Verity (16 page)

“Unless you can give my Dad a complete personality transplant, then no.”

He smiled. “Take it the party idea didn’t go down wel.”

“Yup. Big surprise there.”

“So, what are you going to do?”

“What can I do? Wait until I can move out and then go crazy is al.” My new motto.

“Not the greatest plan, Perdy.”

I roled my eyes. The problem with Joey was he usualy came with a big dose of sensible.

“What if I talked to him?” It was a nice offer, but I doubted Dad would suddenly listen to Joey. He seemed to think it was worth a try. He waited until my Dad came home to give it a shot.

“I’l be around at about eight on Saturday to pick up Perdy,” he told my Dad.

“Pick her up for what?”

“The party, of course.”

My Dad burst out laughing. “Nice try. No chance.”

“What time does she have to be back at?” Joey didn’t give in easily.

This time Dad gave him a pitying look.

“Alright,” Joey said. “I’l tutor her in French for a month if she goes.”

Interesting. Joey had upped the stakes dramaticaly. French was my weak point, and Dad always despaired of my poor results in tests, somehow convinced that failing French would ruin my life for al eternity. He ignored me whenever I reminded him I planned on applying to the Colege of Art and Design. French wasn’t exactly a requirement.

For the first time ever, my Dad considered backing down. It was amazing. Joey, my hero.

“Okay,” Dad said, stil thinking hard. “If you tutor her for a month, then she can go to the party. But she has to be home by ten.”

“Midnight.”

I was beginning to feel like Cinderela.

“Eleven.” The pain of conceding an hour showed on Dad’s face.

“Midnight, and I’l throw in an extra weekend of French.” Joey grinned, confident Dad would weaken.

I could see Dad desperately wanted to say no, but his head wouldn’t let him. Six weeks of one on one time with Joey’s brain was too valuable to pass up. Finaly, he nodded his agreement. I gave a little yelp of excitement and hugged Joey as hard as I could.

“I owe you big time,” I said as soon as Dad left the room, trying not to squeal.

“Too right you do. Anyway, I better head off. Do me a favour, tel Tammie not to bother me for a few days, okay? I need space.”

“Of course,” I said, but I wondered if they would ever be okay again. Everything had changed.

Once he left, I rang Amelia to tel her what happened. She was predictably excited.

Afterwards, I hesitated when it came to teling Tammie. Things didn’t feel the same anymore. She let me down, and I wasn’t sure if I trusted her. I promised Joey I’d pass on his message, so I took a deep breath and rang her. She sounded subdued when she answered the phone.

“Tams, it’s me. Listen, I spoke to Joey.”

“What did he say?”

“He needs a bit of time away from you, he’s stil pissed, but I explained things so maybe—”

“How much time?” she blurted out, interrupting me.

“Uh, a few days. He’l be at the party, so he’l probably chat to you there.”

She seemed okay with that, but she got off the phone as quickly as possible. There was a distance between us that I didn’t think could ever be bridged. More importantly, I was going to the party. Nathan would be there too. Things were looking up.

Thoughts of the party kept me awake at night. First proper house party. Nathan would be there. Something could happen. Maybe. Or I could make a fool of myself.

Likely. At least Amelia would be there. Joey and Tammie would probably sort things out, and I could keep on ignoring the fact he wasn’t as interested in her as she was in him.

School was quiet. Tammie and I were stil tense and awkward around each other, Joey avoided us al, and Amelia had a sore throat.

“Are you going to be up for the party?” I asked Amelia anxiously as she sneezed for the fourth time in a row.

“Sure,” she said, after blowing her nose. “I’l be fine by then.”

By Friday, she could barely speak. I kept my distance at the bus stop after school in case she sneezed on me again. Nathan soon joined us, accompanied by Aaron and Abbi.

“So are you stil going to my party?” Aaron asked me.

“I think so.”

“Is your Dad letting you go?” Abbi said, her voice ful of surprise.

“Yes.” I was a little snappier than I should have been.

“Cool,” Aaron said, beaming. “How about you, Amelia?”

“As long as this cold doesn’t get worse,” she croaked.

Aaron grinned at us. “Don’t forget to bring your own drinks,” he reminded us.

“Should be fun,” Abbi said, smiling at me—I couldn’t bring myself to share her enthusiasm.

