My father sighed and looked at the floor. “Son, these women . . . these
dinners . . . they’re very important to your mother .”
“I know.” It had taken just over a year of ass-kissing and designer-clothes
hoarding for my mother to get us our invite into the Sunday dinner crowd.
When it had finally happened she’d actually cried from happines s. I’d never
remotely understood why , but I knew it was important to her .
“So, you have to understand, son, this Melanie Ryan woman . . . she’s
known your mother’s new friends for years,” my father said. “They grew up
together , went to school togethe r, vacationed together . And now that she’s
back—”
The truth hit me like a lacrosse stick to the head. “She’s scared. She
thinks they’re gonna dump her .”
“Well, yes,” my father said matter -of-factly .
Unbelievable. My mother had the exact same mentality as my friends.
When in doubt, be a bitch. What little respect I had left for her started to
crumble.
“Try not to be so hard on her, Jake,” my dad said, putting his hand on my
shoulder . “Everyone makes mistakes.”
“Yeah,” I said, looking at the floor. I wanted out of this conversation.
“Okay.”
He patted my cheek twice and walked out, off to dinner at Ruocco’ s,
where they were meeting up with all the other parents. I watched them from
my window, the same one I’d been looking through when I’d first seen
Ally, as they got into my mom’s Mercedes and pulled out. I waited until the
lights had disappeared at the bottom of 9 ista 9 iew Lane before I went down
to the garage to get my bike.
Not the ideal mode of transportation, but unlike Shannen I wasn’t into
stealing my parents’ cars without a license. I had just hit the automatic
garage door opener when my cell phone rang. Shannen stuck her tongue out
at me from the screen.
“Hello?” I said.
“Jake! Where are you!? The Idiot Twins brought this mini Ping-Pong
table, and we’re playing beer Pong! Chloe’ s already losing, and guess what?
She finally cracked and told us where Ally’ s dad is.”
Shit. My mouth went dry . “She did?”
“Yeah. He’s working at one of Mr. Appleby’ s delis in the city. He’s not
even a waiter . He’s a counter dude, like, slicing bologna for a living!”
I heard Faith crack up in the background and Chloe begging Shannen to
shut up. Babbling that she shouldn’t have spilled. Couldn’ t have agreed
more.
“No way ,” I said flatly . Because I had to say something.
“It’s so hilarious, you know? Ally was always showing off about how
perfect her father was, and now it turns out he’s a cheat, an abandoner, and
a minimum-wage earner .”
I had to bite my tongue to ke ep from snapping. I guess the fact that they
were talking about this meant Ally wasn’ t there yet.
“Anyway , get your butt over here,” Shannen said.
“I’ll be there in two minutes.”
“Oooh! Are you taking the Jag? You have to give me a ride when you get
here.”
“No. I’m taking my bike.”
I was about to hang up when she cackled, “You can’t ride your bike all
the way to the club!”
I froze, my fingers curled around the handlebar . “I thought we were
going to the pool annex.”
The cackling got louder. “No! That’s just what we told Ally! We’re at the
boathouse.”
“What?” I said through my teeth.
“Yeah. We already called the cops to tell them someone was breaking in
at school,” Shannen said with a laugh. “They should be there in . . . well,
now.”
More laughter. WTF was wrong with them? Ally could get in serious
trouble. She could get arrested. Why the hell would they do this to her?
“Sorry. I thought you knew. Now get your ass in the Jag and get over
here!” Shannen said, still laughing.
I wanted to tell her off. Tell her what a total bitch she was being. Ask her
how she could possibly be so cool one second and such a psycho the next.
But I bit down on my tongue and said nothing. It wouldn’ t have mattered
anyway . And I was losing time. I turned my phone off and tore out of the
driveway as fast as I could pedal.