Cornerstone (32 page)

My mom winces and casts her eyes down on my silver claw. She covers her grin with her fingertips.

“Tape will work,” she says. “But the Addo sent you a sling if you don’t want to look like a metal lobster.”

“Can we make it so the Cornerstone doesn’t show?” I ask. My mom rustles through her purse and pulls out what looks like a small, black-leather surgeon’s mask, the untied strings dangling at the edges. “I want to hide it for Jen’s party tomorrow.”

“Party?” my mom asks. “I thought Jen was giving you trouble.”

“She came over to apologize.”

“Must’ve been a pretty big apology.” she frowns. “I’m not sure I’d trust that girl.”

“We’re not staying long.” Garrett winks at me. “Just long enough to get a point across.”

My mom unwraps all the duct tape, and I grimace as she yanks off the last piece like it’s a demonic band-aid.

“Sorry.” Garrett grimaces with me, holding the rock in place while my mom unpeels puts the fabric over the top of the stone and wraps the strings around my hand. I watch her do it, her expression both placid and focused as she weaves the strings around my hand. When she’s done, the sling is snug and as artfully tied as ballet slippers. She pats my hand with a resigned frown, but when she looks up at me, she switches it to a smile. I know she still doesn’t want me to do this. But I need to and she understands
that
. She holds my hand in hers and the kitchen light outlines her hair in a glow that makes me think of angels.

“It looks a lot better, don’t you think?” She tries to keep the smile fixed in place.

“Thank you, Mom.” I say.

For the last day of May, it’s cold, which turns out to be an ginormous blessing. I dress for Jen’s party like the war it is: in my best fitting jeans and my only long-sleeve shirt that I refused to alter for my cast. This shirt is perfect for the party since it clings to my curves and has these crazy-long sleeves that flare out like bells, covering my hands. Only my fingertips stick out.

Garrett leans on the downstairs bathroom door jamb while I hang over the sink, brushing on mascara in the mirror. It’s nerve wracking since I have to focus on not only getting the mascara on right, but also keeping my mouth shut while I do it.

“You don’t have to stand there. I’ll be done soon.” I tell him.

“I want to know all your secrets.” he grins. “Like...how you can put that stuff on without sticking that thing in your eye.”

“Very carefully.” I mumble and my mouth drops open while I try to keep the wand off my eyeball. I swipe the lashes and clamp my mouth shut again, pulling out a tube of lip tint next.

“Don’t put that on.” he says but his tone is distracted as his eyes follow the motion of the brush. I pause the silvery-pink applicator over the center of my lip.

“Why?”

He’s still staring at my mouth. “Because I’m just going to take it off for you.”

“It tastes like vanilla almond ice cream.” I tell him and his eyes slide lazily up into mine.

“Well, in that case...” he says. “Put on a lot.”

“Ewww.” Mark says as he walks by. He makes a face as he pretends to jam a finger down his throat. Garrett gives him a light kick before he disappears down the basement stairs. I turn off the bathroom light.

“I’m ready to go.” I say but Garrett doesn’t move away from the doorway. Instead, he reaches for me, pulls me close and presses his mouth to mine.

“Mmmm.” he hums. “Vanilla almond. You’ve got more of that, right?”

“Your mother is sitting here! Listening! On the couch!” my mom calls from down the short hall. I giggle and Garrett moves from the door, reaching back with his hand to take mine. We step into the family room and my mom puts her stack of paper down to stand up and look me over.

“The sling doesn’t even show.” she says, obviously pleased. She walks over, folds me in her arms and whispers in my ear, “You look
stunning
, my baby.”

“Thanks, Mom.” I say, a little embarrassed that I’m hugging my mom while Garrett is waiting for me. My mom gives me another squeeze.

“I’m so proud of you.” she says.

“God, Mom.” I laugh. “I’m just going to a party...not an inauguration.”

“I know, I know.” she says. “It’s just that...well, I love you so much.”

