Kiss List (14 page)

“Look at Sophia,” Missy said quietly.

I looked over at Sophia. She had walked up to Sam and appeared to be whispering something to him.

“What’s she telling him?” I asked tersely.

“She’s giving him a clue,” Missy said. “I’ll tell you more in a minute.”

A clue? Before I could follow up I heard Officer Coleman say, “And you all know what that means. Bring out the squad cars!”

More committee members burst into the gym pushing what looked like two big garbage bin carts that had been decorated to look like cop cars, complete with flashing red and blue lights. The committee members pushing the carts dipped the bins down and the committee members supporting David and Sam lowered the boys in to the bins. The audience laughed as the boys, still wearing the goggles and handcuffs and David with his singlet rolled down to his waist, were wheeled out of the gym.

“Now, that was a bit of fun,” Officer Coleman said. “But I want you to remember...”

“What clue?” I asked, moving so that I stood directly in front of Missy. The game was over, now I wanted answers.

“Right now those boys are being taken to two different cars,” Missy said coolly. “Those fake handcuffs? Yeah, they’re not fake. We gave the cops a fake one to test but those are very real.”

That was insane.
Downright sinister. The girl had no shame. “Whose cars?” I seethed.

“Well, I can’t tell you whose car Sam is going to be loaded into yet. That would ruin the game. David is going to be loaded into a car owned by a guy on the Churchill wrestling team.”

“What? Why?” I asked in confusion.

“Well it turns out that Churchill is not fond of how good David is at wrestling,” Missy said. “I understand that several of the wrestlers over there view David as something of a rival, or maybe an arch enemy would be more accurate. Anyway, these boys jumped at the chance to have some fun with David while he can’t see anything and is handcuffed.”

“That’s horrible!” I cried. “They’ll haze him. Missy, I need to stop them.”

“Go right ahead,” Missy said.

“What?”

“You heard me,” Missy said. “Those carts are not very fast. If you run after them now you can catch them. Of course, if you do, those photos of you and Sam in the locker are going to find their way to Dylan.”

I froze. “You wouldn’t.” But I already knew she would.

Missy laughed shrilly.
“After what you tried to do to me? Yes, I would. But from what I’ve seen, you and Dylan look happier than ever together. I’m sure he would be trusting enough with you that he would overlook the photos, wouldn’t he?”

I thought back to the conversation I had with Dylan about trusting each other. If he saw the pictures it would destroy him. How would he ever be able to trust a girl after that? Dylan was so emotional, especially in the middle of his parents’ divorce, that he would never be able to listen to reason after seeing those photos.

“I take it you’re not going to run after them?” Missy asked in an amused voice.

I just glared at her. There was nothing else I could do.

“Okay,” she said. “If that’s the way you want it. Here’s the deal. I’ll call you at 7 PM tonight and give you a clue as to where you can find Sam. Sophia gave Sam a clue to where David is so you can go find him after you find Sam. Oh, and one more thing, you’ll need these now.”

She reached out and handed me two keys. They were clearly the keys to the handcuffs.

“One more thing,” Missy said as the dancers began to file out of the gym. “Don’t ever mess with me or my boyfriend again.”

Then she left with the dancers, leaving me fuming but feeling helpless and very much alone.

I sat in my room staring at my cell phone impatiently. I checked the clock on my wall every few seconds, watching the minute hand tick at an excruciatingly slow pace. 7 PM came and went and Missy had still not called. It was infuriating. On one hand, I wanted to call her and demand to know the clue so I could help the boys as soon as possible. I still had Missy’s phone number from when Doug had forwarded the photos of Sam to her. On the other hand, I did not want to give her the satisfaction of seeing me panic.

Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. I had called David’s and Sam’s cell phones numerous times and not gotten any response. It was driving me insane. I snatched up my phone and dialed Missy’s number.

“Hello,” someone answered in a muffled voice.

“Missy? Is that you?”

“Oh yeah, hi Sadie, what’s up?” Missy asked nonchalantly.

“What’s up?” I almost screamed. “It’s after 7 PM. What’s the clue?”

I heard a crunch on the other end of the line. The girl was actually eating as she talked to me.

“Right, right, yeah, I forgot about that,” Missy said. There was another crunch as she bit into something. “El Biabbo.”

“What?” I asked, trying to understand her.

“El Diablo,” Missy after she had cleared her throat. “The clue is El Diablo.”

“El Diablo?”
Now I was screaming. “What the hell is El Diablo?”

“Yeah, that’s
it, you’re on the right track. Talk to you later, Sadie,” Missy said. Then she hung up.

“
Ahhhhh!” I yelled and slapped my palm on my desk. The girl was infuriating. El Diablo? It didn’t make any sense. I grabbed my laptop and searched “El Diablo.” According to the search results, “El Diablo” meant “The Devil” in Spanish.

