How To Salsa in a Sari (17 page)

“What about your grades, then? How are you going to explain your sudden dropping grades? And then lying about them to make Cat feel bad?”

“Oh, this all about Cat, isn't it?” Issa sneered. Alisha couldn't take her
own
daughter making her fake daughter look bad. Nice.

“Cat is behaving herself fine. This grounding has really done her good. Her grades are on the rise. Her attitude has improved—”

“Well, if she's your perfect daughter, what do you need me for!”

Alisha set down her paintbrushes and sighed heavily. “I think you need a change of scenery.”

Issa's breath caught. Finally they were seeing eye-to-eye again. She did need a change. They both did. They both needed to leave here and go stay with Roy. It was the only way everyone would be happy.

“You're grounded.”

“What!” Issa was sure she'd heard wrong. Grounding? How Diego-ish. Alisha didn't believe in locking kids up. Her parents had done it to her and she'd run away. She would never try that with her own daughter.

“You heard me. When Cat got in with a bad crowd and low grades, Diego grounded her. She's turning around. I think the same is necessary for you.”

“Mom! Whatever, okay? You're not Diego. Don't even try to pull the parenting act now.” There was something wrong with Alisha. Diego had gotten inside her head. He had bought her soul with a fancy new car and a comfortable home.

Alisha frowned. “I've had enough of this attitude. It ends here. No going out, no hanging with friends, no shopping. First thing I'm going to do is end this little game you and Cat have going with the Snow Queen. I'm going to remove both your names from the ballot.”

“No! You can't do this!”

Everything she'd worked for. Alisha was taking away her newfound popularity and boyfriend in one stroke. And the crown. She needed that crown.

“This is for your own good.”

Issa snapped.
Own good?
“Nothing you do is for my own good! It's for
your
own good! You move us into Diego's house. I beg you not to and you don't listen. I try to make the best of the situation and you don't like that either! What do you want from me?”

Guilt skittered across Alisha's face. “I want you to be the best person you can, Iz. No matter what the environment.”

“Oh, like you're being?” Issa knew she was pushing it, but it had to be said. “You're scared of giving Dad another chance, but you're not scared of marrying some criminal! Why? Because Diego's rich? That makes everything okay?”

The clock in the room was suddenly very loud. It pounded in Issa's ears in tune to her pulse. Issa wanted desperately to get out. To run far, far away from all this drama.

“Diego is giving us a better life. Do you think if you weren't living in his house, you would be even thinking about this Snow Queen business?”

“If we weren't living in his house, I would have my father back!” Issa screamed. “Not stuck with a gold-digging tramp like you!”

Silence.

Alisha turned her back to Issa. “Go.”

“Mom—” Issa knew she'd gone too far.

“Now. You think what you want about your father, but know this. I won't have you throw away your life. I'm watching you from now on. You are grounded. No more car, no more doing whatever the hell you want. It ends here.”

Alisha was threatening her? It had come to this now.

“Whatever.” Issa fumed and slammed closed the door of the art room…and came face-to-face with Cat, who was holding a large paint-splattered canvas.

Just what Issa needed at the moment.

Both girls just stared at each other for a second.

“Well, well, fighting with Mommy, huh,
chica?
” Cat had a smirk on her face that practically spelled out the fact that she had overheard the tail end of that conversation. “Seems like you're not Alisha's perfect angel anymore.”

Issa would have ignored the jab, but her blood was really boiling. “Said the pot to the kettle.”

Cat's eyes narrowed.

“Poor Diego, his little princess completely fallen from grace. Shady friends, disgraceful grades…where's your little entourage now?”

Cat bit her lip.

“What? You have nothing to say now, huh,
chica?
” Issa's eyes fell on the crowd of people who were gathering around. A few months ago, the situation had been reversed. Cat had humiliated her in front of this exact same crowd. She was going to take her revenge today.

“You're not going to get away with this.
Papi
is going to see through you and you're going to end up exactly where you belong!” Cat managed to spit out, even though it was evident from the tears in her eyes that she really didn't believe this anymore.

This was the moment Issa had been waiting for. Cat Morena, standing in front of her, tears rolling down her cheeks, looking hopeless.

Issa laughed. “Please. You lose your father, your friends and your precious car. Not to mention
your
Rake can't get enough of me. Face it. I have it all, and, well, you're known as the town whore and meth addict!”

Issa thought she would feel jubilant as Cat reeled backward. She didn't. Cat ducked through the crowd. Alone. No one approached her. Even Jewel and Sunshine hung back, whispering as Cat dashed by.

She brought it on herself,
Issa argued with her disapproving conscience.

“What the hell is the matter with you?” Issa heard Ishaan's voice to her left. He was holding Gigi's arm, both looking horrified. “Rake is telling the whole school you guys slept together and you don't even care?”