“Okay, Mom. Love you too.” I tell her with an awkward smile. She doesn’t let go until I finally pull away as gently as I can so it doesn’t hurt her feelings. She gives me an extra tight hug before she lets go completely and I laugh, scurrying away to Garrett. “Let’s get out of here or she’ll never let me go!”

My mom’s reminders, to stay together and to be careful, follow us up the stairs and out the door.

~ * * * ~

The cops are the only ones Jen didn’t invite to her party, but I’m sure they’ll end up crashing it at some point. There’s just too much music and too many teenagers milling around out front for this party to go unnoticed. As soon as we walk in the front door, Garrett does a quick scan of the dining room on the left, the living room on the right, the kitchen that lies at the end of the hall straight ahead of us and the ascending staircase. He bends to whisper in my ear, “We don’t have to stay long.”

Some kids are playing some kind of drinking/euchre game, at the dining room table. When one of them throws down a card in the middle of the table and whoops, everyone grabs a shot glass from the center of the table and slams it. A girl with white-blond hair glares at us as she slams her shot glass back down on the table. Garrett steers me away from the dining room.

The music is cranked in the living room. The room is wall-to-wall bodies and it looks like one solid, fashionably clothed,
thing,
that bounces and grinds in waves. Audrine and Kris are standing on top of the couch cushions, in the middle of the couch, making out. I duck behind Garrett’s shoulder in case they come up for air, but he leads me away, down the hall to the kitchen.

The kitchen is just as busy. Kids are gathered in clumps around the island and the counters, talking and laughing and shrieking and eating. Garrett puts his arm around me, pulling me in closer to his ribs. One of the guys that I recognize from the school halls, a small guy with long, white-blond hair, comes up and punches Garrett’s shoulder.

“Hey, Reese!” he shouts. “All the Classics are here! Everybody was wonderin’ if you were gonna make it!”

“What’s going on, Middleditch?” Garrett says. “Nalena, this is Zane.”

Zane salutes me with his red plastic cup and shouts to Garrett, “Watch it, there brother. My evil twin is lurking around here somewhere and you know how she is.”

Zane’s eyes roll over me, but Garrett just laughs.

“We’re doing a Polar Bear Plunge in a little bit.” Zane points out the window to Jen’s backyard, where a half dozen guys are peeling back the pool cover from an in-ground pool. “You in?”

Garrett shakes his head. “I think I’m going to sit this one out. But you make a splash for both of us, alright?”

“Rethink it, buddy. Senior year...it’s a plunge, brother...get it? Last chance to make your mark.” Zane would probably keep talking, but a girl calls to him from the breakfast nook. He slinks off to her side, as if he’s been caught diving in already.

In the tangle of kids coming and going from the kitchen, I see faces I recognize but don’t really know, and then there’s Regina. She walks up from the basement stairs off the breakfast nook and shoots me a glare before slithering away into the crowded hall. Minutes later, Jen glides in.

She’s wearing a camisole under a filmy sweater and jeans. And she looks perfect again. Ugh. She comes up along Garrett’s free side, grabs his arm and drapes it around her own shoulders.

“Now you have a harem.” she bubbles to him. “Nali can be the dedicated wifey...” She motions to me. “And I’ll be the concubine who’ll do
anything
for you.” She dances her fingertips at the base of her neck. I want to smash her in the eye with my rock.

Garrett slides his arm from around her with a laugh. “Sorry, Jen. Harem’s full.”

Jen’s smile flinches, but she pulls it together. She glides a fingernail down Garrett’s chest. “You don’t even know what you’re missing.” she purrs.

I start wondering if she can see me at all, standing here stuck to his side like a conjoined twin. I clear my throat and Jen glances at me, tacking up a full-toothed smile. Garrett’s phone rings and we drop away from one another so he can fish it out of his pocket and answer it. Jen’s eyes wander over my outfit and snag on my left hand. She reaches down and even though I swing my hand away from her, she still manages to grab it, pushing back my sleeve over the sling.

