My Worst Best Friend (17 page)

“You know what?” I said as we disengaged. “Maybe now would be a good time to tell Archie the truth.”

“I know you think I’m being awful, Gray, but actually I’m trying to be kind. Really. I mean, the point is that I can’t say anything till I’m really sure about Morgan. You don’t want me to hurt Archie for no reason, do you?” She smiled. Shyly. “Anyway, you know what they say: a bird in the hand is worth two in the bushes.”

“
Bush
.” I said.

Savanna
and I were running a little late on Monday morning because she had to have an argument with her mother and find her cell phone (in the box of remotes by the TV) before we could leave the house.

“I’ve been, like, thinking about what you were saying last night,” said Savanna, as we hurried to school. “About Archie being so upset at the way I’ve been acting? I mean, I do think it’s pretty self-centred of him to assume it, like, has anything to do with
him
, but I guess I have been a little self-absorbed lately. And I’m not mad at him, you know I’m not. I really like him a lot. I don’t want him to get all bitter and twisted or anything.”

“So what are you going to do?” I figured there wasn’t much point in saying “Tell the truth” again.

“Watch this space,” said Savanna. “This week is going to be different.”

The boys were already in the lounge by the time we got there. Archie, Pete and Leroy were talking among themselves – in the way boys do when there are no girls there to get bored by a verbal replay of Saturday’s game. Cooper was sitting next to Pete, his eyes on the door. He waved when he saw us.

We both waved back.

Savanna sailed across the lounge as if a strong wind was pushing her. “Hi, everybody!” she called. “I have returned!”

And, just like that, zombie girl was gone.

Leroy, Pete and Archie all looked up. Archie’s smile was wary.

Cooper scooted over so I could sit between him and Pete. “I didn’t know you’d been away,” he said to Savanna.

Savanna made a face that was guaranteed to get her massive wrinkles in thirty years. “I wouldn’t expect
you
to notice.” She plonked herself down so close to Archie she was practically in his lap. She leaned her smile next to his face. “Kisskiss.” She rubbed her nose against his cheek. “But
you
were worried about me, weren’t you, Arch?
You
missed me.”

“You know I did.” Archie was kind of blinking as if he thought he might be dreaming. He touched his cheek.

“What are you looking like that for?” Savanna hooked a foot around his ankle. “Aren’t you glad to see me?”

“Yeah, of course I’m glad to see you.” Though maybe he wasn’t expecting her to be speaking to him again so suddenly. He slipped an arm around her shoulder. Gingerly. She didn’t squirm or pull away. “I just didn’t think you’d be in today. From what Gracie said. I thought you were really sick. She said you couldn’t even talk on the phone yesterday.”

And here we had living proof of the miracle that is modern medicine.

“I
was
really sick. I don’t think I’ve ever been sicker in my whole life.” Savanna shook her hair and sighed. “And I’m still not, like, a hundred per cent. I mean, my muscles ache like I’ve been working out for the last two days. But I couldn’t stay in bed another second without dying of boredom. I mean, I, like, missed you so much… Anyway, I vowed that if I didn’t have a fever this morning, I’d come in no matter how bad I felt.” She snuggled against him. “So what did you do while I was all by myself on my bed of pain?” She looked up at him, smiling almost shyly. “I hope you didn’t have too much fun.”

Archie started to tell her what he’d done while she had the twenty-four-hour plague, trying to make it sound like a lot less fun than having a near-death experience.

Meanwhile, Leroy leaned across Pete and tapped my knee. “Gracie,” he said. “I need your help. Remember you were talking yesterday about that book you read a—”

“Hey, wait your turn.” Pete shoved him back. “I need Gracie to check my math for me. It’s my first class, so it has priority.”

“You can both get to the back of the line,” said Cooper. “I have something really important I have to discuss with Gracie.” He pulled a notebook from his mailbag. “Remember we were talking about how boring the language manuals are at the project?” He opened the notebook across our knees. “Well, I had this earth-shaking moment of inspiration last night, and I had this really great idea—”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Savanna pull out of the snuggle and sit up so quickly Archie practically fell over.

“Ohmigod!” shrieked Savanna. “That reminds me. I have this really great idea, too!”

That got everybody’s attention. The boys all stopped talking and looked at her.

