Oh, NerdCon, your awesomeness will be missed.
Terra pops up. “I’m going to get my phone so we can listen to Allison while we do this. Maybe the chant can have the same beat as one of her songs?”
I smile big and give her two thumbs up.
As soon as Terra leaves, Rayann turns on me. “What’s going on with you? There’s no way you’re as excited about this concert as you’re pretending to be. I’ve seen how bored you look when Terra starts talking about Allison. Just because she’s not paying attention doesn’t mean the rest of us aren’t.”
“Nothing’s going on with me,” I say maybe a little more cheerful than I normally would. The last thing I need is for her to think something is going on with me, and she just pulled out her telescope, I can feel it. “I’m just really excited about going to a live concert. And hanging out with you and Terra. Summer gets boring, you know?”
“If you say so,” she says just before Terra returns and sits back down.
We all craft our hearts for a while until Terra asks, “So, where have you been, Maddie? Every time I text, you don’t answer until it’s too late to do anything.”
“Yeah, Maddie,” Rayann says. “If summer’s been so boring, why haven’t you been hanging out with us?”
I’m pretty sure I just became the big X on the treasure map. I have to come up with an excuse quick, and in the end, the one I come up with is pretty darn lame. “I’ve been helping my mom around the house, and the battery on my phone is really sucky so I have to leave it plugged in all the time. By the time she lets me hang out in my room, it’s usually pretty late.”
Terra looks thoughtful. “I could always just try your home phone. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that before.”
“No!” What if she calls when I’m using her as an excuse to go be a geek with Logan? “I mean, Dad is always waiting on calls about new jobs. I can’t even pick up the home phone without him telling me to put it back.” I shrug and try to laugh again, but it just comes out as a wobbly flutter of sound.
Rayann smiles like I’m about to walk the plank, waiting for that moment I plummet to my death. Terra just looks kind of confused and goes back to her bubble letters.
Once my T-shirt looks only slightly better than the one I made in fourth grade during a Brownies meeting, I ask Terra, “Can I leave this here to dry? Mom would kill me if I got this glitter pen gel stuff all over the inside of my car.”
“Sure.”
“Thanks. Well, I have to head out. Mom probably has half a million things waiting for—”
Terra sits back on her heels, a frown on her face. “But what about the cheer? We haven’t even started working on it yet.”
I edge toward the door, wishing Rayann would stop with her smug looks. Could she just stop with her stupid face all together? “Later, I promise. I mean, how much help can my mom really need?”
“Okay,” Terra says sadly, but when she stands, she turns back into giddy, hand-talking Terra. “This is going to be awesome. I can’t wait! You’re the best ever.” She gives me a tight hug.
Oh yeah, I’m the best, all right. More like the girl who is so buried in lies she can’t see through them enough to realize she almost broke her best friend’s heart.
Rayann puts on a fake smile and holds her arms open for a hug, too. “Maybe your mom will let you hang out with us again soon,” she whispers in my ear. Her tone isn’t hopeful—it’s freaking sinister. Like she can’t wait for the next opportunity to catch me in a lie I can’t talk my way out of.
I hurry out the door while I still can, chills skittering down my spine.
#12
“Mom, Terra and Rayann want to go to a late movie tonight. Can I go?” I call from my bedroom door.
Logan’s show is almost over, and we’re supposed to go to the LARP of Ages game tonight once he’s finished. I told him I’d meet him at the radio station at around 9:30 so he could help me with my costume.
“What time is it over?” Mom yells back at me from downstairs.
“Supposed to be 11:30.”
“Okay, just call when you’re on your way home.”
Geez, I