“Can I talk to you for a sec?” Nathan whispered to me. We walked away from the others and excitement brewed inside me as I wondered what he might say to me.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and avoided my eyes. “Look, I know you and Abbi haven’t been friends in the past, but give her a chance, okay? She’s cool.”

“Um, what?” Seriously?

“I saw how you looked at her just there, she’s trying to be nice to you. I just thought... I’d say something.” He flushed red and walked away. I watched him as he joined the others, wondering if it was Abbi he was interested in. Not even the now familiar sight of a man with red hair watching us from across the street could distract me from that thought.

***

Saturday brought a whole new set of problems. Important ones, like what to wear. I changed outfits numerous times until Gran finaly stepped in to help. Girlifying me was right up her street.

At eight on the dot, Joey and Tammie arrived. Dad looked so grumpy, I said goodbye before he changed his mind.

“Have a wonderful evening.” Gran hugged me close to her. “You look just like your mother,” she whispered in my ear. Maybe that wasn’t helping Dad’s mood.

It was a little awkward for a while with Joey and Tammie. They stil hadn’t sorted things out. Joey kept glancing at Tammie’s legs, so I figured that was a good sign.

Aaron stood in his garden with some of his friends when we arrived. He waved and told us to go on in and get comfortable. It was stil early, not many people had shown up yet, so we were able to grab a seat.

I saw Nathan in the living room and waved him over, looking for Amelia.

“Didn’t she tel you? Our grandmother is making her stay in bed al weekend.”

“Aw, no.” I didn’t simply mean because Amelia was stil sick, I was also dreading the thoughts of being at the party without her. “Should I bring her something?” He shook his head, smiling. “She’l be fine, she’s being spoiled as we speak.” He touched my arm lightly. “I’m glad you came, Perdita. You look nice.” My cheeks flushed pink. Dawn caled him over before I could reply. He roled his eyes.

“I better go see what she wants before she comes over here and wrecks your head. See you in a bit.” He headed over to Dawn who puled him close beside her. I tried to ignore the jealous twinges in my gut.

I was soon bored stiff. The house was filing up, but I sat on the arm of a chair occupied by Tammie and Joey who whispered intently together. Third wheel alert.

When Tammie stood up and announced she was going to speak with Joey in private, I couldn’t help groaning. She ignored me and dragged him upstairs. I watched her go, half-hoping she could sense the hate vibes I sent her way.

For a while I waited for them, sipping a can of coke, watching people dance, and listening to a group of boys exaggerate about a gang of feral dogs running around our estate. I was more interested in the dancing. Nathan and Abbi danced together quite a lot but within a group of people. When Dawn wasn’t throwing me daggers, I was able to watch them unnoticed. People flocked around Nathan while Aaron watched from across the room, scowling whenever his gaze fel upon Nathan.

Watching everyone have a good time together made me ache inside. I wanted to go home. Parties were no fun for people like me. I felt too awkward and out of place, too afraid of making a fool of myself.

“You going to dance or what?” Nathan asked when he stopped to get a drink, his cheeks pink with heat from dancing. I glanced over at Dawn. Her sneer made me shrink back into myself.

“Uh, no. Maybe later.”

I kept checking the stairs to see if Joey and Tammie were coming back. Waiting around for them on my own was mortifying, I must have looked like such a loner.

By ten o’clock, I decided enough was enough, I was going home. I headed outside, passed by a gang of slightly drunk boys unnoticed, and began the walk home.

I passed by the woods and heard a noise that stopped me in my tracks. A low growl behind me. Looking around, I saw nothing on the path. Shivering a little, I kept walking, but a sudden flash of movement to my right had me whirling around in fright. Breathing heavily, I reminded myself it was just an animal, probably a hungry stray dog. I took a deep breath and kneeled down, steeling myself. Peering through the trees, I strained my eyes looking for whatever had growled. If it was the stray dog that kiled the cat outside my door, then maybe I could feed it so it wouldn’t need to kil anything else.

“Here doggy,” I caled.

“What are you doing, Perdita?”

I jumped to my feet with fright. “Oh. Nothing.”

Nathan approached me with a bemused smile on his face.

