Fair Coin (5 page)

Nathan spun his seat to face the computer screen.

“Let me show you,” Nathan said. He logged into his image hosting account, where he uploaded the dozens of pictures he took every day. Even though he had his own computer at home, his parents insisted on monitoring his online activity closely. His father was a corporate IT guy and compulsively ran gatekeeper programs on their household network. So Nathan did all his personal stuff from school and the library, which ironically had fewer restrictions.

Nathan clicked on a folder, and a set of thumbnail images popped up. He expanded one of them, and Ephraim saw a picture of Jena, Mary, and Shelley at school yesterday. They were standing around with their backs to the camera.

Ephraim snuck a glance at the circulation desk, but Jena wasn't there anymore, and the cart of book returns was gone. The librarian, Mrs. Reynolds, was hunched over the computer keyboard, typing away madly. All the kids knew she was writing a novel; they just didn't know what it was about. She never talked about it, which probably meant it was one of those Harlequin romances she read all the time.

Which made him think of Jena again. He was disappointed he hadn't made the most of his brief encounter with her. He'd been planning to find another book just to swing by her desk again, but she'd probably be shelving for the rest of the morning. He didn't want to be too obvious by looking for her.

“This is my masterpiece,” Nathan said. “I call it ‘three hot girls.’”

“That's inspired,” Ephraim said. “What happened to the good stuff?”

“I made a slideshow,” Nathan said. He clicked on the mouse again and the screen dissolved. A photo of Jena sitting in the assembly came up. Then a photo of Ephraim tripping down the stairs.

“Did you have to keep that one?”

“It is not for us to alter history. I merely observe and capture the moment for posterity.”

“Whatever.” More pictures of the assembly passed, then the photo Ephraim had just seen of the girls, then pictures of Nathan's cat.

“Hold on.” Ephraim grabbed the mouse and stopped the slideshow. “Where's the picture of their…” Ephraim lowered his voice. “Tits?”

Nathan's jaw dropped. “Getting that kind of shot would be like finding the Holy Grail. Then photographing it.”

“No fair holding out. You promised me copies.”

“I'd share it with you if I could, buddy, but I don't have any pictures like that. Yet.”

Ephraim clicked through the set of pictures, but several photos he clearly remembered were missing—most notably the ones Nathan had taken in the hall just before Ephraim made his first wish, while he was talking to Mary and Shelley about his mother.

“Until then, we'll have to be satisfied with these.” Nathan clicked on another set of pictures. He shifted his seat to shield the screen from Mrs. Reynolds's view with his body. A picture flashed on the screen.

It wasn't a nude, but it might as well have been. At first all Ephraim noticed were breasts in a tight white tank top, wet through to show the dark circles of the woman's nipples. Then he checked out her face. It was Jena.

“What?” Ephraim said. He took a breath. “Where did you get this?”

Nathan smiled and clicked forward to another picture. It was Mary—or Shelley—in a bright blue bikini, splashing in surf on a beach. This time Ephraim recognized the picture.

“That's…you stuck her head on a model's body!”

“Magicians never reveal their secrets. But yeah, I've been practicing with Photoshop.”

“This is a new low for you. You can't let them see these,” Ephraim said. He peered closely at the next picture, with Jena's face grafted onto a lingerie model. “But you do have talent, my friend.”

“What are you guys up to?” Jena said. She stood behind the computer terminals, looking over at them. Ephraim glanced from her to her image on the screen.

“Nothing!” Ephraim said.

“We aren't looking at porn,” Nathan said.

Smooth, Nathan.
“Of course not,” Ephraim said.

“Okay,” Jena said. She moved on, pushing a book cart ahead of her. Nathan pulled out his camera and fumbled with it. He turned it on and zoomed in on her back just as she moved out of view into an aisle.

“Too late,” Nathan said.

Ephraim groaned.

“So when are you going to ask her out?” Nathan said.

“Why would I do something like that?”

“Because you like her.”

Ephraim would be confident enough to ask Jena out if he knew she liked him, but the only way to find out for sure was to ask her.

Ephraim took out the coin and balanced it on his thumb with his forefinger around it.

“Why don't you ask out one of the twins? Whichever one you like this week,” Ephraim said.

“I'm going to wait until you get close to Jena, so you can set me up with Shelley. Or Mary.”

“Sounds like true love,” Ephraim said, toying with the coin.

“Hey, I double the probability of scoring with one of them if I go after both, right?” Nathan grinned.