Well that was fitting but besides knowing why Missy had said I was on the right track when I said the word “hell,” I wasn’t any closer to finding out where Sam was and the minutes were still ticking away. I tried searching for restaurants in the Lakeville area named El Diablo. No luck. I tried a broader search for anything named El Diablo in the vicinity.
Nothing.

I gritted my teeth. I needed answers. Even though it might raise some embarrassing questions, I needed to ask someone for help. The person I knew with the most answers around was Olivia. Reluctantly, I dialed her number.

Olivia thought I was insane. I know that because she said it several times. “I don’t understand you,” she said. “You already know what El Diablo means. Why are you asking where he is? Obviously he’d be in hell.”

“No,” I said in exasperation. “I heard someone talking about El Diablo at school and it seemed like some sort of place or maybe a person in our school. You don’t know about anything like that?”

“Sadie,” Olivia said. “This is weird. Are you sure you’re okay?”

I finally gave up trying to get something useful out of Olivia. I hung up and dialed Payton’s number. I didn’t really think Payton would know the answer but the only area Olivia was oblivious about was the school social life, and that was Payton’s area of expertise. If neither Olivia nor Payton knew the answer, I would know that Missy was sending me on a wild goose
chase. Then, I thought, the next rationale step would be going over to Missy’s house and punching her right in the face.

“
Yo girl, what’s wrong?” Payton said as soon as she answered her phone.

That caught me off guard. “What makes you think something’s wrong?” I asked uncomfortably.

“Uh, because you’re calling me instead of texting me,” Payton said. “No one does that anymore. I figured if you were going old school something serious must be going on.”

“Everything’s fine,” I said. “I was just wondering if you’ve heard of anyone called El Diablo.”

There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line.

“Calm down,” I said. “I know it means ‘The Devil’ in Spanish, don’t let your stupid superstitions...”

“No,” Payton said, cutting me off. “I mean yes, it does mean ‘The Devil’ and you should never say that word when it’s dark outside or during the months of October or December, but it also means something else. Do you remember when you broke things off with Sam and I warned you that there was a group of crazy sophomore cheerleaders that were out to get you because they thought you had cheated on him with David and Dylan?”

I thought back to that conversation. Payton had made some joke about them creating shanks and coming after me. I didn’t see what that had to do with the clue, however. “Yeah, I guess I remember,” I said.

“Well,” Payton said, “one of those sophomore girls is worse than all the rest combined. She’s evil incarnate. Carly Harris. This girl is the biggest fan of hot boy icons you have ever seen. I mean, the girl is nuts. One Direction won’t even come to this state because of her. I’m pretty sure that Justin Bieber has a restraining order against her. If you’re a cute teenage boy, you’re a target. Everyone calls her that bad name...”

“El Diablo?”
I supplied.

“
Shhh, don’t say that name after dark.” Payton hissed. “Let’s say D. Everyone calls her D because she’s so scary. She’s hot but a total nutcase. She’s got a posse of like-minded girls that we call the Demon Sisters. D and the Demon Sisters.”

“Come on, Payton,” I scoffed. “How bad could she be?” I thought back to what Payton had originally said about the sophomore girls. “For example, I remember you told me they had a crush on Sam. Let’s say they got a hold of him. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Ugh,” Payton said. “Don’t even suggest that. Sam is the perfect outlet for their evilness. He’s got a cute face, great hair, he’s 16, all the girls love him, and he’s got a smokin’ hot body. He’s like the school’s own pop icon. If they could get him alone, those girls would tear him limb from limb. I’m serious. They’d turn that little stud muffin into their personal boy toy and believe me when I tell you that they don’t play nice with their toys. What you and David did to Sam would just be an appetizer to these girls. It’s so bad I don’t even want to talk about it. I meant what I said. Stay away from D. The girl might only be a sophomore but I swear she’s worse than Missy. You really, really don’t want her on your bad side. At least Missy will be gone next year. If you start something with D, you better be prepared to endure another year of pure hell.”

“Well that’s wonderful. Of course I will stay as far away from her as possible,” I said. “Now, could you go get your book of cheerleader phone numbers and home addresses?”

Payton groaned. “This is not a good idea, Sadie,” she said. “Whatever you’re up to, there must be a way not to involve D.”

“Not this time, I’m afraid,” I said. “If it’s any consolation, you’re welcome to take my responsibility for the kiss list I don’t make it back alive.”

I convinced dad to lend me his car so I could “go study with Alyssa” and instead drove to the address Payton had reluctantly given me. El Diablo lived in a modest beige stucco house on a quiet cul-de-sac. Several cars were parked in the driveway and on the street in front of the lawn. It looked like El Diablo had the Demon Sisters over.

I knocked on the front door and after a minute a bored, tired-looking woman in her 40s opened it. “Hi, I’m a friend of
Carly’s,” I said. “She told me to come over.”

