Jealousy (4 page)

Taylor and I stopped at the bottom of the stairs.
Taylor, welcome to Canterwood
, I thought.

I SMILED UP AT MY FRIENDS, TAKING A QUICK
breath.

“I stepped out for a breath of fresh air and came back with a friend from home,” I said. “Is that a crazy birthday present or what?”

The girls giggled, but I could see their
get to the truth already!
looks.

“That's quite the surprise present!” Clare said. “I hope one of my friends from home just appears when I turn thirteen. Or maybe stuff like that only happens to people who have birthdays on Halloween.”

“I think that's it,” I said, trying to keep a serious look on my face. “When this cauldron popped up on the lawn
and this guy next to me stepped out, I thought, ‘Whoa! You guys
really
went all out!' ”

“That cauldron better still be there,” Lexa said. She grinned. “I need a cute boy to pop up out of nowhere!”

We all laughed.

“Guys,” I said. “This is Taylor Frost. He's a friend from home. No cauldron involved with his appearance, though. Sorry, Lexa.”

Lex stuck out her lower lip. “Boo.”

“Oh.
Oh
,” Khloe said. Her blond hair shimmered under the lights as she shook her head. She put both hands on her hips and grinned. Her near-palpable excitement almost sent sparks into the air. “Taylor! Taylor Frost! At Lauren's party! Omigod!”

Uh-oh!
I thought.
Khloe's going to freeeak out!

“Taylor, hi,” Lexa said, stepping in front of Khloe.

I shot her a quick, grateful smile, and Lexa winked back. She knew that when Khloe got excited, the girl got
excited.
I'd told Khlo everything about the Taylor saga. If no one stepped in and gave Khloe a moment to compose herself, my roommate would bury Taylor under a zillion rapid-fire questions.

“I'm Lexa Reed,” Lex said. “This is Clare Bryant . . .”

Clare smiled. “Hey, nice to meet you, Taylor.”

“. . . and Khloe Kinsella,” Lex added.

“Hi!” Khloe said. “Lauren's told you that I'm her awful roommate who plays emo music twenty-four/seven, fills our fridge with kelp smoothies, and snores, right?”

Taylor looked at me, then at Khloe. He had the deer-in-the-headlights look.

“No, not at all,” Taylor said, shaking his head. “Lauren's never said any of that.”

Khloe!
I yelled at her in my head. She'd scared Taylor—just like she'd done to me when we had first met.

“Khloe's an actress,” I said, jumping in. “She—”

“She likes you from everything Lauren's said and was just teasing,” Khlo said. She dropped her act. “It's really nice to meet you.”

Taylor smiled at her—the kind of smile that I knew meant he liked Khloe's sense of humor now that he was in on the joke.

“It's cool to meet all of you,” Taylor said. “Lauren's mentioned you guys before. Actually, she
did
mention that her roommate snores . . . .” Taylor looked at Khloe, a teasing gleam in his eyes.

Khloe's jaw dropped, and she covered her open mouth with her hand. I winked and stuck out my tongue at her.

“Lauren's mentioned you, too,” Clare said. “We thought
we had planned
every
surprise for tonight, but you coming here from Union is def the biggest one of all!”

“You
did
come a long way for LT,” Khloe said. She played with the ostrich plume on her white satin mask. “We totes know you're her ex!” she blurted out.

I looked at Khloe sideways.
Khloe!
I mouthed.

Khloe's face reddened. “But we know you're not a
bad
ex!” she added. “We know it was mutual. The breakup, I mean.”

Oh my God! I'm going to kill Khloe!
I thought. After everything Taylor had told me back at the bench, Khloe had no idea that my breakup was now a teensy bit more complicated.

Clare played with a lock of her red hair, and Lexa inspected her mask. I half expected Taylor to excuse himself, run to Wren Hall, and never come within ten feet of me or my friends again.

Khloe stepped out from behind Lexa and made eye contact with me. She curtsied. “I hope you all will congratulate me on making this the most awkward introduction in history to occur on Canterwood Crest Academy grounds. Not since the school was founded in nineteen . . .” She frowned. “Nineteen whatever—just way before cell phones and anything cool had been invented.”

I couldn't stop myself from smiling. Beside me Taylor did the same.

“My words that have surely embarrassed Lauren's friend, the seemingly nice Taylor Frost, should be included in the student handbook under a new section: Improper Methods of Introduction. I hope this night, October thirty-first, is remembered not just for Lauren's birthday or Halloween but for how I welcomed a visitor to our campus.”

Lexa nodded, making a serious face and patting Khloe's arm.
They are going to drag me away for questioning when I tell them that Taylor's a Canterwood student now!
I thought.

“Please make sure to take this story to the yearbook staff,” Khloe continued. “I must be recognized as ‘The Seventh Grader Who Blurted Out Embarrassing Things,' along with my other most honorable accolades.”

Khloe bowed her head and took a step back.

Silence.

Slowly Khloe lifted her head as if she was peeking at us to see if I was going to forgive her or revoke her invite to my party.

We all burst into laughter.

“I know I told you Khlo was an actress,” I said to Taylor. “I left out how
good
of an actress she really is.”

Taylor and Khloe traded smiles.

I went from wanting to shake KK to applauding her for being the best icebreaker. Her methods weren't conventional, but they worked.

