Raina's Story (10 page)

The man glanced again at the file. “It's your name, all right.”

“I—I can't believe it.” Holly would have a fit! “What do I have to do?”

“What else? More testing,” he said with a grin. “I'll have to draw more blood. You see, we have to look for certain markers in your blood and DNA. The more of these factors that match between a donor and recipient, the better the chances that the transplant will take hold. This first hit alerts the registry that you have the
potential
to be a donor for this particular person. Now we have to match you two more closely and send in the results.”

“How many factors have to match?”

“Statistically, unrelated donors have a one in ten chance of having enough matching factors in their blood… maybe one in eight on the DNA.”

The odds didn't sound all that good to Raina, but still she said, “Well, maybe we'll get lucky. When will I know something?”

“The compatibility testing takes three or four weeks.” He studied Raina's paperwork. “First we have to get permission from your parents for me to draw more blood, because you're still a minor.”

“Mom will agree. She's a nurse. And she was happy to sign the first form.”

“Can you call her? Let me speak to her?”

Raina tracked Vicki down on her cell phone and told her the news. “Amazing,” Vicki said. “I'm in a dressing room at a department store at the moment, but I can be over there in half an hour. Just tell Mr. Charles he can draw more blood.” Raina handed the lab tech the phone and he chatted briefly with Vicki.

“All set?” he asked after disconnecting.

“Let's go.” She followed him into the lab eagerly.

“I wish every healthy person in the country
would sign up for the registry. So many people need bone marrow transplants and without enough donors—well, you know what I'm saying.”

“Will I know who she is?”

“There are strict rules about unrelated donors and recipients having contact. You'd have to wait at least a year for a face-to-face meeting, and then only if both parties are willing to meet. It's for the best, you realize. Many things can go awry, and donors feel bad when a recipient dies, so it's best to stay anonymous for a time. Donors do receive a six-week report on the recip-ient's condition, however.”

Raina watched Edward Charles set up the vials and syringes as he talked. Perhaps her marrow could save another's life. Questions swirled through her head, but there was no use in asking any yet.
Maybe
she was a match. It could be a month or more before she knew anything definite.

Kathleen wished she'd never come to the party with Carson. She had wanted to spend New Year's Eve with him alone, but he'd insisted that they hit a huge party at a friend's beach house. The place was crawling with kids from Bryce Academy, and except for Carson, she didn't know a soul. Nor did she want to. Most of the kids were either drunk or well on the way to becoming drunk. Even Carson was drinking beer
and feeling little pain. “Are you sure you don't want a beer?” he asked. “Half a beer?”

“I'm the only sober one here, Carson.”

“All the more reason.”

“No,”
she said.

He put his arm around her. “You're a girl of principle, Kathleen.” He raised his beer can to toast her.

Although he didn't sound as if he was making fun of her, she wasn't sure. “I just don't like the taste of the stuff.”

“Never apologize for being a person of principle. Too few of you left in the world.” He kissed her.

She tasted the yeasty coolness of alcohol from his tongue and pulled away. “How long are we staying?”

“Aw, come on, honey. It's a party. I don't want to leave until after midnight.” He nuzzled her neck. “And I'm going to want to kiss you when that ball drops in Times Square.”

She wished she hadn't told him already that her mother had extended her curfew until one a.m. Mary Ellen was assuming that Kathleen andCarson would be at his place, but they weren't, and Kathleen was feeling deceitful, something Carson wouldn't grasp even if she'd told him.

“Hey, there's my buddy, Todd.” Carson gestured toward a boy in a blue sweater with his arm around a cute girl in a pink sweater.

“They look adorable.” Kathleen's stab at sarcasm seemed lost on Carson. “Listen, I need to use the bathroom,” she told him. “I'll be back.”

“I'll be waiting.”

There was a line at the bathroom door, so Kathleen peeled off and headed outside. She didn't have to use the toilet; she'd only said it so that she could think more clearly. Chilly night air slapped her in the face and she took a deep breath. She heard waves sloshing ashore, driven by a light wind. She squinted at the outlines of mounds atop the sand and realized they were couples stretched out on blankets and covered with more blankets.

Kathleen glanced at her cell phone inside the tiny purse on her shoulder, almost willing her mother to call. However, Mary Ellen rarely called these days because since her surgery, she was feeling much better. She had joined an MS support group and even went bowling once a week! The group met regularly, ate out at restaurants, did holiday projects together. In fact, it seemed to Kathleen that her mother had more of a social life than
she
did. Carson was Kathleen's main diversion, and then only when they both had time between school and her work as a Pink Angel.

Kathleen sighed, zipped her purse and was about to return to the smoke and noise inside the house when she overheard two girls talking near
her on the porch. One of them used Carson's name: “… don't know why he bothers with her,” the girl was saying.

“He could do so much better,” said the other.

Kathleen hunched over, wanting to listen but not wanting to be noticed.

“Like
you,
for instance,” said the first.

“And why not? I'm prettier than she is.”

“Maybe she puts out,” mused the first.

“So do
I,
” the second girl said.

Both girls laughed as if they'd made a sidesplitting joke. Kathleen felt her face turning red and her temper rising. How dare they talk about her! The girls moved and Kathleen could no longer hear their snide remarks. She waited until they were long gone before stepping back inside the house. She was determined to find Carson and insist they leave. She'd tell him she had a headache. And why not? The two unknown girls were total pains.

The party had grown louder. More people had arrived and the room looked overstuffed. A giant-screen television in one corner of the living room was tuned to the channel showing Times Square, where thousands waited for the dropping of the ball that would usher in the new year. The house reeked of beer and cigarettes. Kathleen shoved her way toward the kitchen, where she'd left Carson and Todd. In the hallway,
people milled, waiting in line to reach the beer keg. She elbowed her way past several people, then stopped in her tracks and stared at a couple pressed against the wall in a passionate kiss. Her blood ran cold as she recognized Stephanie and Carson.

