Unmaking Hunter Kennedy (21 page)

He tried talking again, still pretending her lapse was perfectly normal. “So. We were on the topic of
Curtis
?” He said the guy’s name clearly, to remind himself of the guy she really liked. He went on,“Your crush. Can we please come up with some ways I can help?”

With what looked like a huge effort, she finally moved, and started walking. Then running! Away!

Hilarious
.

He thought she uttered, “Maybe-don’t-know-probably-maybe,” as she bolted further ahead.

As she reached full speed, her voice grew clearer. That’s when she hollered back to him, “After I kill my brother. Maybe.”

Charlie was now three switchbacks above Dustin. Probably running for his life. Kid must have known Vere was going to come after him and that’s why he took off in the first place!

Dustin grinned.

As Vere hit the higher switchback, she stopped to call ahead, “I HATE YOU CHARLIE ROTH. SO BADLY. REVENGE IS COMING. YOU SUCK.”

Charlie shouted back from way above, “I love you, little sis. It’s for the best! Start by telling him THE INCIDENT.”

She gasped. Freezing again.

Dustin looked up at her as she’d stopped in the spot one switchback directly above him.

He raised his brows. “
The incident
? Sounds so epic. Any idea what your mom packed for our lunch? Have I mentioned how much I appreciate your mom’s cooking?”

“SHUT UP,” she gasp-yelled.

Dustin wasn’t sure if she was talking to him or Charlie.

She looked so freaked out and mad, he wasn’t going to ask. She glowered down at Dustin, then and added, “Please....put your glasses back on. You’ll—get—an eye—sunburn!
God!
”

She was still fuming to herself as she stomped away.

He heard something about his eyes looking like liquid-blue Gatorade again.

Dustin replaced the glasses and pulled his cap low, watching as Vere’s skinny arms flailed into fists as she started running all over again when she made the next switchback turn.

Charlie was long gone. Vere would never catch him.

Dustin hit the second switchback, trying to catch his breath. An impossible feat, because the first switchback had been steep as hell.

Besides, he was laughing too hard to move any farther.

19: the incident revisited

VERE

Hike abandoned half way, they’d stopped to eat lunch on a sloping rock. Vere, taking pity on the overheated Dustin (and because she’d stupidly RUN up the trail) she’d sworn she was too tired, and too hungry to go any farther.

Because it was true.

Neither of the boys fought her on it.

“Come on, Vere. Say you aren’t mad anymore,” Charlie pleaded, eating half of his turkey sandwich in three huge bites.

“I’m not mad. I’m completely humiliated.” Vere glanced at Dustin, who was also eating his sandwich without chewing, but thankfully, minus the talking-with-his-mouth-full part.

“Yeah, come on. Don’t be embarrassed. Take advantage of the situation. I understand your complete disdain for me and my career makes it easier for you to talk to me. So talk.”

“That’s not true. I totally respect musicians. I simply hate
GuardeRobe
and—”

“Easy—” Dustin wrinkled his nose. “You’ve never listened to one song. How can you hate such awesome music?”

“Bragger.” Vere smiled, finally relaxing under his kind, warm gaze.

Charlie spoke to Dustin. “Dude. It’s not about the music. She hates
GuardeRobe
simply because
I like GuardeRobe
. It’s a sibling thing. When one of us announces we like something, the other must then vow to hate it forever.”

“Is this true?” Dustin frowned. “You guys
do
that? Is that normal in families?”

“Yeah. Universal behavior.” Vere nodded. “I’ve refused to listen to
GuardeRobe
for two years. So blame Charlie for my disdain. His fault for discovering the band first.” Vere shook her head, somewhat ashamed at Dustin’s crushed look.

“Damn, that’s so messed up. If I help you win this Curtis Wishford, then my payment is that you have to at least listen to one or two tracks. If you can’t stand the music, then read the lyrics. Deal?”

Vere hid a smile. “That request crosses a line that was made years ago when Charlie chopped the hair off my dolls and dressed them in his GI Joe’s outfits. I don’t think I can agree,” she lied, vowing to listen to every song
GuardeRobe
ever wrote when she got home.

