Avalanche Dance (11 page)

“Remember that? We both lost teeth eating corn on the cob,” Gwen said, blowing dust off the picture.

Molly nodded. “My cob got all bloody. Yuck!”

They laughed.

When they’d shoved the couch against the living room wall, Molly gestured at the buffet next to it.

“Hey, Gwennie, look at that.”

“What?”

“That.” Molly pointed to a cluster of liquor bottles standing on a shelf.

Gwen looked. There were a couple of bottles of wine; a squat,
curvy one filled with Irish cream, and a tall, rectangular one of vodka.

An uneasy feeling prickled Gwen’s insides. “What about it?”

Molly leaned close. “What do you say we snitch a little from each? For later?”

Gwen smiled at her. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Come on, it’ll be fun. Give our karaoke a bit of a kick.” Giggling, holding an imaginary mic to her lips, she shook her hips like a rock star.

Gwen stared at her. “You’d steal from my parents?”

Molly’s smile faded. “Oh, come on, Gwen, we’ll just take a little. They’ll never know.”

Something dropped in Gwen’s stomach. “I can’t believe you said that.”

“It’s no big deal. Everybody does it.”

“Not me! Maybe your new friends do, but not me.”

“No kidding,” Molly said in a sour voice. “You don’t do anything.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re no fun anymore.”

Gwen’s face felt warm. “Because I won’t steal booze from my parents?”

“Give me a break. You make it sound like a crime.”

“It’s wrong!”

Molly rolled her eyes. “You’re such a goody-goody, Gwen.”

“I am not!”

“You are so.”

“You think it’s so cool to drink and get high, but it’s not, it’s stupid –”

“How would you know? You never try it. It’s boring …” Molly trailed off.

“Boring being with me?”

“Yeah!”

“Then why don’t you go hang out with your cool friends? I’m sure
they’re
not boring.”

“You better believe it.”

“Then go.”

“Okay, I will.”

“And don’t come back!”

“I won’t!”

She left, slamming the door.

Somehow, Gwen got through the party. When her friends asked where Molly was, she said, “Oh … she got sick all of a sudden.”

“Really?” Janelle sounded skeptical.

Gwen oohed and aahed over her birthday presents and even forced herself to sing “Y.M.C.A.” with the others, doing all the movements and laughing along.

The next morning, after everyone left, she climbed back into bed and cried.

All that summer, Gwen waited for Molly to call, to come flying over on her bike, to apologize.

She didn’t.

Several times she saw Molly in a throng of other kids, at the beach, at the store.

She turned away.

One day Percy asked, “Where’s Molly? I miss her.”

Gwen turned on him. “She wasn’t
your
friend!”

Percy staggered back a step. “I was just asking.”

“I don’t know. And I don’t care!”

Now, sitting on her bed with her arms wrapped around her knees, Gwen thought bitterly that she’d finally gotten her wish. Molly was back. Only now Gwen didn’t want her here. And for sure Molly didn’t want to be here. They had nothing to say to each other. It was beyond awkward, it was humiliating.

Gwen lay down and clutched her pillow to her middle. She was just going to have to stay out of Molly’s way, that was all. She’d disappear into her room when Molly came. Take a bath. Take a nap. Become engrossed in some stupid TV show.

It shouldn’t be too hard to avoid Molly, Gwen thought glumly. Molly didn’t want anything to do with her either.

E
very day I do my community work service. Prune the flower beds. Paint the trim on the porch. Dig the garden. Bridget’s form starts filling up. Every few days Cal comes to check up on me. Bridget tells him I’m doing what I’m supposed to, and he nods and says, “Good.” He looks like he’s hiding a smile. Like he’s rooting for me.

He checks in with my parents. They tell him I’ve been sober.

That I’m obeying my nine o’clock curfew. As if I have any choice. They practically guard the door to my room.

Cal fills out more forms.

My thirty hours count down, one by one.

School starts again after spring break. I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to see my friends. I don’t know what to say to them, or what they’re going to say to me.

They haven’t called. Or e-mailed. Or texted. I haven’t seen any of them since the arrest.

