Somehow it’s not possible for Chelsea to pull up in front of my house without leaning all her weight on her car horn. I come racing out the front door, my backpack slung on my right shoulder, and sprint down the walkway, swearing under my breath. She doesn’t let up on the horn until I’ve wrenched open the passenger side door of the car and plopped myself down next to her.
“Oh my God!” I smack Chelsea in the arm. “I heard you. You’re disturbing the whole neighborhood!”
Chelsea rolls her eyes dramatically. She’s wearing so much mascara around her dark brown eyes, her eyelashes are at least three times as long as they would be otherwise. Chelsea wears an insane amount of makeup—my parents would never allow me to leave the house looking like that. If I even want a darker shade of lipstick than nude, I have to put it on in the bathroom at school.
“Can I help it if you’re slow?” Chelsea says.
I glance at the back seat for support. Chelsea texted me she was bringing along Kayla Olivera as a sixth for Tim. Kayla is another cheerleader—dark and petite and very pretty. When I crane my neck, I feel perturbed by the fact that she is texting on her phone, oblivious to the volume of Chelsea’s horn.
“Hey, Kayla,” I say.
“Hey,” she says without looking up.
I clear my throat. “Thanks for coming.”
Kayla finally rips her eyes away from the screen of her phone. “Chelsea said Tim Reese is going to be there, right?”
I feel a jolt of surprise. I had figured that Chelsea had recruited some unsuspecting girl to our party to be foisted on Tim. But that isn’t the case at all. Kayla wants to be here. She’s interested in Tim. Apparently, when Tim
sprouted up those six extra inches, he also became the kind of guy that girls take an interest in. I never noticed it before, but now I see it written all over Kayla’s face. Tim is hot now.
The idea of it doesn’t quite sit well with me.
I’m not sure why though. I’ve got Shane, after all.
“So is Shane’s mom gone?” Chelsea asks me. “Can we go over there?”
I reach into my purse and pull out my phone. Sure enough, there’s a text from Shane that came in about a minute ago: Just picked up Brandon and my mom is already on the road. Come on over!
I text back: Be there soon! Lope you!
His reply comes instantly: Lope you too.
Chelsea drives the extra block over to Tim’s house. I can see her getting ready to lean on the horn, but she doesn’t have to. Tim is already sitting on the front steps of his house, and he leaps to his feet when he sees Chelsea’s Beetle. Kayla watches him through the window, a smile playing on her lips.
Tim hops into the backseat of the car, next to Kayla. She scooches toward him as much as her seatbelt will allow. “Hey, Tim,” she says.
“Hey…” He frowns, obviously struggling to come up with her name. I turn and mouth “Kayla” as emphatically as I can but he can’t understand me. Finally, he takes a stab at it: “Kara?”
Kayla’s cheeks turn slightly pink. “Kayla.”
“Right. Sorry.” But he doesn’t sound sorry. He doesn’t sound like he cares at all. Tim has never liked cheerleaders. I could see him holding his tongue when I told him I was trying out.
“Where’s your bag?” Kayla asks him. He frowns. “Bag?”
“We’re spending the night.” Kayla looks at Chelsea for confirmation. “Right?”
“That’s right, Timothy,” Chelsea says. “This is an overnight party.
Didn’t Brooke tell you?”
“Yes…” He shrugs. “It’s fine. I don’t need anything.”
Kayla looks scandalized. “What about a change of clothes?”
Tim glances down at his jacket, which is hanging open to reveal a gray T-shirt and blue jeans. “I don’t know. I’ll just wear this tomorrow.”
“Boys.” Chelsea shoots me a look. “Sometimes I wonder what we see in them.”
I laugh along with Chelsea, but when I look back at Tim, there’s something in his expression that makes me a little uneasy. I told him we were spending the night. Back when we were much younger and such things were allowed, Tim used to come to my house for sleepovers, and he always brought along everything but the kitchen sink. Yes, a lot of time has passed since then, but it still seems strange that he would come to a sleepover at Shane’s house and not bring anything but himself. It doesn’t seem like Tim at all.
Maybe I don’t know Tim at all anymore. Or maybe he doesn’t plan on staying.
