"What?"
"To Cal State Fullerton," I said, motioning to the orange and navy shirt. I knew orange and navy were their colors because I'd been toying with the idea of going there myself.
Duke seemed perplexed for a moment. "Oh, yes, the T-shirt. I have been thinking of it. Do you know much about it?"
"Only by reputation," I admitted, "but it seems like a great school."
"What about you?" Duke said, relaxing and putting the car into drive. "Any idea of where you will be going?"
"Not yet," I confessed. "There are a few I like, but picking a college feels pretty overwhelming."
We made polite conversation on the way, but when he pulled into my driveway, things turned more serious.
Without asking permission, he took my right hand, flipped it palm up, and studied it intently.
He traced the longest line with a lone finger. I suppressed a tiny shiver—not of dread but of attraction.
"You have a strong life line, Daizee," he said.
"Er, thank you," I said. How had his arm ended up on the back of my seat?
"Daizee, have you thought any more about prom?"
"I've been busy." Lame excuse, but I didn't want to admit I'd been waiting for Ryan.
"And the boy you have been waiting for—he has not extended an invitation?" Maybe Duke was psychic. He'd certainly homed in on my thoughts quickly enough.
I shook my head. I didn't trust my voice enough to answer him.
"I wonder if this boy no longer returns your regard," he continued. "I have the utmost respect for you. I think we have much in common."
He leaned closer and captured a strand of my hair between his fingers. The smoothness of the gesture made me wonder how many other girls he'd practiced it on. Still, there was something intoxicating about his brilliant blue eyes. I stared into them.
"And we could have even more in common." His tone turned seductive as he moved closer still.
I was relieved when the porch light went on. For once, I was glad that Poppy was doing her usual spying. I was so not ready for anything Duke had in mind.
"I've got to go," I said. I got out of the car. "Thanks for the ride."
I hurried inside, kicking myself for being stupid enough to accept a ride home from Duke, even though my only alternative had been to roam around Nightshade with a killer on the loose. But I was also kicking myself for giving Ryan another chance. Obviously, whatever Elise needed was more important than a night alone with me.
Chapter Eighteen
The next day, Ryan was in our last-period gym class, but he didn't look very well. He was grim faced and red eyed, and even had a bit of stubble. He almost looked like he'd been out drinking all night, but Ryan didn't drink. Or at least he didn't used to.
When the dismissal bell rang and I headed out to the parking lot, I heard his voice behind me. "Daisy, wait up. There's something I want to talk to you about."
I crossed my arms and sighed. He looked at me pleadingly. "I'm sorry about last night, but you don't understand the situation."
I just looked at him, then finally said, "Did it involve death or dismemberment?" Cold, I know, but I'm a girl with issues. Standing me up makes me cranky, especially since I had a dad who was a permanent no-show.
"No, but—"
" Then I don't want to hear it," I said.
I started to walk away, but he called after me, "I heard you got a ride home from Duke Sherrad."
'At least he cared enough to make sure I got home safely." The words were out of my mouth before I'd finished thinking them.
"What are you doing with that guy?" he said.
I stopped and whirled around, enraged. "I could ask you the same question about Elise!"
"Daisy, you've just got to trust me," Ryan said.
"You keep saying to trust you, but you won't tell me what's happening, you never show up when you say you will, and you're always with that girl."
"There's nothing going on between Elise and me," he said.
"Then what's with all the secrecy? If it's not Elise, then what is it?"
Ryan paused. "I can't tell you," he said.
"Then I can't do this anymore." I walked away, and he didn't stop me. I waited until I was out of sight before bursting into tears.
I couldn't believe it. The thing I'd been dreading had finally happened. Ryan had broken up with me. Hadn't he? Well, maybe technically I had broken up with him, but that was only because he didn't give me any other choice.
When I told my sisters, I was surprised at Rose's reaction.
"Give him a little space," Rose advised. "He'll come around."
