The Heartbreakers (9 page)

Rule 19:
If you see your girl's Ex, you must never mention it to her.

Kelly used to love Wednesdays. She and Will worked as volunteers at Birch Falls Animal Shelter. Kelly not only loved the animals but also the location. The shelter was on the edge of town on a quiet dirt road. It was just so peaceful out there, even if there were ten dogs barking in the background.

And, even more, she had fun working beside Will for a few hours every week. He was great with the animals. He'd been great with her, too.

At least she thought they'd been great, but they couldn't have been
that
great if he wasn't ready to make it an official, exclusive relationship.

This Wednesday, however, with the breakup fresh in her mind and silence continuing between her and Will, Kelly was dreading the end of the school day and her shift at the shelter. Would Will be a no-show?

As much as she hoped for it as she stuffed her books in her locker and grabbed her bag, she knew that Will wouldn't
skip out on volunteer work even if his mother was in the hospital. He was so focused and determined. The work at the shelter was going to look good on his college application, and he wouldn't sacrifice that for anything.

Maybe she should be a no-show. College was just a misty dream, somewhere far off in the future. And it wasn't like she needed a Harvard degree in order to be a journalist for
Seventeen
or one of the other teen mags. She just needed creativity and energy, and she had plenty of both. The education could come from any journalism program. If the teachers were good, why did it matter what the school's name was or how much the tuition cost?

Alexia sidled up next to Kelly at her locker. Her red hair hung around her shoulders in natural waves. Kelly wished she had Alexia's hair. Kelly's straight hair wouldn't hold a curl even with an entire bottle of hair spray. And it was the color of a washed-out gourd.

“Walk me out to the parking lot?” Alexia asked.

“Sure.”

Alexia zipped up her coat as they walked down the hallway. “So, uh, I saw Will today in the library.”

“Alexia!” Kelly shouted, pulling a few stares her way.

Alexia looked alarmed. “What?”

“Rule nineteen? If you see your girl's Ex, don't mention it to her?”

Alexia scrunched up her nose. “Oh, right. Sorry.”

Jeez! And she was the one who came up with The Code in the first place!

They pushed open the exit doors together and hit the cold outdoors. Instantly, Kelly shivered and pulled the hood up on her coat. “So, what was he doing in the library?” She did have a right to ask, didn't she? Besides, Alexia brought it up.

“He came in to see his brother in the computer lab.”

“Oh.” Well, at least he wasn't with a girl. Wait, was he? “Was Brittany with him?”

Alexia shook her head. “He was alone.”

Well, good. At least he wasn't moving right past Kelly and on to another girl. Even if he had dated other girls during their sort-of relationship, she knew without a doubt he spent the most time with her. They were together every Friday night and most Saturdays. And there were Wednesday nights at the shelter, too.

Was he even sad they weren't, like, together now? Did he miss her yet? God, she missed him. She wouldn't admit to it out loud, but she did. She'd almost looked for him at lunch. They used to sit together. And right now, she was itching to call him on her cell to see what he was doing. Or if he was on his way yet to the shelter.

At her car, Kelly pulled out her keys and said bye to Alexia. She sat behind the wheel for a few minutes silently debating her options. She could skip out on the shelter. Or she could go and be an adult about all of this. The shelter needed the help. They'd have to work harder to make up for her absence and that wasn't fair.

With a sigh, she left the school parking lot and headed for the shelter.

When Kelly pulled into the shelter parking lot, the first car she noticed was Will's two-door black BMW.

Kelly glanced at her watch. She still had five minutes before she was supposed to show up. She could still leave if
she wanted. Make a fast getaway before the tension ruined her day.

But no. She had a responsibility to the animals and the shelter; she couldn't bail because of a boy.

Locking the car up, she went inside and instantly the smell of animals hit her. The dog food and cat dander and dirty dog hair. Morris, the head animal control officer, smiled as she walked in, his chubby cheeks growing plumper with the expression.