“You never were very good at math.”

“Anyway, I suppose you do have all summer to work up the nerve to talk to her. Though you'd think you'd be ready after ten years of pining,” Nathan said.

“I haven't been ‘pining.’ And I'm not afraid to talk to her, I'm just not very good at it. I wish she liked me, that's all.” The coin warmed up in his hand. “Oh crap. I didn't mean that.”

“Then what did you mean?” Nathan said. He was paging through other photo collections online, finding more images of girls that verged on porn but didn't quite cross the line. He knew better than anyone how to get the most from a restricted network.

The coin became hotter, the way it had after Ephraim had made each of his other wishes. If the coin only granted three wishes, he'd just used up his last one. He didn't know how to cancel it, if he could. He had no choice but to flip it.

When he caught the coin, the air rippled before him, like heat waves on pavement. The huge breakfast he'd eaten roiled in his stomach, and he tasted acidy bacon, but he swallowed and the slight nausea passed quickly. The coin had landed on tails.

Nathan poked him in the arm. “What's with you? You spaced out.”

Nothing seemed different yet. The same picture was even up on the screen. “I'm gonna head home, I think,” Ephraim said. “Too much excitement for one morning.”

“Okay, I'll come with.”

“Um, I don't know if that's a good idea.” Ephraim rarely asked anyone over to his apartment, Nathan included, because he never knew what state his mother would be in. It was safer to just hang out at Nathan's like usual, especially since he didn't know whether his last wish had changed anything else. “Let's just hang at your place,” Ephraim said.

“Okay. My dad just brought home
Duke Nukem Eternal.
He'll be pissed if I beat it before he does.” He smiled. “So I'm going to play it all day.”

“You mean
DN Forever?”

“No, this is the sequel. It just came out.” Nathan gritted his teeth and murmured through pressed lips. “She's doing it again.” He'd gone through a brief period studying ventriloquism in the fourth grade, but he'd never quite mastered the technique.

“What?”

Nathan pointed his left hand toward the circulation desk, hiding it behind the monitor. “She's staring at you.”

“Mrs. Reynolds?” Ephraim asked.

“Blech. That would be gross. Not Mrs. Reynolds—Jena Kim.”

Ephraim turned and saw Jena behind the desk instead of the older librarian. She was looking at him, but she quickly diverted her attention to her book.

“Don't turn around! What's her problem?” Nathan said. “Doesn't she get that you aren't into her?”

“Why would she have that impression?”

“Because you've been mooning over her best friend for years.”

“Who?”

“What do you mean, ‘who’? Mary.” Nathan rolled his eyes.

“Mary Morales? You're the one who has a thing for the twins,” Ephraim said.

“Hey, I'm holding out for her better half.”

Ephraim kept an eye on Jena, but she didn't look up at him again. He sighed.

“Wait. Are you serious?” Nathan said. “Since when do you like Jena Kim? And why? Did you hit your head?”

Ephraim felt like he'd been dropped into the middle of a different conversation than the one he'd been in a moment ago. The coin had worked its magic again and rearranged his life, but this time not for the better. If Jena was aware of Ephraim's supposed interest in Mary, his situation had just gotten even more complicated.

Had anything been different about the coin this time around? It had come up tails…he tried to think back over his wishes. He was pretty sure the coin had shown heads after his first two flips. Ephraim slipped it back into his pocket, wondering if he'd ever get used to it.

“I'm going to talk to Jena,” Ephraim said. From the way Jena had been staring at him, maybe his wish had come true after all, regardless of its other effects. If so, there had never been a better time to find out how she felt about him.

“What about the plan?” Nathan asked.

“We can still do something after.”

“Not that. The double date, man! We're supposed to date the twins. You with Mary, me with Shelley. We've been planning this since puberty.”

“But I like Jena, Nathan. I always have.”

“Oh, I get it. You're gonna go for both Mary and Jena. Play the friends against each other, do a switch. It's risky, but you'd be my hero if you pulled that off.” Nathan shrugged. “Well, you're my hero anyway, but you know. That'd be something. You're an inspiration, Eph.”

“Yeah. Don't get all weird on me. Weirder. I'll be right back.”

He headed for Jena's desk, trying to think of something clever to say. When he reached her, she closed her book and smiled at him.

“Hey, Ephraim.”

“Hey, Jena. Um. Wasn't Mrs. Reynolds just sitting here?”

That wasn't the best opening line ever, he had to admit. Jena blinked at him.

