The Crushes (15 page)

Rule 34:
Do not get depressed and listen to sad love songs if your crush does not notice you!

Raven’s decision to act distant toward Blake was working well. Maybe
too
well.

She grabbed a wet cloth and came out from behind the counter at Scrappe. Blake and Mil-D were there sitting on the two pumpkin-colored chairs near the front window. Blake had said no more than two words to Raven since he came in and it was starting to drive her nuts.

Was he playing games with her now? Served her right. She had, after all, used the Crush Code on him, which really, in its truest form, was a game. Especially when one of the rules specifically said to
act distant but interested.

Cloth in hand, Raven went over to the round café tables and started washing them, hoping she wasn’t too obvious.

Had she done something to piss Blake off? Why was he ignoring her?

With every table she washed, she got closer to the front windows and closer to Blake. He had his cell open, texting someone.

“Andrea wants us to come out to Vegas,” he told Mil-D. “She’s having her birthday party at PURE.”

“Dude,” Mil-D shook his head, “that ain’t our scene. I don’t know.”

Yes, good thought, Mil-D. Keep Blake away from those scary Hollywood starlets who hop cities just to celebrate their birthdays.

Was that the kind of girl Blake liked? Because if that was the case, he was way out of Raven’s league. She couldn’t compete with Hollywood girls with their pearly white veneers and bleached blond hair and stick-thin figures.

Not that she needed to compete with them anyway. She didn’t like Blake like that.

Blake flipped his phone closed and took a sip from his frappé. “Who cares where it’s at? Andrea always throws the best parties.”

Mil-D shrugged. “All right. Whatever you want.”

When Blake looked over at her, Raven suddenly realized she’d stopped washing the tables and was now staring at him. She went ill with embarrassment and disappeared in the back room before she did something really stupid.

At home later that night, Raven put on one of the quieter, more angsty songs by the alternative band, Gray Door.
She was in no mood for peppy, upbeat songs. Most of all Kay-J’s songs were poppy tracks, no matter how badly Horace wanted her to learn the lyrics.

“But you’ve thought about the contest, right?” he asked, twirling in half circles in her computer chair.

“Yes, I’ve thought about it.” She flopped back on the bed and spread out. She knew she was being dramatic, but she didn’t care.

Horace stopped twirling. “Have you talked to your mom yet?”

Raven rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right. She’d never let me go.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. I probably shouldn’t even go.”

“No. You need to go.”

She sat up. “Why? Why do you want me to do this so badly?”

He sighed, scrubbing his face with his hands. “I’ve already told you.”

“Yeah and you’ve never been one to think the band was pointless or a dead end. I mean, seriously. What is going on?”

He shook his head. “It’s nothing, okay?” He got up and came over to kiss her. “I just want to see you succeed. Is that so bad?”

“Well…no.” She grabbed her throw pillow and picked at the fuzz sticking to the fleece material. “I guess I can probably get to the city without my mom finding out.”

Horace thought about it before answering. “I hate to see you lie to your mom, but once you win that contest, she
can’t really say much about it. And you’ll only be there one day.”

She nodded. “Now I just need to figure out how I’m getting there without her noticing I’m gone.”

Horace kissed her forehead. “We’ll figure it out, okay?”

“Okay.”

“I gotta go. But I’ll see you tomorrow. Think about practicing those Kay-J tracks.”

“I will.”

He waved to her before leaving, and she begrudgingly turned on her iPod to the first Kay-J track.

Rule 29:
Do not write your crush an anonymous Email or letter, because he might think someone else sent it!

“Just tell him already,” Adam said, holding up his padded hands for Kelly to punch.

Kelly unleashed a right hook and then a double left. Kickboxing was good for venting frustration.

“Just call him up and say, ‘Hey, Drew, I’m in love with you, too.’ It’s really not that hard.”

Kelly pushed forward with a wild right hook. “Yes, it is hard because he’s going out with my best friend!” She landed another right and then bent over, resting her gloves on her knees. Her breath came fast, sweat rolling down her temples.

Why? Why? Why?

Why her? Why Drew? It was like the Fates had conspired against her. Or maybe it was her own idiotic fault for not telling Drew how she really felt three years ago before he started going out with Sydney.

If she had, maybe it would be her with Drew right now, not Sydney. Maybe they’d be planning their senior years together, trying to decide which college to go to together.