"Space?" I said. "I've given him Grand Canyons of space."
"Maybe there's something going on that you don't know about," Rose continued.
I stared at her. "Like what? Besides that he's spending all his time with another girl? I know that."
"But you don't know why."
"Yes, I do," I said. "I know three reasons. Tall, brunette, and gorgeous."
I went upstairs a few minutes later. I wasn't getting much sympathy from my sister. I decided to hash things out with Samantha. I knocked on Poppy's bedroom door. "I'm going to take the car," I told her.
"Can you drop me off at Mort's?" Poppy said.
What? Usually she complained at least a little when I wanted to take the car, but she was actually smiling.
"Sure," I said, "but I may be a while. I'm going to Samantha's to hang out."
"Take your time. Gage is going to help me with my English lit homework. I've got to get my grade up to a C or Mom will kill me."
"Gage is going to help you?" I asked. Poppy didn't seem to find anything odd about the idea of a ghost helping her with her homework. And she was wearing her favorite top and perfume. And as gorgeous as Poppy normally is, she looked even prettier than usual. She looked like she was getting ready for a date instead of a night of studying.
"Sure. He's a senior, too. And he's positively brilliant. He helped me with physics last night."
"You mean he was a senior," I said as gently as I could. Poppy's growing attachment to Gage was making me nervous. I mean, talk about a relationship that wasn't going to go anywhere. Like I had room to talk—but at least my guy was alive.
" That's what I said," Poppy replied. She shrugged it off, but her smile had disappeared.
I dropped her off at Mort's and then worried about her the rest of the way to Sam's. Poppy talked tough, but in her heart, she was as soft as a marshmallow.
When I pulled up to the palatial Devereaux house, I was in for a shock. There was a large FOR SALE sign on the front lawn.
As I approached the front door, I could hear Samantha arguing with someone.
"You couldn't wait until I finished high school for this? It's already the end of my junior year."
I couldn't hear what the reply was, but the voice was a woman's. Mrs. Devereaux must be in town doing a little flyby parenting.
"And whose fault is that?" Sam said, her voice rising.
"Samantha, will you keep your voice down? We do not want to let every eavesdropping neighbor know our business." Sam's mother's voice was clearly identifiable now.
I felt like a creep listening in on their argument. I hastily rang the doorbell and waited.
Several minutes later, Mrs. Devereaux threw open the door.
What, no servants? I thought.
I detected a hint of anger in her face before she carefully smoothed it away into an expression of bland pleasantness.
"Daisy Giordano," she said. She looked as enthused as I felt when hearing the news that there would be a pop quiz. In other words, not very. "What a lovely surprise."
In other words, polite people called first.
"Hello, Mrs. Devereaux. Is Samantha here?"
"Samantha is..." She paused, obviously trying to think up a way to get rid of me.
"Out of here," Samantha said from behind her. She brushed by her mother. "Let's go, Daisy!" she said as she walked out wi
thout a backward glance.
She headed for her car, but I stopped her. "I have my car. Why don't I drive?"
Sam didn't answer, but she got into the passenger seat. Her knuckles showed white as she clenched and unclenched her fists.
I drove silently for a few minutes, letting Samantha regain her composure.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No," Sam said.
She didn't say a word for the next half hour. We'd pretty much covered the whole town twice over, except the detours I'd made to avoid Ryan's house and the Wilder place. I felt a twinge at the thought of him but repressed it. Samantha's problems were bigger than mine.
Eventually, I pulled up in front of Slim's and turned off the motor. "How about a cup of coffee?"
Samantha finally smiled. "How about a chocolate shake instead?"
Things were bad if Sam was resorting to junk food.
When we entered the restaurant, the jukebox cut off in mid-song. The locals were used to it, but two stray tourists looked a little spooked when "Poison Cup" by M. Ward began to play. Probably just Lil's sad commentary on my love life.
Flo gave us a couple of menus and pointed to a booth in the back.
