Truth or Dare (20 page)

Aunt Shelby gave Marley a questioning look.

“I'd rather not talk about it now,” Marley answered. “But actually, there's something I
do
want to say.” She faced my aunt. “I think you were wrong to Aztec-herb us without our permission.”

“I completely agree,” I said.

“Ha,” Abi snarled. “You probably knew all along, Lia. You probably helped your aunt bake that cake!”

“I did not!”

“Yeah, Lia, we totally believe you. Because you're so good at the truth, right?”

Up until then Marley had been almost silent and, except for celebrating my confession, almost calm. But when Abi said that to me, Marley exploded. “Shut up, Abi! You lied too—so you have no reason to pick on Lia. Or anybody else, for that matter. And you know what? I'm sick of how mean and moody you always are.
Everybody
is.”

Abi's face went white. I'd never seen any resemblance before, but in that instant she looked exactly like Val that
time in my kitchen when I'd reminded her of the way she'd bullied my aunt in middle school.

Aunt Shelby must have seen Abi's reaction too; maybe that was why she picked that moment to speak up. “Time-out, girls,” she announced. She reached into a dress pocket and pulled out a small plastic sandwich bag filled with a red powder. “Behold my secret ingredient, the ancient Aztec herb capsicum annuum! Otherwise known as cayenne pepper.”

“That's what you put in the
cake?
” I stared at my aunt. “Regular old cayenne pepper?”

“Just a pinch, buttercup. No harm, no worries. Actually, I thought it tasted kind of good with all that chocolate.”

“But why?” I could barely form words. “Why did you do that?”

“Ah. So here's the punchline of my little joke:
game over.
No more Truth or Dare, or any version of it, either. Because real friends treat each other as equals. They don't force things on each other. Or
from
each other.”

“But
you
forced that cake on
us
,” Abi protested. “And then you forced us to say things!”

“Actually, dear, everyone spoke on their own,” Aunt Shelby replied. She waved her arm as if she held an invisible fairy wand. “And now that you've expressed your truths to each other, no one has more power than anyone
else, balance has been restored, and you can all move forward in a positive direction. No more negativity, all right? There are already too many dark clouds in this world, and we're all better off living in sunshine. Can we agree on that, girls?”

My ex-friends gaped as Aunt Shelby twirled to take the almost-empty cake plate back into the kitchen.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

“Omigod,” I sputtered. “You guys, I am so, so sorry. But I bought tons of chocolate, like I promised. And other stuff too. So please help yourselves—” I gestured wildly toward the candy still piled up on the coffee table.

Abi flew out the door, with Jules following. Mak nodded at me and mumbled, “See you, Lia,” as she grabbed her jacket and walked out.

That left Marley.

“Marley, I don't know what to say—” I began.

She took a Milky Way and also shoved a Snickers bar into her pants pocket. “Well, anyhow, you were right about one thing. This definitely wasn't a boring pizza-and-bowling party.”

IN THE KITCHEN, AUNT SHELBY was calmly drinking a glass of orange juice. As soon as she saw me, she did a little jig that sloshed some juice on the floor.

“Wasn't that brilliant?” she demanded, laughing. “Didn't you love it—‘Aztec truth powder'?”

“It
was
kind of clever,” I admitted. “But it didn't solve anything.”

She put down the glass. “What do you mean?”

I sighed. “I thought this was going to be a
party.
And at
the end of it, we would all magically be friends again. But now everyone's upset. At
me
.”

“Why at you?”

“Because you're my aunt. And you basically just had us ambush Abi.”

“Who was bullying
all
your friends, Lia. Not just you.”

“How can you say that? You don't even know them!”

“No, but Val does.”

“What?”

“Val's told me stuff. She's been paying close attention.”

“But—I don't understand,” I sputtered. “She told you her own
daughter
was a bully?”

My aunt nodded. “Val's been worried about it for a while. She tried talking to Abi, but Abi wouldn't listen. And when you reminded her of her own behavior in middle school toward
me
—”

“Aunt Shelby, that was a totally different situation!”

“—it made her wonder if bullying was genetic. Or if somehow she was enabling Abi's behavior. So she talked to me about it.”

“Why to
you
?”

“Lia, I know you don't think I know anything about herbs—”

“I never said you didn't know
anything
.”

“—but I do know a middle school bully when I see one. And I do know a victim. All you girls were kissing a bully's bahooties, and now you won't have to.”

“Bahooties?” I repeated. “What's that?”

She grinned. “Nothing. I just made it up. But you get the point, right?”

It all seemed so simple to my aunt, like prescribing someone a “treatment.” Or handing someone a crystal.
Put it under your pillow. And poof: no more insomnia.
Or,
Here's a leaf. Poof: Now you're pregnant.