A lie. It was a lie. Ishaan couldn't stand not being the number-one guy in her life anymore. He was spreading these horrible lies.

“How could you do that to someone who lives with you!” Gigi's expression was of disgust.

Even they were turning on her now. First Alisha, now her so-called friends? Ishaan spreading rumors about her to the whole school with Gigi by his side.

Issa sneered. “Listen to yourself, guys. This is Cat Morena we're talking about. The girl who two months ago stole my boyfriend and humiliated me in front of the whole school. Remember? You guys were there!”

“Cat is no saint,” Ishaan started. “But—”

“But, Iz, this isn't you! You're acting so horrible…much worse than Cat! And hanging out with those Belles all the time?”

“Those girls are so stupid and shallow. And you're beginning to look and sound like them every day!” Ishaan raised his voice at her for probably the first time since they'd known each other.

What was this, an intervention? How dare her friends gang up on her like that?

“Oh, oh!” Issa took a step back and realized they had backed her into the door. “I'm shallow? Uh, Gigi, weren't you the one who made me buy these clothes? Weren't you the one who told me I should go for it if I liked a guy? Who said I needed to get over Adam?”

“Iz, I wanted you to be confident about yourself, not start acting like a major bitch!” Gigi snapped.

Issa felt like someone had slapped her. Her cheeks burned. Gigi was calling her a bitch in public. Ishaan was spreading rumors of her night with Rake around school and then blaming him. These people were supposed to be her best friends?

“Okay, I get it!” Issa replaced the scowl on her face with a serene smile, Belle-style. “You're jealous. You're jealous I'm popular, every guy wants to get with me and you can't even get Ishaan. I get it, Gigi!”

Gigi's eyes filled with tears but Issa felt not a drop of remorse. Gigi had asked for it.

“If you can treat your future sister like crap, I don't know why you would treat me any better,” Gigi whispered.

Issa stood alone in the hallway as the bell rang, watching Ishaan and Gigi turn their backs on her and walk away.

Insanity Is Hereditary: You Get it From Your Children

Issa
looked out of the window of the guest house when she heard a car engine pull in, hoping it was Rake or one of the Belles. She'd been frantically catching up on her extra-credit assignment and readings. She'd been a total hermit for the past three days and was ready for some company.

Alisha and Cat got out of the sparkling Bentley, both laughing and talking. Issa glanced at the time. Almost 7:00 p.m.—too late for them to just be getting back from school. Where had they been on a Thursday night? And why were they laughing as if they shared an amazing joke.

Issa felt a twinge. Alisha used to only laugh like that with her once upon a time.

Cat lugged a package out of the backseat and said something to Alisha. A brown-paper-wrapped package.

“It's yours,” Issa heard Alisha yell.

Issa felt like she was going to explode. She could feel her ears heating up. First her mother grounded her, then took Cat out and bought her presents. This had to be revenge for not telling her about Rake.

Issa was glowering by the time Alisha finally tore herself away from Cat and made it inside the guest house.

“Where have you been?” she demanded the second Alisha kicked off her beige cowboy boots and flopped onto a kitchen stool.

“Nice to see you too. How's the studying going? Are you out of community-college territory yet?” Despite their silence over the past few days, Alisha sounded like she was in a great mood tonight.

Issa made a face. Community college. She'd shoot herself first. “Wonderful. Where have you been?”

“At the art show.”

“What art show?”

“The one in New Haven.”

Issa frowned. She and Alisha always went to art shows together. Alisha always wanted to buy expensive abstract originals and Issa always restrained her. It was their thing. Even though they hadn't been superclose lately, Issa couldn't believe Alisha had gone without her. And had dared to take Cat instead.

“Did you have fun without me?” The bitterness in her voice wasn't lost on Alisha.

“I asked you if you wanted to go last week, but you said you had better things to do.” Alisha hoisted herself off the stool and started puttering around in the refrigerator.

“So you went with Cat.”

“Yup.” Alisha poured mango-lime juice into a glass. “She's in my oils class, remember? She's doing really well and I thought she would like to see the show.”

Issa didn't respond. Cat Morena doing well in one of the hardest classes at the school. Huh. She had to be up to something. Issa doubted Cat had developed a sudden interest in greasy paint and sketch pads. In fact, Issa had a very good feeling Cat was poisoning Alisha's mind. Maybe a few subtle suggestions placed into Alisha's head had led to Issa's grounding.

“Are you done with all your homework?” Alisha asked. “It's about dinnertime.”

The last thing Issa could think about now was the policies in the Middle East.

“I'm just surprised Cat wanted to go.” Issa closed her World Politics textbook. “I mean, all she cares about are clothes and boys.”

