Perfected (Entangled Teen) (6 page)

Eight

I
sat in my room on the couch near the window, staring out at the last bit of gold staining the sky. I couldn’t place the feeling growing inside me. It was as if the flavor of Ruby’s butterscotch and Penn’s music still lingered on my tongue, a taste that was both bittersweet and totally divine.

This place was more beautiful than I ever could have imagined, but it was more confusing, too. It felt as if a conversation was going on around me, but I could only hear bits and pieces of it, and now I was trying desperately to string those bits together to make a sentence that I could actually understand.

The room was growing dark, but I didn’t feel like turning on the bright light of the chandelier that hung at the end of my bed. In the shadows, I almost became a part of the room.

Miss Gellner had always admonished us to go to bed by nine o’clock each night. “Sleep feeds beauty,” she always used to say. But I wasn’t at all tired.

Just as I was about to get up from the couch to crawl into bed, there was a small
tap
at the door. Before I had a chance to respond, the door cracked open, letting the yellow light from the hallway spill into the room. The congressman’s large body stood silhouetted in the doorframe.

“Ella?” he called, poking his head into the room.

I sat up straighter on the couch and arranged a content expression on my face.

“Please, come in,” I said, pressing down the tremble in my voice.

The congressman strode into the room and sat beside me on the couch. The light was nearly gone from the sky and the only bit of illumination in the room was the yellow rectangle of light in the doorway. Sitting in the dark next to him felt too intimate, and I wished I had at least turned on a lamp.

“How was your first full day in your new house?”

“It was lovely.” My face flushed at the lie, thinking of all the things that had happened during the day that I knew I shouldn’t mention. Had he heard about that woman, Rhonda, and her crazy rant? Or about my swim in the pool? Or the forbidden piece of candy Ruby had given to me? I feared all of my secrets were written on my face as clearly as the words in Ruby’s book of fairy tales, but the easy look on his face suggested he couldn’t see them.

“I brought you a little something,” the congressman said.

I hadn’t noticed the small box he held until he placed it in my hands. The box was flat and rectangular, covered in soft, white satin.

“Go on, open it,” he said.

I cracked the lid and stared down at the gold chain that glittered ever so softly in the dim light. On the end of it was a round pendant. I lifted it up and held it to the light so I could see that the gold pendant was encircled with a ring of shining diamonds. Inside something was engraved in loopy script.

“It’s your name,” he said, reaching out to run his finger over the lettering. “And on the other side it has our address and phone number.” He cupped the side of my face in his hand. “Let me put it on you.”

My hands shook and I turned away from him, lifting the hair from off my back. The scooped back of my nightgown left me feeling bare, and without my hair to cover me a chill brought goose bumps to my skin.

The congressman reached his large arms around my body so the cold metal of the pendant rested across my collarbone.

“Now you’ll never forget where you belong,” he whispered next to my ear.

I reached down and touched the front of the pendant. “It’s beautiful,” I said. “Thank you for thinking of me.”

“You’re easy to think about, Ella.”

My name sounded peculiar on his lips.

His hand still rested against the bare skin of my shoulder, but he didn’t attempt to move it. Leaning forward, he brushed his lips lightly against my cheek.

When I raised my gaze, the congressman’s wife was standing in the doorway. In one fluid motion the congressman removed his hand from my shoulder and scooted away from me.

“Elise, what wonderful timing,” he said, standing. “I just gave Ella her new tag.”

He stood and flipped on the light to the chandelier, casting the room with such bright, yellow light that I had to shield my eyes. Even so, I didn’t miss the strange look that passed across his wife’s face.

“Wonderful,” she said, walking across the room to where I sat. “Let’s have a look.”

She only gave the pendant a passing glance before turning to her husband.

“It’s late. Don’t you think we should let Ella get to sleep?”

The congressman nodded, smiling at his wife. “Good night, love,” he called behind him. A moment later the two of them closed the door, leaving me alone under the bright lights of the chandelier.

I
don’t know how long I sat on the edge of my bed, running my finger along the gold necklace, but eventually I switched off the light and lay down in the dark, waiting for the other lights in the house to blink out one by one. Finally, after what seemed like hours, I climbed out of bed and crept out onto the patio.