“It is, like, so awesomely fantabulous!” Her hands flapped in the air as if she was about to take off. “I mean, I can’t believe I forgot about it for even a second!” She straightened up.

It was Cooper who said, “So what’s this great idea?”

“That we all go to the Christmas dance together.” If Savanna had been the sun it would have been high noon. “I mean, haven’t you seen the posters? They’re all over the place. It’s like the social event of the winter.”

Just in case you forgot, the Christmas dance had been mentioned – briefly and fairly unfavourably – the week before. That would be when Archie asked Savanna if she wanted to go. And she pretty much said no.

“Forget it,” said Leroy. “There’s nobody I want to ask who isn’t already going with someone else.”

“And there’s nobody I want to ask, period,” said Pete.

“Yeah, but that’s why my idea is so abnormally fantastic. I mean, nobody has to have a date.” Savanna looked so pleased you’d think she’d come up with an alternative and sustainable fuel to oil. “Instead of going as couples, we all go with each other. That way, it’ll be more like a party. Think what a blast it’ll be!”

Archie had been looking at Savanna as if he didn’t know the dog could speak English, but now he said, “What are you talking about, Savanna? When I asked you, you said you didn’t want to go to the dance.”

“I said I’d think about it, Archie. Remember?” Savanna laughed and leaned against him. “And now I’ve thought about it. And I’ve decided we should all go.”

“Does that mean you’re paying for the tickets?” asked Pete.

Savanna pretended to laugh.

“Well, you can count me out,” said Cooper. “I’m not a dancing man. And even if I was, it’s the same night as the Neighbours’ Christmas bash. There’s no way I can pass up a potluck supper and accordion music.” He glanced over at me. “So I’ll be otherwise engaged.”

I nodded. “Me too.” It isn’t true that anyone with a heartbeat can dance. This is a myth I’d disproved when I was five and was asked to leave Miss LeBlanc’s ballet class. “I’m not a dancing man either.” The potential for public humiliation was virtually limitless.

“But the beauty of my idea is that it doesn’t matter if you can’t dance,” insisted Savanna. “We’ll all be together. Hanging out. You don’t even have to tap your toes in time to the music if you don’t want to.”

What I didn’t want to do was go to the dance.

“And what sense does that make?” I argued. “It’s like going to a buffet and not eating.”

“You what?” Savanna’s smile set like cement. “What are you saying, Gracie? Are you saying you’d rather go to some
church supper
than the Christmas dance?”

I’d rather go to Florida in August than the Christmas dance.

“You know I don’t like stuff like that, Savanna. Dances really aren’t my scene.” Nor were parties, of course. I hadn’t even thought about the Neighbours’ bash. “And anyway, I didn’t say I was go—”

“I mean, that’s not, like, the point, Gracie,” said Savanna. “The point is that it’s, like, really hurtful to me that you’d rather … that you don’t want to come. Pete and Leroy are coming.” She turned to Pete and Leroy, the selling-ice-in-Alaska look on her face. “Aren’t you?”

Pete shrugged. “I guess so. Since it’s Christmas.”

“Yeah, why not?” said Leroy. “I suppose it could be fun.”

I said, “Oh, Savanna…”

Cooper leaned towards me. “I guess that means you’re dreaming of a white Christmas,” he whispered.

“Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire,
Holiday Inn,
” I whispered back.

“Ow!” screamed Savanna. “You don’t have to yank the hair out of my head, Gray. When I said I wanted to look different, I didn’t mean bald.”

“But I have to get the hair through the little holes in the cap, don’t I? And I can’t do that without pulling.”

It was almost Thanksgiving and Savanna wanted a new look for the holidays, so I was giving her low-lights. When she’d wanted to revamp her image for the summer, we’d dyed her hair black, but she’d had an allergic reaction and her face had swollen as if she’d been stung by a swarm of bees, so this time we were going for a less radical change. You know, one that wasn’t life-threatening.

“Just be, like, gentle, OK?”

I said that I’d be as gentle as someone pulling hair through tiny holes in a plastic cap with a crochet hook could be.

“So what were you and Archie being all conspiratorial about this morning?” asked Savanna as I started applying the colourant.

“We were plotting the overthrow of civilization.”

Savanna laughed. “Yeah, right. What’s Archie’s role? Is he in charge of bringing the snacks?”

