Fighting Fate (17 page)

It was definitely time for a subject change.

“You haven’t told me anything about you. Whatever happened to Cassie? Is she around?”

Sarah shook her head. “We lost touch when we went our separate ways for college.”

“How did you like working at your old school?”

She shook her head at him. “Thank you for Penelope. I love her. But even still, you haven’t earned the right to hear about me.” She stood up, still clutching the kitten, and headed across the room. She glanced over her shoulder at him. “You can let yourself out.”

He got up and as she began her ascent up the stairs, he called after her.

“Sarah, you’re right. You didn’t deserve the way I treated you. If you would let me, I would apologize every day for the rest of my life. And I would mean it.”

“I don’t want your apologies right now. I just want you to go away,” she said.

He crossed the small space to the kitchen door. “I’m going to make it up to you. I’m not going to stop until I do.”

&nb Vs cta>

Chapter Twelve

The past…

“I have a car,” Sarah said. The car she’d hit the deer with had been totaled, as she’d feared. Fortunately for her, the insurance money had come through quickly. She’d been able to pick a new one out within a few weeks.

“Well, hoo
raaayyyy
for you,” Lacie dryly noted. “Is there anything Little Miss Perfect doesn’t have?”

Sarah’s cheeks flamed at the insult. “I was mentioning it,” she said irritably, “because I could drive you.”

Lacie snorted. “What? Like a charity taxi service?”

“No. I could pick you up. We could go together.”

The idea had come to her in the middle of her tutoring session. Lacie was in the center because finals were next week and Mrs. Larson had firmly let her kno [y l

To Kill a Mockingbird
. She couldn’t stop talking about the end of the year party at Mike Scanlon’s house.

A party Sarah was quite certain that Cole would be at.

And she would not.

Unless she did something drastic to change that.

Cassie would rather die than attend a party with alcohol and who knew what else. Lacie clearly did not have those inhibitions. She’d been lamenting over the fact that her friend Angela—who did have a car—had a date and wouldn’t be able to give her a ride.

Sarah wasn’t under the impression that she and Lacie were friends. But thanks to countless hours in the Tutoring Center they were at least comfortable acquaintances. Weren’t they? As she thought about what she was planning to suggest, she hoped so.

Lacie stared at her a second, not knowing if Sarah was serious. “Right,” she muttered.

“Please?” Sarah pressed.

Lacie lifted her eyes to Sarah again. “You mean it? You want to go to a party at Mike’s house? Have you ever
been
to one?”

Of course she hadn’t.

She knew that in regard to her social status at Laurel High, she was somewhere in the middle. Neither here nor there. She managed to get along with most everyone. Then again, she mostly stayed out of everyone’s way. She had her own, close circle of friends. Girls like her who valued their reputations as much as they valued their GPAs. Girls who wouldn’t be caught dead at a party thrown by a twenty-something reprobate that could only maintain his former glory by holding onto his past.

Once out of high school, Mike Scanlon had been on the verge of becoming a nobody. Without the means or desire to further himself in life, he’d retained his partying ways. He was now notorious for the parties he threw. Even as he got older, the majority of the party crowd stayed younger. A good portion of them were high school kids. On occasion some college kids were thrown into the mix. There were older partygoers too. The same degenerate crowd he’d gone to high school with and had raised God-only-knew what kind of hell with.

Sarah knew the guy was bad news. She understood Lacie’s hesitation completely. Until a few months ago, she’d have thought the idea was completely absurd as well. The thing was, until a few months ago, her world hadn’t been tipped sideways by a certain someone who made her heart lurch every time he smiled.

After that first day, when he’d offered to tutor her,
Sarah had naively decided he was simply scheming for a way to spend time with her. When he didn’t pursue her
that way
…She knew she should be relieved.

And she was.

For all of one or two days.

Then she started wondering
why
he wasn’t interested in her that way.

By the time nearly a month had gone by, she, Sarah Heath, had found herself head over heels for Cole Montgomery. Cole. Who was now her friend. Her buddy. Just a pal.

