Uncertainty (18 page)

CHAPTER 14

THE FIGHTING DONOVANS
argued all the way home, the Mazda swooping angrily into our driveway. Claire stomped in first, throwing her hat and purse on the table, her hair drenched in sweat.

Jenna skipped in front of me, turning to face me and pointing a finger like a gun to her head, pulling the invisible trigger. I shook my head at her.
Get outta here
. She shrugged and deposited herself on the living room couch.

"I'm done talking," Claire said. I knew that didn't mean she was out of things to say. But she stormed out of the kitchen and we listened to her footsteps run up the stairs, and the door of their bedroom slam seconds later. The slam shook the glasses in the cabinets. Hugh and I leaned against the counters. The whole afternoon had exhausted me, and it was still hot and steamy in the house.

Hugh let out a sigh, and poured a glass of juice into a cup from the sink.

"What is going on?" I asked him, confronting him. "I know you went to school with Henry's dad, but that seemed like you had real history. What happened?"

"We were never close," Hugh said bitterly. "He was part of the hip kids in school. We were dirt, the rest of us. Warwick, too. Even McPherson; he was a nerd with coke bottle glasses and his pants pulled up to his chin with suspenders."

"Those are considered hipsters now," I said dryly. "But why do you hate each other so much? I mean, you looked like you were about to get into a fist fight."

"I wouldn't have been against throwing a swing. I knew as soon as I heard he and his family had moved back here. Phillip is a snake. He's a charmer, especially with the ladies, but underneath it he's all rotten."

I wondered if that was the issue. Maybe a long time ago, Henry's dad had gone after my mom. That thought was pretty gross, considering all the making out Henry and I had done.

Hugh was still speaking, "He knows what's causing the birds to act the way they are; he just won't tell anyone. And as far as those renovations, that's just a display of control. Dirty politics."

He sounded so paranoid, I wondered uneasily if his mind was the one that was slipping. Maybe it ran in both sides of our family.

"Does that have anything to do with those phone calls?"

"What?" His head snapped in my direction. I blushed, embarrassed, but held my ground.

"I've heard you on the phone a few times, talking with someone. It seemed private," I said.

"That was nothing," he said, getting flustered and suddenly making himself busy by wiping off the already clean counter. He clumsily knocked over the paper towel holder and spun the towels back on. I'd never seen my father so frazzled. "There was nothing secretive about my phone calls. It was just work stuff. You shouldn't be spying on me, anyway."

"I was just wondering."

"Well, don't wonder so much." It wasn't often that I made my father mad. On second thought, tensions were already high, so it wasn't a good time to bring it up. This seemed to be one of those times. I hadn't been snooping intentionally, but I still felt intrusive.

"I need to work on my paintings," he said, distracted. As he passed me, he said under his breath, "You see too much for your own good."

Before I could parse out that response, he was gone.

The arcade trip that Theo and I had been so excited about finally came into the planning stage. We were both very bad about just going out and doing things; we always had to have some kind of solid game plan. Alex, Theo and I were up in her room, as she was putzing around online. She'd seen free token vouchers to print out posted there the other day.

"I can buy tokens, babe, if that's an issue. I have a whole sock full of quarters. Also a credit card," Alex said, flipping through one of Theo's sketchbooks on the bed.

Theo waved him away. "I know. I still have play money left over, too. But it's free. Gotta love free stuff. I'm frugal, okay?"

"More like a cheapskate," Alex complained. He bypassed the sketches of his own face. The resemblance was dead-on, although she had captured a softer side of him, not just the bro that he appeared to be upon first meeting. And second.

"Oh, gag me," Theo said suddenly.

"What?" I asked.

Theo leaned back so I could see her social wall. "Lainey's having some blow-out end of summer party. All the cool people are invited. Like it's any different than a normal weekend. She's got a big announcement about it, complete with little balloon graphics."

"That seems cheesy, even for her."

"
No riffraff aloud
," Theo said, snickering. "We should totally crash it."

"It actually says no riff raff?" I asked, joining her laughter when she pointed to the lines on the screen inside the pink box that was her party announcement.

Alex cleared his throat. He was sitting straight at the head of the bed, looking strangely guilty. "Actually, I had an invitation, if you're serious about going," he mumbled.

"Who invited you?" Theo asked shortly. She spun fully around in her chair.

"A guy," Alex said, avoiding her dagger-like glare. He slowly raised a frog-shaped pillow up like a shield.

"A guy I know?" Theo had her interrogation mode on. They were already like an old married couple with their bickering. It wouldn't be long before they could finish each others' sentences.

"Henry Rhodes." It came out muffled since Alex was speaking into the pillow.

Theo scoffed, incredulous. She pushed herself away from her cluttered desktop, covered in glitter pots and crumpled tubes of paint.

"But not like full conversations!" Alex protested. "Just words. 'Hey, how are you, what's up, catch the Wings last night?' Kinda thing."

Theo was not pacified. "After what he did to Ariel, I can't believe you'd even acknowledge him."

I was lost in thought on my end. I hadn't told either of them I'd been talking to Henry, too, which felt sneaky with Theo since I told her most everything else. But I didn't know how they'd react, and I knew she'd think I was foolish. Which I was.

Ignoring the very obvious fact that he had used and dumped me, with some immature notion that Henry was different just because I liked him. Didn't all the girls think that way?

"I didn't want to tell you. I knew you'd be mad," Alex protested. "Your temper could use its own battleground. And you get little fires in your eyes..."

A demonstration of said temper was on full display. Her arms were crossed, her face that of an angry pixie, a little rain of glitter coming down from her cheeks. Her knees pistoned up and down, like they were hoping to hit a target.

