The Cheater (5 page)

“I wish I could stay and celebrate with you,” she said. “But I've got to run out and look at flower arrangements for the Spring Fling.” She gave Carter a kiss and added, “See you at dinner, dear.”

Mrs. Phillips left. Carter wandered into the hallway, not sure what to do with herself. She sat down on the bottom step of the carpeted staircase.

It worked, she thought. The whole plan worked out perfectly. I got what I wanted. Nothing bad happened.

So why don't I feel happy?

She had no idea how much time had passed before she heard her father's Mercedes pull into the driveway. A minute later he came into the house, all smiles.

In his hand he held a tiny package, wrapped in robin's egg blue paper and tied with a thin white ribbon.

He held the package out to Carter, who was still sitting on the stairs. She looked at him in surprise.

“This is for you, Carter,” said Judge Phillips. “To celebrate the fruits of all your hard work.”

He gave her the package, then kissed her on the forehead. “I'm so proud of you.”

Carter opened the package. Inside was a pair of sparkling diamond earrings.

Her stomach dropped to the floor. They were beautiful. No, they were gorgeous. But she knew she didn't deserve them. She couldn't help but think of what she had done to get those earrings.

Cheater. Cheater.

The word repeated in her mind.

She tried to smile brightly at her father, hiding her guilty feelings. “Daddy,” she said, “they're beautiful. Really beautiful. You shouldn't have done this.”

“Put them on, Carter,” said her father. “I want to see how they look.”

Dutifully she put on the earrings. Her father beamed and kissed her again.

“Brilliant diamonds for a brilliant girl. Now, I have some work to do in my study, but I'll see you at dinner.”

Still grinning, he went into his study and closed the door.

Carter stood and made her way upstairs to her bedroom. She stood before her dresser, staring at herself in the mirror. The diamond earrings seemed to give off a glare. She cringed.

Her father's words echoed through her mind. “Brilliant diamonds for a brilliant girl.”

I'm not a brilliant girl, she thought. I'm a cheater.

And Daddy must never find out.

Dan met Carter at her locker after school the next day. Carter knew she had to talk to him—to break their date for Friday night—but she dreaded doing it. Worse, she had no idea what to say. She had avoided Dan all day. Now he'd finally caught up with her.

“Want to go to the mall?” he asked her. “Just hang out, look around.”

“Sure,” said Carter. At least the mall would provide some distractions. “Let's go.”

They strolled past the stores on the second tier of the Division Street Mall, sipping Cokes and window-shopping.

“Hey,” said Dan. “Have you heard anything about your math test yet?”

Carter nodded. “Dad called early, of course.”

“So? How'd you do?”

She tried to smile. “I did great—seven thirty.”

Dan's face lit up. “Great? That's fantastic! Way to go, Carter. I know that really meant a lot to you.
And
to your dad.”

“It did. Look what Daddy bought me as soon as he found out.” She tucked her hair behind her right ear to show him one diamond earring.

Dan whistled. “Wow. He really
was
happy, wasn't he?”

Carter laughed, just a little.

“You see,” Dan went on. “You didn't need me to take the test for you, after all. You did great all by yourself.”

Carter smiled weakly.

Dan stopped in front of a jewelry store window. There were gold rings, bracelets, and necklaces laid out on black velvet. He stood for a few minutes with his hands in his pockets, admiring the display.

Carter was restless. The last thing she felt like doing just then was to stare at jewelry.

Dan continued to stand there and pointed to a row of necklaces. “If you could have any one of those necklaces, which would you pick?”

Carter sighed. She wasn't in the mood to play “which would you pick” just then. But to make him happy, she pointed to a gold locket in the middle of the display.

“That one,” she said and talked on.

He followed her. “You know,” he said, “we should celebrate tomorrow night. Let's do something really special.”

Carter raised her face to him now with a pained expression. Here it comes, she thought.

“Oh, Dan,” she said. “I almost forgot. We had a date for tomorrow night, didn't we?”

She hated to lie to him. But just once more, she had to do it. She had to.

“What do you mean, you almost forgot? Of course we have a date tomorrow.”

“Dan, I'm sorry. I know I promised you we'd go out tomorrow, but Daddy wants to take me and Mother out to dinner to celebrate. And tomorrow's the only night he can do it. He's so busy right now with the trial and everything,…”

She glanced reluctantly at Dan to see how he was taking this. He was frowning.

“Dan, please understand. I know I had to break a date with you last weekend, but this is the last time, I promise. We can go out Saturday night if you want—”

“I can't go out Saturday night. My grandparents are coming over.”

“Oh.” Carter focused on the rust-colored tile floor. “What about during the day? We could meet at the club.”

“Okay. We'll play tennis on Saturday,” he said unhappily.

Carter felt terrible. “I'm really sorry, Dan,” she said again. She couldn't stop apologizing.

“Don't worry, Carter. I understand. It's okay.”

But for the rest of the afternoon, he acted distant. Carter was afraid that it
wasn't
okay.

She met Adam on the corner of Village and Mission Friday night, dressed, as the last time, in jeans. He came by in his Mustang and drove her to the movies.

They watched a horror movie, a silly one that
was more funny than scary, since the gory effects were so obviously fake. After the lights went down, Adam put his arm around Carter's shoulders. She didn't make him take his arm away.

When the movie ended, Adam and Carter found the Mustang in the parking lot and got in. Adam pulled out without saying where he was going.

Carter had assumed he was taking her home. But she soon knew they weren't driving in the direction of North Hills.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

Adam just said, “No place special.”