“What is that? You’ve got that rock tied to your hand? You are such a FREAK!” she shouts and the crowd around us collectively turns to see what’s going on.

Garrett’s got his finger stuck in his ear and is talking too low for me to hear. I try to pull my hand away from Jen, but she’s got a hold of one of the strings that keeps the sling in place. She pulls it and part of the sling falls away, with only one string still keeping it in place. I grab the sling and hold the rock where it is as Garrett pushes his phone into his pocket. He steps between us.

“We’ve got to go.” he says but the adrenaline is pounding in my veins. I want to stay. I want to fix it so Jen doesn’t bother me anymore. So she doesn’t think she can touch me and untie me and humiliate me in front of everyone. I want to roar at her.

Instead, Grace’s tiny voice explodes in the back of my head,
GO!

Garrett is already dragging me by one hand away from Jen and I seethe, watching her laugh at me, surrounded by her little cocoon of friends.

“What’s the matter?” I ask Garrett once we’ve cleared the front door.

“Someone attacked the Addo.” he says.

~ * * * ~

The car is moving too fast to breathe. I try to keep the Cornerstone pressed to my hand and cling to Garrett’s passenger-side seat, as Garrett scans the street ahead of us and blows through another red light. A conversion van’s tires squeal and the horn blares as it comes skidding to a stop. Garrett maneuvers us past it, through the intersection.

I don’t bother telling him to slow down.

I can see on his face that he shouldn’t.

“I’m dropping you off first.” he says. “Tell your mom to call one of our cells if anything happens.”

His words scare me more than the way he takes the corner, the car lifting against the curb. “What’s happening?”

“All I know is that the Addo is unconscious. Freddie didn’t give me any other details.” His voice is unbelievably stoic. I don’t ask who Freddie is. We take another turn and our bodies rock with the force. “Just lock the doors and call if you hear or see
anything
.”

“Okay.” I tell him as we jerk to a halt at the curb in front of his house. The Reese’s Suburban is gone. I jump out and slam the car door. He’s gone before I even hit the sidewalk. I run up the front steps and throw open the front door, wondering why the front door isn’t locked.

She doesn’t move like that.

That’s how I know.

My mom walks into the kitchen from the living room on such stiff legs that I don’t even have to see anyone to know someone is there. Her papers are fanned over the counter as if they were thrown. My field insulates me before he even walks in behind her.

He looks nothing like his picture.

He’s not deformed, but his lips are sunken in a scowl and his eyes are dusty, lifeless marbles. He’s got long fingers, like mine, but he uses his to hold a gun to the side of my mom’s head.

Her eyes are red and swimming, but her smile is jittery, trying to reassure me, I think, or warn me to keep my distance. I’m in the foyer and they’re in the kitchen, separated by the counter. There’s nothing I can do to bridge the space unless I can transform myself into a rocket.

“Hey baby,” Roger’s cheeks twitch with a smile. His eyes jump in the air over my head as he speaks to me. “This isn’t the way I wanted to see you again.”

I’m silent. The adrenaline is roaring through me as I clench the rock, the untied strings dangling at my knee. Roger’s eyes drift over them.

“What’s that in your hand, honey?” he asks. He looks back at my mom and his smile hardens like concrete and every word gets louder as he speaks them. “You said she wasn’t going that way, Angie. I knew you lied to me.
Again.
”

“Don’t aim the gun at her.” I growl.

“I’m not trying to hurt her, sweety.” Roger’s face softens when he looks at me. “Even though she sure is trying to hurt me.”

“She hasn’t done anything to you!” I shout and my mom’s hands rise up to silence me.

“Everyone has to settle down.” she says softly, but her tears flow into the dark circles under her eyes. “I made a mistake, Nalena. I told your father...”

“He is not my father!”