“You all right?” Adam asked, ripping apart the Velcro on his pads. He tossed them to the side. They thudded against the wall, the sound echoing through the room.

Kelly straightened and wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her arm. “You really think I should tell him how I feel?”

Adam nodded. “He deserves that much. He came out and told you what he was feeling and you practically hung up on the poor guy.”

Kelly winced. She had done that, hadn’t she? That was seven days ago now. Drew hadn’t called her since. He also hadn’t made one single appearance at the house. Todd even commented on how Drew had flaked on him Tuesday night. Apparently, a new video game had come out, and they were supposed to check it out together.

Drew must hate her. He must think of her as a huge jerk.

“I should call him,” she mused, holding out her hands so Adam could remove the boxing gloves.

“You should talk to him in person, though.”

Kelly paled, picturing it in her head. How was she supposed to tell Drew she loved him straight to his face without stuttering or passing out or something else equally embarrassing?

Adam was right about one thing, she needed to be honest with Drew because he’d been honest with her.
Unfortunately, so much time had passed since his phone call that Kelly worried he wouldn’t want to see her now.

She had to get him to her without him
knowing
it was her.

An hour later at home, she plopped down at her desk and the Crush Code caught her eye. She flipped through the printed pages. Anonymous Email, she thought. That was blatantly breaking one of the rules, but it was all she had. Plus, the whole point of sending an anonymous Email was so Drew
would
think she was someone else. She was afraid a meeting with her would scare him away if he knew ahead of time.

She logged into an email account she’d set up forever ago so she could surf a fashion message board. Her name wouldn’t come up on the email anywhere because she’d set it up using the name Trisha Keller.

Drew,
she typed,
meet me at Eagle Park at the fountain at ten. We need to talk.

She clicked the
SEND
button before she changed her mind.

Drew’s computer dinged with a new email message alert. Sydney set her book aside on his bed and got up. She poked her head down the hall and heard the rushing of the showerhead coming from the bathroom.

She opened the email program and checked the new message.

Trisha Keller? Who was that?

Drew, meet me at Eagle Park at the fountain at ten. We need to talk.

There was no name, no nothing. But whoever Trisha was, she obviously knew Birch Falls if she knew Eagle Park. Was this a secret meeting? Was Drew seeing someone else behind Sydney’s back? Her stomach knotted into a mixture of emotions: anger, betrayal, curiosity. Curiosity because Drew wasn’t an outgoing person. How would he meet a girl, someone who didn’t even go to their school?

It just didn’t make sense.

Sydney deleted the Email, shut the program down, and went back to her book. She was going to find out what was going on.

“I’m going to the store,” Sydney called through the house. “Anyone need anything?”

Drew and his mom were at the kitchen table playing an intense game of chess. Sydney had hung out at the house all day because her house was too quiet and gloomy.

“No,” Drew said, barely looking up from the chessboard.

“I’m fine,” his mom said, her game face on. A headband held back her long, black bangs. She’d tied the rest of her hair into a loose knot.

When those two got into a game, the rest of the world was a haze they paid little attention to. And they’d probably be playing for another hour. It was plenty of time for Sydney to sneak off to the park, find out who’d
Emailed Drew, and get back home before he realized she was gone.

Plus, Drew had been downright irritable lately. The game of chess would do him some good.

Sydney’s watch said it was just after nine forty-five. The sky was pale with the impending darkness. Sydney turned on the headlights once she got inside her SUV.

A men’s baseball game was playing over on the first ball diamond at Eagle Park. Cars lined the front parking lot. Sydney found an open spot farther down and got out. She hurried over to the fountain with fifteen minutes to spare.

It was darker over here without the lights from the baseball game. Sydney found a good hiding spot behind a large chestnut tree.

The wait seemed to spread out into an hour. Her heart beat at the back of her throat, her knees felt weak.

What if Drew really was cheating on her? Maybe that’s why he’d been in such a bad mood lately. He didn’t love Sydney, he wanted someone else, and he didn’t know how to break up with her a second time.

A darkened figure cut through the trees. The gurgling of the fountain quieted the footsteps. Sydney held her breath.

The person walked into a sliver of moonlight slicing through the thick canopy of trees.

It was Kelly.

Sydney took in a breath, clenched her jaw, and stalked out from her hiding spot.

“Why were you meeting Drew?” she said.

Kelly’s eyes grew wide, her mouth dropped open. “I…uh…”

“And why did you send an Email as Trisha something-or-other?”

