On the Loose (26 page)

Weaving through the living room, I walk down a short hall and find the kitchen, a restaurant-sized room painted in a fierce red with creamy white accents.

And I find Trevor.

With his arm around some girl.

My feet trip over a crushed beer can in the floor.

Trevor jerks his arm away. “Hey, Katie.”

“Hey.” I stare his friend down, my focus blurred by the smoke coming from another room and my own jealousy. “Just looking for the trash.”

“Oh, yeah, I need to get some garbage bags going huh? Last time I forgot, everyone decided to throw their trash in the pool. My dad was furious.”

“See ya later, Trev.” The miniskirted girl slinks out of the kitchen.

I sit my cup on the counter and step toward the doorway.

“Whoa, wait.” His arm reaches out and grabs my wrist. He gently pulls me back to him. “What’s up? Who spit in
your
beer?”

I shake my head, concentrating on a spot on the floor. “Nobody. I’m fine.” Monica Blake’s words replay in my head.

“That was a good friend of mine. She’s having a rough time. She doesn’t have many people to talk to right now.” He tips my chin up with is hand. My eyes meet his. “Don’t be mad. I didn’t think you were like that. You seem to really have it together, you know? Not like a lot of these girls around here.”

“I didn’t say I was mad.” I shrug. “Why would I be mad? I’m glad you could be there for your friend.”

Trevor smiles. “You’re different. It’s what I like about you.”

His arms circle around me, and his face hovers over mine. I lean into his warmth, and once again close my eyes as his mouth draws closer to mine, like two magnets surging towards one another.

Trevor’s lips brush mine, and I move my hands up his polo-covered chest.

He deepens the kiss. My brain is on overdrive. Can’t think. Room is spinning.

Somebody get a fire extinguisher. Because this is about to get hot.

Woo-woo-woo! Woo-woo-woo!

So hot I hear sirens in my head. That’s right, sound the alarm because Trevor Jackson has got his lips on mine.

Trevor raises his head. “What is that?”

I pull him back to me. “Nothing.” Isn’t that sweet? He hears it too.

Woo-woo-woo! Woo-woo-woo!

The fog in my head disappears, and I’m snapped back to reality at the noise. That’s not in my head. That’s coming from outside!

“What is that? Is that the police?” I clutch Trevor’s shirt. If I get hauled downtown again, I am gonna die. Just drop to the floor and die.

“Nah, can’t be.” Trevor runs out of the kitchen into the living room.

The music volume drops.

“Open up!” A voice calls from outside, magnified and loud.

Except for a few whispers and the voices coming from the game, the house falls silent.

I stay in the kitchen, searching for somewhere to hide. The pantry will probably work. It could hold five of me. Plus I’d have unlimited amounts of mac-n-cheese.

“Katie Parker! Front and center!”
Squawwwk! Beeeep!

My heart stops.

I know that voice.

I run to the living room, peel back curtains, and peek through the blinds.

Maxine. Standing in the front lawn in her Sponge Bob house shoes and her hair covered in curlers. Holding a megaphone.

“You send Katie Parker outside, or I’m calling the cops and busting this party!” The megaphone screeches.

My face flames with heat as every partygoer looks at me, their glares pinning me to the spot. Unable to move. To think. I’m drowning in humiliation.

Knock! Knock!

I jump back from the blinds. “Don’t answer that!”

The knock turns into banging.

I hear the megaphone squawk to life again. “It doesn’t take long to dial nine-one-one! Here I go. I’m calling . . . Nine . . .”

Running to Trevor, I grab his collar. “It’s my foster grandmother. Tell her I’m not here. Tell her my friend Frances picked me up.”

“One . . .”

Trevor shakes his head, his eyes wide. “If she calls the cops, we’re all dead meat.”

“Two!”

Trevor rips the door open. “Don’t call!”

Maxine stands in the opening. “Well, hello, Mr. Jackson.” With her mud-mask covered face, she gazes up at the stars. “Lovely evening for underage drinking, isn’t it?”

