Pretenders (26 page)

I will go light on the specifics for reasons I cannot disclose. Vanessa and I had a total heart-to-heart. I told her about my scholastic dilemma and she offered a solution (that’s code for the thing I cannot disclose). I would never agree to something like that if my entire future didn’t depend on it. But it does. So I did. I will say this: all parties benefited from the transaction. With one possible exception: Blake.

I offered to repay her in any way I possibly could.

She told me there was this one thing.…

Turns out she had asked Blake to Octavia’s party and he wouldn’t commit. Her only request was for me to make him say yes. I told her I wasn’t sure I could do that. She told me her “solution” was bigger than what she was asking from me. In barter-speak, I was getting a much better deal.

So I skated to Blake’s house after school to settle an old debt.

“Remember what you said on September fifth?” I asked.

“That you have Coxsackie?”

His mouth was frozen from root canal, so it sounded more like “Cothakie.”

“No, the other thing.”

“That you needed to thave your piths?”

“No! That you owed me.”

“For what?”

“For going to Noble with you.”

He sat up on his bed. “Whath thith about?”

“I need you to say yes to Vanessa.”

“Theriuthly?” He flopped back down as if hit by a dart. “Lily, I’m theeing thomeone.”

“Just this one time. I swear. Then we’ll be even. She really likes you, Blake, and you don’t want me to tell her you’re gay, so…”

“Can’t you jutht thay I’m ethperienthing complicathions from root canal?”

“You said you’d do anything to pay me back. You did. I transcribed the entire conversation in my journal.”

He held a bag of ice to his jaw. “Ithint thith going to lead her on even more?”

“Be dorky or something. Turn her off. Tell her you’re gay. I don’t care. Just please!”

“Why ith thith tho important?”

I swiped the pillow from behind his head and lay down beside him. “Can I trust you?”

He tossed the bag of ice at my face. “You’re theriuthly asthing if you can trutht me?”

I told him everything. He texted Vanessa the moment I was done and accepted her invitation. She texted back a giant YAY.

Problem tholved.

10.12.12

INT. HELL—NIGHT.

SHERIDAN zips up her favorite jeans and slips on a turquoise peasant top. Her hair is in a low pony and her lips are glossed nude. She checks her smile in the mirror and is pleased. She is pear-shaped and fabulous. Channels are for flat-screens, she decides. Tonight she will go to the fashion show as herself.

BIG MISTAKE #1!

This newfound confidence came from my walks with Duffy. After a few blocks I’d forget all about my channel du
jour and accidentally slip back into me. Then he would stop limping or flip down his hood and we’d just… be.

You’re like a sister-mutt.
(Duffy.)

A what?

A sister-mutt. A mix of Amelia and Mandy.

(I laughed.)
Explain.

Amelia is smart and cool but annoying. Mandy is pretty and funny but annoying. You’re smart and cool and pretty and funny but not annoying. Like a mutt of my sisters.

O-kayyy.
(Me, like someone who doesn’t live to be told that kind of thing.)
And you’re like a… a band-friend.

Explain.

You’re cute like the guys in One Direction without the annoying accent part. And you’re easy to hang out with like my friend Audri without the annoying Octavia part. A band-friend.

I like that.

Did you ever say the word “annoying” over and over again?
(Me.)

No.

Try it.
(Me.)

Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. It sounds like a-nong.

A-nong, could be a city in Vietnam.
(Me.)

We should send Logan to A-nong.
(Duffy.)

By UPS.
(Me.)

Ground.
(Duffy.)

We had a lot of deep conversations like that. Where we looked at life in new ways that made me feel 5-hour ENERGY pumped. Which is why I decided to go to the fashion show as Sheridan Spencer. Because no other actress had been cast as a sister-mutt. And I wanted to stay with that for a while.

Mom and Dad left me at the warehouse with a stack of taxi vouchers in case Duffy couldn’t give me a ride home. I also got a complete printout of their itinerary in case I needed to reach them. I told them I wouldn’t. I said I’d be fine.

