about what happened yesterday.
I couldn’t decide how I felt about that thought, but the hug was nice.

Then
she introduced me to her boyfriend. “Silly, this is Jesse Millet,” she said.
“And, Jess, this is Silly Granger.”

Obviously,
I recognized Jesse from Tierney’s previous days (or years) of crushing on him,
and I’d seen him picking Tierney up for a date at her house once, but we’d
never been formally introduced until then.

“So
you’re the one that puked on my mom’s plant,” Jesse laughed. His eyes, the color
of coffee with just a hint of cream, glittered with amusement, but his smile
was kind and his laughter was infectious.

“Oh,
god,” I groaned, turning red. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s
cool. No harm done,” Jesse said, holding up his hands as if to calm my embarrassment.
“My mom hated that plant anyway.”

“Well,
I guess that’s a relief,” I said, sheepishly, as Tegan nudged me in the side.
She nodded her head behind me, and I turned to see that Jackson had just walked
in through the double doors at the entrance. I stood up to wave to him, but
Skylar beat me to it.

“Jackson!
Over here,” she smiled and waved.

It
was in that moment I hated Skylar and her perfect pearly white smile more than
I ever had in the past. How did she keep her teeth so white anyway? I thought
smoking turned them yellow.

“I
guess we know why she’s here now,” I whispered to Tegan as I sunk back in my
seat.

Jackson
waved, acknowledging Skylar’s yell, and walked over to the group.

“Hey,”
he said to everyone before he sunk into the empty seat beside me. “Ready to bow
to the king?” he grinned as his eyes met mine.

I
smiled, my distress momentarily alleviated, but that didn’t last long. Before I
could give him some clever reply, Skylar took the seat on Jackson’s other side
and asked, “Want to be on my team, Jackson?”

“Uh,”
Jackson glanced around for a moment. “Sure. You, me, Sil, and Tegan?” he
suggested, looking between us.

Tegan
nodded, and I shrugged. I was happy Jackson and I would still be on a team, but
it was hard not to show my disappointment that Skylar would also be on our
team. 

Jackson
looked to Jesse, who said, “Tierney and I will team up with Garrett and Mandy.”

He
motioned to the other two people, standing off to the side. We hadn’t yet been
introduced, but I remembered Tierney mentioning Jesse’s best friend, Garrett,
in the past, so I guessed this was him.

He
and Mandy, who I guessed was Garrett’s girlfriend, seemed pretty wrapped up in
each other. It wasn’t until Jesse shouted Garrett’s name that he even seemed to
realize that the rest of us were there. His pale eyes widened and he smiled
sheepishly before pulling the willowy redhead over to the rest of us. 

Introductions
were made quickly; mostly for Tegan’s and my benefit, it seemed. Aside from
Skylar and us, I thought the others were all in the same year.

I
wondered briefly why Tierney’s best friend, Lynna, wasn’t there, but I figured
she was probably either working or had other plans. I didn’t mind by any means.
I didn’t know her much better than Jesse and his friends anyway.

With
teams agreed upon, we all split up either to get shoes or find a bowling ball.

I
watched Skylar talking to Jackson across the room from where Tegan and I were
trying to find a ball. They were in line to get shoes, and she was using her
flirty smile. She was also wearing a very low cut top, showing off her ample
cleavage.

“Why
didn’t she just come naked?” I muttered bitterly.

“Silly,
don’t pay any attention to her,” Tegan said. She picked up a ball to test its
weight and made a face. “Too heavy.”

I
tried one, and it was also too heavy. “Yeah, because you know how easy Skylar
is to ignore.”

“Listen,”
Tegan sighed, “she’s not worth getting upset over. Let’s just have fun.” I was
about to argue that my sister’s presence usually made any situation where she
was involved anything but fun for me, but Tegan added, “At least we’re on
Jackson’s team. And, mind you, that’s because he asked us to be.”

She
did have a point there. I just nodded and lifted another ball, testing its
weight. It seemed good and my fingers fit into the holes. I decided it would
work and helped Tegan find one for herself.

Once
she found one, we went back to our lanes. We put our balls on the round
thingamajig, where the ball would come out after we took our turns, and sat
down to wait. It looked like everyone had his or her shoes, and they were now
looking for a ball.

After
a minute or so, Jackson came back. He added his ball to the round
thingamajig—he later informed me that it was called a Ball Return—before he sat
down beside me. “So, ready to kick ass?”

“Sure,”
I smiled, nudging him in the side with my elbow. “Just remember that you’re the
one leading us to victory.”

“I
won’t forget,” he grinned just as Skylar called his name. Jackson and I both
turned to see her motioning him over to where she was standing near one of the
ball stands.

Jackson’s
brows went up and then creased. He turned back to me and murmured, “I’ll be
right back.”

I
watched him stand and walk over to Skylar before I turned to look at Tegan, who
had obviously been watching and listening. “I guess someone forgot to tell
Jackson to ignore Skylar.”

“Come
on,” Tegan said. “The only balls Skylar knows how to handle are a part of the
male anatomy. Of course she needs help finding a
bowling
ball.”

I
knew Tegan meant well and was probably quite accurate, but I was having trouble
locating my sense of humor. Skylar was over in the far corner, no doubt,
flirting with Jackson. I knew he was a nice guy, so I wasn’t sure what he could
say even if he wasn’t into it—and I couldn’t tell from where I was seated, but
I couldn’t help but feel her ball handling talents were more an asset than an
insult in this situation.

I
was glad when everyone returned to our lanes, and we could start the game.
Skylar and Jackson took the same seats as before, but Tierney, Jesse, Mandy and
Garrett sat in the next booth, but in the seats mirroring ours, so that we
could still talk to—okay, mostly razz—each other.

Tegan
went first. Then I went, and Jackson came after me with Skylar going last. The
only joy I got out of the whole game was that Skylar was horrible at bowling.
Her ball wound up in the gutter more often than not. I wasn’t a great bowler,
but I managed to knock down more pins than my sister.

Jackson
was a fierce bowler and hadn’t been exaggerating his skills. He was also in it
to win, even if we weren’t playing for anything more than bragging rights.
Unfortunately, because of his competitiveness, Skylar’s inability to bowl
seemed to gain even more of Jackson’s attention. He had to go and try to help
her often, showing her what she was doing wrong and talking her through each
step. By her third time up, I suspected she was being horrible on purpose.

By
the time it was over, I’d never been so happy for a game to end. Jackson had
kept his promise and led us to victory. Instead of starting the next game right
away, we decided to take a break.

“You
guys need time to recuperate,” Jackson teased.

“Yeah,
yeah, I’ll kick your ass yet, Hart,” Jesse muttered, but it was good-natured.

“Let’s
go play pool,” Garrett suggested to Jesse and Jackson.

“Yeah,
let’s see how smug you are after I hand you your ass,” Jesse grinned.

Jackson
shrugged, looking unconcerned. “We’ll see about that.”

While
the guys went to the pool tables near the arcade, Tierney suggested, “Why don’t
we order a pizza?”

She
seemed somewhat unsure of herself, and I suspected it was because she wasn’t
used to hanging out with either Skylar or Mandy. I could feel her pain.

“Sure,”
Mandy agreed easily. “Just no peppers or anything icky like that.”

“Ditto,”
I called. “Especially no onions.”

Tierney
rolled her eyes. “Yes, Silly, I wouldn’t dare,” she laughed.

“Good,”
I grinned. It felt nice to banter with Tierney while Skylar looked somewhat out
of her element. She may have hijacked my plans, but I remembered that I was the
one who had actually been invited to this outing.