Moment of Truth - Kasie West Page 0,19
show up tonight because my feet were already killing me. “I know, it’s just . . . we were meeting someone there at seven.”
“I see. Yes, you can—”
A car horn from outside cut him off.
“Never mind! Thanks, Dad.” I tripped my way out of his room, then steadied myself. I needed more practice walking in heels.
“Have fun,” he called after me. “And remember who you are!”
“Already forgot!” I called back, then pulled the door shut behind me.
I hurried to Amelia’s car. “Took you long enough,” I said when I got inside.
“Sorry. My mom borrowed my shoes and didn’t remember where she’d put them. I was trying to find them and Cooper thought it was the time to blockade me from going into each room.”
“That’s annoying.”
“You are so lucky you don’t have to deal with siblings.” Right as she said it, she sucked in her lips. “Wow. I’m sorry. I’m a loser. You can hit me as hard as you want in the arm.” She held out her arm like I was really going to do it.
I stared at Eric’s truck, up there on its pedestal, as she pulled down the driveway and out onto the street. In a way she was right. I didn’t have to deal with siblings. But in a way she was so very wrong. “No, it’s okay. I knew what you meant. Did you end up warning Abby and your brother about tonight?” I asked.
“Yes. They both kind of blew it off. Abby said they have security at the museum, then added, ‘We’ve met the real Heath Hall, so we won’t be impressed.’”
“So she thinks he won’t be able to get in?”
“Or something. Cooper just laughed and said he remembered a few things fake Heath Hall had done in their day, then patted my head.”
“Their day? Like two years ago?”
“Yeah. I decided that maybe they deserve a little trouble tonight.”
I laughed. “Speaking of trouble. I forgot to tell you what happened after practice the other night.”
“You mean Robert showing up? I’ve been thinking about that. Do you think he’s Heath Hall?”
“I thought about it for like a second, but no, I don’t. I don’t even think he likes Heath Hall movies.” I shook my head. “But that’s not what I meant. I was going to tell you about . . .” I stopped because Amelia had just pulled into the parking lot and I saw someone standing there in a suit. “DJ.”
“I invited him,” Amelia said.
“And he came?”
Amelia wiggled her eyebrows. “Apparently, he’s not completely out of my league and doesn’t have a problem with the whole dog-years thing.”
“He is . . . I was going to tell you about him.”
“About DJ?”
“Yes. This is going to be very awkward.” I hadn’t talked to him since our uncomfortable exchange outside the locker room.
She parked and turned off the car. “Why? DJ’s great. So what happened?”
“I’ll have to explain later,” I said because DJ opened her door. I swallowed down the hurt I still felt over what he’d said to me yesterday and I pulled my door open. I didn’t have a problem pretending things were fine. I’d had lots of practice.
“Hey, Hadley,” DJ said with a small smile, like he was still trying to apologize. “Amelia said the whole swim team was coming tonight but you two are the first I’ve seen.”
I raised my eyebrows at Amelia. “Doesn’t have a problem with dog years?”
She waved her hand at me, then said to DJ, “I said the whole swim team might come tonight. I guess I was wrong.”
Amelia bounced up and down as we walked toward the entrance. “I’m so excited for the museum tonight.”
“I didn’t realize you had such an appreciation of art,” DJ said, clearly oblivious to what our true mission was.
“We do,” I assured him. “Very much so.”
“How do you say art in Spanish?” Amelia asked.
“La arte. El artes. It all depends on how you use it in a sentence.”
There were a few people waiting to get in at the entrance ahead of us. The sound of the waves crashing just beyond the building reminded me that it had been a while since I’d been to the beach.
“If I push my way through them, will we get kicked out?” Amelia whispered.
An older woman looked over her shoulder at us and we both stifled laughs. When we finally made it inside, we all stopped in the entrance. Huge jellyfish hung from the ceiling three stories up, their tentacles dangling nearly to our level.
“Is it an underwater