BIG MISTAKE #2!

I walked out of the parking lot and into what looked like the set of
Moulin Rouge
. Red velvet walls, model-thin women dressed as flappers, their dates like James Bond. Trapeze artists flew overhead to French music. A catwalk of cobblestone lined with Parisian streetlamps was at the center of it all. And there I was. Dressed like fourteen-year-old Sheridan Spencer—Noble High freshman, sister-mutt.

BIG MISTAKE #3!

I bobbed and weaved through the crowd like a lost kid at Six Flags, searching for Duffy. What was a guy like that doing at a place like this? Did I get the address wrong? Should I call him? Did he call me? I checked my phone. Zero messages. This is all Octavia’s fault. If she wasn’t having her stupid party Audri would be here. We’d be laughing at that waitress with the cocktail napkin under her stiletto. Instead, I too was stuck where I didn’t belong.

I forced myself to do one more lap. Maybe the show would start. Maybe I’d find Duffy. Or the girls he invited from style club. Maybe some casting agent would spot me in my peasant top and hire me to star in
The Sound of Music
.

Then I saw that smart girl Lily from Spanish class. She looked lost too. Only prettier. Much. She was wearing a tight red minidress with pointy black ankle boots and an armload of bangles. Her frizzy dark hair had been ironed and glossed. This was no pear—more like a celery with two perky apples. On Pandora Radio, her station would be J-Lo. Mine would be Maria from
Sesame Street
.

I tapped her on the shoulder. She turned. I said hi. She gasped. I smiled.

What are you doing here?
(Lily.)

I was invited.

By whom?
(Lily.)

Duffy.

Why?

To see the show.

But—

Where’s everyone else?

Who?

The girls from your style club?

What?

Duffy said you were bringing them.

Why would I do that?

I—

Her bottom lip began to twitch.

Do you know where he is?
(Lily.)

No. I was just looking for him.

Ican’tbelievethis.

I wondered why she was so upset. And then I knew.

Did you think this was a date?

Her eyes filled with tears. I hoped her mascara was waterproof. My phone rang—

Hold on.
(Me, reaching into my clutch.)
This is probably him—

I answered. It was Octavia. I turned to tell Lily I’d be right back but she was gone.

Hello?
(Me, trying to sound cool and not at all curious as to why Octavia would be calling me.)
Hold on, let me go outside, the music is too loud.

Where are you?
(Octavia.)

Who is this?
(Ha!)

Octavia.

Who?

Oc-tay-vee-ah!

(Me, snatching the remote away from Sister-Mutt and changing my channel to Paris Hilton.)
Hold on guys, I’m coming. Yes, I’ll dance with you. No, my dress is not Dior. It’s vintage YSL. Shhh, let me talk. One minute. Sorry, Octavia, what’s up? Is it Audri? Is she okay?

I wanted to see if you were coming tonight.

Where?

My party.

I wasn’t invited.

You are now.

Did Audri put you up to this? Because I don’t need your charity. I’m at a fashion show with all my—

I’m inviting you because I want you to come. Audri doesn’t even know I’m calling.

So why—

This thing between us is stupid. I want to start fresh.

Really?
(Me. Wanting to believe her.)

But if you have other—

No, it’s okay. Stephan can probably give me a ride. If not I’ll ask Matteo. That guy can’t say no. Check out his
GQ
cover, the one with the albino mice, and you’ll see what I mean.

Cool.
(Octavia.)
So you’ll be here soon?

Yeah.

Oh, Sheridan?

Yeah?

This’ll be good.

I poked my head inside and scanned for Duffy one last time. He was nowhere. So I called a taxi and gave the driver Octavia’s address.

BIG MISTAKE #4!

To Be Continued…

END SCENE.

Friday

Feeling = Over.

The fashion show. My basketball career. My life.