The Color Of Grace (18 page)

Chapter 14

I float in a confused purple haze.
Hot red mixed with
cold blue, leaving me swirling somewhere in the mystical in-between. Too much uncertainty.
Too much doubt. They say purple is supposed to be all about good judgment and
spiritual satisfaction. Therefore, I seriously doubt I’m purple.

* * * *

The rest of the week progressed in a blur of new classes and
adjusting schedules. Glad it went much faster than my first day, I jumped when
the bell to end last period rang, ending school. And beginning the weekend.

Todd had not kept his promise to stop the rumors about me
being Stangman’s woman. When I asked him about it on Wednesday as people I
didn’t know kept calling me that dreaded moniker, he shrugged with a guilty
little smile and said, “Hey, I told them to stop.”

I had my doubts he’d done any such
thing. But I’d lost some of the nerve I’d had Tuesday morning. My daring only
came in short bursts, and my backbone had wilted back into a limp noodle.

But honestly, Ryder had instilled a sense of doom inside me,
making me think that no matter how hard I tried to avoid a relationship with
Todd, my efforts would be useless. I was in the boy’s sights; he was locked on
and ready to engage his target. Frankly, he intimidated the heck out of me.

Not a quality to instill true love.

I was almost queasier about meeting him at the bowling alley
than I had been walking into the gymnasium Monday night to meet him after the
basketball game. Thinking I’d diffuse some of his romantic notions—and I only
call them romantic for lack of a better word—I had Barry drive me to the
bowling alley instead of letting Todd pick me up as he’d wanted to do.

Mom and I hadn’t spoken all week. The temperature inside
Barry’s house had grown about as frosty as it was outside.

Each day she carried on our silent treatment, my resentment
grew. Aside from the nerd herd, my mother was my best friend on earth. I had
always, always gone to her to talk about everything. And now that I needed her
the most, when my world had never been so confusing and new, she failed me because
she was jealous Barry had bought me a stupid necklace instead of getting her
one.

And speaking of the nerd herd, I felt a step removed from
them as well. A bunch of Southeast students thought it’d be funny to post a
hoard of comments on my Facebook profile that simply said, “Stangman’s Woman.”

Bridget, Adam, and Schy were not pleased to think they were
the last ones to find out I had a boyfriend. I tried to explain, tell him I
wasn’t dating Todd, I’d only agreed to see him socially that Friday night and,
okay, the Monday before that. But I don’t think they quite believed me. I’d
left too much out of my earlier Ryder stories to fill in the gaps for all their
questions.

They only talked to me over the phone on Wednesday for about
ten minutes, and I had to call them. On Thursday, I didn’t call, letting them
make the next move, but they didn’t make it.

Friday night, Barry pulled his Mercedes up to the front
entrance of the Osage bowling alley and stopped before turning to me with a
fatherly smile. “Do you have enough money?”

I nodded. “I’m fine. Thanks.” Since gifts from him obviously
irritated my mother, I wanted to decline as many handouts from Barry as
possible. But he offered them non-stop; it was becoming harder and harder to
say no.

He leaned toward me as if he wanted to kiss me on the cheek
with a fatherly kind of peck goodbye. But since I hadn’t experienced a fatherly
move in over thirteen years, it majorly freaked me out. Panicking, I shoved
open the passenger’s side door. “I’ll call when I’m ready to be picked up.
Thanks again for the lift.” Rushing the words, I gave him no chance to get
close as I flew from the car and onto the curb.

“No problem,” he called, waving at me and smiling in such a
way that made me feel guilty for bailing on him. “Have fun.”

I shut the door, deriding myself for overreacting when Barry
had been the only person nice to me in the past week. But honestly, it was
going to take time for me to relax completely around him. I hoped he didn’t
think I was ungrateful while he waited for me to loosen up.

Shivering as a gust of wind swept up my dad’s logging jacket
and chilled me, I rubbed at my arms and hurried inside the building.

It was a typical bowling alley, not much different from
Hillsburg’s bowling alley. Dark with a low ceiling and loud music playing the
number one hits, Osage Lanes boasted Friday night as glow bowl. I stood in the
entrance a moment by one of those claw machines that held a bunch of stuffed animals
no one could ever win and watched half a dozen glowing balls roll down assorted
lanes and knock over a couple dozen pins.

Brushing my dark hair behind my ear in a nervous manner, I
glanced around awkwardly, hoping to spot someone familiar.

“Hey, Violet! Is that you?”

Hearing an all-too familiar voice call out an all-too familiar
nickname, I glanced up and winced. Bridget’s older brother of all people
grinned back.

“What are you doing here?” Joel asked.

“Bowling,” I stated the obvious.

“Ah, going to be a smart aleck, are we?” Reaching out his
long, gangly arm, he wrapped his elbow around my head before I could stop him.
Then he bent me slightly and rubbed his knuckles against my skull, giving me a
completely humiliating noogie.

Which made me very grateful I didn’t have an older brother.

“Cut it out.” I struggled a moment to break free, hoping no
one from Southeast had just witnessed my torture.

Laughing, he let me up.

I pushed away from him and straightened with an indignant
glare as I tried to pat my hair back into place. “What’re
you
doing here?” I finally asked once I’d brushed myself back into
order.

“It’s league night over in Hillsburg, so my buddies and I
came here,” he explained.

I nodded. “Well…” I’d grown up around Joel. Being Bridget’s
older brother, he was always around. But we’d never been that close as to actually
talk—in extended conversation.

Before I could hunt up something else to say, Ryder appeared
at my side, making me suck in a startled breath.

“Grace,” he said, reaching for my arm but not actually
touching me. Sending Joel a censoring stare, full of suspicious distrust, he
asked, “Everything all right?”

I couldn’t believe it. Did Ryder honestly think I needed
saving? From Joel Forthright?