“T
HANKS FOR
picking me up.” Kathleen blew her nose and grabbed another tissue from the box stashed in Raina's car.

“I was glad to do it,” Raina said. “Sitting home alone on New Year's Eve and missing Hunter is the pits.” Two days before, he had left for college with his father, driving a loaded SUV. “You want to tell me what happened? You were babbling wildly on the phone.”

“He was
kissing
her, Raina. Carson was
kissing
Stephanie. I couldn't get out of there fast enough.”

Raina didn't act shocked or even perturbed. “Did you tell him you were leaving?”

“He didn't exactly look like he was thinking about
me
.”

“He might be looking for you.”

“I don't care! He's a jerk!”

Raina sent her a sidelong glance. “There might be an explanation.”

“Are you defending him? You used to hate him.”

“I never hated him and I'm not defending him, girlfriend. I just think you should have pried them apart and demanded an explanation on the spot. You've been dating him for months. And he obviously likes you. I don't see why this can't be worked out—”

Kathleen looked at Raina as if she'd lost her mind. “He was
kissing
another girl.”

“I heard you.” Raina gripped the wheel hard. Midnight had passed. Lights had dimmed and streets were deserted. The car radio kept playing sentimental music about days gone by. “I miss Hunter,” she said softly. “You should fight for Carson if you care about him.”

Stricken by the note of sadness in Raina's voice, Kathleen said, “I shouldn't dump on you. You're a good friend and I appreciate your help.”

“That's what friends are for.” Raina pulled up in front of Kathleen's house, and Kathleen was relieved to see that only one lamp glowed in the front window, meaning that her mother had gone to bed. She didn't want to have to explain her situation tonight. Before getting out of the car, she took deep breaths and told herself to get a grip. She asked, “Have you heard anything about your bone marrow match?”

“I don't expect to hear anything until at least
the end of January. I'm not getting too psyched about it yet.”

“You know, Holly's green with envy. She wishes it was her bone marrow that had been matched.”

Raina smiled. “She's only told me that fifty times.”

Kathleen slid out of the car. “Call me tomorrow. After noon. Way after noon.” She shut the door and it made a hollow sound that set a neighbor's dog barking. “And thanks again for the rescue.”

Raina leaned sideways. “Don't write Carson off yet. Give him a chance to defend himself.”

Kathleen nodded, but the image of him and Stephanie with their bodies molded together burned a hole in her mind. She couldn't think of one thing he could say that would explain his behavior. Not one thing.

Kathleen was roused from a sound sleep by her mother before eight the next morning. Mary Ellen opened the bedroom door and announced, “Honey, Carson's on the phone insisting he speak with you. I told him you were still asleep.”

Kathleen sat up groggily. Memories of the night before flooded back. “I'll get it, Mom.”

“You'd think that saying goodbye to each other at one this morning would have held him off until later in the day,” Mary Ellen mused. “If
you want to invite him over for dinner, you can. I'm fixing us a nice pork roast.”

Kathleen nodded, knowing she was
not
going to invite him. She'd tossed and turned for more than an hour, unable to shake off the vision of Stephanie and Carson pressed together, before finally falling into sleep. Now that she was awake, the image returned. Once her mother had shut the door, Kathleen reached for the phone beside her bed. “Yes?” she said.

“Where did you go last night?” Carson growled. “I looked everywhere for you when the party started breaking up. I almost called the police, then somebody said they saw you getting into a car with a girl and driving away. Was it Raina? Why did you go? Why didn't you tell me you were going? I've been up all night waiting until a decent hour to call your house, trying to figure out what happened!”

She waited patiently for him to complete his tirade, then cleared her throat. “I would have told you I was leaving except I didn't want to interrupt your lip-lock with Stephanie.”

He fell silent.

“Was it good for you, Carson? Because it wasn't good for me.”

“Is that what this is about? You think I was kissing Steffie? She was kissing
me,
Kathleen.”

“Well, don't I feel stupid? Not to have been
able to see the difference.” Her tone dripped with sarcasm.

“She got to the party while I was standing around waiting for you to come back from the
bathroom
—” He poured sarcasm into his answer. “For your information, she was drunk. She was supposed to be in Brazil with her mother, but she showed at the party instead. She came over to me and next thing I knew, she laid a big wet one on me.”

“You didn't look to be fighting her off.”

“She caught me by surprise. I was in shock—”

“Oh,
puh-leeze
.”

“What's with you about Stephanie?” He sounded exasperated. “How many times do I have to tell you that she's a friend and that I'm not interested in her in any other way? When are you going to get over this fixation about her?”

“A fixation? Are you so blind that you can't see that she
likes
you, Carson? That she
hates
me?”

He didn't answer.

“And I'll bet all your friends from Bryce thought it was just so funny,” she continued, remembering the catty remarks of the two girls on the porch. “I can see the headline now: ‘Carson Dumps Kathleen, a Nobody, for Stephanie, Right in Front of our Eyes.’ When I saw the two of you,
I freaked. I called Raina and she came and got me and drove me home. Maybe I should have told you, but how could I, with Stephanie hanging all over you like a decoration on a Christmas tree?”

He blew out a long puff of air. “You know, Kathleen, one of the things that I've liked about you is that you're a girl who doesn't play head games. Because I hate that about the other girls I know. You're up front and you usually say just what's on your mind. But this vendetta you have against Stephanie makes no sense to me. I've told you what I can about her, and I thought you understood and that things were all right. But they aren't, are they? You just can't let go of whatever it is you have against her.”