3: Striking A Chord

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Chapter Three

Squinting, I hold the two bottles of pink nail varnish up to the light. ‘Which one?’

‘Neither. Use this.’ Allie hands me an electric blue nail varnish, taking the two pink ones out of my hands.

I raise my eyebrows at her from my window seat.

‘Trust me.’

Fashion isn’t Allie’s strong point, according to most of the girls in our grade. She wears her red Doc Martens with plaid, pastel-colored skirts, and oversized shirts unbuttoned over graphic tees. All the other girls who wear shirts put plain tank tops under them and do up most of the buttons, but Allie doesn’t care – she wears what she’s comfortable in.

Personally, I think my best friend always looks great. Whatever she has on she makes work because she wears it with confidence.

She fixes me with one of those looks that make her debate opponents back down and would reduce grown men to tears. ‘It’ll stand out.’

 Obediently I curl my fingers around the blue nail varnish, and then unscrew the top.‘Okay.’

Allie’s lying on her stomach along my bed, flicking through a copy of Seventeen. My pillow’s at the foot of the bed underneath her arms and her feet waving in the air.

It’s only five fifteen on a Wednesday, but tonight’s a big night for both of us. Josh and his friends got invited to a party one of the varsity baseball guys is throwing – Josh knows his younger brother from football and Allie and I are going along too.

I still can’t believe we’re going to our first real high school party.

We’ve been to a couple parties that people in our grade threw – one at Halloween, and one that some girl in our Algebra class threw for her birthday and invited pretty much everyone. But that was different.

This one will have upperclassmen. And alcohol.

Our moms already gave us a strict talk about being very careful what we drink and not leaving our drinks unattended. My mom told us not to drink at all, but Allie’s mom knows that when Sara went to parties like this, the kids all drank – even just half a bottle of beer in a plastic cup, so she just told us to be careful and responsible.

When Josh told me we were invited to this party, my immediate reply was, ‘Can Allie come, too?’

He’d shrugged. ‘Sure, I don’t see why not.’

It’s eighteen days since our first date, eleven days since our second, and we’re officially dating now.

I have a boyfriend.

Josh Parker is my boyfriend.

It’s even Facebook official.

I’m still reveling in the fact we really are together, when I realize that Allie’s talking to me.

No, not just talking – she’s gushing.

‘. . . and Steve said he’s going. He was really surprised that I was going, too, but he said he’d see me there, and he was smiling. I just don’t know if he meant it like, if he happens to see me, then whatever, or if he’s going to make a point to find me there. Do you think I should try and find him? Or do I play it cool?’

Steve is the junior editor on the school paper. He has wiry glasses that make his eyes look bigger than they really are, and he’s kind of lanky and tall for a sophomore, but he’s sort of cute, in a geeky way. And Allie has a huge crush on him. He’s the reason she decided to sign up for the school paper – even though she denies it stubbornly every time I bring it up.

‘Ashley?’

‘Oh, um. Maybe just play it cool. Like, don’t go looking for him, because you don’t want to seem desperate? But don’t brush him off if you do see him?’

She nods. ‘It’s a long shot. I know that.’

‘Don’t be silly. He’d have to be crazy not to look at you twice.’

Allie rolls her eyes, but smiles. ‘Yeah, but . . . Come on, there are probably a whole bunch of other girls interested in him – and some of them are going to be older.’

‘By older you mean they’ve kissed more boys?’

‘I was thinking bigger boobs, but, yes, that too.’

We both laugh, and then I say, ‘Look, Josh asked me out, didn’t he? And how much of a long shot was that? That was such a long shot it was like – like – like trying to toss a baseball to the top of the Empire State Building. But it happened. And now we’re dating and he’s getting us invited to parties—’

‘He got you invited.’

‘And you too.’

‘Only because you asked him.’ She sounds bitter and I don’t know why.

‘Sorry, should I have not done that?’ My voice is a little sharp. What’s her issue?

She huffs, blowing some hair off her face. ‘Whatever.’

I decide to change the subject. ‘What do you think – dress or skirt? Or jeans?’

‘Skirt. I’m wearing a skirt too. It’s like, safe middle-ground.’

‘That’s a good point.’

We talk some more as we get ready, but I can’t help feeling like something’s off. We’re best friends; I know her better than anyone else – we got really close in middle school, and have been inseparable ever since – and I’m sure she’s got a problem with something.

And I’m sure she doesn’t want me to push her about it.

If I try and pester her to talk to me, she’ll just snap and then change the subject. So I ignore the tension between us as we finish getting ready; and by the time my dad’s driving us to the party, it’s like nothing’s wrong at all. I’m glad because I’m way too excited about the party for this to get in the way of it.