“She's been out all day. She sprained her ankle last night stepping down from a ladder.”

“I could have sworn I just saw her…” Ephraim said. He knew he'd seen her at the desk, just before he made that accidental wish.

Could the coin have caused Mrs. Reynolds to injure herself, just so he would have this chance with Jena? That was a much worse outcome than Ephraim supposedly crushing on Mary instead of Jena.

“Is she all right?” he asked.

“She'll be back tomorrow,” Jena said. She took a deep breath. She seemed as nervous as he felt. “Can I ask you something, Ephraim?”

“Sure.”

“I'm having a little party tonight. Nothing big, just a few people from school. To celebrate summer vacation and everything.”

Ephraim nodded.

“So, I was wondering…if you'd like to come.” She tapped a pen against the book in front of her.

Ephraim opened his mouth but no sound came out.

Jena laughed. “Just nod or shake your head.”

“You're inviting me to your party? Tonight?”

“I know it's short notice.” She looked past him, and he turned to see Nathan watching them. Nathan gave him a thumbs-up. Jena couldn't have missed that; Ephraim reminded himself to kill his friend later.

“I've been waiting to talk to you alone,” she said. “It's a
small
gathering, you know?” She smiled, a little uncertainly.

“Yeah.” Ephraim nodded again. He got it. She didn't want him to bring Nathan. “Um, what time?”

“Eight.” She handed him a slip of lavender notebook paper with her address and phone number scribbled in sparkly blue ink. “That's my cell phone number,” she said.

He forced his hand not to shake when he took it from her. “Um. Yeah…I'll be there. Thanks,” Ephraim said. “I'll hold onto this.” He waved the slip of paper around.

He'd been worried he had wasted what was potentially his last wish, but maybe the coin was giving him exactly what he wanted after all. If things worked out the way he hoped with Jena tonight, he wouldn't need a single wish more.

Ephraim didn't do well at parties. Jena had greeted him enthusiastically at the door, but before long she'd been called off to fulfill her duties as hostess. Ephraim stood alone by the snack table in the dining room, watching everyone else mingling and having a good time.

He never hung out with his classmates outside of high school, aside from Nathan. He figured they were all just forced together by circumstance, so why bother? He didn't have much in common with most of them, and he probably wouldn't see many of them ever again after high school—especially if he got out of Summerside like he planned.

Some of the guests cast puzzled glances his way as they approached the food table, then veered off to avoid talking to him. Ephraim watched Michael Gupal talk to Jena on the other side of the living room. He seemed to have recovered from his injuries; Ephraim didn't even see any bruises or cuts on his face. Perhaps that had been wiped out by his latest wishes, too, which would explain why Nathan had no memory of beating up Michael. There went his dreams of blackmailing the bully and ending his reign of terror.

“Do I need to give you a code word?” A girl's voice came from his right.

One of the Morales twins stood next to him, one hand on the dining table.

“Er. What?” he asked.

“I figured you were in charge of the food. You haven't budged from this table since you got here.” She glanced over at Jena, who was still deep in conversation with Michael near the massive entertainment center. “Or are you admiring the view?”

“I just kind of ended up here.”

“Well, you're really good at it. Standing.”

“Thanks.”

“No, thank you. You're saving me from unnecessary calories.”

Ephraim picked up a plastic cup. “Can I pour you a drink?”

“Now you're the bartender? I suppose that's a step up.”

“The tips are better.”

She looked over the selection of sodas. “Just a Coke, please.”

Ephraim reached for the Diet Coke, and she put a hand on his. He froze.

“Do I look like I need Diet?” she asked.

She wore a yellow tank top that showed off exactly how little she needed a diet soda. She had a baby-blue knee-length skirt on and pink sandals. Her toenails were neon green.

“Not even a little bit. It's just…you were talking about calories…”

“Diet's fine.” She smiled. He handed her the cup, and she sipped it delicately, peering around him. He turned but didn't see anyone there.

“What?” he asked.

“I was wondering where your sidekick was.”

“My sidekick? Oh. Nathan, uh, couldn't make it.”
Because he wasn't invited.
Ephraim felt guilty about ditching Nathan and lying about his plans for the evening, but since the presence of Mary and Shelley Morales at the party was a given, Nathan would have insisted on tagging along. The betrayal would hurt his friend either way, but better to beg for forgiveness than risk his chance to spend some time with Jena. Of course, the other major downside to keeping Nathan in the dark was he couldn't get a ride to Jena's house, which was clear on the other side of town. It had taken over an hour on a bus to get here, and he'd have to leave early if he wanted to get home the same way.