“Good afternoon, Kelly,” he said, tipping his black hat her way. Morris was a man in his forties who loved dogs and reptiles. He was Birch Fall's reptile guy, not that there was a huge reptile population, which always made Kelly wonder why he studied reptiles in the first place.

She was more of a dog person herself. Especially the little ones. She was trying to talk her mother into buying a Boston terrier, but so far she'd been unsuccessful.

“Hi, Morris,” she said as she came around the counter and headed down the hall to the bathroom. She changed into her work clothes: a pair of Gap yoga pants and a gray long-sleeved shirt that was quickly fading to eggshell. They were work clothes but
cute
work clothes.

After depositing her bag in the hall closet, she opened the holding door between the front lobby and the kennel room where the dogs were. Will was there, crouched over, cleaning the gutters with a hose. The dogs barked at each other or maybe at Kelly.

Will didn't look up to greet her.

The longer she stood there and watched him, the quicker her heart beat in her chest. Suddenly, her tongue felt like it weighed ten pounds. Speaking of pounds…she hadn't
run on the treadmill that morning. She glanced down at her midsection to check for any signs of a belly roll. She tugged uncomfortably on her shirt, pulling it away from her hips.

Mental note: Run on the treadmill!

Kelly swallowed and sucked in a breath. “Hey,” she finally said. There, that sounded casual.

Will stopped spraying and looked over his shoulder. “Hi.” He straightened. “How come I haven't heard from you?”

Kelly fidgeted with her watch. He still had no clue? Maybe she should be honest with him. If he heard her concerns, maybe he'd realize how serious she was about an exclusive relationship, and he'd realize he really liked her and dump Brittany.

Internally, Kelly snorted.
Highly
doubtful.

“Will,” she began, when an adult dog started yelping outside.

Will rushed through the exit door and to the outdoor kennels. Kelly followed closely behind him. The German shepherd that arrived yesterday had its paw stuck in the chain-link fence. Will carefully freed the dog, then, “I should take him for a walk. He probably hasn't been out for a while.” His breath puffed out white. Already his pale cheeks were getting pink from the cold.

They went back inside and Will slipped into his coat. “Will you finish the gutters?” he asked as he grabbed a blue rope leash from one of the hooks.

Kelly wrapped her arms around herself. “Yeah, sure.”

“Oh, and scoop the kennels?”

It was his week to scoop the kennels but she said, “Yeah,” anyway. Will thanked her and left. When the door shut, she leaned against the wall and rubbed her forehead. She'd
probably broken several rules just then. Wasn't there a rule against talking to The Ex?

Probably.

She went up front. “Hey, Morris?”

Morris set his book down. “Problem with the dogs?”

“No, they're fine. I just wanted to talk to you.”

He swiveled his chair around to face her and propped one leg up on the other knee. His large ring of keys jingled at his side. “What's up?”

“I need different hours, like, immediately.”

“Something come up?”

She nodded emphatically. More like,
someone
. “It's personal.”

“All right. How about Sundays? I'm short for the visiting hours.”

“That sounds awesome, thanks.”

She felt better now that it was settled. No more Will meant no more stress. Or at least she hoped so.

After slipping on her fleece gloves, Kelly started up the car in the shelter parking lot. She turned the heat on full blast, shivering at first as cold air hit her, but she was of the opinion that turning the heat on high made it warm up faster.

Usually time at the shelter flew by, but tonight it had dragged. There was a lot to do—dogs to walk, kennels to clean, cats to feed—but with Will on the periphery, Kelly couldn't focus. It certainly didn't help that he kept talking to her.

“When are we going to hang out again?”

“What are you doing tonight?”

“Did you get Jacobs for English?”

Answers: Never. Nothing. No.

For some reason, she couldn't get any of that out, though. It was like her brain didn't work right around Will. Probably because he sucked up all the hot air in the room.