“You did that? Hilarious.” He took an apple out of his lunch bag and held it up. “How did your mom know my favorite? The Granny Smith rules.” He took a huge bite. “I’ve always wanted to cut off doll hair. Too bad I never had a sister.” He grinned approvingly at Charlie.

Vere glared. “Traitor! Me, listening to
GuardeRobe,
will not happen unless you and Charlie memorize my favorite Katy Perry songs. And word for word after that statement.”

“Already done.” Dustin smiled. “I’m a huge fan.”

Charlie nodded. “I’m in the
KatyKat
fan club, unlike
you
.
Poser
.” Charlie went on, “Back to the topic at hand. The Incident. Spill it, or I will. Don’t you want to be cured? This guy’s offering to help so stop blowing smokescreens.”

Vere looked away from both of them as the tips of her ears caught on fire. “If I tell this story, you,
Charlie Roth
can never, ever tease me about it again.” She turned on Dustin. “And you,
Dustin McHugh
, can never
start
teasing me about it. Okay?”

Charlie nodded solemnly. “I swear, from this day forward. No more teasing about Curtis or ‘the incident’. All other topics are still wide open though, right? If so, then I promise.”

Dustin bit his bottom lip as though he wanted to laugh and answered, “I promise too.”

Vere took a long shaky breath. “Fine. I’ve wanted to be with Curtis Wishford since I was old enough to know what
girlfriend
meant. Before that, I simply wanted to marry him in the
Prince and Princess
style.”

Charlie rolled his eyes. “I hated living in the room across the hall those years. She sang the stupidest songs.”

“Whatever. Your spit-shooting gun battles were worse.”

Dustin laughed. “Back to Curtis, please.”

Vere went on, “Before that, I wanted to play house with Curtis and hand him plastic cookies. Something I did often, because we always played ‘house’ together, long before things got really awkward.”

“And playing house isn’t awkward?” Charlie snorted.

Vere tossed him a glare. “You promised!”

Charlie held up his hands and gasped out, “I know. I know. It’s just not easy.” He bent over and turned away, shoulders shaking, until a full belly laugh escaped him.

Dustin started laughing too.

Vere stood and threw her apple at Charlie. She missed her mark and it bounced off Dustin’s head instead. Both guys jumped up to get out of her way, laughing uncontrollably.

“P-p-pplastic cookies. She’s not kidding,” Charlie choked out, holding his stomach. “We played house all the time.”

“Haa. Stop. No more details.” Dustin still laughing, pulled off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

“YOU both SUCK! Why did I even try? And, Dustin, if this is you, teaching me self-control after
YEARS
of acting classes, now we all know why you have not yet received an acting award! You’ve got work to do.”

As though that insult didn’t even touch Dustin, he laughed louder.

“He’s got two Mega-Music Awards. Isn’t that enough?” said Charlie.

“You do?” Vere, blinked at Dustin, while she contemplated throwing rocks at Charlie.

“I don’t have any awards. I’m just Dustin. Charlie, stop bringing all that shit up.” He met Vere’s gaze and laughed again.

“Ugh. Stop laughing at me,” Vere cried.

“No. No!” Dustin laughed louder. “I swear, I’m not laughing at you. I laughed at Charlie, because he was so funny trying
not
to laugh. I swear. The kid’s face cracks me up.”

“And I only started laughing because I remembered the time Curtis actually
ate
one of those plastic cookies. Then I remembered, that cookie was the first time you’d sent Curtis to the emergency room.” Charlie made his eyes all big and round. “
The incident
was the second time!”

“I’d forgotten about that.” Vere shook her head.

“Vere, you’re like his fatal attraction!” Charlie doubled over, howling again.

Even Vere had to crack up at that. “I’m glad you’ve been keeping track. Please don’t pass this information on to anyone outside the three of us, you
ass
. No need for people at school to know.”

Vere met Dustin’s smiling eyes, and realized the plain, fleckless, burning blue color hardly shocked her at all any more.