After we ordered a variety of high-calorie items, Samantha told me everything. Some things I'd suspected, like that her parents were having serious money troubles, but some things I didn't know, like that her dad was hardly ever home anymore and her mom had practically taken up permanent residence with Sam's grandparents in San Francisco.
"And they're getting a divorce," she said. "That's why they're selling the house. Mom wants me to move to San Francisco with her."
"Leave Nightshade? But you can't!" I was so shocked that I barely noticed Flo putting our food on the table. The thought of losing Samantha scared me. She was a royal pain sometimes, but she was still my best friend.
"What else can I do?"
I pushed away my fries, suddenly no longer hungry. "What about your dad? Can't you live with him?"
"He's busy with his research. And when he's not doing that, he's busy with book tours."
"You should ask him, Samantha. Maybe he'll say yes. At least try to stay in Nightshade."
"Dad did get a three-bedroom condo in the hills by the university," she said. "Maybe I will ask him."
" Three bedrooms for one person? He probably got an extra room for you."
Sam started to say something, but she was distracted by someone coming in.
"What the hell?" she said. "What's Ryan doing with her?"
I didn't look up. I knew who I'd see standing next to Ryan. Elise Wilder.
"We broke up," I said. "That's what I came over to your house to talk about."
"You should have said something," she said.
"You have bigger things to worry about than my pathetic love life."
"That creep," she said. "I can't believe he broke up with you this close to prom."
"Would it have been any better to wait until after prom?" I didn't think so.
Sam shrugged. "Maybe not," she admitted. She paused, "You're going with Duke now, of course."
"What? No, of course not. I'm skipping prom," I said.
"You can't!" she said. "Promise me you'll at least think about—I don't believe it. They're coming over here."
"You've got to be kidding me," I said. But she wasn't. Ryan and Elise were almost at our table.
Could my day get any better?
"Hi, Daisy," Ryan said solemnly.
Samantha and I exchanged glances. Was Ryan clueless, or was he trying to rub my face in it?
"Ryan, Elise," I said, as civilly as I could—which, truthfully, wasn't very civilly at all.
"Elise thought it would be a good idea if we talked—to clear up any misunderstandings."
The jukebox kicked on. "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" by the Clash. I knew the answer.
"Sorry, Ryan, we were just leaving," I said. I stood and grabbed the check. "Maybe some other time." Yeah, I'd be hanging out with my ex and his new girlfriend. Not in this lifetime.
Chapter Nineteen
For the rest of the week I was in a terrible mood. Once, when Elise Wilder and I happened to brush against each other in the hall between classes, she gave me a little shove. I couldn't help but give her a little shove back, causing her to drop her books.
She stooped to the floor to retrieve them and looked up at me, her amber eyes fierce. "Thanks a lot," she hissed.
"Oh no, Elise, thank you," I said sarcastically. I didn't know I had it in me to be that bitchy.
"What were you doing at my cousin's house?" she demanded.
"Wh—what do you mean?"
"I know it was you," she said, her strange eyes gleaming. " The place had your stench all over it."
"I don't know what you mean," I said. Like I was going to tell Ryan's new girlfriend anything, even if she was related to Mr. Davis.
"I'm going to ask you again. Why were you there?" She slammed me up against the wall. I read the threat in her eyes. The girl was seriously strong.
"Do you lift weights?" I asked.
"Don't screw with me, Giordano," she snarled. "So far, I've just been toying with you." To my surprise, I thought I saw tears in her eyes, but she brushed them away angrily.
We were starting to attract some attention. Bane Paxton glanced over and started heading our way.
"Look," I said. "I was trying to help find out who killed Mr. Davis, that's all."
The tension left her body, but she didn't release her hold on me. "If I ever find out who did it—"
Bane touched her arm. "Let her go, Elise," he said. "People are starting to notice your chat with Daisy here. It would not be good if this got back to your grandmother."
