Autumn Falls (19 page)

“We’re going here?” I ask, dubious. “But you’re on crutches.”

“I’ll manage,” Reenzie says, then reaches out to grab Sean as he opens his door. “Not you,” she tells him. “You drop us off, my mom will pick us up later.”

“You’re not serious,” Sean says, looking from me to Reenzie.

“I am!” Reenzie insists. “You said you want me to get along better with Autumn, right? This is our time to bond.”

“Give me a second,” he says, then gets out of the car and opens my door so I can climb out and join him. He stands very close and speaks in a low voice that reverberates through me.

“Do you mind?” he asks. “ ’Cause if you mind, I’ll stay.”

“It’s fine,” I say, forcing myself to smile. “Really.”

“Cool,” he says. “Because she’s right. I know she hasn’t been your favorite person, but it would be great if you guys got along.”

“And if we don’t?” I ask, not sure I want to know the answer. “Is that a deal breaker?”

Sean laughs. “I don’t choose who I like based on Reenzie’s opinions. But it was really nice, all of us hanging out together today. I’d like to do it more. I like being around you.”

He leans down and kisses me. I forget about the plan, the Night of Dreams, everything except the way he feels against me. I wrap my arms around his neck …

… then leap back as his car horn blares.

Reenzie leans across to the driver’s side to shout out the window, “Save it for later! Crippled girl waiting in the car!”

Sean smiles apologetically, then goes around to help Reenzie. I’m still in a daze. By the time I snap out of it,
Sean has driven away and I’m alone with Reenzie Tresca in front of a high school carnival.

“You ready?” she asks.

I should back out. I should say I don’t feel good, call my mom, and get a ride home. Sean likes me. He won’t like me if I lead Reenzie on and then dump her on Saturday right before the Night of Dreams.

But Reenzie deserves it. And if I also manage to dig up the proof I want, then Sean will
know
she deserves it, and he’ll understand.

I give Reenzie my friendliest smile. “Let’s do it.”

That evening I have a front-row seat at the Reenzie Show, and I have to admit it’s impressive. As someone who so far has dealt mainly with Mr. Hyde, I’m blown away by the power of Dr. Jekyll. Reenzie chats with the guy at the ticket booth for all of two minutes, and he not only lets us in for free but slips us a massive stack of ride tickets. She schmoozes every ride operator until they let her on, even though I’m pretty sure it’s illegal for her to ride in a full leg cast. Guys buy us cotton candy and popcorn, try to win us stuffed animals, and spring for us to mush into the photo booth so we’ll have a souvenir of the evening.

I’m
even charmed by Reenzie. I know what she really is, and I still can’t help it. It’s like she can flip a switch and turn on this electric charisma that not only makes her shine brighter than anyone else, but also makes me shine brighter because I’m with her. I glow by extension. I know, I
know
what she’s all about, but I still spend the
whole evening laughing with her, screaming with her on the rides—I even cling to her on the roller coaster, like she’s the one who’d save me if anything went wrong.

“I had an amazing time,” I tell her at the end of the night, and I’m stunned by how true that is.

“Me too,” she says. “We should hang out more often.”

“We should,” I agree. “In fact … are you doing anything Saturday?”

“Saturday?”

“Yeah. It’s the night of the Kyler Leeds thing. I know you said you’re a fan. Do you think you’d want to go with me?”

“Really? I’d love it! Thank you, Autumn!”

She hugs me as best she can while leaning on her crutches, and when she raves to her mom on the way home about our fantastic night at the carnival, what a great new friend I am, and the incredible time we’re going to have with
Kyler Leeds
on Saturday night, I almost feel a little bit guilty.

Almost.

That’s the message I get back from Amalita when I text her a picture of the Reenzie/Autumn photo booth strip.

“I heard you’re taking Reenzie to the Night of Dreams with Kyler Leeds,” J.J. says when I meet him on the way to school.

“Carrie Amernick?” I ask.

“She’s furious. She understood Amalita, but since it’s Reenzie, she figures she had a shot. She blames me.”

“Is that one of her redeeming qualities?”

“I don’t know,” J.J. says. “I do seem to surround myself with angry women.”

“I’m justifiably angry,” I say. “It’s different.”

Carrie Amernick is not the only one who already knows Reenzie’s my friend of choice for the Night of Dreams. Unlike yesterday, I’m not swarmed by admirers when I walk into school. People still smile and wave and say hi, though. Maybe they’re hoping for an autograph. Or they’re hedging their bets in case Kyler and I hit it off and become best friends.

When I turn the corner, my stomach flips.

Sean’s standing by my locker.

He has his hands in his pockets and shifts uncomfortably, but he smiles when he sees me.

“Hi,” I say.

“Hey.”

“Sorry you weren’t with us last night,” I say. “It was a lot of fun.”

“I heard. I heard you even asked her to the Kyler Leeds thing.”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Okay, so I have to ask … why?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s just weird,” he says. “I mean, believe me, I’m glad you’re hanging out and it’s good, but it’s not like it’s a secret
that she wasn’t interested before you won that contest.”

“I know.”

“So … why Reenzie?”

Lying isn’t the best way to start what I hope will be a long and wonderful relationship, but the truth is clearly not an option.

“You don’t want me to take her?” I ask.

“No, it’s cool if you want to. It’s just, I don’t know … I don’t want you to feel like you have to do that for me. ’Cause you don’t.”

If I had any confidence that he’d be okay with it, I’d throw my arms around him and kiss him in the middle of the hall.

