Prey (9 page)

Ryan

What was I thinking? Why did I kiss Honey? Why did I ask her to the dance? To keep from having to talk about the kiss. I answer my own question. The kiss was an impulse. It just happened. I did it just because I could. Because Lori makes me crazy and I wanted to be in contact with my other world again. Stupid! But now I'm committed to going—Joel's already said we'll double—so backing out isn't an option.

I tell my dad, “I need some funds for the school dance at the end of the month.”

“You're going?”

“Thought I would.”

“That's great, son. Who are you taking?”

“Honey. We're doubling with Joel and Jess.”

“Has something changed between you two?”

“Still just friends.”

“And she's all right with that?”

“Seems to be.”

He clears his throat. “Then have a good time.”

“We will.”

Before I can escape he says, “Ryan, I'm not prying, but I'm honestly interested in what's going on in your life. Because I'm gone so much, I feel more like a shadow around here than your father. We never talk about much when I am home, so I ask questions to get a dialogue going, not to pry.”

“Okay.” I shove my hands into the pockets of my jeans. I'm not in the mood for this. What does he expect me to say?

“Girls, grades and sports—guy stuff, right, son?”

He's trying too hard. I'm not into sports, my grades suck, and how can I ever tell him about my “girl”? “Dad, I'm doing fine. Don't worry about me.”

“I'm not worried. It's just that we seem out of touch with each other. I chalk it up to you being sixteen and me being forty-seven, eh?”

“Dad, we haven't got any problems. My life's just not that interesting.”

He waves me off. “Frankly, I'm glad you're taking the dating scene nice and slow. You're smart. It hasn't been easy for you growing up without a mother.”

He surprises me, because we never talk about her. Or about what she did. “It doesn't bother me anymore,” I say. “I got over not having her around a long time ago.”

His mouth forms a hard line. “She shouldn't have left us,” he says.

“But she did.”

He reaches for his wallet, pulls out a few bills and hands them to me. “Enjoy the dance.”

I slip out of the house at midnight and Lori meets me at the end of the block. She's talkative during the drive. I'm glad because it means she's in a good mood, and she won't be once I drop my bomb. As soon as we're inside her apartment, she wraps her arms around me. We kiss, then I step back from her embrace. “Listen, I have to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

I tell her about the dance and taking Honey, adding, “I got backed into going, so don't get all frantic about it. It just happened and I have to do it.”

“Why would I get frantic?”

“I don't know….I just thought—”

“You're a high school freshman, Ryan. You made your case to me that sometimes you have to pick up your old life. I understand.”

Lori doesn't go off on a crying jag. This is easier than I'd expected.

“Go to the dance with that big horsey girl and have a golly-gosh good time.” She pats my cheek.

I should defend Honey. I don't.

“But you have to do something for me.”

“Like what?”

“Next Friday is a teachers' work day. You're out of classes. I don't intend to show up for work. I want us to spend the day in Savannah. It's only a few hours from Atlanta and we can actually walk around in the open where no one knows us.”

I'd planned to spend the day at Atlanta Underground, a cool hangout not far from home, with my friends. But I get that it's a trade-off—I get to go to the dance without a Lori scene, and she gets to go to Savannah with me in tow. It's worth it.

“All right,” I tell her. “It's a deal.”

Honey

“This is cool,” Jess says, holding up a dress that glitters with gold sequins.

“It shouts ‘hooker!’ ” Taylor says, pulling a simple green high-neck dress from the rack. “This is better.”

I look at my friends, hardly believing that this time I'm the one we're shopping for. That I'm the one Ryan has asked to the McAllister freshman-sophomore dance.

“Fine,” Jess snaps. “Send her out looking like her grandmother.”

“A movie star would wear this in a heartbeat,” Taylor says. “This is a happening dress.”

“Boring,” Jess says with a fake yawn. “An instant catnap. She needs to wow him, not put him to sleep.”

“Hey, hey.” I step between my two friends. “No fighting. This is supposed to be fun.”

“I'm having fun,” Taylor says. “Are you having fun?”

“I'm hysterical,” Jess says.