Elise nodded tersely and released me. Bane took her arm to lead her away, but Elise whipped around and whispered fiercely, "If you find out anything, anything at all..."
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. I looked across the crowd and saw Duke staring at me. He walked over to me a minute later.
'Are you okay?" he said. He put his arm around me. When I saw the concern in his eyes, I resisted the impulse to shrug it off.
"I'm fine," I said. "It was just a misunderstanding."
"He's a fool, you know," Duke said. "To choose someone like Elise Wilder over you." He said her name contemptuously.
"Do you know her?" I asked.
"Only by reputation," he replied. "She will come to a bad end, mark my words."
"Is that a prediction?"
He met my eyes, and it was like looking into the surface of a frozen lake. "That's an observation. I wouldn't be surprised if she had something to do with her cousin's death."
The bell rang, and as I headed to class, I wondered about Duke's words. I didn't like Elise Wilder much either, but Duke had sounded like he absolutely loathed the sight of her. What was that all about?
My mood changed at the end of the day when Samantha approached me at my locker, smiling ear to ear. "Daisy, you're a genius!" she exclaimed, and gave me a hug.
"I've always known it, but sadly, no one else seems to be aware of the fact. Is there anything in particular that I'm genius about?"
"I did it!" Sam explained. "I asked my dad if I could live with him and stay in Nightshade until I graduate, and he said yes. And I owe it all to you. I never would have asked him without you convincing me to do it."
"That's great news, Sam." I smiled at her.
"Can you do me a favor and not say anything to anybody? At least not for a while. I need to think about what I'm going to tell everybody."
"Tell them the truth, Sam," I said. "Nobody cares about what kind of house you live in. They care about you."
" They care about the Divine Devereaux," she said. "Not about me."
"I care," I said.
"You and Sean are the only two people who know the real me," she said.
I protested. "And Rachel and Jordan and..."
She cut me off. "Enough about me."
<
br /> "Samantha, you have more friends than any girl I know. Certainly more than I do."
"You have lots of friends, Daisy," she said. "You just don't know it."
I blushed. This from the girl who was convinced that most of Nightshade High only liked her for her money or her popularity.
"Well, this is cause for celebration," I said. "Let's go to Slim's and get shakes."
"Okay!" said Samantha enthusiastically. It would be nice to celebrate something after a gloomy couple of weeks in Nightshade.
At Slim's we spotted Poppy at the register with a couple of to-go containers. After she paid, I waved her over to our table.
"I thought you were at Mort's," I said.
She held up two gigantic sodas. "Caffeine break," she said.
" Two sodas?"
"One is for Gage," she said. "Even though he can't really drink it, he has one to keep me company." She realized she'd slipped and glanced at Sam in alarm.
Samantha slid over in the booth. "Have a seat," she said. Poppy sat next to her.
"Poppy's dating a ghost," I explained. "He haunts Mort's."
Samantha just shrugged. "You Giordano girls," she said. "You really know how to pick 'em."
"His name is Gage. He's a perfectly nice guy," she pointed out.
"I'm sure he is," said Sam.
"I know you and Rose aren't thrilled about me and Gage because he's a ghost," Poppy said to me.
"We just want you to be happy, but I don't see how things with Gage could..."
"Work out," she finished my sentence. "I know. But it's just not fair. I finally meet a guy I could really lo—like and he's already dead."
Samantha put her arm around Poppy as my sister brushed away a tear. "He went to San Carlos High, you know. We could have met. We could have been happy."
I had the impulse to tell Poppy to go for it, to be with the guy she loved, no matter what. But then I remembered I wasn't exactly in any position to be dispensing advice on romance.
Duke walked into Slim's, and I had to repress a groan. When he saw us, he flashed a bright smile and hurried over.
Sam kicked me under the table and said, so that only I could hear, "Bird in the hand, Giordano."
To Duke she said, "What a nice surprise. Won't you join us?"