Speed Dating (12 page)

“Go get her,” Mads said.

Autumn tried to hurry past Lina, but Lina matched her step for step. “Say it: You made that whole story up. I know you did,
and you know you did. But I want to hear you say it.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Autumn said. “I didn’t write anything about you. I wrote about Peter and Tess. And
everything I wrote about Peter and Tess is true.”

“But there is no Peter and Tess,” Lina said.

“They’re pseudonyms,” Autumn said.

“I know that,” Lina said. “They’re pseudonyms for me and Walker. And everybody knows it.”

“Well, I’m using those names to talk about a different couple,” Autumn said.

“What different couple? Everyone thinks you’re writing about me!” Lina could barely contain her fury.

“That’s not my fault,” Autumn said. “It’s your own fault.”

“Just stop using those names,” Lina said.

“I can use any names I want to. And I have the right to put whatever I want on my blog. So what if I did make
it up? I’m allowed. And if everyone believes it, that just proves I’m a good writer. That’s what Erica Howard told me. She
loves Nuclear Autumn now. She said she’s addicted.”

“She must have an addictive personality,” Lina said. “She gets addicted to blogs pretty easily.”

“Whatev.”

“So you’re not going to stop?” Lina said.

“Are you kidding? My hits are through the roof.”

“Not even if it’s the right thing to do?”

Autumn rolled her eyes. “The right thing for you, maybe. The right thing for me is to have the hottest blog in school and
to win that internship. Bye!”

She disappeared into a classroom and shut the door behind her. The bell rang. It was time for class.

I’m not going to lose the internship to Autumn this way
Lina vowed.
And I won’t let her spread lies about me and ruin my life. There has to be a way to stop her. All I have to do is find a weak
point. And Autumn has plenty of those.

To:     hollygolitely

From: your daily horoscope

HERE IS TODAY’S HOROSCOPE: CAPRICORN: Your ideal love involves chocolates and a pounding heartbeat, so be sure to keep a defibrillator
on hand at all times.

I
don’t know what it is about him,” Holly said to Sebastiano one afternoon at Vineland. She was recounting her date with Eli,
trying to understand why she’d enjoyed it so much. Maybe talking it out would help.

“I think I know what it is,” Sebastiano said. “Could it be those big, anime eyes? Or that wiry but strong build? I know some
girls really lose it over that type. Or the
whole sensitive, mysterious enigma trip?”

“I guess,” Holly said. “It’s the way he holds back. He doesn’t seem out of control the way most boys do. I probably shouldn’t
like him so much. He seems like he’s hiding something, and his family sounds completely bonkers. You know his mother’s maid
tried to stab her with her own diamond-covered stiletto heel? So now she’s hooked on painkillers.”

“What kind? Can he get you some?”

“Stop it.”

Sebastiano laughed. “He told you that? That can’t be true.”

“Why not? Weird things happen all the time.”

“Yeah, but that’s too crazy,” Sebastiano said. “It does sound kind of familiar, though. Where could I have heard that story
before?”

“On the news, maybe?” Holly said. She herself didn’t remember any news stories like that, but she didn’t always follow the
news. And it probably happened a long time ago. “Or in the paper?”

“Maybe,” Sebastiano said. “But I don’t think so. You know, when you first told me about that whole ‘3:17’ bit, I thought I’d
heard it before, too.”

“You just like to think you know everything,” Holly said.

“I
do
know everything.”

“But you don’t know where you heard all this stuff before,” Holly said.

“I know it,” Sebastiano said. “It’s buried somewhere in my memory. It will pop up eventually.”

“I’m sure it will.”

“You could do a little snooping around,” Sebastiano said. “You might dig up something that would jog my memory.”

“I don’t want to spy on him again,” Holly said.

“You said yourself you think he’s hiding something.”

“I know, but I felt weird about that last time,” Holly said. “If he’s going to be my soul mate, I should trust him, shouldn’t
I?”

“That sounds like something somebody would say. So when are you seeing him again?”

“Tonight,” Holly said.

“Ooh, the school night date. Very risqué.”