“What's wrong?” She frowned at me.

“Aunt Shelby,” I said, “I know you had a hard time in middle school and you never got over it. And I know you thought you were helping me with that cake. But now we've all said terrble stuff to each other that we can't take back!”

“Yes, but why would you
want
to?”

“To be friends again,” I wailed.

Aunt Shelby shook her braids. “All right, Lia, you've lost me. Didn't you tell me you weren't sure you
wanted
to be friends with these girls?”

“Yeah. But maybe I changed my mind. Anyway, it was before
this
.”

As I said these words, I felt like a party piñata that had been smashed open. I was deflated, empty. Without my friends, who could I talk to? I had no one now—no mom, a dad I loved
but who couldn't really understand, a brother who teased, a crazy aunt. Bad friends were better than no friends, right?

Aunt Shelby rushed over to give me a hug that basically kept me upright. “Lia,” she said in my ear. “I know these girls were there for you in the past, especially when your mom died. But you're all growing and changing, and if these friendships aren't working out for you anymore, you shouldn't be afraid to let them go. Believe me, sweetheart, I know your mom wanted you to have
true
friends, girls who support each other, who have each other's back. Someone like Marley—”

I pulled away. “You told me you fought with Mom all the time! How can you say you know what she wanted?”

“Because she was my sister,” Aunt Shelby said quietly. “And you know what, buttercup? She still is.”

♥  ♥  ♥

That night I slept a million hours. It was as if I'd never slept before and couldn't figure out how to stop.

When I finally woke, I spent a long time staring at the ceiling. Yesterday had been truly horrific, the way Aunt Shelby had organized a party so that we could all attack Abi. And even if Abi had deserved it, even if she was the cause of all the fighting, my mom—the Jessie who'd figured out how to stop Shelby's bullies—would never have humiliated one of my friends. So if Aunt Shelby “knew” what my mom would've wanted, why
had she allowed a thing like that to happen?

Then I thought about Mak finally speaking her mind and how even Jules had stood up to Abi for the first time in history. So maybe the party hadn't been such a disaster after all, I told myself. Aunt Shelby had tricked us with that cake—but really, my ex-friends hadn't needed much of an excuse to tell off Abi.

And I was glad I'd told the truth about my period. Finally. I still owed the truth about kissing Tanner, even though everyone had probably figured it out by now anyway. Although it was strange that Aunt Shelby had covered up for me. Considering how she was all for truth and sunshine, blah, blah, blah, lying about Tanner didn't make much sense.

Then I had this crazy thought:
Maybe she lied about Tanner because she cares about me. And maybe she thought it was what
I
wanted
.

That was when I noticed an envelope on the floor, which must have been slipped under my door while I was sleeping. I got out of bed to open it.

Inside was a small blue stone and a note from my aunt.

Dear Lia,

Sorry I messed up. Your mom was so much better at mom stuff—and I know I'm
not much of a substitute. But I was only trying to protect you. That's something I'll never stop doing. Anyway, I doubt there will be any more trouble.

xoxox,

Aunt S

PS. Here's an agate. Keep it by your bedside. The ancient Aztecs used it to ward off bullies and meanies.

PPS. Late bloomers unite!

PPPS. Marley seems like a good friend. Just my intuition.

PPPPS. Tanner is a nice boy, but he's not very bright. For a first kiss, pick someone better, okay?

PPPPPS. Talk to you soon!

AFTER I GOT DRESSED, I ran over to Abi's house. When I rang the doorbell, Val answered.

“Can I please speak to Abi?” I asked.

“Sorry, Lia,” Val said quietly. “She's not here right now.”

I thought it was a lie, that Abi was simply too hurt and angry to see me. But then Val added: “She and Jules went to the movies. But I'm meeting her for dinner at the diner. You're welcome to join us.”

Really? This was an invitation. So it meant Val had forgiven me for calling her a bully?

“That would be great,” I said eagerly. “What time?”

“Six,” she said.

I went home, did some homework, washed my hair. At five thirty I told Dad I was having dinner with Val and Abi. He looked startled, which made me wonder if Aunt Shelby had told him about the party. But he didn't ask questions or say I couldn't go; in fact, he drove me to the diner.

Val and Abi were at the same table I'd shared with Graydon. When was that? Only a few days ago, but it felt like weeks.

I could tell Val hadn't told Abi she'd invited me, because as soon as I walked over, Abi's face paled. She put down her fork.

“Lia, what are you doing here?” she asked in a flat voice.

“I came to talk to you. It'll be fast.”

“You know what? While you girls are chatting, I think I'll take a potty break,” Val announced. Under other circumstances, Abi and I would have giggled at “potty break,” but Abi just glared as I slid into Val's seat.