Kelly raked her teeth over her bottom lip. “It’s…well…Drew and I were meeting because we’re worried about you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, I mean…” Kelly shifted her gaze to the mossy forest floor. “You’ve been distant lately. He’s noticed it and I noticed it and we were trying to come up with a way to cheer you up.”

Hands on her hips, Sydney steeled her spine. “What, were you planning an intervention?”

“No! No way. We’re just worried is all. You know, with your mom…”

The tension in Sydney’s shoulders slipped away. She wasn’t sure if she should be angry or relieved. Drew wasn’t cheating on her with some girl named Trisha. He was just worried about her.

She’d wanted to kick him in the groin when she found out he was supposed to meet a girl in the park. And why had she automatically assumed he was cheating on her? Maybe because she didn’t trust people in general anymore. She blamed that on her mother.

How could you have faith in other people when your own parent promised to be there for you and instead took off for another country?

Sydney leaned over and set her elbows on her knees, put her face in her hands.

Kelly hesitantly sat next to her and crossed one leg over the other. “Are you okay?”

Sydney sighed and shook her head. She was just so tired—tired of her life spiraling down the drain. Why couldn’t things work out for her? Why couldn’t her mother come back and bring the family together?

“Do you want to talk about it?” Kelly asked.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Sydney answered. “My mother left us, and I don’t think she’s coming back. There’s nothing else to say about it.”

The sounds of the baseball crowd cheering filtered through the trees, reaching the girls in the darkness. Sydney straightened, dragging her fingers through the fountain water behind her.

“I’m sure it’ll get better,” Kelly said, “eventually.”

Sydney stood, dried her fingers on her black yoga pants. She didn’t want a pep talk, she didn’t want anything. “Don’t tell Drew about this, please?”

“Of course.” Kelly got up, too, and tugged on the hem of her tunic top.

“Thanks.” Sydney barely managed a wave as she hurried from the park.

Rule 28:
Do not spend more than two months trying to find out if your crush likes you!

Being grounded sucked.

Alexia flipped through the TV channels for the third time, knowing the search was futile. It was the middle of summer; the only thing on right now was reality TV.

Getting up, she went to her bedroom and grabbed her notebook. The Crush Code had been on her mind the last few days, and she’d wanted to go over the rules again.

Kelly and Adam were hanging out, from what Alexia heard, but they weren’t
together
-together, which meant something with the Code wasn’t working right.

Alexia had wondered a few weeks ago if perhaps they were missing a few rules. And like any work of creativity, the true work came through revising.

Alexia called her friends and asked them to come over. Thank god, her parents hadn’t grounded her from them.

Kelly was the first to arrive. It looked like she’d been hanging out around the house, too. She wore a pair of red
terry-cloth shorts with a number nine printed on the thigh and a white halter top. Her arms and legs looked tanner, so maybe she’d been lying out in the sun.

“So what’s up?” Kelly asked as she breezed past Alexia, her strawberry-blond ponytail swinging behind her.

“I wanted to talk about the Crush Code.”

Both girls headed for the kitchen, and Kelly took a seat at the breakfast nook, folding her arms over the glossy cedar table. She rolled her eyes before digging her cell from her bag.

“We aren’t adding more rules, are we?”

Alexia leaned back against the kitchen island. “Well, I thought about it. I really want to help you get Adam.”

Kelly clicked through a few things on her phone and then slipped it into her bag. “We’re not right for each other.”

The front door opened. Alexia looked down the short hall and saw Raven and Sydney. Raven looked stunning as usual. She was in a jean skirt, a black vintage Ferrari T-shirt, and black boots that reached her calves. Her hair flowed around her shoulders in loose waves. Her eyes were hidden behind chunky white sunglasses.

Sydney usually looked pristine, but today she wore a simple white T-shirt and bleached blue jeans. And…

Alexia pointed at Sydney’s feet. “You’re wearing flip-flops?”

“That’s what I said.” Raven plopped down across the table from Kelly. “Sydney has gone over the deep end.”

“Who cares what kind of shoes I wear?” Sydney said, shoving her hands inside her jeans pockets.

“That’s just it,” Alexia said. “
You
usually care what kind of shoes you wear.”

Kelly nodded. “Yeah, I specifically remember you saying you wouldn’t wear flip-flops if they were the last pair of shoes on earth.”

Sydney took a seat on one of the barstools at the island. “Can we not discuss my footwear please?”

