Viva Vermont! (4 page)

“What about your leg?” asked Rhiannon.

DJ frowned. “Well, this cast is supposed to come off in a few weeks. Hopefully I'll get the green light.”

Suddenly, the girls all seemed to be talking at once, making plans for what to take, what they needed to shop for, and which was better—skiing or snowboarding. It seemed to be split down the middle. Although Kriti, who hadn't done either, was naturally siding with Eliza. Anyway, DJ thought that perhaps the fashion show fight had been completely forgotten in all this excitement, which might be for the best. Especially since it seemed certain that Eliza wasn't going anywhere.

“And where is your lodge, General Harding?” asked Mr. Wilton after the table quieted down a bit.

“Vermont, of course.”

“Viva Vermont!” said Taylor, holding up her crystal goblet of sparkling apple cider as if to make a toast.

“Viva Vermont!” echoed the other girls.

4

WHETHER IT WAS THE SEEMINGLY
endless rain or her clumsy cane and walking cast, the next couple of weeks seemed to move like molasses in winter for DJ. She was really trying not to let her “handicap” get to her, and she was trying not to be envious of the other girls as they went about their normal activities. She was actually praying quite a bit, as well as reading her Bible and going to church and youth group. But still it was hard not to feel a little bummed.

It didn't help matters that it seemed like everyone else in Carter House had 1) a life, 2) a boyfriend (or mostly), and 3) extracurricular activities to occupy their time—whether it was practicing for the musical, doing sports, or whatever. It always seemed that everyone, except DJ, had someplace to go or someone to see or something to do, including her grandmother, who had been spending a lot of time with the general lately.

DJ's one and only extracurricular activity (besides youth group) was to go to the pool three times a week to swim laps. Sure, she swam by herself while the swim team did their warm-ups and laughed and joked amongst themselves. But it was better than going straight home from school every day, and it helped to pass the time. Plus, the physical therapy was good for her leg. Or so the therapist assured her the last time she went for a visit, even though she hadn't allowed DJ to lose her walking cast yet. That was a bummer.

But lately DJ had been feeling like a soggy sponge (both inside and out). It seemed she was either hobbling through the rain, leaving the pool with wet hair, or trying to dry the moisture out of that stupid walking-cast boot. And then it felt like she was crying on the inside too—soggy, soggy. Okay, maybe crying was an overstatement. But she was definitely feeling depressed.

The only highlight of her life was seeing Caleb at the pool, and he hadn't even been there this past week. She'd asked Caleb's replacement about it and had been told that he'd taken a week off to go to his brother's wedding somewhere on the West Coast. She'd tried to act like “that's cool,” but she really did miss him. Not that Caleb ever treated her as anything much more than a kid sister—a kid sister that he genuinely liked—but it had been nice having him around. And she missed looking at him, sitting there on the lifeguard chair, smiling that amazing smile, keeping an eye on everyone in the pool.

Sometimes, as a distraction to other things, she'd find herself daydreaming about Caleb, thinking about when she would graduate from high school (with honors!) and join him at Yale. Okay, she knew she'd have to get extremely serious about her studies if that actually were to happen. But having this forced hiatus from sports, and everything else she loved, proved to be a good opportunity to hit the books. Consequently, her grades did seem to be improving some. Ironic, since she had never considered herself to be academic. Having been the “sporty” girl for so many years, it was hard perceiving herself in a different light. But life had changed.

“You've sure turned into a bookworm,” said Taylor one night as she was getting ready for bed.

“Crazy, huh?” DJ set aside her history book and yawned. “I used to hate doing homework.”

“Pretty much.” Taylor frowned as she adjusted a strap of her black silk nightie. The neckline was cut low enough to expose her ample cleavage—not that DJ cared to look. In fact, she still thought it was weird that Taylor wore these silky, slinky, sexy numbers every single night. Like who was she trying to impress anyway? DJ just didn't get it. The stuff Taylor wore didn't even look comfortable—let alone warm. But it's like Taylor never let her guard down when it came to clothing and style. Almost as if she and Eliza were in some kind of competition for “best dressed” Carter House girl. Actually, either of them could easily win that award at school as well. Perhaps in the whole town.