I said that if he saw her the way she looked now – like a refugee from
Star Trek
with her hair all sticking out and an old beach towel wrapped around her – he’d probably bring a camera.

When Savanna stopped honking she said, “So what was it? You were thick like thieves.”

“
As
thieves.” My voice was a little muffled because I was wearing a bandana across my face so I didn’t inhale any death-ray fumes. “Anyway, we weren’t conspiring, we were just talking.” The plastic gloves protecting my hands crackled. “He was just telling me how happy he is. You know, now that everything’s normal again.”

This was practically the first time Savanna and I had been alone since Monday morning. While I was watching this space as Savanna had told me to, she had spent the week putting the “in” back into “inseparable”. Whenever they weren’t in a class, she and Archie were together. Holding hands. Rubbing shoulders. Kissing goodbye as if they were going off to war and not history and gym. She’d spent a couple of afternoons with him, playing footsie under the table while they did their homework together in the library. She even went to the basketball game on Thursday night. It was as if the week before – when she’d been distant and distracted and checking her phone every three minutes – had never happened.

“Me too.” Savanna smiled at me in the mirror. “Not that I, like, had any doubts. I knew it would work.”

“Excuse me?” I dropped the strand of hair I’d been dabbing with dye. “Are you saying it’s all an act?”

“Not an act, Gracie,” Savanna corrected. “It’s called being philosophical. I mean, I couldn’t take another week like that last one, all warped out because of Morgan. It was way too stressful. Look, my nails even started breaking.” She held her hands in the air so I could look. “Anyway, it isn’t like I haven’t figured out Morgan’s MO by now.”

Self-centred. Pretty self-absorbed. Inconsiderate. So hard to get on the phone you’d think he was a spy.

“He’s very disorganized, Gray. And that’s, like, really not helpful when you’re so busy all the time. I mean, I know I’m going to see him before he goes home for Thanksgiving next week – he absolutely promised I’ll see him this weekend – but I just have to accept that there’s no way he’ll call till the last minute.”

This was Friday. There couldn’t be too many minutes left.

“Exactly. Like, what’s the point of me being all miserable when I could be having a good time? I mean, not to mention poor Archie. You have to think of him, too, you know.”

I thought I had.

“Yes, you did,” agreed Savanna. “And I’m really grateful to you for making me see that. I mean, why should he suffer? It’s not like I don’t still like him.” The towel shrugged and the tentacles shook. “I just like Morgan a little more.”

I started dabbing again. “So you’re not really back with Archie.”

“Never mind about me.” Savanna was watching me in the mirror. “What about you?”

“Me?”

This was what happened when I spent a few days without Savanna: my thought processes slowed down. I had no idea what she was talking about.

“Yeah, you—”

“Savanna!” I tugged on her hair. “Stop moving your head. I’m getting this junk all over me.”

“Don’t change the subject,” said Savanna. “When I asked you what was going on with you and Cooper, you told me nothing was going on.”

Which would be because it was true.

“Really?” Arching your eyebrows doesn’t really work when you’ve got tentacles sticking out of your head and a Bart Simpson beach towel wrapped around you. “Well, that’s not what Archie says. Archie says that he definitely thinks there’s, like, something going on.” She twitched her shoulders and Bart kind of winked. “At least with you…”

I stopped dabbing again. “What do you mean,
at least with me
?”

She shuffled in her seat. “Well, it wouldn’t be Cooper, would it? I mean, like I tried to tell you, Gracie, Cooper’s never shown any teensy weensy interest in girls. I’m not saying he takes the other road or anything, Gray, but Archie says he’s never even said he thought someone was hot or anything like that. And he’s never said anything about you. As a person, maybe, but not as a girl.” She raised her eyebrows. Pointedly. “You have to think what that means.”

It was amazing how she could look totally ridiculous and smug at the same time.

“I think it means that he’s not a testosterone-drugged jerk, that’s what I think it means.”

The tentacles shook. “Oooh, somebody’s touchy.”

“I’m not touchy. I just don’t know why you’re all of a sudden on my case about Cooper.” Again.

“I’m not on your case. I’m just concerned.” She looked concerned. A concerned visitor from another planet. “You’re my best friend, remember? I don’t want you to get your hopes up or anything.”