He’s protecting me. How sweet is that?

“Wow,” I say, smiling at him. I wish I could tell him the truth, but I just can’t. “Can that ego actually fit inside a football helmet?”

“It’s a tight squeeze,” he admits.

“It doesn’t matter why Reenzie and I started hanging out,” I say. “We’re friends now. I’m taking her because I want to take her.”

It’s disturbing how easily I lie to Sean. I only feel worse when he smiles, takes my hand, and walks me to homeroom.

He believes me. And he really likes me. If I dump Reenzie at the last minute after this, he’ll never want anything to do with me.

I could actually take Reenzie. I can even imagine an evening with her and Kyler Leeds. She’d be her charming, fabulous self, I’d seem just as charming in her presence, and Kyler would have so much fun he’d probably come back to visit us every time he was in town. Maybe he’d even go out with Reenzie, and she’d be so grateful she’d forgive me for stealing Sean away from her.

I could do it … but it would destroy Amalita. J.J. and Jack would hate me for it. And wouldn’t taking Reenzie mean I’m okay with everything she did to me?

Yeah, it would. And I’m not.

Evidence. It’s the only way this can work out.

I take a step in that direction during lunch. I’m with Reenzie and her friends again, in the place of honor at Reenzie’s side. Sean’s next to me. Taylor, I notice, sits across from us, as far away as she can get. I ask Reenzie if she’s up for hanging out again this afternoon. I’m hoping she suggests her house because I’m not sure how to invite myself there, but instead she says she already has it planned: we’re going dress shopping for our Big Night.

“That sounds fun, but I wasn’t actually planning on getting a new dress,” I say, taking a spoonful of yogurt. “I’m going to wear the same dress I wore for Winter Formal.”

“You looked really pretty in that dress,” Sean says, making me feel awesome.

“Unacceptable,” Reenzie says, waving away my idea as if it was the worst thing she’d ever heard. “This is Kyler Leeds. You need something new and spectacular.”

“Did you see her at Winter Formal?” Sean asks. “Spectacular’s covered.”

“I remember the other day you said something about going to your place and watching a movie,” I say, trying to work that angle. “That sounded fun.”

“But not as much fun as what we actually ended up doing, right?” she asks. Then she tells the rest of the circle, “Autumn and I crashed the Deerfield High carnival.”

“You went to that with Autumn?” Taylor asks, looking crestfallen. “You said we were going to go.”

“Did I?” Reenzie asks. “Shoot. Well, you should definitely check it out. It was fantastic.”

Taylor looks miserable. If I could do it subtly I’d snap a picture and text it to Amalita with the caption Dumper Becomes Dumpee.

Justice abounds.

I can’t talk Reenzie out of dress shopping that afternoon. She doesn’t want to go to the mall; instead her mom picks me up at my house after track practice and drives us to her favorite boutiques. Reenzie tries on dresses at all of them—slowly, easing each one over her cast and around her crutches—and at the end opts for something from the very first store. I try things on, but I don’t buy anything. I’m good with what I have; plus, everything is too expensive.

Today is nowhere near as much fun as yesterday. I tell myself it’s because Reenzie already has the Night of Dreams invitation and isn’t trying as hard, but the truth
is it’s not Reenzie at all, it’s me. I’m starting to feel as if my grand plan for justice is going to blow up in my face and kill anything good with Sean. I desperately don’t want that to happen, but I don’t know how to stop it. I can’t make Reenzie take me to her house. And honestly, even if I get in there, what makes me think I’ll find any proof of what she did to me?

“I really wanted to take you girls out to dinner, but it’s getting so late,” Reenzie’s mom says as we climb back into the car with Reenzie’s new dress. “Tell you what. Mr. Tresca and I have plans tomorrow, but, Autumn, I want you to come home with Reenzie after practice on Friday and I’ll make you dinner. How does that sound?”

I smile. “Wow, that’s so nice of you,” I say. Reenzie grins over at me.

It also sounds like the journal is still hard at work on my wish for justice. I’ve got to have faith it will help me find what I need.

I print out the garbled disaster that is currently my
Hamlet
paper during one of my free periods, and spend the rest of the day making little edits and notes all over it. And when I’m not reading it for the fiftieth time, I’m with Reenzie, Sean, and their crowd.

Over the past few days I’ve gotten so used to people
not
glaring at me that it’s painfully obvious when Taylor won’t stop. She doesn’t say anything to me—or to anyone, really—just laser-blasts me with her eyes or pouts down at her food.

I ignore it.

I excuse myself long before lunch ends so I can slip back into the library, but I barely get anything done before a voice hisses over my shoulder.

“You have your own friends. You don’t need to try and steal mine.”

I turn around to face her. Her jaw is tight and her eyes burn.

This is weird. It’s one thing to get all sulky when she’s ignored at lunch, but following me to the library? Does she not realize Reenzie’s only hanging out with me for the Kyler Leeds date?

If not, I’m certainly not going to be the one to enlighten her. Instead I say, “So you’re upset because your friend’s dumping you for someone new? Isn’t that just poetic justice?”

“Believe me, Reenzie won’t care about you after Saturday,” Taylor says coldly. “And no, it wouldn’t be ‘poetic justice.’ I don’t know what Amalita told you, but I did
not
dump her. I just didn’t want to be surgically attached to her, and she couldn’t handle that. Which is pretty funny since she had no problems sliding you right into the slot I left behind.”