“Actually, that seems more like you nowadays. Cat's really surprising me.” Alisha set her empty glass in the kitchen sink. “I'll see you at the house for dinner.”

Issa stared at the empty glass, still smarting from Alisha's last comment. Her mother had changed so much. Putting away dishes, driving a Bentley, marrying someone she knew Issa couldn't stand.

Issa lowered herself back into the chair. Everything was changing.

Alisha had made good on her promise and removed both Cat's and Issa's names from the Snow Queen ballots. The only name that would be present would be Jenni Wilson.

The Belles had been furious and vowed to get Issa's name back on at the last minute and use their influence to make sure she won.

Issa knew Serena would be able to pull it off, but it wouldn't do her any good if she was still grounded. The Snow Ball committee would call out her name at the dance and ask her to collect her crown while she sat in her bedroom doing calculus homework.

That would never do.

Issa remained silent at dinner. She kept an eye on Cat, who was smiling and talking to Alisha and Diego about the art show and the painting Alisha had bought her.

“Sounds like my girls had a great evening.” Diego couldn't take his eyes off Alisha in an off-the-shoulder burgundy sweater dress, her wavy hair swept up in a loose chignon.

“We really did. Cat learned quite a bit in art history last year apparently. She knew all about modernism versus cubism—”

“Oh, but I had no idea how to tell if something was original versus a copy. They had paintings there, originals right next to fakes. Alisha showed me how to tell them apart. It was all about the signatures.”

Issa tuned out. Being locked up at home was making Cat an outrageously good actress. Issa almost started to believe that Cat had had a good time.

Issa swirled her water glass around, watching the ice cubes clink together. She needed to figure out a way to get out of her so-called grounding. Alisha had never grounded her in her life. It had to be something she'd picked up from Diego. Issa knew her mother and knew how much Alisha had hated all the rules and restrictions her own parents had placed on her.

The Snow Ball was next weekend, three days after the English final. Doing well on the final alone wouldn't get Alisha off her back. An idea started to form in Issa's head. It had the potential to end in disaster, but it was a risk worth taking. It was her only choice.

“Hey, guys.”

All three looked toward her.

“I was thinking. Cat and I have an English final next week and I don't know about her…” Issa did her best to give Cat an earnest look “…but I am
so
not ready.”

Alisha and Diego glanced at each other, Alisha looking confused, Diego disturbed.

“I thought maybe if Cat and I studied together, like nonstop for the next week, and we both did well…”

Cat shot Issa a look that practically screamed, “What the hell are you doing?”

“What I was thinking is that if we both do well on the final, we should be able to go to the Snow Ball. Both of us.”

Issa heard Cat suck in her breath.

“Well.” Diego set his napkin on the table. “I think that's a fine idea. But Alisha has to agree.”

Alisha stared hard at Issa.

Issa squirmed. Her mother knew her better than anyone. She was totally going to see through this little scheme. And then she was dead.

A slow smile formed on Alisha's face. “I think that's the best idea I've heard all day.”

Or maybe not.

Issa let out a sigh of relief.

“I'll even up the stakes. I'll make sure Professor Kidlinger grades both of your exams next Thursday morning. If you both get As, I will personally take the day off on Friday. I want to take both of you into the city to buy whatever dresses you want for the dance. DKNY, Carolina, whatever you want.”

Cat practically shrieked with excitement. Even Issa smiled. Her emerald-green vision of a Prada gown was going to come true. She could feel it.

“That sounds great, Mom. We can do this, can't we, Cat?”

“Yeah, we can!” Cat turned to Issa with a toothy grin.

Issa held Cat's gaze. For that one instant, Issa saw her own excitement reflected in Cat's eyes. She could swear Cat was smiling at her for real.

Issa wanted the glow of the moment to last, but instead felt nauseated thinking of why she wanted to go to the dance so badly. So she could flounce in with Rake on her arm, collect the Snow Queen crown and humiliate Cat in front of the whole school.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. As much as she hated to admit it, she liked this moment the four of them were sharing. They were almost a family. A dysfunctional, overly materialistic family, but a family nonetheless. Alisha looked so happy zooming around town in the Bentley. And Issa could practically feel the satin of the Prada gown against her skin. Maybe…

“Also, another bit of news,” Diego broke in. “Alisha and I will be looking at wedding sites outside the city next weekend. Make sure you girls stay out of trouble. No throwing any post-dance parties.”

Wedding sites. Alisha was marrying Diego in a month. Roy would disappear for good and Issa knew she would never see him again.

Issa's happy haze crumbled around her and she again saw her situation in stark gray and white.

Her mother could
not
marry Diego. Ever.

After Issa was crowned Snow Queen and Cat had a nervous breakdown, there was no doubt that the wedding would be called off.