She'd wanted to say, “Hey, Will, you're a sucky friend and I don't want to waste any more time with you.” But, if she were being honest, that wasn't completely how she felt. He was a sucky friend, but she so
did
want to hang out with him, which was really the problem in the first place. He didn't want a relationship and she did. But he wasn't getting a relationship for free anymore. He wanted all the perks without the commitment. No way was she settling for that. No matter how much she liked him.

Before backing out of the parking space, Kelly called Alexia to see what everyone was doing.

Alexia picked up quickly.

“You busy?” Kelly asked. “I'm done at the shelter and I don't want to go home. My mom was making steak and potatoes tonight for my brother, and I hate steak.”

Through the phone, Kelly could hear Alexia chomp on something before she answered. “There's a
Falcon Beach
marathon on tonight. Want to come over and watch it with me?”

“Would I ever. I'll be there in about ten minutes.”

Alexia's mom answered the door when Kelly knocked. She was an older woman in her late forties and had passed her fiery red hair on to Alexia. Dr. Bass wore hers short, layered around her chin, while Alexia's was long and wavy. Both mother
and daughter had the same tiny, perfectly straight nose and light dusting of freckles.

“Well, hello, Kelly!” Dr. Bass said. “I haven't seen you in a while.”

Kelly's face heated up. Dr. Bass was right; after all, Kelly had been too busy with Will to give Alexia the time she deserved. Why was it, when a girl got a boyfriend the rest of the world faded away? Love sure was blind. And dumb.

“Yeah, I was…finishing up some projects,” she lied.

A blender started up in the kitchen and Dr. Bass rolled her eyes. “My husband is trying to make a wheatgrass shake,” she said. “I better go check up on him before I have it on my ceiling. Alexia's in the living room.”

“Thanks.”

Kelly found Alexia on the couch with a bag of Goldfish crackers in her lap, although, right now, she looked more involved with the hot guy on the screen than the fish in her hand.

“Hey,” Kelly said, plopping down on the couch. The smell of Febreeze wafted up from the throw pillows. She reached over for the cracker bag and pulled out a handful. “Wow,” she added, finally looking at the guy on the screen. He was blond and had an extremely nice body. A lot nicer than Will's. Will didn't really have a body. He counted his calories and exercised, but he didn't tone enough. His stomach was decidedly flat. But his twin brother, Ben…oh, boy, he had one rocking body. Kelly had seen him shirtless plenty of times while she was hanging out with Will at their house.

Ben was definitely eye candy.

“That's Jason,” Alexia said, nodding at the TV. “He's the hottie of Falcon Beach.”

Kelly raked her teeth over her bottom lip. “I'll say.”

When a commercial came on, Alexia finally turned to Kelly, and popped the cracker into her mouth. “So, how was the shelter?”

Kelly sighed and pursed her lips. She was about to say she didn't feel like talking about it because it was too depressing, but then everything tumbled out. “I probably broke like a bamillion rules by talking to him. I just wish I could get over him already.”

“Well, stop breaking rules and you should,” Alexia suggested. “That's what The Code is for, after all.”

Kelly licked cracker salt from her fingers. “Easy for you to say.” Then, feeling like a total whiner, she changed the subject. Besides, if she talked about Will any longer she was liable to start crying again or get depressed enough to put herself in a chocolate coma. “So, how was your day? Have any cute guys in your classes?” She waggled her eyebrows.

Alexia shrugged and stole back the Goldfish bag. “Not really.”

Except—Kelly was pretty sure Alexia was lying. Her cheeks were bright red—she always got red in the face when she was lying or avoiding something and her freckles seemed to change to this mossy green. Weird, right? But, as much as Kelly liked to dish about guys and crushes, she knew Alexia wasn't open with that kind of stuff. And prying it out of her would be über cruel.

Rule 13:
You must never sleep with The Ex
.

Rule 17
: Do not keep in touch with The Ex's parents, sister, brother, or cousins or anyone related to The Ex's family.

“Oh, I've been meaning to ask you,” Raven's mom began as she spread her special lasagna sauce in a glass baking dish, “did you get into that precalculus class we were talking about?”