“I did most of my homework in study hall today. We’re going to see a play.
Scream: The Musical.”

“Sounds icky. Have fun. I’ll let you know if I remember anything juicy.”

“Sorry about the play,” Eli said. They sat in his car outside the Carlton Bay Playhouse.
Scream: The Musical
had been
much more screaming than musical.

“That’s okay,” Holly said. “I kind of knew what to expect. I saw the last play they put on here. My friend Mads was in it.
Her mother wrote it.”

“Was it good?”

Holly didn’t want to badmouth Mads or her mother, but Mads herself would have said the play sucked. Holly saw a middle ground
and lunged for it. “Let’s just say it was good preparation for tonight. It didn’t have the blood and gore, and yet, there
were casualties.”

Eli put his key in the ignition. “So what do you want to do now? Are you hungry?”

“Let’s hit Harvey’s Carry-out and get some fries,” Holly said.

“Good idea. We can sit at a picnic table and eat by the glow of the big neon milk shake.” Harvey’s was covered with neon, and
its logo was a giant yellow milk shake cup with a peppermint-striped straw.

Eli tossed his wallet on the dashboard and started the car. Holly reached for the wallet.

“What are you doing?” Eli asked.

“I just wanted to look at your driver’s license,” Holly said.

Eli snatched the wallet away and stuffed it in his jacket pocket. “You can’t just open up somebody’s wallet like
that. Anyway, it’s a terrible picture. I’d hate for it to get lodged in your mind. I look like a monkey.”

“I’m sorry.” They were quiet for the rest of the ride to Harvey’s. Holly’s cheeks burned with embarrassment. She felt as if
she’d just been yelled at by a teacher. On the other hand, how terrible could his picture be? She tried to imagine his face
merged with a monkey’s. It came out looking like Chim Chim, the pet monkey on
Speed Racer.
Maybe Sebastiano had a point about that anime thing.

They pulled up at Harvey’s and got out. They ordered fries and shakes and sat on a picnic table to wait for their order to
be ready. An SUV full of kids pulled up. Holly noticed a Griffith Academy sticker on the back windshield.

Four guys and a girl piled out of the SUV. “Eli!” one boy said. “What you up to tonight, dude?”

“Just marinating,” Eli said. “This is Holly. Holly, this is Wes, Jake, Little Jake, Jesse, and Val.”

“Hi,” Holly said. The Griffith kids said hi and stared at her curiously.
This is good,
Holly thought. A
chance to meet his friends and find out a little more about him. He can’t be much of a mystery to the kids he goes to school
with every day.

“We just came from the new
Force Field
flick,” Wes said. “It rocked.”

“Don’t listen to him,” Val said. “It was so stupid.”

“Order up!” the girl called from the pickup window.

Eli jumped up. “That’s our stuff.” He went to the window to get the food, then carried it to his car. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

“Wait,” Wes said. “We’ll order and you can hang with us. We’re going to hit the Roadhouse and see if anybody good’s playing.”

“That sounds like fun,” Holly said.

“We can’t, though,” Eli said. “Holly’s got a curfew. Very strict parents. School night and everything.” He opened the passenger
door for Holly and gestured for her to get in. She did, taking the food on her lap. He hurried to the driver’s side, got in,
and started the car.

“Nice to meet you, Holly,” Val said.

Eli waved to his friends and pulled out.

“I thought we were going to eat by the glow of the neon milk shake,” Holly said.

“The place was crawling with mosquitoes,” Eli said. “You didn’t feel them?”

“No,” Holly said. “It’s a little early in the year for mosquitoes.”
There weren’t any mosquitoes,
Holly thought.
It was his friends. Does he not want me to talk to them for some reason? Is he ashamed of me? Or of them?

Or was he afraid they’d reveal something to her—something he didn’t want her to know? Like maybe another girl? That could
be it: He had a girlfriend at Griffith, and
he was cheating on her with Holly! Or cheating on Holly with her! She had no proof, but it was the most logical explanation.

He pulled off at the same scenic overlook they’d stopped at before. It was beautiful, the clouds blowing across the sky, brushing
past the moon. They nibbled French fries and sucked on their shakes.