She lands an elbow to his chest and shoves past him. The megaphone rises to her mouth. “All right, you brats, clear out. I know who you are. I know your parents. I know your parents’ parents. You have five minutes to clear out of here and get home. Don’t make me call the po-po. I’ll do it.”

I hang my head. I will never recover from this. I’ll be a hundred years old and people in this town will still hate me for this. I’ll have to move. Go to a private school. Change my name. My face.

“You.” Maxine points a French-manicured finger at me. “Get outside. Ginger awaits.”

Rambling nonstop apologies to everyone I pass, I shuffle out the door behind Maxine.

Trevor holds the door open.

“I’m sorry,” I offer weakly. A few minutes ago he was kissing me senseless. Now he looks like he wants to shove me under the wheels of his Hummer.

His glare shrivels my heart. “Just go.”

My eyes fill with tears. “Trevor,” I sniff. “I need to ask you just one thing.”

His chest expands with his deep exhale. “What?”

“Can I get my plant?”

Slam!

“A
nd you will
address me as Maxine, the most beautiful woman you know. And you will start watching Hallmark movies with me every week. And you will eat any green vegetable Millie puts on
my
plate. You will hold my hand every time I get my eyebrows waxed. And—”

“Okay, Maxine.”

“Excuse me?”

“Okay, Maxine, the most beautiful woman I know, I get it. I’m in your debt.”

My foster grandmother and I sit on opposite beds in my room. Her nasty velvet rendition of Jesus at Starbucks now hangs on the wall above her head. I can’t seem to look away from the thing. Stephen King should write a book about it. It’s that horrific.

“And you will let me put my hot pink bedspread back on.”

I grimace. “The plaid one with the white pom-poms? No, that’s so ugly and—”

Maxine picks up her cell phone like she’s going to call someone—like James and Millie—to tell them of my horrible deeds. And get me grounded for life.

“Okay! Fine. I love the plaid bedspread. Wish I had one just like it.” To suffocate myself in. Seriously, my life is over. I will either collapse under all of Maxine’s demands or confess all my crimes to the Scotts just to get it over with.

“I am so disappointed in you, little missy.” Her hands rip at the curlers.

“I know.”

“You lied to me.” Maxine shucks out of her daisy print robe and grabs her red silk one in its place. “I thought we were buddies.”

For the second time tonight, tears fall freely down my face. “We are.”

My breath catches at Maxine’s expression. I see hurt and disappointment. Like I’ve stolen something from her. Like I’ve crossed a line, and I can’t return.

“Friends don’t lie to one another.”

I grab a Kleenex and blow.

“I mean sure, I may have stretched the truth when you asked about my age.”

I nod my head.

“And I may not have been completely honest when I told you I got Botox injections last month because the clinic was having a clearance sale.”

“Uh-huh.”

“But still, Katie.” Maxine’s voice is almost a hush. “I trusted you. And you abused that privilege. Of course I did know you were lying.”

“You did?”

Maxine sticks a thumb in her chest. “You gotta get up pretty early in the morning to trick this girl.”

“Did Frances rat me out?”

“No, your real science partner called.”

“Charlie called? When? Why? What did he say?”

Maxine arches a perfectly shaped brow. “Interested, are we?”

Am I?

“No. I’m not. Of course not. In fact, the jerk knew I was going to the party. He called here to get me in trouble.”

“Well, it worked.”

“And where did you get the siren on your bicycle?”

“Nice touch, wasn’t it? Got that baby on eBay.” Maxine settles at the foot of my bed. “What’s going on with you? You haven’t been yourself lately.”

Rocky’s nose appears in the crack of the door. He nudges it open and trots in. He stands in front of me and whines. Dogs have it so easy. What do they have to worry about? Sleep, get up, eat kibbles, chew on a shoe, sleep, drool on someone, go back to sleep.

“Answer me, Katie.”

I lean back on the bed and throw my hands over my face. Rocky chooses this moment to leap onto the bed and snuggles in beside me.

“Get out.” I shove at the dog, who refuses to budge. “Get off this bed.” His nose burrows under my knee. “Your new artwork is scaring him.”