It had been a full week since Raven started her new classes. She was surprised her mother hadn't checked on her new schedule as soon as Raven got home from school on Monday. It was probably because Ms. Valenti was constantly working now that she owned Scrappe. The store was like a godsend to Raven. Scrapbooking kept her mother busy, which meant she spent less time nosing over Raven's shoulder.

“Honey?” Ms. Valenti said.

Raven gave the metal colander full of lasagna noodles a good shake over the sink. The water dripped out the bottom and slowed to a trickle. Maybe if she pretended to be
busy, her mother would stop bombarding her with so many questions.

“Raven, did you hear me?”

Well. It was worth a shot.

Raven set the colander back in the pot the noodles had cooked in and turned to her mother. “No, I didn't. The class was already full,” she lied. She hadn't even asked for precalculus. Who in their right mind would take that crap? She'd struggled through the required geometry. She certainly wasn't going to make things harder by taking precalculus. Instead, she'd asked for accounting as her last math credit. But she wasn't going to tell her mother that.

Ms. Valenti had dropped out of college her freshman year when her parents refused to pay her tuition. They refused to pay her tuition because she was pregnant with Raven and because Raven's dad was African American. The Valentis, a pure Italian family, had wanted their only daughter to marry a “good Italian boy,” as they said. And when they found out she was pregnant and planning on marrying Raven's dad, they flipped out.

Raven's mom had dreams of becoming a pediatrician. And now, seventeen years later, it seemed like Ms. Valenti was either 1) punishing Raven for being one of the reasons she'd had to quit school (like Raven got her pregnant!), or 2) was living vicariously through her daughter.

It was no secret that her mom wanted her to take all the hard classes so she could get an Ivy League university acceptance. Raven would have all the things her mother never did. It was almost like she wanted Raven to make up for her mistakes.

Raven could only imagine what her mother would say when she admitted she didn't want to attend an Ivy League
school. Like she'd get in, anyway. Actually, she wasn't really sure what she wanted to do after graduating, but going right back into school was certainly not high on her priority list. Kelly was constantly suggesting Raven try modeling, but she wasn't a huge fashionista like Kelly was. Clothes didn't get Raven excited.

She always thought taking a long road trip across the United States sounded like fun. Maybe with her friends—or whoever her boyfriend was at the time. She wanted to see California and New Orleans and Las Vegas, baby! She just wanted one year off to live and breathe away from her mother. Ms. Valenti was like a hawk, always hovering over Raven, asking questions, giving commands.

Now her mother looked across the kitchen at her with those you've-disappointed-me eyes.

Raven sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. “What?”

Ms. Valenti shrugged. “Maybe if you'd gotten into the counselor's office earlier, like I asked you to, you would have gotten in precalc.” She nodded at the colander of noodles. “Will you hand me those?”

Raven grabbed the pot and hauled it over to the L-shaped counter where her mom was putting together the lasagna. She set the pot down, then said, “I'm going to get into the shower.” She did
not
feel like arguing with her mother about classes right now. She had enough on her mind. Like Simon's bar mitzvah reception and the possibility of running into Caleb. She was so confused about him. Or, rather, about her feelings toward him.

One minute she missed him so bad, her chest hurt. And then the next minute she was overcome with shame for having
gone out with him in the first place. Everyone said Caleb was wrong for her, that he was a jerk. But not everyone knew how Caleb was when he was alone with Raven. He could be really sweet.

“You're not going to help me with dinner?” Ms. Valenti unfolded a lasagna noodle and lay it in the baking dish.

“I'm going to Simon's bar mitzvah reception, remember?”

“So you won't be eating dinner with your sister and me? You know I like to have us all at the dinner table. That's when families are supposed to communicate.”

Ms. Valenti loved to read the parenting how-to books and magazines, which was where she got the latter jewel of wisdom. If a doctor or psychologist recommended something, then she did it. It didn't matter how ridiculous the idea sounded. She'd read that overexposure to the media disconnected children from their parents and, since then, she'd cracked down on the amount of pop culture that came into the house.

