Aries Rising (7 page)

Stacy lifted her cup to her lips but didn’t drink. “Just one thing.”

“What?” I asked again.

“You need to try to talk to her,” she said. “As you know, she’s dealing with a lot right now, but she’s coming back with a new CD. It will be awesome when that coincides with our cover.”

“Does what Arianna want determine what happens to me?” I asked.

“Not really.” She stopped to take another sip. “But kind of.”

“What does that mean?”

“That she could go over my head. I don’t know that she will. We get along pretty well.”

“Would you talk to her about me? Tell her I wasn’t trying to cause trouble for her?”

“I already have,” she said. “Apparently, she was really attached to her YUTalk page. She feels it was the only way she could be herself with her fans. When we told her people that the magazine deal depended on changing it, she was understandably pissed.”

Furious and vengeful was more like it. The very worst swing of the double-edge Gemini sword.

“What could I even say to her? She’s a star and I’m just a high school kid.”

“That might work to your advantage.” She stopped at the crosswalk and gave me a thoughtful look. “I told her that you were sweet and nice, and, well, young.”

“And you think that will convince her not to hate me for telling you about the site?”

“Anyone could have done that. And should have.” Her expression changed, and I wondered who in the office had-n’t followed through on that one. My guess was Danielle, the assistant. “Arianna just needs to see that you’re not mean. She can be moody, and for all we know, might have already regretted what she said.”

No use in telling her that a Gemini neither regrets nor forgets.

“Do you think she’ll actually talk to me?”

She nodded. “That’s why I wanted to meet early, so that you’d be prepared.”

“Thanks for going to bat for me, Stacy.”

“Call me Stace.” She smiled. “We’d better jam, though. Arianna’s waiting for us back at the office.”

8

ANGER IS A SECONDARY EMOTION, AND NEVER MORE
TRUE THAN IN THE CASE OF GEMINI. A CAR RUNS A
STOPLIGHT AND HEADS FOR YOU. YOU HONK THE HORN.
YOU SMASH YOUR THUMB WITH A HAMMER, AND YOU
SWEAR. IN BOTH CASES, ANGER IS THE SECONDARY
EMOTION. THE CAR SCARED YOU. THE HAMMER HURT
YOU. REMEMBER THIS WHEN DEALING WITH WHAT
APPEARS TO BE AN ANGRY GEMINI. LOOK FOR WHAT IS
UNDERNEATH THAT ANGER.

 

 

 

 

I reminded myself that Arianna was a Gemini Air sign. When I met with her in Stacy’s office, I tried to decide what her primary emotion was. But she didn’t look afraid or
hurt. She just looked angry. The multicolored hair was pulled back, giving her navy eyes a feline slant that only made her appear more unfriendly.

She wore jeans and a little lacy white shirt that was too thin for the unpredictable weather outside. Not to mention, too revealing. Although she was less than five years older than I, there was a world of experience between us. She slouched in her chair and looked across at me from time to time, as if I were a bug she’d like to crush with that chunky sandal of hers.

“Well,” Stacy said, “Today it’s my turn to get the coffee.” What a joke. She just wanted to ditch the office and us as soon as possible, leaving me to deal with Arianna by myself.

“Red Bull for me.” She looked as if she needed it. Her speaking voice had a husky, cheerleader quality that didn’t sound anything like her singing one.

Stacy met my eyes and then turned away quickly and closed the door behind her.

“So?” Arianna picked at a white nail tip.

“Well,” I began, my voice shaking. “I appreciate that you’re willing to talk to me.”

“Like I had a choice?”

“I mean ...” This was worse than I had imagined. “... I really didn’t realize that what you had on your YUTalk page was secret.”

“Dude. It wasn’t secret, but nobody important bothered checking it out until you opened your kiss-ass mouth.”

“I didn’t know I was doing anything wrong,” I said.

“So you ratted me out, just like that. And you royally pissed off the magazine people, Stacy included. Don’t tell me you didn’t know that would happen.”

“I didn’t know,” I said. “This internship means everything to me. Do you really think I’d do something as stupid as that to jeopardize it?”

“Being able to say whatever I wanted on that blog, it was like having someone to talk to.” She jumped out of her chair, and it was as if someone had flipped an invisible energy switch. “Why can’t I ever just have someone to freakin’ talk to?”

She stalked to the window as if no longer aware of me. Afraid or hurt? I was guessing both.

“Communication is everything to a Gemini,” I said softly. “You have to have it. You must.”

She whipped around to face me. “How the hell do you know I’m a Gemini?”

“Your birthday is on your YUTalk page.”

“Oh, right. But what made you think of communication? How’d you know that?”

“I’m kind of into astrology,” I said. “I also have a good friend who’s a Gemini.”

“Does she have man problems, too?”

I forced a laugh, tried to sound relaxed. “Make that
men
problems. Good song material, though.”

“Don’t even go there.” She returned to her chair and began picking at her nails again. “Cory wrote the songs. Everyone knows that.”

“I hear what you’re saying,” I told her, and hoped it
connected to her Air sign core. “Gemini is ruled by Mercury. You’re all about delivering information.”

“How do I know you’re not just making that up?” she asked.

“Check any astrology site. Gemini is an information junkie, but can quickly lose interest in any project or person. Their cure for a challenging love relationship is to have someone else on the back burner.”

That got a smile out of her. “You’re pretty good.”

“Basic Gemini Sun stuff,” I said, and realized that
Fearless Astrology
just might be saving my internship for me. “If I knew where your other planets were, then I could really get specific.”

“What would you need to find out that stuff?”

Of course I already knew it, but I couldn’t tell her I did.