The house was dark and the light to the pool was off, but bits of moonlight glistened on the smooth surface. I sat down on the edge, dipping my feet into the water. They looked like two white fish moving back and forth beneath me, and for a minute I envied Ruby’s ability to swim. If only I knew how, I could peel off this nightgown and lower my whole body down into the black water. What would it feel like, floating there in the dark staring up at the blue-black sky?

My fingers flittered up to the pendant at my throat. I couldn’t stop touching it. Even after the metal warmed to my skin, I could still feel the cold place it had made on my chest. And even though it was a beautiful piece of jewelry, the first I’d ever worn, I longed to unclasp it and lay it back inside the pristine white box it had come in.

On the other side of the pool, the door to the kitchen clicked shut and I glanced up to see Penn walking toward me. It was too late to slink back into my room, so I sat still, hoping he wouldn’t notice me.

“You look like a ghost in that nightgown,” he said.

It was impossible not to think back to the moment I’d witnessed between him and that girl the night before. Would she be arriving soon? My cheeks flamed and I leaned away from him to run my hand through the water. “I hope I’m not interrupting you.”

“No,” he said, sitting down not too far from me and dipping his feet in beside mine. “I wasn’t tired. Sometimes I come out here when I can’t sleep.”

“I can leave,” I said, moving to get to my feet. “If you’re expecting someone else.”

He put out his hand to stop me, and for a long moment he stared at me, unblinking. Finally a smile cracked his lips. “You didn’t happen to look out your window last night around midnight, did you?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but I was struck dumb, mortified, that he knew I’d been spying on him.

“I keep forgetting someone’s in that room again,” he said. “Don’t worry about it. I’m not mad or anything. It was stupid of me. Really. My parents’ room is right there.” He pointed to the wing of the house that jutted out symmetrically to my room. I hadn’t realized the congressman’s room was so close to mine and suddenly I worried that he was watching us through the window.

Penn followed my gaze. “Don’t worry, he usually goes to sleep pretty early. All that pandering to the public can really wear a guy out.”

Beneath me, the water was as still as glass. It seemed like ages ago that he had pulled me out, and even longer ago that I’d seen him swimming with that girl. How could time change so suddenly? Years could go by in the blink of an eye and then you meet somebody and one day feels like an eternity.

“Is she your…friend?” I asked. “The girl you went swimming with last night?”

“Lexie?” Penn asked. “Yeah, I guess you could call her my friend.” He reached down and splashed a handful of water across the surface of the pool. “Lexie and I used to go to school together, before my dad decided it was too scandalous to have a son in a performing arts school. Next year I’ll be going to Briggons Academy because he thinks it’s more important for a congressman’s son to learn about economics than music.” He shrugged. “Lexie and I were both just a little bored last night. It’s not really anything.”

I didn’t know what being bored had to do with what I’d seen the night before.

“Is that why you touched her that way?” I asked. “Because you were bored?”

It was a bold question. I don’t know what had made me ask it.

“Touched her?”

I shook my head. “I’m sorry. It was an inappropriate question. I’ve just never seen anyone do that…”

“Oh God,” he groaned. “Listen, it wasn’t like that. Really. We were just goofing around. It wasn’t anything serious.”

“Goofing around? Is that what it’s called?”

“Yeah…oh…well…no,” he stammered. “Come on, seriously? They didn’t teach you any of this? Like in a video or anything?”

I shook my head. “I’ve heard that men touch their lips to a woman’s hand, as a greeting, but I didn’t know…” I swallowed. My throat felt so dry that I was finding it hard to talk. “I didn’t know that they sometimes touched lips to lips.”

Penn laughed, but only for a second before he cocked his head and stared at me, eyes squinted ever so softly. “You’re serious, aren’t you?” he asked. “They really didn’t teach you about kissing?”

I touched my cheek, remembering the way the congressman had brushed his lips against my skin. But before I could untangle the knot of questions jumbled up inside me, Penn leaned forward quickly and brushed his lips against mine. They only rested against mine for a moment, but the touch sent a spark buzzing to the very center of my body. I pulled back, gasping for air as if I’d been dumped in the pool again.