I was worried that the woman –
Carly’s mom, presumably – would question my age or say that she had never seen me before. Instead, she just waved me inside. She pointed to a staircase that led to the basement and walked back to the living room where she had been watching TV with a man whom I assumed was El Diablo’s father.

I tiptoed down the stairs. I could hear Justin
Bieber’s silky voice blasting from some sort of speaker system. As I rounded the last corner of the staircase I took a deep breath and prepared myself for whatever evil I might encounter.

The basement was filled with teenage girls feasting on chips, dip, and vegetables which had been spread out across a pool table. There was no sign of Sam anywhere.

The girls were chatting to each other but a few gradually became aware of my presence. They froze and stared at me quietly. A hush soon fell across the crowd as all of the girls turned to stare at me in surprise. Bieber’s voice crooned away obliviously in the background.

“Uh, hi,” I said. “I’m looking for El, uh sorry, I mean
Carly.”

“What’s going on?” a high-pitched voice asked and a moment later another girl appeared from around a corner. She was petite and had an incredibly angelic face. Her long blond hair had been carefully braided and she wore a red and white stripped dress with a dark sash stylishly wrapped around her middle like a belt. Her skin was like white porcelain and her lips were covered in a bright-red shade of lipstick that seemed to match the red on her dress. She was very pretty but looked like she was 11 or 12 compared to the rest of the girls, who all looked to be about 16. When she saw me her brow furrowed in confusion. “What are you doing here?” she said.

“I’m looking for Carly,” I repeated. “Which one of you is she?”

“I’m
Carly,” the little girl said in a sweet voice.

I looked her up and down incredulously. There was no way this girl was El Diablo. From Payton’s description I had been expecting
a Goth girl six-feet tall with tattoos and a cigarette in her mouth. This girl looked like a little cherub. “Carly Harris?” I said uncertainly.

“Yes, you’re in my house,” the girl replied. “What can I do for you?” A pleasant smile played across her lips. She even looked sweet when she was interrogating me.

“Sorry to intrude,” I said. “Someone just suggested that I could find a friend of mine here. Have you seen Sam Queen, by any chance?”   

Carly’s
eye twitched. It was so quick that for a moment I thought I was just seeing things. “Who?” she asked sweetly.

“Sam Queen,” I said, figuring she was perhaps hard of hearing. “You know, sophomore.
Plays baseball. Hot stuff. Cocky. Beautiful eyes.”

“Oh, Sam Queen,” the girl said, emphasizing the last name as if I had been saying it wrong. “No, haven’t seen him around.”

I looked at the rest of the girls. Most of them smiled back at me but a few looked nervous. Something was wrong, this was too strange. Carly’s eye-twitch when I had said Sam’s name... something about it just didn’t seem right.

“Okay, well Officer Coleman is looking for him,” I lied. “He said something about a kidnapping. I’ll just let him know I didn’t see Sam here. Of course, he’ll still need to get a warrant and check it out, but that shouldn’t be a problem for you all. Good thing too, I certainly wouldn’t want to spend the next 20-30 years in jail for being an accessory to kidnapping.”

“Okay, well, goodbye then,” Carly said. The rest of the girls maintained their frozen smiles.

Just as I was about to turn around one of the girls cracked. “He’s in the fitness room!” she blurted out, her eyes darting to something beyond the corner in the wall that
Carly had just walked around.

Carly
opened her mouth. “Dorothy, you...” and then the little angel who went by the name Carly to disguise her true identity as the Devil let out a stream of curse words that would have made a sailor blush.

I gaped at El Diablo in shock. “You’re hiding a living, breathing person in your basement and you thought you could get away with it?” I asked.

That’s when El Diablo turned her attention back to me. The angelic look was gone. The fury in the little girl’s demonic eyes was evident. “You can’t have him,” she said. “You had your chance with him and you blew it. Besides, we’re not doing anything bad. We are just having some fun with him. He’s enjoying it.”

“He’s handcuffed and he can’t see anything,” I said, stunned that I even had to argue the point.

“He could tell us to stop anytime he wants to,” El Diablo said. “And he hasn’t. Not convincingly, anyway.”

I met El Diablo’s hate-filled stare. “I’m going to go into that room and let him loose,” I said. “And if you try to stop me I’m going to call 911 and have you arrested.”

El Diablo glared at me but didn’t say anything. It seemed that she had run out of arguments. I took another deep breath and descended the rest of the way down the stairs. I pushed through the girls who glared at me as well but made no move to stop me. Then I brushed past El Diablo, almost afraid that I would burst into flames if I touched her, and turned around the corner I had seen her come from. There was a door that led to what I assumed must be the exercise room. I walked backward to the door so I could keep an eye on the girls in case they decided to jump me. They followed my movements like wild animals hunting their prey. I felt a shiver go down my spine but then I bumped into the door behind me. With one swift movement I opened the door, walked backwards in the bedroom, and closed the door behind me.

I sighed in relief and then turned around. Nothing could have prepared me for the sight that awaited me.