He turned down Fear Street. Carter remembered that Adam lived on Fear Street.

She stared out the window at the dark trees that lined the road. Huge, ramshackle old Victorian houses surrounded a few smaller, newer houses— run-down little boxes. Adam pulled the car into a driveway next to one of these.

It was a one-story house with a rickety porch stuck on the front. Except for a yellow bulb by the side door, the house was completely dark.

“Well,” Adam said with a hint of sarcasm, “here we are. Home sweet home.”

He pulled the keys from the ignition and started to get out of the car.

Carter made no move to follow.

It was obvious to her that no one was home. She wasn't sure she wanted to be so completely alone with Adam.

On the other hand, she was curious to see what
his house was like. And she couldn't forget that kiss—that kiss he had given her a week before.

Would he kiss her again?

Half of her was afraid he would—and the other half longed for it to happen again.

He closed the car door and headed to the house. He didn't look back. He seemed to know that she'd follow him. And she did.

He unlocked the side door and flicked on the light. Carter found herself in a tidy kitchen.

“We've got the place to ourselves,” Adam said. “Mom works nights.”

He opened the refrigerator, grabbed a couple of sodas, and led her to the couch in the living room. He turned on a lamp and sat beside her.

The living room was neat, but shabby. The furniture—a worn couch, a rag carpet, some scuffed wooden chairs, and a coffee table covered with white cup rings—reminded Carter of the furniture she'd made fun of in a mountain cabin her family had rented once.

“So,” said Adam, flipping open his can of soda. “Did you get your test score yet?”

“It was great—seven thirty. Thanks for doing such a good job, Adam.”

“No problem.” He took a swig of soda, then put the can on the table and turned toward her. He touched her hair, then her earlobe.

“Nice earrings,” he said. “Are they new?”

Carter's hands flew to her ears. She'd meant to
take the diamond earrings off before this date, but she'd forgotten. She felt embarrassed to be wearing such extravagant jewelry in a modest house like Adam's.

“Daddy gave them to me,” she said, blushing.

“After he heard your test score, right?”

He fingered her earlobe, watching the diamond sparkle in the light. It seemed to fascinate him.

Carter pulled her head away. “Let's not talk about the test,” she said. “That's all over now.”

“All right. I'll change the subject. Let's talk about your friend Jill.”

“What about her?”

“She's cool. You know my friend Ray Owens? Ray really likes her.”

“So?” Ray Owens had five tattoos and three earrings. Unlike Adam, he wasn't smart. As far as Carter was concerned, Jill and Ray lived on two different planets.

“So I want you to fix them up. We'll double— you, me, Ray, and Jill. Tomorrow night.”

Carter gaped at him. Not only was he demanding another date with her, now he wanted to drag Jill into it too.

Jill would never go along with it. How could Carter explain it to her?

Still, Carter was careful when she answered him. Diplomatic.

“Jill's already got a boyfriend. She's really not free to go out with other people.”

“That's not important,” Adam said. “Ray's my friend. He wants to go out with Jill. You're going to set it up. No problem, right?”

She started to protest, but he stopped her by pressing his mouth against hers.

She melted. It was a great kiss. But then he pressed down on her harder. She tried to get up. He wouldn't let her. His chin brushed roughly against her cheek.

“Stop!” she screamed. “Stop!” She jumped up, started to back away.

He followed her, grinning, and pressed her against the wall.

C
arter struggled, trying to get away from him, trying to breathe. But he held her hard against the wall. She gave one big push against his chest.

He smiled at her arrogantly. She was pinned. He had complete control of the situation. They both knew it.

Then all at once he let her go.

She moved away quickly and straightened her shirt. “Whoa. Look, Adam,” she said angrily. “You took the test for me. I appreciate it. We agreed that I'd go out with you—once. This is already our second date. I have a boyfriend. I've done more than I had to. Now you've got to leave me alone.”

Adam's eyes burned with anger. He began to pace the room.

Carter felt a stab of fear. His eyes were cold with pent-up anger. He seemed capable of anything.

“What's your problem, Carter?” he sneered, turning on her. “Aren't you having a good time?”

She was really afraid of him now, afraid of doing something that might let that fury loose.

“Listen,” she said, “if I set up this double date, will you leave me alone?”

She could almost see the anger in his eyes fade. It had worked. His cool demeanor returned.

“It's worth a shot, Carter. You won't know until you try.”

She stood still for a minute. She didn't know what to do next.

“Go on,” he told her. “Call Jill now.”

He pointed toward a table in the hallway, next to the kitchen. The phone sat on the table.

Carter walked stiffly to the table and picked up the receiver. With a glance at Adam, she dialed Jill's number.

Please don't be home, Jill, Carter prayed. If Jill wasn't home, then maybe she wouldn't have to do what Adam asked.

But Jill answered the phone.

“Hi, Jill. It's me.”

“Hi, Carter. Is something wrong?”

“Wrong? Why do you ask that?”

“Well, you're calling kind of late.”

Carter had no idea what time it was. She glanced at her watch. It was after eleven.

“Sorry, Jill. I didn't mean to call so late. Maybe I'd better call you back tomorrow.”

Carter glanced at Adam. He was sitting on the arm of the couch, watching her. At her last words, he shook his head firmly.

“No, it's okay. Gary and I are just hanging out,” Jill said. “What's up?”

“Well, Jill,” she began, trying to sound cheerful, “Adam Messner asked if you and I would like to double tomorrow night.”

“Double? You mean, you and Adam with me and Gary?”