Is She for Real? (11 page)

“He did give it to me,” she confirmed.

“It looks expensive,” her dad said, leaning over the table for a better look. Bethany quickly pulled her hand away.

“Oh, I'm sure it's just costume!” her mother said. “I can't imagine the Carlsons would allow him to give her something
real
!”

Bethany kept her head down and smiled a secret smile as she looked at her beloved ring.

But by the time she'd packed her bag for the beach and the sleepover, Bethany's mood had begun to plummet. She felt the sickness start creeping through her body, though she didn't say anything to her parents about it. She was starting to realize that maybe it was in her head, after all. Maybe she was nervous about seeing Nate? She had been so excited that same morning, but now she was filled with dread.
Why do I keep feeling like this?
she thought.
Enough with the dread!

She headed over to Lissa and Nate's, trying hard to ignore the sinking feeling inside. But by the time she arrived, the paranoid, depressed feeling she'd had when she was so sick yesterday had returned. Just in time for Nate to open the door.

“Hello, milady,” he said with a smile. “Glad you're feeling better.”

If you only knew
, Bethany thought. Before she could stop herself, she said coldly, “Why didn't you come see me when I was sick?” She hadn't even realized she was so upset about this until she said it.

“Um, actually, I did,” Nate said, looking a little hurt. “I brought you a scone. Your parents said you were asleep. Didn't they tell you? Didn't they give you the scone?”

“No, they didn't,” Bethany shot back. “Where were you, anyway? Off on a fishing voyage?” She sounded so angry that she barely recognized her own voice.

“What?” Nate said, confused. “You know what? You're acting a little weird.”

Here it comes
, thought Bethany.
He's going to tell me he's met someone else.

“I'm sorry,” she said quickly. “I haven't been sleeping too well.” Couldn't she just hit the reverse button and make this conversation go differently?

Nate was staring at the ground, so Bethany continued.

“I've been sleepwalking, and it's really freaking me out,” she said. “Last night I wound up at the old Warwick
house with the plaque. I don't know how I got there.”

“Really?” Nate looked right at her. Well, she certainly had his attention now. “That's
really
weird,” he said. “Sorry that happened to you.” But then something in Nate seemed to shift.

“It's just kind of frustrating,” he went on, looking down again. “You used to be different. Now it just seems like you're mad at me all the time. You're acting kind of crazy.”

Bethany thought she couldn't feel any worse than she had yesterday, but she suddenly reached a new low.
That's it, he's breaking up with me
, she thought over and over as she twirled the ring.
He's going to ask for the ring back, I just know it.

“Do you want the ring back?” she asked softly. She could hear her heart beating in her ears.

“No, milady, I certainly don't,” Nate said. He sounded pretty sure of himself, but Bethany was still wild with fear inside.

“I just want you to stop acting so weird,” he added. “You have no reason to be acting like this.”

He likes someone else
, Bethany thought.
Someone who doesn't act so strange. He says he doesn't want the ring back, but
I'm sure he doesn't want to be with me anymore.
Before she could stop herself, she blurted, “Just leave and go on a fishing voyage like you always do!”

Nate gave her a long, hard, look. “Are you for real, Bethany?” he blurted out in anger.

She stared back at him in stunned silence.

But then he seemed to gain control over his emotions. He took a deep breath and in a much calmer voice said, “Actually, I did plan to go fishing with my friends today. Not on a voyage. Just to the pier, with Justin and Russ. Your friends are upstairs waiting for you.” And with that, he walked away, leaving the front door open for her to come in and meet up with Lissa, Lily, and Olivia.

Bethany stood there for a minute before entering, trying to recover from the horrible exchange. She wanted to pull herself together before seeing her friends. She didn't want them to think she was crazy too, like Nate obviously did. Then she would have no boyfriend
and
no friends. She really had to watch it.
The ring is still on my finger
, she tried to reassure herself.
Which means we're still officially together.

“It really is cool having your backyard be a beach,” Olivia was saying to Lissa as they walked onto the sand. They stopped near the crooked tree, which, Lissa explained to Bethany, was hundreds of years old and was always the site of the Sandy Lady ritual.

“Cool!” Bethany said, trying to act normally. She thought she'd done a pretty good job so far with her friends, who didn't seem to notice anything was wrong.

Then suddenly Lily said something to Bethany that made her freeze inside. “Look at me,” she said in a serious voice.

Bethany looked at Lily, forcing herself to meet her friend's eyes. Lily looked hard back at Bethany, staring into her eyes for what seemed like an eternity.
She's going to tell me I'm crazy
, Bethany thought.

“Your eyes look totally green,” Lily said.

“What?” Bethany said. Now all three girls were examining Bethany's eyes.