“I didn’t mean to run away like that,” Eli said at last. “It’s just… my friends can be such jerks. I wanted a romantic night
with you, and it would be impossible with them around, shooting spitballs at us or whatever.”

Holly wanted to get to know his friends, because she was curious about him. But when he explained it this way, she understood.

“The moon’s nicer than a neon milk shake, anyway,” she said.

Eli set his drink aside and took her face in both hands. She was caught putting a fry into her mouth. It was now stuck in
limbo between her teeth. Eli bit off the end.

“Holly,” he whispered. “Do you know what you’ve done to me?”

“What I’ve done to you?” Holly asked.

“To my heart,” Eli said. “And my head. And my soul.”

Oh. “I wasn’t trying to hurt them, if that’s what you mean,” Holly said.

“You haven’t hurt them, not yet. And I hope you never will. But you’ve made them grow. You’ve made them sing. My heart beats
like a mariachi, pumping its rhythms all through the rest of me. I’m hooked on you, Holly. I need you the way diabetics need
injections of insulin. If I can’t see you, I can’t live. My life is in your hands.”

Holly’s French fry sat chewed in her mouth, unswallowed. She couldn’t move her throat. She was surprised by his words. She
let them sink in, and they acted like sugar, boosting her energy and making her glow.

“Don’t worry, you can see me,” she said. “I’m happy to see you anytime.”

She quickly swallowed, afraid he was going to kiss her. She didn’t want him to get a mouthful of potato.

Still holding her face in his hands, he gently kissed her. She closed her eyes. She could feel the moonlight on her face as
if it had heat like the sun. But she knew it didn’t. The heat must have come from some other source.

He lifted his lips off of hers and pressed them to her forehead. Then he held her close. He smelled like cinnamon and cloves.
It made her think of her grandfather’s pipe tobacco. He smelled so good, she nuzzled her face in his neck. They held each
other this way for a long time. When he dropped her off at home an hour later, he gave her that one sweet kiss again, and
said good night.

“No, I’m sorry,” Mads said. “I’ve got to know more. Something’s weird about this guy. You’ve got to find out what he’s hiding.”

Holly had invited Mads and Lina over for lunch on Saturday afternoon. They were rehashing Holly’s last Eli date. Mads and
Lina were both stuck on the mysterious parts, like why he wouldn’t let her look inside his wallet, and why he was so anxious
to get away from his friends. For Holly, those things lingered in the back of her mind, but the kissing, and his smell, stayed
up front.

“Why don’t we go drive by his house?” Lina said. “Just to see what it looks like. You haven’t seen it yet, have you?”

“No,” Holly said.

“Aren’t you curious?”

“I am,” Mads said. “Maybe we could get a look at his mother’s stiletto wounds. So gruesome, yet glamorous.”

“I don’t know where he lives,” Holly said.

“We’ll look him up in the phone book.” Lina took the phone book from the top of the refrigerator and started flipping through
it. “His last name is Collins?”

Holly nodded. “But look, there are four other Collinses in town. And his family’s rich. They’re probably unlisted.”

Mads pointed to a listing for Collins, Eli, 620 Blue Hill Road. “Maybe that’s Eli, Sr. Is Eli a junior?”

“I don’t know,” Holly said. “I guess he could be. And Blue Hill Road isn’t far from Griffith.”

“We’ll drive by,” Lina said. “If you see his car in the driveway, you’ll know it’s the right house.”

“Come on, let’s do it,” Mads said. “You went spying with Sebastiano last week. It’s our turn now.”

“Okay, why not,” Holly said. “But if he’s outside and sees us, I’m going to duck.”

“But you’ll be driving,” Lina said.

“Spying is dangerous work,” Holly said.

“We’ll take our chances,” Mads said.

They drove downtown. Turning north and away from the bay, they found Blue Hill Road. The first houses were large old Victorians,
built when the town was founded. As they drove away from the center of town the street became more modern, with split levels
and ranch houses from the 1940s, ‘50s, and ‘60s, fewer trees, more lawn.