NorthangerAlibiInterior (5 page)

Once I chose the perfect skirt and top, I headed into the bathroom and primped and curled and beautified myself to perfection. By the time my sister crawled out of bed, I was already downstairs eating a bowl of Grape-Nuts in the kitchen with Roger.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” I said after Cassidy groggily acknowledged my presence. “Did you have good dreams?”

“Don’t even get me started about the crazy vampire dreams I had last night.” She pulled a bowl out of the cupboard and plunked it on the counter.

Roger looked surprised. “Vampires, huh?” he asked around a crunchy mouthful of cereal. “Is that what girls dream about these days?”

“Only certain bloodthirsty-type girls,” Cassidy answered, throwing me a withered look.

“Yep.” I grinned back. “Cass is about as bloodthirsty as they come.”

“Really?” Roger’s eyes got wide. “I’ll go see how Darlene’s getting along, okay?” He glanced at my sister. “We’re going to leave in about thirty minutes.”

Cassidy gave me a look before she smiled sweetly at Roger. “Don’t worry, I’ll be ready. I’ve just got to put on my makeup and get dressed, and I’m good to go.”

I could just see the wheels turning in Roger’s head as he imagined her showing up at church all Goth. He nodded once, then got out of the kitchen fast.

“The poor guy—I think you scared him,” she said as soon as he was out of earshot. “Now he thinks I’m some vampire lover.”

I smirked as I put my bowl in the sink. “You sure you don’t want to be? I could ask Tony if he’s got a cousin.”

“Funny,” she murmured as she stepped up to the counter and filled her bowl with cereal. “So, do you still plan on proving to me that Tony’s a vampire?”

“Yep.” I crossed my arms and leaned against the sink. “How much do you want to bet I’m right?”

“I don’t make stupid bets,” she answered smugly as she poured the milk. “Besides, I don’t need to bet. I know I’m right.”

“Fine. How about, if I find out Tony’s a vampire—”

“He’s not.”

“If I find out he is, then you’ve got to tell Mom and Dad you’re going with Ethan.”

“What?” She nearly spilled her cereal as she walked over to the kitchen stool.

“Ooh! Are you worried?” I smiled.

“No.” She set the bowl down. “Whatever. Then, when you find out I’m right—”

“Which you’re not.”

“When you find out I’m right, you’re going to kiss him.”

I gasped. I was glad my bowl was already in the sink, or it would’ve shattered on the floor when I dropped it. “Are you serious?”

“Worried?” Cassidy smiled around her spoon.

I grinned back. “Bring it on!”

May the Best Man.....no GIRL, Win!

Tony wasn’t at church. His mom said it was because he was sick—which Cassidy was quick to rub in—but I was positive they were just saying that to make his ploy look good.

So, I was bummed, more than I should’ve been. I hadn’t realized quite how excited I was to see him again, or how much my day would be affected when he wasn’t there.
Maybe it’s love? Hmm.
I didn’t know. I wasn’t sure how you were supposed to feel when you were in love. But my heart did beat like crazy every time someone mentioned his name—which wasn’t enough, in my opinion.

I spent most of the service craning my neck to look behind me. I admit it. It drove Cassidy nuts, too. My mom would’ve probably given me the evil eye, but nobody else seemed to mind. Part of me hoped that once Tony was all alone in the house, he would get bored and tired of pretending to be sick, and he would come to church anyway. If he was a true vampire, he’d be able to run here so fast, no one could see him.

Oh my gosh! Maybe that’s it! Maybe he’s already here watching me, like when Edward was watching Bella in the woods.
I spun around and sat up straighter, my eyes alert.

“What are you doing?” Cassidy whispered. “Will you pay attention to the sermon, please?”

Now that I thought about it, I
did
feel someone watching me.
“Hey, look around. Do you see Tony somewhere?” Just in time, I remembered to whisper.

From the way my sister looked at me, I thought she was going to have a cow. “What? Why would I see Tony?” she asked.

I picked up the hymnal and covered my mouth with it. “Because I feel like someone’s watching me.”

“Well, duh! You’re acting like such a dork, fidgeting around like that, you’ve probably got the whole congregation watching you.”

Yeah, right.
I rolled my eyes and banged the hymnal shut. Everyone turned around and looked at me.
Dang.

“I’m gonna die of embarrassment right now,” Cassidy muttered as she scooted farther away from me on the bench. “Could you be a bigger spaz?”

I slid down next to her and raised the hymnal again. “You know what? I don’t care what you think,” I whispered.

“Claire. Tony Russo is ill, okay? He did not fly with his super bat powers—”

“Run.”

“Whatever! He’s not here. Okay? And he’s definitely
not
watching you.”

“How do you know?”

Sometimes Cassidy can make the weirdest gestures, like she’s having a seizure or something. Really, I’m not kidding. Downright scary, especially at church, with everyone watching.

She glared at me. “I. Can’t. Believe. I’m. Having. This. Conversation.”

“Why?”

She whipped her head around and stared at me. “Are you okay? How close did you get to Tony yesterday, anyway?”

Huh?

She put her hand up to my head. “Hmm. You don’t feel feverish.”

I swatted her away. “Stop it. Of course I’m not sick. Don’t you have any imagination at all?”

“Imagina—!”

“Ahem!” Roger interrupted.