I glance across at Allie, and she grins at me, but I think maybe it’s a little forced. I can’t be sure.

But if she wanted to talk, she would.

And obviously, she doesn’t.

My phone buzzes in my hands, and I notice Allie looking at me from the corner of her eye. ‘It’s Josh,’ I say. ‘He’s on his way.’ I don’t add that he also said in his text that he’s really excited to spend the night with me and can’t wait to see me. I grin to myself, buzzing with excitement now instead of nerves.

When we get out of the car at the end of the street, my dad puts down his window and says before we can get out of earshot, ‘You sure your sister’s okay to pick you guys up later, Allie?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Ten o’clock curfew, don’t forget,’ he says, directing that more at me.

‘I know.’

‘And no drinking. At all.’

I know, Dad. Jeez. Spare me the lecture – Mom’s already said enough about it.’

‘Just making sure that’s clear.’ He holds up his hands briefly as if in surrender, then puts the car in drive and calls goodbye. We’re already walking away.

It’s not hard to figure out which house the party’s at: there are students hanging around on the front lawn, and music spills from the open door and windows. There’s laughter and loud chattering and a buzz in the air that seems to fill my veins with adrenaline.

I turn to Allie with a grin, but she’s twisting her bracelet around her wrist nervously, and chewing her lip. Which is totally out of character for Allie – she hardly ever gets this anxious about anything. ‘What’s up? You’re not excited?’

‘I just – we don’t really know anybody here. Is Josh here yet?’

I shake my head. ‘He’s on his way. He text me when we were in the car, remember? He’ll be here in a few minutes.’

‘What about his other friends?  Like Eliza – she’s in my Geography class. Is she here yet?’

‘I don’t know, I don’t have her number.’

‘Well can you ask Josh?’ She starts chewing her thumbnail, then, a sure sign that she’s dreading this party. She always does that when we have tests in class or if she’s losing her debate. I stop walking, and she does too. We’re about two houses down from the party – so close, but not quite there yet.

‘Chill out, Allie. They’re not gonna bite. They’re high schoolers, not coyotes.’ Although sometimes, I’m not so sure of that myself.

She gives me a deadpan look. ‘Funny.’

‘Why are you so uptight?’

‘I’m not.’

‘Yeah, you are. It’s not about Steve, is it?’

‘No.’ She’s telling the truth about that; I can tell from the unimpressed look in her eyes that I’ve missed the mark by a mile. ‘I just – we don’t know anybody here. And I don’t want you to ditch me to go suck face with your new boyfriend when he gets here and leave me all on my own.’

Is that all this is about?

‘I’m not going to ditch you.’

‘You mean you’re not going to go find a quiet corner and make out with Josh?’

I look away, melodramatically guilty. ‘Okay, maaaybe. But I’m not going to leave you all on your own all the time. There are a couple of other freshmen here.’

‘Guys from the junior varsity football team, and their girlfriends, you mean.’

‘And Josh’s friends will be here. Naomi is really nice—’

Allie snorts all of a sudden. ‘Are you kidding me? Naomi, with her perfect teeth and perfect hair and perfect clothes? She’s a bitch.’

I’m taken aback by the sudden outburst. Allie’s not usually nasty like this.

Naomi might be totally intimidating, but she’s not mean, or anything. She’s been really nice to me.

‘She’s not. She’s nice.’

‘She tripped me in Spanish one time. On purpose.’

I suddenly remember that – it had been around Christmas. I open my mouth to answer, but Allie cuts in, ‘And if you say maybe she didn’t mean it then I’m calling you out on that. She sneered at me after I tripped. She meant to do it.’

 ‘Give her a chance. Please. Come on, Allie, tonight’s supposed to be really fun.’

I don’t mean for it to sound like I think she’s being a buzz-kill, but . . . she kind of is.

Just a little.

‘I swear I won’t spend the entire night making out with Josh and leave you with his friends. But feel free to ditch me to make out with Steve.’

She finally cracks a smile, and scuffs the toe of her Docs against the sidewalk. ‘Promise?’

‘Cross my heart.’ I grin, doing my best to be super upbeat about this in the hopes that she’ll relax, too. ‘Come on. Josh is probably here by now, and this is our first booze-filled high school party. I don’t want to miss a second of it.’

‘I thought you promised your parents you wouldn’t drink?’

‘I didn’t say I’d be filled with booze. Just the party.’

‘Right.’ My best friend grins, and starts walking purposefully toward the party house, leaving me to chase after her.

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