Me & My Invisible Guy (16 page)

As soon as I walked into the house, Darby pounced.

“What’s going on, Mallory?” Darby stepped in front of the stairs, blocking my path to a hot shower.

“I told you last night—I need you to stay out of it.”

“I can’t. If you’re going to spend the night in that house, Mom needs to know.
Someone
needs to know about it.”

“Who?” I filled Darby in on every excuse Tess had given me. “There’s nothing you can do.”

Darby frowned. “She needs help, Mallory. You have to see that.”

I pushed past her, frustrated with how much I agreed with her and how little that mattered. I had to help Tess get through the next eighteen months. That was my mission. Along with seeing if I could snag Liam as a boyfriend. I could totally do both.

I showered and changed quickly but got cornered by my mom in the kitchen.

“Did you see Darby this morning?” Mom was still packing her bags for school.

“Yeah.” The less I said, the better.

“Did she look okay to you? She’s upset but won’t talk about it.” Mom pressed her fingers to her lips. “What do you think’s wrong? Maybe I should call in sick and stay here.”

I could almost feel that dark cloud of worry moving back over the house. Darby was upset, but I didn’t think it was the level of upset that Mom was thinking. But what did I know? None of us had thought she would do what she did. Something like that forever changes the realm of what is possible.

But I still said, “I think she’s okay.”

Mom looked at her watch and shook her head. “I have to go. Keep a close eye on her, and see if you can find out what’s going on, okay?”

I nodded, feeling uneasy about how all this fell on me.

Mom hurried off, and Tess was waiting outside when I came out. She grinned, an obvious clue that we weren’t going to talk about moms this morning. Which was just fine with me.

“So, does Darby really have a place for us?”

I handed Tess the sheet of paper Darby had given me. “We need to go over and sign something at the leasing office to make it official. But there’s a problem.”

“What?”

“Darby’s really upset about last night. I may not be able to stop her from saying something to my parents.”

Tess’s eyes grew dark. “You have to. There’s no room for mistakes.”

“Last night was a huge mistake then, because now we have three more people who know.”

“Brian promised not to say anything. And you can manage Liam and Darby.”

Sure. Simple.

Normally, I’d be looking forward to B Day, but even having Liam waiting at my locker didn’t help.

“Brian’s ticked with me.” Liam wrapped his arms around me and squeezed.

“Sorry about that. He’s not going to say anything, though, right?” I hung up my jacket and grabbed my books.

“I don’t think so.”

“You have to know for sure, Liam. You have no idea how important it is.”

“But, Mallory, she can’t handle that by herself….”

“You, too? You don’t think I’ve already tried? Look, it’s her decision—not yours or anybody else’s.” I slammed my locker. “Got it?”

Liam lifted his hands like I was holding a gun to his chest. “Got it.”

The bell rang.

“I’m sorry. I’m just tired.”

He kissed me on the cheek and left for class while I trudged in the opposite direction. Protecting Tess was quickly becoming a full-time job.

The week dragged by. Tess didn’t stay overnight and wouldn’t let me stay at her house, despite some begging
on my part. I was worried, but Tess wouldn’t talk about it.

Things were going well with Liam, and if I ignored the Lexi death stare I got every time she saw me, I was feeling pretty good about the relationship. He’d show up between classes, take my hand, and even drop notes into my locker. I was in both heaven and hell at the same time.

My dad agreed to be our photographer. He even seemed excited about it. So the fund-raiser was shaping up, which made Tess appear happy and content. I knew it was all just a front.

I had been looking forward to Friday all week, because not only did we have a pep rally and game (which was always a nice distraction), but we even had an assembly scheduled for first period. What could be better than a day without PE?

I joined the streams of kids headed into the auditorium, trying to spot Tess’s curls in the crowd. She waved, and I slowly made my way toward her. I reached her before I could find Liam in the crowd.

Tess had her notebook out, and we immediately started whispering about fund-raiser details. Assemblies were a great time to catch up on things. I wasn’t even totally sure what this one was about, except that it was the first of four scheduled for the school’s “Safe Homecoming” campaign. One was always about drunk driving, which I wouldn’t do even if I had a car, and there was usually one on sex. For some people, homecoming was a time to try and have sex at school without getting caught.

Principal Rodgers, who was five-foot-nothing but could scare the crap out of you when necessary, climbed up to the lectern. The noise level dropped noticeably.

“Ladies and gentleman—and I use those terms very
loosely—you will give your full attention to Barbara Whittiker. She is the founder of Debating on Waiting.”

A snicker rippled through the audience.

Principal Rodgers pointed at us. “And you will be respectful and listen or there will be no homecoming.”

We all quieted down. I seriously doubted that Rodgers could take away homecoming but, like everyone else seemed to think,
Why risk it?

