The Magnolia League - By Katie Crouch Page 0,29
mind. Cool.”
“You should be careful,” Thaddeus says. “Carson Moore was just bitten by a snake.”
“I know. Although with all of this ironweed around, I’d probably be okay.”
“Excuse me?”
“Ironweed. If you apply it to a fresh snakebite, it absorbs the poison. I should have said something.”
“She recovered on her own, actually,” Thaddeus says, looking at me with a flicker of interest. He still doesn’t smile, though. I don’t get it. Is he a narc?
“I’m not drinking or smoking or anything,” I say. “I’m just hanging out.”
“Fine,” he says distractedly. Why is he being so standoffish? After all, he’s the one who came to talk to me.
“Are you looking for a beer?” I say finally. “Because the keg’s back by the bonfire.”
“God, no,” he says with what sounds like disdain. “I don’t drink.”
“Well, no offense, but then why are you at this party?”
“It’s a lacrosse party.”
“Oh,” I say, confused.
“I’m the captain of the lacrosse team,” he says.
“Cool.”
“Not really. I hate these things.”
“Me too. But that’s because I don’t know anyone here.”
“You know my sister.”
“Yeah, she’s cool.”
Why do I keep saying “cool”? I sound like an idiot.
“She’s very loyal,” he says. “So is Madison.”
“I guess.”
“We used to go out. Madison and I.”
“Fascinating,” I say. At least it’s not “cool.” And it’s not really fascinating at all. It’s boring—the hot blond jock, the snobby brunette. They were made for each other. “So, what happened?”
“I don’t kiss and tell,” he says dismissively.
“You were the one who brought it up,” I say, annoyed. Because he actually did bring it up.
“Well… it was sudden and passionate. I just fell for her one day, as if I was possessed. And then just as suddenly—wham!—it was over.”
“Man…” I don’t know what to say. What if Reggie does that to me? “So you must still like her?”
“Not in the slightest. Some relationships are just, like—I don’t know—temporary insanity.”
I don’t reply. All I want is a relationship that’s insane. Isn’t that what being in love is all about?
“Anyway,” I say, changing the subject. “That Sina’s a piece of work.”
“Oh, Sina. Yes, all the Magnolias are terrified of her. Madison rules the school, but only because Sina doesn’t go there.”
“Sina goes somewhere else?”
“She lives out past Pin Point, toward Skidaway Island somewhere,” Thaddeus says. “No one knows where she comes from. But everyone certainly knows her. She’s at all the parties.”
“She sort of sucks.”
“Maybe, but everyone wants her to like them.”
“Not me. If I want to be abused, there are plenty of other people here to pick from.”
Thaddeus looks at me thoughtfully. “You don’t really look like a Magnolia.”
“Why?” I say defensively.
“Your hair, for one thing,” he says. “It’s pretty out there.”
“Where I’m from, it’s normal,” I say. Whatever. Why should I care what this guy thinks about my hair?
Behind him, some guys are tapping a second keg, and the party is getting nutty. Three jocks throw a wooden chair on the bonfire, and sparks flare up, getting dangerously close to the overhanging canopy of Spanish moss. A flock of boys has settled down around Hayes and Madison. A completely gorgeous black guy has his arm draped around Hayes’s shoulder.
“That must be Jason,” I say.
“They’ve been dating forever. Jason’s family is major Georgia new money. Golf courses, I think.”
“Huh,” I answer, thinking about what Reggie would do at this scene. He’d probably be rolling joints and doing keg stands, well on his way to being everyone’s best friend.
“So, you grew up on some kind of commune?”
“A collective farm.”
“And now you’re here for good.”
“No way! I’m moving back as soon as I turn eighteen. Or college.”
“That’ll be a first.”
“You think women don’t go to college?”
“No, Magnolias don’t leave Savannah.”
“What?” I look at him uncertainly. “I’m sorry, but there is no way that someone like your sister won’t end up at Princeton or something. She’s an admissions officer’s wet dream.”
“That may be,” he says. “But she’ll go to Armstrong Atlantic or Savannah State. Not Princeton, not even Georgia Tech. Because she’s a Magnolia, and Magnolias don’t leave. Ever.”
“Now I know why Sina thinks you’re all so lame.”
“I promise you, sweetheart, I have much better reasons than that,” Sina says, suddenly appearing. “What are you doing back here, Thaddeus? Molesting children is still a crime, even in Georgia.”
Thaddeus doesn’t answer.
“We’re just hanging,” I say. “And I’m probably the same age as you.”
“I doubt that,” Sina says, and she takes a breath in preparation for saying something really mean that’ll totally humiliate me in front of Thaddeus and—oh God—I know I won’t be able to help