Insane.

But really kind of sweet.

Before I could answer, Joel sent Ryder a once over, taking
in his letterman’s jacket. Turning to me with a quirked eyebrow, he bluntly
asked, “Why’re you hanging out with a Southeast kid?”

“Probably because I go to Southeast now,” I said, using my
dry voice.

His eyes widened. “No way.”

Mimicking him, I widened my eyes right back. “Way.”

“Get out of here. I didn’t know that. So, uh, what? You
don’t hang with Bridge and the rest of the nerd herd anymore?”

Flushing
because
now Ryder was going to forever think of me as a nerd herder, I scowled. “Yes,
I’m still friends with your sister. I talked to her Wednesday night. Remember?
You answered the phone.”

He looked thoughtful a moment before he snapped his fingers
and pointed at me. “Yeah, right. Okay.”

I caught myself just in time to keep from rolling my eyes.

“So why’re you going to Southeast?”

“Because Barry lives here.”

He blinked. “Who’s Barry?”

“My new stepdad.” I thought I was going to have to remind
him that he’d gone to Mom and Barry’s wedding last month, but he snapped his
fingers again.

“Oh, yeah. That guy, right?” He pointed behind me.

“Huh?” I spun around to find Barry opening the front door of
the bowling alley, toting a small bag under his arm. My purse.

He lifted it and smiled when he caught sight of me. “You
left this in the car,” he said, holding out my purse even as he glanced at Joel
and then Ryder who flanked me on both sides. “Thought you might need it.”

Hurrying toward him, I offered a grateful smile. “Thanks.
Yeah, I definitely would’ve needed it.”

As I took the purse from him and clutched it to my chest, he
backed away from me as if he was going to head right back out the exit. “Have a
good night.”

“Thank you.” I turned away only to find Bridget’s brother
departing as well.

“Catch you later, Violet.” He waved over his shoulder as he
disappeared into the video game room.

“Did he just call you Violet?” Ryder wanted to know, lingering
at my side. When I nodded and rolled my eyes, he wrinkled his nose. “Why?”

Because he’s a complete weirdo
, I was tempted to answer. Instead, I shrugged. “Because my
last name’s Indigo, which…is close to the color violet, I guess.”

“Violet?” Ryder repeated on a frown. “I thought Indigo was
closer to blue?”

I sighed. “It is.” But that was Joel for you. Not the brightest
bulb in the pack.

Realizing I was standing next to Ryder and feeling a lot
more settled than when I’d first entered the bowling alley, I cleared my
throat. “So, where’s everyone else?”

“We’re it so far,” he said. He motioned vaguely over his
shoulder toward the shelves of bowling balls. “Kiera’s still trying to find the
perfect ball.”

I nodded and finally spotted Evil Cheerleader Barbie putting
a ball back only to lift another and grimace as she hefted it.

“The rest should be here soon.”

“I guess I’ll go rent my shoes then.” I started away.

But Ryder stopped me. “Hey, you want to make a bet?”

I silently groaned. Great. If he thought I was going to be
any kind of challenge to beat in real bowling, he was going to be sadly
mistaken. The only thing I’d be good at was making gutter balls.

I paused to frown up at him. “What kind of bet?”

“Five bucks says every time Kiera kisses me tonight, Todd
will turn to you and do something similar.”

My jaw dropped open, not expecting this kind of bet. “Excuse
me?”

He arched a brow. “You didn’t believe me when I said he was
competitive. This’ll prove it.”

It was hard for me to decide whether I wanted to be offended
or charmed. Sure, it was sweet; he wanted to prove he hadn’t been lying to me
and he’d been trying to help me out with a friendly warning about Todd. Then
again, a kissing bet sounded offensive for the poor, unsuspecting party members
involved. And honestly, how many times was he going to be smooching on Kiera,
trying to make Todd react? Ugh.

But I couldn’t just turn him down. The boy needed to learn
not to issue such challenges. And expect to win.

“Fine,” I said. “You’re on.”

No way did I think he’d triumph. Marching away from him, I
rented my shoes only to discover I had three extra twenty-dollar bills in my
wallet that hadn’t been there before. Pausing, I lifted my face and glanced
toward the exit, wondering—

Would Barry go through my purse to give me extra cash?

Unease roiled though me at the thought of him digging into
my private things.

Using my own cash to rent my shoes, I stuffed the change
into my purse and grabbed my ugly bowling footwear at about the same moment
everyone else arrived.

Todd entered Osage Lanes with a posse of loud teens
streaming in behind him. When he spotted me, he grinned and opened his arms,
hurrying toward me.

“You made it,” he said and folded me into a close hug,
kissing me on the cheek before finally letting go. “Can I get you a drink? Some
kind of snack?”

I gritted my teeth, wondering what it was about people
wanting to buy me stuff all of the sudden. But I politely shook my head,
saying, “I’m good. Just ate supper.”

There were so many of us, our group took up two lanes. Of
course, Kiera and Ryder had to be paired up to play in the same lane as Todd
and me. I kind of wished Mindy and her boyfriend would end up with us too but
only a few people whose names I had kind of sort of learned played with us.

Kiera went first, which really didn’t surprise me. She was
simply the type to make a fuss if she wasn’t always placed before everyone
else. Todd made sure I went second, which caused me to groan. If they’d
forgotten to add my name to the game completely, I think I would’ve appreciated
it more.

After Evil Cheerleader Barbie threw one roll and immediately
gutter-balled it, she turned directly to Ryder with a puckered lip. “My ball’s
too heavy.”

Ryder sighed, slugging to his feet. “Just…finish this turn
and I’ll find you a new one, okay?”

Grinning since she’d gotten her way, Kiera kissed him and
turned back to the pins to roll her second ball. Another gutter.