The Perfectionists (27 page)

“Yeah,” said Parker challengingly. “I am.”

They looked at each other for a long moment. Parker's head gave an ominous throb. She suddenly realized that, soon, she and Julie might be apart. She'd always assumed that, no matter what, she and Julie would be together somewhere. If Julie decided to move to Seattle, what would she do? She couldn't stay here any longer. The place held too many bad memories.

Then Julie's gaze focused on a point to the right. Her cheeks paled, and her mouth fell open. “Oh my god.”

“What?” Parker asked, looking up from the plate of fries. She followed Julie's gaze . . . and her jaw dropped, too. Elliot Fielder was standing at the to-go counter, handing the cashier his credit card. He picked up a Styrofoam box and turned to go.

Then his eyes met Parker's, and he froze. Her heart started to pound. She felt herself shrink into the booth. Then, to her horror, Elliot started walking
toward
them.

“Stay calm,” Julie whispered, grabbing her hand. “I'm here with you.”

There was a strange expression on Elliot's face as he approached. Parker wanted to jump up and run, but she felt pinned like an insect to a tray.

Julie sat up straighter as he stopped at their table. “What are you doing here?” she demanded. “Did you follow us?”

Elliot didn't even look at her; he kept his gaze on Parker. Suddenly, a strange smile flashed across his face. “You're out together.”

“Uh,
duh
,” Julie said defiantly. “But I asked you a question.
Did you follow us?
”

“No.” He held up his take-out container. “I just came to get a burger. I promise. I'm not following you.”

“Good. Then go.” Julie made a shooing motion with her hands.

But Elliot still didn't look in her direction. His gaze bored into Parker, as though waiting for her to say something. Parker stared at the table. The sight of him filled her with a hollow, wrenching feeling of despair. Not long ago, he'd made her feel like there was hope for her—that someday, with appropriate help, with work, she could even find some peace. That made his betrayal sting all the worse.

Julie shook her head, her eyes wide. “I'm not going to let you get away with stalking Parker. You'd better lay off.”

Elliot's dark eyes seemed fathomless. “I'm not stalking anyone,” he said calmly.

“Oh yeah?” Julie said loudly. A passing waitress gave them a questioning look. “Then what were all those photos on your computer?”

“Parker shouldn't have found those,” Elliot said. “Look, I was just trying to find out more about Parker's condition. I think I can help her. I might even be able to help you, Julie. If I can help one of you, I can probably help both of you.”

Julie scoffed. “I don't think I need your help, but thanks.”

Parker felt his eyes on her again. “Parker, I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was watching you. But I did it for important reasons.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card. “If you ever want to talk, I'm here for you.” His voice became urgent. “Please give me a chance. You can trust me.”

His words hung in the air for a long time. Parker could sense that both Elliot and Julie were waiting for her to finally speak up. She took a deep breath, looking up and meeting Elliot's eyes.

“You know who got chance upon chance upon chance?” she whispered. “My dad. Lesson learned.”

Elliot's face went pink. He took a step toward her, but Julie stood up and stepped between them, her eyes blazing. When she spoke, her voice was low and controlled, but there was no mistaking the fury underneath.

“Arizona or not, if we catch you following Parker again, we'll report you to the medical board. We'll tell them you seduced her. You'll lose your license. You'll lose everything.”

The therapist's expression changed, the carefully neutral mask slipping to reveal a cold and arrogant smirk. He raised an eyebrow, looking directly at Julie for the first time since he'd come to their table. “Even if that were true, no one would believe her.”

“Then I'll say it was me.”

He and Julie stared at each other for what felt like forever. Then, slowly, Elliot smiled. “Fine. You win. I'll never contact either of you again.”

He took a few steps toward the door, then turned back and smiled at them, this time almost gently. “You know, I'm glad you girls have each other,” he said. “You help each other survive.” Then he held his hand in a good-bye wave. The bells on the door jingled in his wake.