Despite DJ's attempts to improve her own fashion habits, she knew she would never take it to the level of Taylor or Eliza. In fact, when it came to sleepwear, Eliza was pretty much the same as Taylor. Although DJ had to give the girl credit since Eliza didn't go in for “sexy” stuff. Still, she wore “only the finest.” And many of her expensive lace and embroidered nightgowns were from France. But she also shopped at Victoria's Secret when she was in the mood to go “slumming.” Naturally, Kriti had started to follow suit too, although her taste leaned more toward classic silk pajamas. Still, they couldn't be cheap. DJ felt pretty sure that Taylor, Eliza, and Kriti kept Victoria's Secret in business.

Thank goodness DJ still had Casey and Rhiannon to make her feel normal when it came to fashion. As far as their sleepwear was concerned, they all stuck with their faithful tank tops, T-shirts, boxer-style bottoms, sweats, or an occasional nightshirt. Nothing involving silk, lace, or a fancy designer name.

“I never do homework,” bragged Taylor.

“Yeah, I've noticed you never bring home books or anything.”

“Why bother with all that stuff every day? I'm sure it can't be good for your back lugging all those books around.” Taylor was brushing her hair and then twisting it into a smooth bun that was supposed to “prevent split ends” while she slept. She'd recommended that DJ do the same, although DJ wasn't sure how anyone could sleep with a big lump of hair to contend with. “Seriously, DJ, I don't know why you drag all that stuff home every day.”

“Uh … have you heard of homework?”

“I do mine at school.” Taylor opened a bottle of expensive-looking Estée Lauder cream and carefully massaged it onto her forearms and neck.

“How is that even possible?”

“Oh, there are lots of ways … mostly I just work fast. I complete a lot of things while I'm in class. And I actually use my study period to work.” She laughed. “Well, mostly anyway.”

“And you manage to keep your grades up?”

“
Yeah …”

DJ frowned. “Okay, I don't get this … do you cheat or something?”

Taylor tossed DJ a scathing glance as she rubbed lotion onto her feet. “For your information, school has always been easy for me.”

“Apparently.” DJ returned her attention to her book. Still, she wasn't so sure. Someone with Taylor's kind of morals, or lack of, might not be above cheating. Not that DJ planned to make any accusations. Lately, she'd managed to stay on Taylor's good side. In fact, she'd lasted longer in that position than anyone else in this house. If she had to continue being roommates with Taylor, it was well worth practicing a little congeniality.

“Hey, Seth,” purred Taylor into the phone. “What's up?”

Seth Keller was Taylor's latest boyfriend, if you could call the guys she dated “boyfriends,” which might be a stretch. Taylor seemed to change boyfriends as often as most people changed their sheets. It seemed more appropriate to call them “casual encounters.” Or maybe even road-kill, since she'd already left a trail of broken hearts behind—or so she seemed to think.

Taylor enjoyed going over her romantic history, when she could get DJ to listen. She would sit and number off her poor victims, one by one, on her fingers. Personally, DJ suspected that some of those guys might've been relieved to have made it out of Taylor's clutches in one piece. And, oddly enough, their old girlfriends usually took them back. DJ wondered if the girls didn't even feel sorry for the guys—like they'd been helplessly overcome by the evil seductress's spell and finally returned to their senses. Although, to be fair, it seemed that Taylor was always the one who ended the relationships—or conquests, depending on how you looked at it.

But DJ wondered if that might possibly change one of these days—maybe sometime in the foreseeable future too. Because last Saturday night, after Taylor had been out with Seth and probably drinking and doing who knew what else, she had actually admitted to DJ that her greatest fear was being dumped by a guy before she had a chance to dump him first.

“I have a need for control,” she'd confessed while puffing on a cigarette by the open window. “I want the upper hand, you know?”

Well, DJ wasn't sure that she did know. In fact, for the most part DJ felt like she'd never had any control over any aspect of her own life. Well, other than herself and her own choices. She even attempted to say as much to Taylor, but it was obvious that Taylor wasn't listening … and equally obvious that she only wanted to be listened to.

Taylor had also told DJ that she “really, really liked Seth,” but that it scared her to feel that way about any one guy. “It makes me feel too vulnerable,” she'd admitted. And, okay, DJ tried to sound sympathetic, but at the same time she wondered if Taylor had any idea of how shallow and selfish she was when it came to guys. More than that, DJ wondered what would happen if Taylor really was on the other end of the “dump” for a change. Would she fall apart? Would she expect DJ to pick up the pieces? DJ wasn't ready to think about that. In fact, DJ didn't want to think about anything that had to do with guys or romance or dating or anything like that. It was just too depressing.

