Truth or Dare (15 page)

“Anyway,” I said. “We would be quick. So you can still be on time for your tutoring.”

He blinked at me. “Well, I
am
kind of hungry,” he admitted. “Sure, why not.”

“I just need to do something first. Can you wait a sec?”

He unzipped his backpack and took out a book:
The Martian Chronicles.

I ran inside the building. Abi, Mak, and Jules were still at their lockers.

“Okay,” I said breathlessly. “Graydon and I are going to the diner. So can you meet us there? Well, not
meet
us; we'll need privacy. But I mean, can you guys go there? Now?”

Mak looked unsure. “I have to be back at the Y pool by three forty-five.”

“It'll be fast,” I promised.

Abi shrugged a yes. I didn't even wait for Jules's response; I knew that if Abi would do it, so would Jules.

I ran back outside to Graydon. It was a five-minute walk to the Maplebrook Diner, but Graydon was a surprisingly slow mover. I say “surprisingly” because everything about him was so quick and direct. Also, he didn't waste energy by talking. Mostly he listened while I described the plot of the HiberNation trilogy, which I'd just finished.

“And in the end Bree goes off on her own without an army?” he asked, just as we arrived at the diner. “That's slightly implausible, don't you think?”

“Not really. I thought the ending was cool.”

“It may be
cool,
but it doesn't make any
sense.
”

Maggie the waitress walked over to us. “Same booth as usual?” she asked with a bored expression. I nodded. Although I immediately realized I'd made a mistake: Our regular booth was right by the door, so Graydon would be able to see my friends when they walked in. Also, when I kissed him, I didn't want the whole street to see.

“Can we please sit in the back instead?” I asked Maggie.

“I'm still your waitress wherever you park yourself, hon. Same order as usual? Chocolate shake?”

“Um, yes,” I said as I slid into the seat facing the door. “Please.”

“I'll have a chocolate chip hot fudge sundae with two squirts of whipped cream and
no
maraschino cherry,” Graydon said.

Maggie rolled her eyes, like,
Great, another charming Maplebrook kid.

“What's wrong with maraschino cherries?” I asked Graydon as soon as Maggie walked off.

“They're so uncherrylike,” he answered. “They don't taste anything like real cherries—they just taste
red-
flavored. Just like ‘grape flavor' tastes purple and ‘blue raspberry' tastes blue. And of course there's no such thing as a ‘blue raspberry,' anyway. . . .” He shook his head disgustedly.

“You should talk to Marley about fruit,” I said. “She has this thing about raisins. All shriveled food, in fact.”

“Shriveled food is
fine
with me. It's only
fake
food I object to.”

I crossed my arms in front of my fake chest.

By now I'd run out of conversation. I kept glancing at the door, but my friends weren't walking in. If they didn't get here very soon, Graydon would leave for Marley's house. Finally Maggie showed up with our orders. She put Graydon's sundae in front of him. In front of me she put a cookie dough sundae with butterscotch syrup, whipped cream, and gummy bears.

Abi's usual, not mine. Maggie had gotten us mixed up.

“Wait,” I protested. “I didn't order this.”

“Yeah, I know, you're the chocolate shake,” Maggie said. “Coming right up.”

“But why did you bring me this?”

Maggie smirked. “It's a secret message from your secret admirer.”

“What?”

“Look, that's what she told me to tell you, okay? You girls don't tip enough to make me deliver sundae-grams, or whatever that's supposed to be.” Maggie walked off in a huff.

“You should read the napkin,” Graydon said, swirling the hot fudge into his ice cream. “There appears to be writing.”

I slipped the napkin out from under the parfait glass. Graydon was right. In letters smeary from the drips of butterscotch syrup and ice cream, there was a message, presumably for me:
MEET IN BTHRM. NOW.

I crumpled the napkin. “Excuse me, Graydon. I have to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back,” I mumbled.

“Take your time,” he said, licking his spoon.

I speed-walked to the bathroom. Abi was waiting for me.

“You've been here the whole time?” I squeaked. “Where
are
you guys?”

“In the front. You walked right past us. So what's going on?”

“Now? I'm in the bathroom, talking to you.”

“Haha.” She checked out her sideways ponytail in the
mirror. “Well, hurry up! Mak has to leave.”

“Abi, I can't just
attack
him. I haven't even gotten my milk shake yet!”

Abi raised an eyebrow. “You need a milk shake before you kiss a boy? Is that how it went with Tanner?”

“What? No. There were no milk shakes; we were on a beach, remember? And truthfully, Abi, I don't appreciate being pressured.”

“No one is
pressuring
you, Lia. If you don't want to kiss Graydon—”

A stall opened. Out came Ruby Lewis. “Hey, guys,” she said.

Oh, perfect. She'd heard the whole thing!

“Hi.”
Abi greeted her with a weird sort of cheeriness. “Don't you love these mirrors? You can really get a sense of
how you look
in them.”

“Yeah, that's usually how it goes with mirrors,” I muttered. “We should leave, Abi.”

“Wait a sec. I want to see how I look
from different angles
.” Abi turned to the left and pretended to inspect her profile. Then she turned to the right. “Oh good, I'm
all tucked in.
”

Ruby soaped her hands in the sink. “Yeah, don't worry. You look fine. Bye, Abi.”

“See you,” Abi said.

“That was subtle,” I murmured as we left the bathroom.

“You think?” Abi asked, laughing. “Maybe I should go back in there and do jumping jacks or something. Joking,” she added, when she saw my horrified expression.

I let Abi return to her table first, then I slid back into my seat. While I'd been in the bathroom, Maggie had taken away the sundae and delivered my chocolate shake instead.