Blushing, I gestured toward the woods. “I thought I heard a growl. I was trying to get the dog to come out.” He looked in the direction I was pointing. I could have sworn I saw him sniff the air. “There’s nothing there.”

“There was, I swear.”

“I believe you, but it’s gone now.” He said it with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “You’re positive you heard a growl?”

“Oh, yeah. There’s a stray running around, I think. After we bumped into you in the cinema that night? I kept thinking I heard a dog al the way home.” He looked startled. “Did you see it?”

“Not right then, but the next morning there was a dead cat on my doorstep so Dad reckoned it was a stray dog. Oh, wait, I saw a dog outside my house later that night, remember I told you? It was bigger than Cúchulain? Sort of looked like a wolf.” I laughed, half-joking.

He froze, a flicker of fear crossing his face when I wanted him to tel me I was being sily, it was just a dog. Then another thought occurred to me.

“Wait, what are
you
doing here?”

He blushed. “Oh, wel, I saw you leave, and I thought I’d see if you were coming back or what. But Dawn got in the way so you were already gone, I didn’t catch up until now.”

I looked away; I didn’t want to think about the party. “I didn’t think Tammie and Joey were going to come back, so there was no point staying.”

“Come back with me for a little while.”

I shook my head. “It’s not my thing. I was realy bored.”

“That’s because you didn’t dance!”

“People think I’m bad enough without me dancing by myself, Nathan.” I squirmed at the idea of him knowing what people thought of me. Wondered if maybe he was nice to me out of pity.

“You wouldn’t have been by yourself though, there were lots of people dancing.” I shouldn’t have expected him to understand.

“Your friends don’t like me Nathan, you know that. I don’t fit in with them,” I said, hoping he would leave it.

“Wel, come back and have one dance with just me, and then I’l walk you home.”

I tried not to look too pleased with the idea. “I don’t need to be chaperoned home you know.”

“Yeah, wel, don’t want you getting bitten by any stray dogs. Come on, just one dance, please?”

He smiled in that charming way of his that made my insides melt. I couldn’t help thinking,
why am I arguing?
Without Dawn’s disapproving stare, saying yes to him was a lot easier. Besides, I didn’t want to go home early to my Dad’s smug face.

Back at the party, Aaron made a show of puling me toward him, leering the whole time. I wrinkled my nose at the stench of stale beer.

“Come over here with me,” he said, so loud I froze, unsure of myself.

Nathan put his hand behind my back and led me away. “Maybe later Aaron, she owes me a dance first.” Aaron’s friends laughed and jeered. I could almost feel Nathan vibrating with annoyance beside me. He laid my jacket across the back of a chair, took my hand and led me into the middle of the room that had been emptied to make a mini dance floor. He clasped my fingers tight, as if expecting me to run. Maybe I would have, but I enjoyed the look of disgust on Dawn’s face first. Abbi winked at me, making me think maybe she wasn’t so bad after al.

Nathan guided me to a relatively empty space. The music changed to something a lot slower. People paired off around us. “Oh,” I said, backing away. “I should sit down.”

“You promised me a dance. Come on, it’s just a dance.”

I nodded, but I didn’t move. Nathan rubbed his jaw. “You’re realy going to make this hard for me, aren’t you?” He stepped toward me, his eyes so ful of amusement, I had to look away. Clearing his throat, he took one of my hands and put it on his shoulder, then dropped his hand to my waist. Every touch felt like it left a trail of sparks on my skin.

He touched my other hand, brought it close to his heart, held it there. I could feel his heartbeat drum against my fingertips. He caled my name softly. I couldn’t look at him without blushing, and I couldn’t look at everyone else without chickening out, so I stared at my hand on his shoulder instead.

He held me closer and sang along to the song under his breath. Said my name again. I chanced looking up at him and regretted it straight away. Being so close to him was a mistake; I would never get over him if I kept letting myself get sucked back in.

“Are you okay?” he asked. I nodded, but his expression stopped me from speaking. He never took his eyes off me, and I forgot al about everyone else. I let myself soak up his gaze, the fire on my skin wherever he touched me, the almost unbearable fluttering inside, the longing in his eyes that matched my own.

He gripped my hand tight. I don’t think he realised how hard he was squeezing until I winced. He apologised and let go, only to gently brush his thumb across my cheek. Such a simple thing, and yet it caused my whole body to shudder.