At first I expected them to come forward and admit that they were responsible too. It didn’t happen. And I realized that that wasn’t realistic. I mean, would I voluntarily turn myself in and say, “Hey, I’m guilty, punish me too?” Well, yeah, I would. But you can’t expect people to do that. Besides, I knew that Tony and Zach had already gotten in trouble with the cops, so getting nailed again would definitely be bad news for them.

So then I expected them to call. Say they were sorry for how things turned out. Thank me for keeping my mouth shut.

That didn’t happen either.

Now, as I walk into school, I don’t know what to think. I still can’t believe they meant to shaft me. We were too tight, having too much fun. Have they been afraid my parents might intercept their calls and find out who they are? Are they just lying low until I finish my community work service, and the cops and courts are out of the picture, and then they’ll come back and we’ll pick up where we left off?

I don’t know.

I walk into homeroom, and the first thing I see is that Nikki’s hanging with this girl Teresa. Teresa has a dragon tattoo on her ankle and chemically straightened hair. She’s also got an older brother who can score booze, and a family cabin in the mountains.

They’ve pushed their desks together and are laughing at something on Teresa’s cell phone.

I go over and stand beside Nikki’s desk. She looks up. Turns
pink. “Hey,” she mumbles, not looking me in the eye.

I wait. When she doesn’t say anything else, I blurt stupidly, “How was your break?”

“Fine,” she says.

I wait for her to ask me about mine. To ask me how I’ve been. To ask about what I’ve been going through.

Teresa nudges her and, giggling, says, “Check this out.” Nikki bends over the cell phone again.

I stand there like an idiot, then walk to my desk.

Between classes, I spot Zach down the hall in a throng of guys coming toward me. I lift my hand to wave. I think he sees me, but he ducks into a classroom before I reach him.

At lunch I see Crystal. She gives me her blissed-out smile, but she doesn’t come over.

At the end of the day, I come upon the group of them, hanging in front of Tony’s locker. Tony, Zach, Gretchen, Crystal, Nikki – and Teresa.

I stand in front of them. They dart glances at one another, at me, away again. Tony puts in one book, takes out another. Gretchen checks her nails. Finally Zach smiles and asks, “How’s it going?”

“How’s it going!” I shout.

Tony glances up and down the hall. “Chill, Molly. Don’t make a scene.”

That’s exactly what I want to do, but I grit my teeth. “I’m not.”

There’s a silence, a lot of shifting from foot to foot. Eventually Nikki says, “We thought you were with us, Molly.”

“Yeah, we thought you were right behind us,” Gretchen adds.

“We told you to come,” Zach says.

“Yeah … that’s right … we did …” the others chime in.

That’s true. They did. Remembering makes me feel a little better. They must have been freaked out when they regrouped and realized I wasn’t there.

“So … we heard you got community work service,” Tony says in a low voice.

That makes me pissed off again. If they’d come forward, I wouldn’t have been the only one. They’d be doing it with me.

But I just nod.

“Rough, eh?” Crystal says.

At least she’s asking
, I think. “It’s not so bad,” I say, surprised to realize it’s true. I don’t mind doing stuff for Bridget. It’s the least I can do. And I’ve been feeling pretty good. Turns out I don’t miss the booze and pot all that much.

“You almost done?” Tony asks.

“About halfway.”

“Cool,” he says. “Then you’ll be free, eh?”

I nod again.

Another silence falls. Then Zach zips up his jacket. “Well … got to go.”

“Me too.”

“Me too.”

“See you.”

Before I know it, they’ve all gone, passing down the hall in a tight knot.

I stand there. My stomach drops. No one said,
Sorry
. No one said,
We should have stayed
. No one said,
Come with us
.

But then, as I gather my books from my locker and walk out the door, headed for Gwen’s and today’s chores, I think about what Tony asked.
You almost done? … Then you’ll be free?

Maybe he meant,
Then you’ll be free to hang out with us again. Then you’ll be free to party. Then it’ll go back to the way it was
.

Yes, I tell myself, my step lightening. That must be what he meant.

“Surprise!”

Gwen stood at the open front door. On the doorstep was a beaming Susie, flanked by Carley and Janelle. Susie was holding a plastic container.

“We came to cheer you up,” Carley said.

“And tell you all the latest,” Janelle said.

“And feed you,” Susie added with a grin. Stepping inside, she lifted the lid of the container. Chocolate brownies were stacked in rows, their frosting softly gleaming.