I took an extra-long sip of it. The sweet coldness numbed my brain, and I felt grateful.

“Everything okay?” Graydon asked. By then his sundae was just a small puddle in the bottom of his bowl.

“Yep,” I answered.

“You got everything straightened out? Synchronized your watches?”

“Excuse me?”

“With your friends, I mean.”

I looked up at him.

“Your
friends
are here,” he said, as if I'd been in a coma. “In the diner.”

“They are? Huh.” I sipped more milk shake. “Well, everybody's here today. There's Ruby. Oh, hi, Ruby!”

I waved to Ruby as she exited the bathroom. She gave me a look, like,
Lia, did you forget you saw me thirty seconds ago?

“I meant your other friends,” Graydon said. “Abigail,
Julianna, and Makayla. It's so funny that they just happen to be here right now.”

“I know, right? What a coincidence.” My heart was banging.
Kiss him already. Go
. “So, Graydon. There was something I wanted to ask you.”

“Yeah? Shoot.”

I took one more huge sip of milk shake. I wiped my mouth with a napkin—but not completely, so my lips would taste chocolaty. “I was wondering—would it be okay if I please kissed you?”

He pushed away his empty sundae glass. “No, actually.”

NO? HE SAID NO?

OMIGOD, HE SAID NO.

FLOOR, JUST SWALLOW ME WHOLE.

“Nothing personal,” he explained. “I'm just not kissing you in front of your friends.”

“But—”

“I'm not stupid, Lia. This is obviously a part of that game you're playing, and I refuse to let you all make fun of me. Again.”

I was probably dripping quarts of sweat into my milk shake, but I didn't care. “Oh, but we're not playing that game anymore!”

“Right.”

“No, I swear!”

“Really? Then why the sudden invitation? And why did your friends just happen to be here? And why did I see Abi coming out of the bathroom just before you?”

“Graydon, really, I really do like you. I promise. They couldn't make me kiss you if I didn't!”

“Too bad for you, then.” He reached into his wallet for a five-dollar bill and tossed it onto the table. “I don't get why you hang out with those girls, anyway.”

“They're my friends,” I said weakly.

“Yeah, you think so, Lia? Anyhow, thanks for telling me about that book. I might read it, even with the dumb ending.”

As soon as Graydon was out the door, Abi, Jules, and Mak came running over.

“What happened?” Jules asked. Her eyes were popping.

I winced. “Nothing. Didn't you see?”

“We sure did,” Abi said cheerfully. “You never kissed.”

“But it's totally unfair!” I shouted it so loudly an old lady at the next booth frowned at me. So I lowered my voice. “The only reason we didn't was because Abi sent over that stupid sundae. It made him suspicious!”

“Well, what were we supposed to do?” Abi argued. “We can't text you if you don't have a phone!”

“Why did you need to text me, anyway?”

“Because Mak has to leave for swim practice now,”
Jules said. “And we all wanted to see.” She put her hand on my shoulder as if she were consoling me. “You'll do it some other time, Lia, okay?”

The three of them left while I pretended to finish my shake. Things were just getting worse and worse. Marley had stopped being my friend. Graydon pretty much hated me now; at the absolute least, he didn't trust me. Abi was on the warpath, and Mak and Jules were just going along with whatever she did. I was hanging on to my group of friends by a thread—and the truth was, I didn't even know why I wanted to be friends with them anymore.

WHEN I GOT HOME ABOUT an hour later, Val's car was in my driveway. As soon as she saw me, she got out of her car with three full shopping bags.
Oh, right. Today is Tuesday.

“There you are,” she said brightly. “I was starting to worry. And I would have called you, but—”

I threw away my phone.
“Sorry,” I said. “I should have told you I wouldn't be coming straight home.”

“No problem. I have a PTA meeting later, so I
thought I'd bring your meal a bit earlier than usual. Can I come in?”

Dang. I'd hoped she'd just give me the shopping bags and drive off. Then I immediately scolded myself for being so ungrateful. “Oh, of course.”

She followed me into the kitchen, explaining all the food she'd brought: the chicken stew that needed reheating, the small rolls that needed defrosting, the salad that needed tossing, the lemon cake that needed refrigerating. We emptied two of the bags.

That left a third bag.

“May I sit a moment?” she asked, taking the third bag with her.

I sat; she sat.

“This other bag is for you, honey.” She pushed the bag over to my feet.

Inside were six packages of size regular no-wings maxi pads.

“Val,” I said, swallowing, “thank you. But you really didn't have to—”

“No, no, it's completely my pleasure.”

I stared at the pads. Abi must have told her I didn't have any pads left in my PE locker—that was the only explanation. But if she had told Val, that had to mean
she
didn't
think I was lying, right? She had to believe I'd run out of pads because I
used
them. So maybe she didn't believe I'd kissed Tanner, but how much of the My First Period story
did
she believe? It was hard to keep track of all the details.

“Lia, are you okay?” Val asked.

“Yes, fine. I was just thinking.”

“About what? You can tell me, honey.”

I blinked at her. Mom used to call me “honey.” Dad was “baby” and Nate was “sweetie,” but I was always “honey.”

Suddenly all I wanted was for Val to stay in that chair calling me “honey.”

“Marley's not our friend anymore,” I blurted.
Oh great, why did I tell her
that?

Val's forehead puckered. “Really? Did you girls have a fight?”

The way she said this, I could tell that she was hearing about it for the first time.

“Not exactly,” I said. “It's a little complicated.”

“Well.” Val sighed. “I'm sorry to hear that. Marley is a very sweet girl.”

“Oh, she's better than ‘a sweet girl.' She's the coolest one of us all, and I think we were horrible to her.”