“There,” Penn smiled. “Now you know what it feels like.”

“I don’t—” I began, but then we were interrupted by voices coming from his parent’s room.

“Don’t act like it’s not a big deal, John.”

The voice that drifted out the window sounded as if it was right beside us.

“You need to let it go,” the congressman said. “It was only a little kiss on the cheek, that’s all. Keep your emotions in check.”

My stomach twisted. Had the congressman felt the same spark when he’d kissed my cheek as I’d felt when Penn kissed my lips? Penn glanced uncomfortably in my direction. Did he know they were arguing about me? I started to stand up, but he grabbed my arm.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “As long as we’re sitting down they can’t see us. The potted palms cover the view from their windows.”

“It’s
your emotions
I’m worried about, not mine.” The congressman’s wife’s voice didn’t soften. If anything, it got louder. “You’ve already proven you can’t control yourself with one of them around, and now you expect me to turn right back around and do this all over again. I don’t want to have to relive your same stupid mistakes over and over again.”

Penn ran a hand over his face and shook his head. It was obvious he didn’t want to hear his parents fight.

“It wasn’t
my
mistake.”

There was a long pause.

“Fine, you don’t believe me,” the congressman said. “But don’t take it out on her. How many times do I have to say I’m sorry?”

“I don’t want you to keep saying you’re sorry. I want reassurance.”

“That was a completely different scenario,” the congressman said. “You know that isn’t why I got her.”

“Isn’t it? You were sure quick to replace the last one.”

“How do you think it looked?” he snapped. “If I’d waited, people would start talking. They’d think I didn’t support my own bill, but worse than that, they’d start digging. That kind of speculation would ruin us. Besides,” he said, his voice softening. “This will be good for Ruby.”

“You can stop pandering to me,” she said. “You already know that she’s the
only
reason I agreed to this again. And it better be different this time. This time the pet is for Ruby, not you. It’s not healthy for a ten-year-old to spend all her time alone in her room reading. So yes, maybe I’m hoping it will get her out more. Maybe I’m hoping she’ll lose a little weight and start caring about how she looks. Is it so wrong for a mother to want that for her little girl?”

The congressman was quiet and I held my breath, waiting for someone to speak.

“I care about Ruby, too,” he finally said. “Can you please just try to be happy about this?”

“I’m trying to keep an open mind. You’re the one who’s refusing to listen. If you would just consider having her—”

“I’m
not
getting her spayed.” His voice was sharp. “It’s a ten thousand dollar procedure that we don’t need to have done. It’ll take her weeks to recuperate. Why do that to the poor thing?”

There was no answer. After a moment of silence, I heard a door shut. Beside me, Penn clenched his hands, looking at me out of the corner of his eye.

“What does that mean, spayed?” I asked.

“Ella…I…God, she can’t be serious,” he said. “This whole thing is totally screwed up.”

“Please, tell me what it means,” I said. My body was already shaking, imagining being taken back to the kennel. I knew they did things with needles. I’d seen them on a table behind the red door. Sometimes we saw the workers emerge from behind it and we’d hide in our rooms, but their voices would drift through the vents, carrying words like “pentobarbital” and “euthanize” and even though I didn’t recognize those words they terrified me. Just like the word “spayed.”

Penn studied my face, but he didn’t move. The night seemed eerily quiet. Even the crickets had let their music die away.

Finally he spoke. “It means you won’t be able to have babies. They’ll make it so you can’t.”

“I could have babies?” I asked, unable to hide the shock in my voice. All this fuss was about babies?

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “You could.”

“Penn?” I paused. Maybe it wasn’t the right time to ask, but I had to know. “Why did you give the other pet back to the kennel?”

“Didn’t my dad read you the press release?” Penn asked, his voice suddenly harsh.

“He said she got sick,” I said.

“Yeah…sick.” He shook his head. “Sadly, she came down with something that we couldn’t treat on our own. The kennel
insisted
that we return her so that they could give her the special care she needed.”