Deceptive Cadence (4 page)

In return, he adored her and showered her with his devotion. I loved watching him rock her to sleep, then kiss her on the head goodnight, or play chasing games around the living room as she squealed with delight.

My throat clenched and tears filled my eyes. Forget everyone else. I needed to get this chance right for them. I closed the scrapbook and stashed it away, then leaned over to turn on the radio. I needed to remember the trends that year and focus on making sure I did everything just right.

CHAPTER THREE

I woke up screaming. Mum burst into the room and shook me by the arms. “Cadence! Wake up!”

I cut off my scream and stared at her. “Mum! Oh Mum, it was so terrible! Austin and Melody were killed—”

“Honey, they’re not real people. It was just a dream.”

I glanced around and shook off my disorientation. My emotions swelled inside me as the images of them being buried alive burned into my brain. I threw my arms around her and cried.

“Sweetheart, it was just a dream.” She held me tighter as I cried on her shoulder.

“Geez, Cadence, crying over nightmares is what babies do.”

I looked up. Harper leaned against the doorframe with her arms folded.

“Leave me alone,” I whispered.

“Oh, wah! You’re such a pansy.”

Mum let me go and turned on her. “Harper, if you can’t say anything nice, then go back to bed.”

“Whatever.” She turned with a huff.

I remembered a time when she’d done the same thing. At the end of my ninth grade, she was about to start her Higher School Certificate classes. She’d come to my door while I worked on homework and said, “Why do you even bother? The system is rigged so we fail.”

“Leave me alone,” I muttered without looking up.

“Look at you, Miss I’m-So-Perfect. You need to face reality. You aren’t going to succeed in life because you’re not as special as Mum and Dad puff you up to be.”

I set my paper down and turned to her. “No, Harper, you’re the one who’s going to fail because you don’t care about anyone but yourself.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah.”

She scoffed, rolled her eyes, and walked out. That night, she ran away.

I jumped off my bed and rushed over to her. “Harper?”

She looked down at me, scowling. “What?”

“You know that despite how mean you are, I love you, right?”

She gagged. “Gross. You freak.” She shoved me and slammed her bedroom door behind her.

I walked back into my room and sat beside Mum. She stared at me with wide-eyed bewilderment. “Cadence, that was . . . very nice.”

I shrugged. “Harper has pretty bad self-esteem. I figured she needed it.”

“Wow, that’s very mature of you.” She leaned over and kissed my head. “Are you okay now?”

I nodded. “Thanks, Mum.”

She stood and walked to the door. “I love you, dear.”

“I love you too, Mum.”

After she left, I scrambled back into bed. I pulled the blankets tightly around me before letting my tears fall.

Michael talked to me about his weekend while the announcements were read.

“Michael, Cadence?”

We glanced over at the teacher and fell silent.

“And student council is holding a school disco on the twenty-ninth,” the twelfth grader read out.

Michael nudged me. “Here we go again. A chance for everyone to act like complete idiots.”

I giggled. “I dunno, I kinda like going.”

“You would.” He grinned. “So, who do you have your eye on? Being dumped gives you the right to move on whenever you want.”

I rolled my eyes. “No one. I think I’m done with guys for a while.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Cadence Anderson, done with boys? No! Is the sky falling?”

“Mr. Allen!” the teacher snapped at Michael.

We turned and paid attention to the announcements.

Later, I met up with Geri as we entered the change rooms for PE. “Cay-Cay! It’s disco time again!” She shook her hips at all the girls in the change room, but paused and turned away when she came to Melanie Gordon.

Melanie was the token outcast. She had drab brown hair that looked like she never washed, a face full of acne, and pungent body odor. She wore the boys’ uniform—gray pants instead of the blue tartan skirt or black dress pants—and an oversized blue polo shirt.

I only spoke to her a few times during my school years. Despite her poor hygiene, she was nice, albeit a bit strange.

Melanie watched Geri as she walked away from her with a hint of pain in her eyes. As I pulled out my shirt, I paused to see what she would do. She shuffled into the corner and turned her back on everyone, while the girls nearby sprayed deodorant behind her. I felt a pang of pity for her.

Geri jumped into my line of vision and whipped off her shirt. “Do you like my new bra?”

“Geez, Geri!”

She burst out laughing and pulled on the dark blue sports polo shirt. “Well, I like it. It’s got Playboy bunnies on it!”

I giggled.

“So . . .” She leaned in closer to whisper. “Who’s next, huh? I’ve noticed Justin and Brian checkin’ you out.”

I shoved her shoulder. “Ew! I think I’m done for a while.”

“Done? Ha!” She tugged her black shorts on under her skirt, then whipped the skirt up over her head. “You will never be done with boys. You like ’em too much.”

“Maybe it’s time for me to change.”

She glared at me, then flicked my temple.

“Ouch!”

“Who are you and what have you done with the real Cadence?”

“Geez, Geraldine! Can’t I have some time off?”

“What the hell, Cadence?”

I gritted my teeth. I didn’t want to fight with her. “There’s just no decent guys around.”