Gwen smiled faintly. The last thing she felt like was a visit, small talk, pity, questions. All she wanted was to be left alone, to sit in her chair and watch the clouds slowly drift by.

But she motioned them into the living room, even turned
her chair around to face the room. Carley and Janelle sat on the couch, while Susie went into the kitchen to find plates and glasses.

“So, how are you feeling, Gwen?” Carley asked.

A pause. “About the same.”

“Are you coming back to school?” Janelle asked. Another pause. “Not yet.”

There was a short silence, broken by the sound of Susie clattering in the kitchen.

“How’s your dad?” Carley asked.

Gwen felt the quick sting of tears. She blinked rapidly. “Uh … not so good.”

“Well, I’m sure he’ll be fine, Gwen, don’t worry.” Carley leaned forward and patted her knee.

Gwen stiffened.

Susie bustled in, carrying a tray loaded with glasses of milk and plates of brownies. “Good thing I know my way around your kitchen, Gwen,” she said with a chuckle. She set the tray on the coffee table and started handing around plates. “Eat up, Gwen, you need it.” She patted her belly. “Looks like the pounds you’ve lost ended up on me,” she said, laughing. She lifted her brownie. “I shouldn’t … but what the hell.” She bit in.

Carley licked her lips. “Delicious, Suze.”

Janelle nodded, daintily lifting crumbs with her fingertip and licking them off. “You make the best brownies, Susie.”

“And cookies. And cakes,” Carley added, taking another bite.

Susie beamed. She looked at Gwen.

Gwen quickly picked up her brownie and took a bite. “Yummy,” she said. And it was – full of dark, chocolaty flavor. Trouble was, she wasn’t hungry. She moved the brownie around on her plate, hoping Susie wouldn’t notice.

“So, Gwen, you should have seen what happened in gym today,” Carley said with a giggle, and she launched into a story about how they’d been playing volleyball, girls against boys.

“Jake, of course, was boasting about how the boys were going to kill us,” Janelle said.

“And the game was really close, going back and forth, them getting a point, us getting a point,” Susie said.

“And finally it was game point, and Jake spiked the ball,” Carley continued.

“And it bounced off my head –” Susie said, starting to giggle. “Like, I had no idea it was coming. I was just standing there, and whomp!”

“And it bounced back over the net, right to Jake, and he was so stunned he just stood there, and it dropped – and we won the game!” Carley finished. All three girls burst out laughing.

Gwen forced a smile. “That’s great.”

“It was so funny.”

“I bet.”

A silence fell. Through the open window, from outside, there came a faint scratching sound, repeated over and over.

“What’s that?” Susie asked.

“Uh … it’s Molly. She’s raking,” Gwen said.

“Raking?” Carley said.

“It’s her community work service,” Gwen explained, feeling uncomfortable. “What she has to do to … you know, pay us back for the cabin.”

“Oh, yeah, I heard that was the sentence,” Susie said.

“It was the talk of school,” Carley said.

“Not enough punishment, if you ask me,” Janelle said.

“Janelle, keep it down,” Gwen said. Even though she herself was furious with Molly, she didn’t want her old friend to hear people say such things about her.

“Well, I don’t care,” Janelle said with a toss of the head. “That was a terrible thing she did – and to
you!”

The scratching noise drew closer.

“And that story about no one else being there – that has to be a lie,” Susie said.

“It does sound strange,” Carley agreed.

“I just feel sorry for you, having to have her around all the time,” Janelle said. “I mean, the two of you were such good friends, and now –”

The scratching of the rake was directly outside the open living room window. Gwen twisted. Because of the slope of the yard, only the top of Molly’s head was visible. For a moment she looked up. Gwen’s eyes locked with hers. Then Molly turned away, and Gwen turned back to the room. Her cheeks burned,
though she didn’t know why. Molly had betrayed
her
, so why should she feel humiliated for Molly?

The raking sound resumed, moving slowly past the window.

“So, Gwen, when are you coming back to dance class?” Janelle asked.

“Yeah, we miss you,” Carley said. “I keep messing up. I need you to remind me what to do.” She smiled.

“Mrs. Truman keeps calling on
me
to demonstrate.” Janelle rolled her eyes, as if she minded.