Ephraim swiveled his head to follow Jena as she disappeared into the kitchen with Michael. He took a half step in that direction.

“That's a shame,” she said. He snapped his attention back to the Morales twin, whichever one she was. She noticed him studying her nervously. “I'm Mary, by the way, if you were wondering.”

He laughed. “Am I that obvious?”

“I recognized the look in your eyes. It's not just you. We've had the same classmates since junior high, and still no one can tell us apart. Just Jena, which is probably why she's our best friend.”

“Or is it
because
she's your best friend?”

“You know? Maybe that's it.” Mary smiled.

“So where's
your
sidekick?” Ephraim asked.

“Shelley's around here somewhere. We aren't attached at the hip, you know.”

“No, then you'd be Siamese.”

Mary laughed. “Score. That's the first twin joke I haven't heard a thousand times.”

“What do I win?”

She raised an eyebrow. “What do you want?”

Jena sidled up to Ephraim's elbow. She glanced from him to Mary a couple of times.

“Are you two having a good time?” Jena asked, with a weird edge to her voice.

Michael hovered behind her with a platter of cookies cradled in his arms. He placed it on the table and eyed Ephraim before heading back to the kitchen.

“I am,” Mary said. “But I don't think Ephraim is. Yet.” Mary popped a potato chip into her mouth.

“Shelley's looking for you, Mary,” Jena said pointedly.

Mary smiled. “I'd better find out what my dear sister wants. So much for not being Siamese.” She raised her plastic cup toward Ephraim like a toast and wandered off.

“Are you really not having a good time?” Jena asked. She gave him a frowny pout.

“You know. I just got here,” Ephraim said. The music got louder, so he raised his voice. “Are your parents around?”

“Are you kidding? My mother would be having a nervous breakdown if she were here, and my father would be sitting in the corner making sure no guys talked to me without his permission. They're visiting my aunt in New York this weekend. As long as they can't hear us in Flushing, we'll be fine.”

He was surprised that Jena would be throwing a party without her parents’ permission; she always seemed to follow the rules at school. But that's why he was here, to get to know her better and find out what she was really like. She was obviously more than a bookworm.

“Hey, do you want a drink?” he asked.

“No thanks.” Jena cleared her throat. “I'm glad you came tonight. I wasn't sure you would.”

“I said I would. Thanks for the invite.” He took a deep breath. “I was happy you asked me.”

“Really?”

“Well, yeah. I…thought you didn't like me,” Ephraim said.

“What?” Jena's voice squeaked. “I thought
you
didn't like
me!”

“What gave you that idea?”

“All the times I asked you to hang out with me! You always have some excuse.”

Ephraim would have fallen all over himself to accept if Jena had ever asked him out, like he had tonight. It would be nuts to turn her down.

“But you've been avoiding me all night,” he pointed out. “You couldn't get away from me fast enough when I showed up.”

Jena looked down at her feet. Her toenails were a dark blue. “I was nervous.”

“Oh. Really?”

Ephraim and Jena stared at each other for a moment then laughed.

“You'd think I'd seen enough episodes of
Three's Company
to know better than to jump to conclusions,” Jena said.

“Three's Company?”

“It's an old sitcom my dad likes. People were always misunderstanding each other on the show: overhearing conversations, drawing wild conclusions.” She took his arm and led him over to a cabinet by the television. The shelves were crammed full of DVDs and video-cassettes, many of them labeled by hand. “He's into vintage programs. He bootlegs a lot from the museum.” Mr. Kim was a curator at the Paley Center for Media in the city.

“That's quite a collection.” Ephraim didn't even recognize the titles of most of those shows, but he knew some of them from reruns he'd seen on cable at Nathan's, like
The Brady Bunch
and
Gilligan's Island.

“Did you watch all these?”

“It's all my dad would let me watch when I was a kid. It grows on you. Sometimes watching TV is the only way for me to spend time with him.”

Ephraim picked up a tape labeled “Bugs and Daffy.”

“Looney Tunes!”
he said. “I used to love these cartoons.”

“Me too. They're classics.”

He put the tape back and ran his hand along the rest of the shelf. “I'm glad we cleared things up,” he said.

She nodded. “It's important to like the same cartoons. More important than anything else, I'd say.”

“I meant—”

“Studies show that three percent of all divorces occur because the partners couldn't agree on what to watch.”