"Don't be mad at Alex," I said. Never in a million years did I think I would say that. If someone had told me the summer before that I'd be defending Alex Perkins, I would have thought they were nuts. "I've been talking to Henry, too."

Now it was my turn to be glared at by the angry pixie. "What?" She tsked on the t for emphasis.

Both of them were agog. I felt embarrassed, but I held my ground.

"Like Alex said, I didn't know how to tell you," I explained. "I knew it was probably dumb, but we're just talking. It's not harmful."

"Just talking led you to trouble the last time," Theo said. She bit her lip and looked away, like she was too disgusted to look at us. Her hand shot out and pressed the power button on the computer, token vouchers forgotten.

"Aren't we still going to the arcade?" Alex asked.

"Oh, we're still going," Theo said, standing up and looping her earbuds around her neck, letting them dangle. "You're just paying." After a moment of contemplation, she said, "Why all the secrecy? You know what, never mind."

She tucked the earbuds in her ears and turned on her music, marching out of the room. Alex and I followed her, exchanging worried glances. Outside, Alex's Jeep, which Theo had affectionally nicknamed the Creep, was pulled into the driveway.

It was a weekday, so the arcade wasn't very full. Just a few nerdy teenagers and a couple of parents with their kids. Alex broke several twenties and handed us each a fountain drink cup full of tokens.

"Thanks, you didn't have to pay for me," I said.

"I figure we're in this together now," he said, smiling wanly. "Least I could do, when you stuck your neck out for me."

The floor and ceiling of the arcade were purple and black, and blue lights swirled across the latter. Lights from the games filled the room, red and blue and green, flashing and blinking. Probably a nice big seizure hazard. All of the games were heavily used, many of them with hand written out of order signs. The place was in bad need of updating.

Theo took up stance at the whack-a-mole game, and wouldn't budge. Rubber hammer clutched in her hand, she bonked the blind moles in the head, music still blaring and tin-sounding out of the earbuds.

"She's picturing our faces on those things," Alex said.

"I know."

From our position far away, I could see she was muttering colorful expletives under her breath.

"How long do you think she's going to be pissed?" Alex asked as we took a round on Dance Dance Revolution.

I was still very much a beginner and could barely huff my way through a few songs. His feet were flying, his hands clutching a metal bar attached to the back. The arrows made my vision go wonky.

"Forever, maybe." I said. Theo had migrated to a table by herself, stirring the drink melting in her cup. "She's been known to hold a grudge. I just didn't know how to tell her about Henry. It's so complicated."

"And you aren't dating him?" Alex asked as the song ended.

"No! He and Lainey are still together, as far as I know." I could still see arrows ascending when I blinked.

"I was just asking! I'm not used to girl gossip, okay? Dudes are so much easier, it's just cars and chicks."

"Pardon our drama," I said, rolling my eyes. After a moment I said, "I never thought I would be in your corner."

"Yeah, me neither," he said, regarding me thoughtfully. "Thanks. You didn't have to give yourself away."

"That's what friends are for, right?"

I wanted to ask him if Henry had said anything about me, but obviously Alex didn't know we were talking again.

"You want to go again?" he asked, and when I nodded, he pressed replay with his foot.

After several hours at the arcade, we drove back home in the Creep. I usually always sat in the back, but Theo had commandeered that spot this time, and I was sitting by Alex. He'd kept his music off as a courtesy.

Theo had wound up with a mesh laundry bag full of prizes, including several cheap stuffed animals and a kite. It seemed like she picked the prizes out at random, although maybe the Detroit Tigers coffee mug was her thing now.

"We're going to the party," she said out of the blue. She had pulled her earbuds out, and she stared at the rearview mirror.

"What?" Alex and I asked in unison.

"I've been thinking, and that led to more thinking. And we're going to crash Lainey's party," Theo said resolutely.

That never would have struck me as being important to her. I figured she was just thinking of creative ways to ditch us.

"Why does she get to have all the fun? Literally, all the time, she's having fun. And we're at home, playing paper dolls and watching other people have parties on TV. And I'm sick of it." Theo ranted.

"Paper dolls...when did we do that?" I was confused.

"Whatever, it's what came to mind. Like when we were doodling on magazines. That was our idea of a swinging night. Well, I want to be bad for once. Or, you know, semi bad. So let's crash."

"You wouldn't technically be crashing," Alex said. "You guys can just be my plus two."

"Lainey would hate that," I said with a big smile. "I'm for anything Lainey would hate."

"Exactly," Theo said. "Let's live a little."

"But my parents will never okay a house party," I said. "They barely okay a walk in the park, in case the squirrels go rabid."

"Then they don't have to know, do they?" Theo asked, her green eyes glittering the way they always did when her plans were in motion.

I texted Henry about the spectacle that was Hell Day later. I'd wanted to before, but I hadn't gotten the chance.

Thornhill is all about a fancy show, no follow through,
he wrote back.

I think people definitely bought the show, though
, I replied.

At least not everyone is snowed. And Hugh doing what he did, that was good.

You think so?

It was a very Hugh thing to do. Yeah, it was awesome that he spoke out like that. I always liked your dad.

I wanted to move away from that intimacy. It reminded me too much of how things used to be, and could never be again.
Do you know anything about the birds?

I like physics, not biology. I can't tell you much. But it is weird.

I didn't mention that I'd be at the party. I almost did, but I thought he might try to talk me out of it. And, like Theo, I wanted to see how it was for the rich kids, at least for one night. Plus, I liked the chance to upset Lainey's plans. A lot.