“For your Moon, Mercury, Mars, and Venus, just your birthday.”
Which I already had, thank you very much.
“For your Rising sign and houses, I need your time and place of birth.”

“You really don’t make this stuff up, do you?”

“No,” I said. “Just don’t ask me how it works, because I don’t have a clue. And it doesn’t mean you’re locked into only one way of behaving or any one outcome.”

“You sure about that?” She finally stared into my eyes, and there was so much sadness in her expression that I almost forgot that the purpose of this conversation was to save my job.

“Absolutely sure. The stars only point out potential and possibilities. They don’t limit you.” Now I was starting to sound like
Fearless Astrology
. Had I said too much and made her think I was too out there?

“Just so you know. It gives me no pleasure whatsoever to go around bullying an intern. But sometimes I just get so pissed.”

“I can’t imagine what it must be like for you,” I said. “For that matter, I can’t even believe I’m in the same room with you. My best friend loves your music so much that she plays it every day to and from school.”

For a moment, she tried to smile, then seemed to give up on it. “Honey, you have no idea.”

I wanted to ask
no idea about what
, but it was clear that I had no idea about anything in her world. But I was
honey
now, and that might just mean she wasn’t going demand that I be fired.

“Well, if you ever want me to do your chart ...” I began. “... With that hair, I’ll bet there’s a lot of Fire there.” As if I didn’t know.

9

LOVE BRINGS OUT THE WORST—AND BEST—IN EVERY
SIGN. FIRE SIGNS (ARIES, LEO, SAGITTARIUS) EITHER
CHALK UP ANOTHER CONQUEST OR VOW TO CHANGE
THEIR WANDERING WAYS. EARTH SIGNS (TAURUS, VIRGO,
CAPRICORN) MIGHT EITHER TRY TO IMPRISON THE
OBJECT OF DESIRE OR RELINQUISH CONTROL IN RETURN
FOR MUTUAL COMMITMENT. AIR SIGNS (GEMINI, LIBRA,
AQUARIUS) MAY DRIFT AWAY WHEN THE LOVED ONE
APPEARS DISINTERESTED. OR THEY MAY USE THEIR
CONSIDERABLE COMMUNICATION SKILLS TO OVERCOME
THEIR FEAR OF RISK. WATER SIGNS (CANCER, SCORPIO,
PISCES) WILL DECIDE IF THEY WANT TO SETTLE FOR OR
SETTLE DOWN. WHAT ONE DECIDES TO DO IN LOVE
FREQUENTLY DEPENDS ON HOW MUCH ONE IS IN LOVE.

I wasn’t sure how “considerable” my communication skills were, but I did know this Air sign must overcome the risk of hearing that Jeremy no longer loved me. I had to know the truth, even if it was as horrible as I was starting to suspect. By Monday, I still had no word from him. I couldn’t just keep hoping something would change. I had to make it change, if I could. I had to risk.

In chemistry class that morning, I decided to text him again and make it clear how much I needed to hear the truth. I couldn’t wait any longer, but I had to be careful. Bodmer was sharp. She had even caught Paige texting, which was almost impossible to do. With that glazed Pisces look, Paige could stare straight ahead and sneak one hand into her bag. Fortunately, she didn’t have to go to the SRC, where most of those caught committing texting crimes ended up.

The Student Responsibility Center, better known as the Stupid Rules Center, was Terra Bella High’s River Styx, and it divided our normal world from the underworld of the dreaded vice principal, Dr. West. Once delivered there, students were examined for dress code violations. Was a T-shirt a solid color, thus suggesting a gang affiliation? Violation! Was there a team name or symbol on it? A hole in someone’s jeans? Did shoes reveal too much flesh? Violation, violation, violation! Phones were kept until claimed by parents. Detention ruled. But I was getting ready to risk it all with my phone just then.

Bodmer limited her talking time to ten minutes max. Which meant I had exactly that much time to tell Jeremy
what I must say to him. Still in lecture mode, she was speaking about the relationship between mass and moles. Not the on-your-body-type moles. A mole, as she loved to point out, was just an easy way of counting atoms.

After doing a couple of problems on the board, she stopped, glanced around the room with her hawk eyes, and lifted a brown bag of candy. “In this lab, we will use M&Ms.” She stared right at me as if she knew I had something else on my mind.

“Ms. Bodmer?” Dina raised her hand. “Yes, Dina?”

“Could we go over the procedure again?”

“We discussed it in the last class.” Bodmer made eye contact with me. “Can anyone explain?”

Not my first priority. I needed to get in touch with Jeremy. I’d played the head-trip Aquarius for too long already. My phone was in my bag. Slowly, I reached down, then slid it into my lap. Then I moved my book to the edge of the desk. That would hide what I was doing.

“Logan?”

“We’re supposed to count the candy, and then determine the volume and mass,” I said.

“And why are we using M&Ms in this lab?” Why wouldn’t she leave me alone? Dina turned and shot me that tacky valentine smile.

“Is it because it’s easier that way to visualize the size of a mole?” I asked.

She nodded. “Why is that?”

“Because M&Ms are much bigger than atoms?”

“Exactly.” At least she seemed satisfied with my answer.

Finally, she turned her attention to the class. “Three moles of water would fill about two ounces, not quite a quarter cup. That’s how small they are.”

Then she returned to the board and was so busy trying to make her point, that I finally had an opportunity to text Jeremy. The friendly
how-you-doings
were behind us. I needed to tell him the truth now.

“Logan, are you with us?” I looked up into Bodmer’s steady gaze. How long had she been watching me? As I did so, I realized that in addition to the glasses she was wearing, she had two more pushed into her hair. “Tell me what three moles of M&Ms will fill.”

Dina’s hand shot up, but Bodmer continued to look at me.

I could take a wild guess or tell the truth.