“You're right. We'd have a serious problem if you liked Daffy Duck more than Bugs Bunny.”

She put a hand to her mouth. “Oh no! I do prefer Daffy. We're doomed.”

Ephraim was so happy he even let Jena drag him into the center of the living room, the makeshift dance floor, even though he didn't know how to dance. He just enjoyed being close to her finally—and due to the number of people crammed into the center of the living room, they were
really
close. Close enough that Ephraim smelled the soap she'd used as they danced. Close enough that he hoped she couldn't tell he didn't know what to do with his feet as he swayed back and forth in front of her.

He caught Mary and Shelley staring at them from the couch, which had been pushed aside to face the center of the living room. They had worn the same outfit but with reversed colors: Shelley wore a light-blue tank top and a yellow skirt, which at least made them easier to tell apart. He smiled over at Mary, but she didn't react.

“Um, is Mary all right?” Ephraim asked.

Jena glanced over at the twins. “I'd better check.”

As Jena pushed through the throng of dancers, Mary got up and walked off. Jena followed her into the kitchen.

Alone on the dance floor, Ephraim edged back over to the snack table and grabbed himself a drink and a handful of stale popcorn. He went to sit on the couch next to Shelley.

“Shelley, right?” he asked.

“You want a gold star for getting my name?” Shelley said.

If he'd ever thought she and her sister were interchangeable, he wouldn't make that mistake again. Unsure of how to respond, he gulped his punch and quickly realized it had been spiked with alcohol. He just managed not to cough, but he stared into the bottom of the plastic cup, his eyes tearing.

He didn't know much about the twins, just that the two of them basically controlled the media at Summerside High: Mary was going to be a co-editor on the school newspaper next year, and Shelley pretty much ran yearbook. Jena spent time on the staff of both publications, and the group was as inseparable as Ephraim and Nathan were. More so, since Ephraim was at this party on his own. Ephraim fell silent, thinking about how Nathan would feel if he could see Ephraim talking to Shelley right now.

“She likes you,” Shelley said.

Ephraim swallowed an ice cube and coughed. He felt the cold lump slide down his throat.

“Jena?” he asked.

“My sister, jerk. You were just flirting with her over there.”

“I was? I thought she was just trying to be nice.”

Mary liked him? Really? Come to think of it, Nathan had said Ephraim liked Mary—after his latest wish. He supposed the feeling could be mutual.

“I don't know what either of them see in you, but if you hurt my sister or Jena you'll regret it,” Shelley said.

Ephraim laughed weakly. “Let me guess, you know a guy who'll teach me a lesson?”

Shelley scowled.

A shadow fell over Ephraim. He looked up and saw Jason Ferrer looming over him, blocking the light from a table lamp the way a mountain blocks the sunset. Jason played quarterback for the school team, the Summerside Badgers.

“Let's dance, Shell.” He extended his thick hand toward her.

Shelley glared at Ephraim once more before turning a sweet smile to Jason. “I'd love to.” She bounced up from the couch. She looked back and said, “And you should tell your little friend to stop stalking me. He's creepy.” Then she and Jason moved off, and Ephraim was once again alone.

Aside from the dance with Jena, he'd spent most of this party by himself. He never had to worry about being bored or lonely or out of place with Nathan around. He'd underestimated how much having a best friend like Nathan made life at Summerside High bearable, even enjoyable. He'd made a big mistake not telling him about the party.

Ephraim glanced up and imagined he saw Nathan's face at the bay window in the living room. He decided his guilt must be getting to him.

No, it was really him. Ephraim pushed his way through the dancing couples to the big window, but by the time he got there, Nathan had vanished. Had it just been his unconscious mind playing tricks on him? Or maybe the spiked punch, which was already giving him a pleasant buzz.

This was the second time he'd thought he'd seen Nathan someplace he didn't expect to. Was he following him? Shelley said he'd been stalking her, but then what had he been doing at the hospital the night Ephraim had brought his mother in? Why would he show up without saying anything?

Ephraim could barely see outside the window now, since the interior light was reflecting the living room in the glass.

If Nathan had found out about the party and decided to crash it, Ephraim had better apologize while he could—if it wasn't already too late. He left the house and found the window he'd seen Nathan at. The grass beneath it was trampled, but that could have happened anytime. He spun around slowly, but the only people outside were a couple of girls holding hands and sharing a cigarette under a tree. He made a circuit of the house.