But now with summer vacation looming, she was at risk of losing touch and not seeing him. That’s where the sudden urge to do something drastic bloomed from. Such as attend a party where he’d be and lay it all out there. Then he could tell her he felt the same way and they would live happily ever after. In her romanticized fairytale world, of course. The flip side of that was that if she managed to spill out her heart and it went horribly, she’d have all summer to recover from the humiliation of it all.

Lacie looked at Sarah with a mixture of disbelief and curiosity. “You really want to go?”

“I really want to go. Why is that so hard to believe?”

“Because…because it’s
you
,” Lacie pointed out.

She let out a defeated sigh. It had probably been a terrible idea, she realized. She tapped Lacie’s notebook. “Let’s get back to work then.”

Lacie wasn’t ready to get back to work. “Fine. Pick me up. But save us both some embarrassment and ditch the cardigan, okay?” Sarah nodded and Lacie grabbed a pen. “Here’s my address. Pick me up at ten.”

“Ten?” Wasn’t that kind of…late? She had a curfew of midnight. That would only give her a few hours.

“Yes, ten.”

Sarah did as requested. She pulled into Lacie’s driveway promptly at ten. In the hours between ending their tutoring session and showing up at Lacie’s house, she’d spent a few hours at the mall. She had nothing appropriate to wear to a party and she knew it. So she’d gone shopping alone because she couldn’t shop with Cassie without telling her what she was looking for or why.

She wasn’t disillusioned. She knew she could never pull off sexy. She would settle for ditching frumpy. Now, she feared, she’d crossed the line and accidentally slipped on into trashy.

“Holy hell,” Lacie said as she slid into Sarah’s passenger seat. “What did you do to yourself?”

Sarah gripped the steering wheel, wondering what she’d been thinking. She had been trying to go for pretty but simple. Her white shorts were the shortest she’d ever worn. Her black halter top was held on by thin [d od bties around her neck. It showed more skin than she’d ever shown anywhere other than the beach. Her hair was up, carefully twisted and layered with a few wisps floating down. She’d painted her nails and played up her eyes.

“I look ridiculous, don’t I?”

When Lacie didn’t immediately answer, Sarah glanced her way. The other girl’s eyes were raking over her. She turned to Sarah and grinned. “You look…kinda hot.”

Sarah would’ve thanked her but Lacie’s tone indicated that she was showing her surprise, not complimenting her. She decided not to say anything. Instead, she listened to Lacie’s babbling with occasional directions thrown in.

When they finally pulled up to the house in the country, she could see people stumbling about already. There were clusters of people outside but she guessed that most of the people were within the walls of the ramshackle house. She pulled off to the side and parked. A case of nerves started zinging through her body.

“Well don’t just sit there,” Lacie scolded. “Let’s go.” Lacie opened her door and with a deep breath to fortify herself, Sarah followed.

She recognized some of the people but not many. Most of them seemed to be older. She recognized a few seniors but most of the guests she assumed weren’t in high school at all. Maybe Cole wouldn’t be here. Maybe this was a mistake.

“How long do you want to stay?” Sarah nervously asked.

Lacie waved a hand at her. “I plan on staying all night. Angela can give me a ride in the morning. I just needed to find a way to get here. You can leave whenever.”

Sarah nodded, feeling relieved. That meant she could leave right now, if she wanted. She scanned the groups of people outside. It was twilight but there was a small bonfire burning. It lit the yard just enough to make out faces. If he wasn’t here yet, would he be here later? Or maybe he was here but just inside.

Lacie sliced a look Sarah’s way. “Are you actually looking for someone?” she asked, sounding amused. She stopped where she was and put her hands on her hips as she checked Sarah over once more. A conspiratorial grin spread across her face and she nodded to herself. “You are. That’s what this is about. Come on, who is it?”

She was about to protest but decided against it. What difference would it make if she said she was looking for Cole? Besides, Lacie would probably know whether or not he was coming.