Maxine crosses her arms and her brow furrows. “Get on with it.”

“I don’t know.” How do I explain that my whole world is crashing? A giant, flaming ball of destruction. “Nothing’s going right.”

“Such as?”

“Millie has cancer.”

“That is tough.” Maxine nods. “But how does that affect you?”

“See, that’s the whole point. It does affect me. But no one around here acts like it does. I’m the last one to know anything. And then James and Millie treat me like I don’t care about any of this. Like today, I didn’t get to go to the hospital.”

“I knew you’d be madder than a wet cat. Honestly, they thought they were protecting you. James and Millie are trying to do everything they can to not upset you. They wanted you to go out with your friends, though not of the keg party variety, and have fun. Millie said she didn’t want you thinking you had to wait around at the hospital all night.”

“But I wanted to. Doesn’t anybody care what I want?”

“I stuck curlers in my hair and painted my face with a peach mud mask. Would I humiliate myself for just anyone? I care about you, kid.” She shakes her head. “Get a clue, yo.”

“Have you been watching MTV again?”

She shrugs. “So what if I have? I had to do something while babysitting Amy these past few days.”

“And that’s another thing. Amy.”

“What about her?”

“Amy comes home, which is great. Fabulous.” Not really. “And I get kicked out of my room. Do you know how that made me feel? Fine, so this was her room. But this has been my home,
my
room for over six months.” I swipe at my eyes. “How do you think I felt when I’m told to go stay at Frances’s house?”

Maxine’s eyes narrow. “Who told you to do that?”

I sniff. “Amy did.”

“That little—”

“She said her parents wanted to spend time with just her, you know, like a family, and I was to stay at Frances’s.”

Maxine sits next to me. “You listen to me, and you listen good.
You
are this family.” She pulls me close, smashing my head against her bosom. “You are one of us. Do you understand?”

I need windshield wipers for these tears.

“I don’t know who that woman is, but she’s not our Amy. I’m sorry she’s been hurtful to you. But she’s not herself.” Maxine pats my head, and I spill the story about Angel and the shoes. “I’m sorry you’re had a bad week. Believe
me
, I know it’s hard to sleep when you’re not in your own bed.”

“Yes, I can tell from your eight hours straight of snoring every night that it’s disturbing your beauty rest.”

Maxine smiles. “And I’m sorry you’ve felt left out lately.”

I nod.

“And I’m sorry you’ve apparently had your brains sucked out by aliens. Because that is the only excuse for what you pulled tonight.”

I push my foster grandmother away. “But you’re not going to tell James and Millie?”

“I said I wouldn’t.” She holds up a finger. “If my conditions are met. But if you do something like that again, or if you fail to eat one single lima bean off my plate or miss one day of my chicken feeding duty, I’ll spill my guts like Texas road kill.”

“Well, isn’t this cozy?”

Rocky’s head snaps up as Amy walks through the door.

“Hello, Amy, dear.” Maxine goes to hug her granddaughter. Amy turns her head at Maxine’s kiss.

“Where’s my stuff?”

“I cleaned up a little. It’s stacked over there.” I point to her suitcase in the corner.

Amy smirks. “How nice of you. But I was perfectly comfortable the way it was.”

Maxine resumes her seat beside me. “This is Katie’s room now. And you had it completely trashed.”

Amy stumbles over to her things and tears open the suitcase. “So?” Her red eyes transmit loathing and disgust. Angel could take lessons from this woman.

“You can sleep in your parents’ room tonight. It has a much more comfortable bed anyway. One of those space age mattresses you know.” Maxine drops her voice. “Excellent for jumping on, Rocky and I have discovered.”

“I don’t want to sleep in there.” She smiles at Maxine. “You sleep in there, Grandma. Katie and I can bunk in here. Like a big slumber party.”

Maxine reaches into my nightstand without turning away from Amy. She pulls out a stick of gum and pops it in her mouth. I narrow my eyes. Can’t get anything by that woman. Not even my secret gum stash.