“Curtis used to eat everything. He ate rocks out of our front yard once,” she explained. “Some tree bark too, and every quarter he could find.” She giggled. “The kid was always heading to the hospital for stuff like that.

“Are you sure you want to get with this guy? He sounds...challenged.” Dustin grimaced.

Vere giggled again. “He’s amazing.”

Dustin arched a brow. “Of course he is.”

“And nice. And beyond good looking. And
yes
, I’m sure I want to be with him. I’ve been in love with him forever.”

Dustin sighed. “Okay, good, as long as you have your goal straight.”

“I do.”

“Then tell me about this
incident
thing. What could possibly be holding the two of you, ultra-nice, creepy, love-birds apart?”

They all sat back down. Vere leaned her back against the rock. She glanced at Charlie, hoping for help.

Charlie sighed and started for her, “It was at a neighborhood summer barbecue. Seventh grade. Everyone we knew was there. The whole middle school, practically.”

“And everyone’s parents. Let’s not forget them.” Vere shuddered. “If you’re going to have a major incident, you should never have it in front of parents. Because they overreact, right? Especially if there’s a ton of blood.”

Dustin nodded as though he completely understood, which gave her the courage to go on, “Well, I had this best friend back then. Kristen Hodjwick. Only she wasn’t really my friend...does that make sense? She was like a ‘frenemey’. Nice on the outside, evil the rest of the time?”

Charlie pulled a frown. “Dude. She’s still brutal. Like a sinister, manipulating, brainwasher. This chick’s worked her spell on half of the football team. You’ll meet her. Be afraid. Very afraid.”

Vere went on, “Kristen and I, with a bunch of other girls, had done this sleep over the night before. We were all supposed to share our deepest, darkest secrets. And, stupidly, I went first. I told everything. About how much and how desperately in love I was with Curtis. I even told them about the way I did ‘homework’ every night by writing his name in my journals, and like how I totally couldn’t wait for him to come over and see Charlie.
Everything
.”

“Damn.” Charlie grinned. “I always wondered what you were scribbling. Girls are such disturbing people.” Charlie wrinkled his nose.

“Go on, it’s no big deal. I’m still not seeing how this was anything major,” Dustin said.

“Oh just wait, you haven’t made it to the game of Truth or Dare.” Charlie moved to sit on the rock next to Vere.

“Yeah.” Vere pulled her knees up to her chest. “That’s where it all went wrong. We’d all huddled up on the side of the house to play. Kristen called on me. I was stupid enough to pick
dare
because I thought she’d make me admit that I liked Curtis in front of the whole school if I chose
truth
.

“Makes sense. So what was the dare,” Dustin asked.

“Kristen hit me with one worse. She dared me to KISS Curtis Wishford. In front of everyone.”

“Sounds like the perfect chance to start something in the right direction?”

“Yeah, if you’re not Vere, and it’s not seventh grade,” Charlie chuckled.

Dustin shot Vere a calming look. “Tell me the rest. What did you do?”

She swallowed, remembering. “First, I was excited, right? So happy. I’d waited for this moment my whole life. Practiced on my pillow thousands of times.”

Charlie grimaced, obviously biting back another laugh. “Please. Hold off on more freak details. I swear to God, I’ve lost the urge to even sneak a peak at your journals if this is the drama that’s in them.”

Vere shot her brother a glare, before sneaking a peek at Dustin through her lashes. If Dustin was about to laugh or be disgusted, he didn’t show it, so she kept talking, “And Curtis, well he didn’t seem against the kiss idea. He was smiling and acting all good about it. So...like...yeah...”

Vere felt her face finally grow hot.

She stared away from Dustin’s eyes and focused on the black specks in the rock under her hands before continuing, “Everyone made a circle around us, mostly so the parents couldn’t see. And as I moved in, I kept staring at his lips and thinking about finally kissing
my Curtis
. Then it shifted to total anxiety. I got pissed that Kristen outed me with this secret, private thing. And so I stopped moving.” She looked up. “Because everyone was staring at me—it was like I couldn’t move.”