The Mall - Megan McCafferty Page 0,27

question was interrupted by the girl in the dress. With her asymmetrical haircut and mix of silver hoops and diamond studs in both ears, I suddenly recognized Vicki as the Piercing Pagoda’s lone employee.

“Toothy!”

Toothy? I had no idea what it meant, but Gia did. Her head nearly snapped off her neck.

“I will not tolerate disrespect in my store!”

Toothy.

My Odyssey of the Mind word association skills automatically kicked in.

Toothy.

Teeth.

Dental.

Dentists.

Parents.

Did everyone find out about Frank and Kathy before I did?

“You can forget all about that dress,” Gia said to her customer. “I just remembered I promised it to someone else.”

“Wha—?” Vicki was on the verge of tears.

Drea arrived on the scene.

“Let’s talk!”

She pressed her nails into my upper arm and pulled me into the office. In the bright light of day, it seemed like an unlikely spot for an assignation. It felt like a million years had passed since Slade and I rolled around on that couch. As disappointing as our hookup was, I’d have gone back to that time of blissful ignorance in a heartbeat.

Drea eyed the couch, then me.

“You’re taking this worse than I thought you would,” she said. “You look terrible.”

“How do you expect me to take this? Life as I know it is over!” I supported myself against the desk. “And how does everyone already know when I just found out myself?”

“Word gets around,” Drea said. “Look, it’s not that tragic. Take it from me.”

“It’s totally different.”

Drea’s parents split up when she was just a toddler. She had her whole life to get used to D-I-V-O-R-C-E. I couldn’t even say the word in my head.

Drea tipped back her head and laughed.

“Name one person at Pineville High who’s had more rumors spread about their sexual exploits than me!”

This was true. But I didn’t see how gossip about Drea’s alleged sluttiness had anything to do with my parents’ divorce. Unless …

“Wait … People know about my parents’ sexual exploits?”

“Your parents?” Drea recoiled. “Ewwwww! No!”

“Then what are you talking about?”

“You!” Drea looked at me like I was a simpleton. “And Slade!”

“Me and Slade?”

“Of course, you and Slade! What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about my parents’ separation!”

“What?!”

“My dad already has an apartment and is moving out!” Yelling hurt more than it ever had under Dr. Baumann’s care. “My parents are splitting up!”

Drea immediately softened.

“Oh, Cassie. I’m so sorry. I had no idea!”

“Neither did I,” I croaked. “They just told me on the drive over here.”

Drea filled a plastic cup from the water cooler and placed it in my shaking hands. I drank greedily, swallowing down the rawness in my throat.

“But your parents are so good together.” Drea shook her head in disbelief. “Braces make happy faces!”

“Well, I guess they don’t make happy marriages.”

Drea hopped up next to me on the desk. “They’re really getting a divorce?”

“I don’t know. I guess so. I fled the scene before I got the details.”

We sat in silence. Me, perfectly still. Drea, swinging her legs back and forth. I couldn’t wear any but the thickest tights without getting runs. But Drea’s hosiery was of the sheerest denier.

“So, if you didn’t know about my parents,” I said, “what did you think I was so upset about?”

If I hadn’t been watching carefully, I wouldn’t have caught the grimace Drea forced into a grin.

“I think it’s funny, actually!” she said brightly. “It’s not a big deal.”

“What’s not a big deal?”

“Slade went back to the Cabbage Patch after you hooked up,” she said. “He told everyone…”

“Told everyone what? That we barely went past second base?”

“Not exactly.”

“Then what?”

“He told them,” she said, “that you almost bit off a chunk of his junk.”

I seriously thought I might puke again.

“This isn’t funny, Drea!” I lowered myself to the floor and locked the trash can between my knees. “So, not only does the entire mall think I’m a slut, they think I’m an inept slut!”

Drea laughed because she thought I was joking. But I wasn’t.

“You really need to see the upside of this situation,” Drea said. “Until now, you weren’t hot enough to be someone worth gossiping about…”

I couldn’t believe what Drea was saying. That only now was I worthy of horrible rumors? That I was too much of a loser throughout high school to even register?

“You are so rude!”

I heaved the trash can at the wall. Drea shrieked in shock.

“Oh my Gawd, Cassie. You could’ve killed me!”

“You’re lucky I didn’t aim for your face!”

This was why Drea and I had stopped being friends in seventh grade. Not because she got boobs when I