Tess and I hunkered down and used hand signals to talk through our plans. I didn’t hear much of anything until one line caught my attention. “Would you lie about your sex life just to impress your friends?”

My head snapped up.

“Suppose all your friends were talking about sex. Suppose they tried to make you feel stupid and naive for being a virgin. Would you go ahead and have sex, or would you maybe choose to lie about it?”

Tess looked up, too. “Where is she going with this?”

I shushed her, my eyes fixed on the speaker. Panic rose up my throat, making it difficult to breathe.
Relax, it means nothing. She couldn’t possible know anything.

“I heard a story just the other day that may shock you. It’s about a beautiful, popular girl, a cheerleader, who is a virgin.”

Laughter erupted all around, but Tess reached over and squeezed my hand.

“Now wait.” The speaker held up her hands, but the laughter continued until Principal Rodgers stood up from her front-row seat and glared at everyone.

“This girl decided that instead of admitting that she didn’t want to have sex, she’d lie about it. She decided to tell
her friends that she was having sex with her long-distance boyfriend.”

The laughter and whispers grew louder. And every head that turned in my direction seemed to be looking at my guilty face. I slid farther down into the seat.

The speaker paused, waiting for a break in the noise. Principal Rodgers planted herself on the stairs to the stage, which quieted things down a little bit.

“But she didn’t really have a boyfriend.”

More laughter. Loud, obnoxious laughter.

“This can’t be happening.” My heart was pounding in my ears so loudly that I thought I might have a heart attack and die right there in the auditorium.

“It’s not. It’s a generic story. Probably from one of those Chicken Soup books,” Tess said. But she had a death grip on my hand.

The speaker continued, even though I was praying for her to collapse or just disappear altogether. “While I love to hear of students choosing to wait, this particular story made me sad. Because this girl was making a strong and courageous choice. A choice that would protect her heart and her body in many ways. This girl wouldn’t have to suffer through soul-ripping breakups or diseases that could affect her for years. She made a smart choice. A brave choice. But she was afraid to admit it.”

I stared straight ahead, trying not to draw any attention to myself. I felt completely naked, like if I so much as breathed, everyone was going to notice and point me out.

Tess laughed and jabbed me with her elbow. “Isn’t that hilarious?” She whispered, but it was a very loud whisper.

I stared at her.

She laughed again and then whispered fiercely in my ear, “Laugh.”

I forced a smile onto my face. She was right. Everyone else was smiling and laughing about this lying virgin cheerleader, so I had to join the crowd. Or else I was going to look like I was the lying virgin cheerleader.

The speaker seemed unfazed by the volume of the audience. She barreled forward. “You should know that staying a virgin is the absolute smartest choice you can make for yourself.”

I sat there with a dumb smile plastered on my face, trying to ignore everyone around me.

That’s when I saw Liam. He was sitting in the front row with Lexi and several other kids I vaguely recognized.

Liam.

Liam knew my story.

Liam was helping out with one of the assemblies.

My nausea grew worse. I pulled Tess close and whispered in her ear, “It must have been Liam.”

She pulled away and shook her head. “No way. He wouldn’t.”

Oh, but I had a really strong feeling that he did. And I was going to kill him.

CHAPTER 13

When the torture was finally over, I headed to the front of the auditorium—toward Liam. I had to play it cool. I had to act like everything was fine. As I walked against the stream of students, I overheard snatches of conversation.

“That was nuts, man.”

“Who do you think it is?”

“It’s so obvious.”

I kept moving, honing in on my target. Liam was standing near the stage, as if he was waiting to talk to the evil speaker. He saw me and came over.

“Hey. I looked for you but—”

I cut him off. “Can we talk? Privately.”

“Sure.” He looked toward the speaker and then back at me. “You okay?”

I headed for the side exit of the auditorium, which led to the music and drama departments. I didn’t even turn around to see if he was following. There were kids heading to classes. No privacy. I tried the door to a custodian closet, and it opened. Miracle of miracles.

Liam followed me in, his eyebrows knit together in confusion.

I closed the door and spun around to face him.

“How could you?” My voice cracked. I had meant to ask him before accusing him, but I was unable to hold back. “You told her; you had to have told her.”

“Mallory. It’s okay. You shouldn’t be ashamed of it.”

“Well, I am. And it wasn’t your story to tell. That’s my choice!”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think…”

“No, you didn’t. I share my most private secret with you, and you tell the entire school? In an assembly?” The tears started then, and he reached for me. I knocked his hands off my shoulders. “Don’t touch me!”

“Mallory, please.”

I tried to push past him, but he jammed his foot against the base of the door.

“Let me explain. Please?”

I kept my back to him. Just because I was trapped didn’t mean I had to listen to him.

“Mrs. Whittaker came the other day. I told her about you because I really think it’s amazing and sad that you felt like you had to lie. I didn’t think she’d repeat it here! And I didn’t tell her your name.”