A wide grin swept across her face. “Okay, yeah, you’re right on that one.”

We finished changing and headed out to the field, arms linked together. The teacher divided us into teams and, as usual, split up Geri and me. I found myself with Brian. He stood a head taller than me, with a skinny build and light brown hair. Kind of nice looking, but nothing outstanding.

“Hey, Cay,” he said as I walked across to join the team. “I’m glad I’m on your team, ’cause you’re seriously scary when it comes to playing footy.”

I flexed my bicep. “I will destroy them with my awesomeness.”

He raised his eyebrows and laughed. “Hey, that was funny.”

I paused and realized what I said was
way
ahead of its time. “Yeah, I’m good at making up crap.”

He grabbed me in a headlock and I shoved him off. Melanie walked up beside me. Brian cleared his throat and took a step back, but I didn’t move. According to the social code of conduct, I should, but I’d noticed something I never had before. She was quite pretty. She had gray-blue eyes and a hint of a dimple in her cheek.

A ball smacked me in the face and everyone laughed. I glared at Geri, who bolted.

We lined up across the field. Geri and I positioned ourselves opposite each other, right in  between some of the most athletic boys in our grade. She roared at me, which brought eye rolls from the boys around us. It was our thing, and I’d missed it. I scratched the ground with my foot and snarled at her. She chuckled evilly and bent over, waiting for the boys to pick the whistle from behind the teacher’s back.

My team won the kick-off and we walked to the try line. Once in position, Brian did the kick-off. As soon as his foot touched the ball, Geri came screaming at me. I charged right back at her, and somewhere in the middle, we collided. We struggled and wrestled with each other, yanking off our tags, before I finally wrapped my leg around hers and knocked her to the ground.

The teacher, as usual, yelled at us as I climbed on top of her and held her down. She shoved me. “Just once, can’t you let me win?”

“No.” I grinned.

“Cadence!” The line surged up around me and Brian gestured for me to get up. “Are you done? We need a girl who can actually play.”

“Miss Anderson!”

I swung around as the teacher yelled my name, but he faced toward the school buildings. Harper and her friends moved through the quadrangle, openly smoking on the school grounds. I slapped my forehead. “Geez, no wonder she always got detention.”

The teacher yelled for Brian to keep the game going, then stomped over to Harper’s group, forcing them to hand over all their cigarettes. Brian tapped the ball and continued the game.

“Your sister’s an idiot,” Geri yelled at me as we jogged down the field.

“No kidding.”

“That’s your sister?” Brian asked as we lined up. “I never woulda picked it.”

“Yeah, she claims she’s an only child.”

“My brother does that too,” Melanie whispered. I glanced back at her, surprised. She told me once that she had a brother, but that hadn’t happened in this timeline yet. It happened when we’d been assigned a biology assignment together in twelfth grade. She showed up late to meet me, explaining with embarrassment that she and her parents had to go bail out her brother after his arrest.

“Charming, aren’t they?” I said to her.

She drew a sharp breath, apparently startled that I’d spoken to her, and dropped her gaze. As I turned to face forward, I saw everyone staring at me. “What?”

Brian stepped over and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “Come on, hot stuff, let’s keep this game rolling.”

I shoved him off again, and he laughed.

When I arrived home, Mum was yelling at Harper. I slipped by, trying to blend in with the wall as I passed them, but Harper pointed at me accusingly. “You just want me to be her! Little Miss Goody-Goody. But I’m not her!”

“I know that, Harper! You and Cadence are very different, but that’s no excuse for this behavior! Smoking on school grounds? Smoking
at all
?”

“It’s cool, Mum. Get over yourself.”

“Getting all kinds of cancer is not
cool,
Harper!”

“Whatever. I’m out.” She turned to leave.

“No, Harper, you are locked in, all night and until the end of the month.”

“What?” she hissed. “The school disco is at the end of the month!”

“Then I guess you’re not going. This behavior has to stop! Your grades are suffering, you don’t play the piano anymore, and your art is getting darker and darker!”

She scoffed and folded her arms. I edged away, hoping they wouldn’t notice me, but Harper turned on me again. “This is your fault!”

“What?”

“Yeah, if your teacher wasn’t so pissed off because you and your stupid friend always act like idiots, he wouldn’t have turned us in!”

That made absolutely no sense, so I stared at her, utterly gobsmacked.

“Harper, go to your room!” Mum said harshly.

Harper marched to her room, slamming the door behind her.

Mum rubbed her temples, obviously frustrated. I dropped my bag on the floor and wrapped my arms around her. She gasped with surprise, but wrapped her arms tightly around me. Then, she cried onto my shoulder.

“It’s okay, Mum.”

She held me tighter. I’d never noticed how much Harper’s bad behavior hurt her, but then, I always dashed away and hid when they fought. I’d wanted to stay clear of it, knowing Harper would do exactly what she just did―blame me.

“It’s okay, Mum, you’ll see,” I whispered. “One day she’ll be married and have kids. She’ll look back and say, ‘I’m sorry I was so obnoxious to you, but I’m feeling the karma now with these wild boys.’”