She'd imposed a one-hour time limit per day on the TV. Supposedly, tabloids and fashion magazines were the reason so many teenage girls had body issues, so the girls weren't allowed to read them.

An expert's word was the gospel in this house. And Alexia's parents were practically elevated to godly status.

“I probably won't be home for dinner. Sorry.”

“Well, I suppose we can make an exception.” Ms. Valenti grabbed another noodle and laid it in the baking dish. “Just don't stay out too late, please.”

“Mom, it's a bar mitzvah reception. I don't think they'll be up past midnight celebrating.” Not that Raven was
exactly sure what they did to celebrate bar mitzvahs, but something told her it wasn't that kind of party.

“Raven.” Ms. Valenti looked up and breathed a long sigh. “Just…please be home by midnight, okay?”

Raven nodded. That probably wouldn't be hard to pull off considering she didn't have a boyfriend anymore. Her life was officially unexciting.

Raven parked her Nissan Sentra in the back of Loon Cast Banquet Hall's lot. The sun was just setting, casting pinks and oranges in the sky off on the horizon. The snow had stopped falling earlier in the morning, but with the wind blowing it back and forth, it almost seemed like it was snowing.

Three Days Grace's “Pain” filled the small interior of Raven's two-door car. The chorus of the song said, “I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all.” Alexia had said almost the exact same thing last weekend after the breakups. But that was easy for her to say, since she'd never been brokenhearted.

Raven wondered what it'd be like to feel nothing at all. On the one hand, she'd never be sad or angry or frustrated with guys. But then again, she'd never feel excitement or giddy anticipation like she felt right now as she looked at the large building in front of her, wondering if maybe Caleb was on the inside. Lori had promised Caleb wouldn't be around, but Raven was kind of hoping he was.

She wanted to see him because she looked good in her silky black dress and black flats. Also, her hair had cooperated nicely after her shower and now hung around her shoulders
in inky black waves. Or rather, it would once she got inside and took off her gray leather jacket. She'd wanted to forgo the jacket, since it was hard to be sexy in winter wear, but it was just so cold out.

But mostly, she just plain missed Caleb. That sucked, because he'd treated her like crap at Craig's party last weekend, but still…her mind just wouldn't move past him.

She'd barely seen him in school all week. They didn't have any of the same classes together and their lockers were on different ends of the school.

Someone knocked on the passenger window of Raven's car. She jumped and brought her hand halfway to her chest.

“What are you doing?” Lori yelled. “Are you going to sit in your car all night?”

Raven turned the key and the car shut off. She popped a piece of Big Red in her mouth (she hated mints, it was gum all the way) and checked her teeth in the rearview mirror.

You look good, she thought. If Caleb was inside, he was totally going to drool.

She pushed open the driver's door and met Lori at the front of the car. Lori was wrapped in a raspberry Columbia jacket, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. A red dress hung from beneath the jacket. “Let's get inside where it's warm!” Lori jogged as best she could in her high heels over the snow-covered parking lot while holding her dress down with her arms.

Raven was glad she'd worn flats. She'd probably break her neck in heels, which was why she avoided them at all costs. Her mom had bought her a pair last year to wear to her grandparents' fiftieth anniversary. That was the first and last time she'd worn them.

Lori held the side door open for Raven. The wind followed them inside until Lori slammed the door shut on it. Lori shrugged out of her coat and hung it on one of the multitude of gold hooks on the wall. She ran a hand over her upswept hair as if to check for bumps. A few curled wisps hung along her heart-shaped face.

Raven pulled off her jacket and hung it next to Lori's. She shook out her hair and rubbed her glossed lips together.

“Wow,” Lori said, giving Raven a once-over. “You look so hot!”

“Thanks. Is hot okay for a bar mitzvah reception?”

“Totally. It's fine. Come on.” Lori took Raven's hand and pulled her through the closed door of the lobby.