“Let's have a Halloween party,” suggested Rhiannon at breakfast.

“You can't plan a party
four
days in advance,” pointed out Eliza.

“Why not?” countered Taylor.

“I think it sounds like fun,” said DJ, eager to take Rhiannon's side against Eliza. “What did you have in mind, Rhiannon?”

“You know, just a fun old-fashioned Halloween party. We could dress up and dunk for apples and carve pumpkins and—”

“Go trick-or-treating?” teased Taylor.

“Not exactly.” Rhiannon frowned. “But what's wrong with having some good old-fashioned fun? What's wrong with fixing some party food and decorating and putting together some costumes?”

“Nothing,” said DJ. “It's a great idea.”

“But Halloween is only four days away,” repeated Eliza.

“Don't be such a wet blanket,” said Taylor.

“Well, how do you send out invitations?” asked Eliza.

“Verbal invitations,” said Rhiannon. “It's not unheard of.”

“It sounds pretty childish to me,” said Kriti. Again, it seemed she was taking Eliza's side.

“Well, you don't have to come if you don't want to,” said Casey. “Maybe I'm childish, but I happen to think it'll be a hoot.”

“Who's in favor of a Halloween party?” DJ asked suddenly. “Raise your hands.”

DJ, Taylor, Rhiannon, and Casey all shot their hands up. Then, with reluctance Eliza and Kriti followed.

“It's settled,” said Rhiannon. “Okay, today is Thursday, and Halloween is on Sunday. We'll have to start inviting people today. How about if each of us is allowed to invite four people?”

“That's only twenty-four guests, for a total of thirty, including us,” said Taylor. “And that's if everyone comes, which is unlikely.”

“Math whiz,” teased DJ.

“Anyway, if about half of them came, which does seem likely, it would only be about fifteen people. And that doesn't seem like much of a party to me. I think we need at least forty to feel like it's a party.”

“Uh, maybe we should check with my grandmother,” suggested DJ.

“Yeah,” said Taylor. “You do that, okay?”

“And I'll be in charge of decorations,” continued Rhiannon. “I've already got some things I can use from art.”

“And I'll help her,” offered Casey eagerly.

“Back to how many guests?” persisted Taylor. “There's no point to start planning if you don't know how many you're planning for.”

“Taylor's right,” agreed Eliza.

Taylor looked surprised. “Why, thank you.”

“Let me go find my grandmother first,” said DJ. “She was going to a hair appointment this morning. I might be able to catch her.”

DJ could hear the girls continuing to plan as she took off to search for her grandmother. It actually sounded like the enthusiasm was growing. And DJ did think it could be fun. She just hoped Grandmother would see it that way.

“Oh, there you are,” said DJ. Grandmother was just slipping her handbag over her arm and about to go out the door. “Got a minute?”

“Just barely.” She tapped DJ on the shoulder. “Stand up straight, Desiree.”

DJ stood a bit straighter. “The girls want to have a Halloween party,” she said quickly. “Is that okay with you?”

“Halloween?” Grandmother's brow creased. “When is that anyway?”

“Sunday.”

“Oh … well, I don't see why not. Perhaps a Halloween party would be fun for the girls.”

“Okay, I'll tell them.”

“Now I must be off, I'm running late.”

“Thanks!”

By the time DJ got back to the dining room to announce the good news, it had all been settled. The party would start at seven. Everyone could invite eight friends for a total of forty-eight guests, plus the hostesses. Rhiannon and Casey were doing the decorations. Taylor was lining up some kind of music and planned to set up the seldom-used third floor as a dancing area. “We'll call it Club Ghoul,” she suggested. And it seemed that the rest of them, meaning Eliza, Kriti, and DJ, were in charge of food.

“How are we going to pay for everything?” asked DJ.

“The decorations should be cheap,” said Rhiannon. “I've got some ideas that really don't cost much.”

“But what about the food?” persisted DJ.

“We'll all chip in,” said Taylor.

“How much?” asked Rhiannon with a worried look.

“Since you're doing decorations, you shouldn't have to chip in for food too,” said DJ quickly. She knew that Rhiannon was always strapped for money. “But how about the rest of us? How much does it cost to feed fifty people? And we're just talking party food, right? Not like a full meal deal.”

“Just party food,” said Casey. “And drinks, of course.”

“But no alcohol,” pointed out Rhiannon.