We burst out laughing. It's a teachers' workday and we're at the mall searching for the perfect dress. My friends are happy for me, and I'm happy too. But I know this date with Ryan isn't like a regular boyfriend-girlfriend thing. It's not as if he calls me for no reason, or cozies up to me at school, or comes by my house just to be with me. Ryan doesn't treat me the way Joel treats Jess, or Wade treats Taylor. I'm not complaining. I'll take what I can get.

“Here it is!” Taylor says, triumphantly pulling a long bright-blue dress off a rack. She holds it up and we all stare in awe. The dress is beautiful, perfect for me—simple, and more elegant than sexy.

The color matches Ryan's eyes, I think. “You've got something there,” I say. “Now let's hope it fits.”

I clutch the dress and the three of us rush into a fitting room.

Ryan

Lori and I have a blast in Savannah. She's happy all day and we laugh a lot and spend a ton of her money. She takes me shopping and buys me the newest and best gaming console on the market, plus a stack of games and CDs. She picks out really cool clothes for me at some men's store where the salesguy is wearing a pink dress shirt and a red silk tie. The suits are Italian linen and silk and the casual shirts and pants cost in the triple digits. Way out of my league!

We stick the bags in the trunk of the car and I tell her, “I can't take all this stuff home. Too many questions.”

“I'll keep the game box and most of the games at my place and you can use them when you come over. Problem solved.”

I figure I can hide the clothes in the back of my closet and pull out a shirt once in a while. I do my own laundry, so Dad won't notice the new stuff. I won't make the same mistake I made at Christmas. “That'll work.”

She's rented a convertible for the day, and driving with the top down makes talking difficult. Not a problem for me—I don't really want to talk, just blast down the open highway chasing the wind. On the trip home, Lori lets me drive. “You sure?” I ask, hopping into the driver's seat.

“Just don't get stopped by a cop.” She ties a scarf around her hair.

“Oh, baby!” I say, and zip onto the interstate, feeling the power of the engine through my hands on the steering wheel.

By the time we hit Atlanta, afternoon has faded into evening and traffic is thinner. We're at her place in no time. Upstairs, she kisses me. I drop the packages and kiss her back, really kiss her, because the day has rocked.

“Can you stay?” she asks.

“Dad made me promise to be home by nine.”

“But tomorrow's Saturday.”

“Can't help it. I said I'd be there. He's putting pressure on me lately. Wants to be my buddy.”

She rolls her eyes, and for a minute I think she's going to pitch a fit. I'm relieved when she finally says, “All right. I'll run you home.”

I gather up a couple of the new games to take with me. The clothes are still in the trunk. “Let's go.”

“You ready for the dance next Friday?” she asks while driving.

I've come to be suspicious about her casual questions. “I'm ready. Why?”

“I just want to tell you that I've volunteered to chaperone.”

We've been together all day and she's just now telling me this? “Okay.”

“I'm not checking up on you, Ryan, if that's what you're thinking. Dexter asked for faculty volunteers and I never do anything to help out, so this seemed like a good way to stay in her good graces.”

“You're in her good graces now?”

“Ever since I've been dressing like a frump. I'm not even on her radar.”

The longer skirts and flats haven't fooled anyone. Every guy in school knows the kind of body her clothes are covering. Me most of all. “Whatever it takes to keep our principal happy,” I say.

Two blocks from my house, she rolls to the curb. I make for the door, but she stops me.

“You had a good time today, didn't you?”

“I had a great time.”

“Good.” Her smile is cheerful. “I want you to always have a good time with me.”

I watch her drive off. Then I jog home, where Dad's waiting to grill me about my day at the Underground.

•••

The problem with a high school dance in the gym is that it's so…well, so high school. The pep club has decorated the place with murals, glitter and balloons, but it's still a gym. A disc jockey, a senior who has a part-time job at a local radio station, is spinning tunes onstage, and whirling rainbow-colored lights are spraying the room and the mob of kids who've shown up with bright colors.

I'm glad I came. For the first time in a long time, I feel like my former self. Just Ryan. Honey looks good, too. I hadn't figured she'd be as pretty as she is tonight. When she first came down the stairs at her house, I took a step backward because she looked like a model or something.

Truth is, all the girls look pretty, even the ones who seem ordinary in classrooms and halls.

“Whoa!” Joel says. “Look thataway.”