Inside the main room, Raven was met with loud music sung in another language. Fiddles accompanied flutes and other stringed instruments. While it wasn't Raven's type of music, it did sort of have an inviting dance rhythm to it.

Lights flooded the stage where the DJ worked. The rest of the room was dark except for the flicker of candles on each of the round tables. The dance floor was packed with kids and their parents.

A girl no older than thirteen passed Raven with a huge cone of cotton candy in her hands. Raven spotted the cotton candy maker off to her right, next to the long table filled with Israeli food.

“My mom went all out for this reception,” Lori shouted. “Probably because Simon is the youngest, you know. Later there's karaoke.”

“Wow,” Raven replied, taking it all in while also surreptitiously looking for Caleb.

“Simon's over here,” Lori said. “Come say hi to him.”

Lori made her way around several tables and stopped in front of a table along the wall. “Hey, Simon! Look who's here!”

Simon saw Raven and smiled wide. He got out of his chair and came around the table. “Thanks for coming, Raven!”

Raven couldn't help but smile back. The kid was so sweet and cute, especially tonight, in his black dress pants and white shirt. His red silk tie looked crisp and new. His dark hair was gelled down. Raven wondered if Caleb had done his brother's hair to help him out. He was extremely overprotective of his younger siblings. Even if he was a sucky boyfriend, he was one killer older brother.

“I had to come to see you.” Raven squeezed Simon's shoulder and he blushed in response.

“So how come you haven't been over all week?”

Raven winced. What was she supposed to say to that?

“Later, Simon, okay?” Lori said. “Just be happy she's here now.”

“But—”

“Simon!”

“Okay. Okay. Fine.”

Mrs. Plaskoff, Caleb's mom, came up. “Honey,” she said to Simon, “come say hi to your cousins from Illinois.” She noticed Raven standing there. “Oh, Raven, honey!” She put her arms around Raven and squeezed. Mrs. Plaskoff always smelled like roses.

“I heard about it. I'm so sorry. My oldest boy, I swear, sometimes he just doesn't think. You know?” She shook her head, but her faux red hair, frozen in curls with tons of hair spray, barely moved an inch.

Raven smiled. She liked Caleb's mother. She was boisterous but extremely nice.

Mrs. Plaskoff leaned over to whisper in Raven's ear. “He's over by the punch bowl if you want to talk to him.” She straightened and set her hand on Simon's shoulder. “Come on, Simon. Nice to see you, Raven.” The mother/son pair disappeared in the crowd.

Raven turned to the food table where she'd seen the punch bowl. Caleb was there, a plastic cup in his hands. His eyes were locked on her, but there was another girl hanging on his shoulder.

He was in dress clothes, too, with a tie that matched Simon's. His face was clean-shaven.

Raven didn't recognize the girl. She was probably seventeen or so, but she was trying to appear older with tons of makeup and thick black eyeliner. Her thin lips were rimmed in red lipstick and her boobs looked pushed up with a bra, the cleavage sticking out of a low-cut black dress.

“Who's the girl with Caleb?” Raven asked Lori.

Lori looked in her brother's direction then groaned. “She's a friend of our cousin's from Tel Aviv. She's been hanging on Caleb since they got here.”

Raven tried to breathe out the jealousy, but it burrowed deep into her chest. Although they'd broken up, she couldn't help but feel like she still had some sort of claim on Caleb. Certainly more than some Israeli girl from Tel Aviv did.

Raven threw back her shoulders, elongated her neck, and strutted across the oak floor, her flats clipping along as if cheering her on. She stopped in front of Caleb and slyly appraised the temptress now that she was up close. The girl's complexion was blotchy and there was a huge pimple at the corner of her nose. Her eyebrows were plucked crookedly and the foundation she used was two shades darker than her
actual skin tone. Raven could tell because of the tide line along her hairline.

Raven plastered on a smile. “Hey,” she said, hoping that Caleb's across-the-room eye contact had been a sign that he was still into her and wasn't about to blow her off in front of the enemy.