Parker stared down at the cold fries lying under a blanket of congealed cheese. “Well,” she muttered. “
That
was weird.” Then she grabbed Julie's hand. “Thanks. For, you know. Everything.”

“No problem,” Julie said softly, hugging Parker tight. “Thank god he's leaving.”

After that encounter, Parker felt exhausted, drained. But Elliot had been right about one thing: She really
did
need Julie. The very idea of going away from Julie, after all they'd been through together, filled her with panic. Julie was the only person who still loved her. The only person who knew her, who knew what she'd been through and still cared about her.

She looked up and realized Julie was staring at her, too. And, in that way the two of them often had, Parker had a sense Julie was thinking the exact same thing.

“I don't want to leave you,” Julie whispered.

“I know,” Parker said. “If you want to stay here and go to school, I'll stay, too.”

“Deal,” Julie said. Then she grinned. “But we've
got
to get our own place. Those cats are cramping our style.”

“We'll get a place up on Capitol Hill,” Parker said wistfully. “We can decorate it ourselves.”

“I'll get a job at the university pool, and you'll get a job in the bookstore insulting customers' book choices,” Julie daydreamed.

“No one will be able to bother us. We'll be all right on our own.”

Julie took Parker's hand and squeezed it tight. “All this crap with Nolan will be behind us forever.”

Parker smiled, all at once believing it wholeheartedly. To hell with Elliot Fielder and his bullshit attempts to help. She was with Julie, and that was all that mattered.

AFTER A SLEEPLESS NIGHT, MACKENZIE
sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. Even though it was early, she could hear the sounds of breakfast downstairs. Swallowing hard, she threw on her slippers and padded to the kitchen. Her mom and dad were at the counter, both wearing their bathrobes. Sierra was there, too, sipping hot chocolate from a mug that had a treble clef printed on it.

“You guys are up early,” she said blearily.

Her mother jumped off her stool and hurried over to her, hugging her close. “Well, we were
trying
to wait up for you last night—but you came home too late.”

Mac frowned. Her mom had texted asking where she was, and Mac had lied and said she was at her new friend Julie Redding's house and would be home soon. Was she in trouble? Her heart sped up. Did they somehow know that they'd broken into Granger's?

But then she looked at her dad. He was beaming brightly. Even Sierra looked kind of excited. Mac settled onto a bar stool at the counter. “What's going on?”

“There's a message on the voice mail,” Mrs. Wright said excitedly. “You got in!”

Mac blinked. “In?”

“Into
Juilliard
!” Mrs. Wright leaped across the room to the cordless phone console. “My friend Darlene called! She hears
everything
that goes on with Juilliard admissions, and . . .”

She pressed play. After a beep, a woman's voice blared through the room. “Hey, Elise, it's Darlene! So listen, it's not official yet, but the judge was
thrilled
by Mackenzie's performance,” she said excitedly. “Anticipate a letter in the next week! And tell your girl a big congratulations! She's following in your footsteps and going to Juilliard!”

Mac screamed. She'd done it.
She got in.
It didn't even bother her that her parents had found out first. It was the most amazing news she'd ever heard.

Her little sister inched forward, giving Mac a hug. “You'll never believe the other news, too,” she said excitedly. “Tell her, Mom.”

Mrs. Wright beamed. “Well, Mrs. Coldwell called me last night. They have inside contacts as well, and it looks like Claire's getting in, too!”

Mackenzie froze. A high-pitched wail rang in her ears. “Wait. What?”

“I know!” Her mother shook her head, marveling. “What are the odds? But you're both going. Isn't it exciting? You can room together!”

A sour taste filled Mackenzie's mouth. All the excitement of a moment ago twisted inside her, changing shape until she didn't know how she felt. Anger, disappointment, resentment, and anxiety tainted the brief sense of triumph she'd felt. All she'd wanted to do was beat Claire, once and for all.

And now, instead of getting even, she'd be stuck with her for four more years.