We both looked up. Everyone was standing, getting ready to sing.
Ack!
I fumbled with the hymnal, and Cassidy and I scrambled to our feet as quickly as possible. Under the beginning notes of the organ, I explained, “It’s obvious he’s trying to fake being sick so I won’t know he’s a vampire.”

“Save me, please.” She raised her eyes to the vaulted ceiling as everyone began to sing the first verse. “Somebody save me.”

“Very funny,” I said as I found my place and joined the singing.

“Only you would think so, Claire.”

I decided to ignore her for the rest of the meeting. After all, why bother with someone who’s just trying to set me up to fail? It was obvious she didn’t want to lose the bet.

***

Three days later, I still hadn’t seen Tony again. Roger had started his classes, and Darlene spent most of her days reading blogs and e-mails and keeping up with her online friends. Cassidy and I were basically left to our own devices, and considering the fact that she was still bugging me, it made it very hard being around her. I wasn’t bored, exactly—staying in Seattle sure beat staying home. I just wished there was something I could do! Even if Cassidy and I were on friendlier terms, neither of us knew the neighborhood well enough to go very far anyway.

So there we were, twiddling our thumbs for the third day in a row, when thankfully, the doorbell rang. It was Nora. She was alone, but hey, I wasn’t complaining.

“I came by to see if you two wanted to go the mall or something.”

“Yes!” I beamed like a total idiot. “I love malls. Hold on, let me ask Cass. She’s upstairs reading.”

“Okay.”

“You’re welcome to come in and say hi to Darlene,” I offered.

“Sure.” Nora smiled as she walked through the door.

“She’s in the kitchen. I’ll be right down,” I hollered behind me as I dashed up the stairs. “Cass! Cassidy!” I nearly took the door down in my excitement.

She looked up from reading
Twilight.
I had practically forced her to read the book, figuring that would help me win the bet about Tony. Plus, there was the added fact that it was only the greatest book ever written. And since there wasn’t anything else to do, Cassidy had reluctantly agreed. “Yeah?” she said. “What happened?”

For a minute I forgot all about Nora. “Where are you?” I walked over and looked at the page number—54.
Holy cow. This is right where it starts to get really good.

“Um, I don’t know. Let me see . . . she almost cried cuz it seemed like her dad loved her.” I noticed Cassidy had her finger saving her spot in the book.

Hee hee hee. She
is
getting into it. She doesn’t want to lose her place.

“Was there something you needed?” she asked.

Oh.
“Nora came to see if we wanted to go to the mall with her today.”

“Uh, the mall?” Cassidy looked torn. She loved the mall. She glanced down at the book, then shook her head. “No, I’d rather just take a break today. You go on without me, and I promise to take a rain check, okay?”

You want to take a break? From what, lying around? Welcome to
Twilight,
the most addicting book on the planet.
“Okay, whatever. I’ll see ya later.”
Enjoy falling for Edward
.
I walked over to the door and waved, but she was already reading the book again.

When I made it downstairs, I overheard Darlene talking to Nora.

“Now, take this money. I want you and the girls to go watch a movie and get something to eat, okay?”

I walked into the kitchen as Nora asked, “Are you sure?”

“You don’t have to do that,” I offered, trying to be polite.

Darlene waved me away. “Yes, I do. You girls have been cooped up here long enough. Now get out and enjoy yourselves. It’s my treat.”

“Thanks!” Nora and I looked at each other and smiled. “Oh.” I turned to Darlene. “But Cassidy isn’t coming. She’s reading
Twilight
for the first time.”

Darlene chuckled. “That’s a good book. I love that one. And so addictive.”

My jaw dropped. “You’ve read
Twilight
?”
Wow. She’s cooler than I thought.

“
Of course I have.” Darlene looked shocked that I would even question the statement. “I’ve read all the Meyer books. The Host is my favorite—but boy, that Carlisle is dreamy.”

I grinned. I couldn’t help it. “You’ve got a thing for Carlisle? Edward’s dad?”
She’s so funny.

“Of course I do. He’s a doctor. I’ve always had a thing for doctors,” Darlene said with a wink.

“Yikes! Don’t tell my dad.” Nora giggled. “He’s a doctor.”

“Don’t remind me,” Darlene teased. “It’s a good thing he’s taken.”

Nora burst out laughing. “Wow. You’re awesome.”

Darlene chuckled. “Do you know when you’ll be back?”

Nora looked over at me, but I shrugged. “Do you think eight is too late?” she asked Darlene.

“Eight? Sure. Sounds fine to me. You’ve got your cell phone, right, Claire?”

“Yep. It’s in my pocket.” I patted the back of my jeans for good measure.

“Great. Well, then, you girls get out of here and have a good time.” She shuffled us out of the kitchen and into the living room. Opening the front door, she said, “Oh, and don’t forget to call if you need anything, okay?”

“Thanks,” I replied just before she shut the door behind us.

“Wow, Darlene is totally cool.” Nora smiled, walking toward the driver’s side of a gold Dodge Crossover.

“Speaking of cool, where did you get this car?” I let my hand trail lightly across the hood. “Is it yours?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you kidding me? You have your own car?” I nearly choked. Our family had two cars. If I wanted to drive, I usually got stuck with my mom’s minivan.

“Well, actually, it’s mine and Tony’s. My parents aren’t
that
nice. We have to share.”