“It's true,” Lissa said. “Your eyes are bright green! Maybe it's the green shirt.”

“Or the new summer sun!” Olivia said happily, oblivious to the fact that Bethany was feeling just the opposite of sunny.

“My eyes change color a little depending on the light and what I'm wearing,” Lissa said. “That's probably what it is. They look really pretty. They match your shirt perfectly.”

Okay, so my eyes look green
, Bethany thought.
If that's the worst of what they notice about me, that's pretty good.

“Sandy Lady! Sandy Lady!” Lissa, Lily, and Olivia cried. It was time to begin the summer ritual.

“How do you decide who goes first?” Bethany asked, trying to feign interest in the ritual, despite the fact that she had a strong feeling of dread growing in her chest.

“Well, last time when it was the three of us, we did eeny-meeny-miney-mo,” Lissa said. “But this time, since it's a new year and there's a new member of the club, I think we should do something different. Like rock, scissors, paper.”

“Totally,” Lily and Olivia said at the same time.

The rock, scissors, paper routine turned out to be complicated, and it took awhile to work out the logistics. Finally they got it right.

“I'm the first Sandy Lady of the summer!” Lissa crowed as they all dug a long hole in which she would be buried. It took awhile, because they were using their hands and because they wanted to make it as deep as
possible. Then Lissa took off her shorts and top to reveal her new polka-dot bathing suit. She got in and lay down faceup as the other three threw sand on her until all they could see was her head.

They patted the sand down on top of her body, even sitting on it, so it was as tightly packed as possible. Then they all stood back to admire their work and take pictures with their phones. Lissa seemed to enjoy being buried and begged the others to bury Olivia right next to her, but Lily insisted that Sandy Lady was a one-at-a-time deal. They couldn't mess with tradition, she said, or the ritual would lose its magic and they wouldn't have a good summer.

Lissa stayed buried for about ten minutes before she asked to be dug out, and it took a few minutes to unearth her and a few hands to pull her up. She was caked in damp sand but seemed invigorated. Olivia was already getting herself ready, handing her phone over to Bethany.

“Will you document my Sandy Lady moment?” she asked Bethany.

“No problem,” said Bethany. She was feeling a little better by now; things seemed to be going fine, and she was able to go along with the fun.
See, this isn't so bad!
she
thought. But for some reason she was dreading her turn.

She dutifully snapped away with the phone once Olivia was buried. Olivia was making funny faces the whole time.

“Build me a mermaid tail!” she said. “Please?”

The girls went to work piling more sand on the area below Olivia's buried feet, shaping it into a curly sort of fin. Lissa used a stick to draw scales like a real mermaid.

“I'm a Pretty Mermaid Lady!” Olivia cried. “Bethany, take more photos!” Everyone was cracking up, and Bethany tried to laugh too. But half of her was thinking about Nate and how he said she used to be different.

She sighed silently, because it was true. She'd lost what had always been her superpower: her confidence. It was just gone, or misplaced, or buried, or something. Whatever it was, it wasn't here. It had been replaced by a feeling of doom so great it felt like it was burning holes in her heart. But she smiled as everyone helped Olivia out of her mermaid hole.

Now Bethany and Lily had to do rock, scissors, paper to determine who would be buried next. Bethany did “scissors” and Lily did “rock.”
Yes!
thought Bethany.
Rock smashes scissors. I don't have to go next.

So it was Lily's turn. Lily wanted the girls to build a pyramid of sand on top of her so she could pretend to be a mummified Cleopatra in her underground tomb, which kind of creeped Bethany out. But again, she went along with the sand play, helping build the pyramid and taking photos all the while.

“Sandy Cleopatra Lady, Sandy Cleopatra Lady!” Lily chanted in a singsong voice. Then, again, everyone helped her out of the hole. Bethany was beginning to feel really nervous.

Then it was her turn.

“You know what, you guys?” Bethany said nonchalantly. “I think I'll skip Sandy Lady. Maybe I'll wait till next year.” The girls looked at her as if she had said she never wanted to eat cookie dough again.

“What are you talking about?” Lissa said.

“I-I-I don't know …,” Bethany stammered, still trying to sound like it was no big deal. “It's just, well, I just got over being sick and all. Maybe all that dampness isn't such a good idea.”

“But you're fine now,” Lissa countered.

“But I was really sick,” Bethany reminded them.

“But you seem totally better,” Olivia said.

“Well, I'm better, but I wouldn't want to have a relapse.” Bethany continued to try to get out of it. She just didn't want to go into that hole. Every cell of her body was screaming in protest.

“You won't have a relapse,” Lily said. Well, that made three against one. Should Bethany just refuse? No, that would be too odd. And they might tell Nate that she was acting strangely with them, too.

Thinking of Nate, she lay down in the hole.