Alexia grabbed her notebook and sat down at the table, leaving Sydney alone at the island. “So,” she began, flipping to her handwritten notes, “I was thinking maybe we’d add a few more rules to help Kelly out.”

“Oh, and I needed to be here for it?” Raven said. “I mean, it’s not like the rules are for me anyway, right?”

Alexia took in a breath. Apparently Raven was still mad about the accusations Alexia had made about Blake. Well, that was just fine, Raven would get over it eventually.

Alexia uncapped her pen and without looking over at Raven said, “When we made the Code, you said you were going to follow it so you
didn’t
develop a crush. These new rules might benefit you, too.”

“I’m really not sure if we need more rules,” Kelly said.

Sydney sauntered over from the barstool and plopped down next to Raven. “We can still add the rules, can’t we? And then if Kelly decides she doesn’t need them, fine.”

“What about you?” Alexia asked Sydney. “Are you still using it for your relationship with Drew?”

Sydney shrugged. “I’m taking a Code break right now.”

“Oh,” Alexia said, wishing Sydney would explain more.

“All right.” Kelly sighed. “What are the new rules?”

Alexia read the rules out loud without interruption.

“Rule 39:
Do not be indecisive. Once you make up your mind stick to it.

“Rule 40:
Do not be needy, clingy, or possessive!

“Rule 41:
Do not crush on a boy who has a girlfriend!”

When Alexia glanced up from her notebook, she noticed Kelly looked three shades lighter than she had when she arrived at the house.

“What’s wrong, Kel?”

She swallowed, gave a diminutive shake of her head. “Nothing.”

Raven fished her cell from her pocket as it went off. She read the text message and said, “I gotta go. Lexy, why don’t you Email me the new rules.” She paused, seemed to consider what she should say next. “Unless, of course, you think I will use them on someone else.”

“What’s up with her?” Sydney said when the front door slammed shut.

“I made her mad,” Alexia replied.

“How?”

Honestly, Alexia was kind of embarrassed that she’d accused Raven so blatantly of cheating on Horace. It might have been a bit inconsiderate on her part, and she didn’t want to admit it to her other friends.

“It was nothing, really,” she said and moved on to another subject. “So, how’s work at the hospital going?”

“Fine,” Sydney said.

“Just fine?” Alexia leaned forward. “Have you met any hot guys?”

Sydney grabbed the saltshaker from the middle of the table and spun it between her fingers. “No. No one.”

“I was there the other day with my brother.” Alexia sat back against the padded chair. “And there was this one guy with long black hair and glasses. Who’s he? He reminded me of Drew. Except with long hair.”

Sydney stood up. “Speaking of work, I have to go home and get ready. I have to be in soon. I’ll talk to you guys later.” She threw an afterthought of a wave over her shoulder before leaving.

Alexia looked at Kelly. She was on her cell again, punching in a text message. She’d been aloof since she got to Alexia’s. Kelly used to get that way whenever she had a fight with Will, her ex-boyfriend. Boy troubles always made her quiet.

“So how is it
really
going with Adam?”

Kelly glanced up. “Like I said, I don’t think we’re meant for each other.”

“Yeah, but if you just use the rules—”

“I don’t want to use the rules on Adam.” She blinked and looked away. “I just…”

“What?”

She got up and slung her bag over her shoulder. “I just wish you’d stop trying to fix my love life, Lexy. I mean…” She threw up her hands and shook her head. “I just can’t right now.”

She disappeared from the kitchen, and a few seconds later, shut the front door behind her.

Alexia watched through the kitchen window as Kelly pulled her car out of the driveway.

What was going on with her friends? Suddenly, they felt further apart than they’d ever been, and The Crush Code was supposed to make them feel closer.

Or at least that’s what she’d told herself. The Breakup Code had brought them back together; she just automatically assumed The Crush Code would do the same.

Had she been wrong? Had the Code somehow gone awry?

Her whole life felt awry right now, because of losing It and Ben leaving soon. She tried not to think too hard on the latter. He was leaving—going to another state—in just three and a half weeks.

Her chest ached thinking of it. It didn’t help that she was grounded and the time she had left to spend with Ben was quickly dwindling.

A tension headache bloomed behind her eyes. She set her head down on the tabletop and tried to breathe in deeply. This was supposed to be The Summer. So far it’d been a summer of hell and how was she supposed to enjoy her upcoming senior year when her boyfriend was leaving?