Lacie leaned forward, her eyes gleaming. “Who is it?” she whispered.

“Um…” Sarah stalled. She took another quick look around, hoping to find him on her own. She had no such luck. She wrinkled her face up in indecision. “Cole?”

“Is that why you wanted to tag along?” Lacie asked as her voice hardened. “Because of Cole?”

“Maybe?” Sarah replied in a small voice.

Lacie was clearly not pleased with her admission. “If I’d known that, I would’ve left you home.”

“Why?” Sarah asked defensively. She decided not to remind Lacie that she had driven. She could’ve left
her
home. Well, not really. She’d had no idea how to get to Mike’s. But that was beside the point. “Why is that so hard to believe? Cole’s a really nice guy. He’s really sweet and—”

“You don’t have to defend him to me,” Lacie interrupted. She had crossed her arms over her chest. She was posing in a way that made her boobs look enormous and her legs look miles long. Her head was cocked to the side and her eyes were narrowed at Sarah.

“Oh.
Oh
,” Sarah repeated, finally understanding. “You
like
him.”

The awkward words hung in the air between them.

Now what
? she wondered to herself. Was she supposed to apologize? Cassie had never had a crush on anyone. Not really. But Sarah still had a hunch that it wasn’t a good idea to like the same guy your friend liked. But…it wasn’t like they were friends. Still, the situation suddenly felt wrong.

“I’m sorry,” she said, apologizing anyway. “I never would’ve asked you to bring me here if I’d known.”

Lacie laughed and gave her a pat on the head. “Oh, that’s so cute. If you think you really have a chance with Cole, go for it. I could use a good laugh tonight. But just remember, if you do get anywhere? A girl like you? All sweet and innocent? You’re a novelty to a guy like him. He’s going to get bored with you. I give you a few days, tops. Then he’ll toss you aside. You’ll regret the day you ever chased after him. That is, if you even manage to catch him at all. Because
that
? I just don’t see happening.”

She readjusted her cami, making a spectacle of her cleavage. Then she smoothed down her shimmery blond hair. “Thanks for the ride.”

And then she was gone, blending into a group of people Sarah didn’t know. For just a moment, she stood there, furtively looking around. She was no stranger to feeling out of place but this was above and beyond.

With one last glance at the house, she spun around, her sandals scuffing across the driveway as she started back to her car.

“
Saraaaahhhhh
!”

Before she could turn back, she was nearly knocked over.

“Sarah!” Toni trilled again. “I thought that was you!” The girl let her arms fall away from Sarah’s neck and grinne [ck ed

Sarah had tutored Toni a few times. Never had the girl been so excited to see her before. Then again, she’d never been so tipsy before. She swayed on her feet as she waited for Sarah to answer.

“Actually, I was just leaving,” Sarah said.

“What?” Toni’s lip popped out in a pout. “No. Stay.” She looped her arm through Sarah’s arm and began to tug her back toward the crowd.

She didn’t protest. She let Toni drag her to a group of seniors that she didn’t know. She didn’t introduce her, which was just fine. Sarah spoke when spoken to and tried to look interested when Toni’s friends chatted within the group. She was just grateful that no one seemed to resent her being there.

“I need another beer,” Toni chirruped from beside her. She’d released Sarah but now she looped her arm through Sarah’s once more. “Come inside with me.”

Sarah still hadn’t seen Cole. It was possible he was in the house so she didn’t hesitate when Toni tugged her along.

If he’s not in there, I’m leaving
, she told herself. Toni’s friends had been nice enough but she still felt like an outsider. Because she was.

Inside, the curtains were drawn giving the house a closed-up feel. It was just as well. The place was a dump, she could tell, even in the dim glow of the one lamp left on. It probably looked worse in daylight. The furniture was ratty, tattered and mismatched. The air in the house was stifling. The number of people only made it worse. And it smelled peculiar. People were talking but the majority of the noise was coming from downstairs, where music was blaring.