We all turn and my heart lurches. Lori's standing there and Coach Mathers is practically slobbering on her. She's wearing a short, low-cut black dress and superhigh heels that sparkle in the lights.

Taylor grabs Jess and Honey. “Come on. Let's get a close-up. I'll bet ten bucks that dress is designer. I swear I saw it in
Vogue.
”

“I'd rather not,” Honey says, holding back, but Taylor won't be put off.

The three of us guys trail after our dates, me last because I don't know how to act around Lori. Not in front of everybody.

“Hello, Ms. Settles,” Taylor gushes. “You look fab!”

“Thank you, Taylor. All you girls are lovely.” She's using her soft teacher voice, her eyes warm and friendly. She doesn't even look my way.

“Hey, Coach,” Honey says.

“My star player,” he says to Lori.

“So I've heard,” Lori says. “You're one heck of a basketball player, according to the newspaper. Good for you. Girl power.”

Honey smiles, but I know she doesn't like being singled out. And I know she doesn't like Ms. Settles. She squints and I notice that she's looking hard at Lori's throat. “That's a pretty necklace,” she says.

Lori touches the silver knot on the hammered silver chain resting against her skin. “Thank you. It was a gift from a friend. For Christmas.”

Taylor and Jess agree that the necklace I gave Lori is “really pretty.” It surprises me that she's wearing it, but so what? No one knows who gave it to her.

“You all have fun,” Lori says, and she and Coach walk toward the food tables.

A slow song begins to play and Taylor and Wade peel off to the dance floor. Honey turns to me and she's white as a ghost. “You okay?” I ask.

“Just a little sick to my stomach,” she says. “I didn't eat dinner.”

Sure came on sudden, I think.

Jess grabs her arm. “To the girls' room. We'll see you guys in a few minutes.”

I watch them weave through the dancers, the lights reflecting bright spots of color off the backs of their dresses and hair until they disappear into the shadows on the far side of the gym.

Honey

The bathroom is foggy with hair spray. Girls are preening at the mirrors, smearing on lip gloss and gobs of mascara. The mix of so many different perfumes makes me more nauseated, and I rush into an empty stall, lock the door and lean against the cool metal wall, fighting for control.

Jess bangs on the door. “You okay?”

“I will be,” I lie. My stomach is churning, my heart beating hard. When I close my eyes, all I see is Lori Settles' necklace—the Celtic love knot on its silver chain nestled at her throat. A Christmas gift from a friend.

“Want me to go get you something to eat?” Jess asks.

“No. I—I don't want to throw up.”

“Bad news. How about some cola?”

“Not now.”

I take deep breaths, force myself to calm down. I've seen that style of necklace twice, once here in Atlanta. Whoever gave it to Settles could have bought it right here in the city. And once in a velvet box in Ryan's room.

“Do you need to go home?” Jess again.

“I don't know yet.”

I hear the voices of other girls saying, “What's up with Honey?” and “Is she all right?”

“Stomach bug,” Jess says.

No germs, I think—fear. My legs feel wobbly. “How about a wet paper towel,” I say to keep Jess busy. I need time to think. Why would Ryan give Lori Settles a necklace? A bribe for grades? Stupid. I discard that notion quickly. Why? I can't face the ugly thought that keeps banging against the inside of my head.

“Incoming,” Jess says, passing a soggy wad of paper towels under the door of the stall.

I take them, wring them out into the toilet and press them to the back of my neck. The cold feels good and revives me. I do more deep breathing. You're being stupid, I tell myself. I'm letting it ruin my night. There are plenty of people who could have given Settles her necklace. Maybe even Coach. Or a friend from her past. Or one of those firemen from that time we worked the carnival. I remember how a few of them were falling over themselves to talk to her. I'm betting the necklace Ryan bought is still in his room.

“Status report,” Jess says.

“Better,” I say, getting a handle on my emotions. “I'm coming out.” I unlock the door and step out into a circle of curious girls.

“Show's over,” Jess tells them. “Scram.”

They scatter and I walk to the mirror. At least I didn't cry, so my mascara's in place. I fumble for lip gloss, smear it on.

“Whatever it was, I'm over it,” I say.

“Probably your period,” Jess says. “Sometimes just before I start, it knocks me out.”

“You're probably right,” I tell her. “Mother Nature can be a royal pain.”