“Taylor did come to surprise me for my birthday,” I said. “He had another surprise too.”

Lex, Clare, and Khloe raised their eyebrows.

“Do tell!” Khloe said, leaning on the iron railing.

“Like I said, Taylor's a friend from home,” I said. “He used to attend Yates.”

“Wait,” Clare said. She frowned. “You said ‘used to.' ”

I wasn't going to embarrass Taylor with the truth about his father. He would have plenty of time to decide whom to tell and when.

“He's not at Yates anymore,” I continued, twirling my mask in my hand. “It wasn't the right fit for him, and he decided to transfer.”

“Oh, cool,” Lexa said. “What school? Is it close to us?”

“About as close as you can get,” I said. “Taylor was just accepted to Canterwood. It's his first night on campus.”

“OMIGOD!” LEXA, CLARE, AND KHLOE SAID
at the same time.

“Sorry. I mean, welcome!” Clare said, recovering first.

“I'm glad you found a school that you liked,” Lexa said. “It's great that you have a friend to help you settle in.”

“Omigod!” Khloe said again. “Sorry! It's just . . .
wow.
You're a student. Here. At Canterwood.”

Taylor smiled at everyone. He was being great with my friends. “Crazy how it worked out,” he said. “I'm still kind of in shock too.”

“How about we go inside, grab snacks and drinks, and chat more?” I suggested. “Maybe find a quiet-ish place so we don't throw Taylor into the middle of a party at a new school?”

“If I were you, I'd be a little overwhelmed,” Clare said to Taylor. There was a look of understanding in her blue eyes. “Promise not to introduce you to every single one of my friends tonight.”

Lexa and Khloe added their agreement.

Taylor and I went up the stairs, following my friends inside. Tay slowed as his eyes wandered around the giant room.

“Wow,” he said. “
This
is a party.”

Fog curled out of the machine Khloe had borrowed from the theater department, and mist covered the floor and added a spooky feel. Tables of all shapes and sizes were positioned around the room, and there was plenty of space in the middle for dancing. I knew Jill had been on table duty, and she'd nailed it. Every table was draped with a silver, purple, or black fabric. A pumpkin that fit the table size had a freshly carved face and a flickering votive inside. Benches with soft, cushioned black leather had been lined up along the wall for extra seating.

As if that wasn't enough to look at, everyone had stuck to Khloe's dress code. Or . . . maybe she'd tossed them at the door if someone hadn't followed her “request,” aka “command,” to dress up.

Girls swayed to music in strapless, sleeveless, capped-sleeve,
bubble, bandage, and every other type dress, and the variety of dress colors formed a kind of rainbow across the floor.

“Aren't the masks the most beautiful part?” I asked Taylor.

“I've never seen anything like these. I was thinking Mardi Gras masks, but these are
serious.
They are so ornate and detailed.”

I nodded. “I did a lot of looking online. Some have ostrich plumes, some have rooster feathers—it all depends on what you want.”

“Let me see yours up close.”

I handed Taylor the stick of my mask. His thumb brushed my pinky when he grasped it. Months ago that would have made me shiver and do a Taylor-touched-my-hand cartwheel in my head.

This time? Nothing. Just our fingers touching for a half second on the braided silver fabric that covered the stick.

Taylor gingerly held my mask. “It's so you, LT. I couldn't see well enough in the moonlight. It's pretty.”

I beamed. “Thanks!”

It had taken me
hours
to find the Venetian-style mask. It was the lightest silver with tiny pink rhinestones in
random swirls and matching rosy pink around the eyes. Silver trimmed the mask's edge, and on the side an oval-shaped crystal jewel hid the tips of the dozen whimsical, thin feathers that fanned to the outside of the mask. Taylor handed it back to me.

“Your masks are great too,” he said to my friends. He nodded at Lexa, Clare, and Khloe while looking over their masks.

I
almost
looped my arm through his. I was so excited about how well he was getting along with my friends. Each of them smiled, holding out their mask so Taylor could see.

Khloe's mask was shiny white satin on a matching stick. On the right side a quarter-size rhinestone drew attention to an ostrich plume that was at least a foot long. Smaller feathers formed a half circle on the mask's side.

Lexa offered Taylor her mask, and he took it and held it up to his face.

“Does this match my skin tone?” Taylor asked, batting his eyes.

Any worries I had about Taylor at Canterwood were gone. He felt like a Canterwood student, my friends seemed to like him, and I was excited to show him around
campus tomorrow. Taylor just had a certain ease about him that made him fit in anywhere.

“Totally,” Lexa managed to say through her laughter. Clare, Khloe, and I were still giggling.

Taylor handed the shimmery black mask dotted with tiny pearls back to Lex. One of my favorite details of Lex's
très
chic find were angel-hair-spaghetti-thin black wires that curled out from one side and had a cluster of pearls at their base.

“Don't forget about mine,” Clare said. She held her mask up to her face. The deep purple mask had small black beads draped over it. It complemented her red hair and amethyst-colored dress.

Taylor told Clare how much he liked her mask and showed his to my friends. I couldn't have been prouder or more relieved at how well he fit in. But I
had
to find Drew. I waited for an opportunity when everyone was talking, and I made eye contact with Lexa. I held her gaze and mouthed,
Drew.

“Let's get this night going!” Lexa said, brushing back her curls. “Khlo, can you grab us seats?” she asked.