“This calls for a celebration!” Her mother bustled to the fridge and pulled out a chocolate cake decorated with musical notes in delicate white icing. Her father started pouring milk into wineglasses. Only Sierra sat with a knowing expression on her face, watching Mackenzie. She'd always seemed to suspect how Mackenzie really felt about her “best friend.”

“Well? Don't you have anything to say?” asked her mother, handing her a plate.

“Yeah, Juilliard girl, how are you feeling?” her dad said.

Sierra lifted her glass. “Speech! Speech!”

Mackenzie stared around at her family, holding the slice of cake in her hands. The smell took her back in a sudden rush of memory to the night in Cupcake Kingdom when she and Blake had kissed. Tears burned in her eyes, but she blinked them away so no one could see.

“I've never been so happy,” she said.

Or so miserable.

THAT MORNING, JULIE CAREFULLY PULLED
on a dark blue dress and inspected herself in her full-length mirror. Behind her, Parker snickered. “
That's
what you're wearing to the police station? You look like one of the kids in Harry Potter.”

Julie frowned. She had been going for
I'm-responsible-and-you-should-take-me-seriously
, but now that she thought about it, the long blue dress did look a little too Hogwarts-chic. She pulled it over her head and changed into a gray-cardigan-and-dark-wash-jeans combo instead.

“Are you sure you don't want to come?” she asked Parker as she put on her fake pearl studs. “It might be . . . I don't know. Satisfying.”

“No thanks.” Parker shook her head emphatically. “As long as Elliot is out there, I don't want to leave this house. Anyway, you guys don't really need me, do you? Just to give the cops Nolan's flash drive.”

“You're right,” Julie said, then nervously shook out her hands. She just wanted this
over
with. She couldn't wait till Granger was behind bars, and everything could go back to normal.

As she was selecting a pair of flats, she noticed that the email bubble on her laptop was flashing. She clicked on it, thinking it might be someone asking for a ride. But then she saw the name . . . and the subject. Her heart stopped in her chest.

From: Ashley Ferguson

To: Ashley Ferguson

Cc: Julie Redding

Subject: Julie Redding's Dirty Little Secret

In the body of the email there was no text, just the link to an article, the one describing how Julie and her mom were evicted from their old house in Oakland. The one Parker had
erased.

Well, Ashley had somehow resurrected it.

Julie leaned forward and clutched the edge of the desk until her knuckles were white, concentrating on counting.
One, two
—Ashley must have BCC'd the recipients; who were they?—
three, four
—Was it the whole school?—
five, six, seven
—Or could it have just been sent to Julie herself, to remind her how much she was in Ashley's power?

“Julie?” Parker asked across the room.

Julie let out a small, wounded sob. Parker kicked off the covers and hurried over. “What's going on?”

Julie wordlessly stepped aside from the email. Parker's gaze slid over it fast. “That
bitch
,” she snarled.

“I don't understand,” Julie said weakly. She kept counting.
Twenty-six, twenty-seven.
It wasn't helping at all. “Why? Why would she do that?”

Parker paced around Julie's room, seeming suddenly on edge, as if the space weren't big enough to contain her. “She is everything that's wrong with the world. You can't trust anyone except your real friends.”

But Julie was only half listening. She fumbled for her phone, pressing Ashley's number, with shaking hands.

Ashley picked up on the first ring. “Hey, dirty girl,” she sang. “Did you like my email?”

“What the
hell
, Ashley?” Julie raged. “Who did you send it to?”

“Oh, you know. Everyone.”

Julie leaned over, sure she was going to throw up. She thought of everyone, reading that article. Seeing the picture of her. Putting it all together.
Aha!
they would think. This
is why Julie never has anyone over!
“But, why?” she sobbed into the phone. “I never did anything to you!”

“Exactly,” Ashley said amiably. “You never did
anything
to me—or for me. You were happy to just sit there and let your friends make fun of me. And let's be honest—you haven't exactly been nice lately. Well, now it's your turn to feel what it's like on the outside. See you at school!” She paused. “Oh, and say hi to your mom for me! Maybe, if you're lucky, you'll grow up to be just like her!” And with that, she hung up.