Chapter 7
The Bench
I walked into the bedroom. I peeked around and did the same in the master bathroom just to be sure the coast was clear. I strolled around the room thinking of where a good hiding place would be. The nightstand was too obvious. Underwear drawer...Mom was too modest. Under the mattress, she wasn’t trying to hide her diary. I glanced over at the closet. I made my way inside the walk-in. I looked around for a minute. She wouldn’t have secrets in a shoebox. Might as well lay it all out on the bed.
I moved her hanging clothes, looking behind them. I worked my way around the length of the closet. When I got to the far end, there was a tiny, metal door painted the same color as the rest of the walls. I inspected it for a minute. There was no handle. Hmm… I touched it and pushed. It clicked and popped open. Well that was easy. My heart began to race.
I opened it slowly, not knowing what I was going to find. There was a folder and a box. Of course, out of curiosity, I reached for the wooden box first. It seemed like it was handmade, with hearts carved into it. When I opened it, it began to sing…some kind instrumental piece. It was a music box. The inside of the lid had a tiny mirror and the box was filled with little letters, cards, and what seemed like random trinkets. I picked out a pink ribbon and a bracelet with the word SISTERS engraved into it. I pulled out a folded piece of paper that almost looked like something Phoebe and I would pass around to each other under our desks in class. The front of it read TO: EVIE. I opened the letter.
Dear Evie,
Hiya. Oh my gosh! This class is so boring! Anyway, so did Jack sneak in last night? I fell asleep. You know, if the old man found out, he would have a cow! Are we still going to the game Friday night? Or are you gonna ditch me for Jack??? You know I would love you anyway. Write me back! I’m bored!
Love Ya,
Meg
Who the heck was Evie? I knew Jack was my dad’s name. But Evie? My mom’s name was Veronica.
Confused, I folded the paper back up and placed it into the box. I searched a little deeper and found a Post-it that read: Megan 760-555-7589. I was assuming this was the same ‘Meg’ as in the letter...and maybe the same ‘Megan’ she mentioned on the phone last night. I stared at the Post-it before deciding to stuff it in my back pocket.
I closed the music box and pulled out the thick manila folder and opened it. The first page seemed to look like something that came from a hospital. I scanned through it quickly, suddenly realizing that I could get caught at any minute.
Grace Elizabeth Manning
Date of Birth: June 10, 1995
Diagnosis: Rotavirus
Manning? My last name was Watkins. I was sick? What the hell was this?
“Gracie?”
The file fell to the floor when I heard my mother’s voice from downstairs. “Shit!” I scrambled to get all of the paperwork back into the folder.
“Gracie? Are you home, dear? I’m getting ready to make you some lunch!”
I heard her heels clanking up the stairs. I rushed to get the folder back into the secret cubby hole. I closed the tiny door tightly and moved the clothes back to its original spot.
“Grace? What are you doing?”
Without turning around, I pretended to nonchalantly touch each article of clothing hanging in the closet. “Oh. Hey, Mom. I was just looking for something to wear. I’m going to meet Phoebe at the mall today.” I tried to make my voice sound as normal as possible.
“O…kay. Well here, I just bought this from that store on Magazine Street that you like.” She came into the closet and pulled a grey cardigan off the hanger. I couldn’t look her in the eye yet. I felt as though if I did, she would instantly know I was lying. I continued to look intently at her array of clothing. This wouldn’t be a far fetch. Mom was actually quite fashionable for a mom.
She handed me the cardigan and I took it without looking, which may have seemed a bit suspicious.
“Grace?” Her tone told me she knew something was up. “What’s going on?”
I finally looked at her. Well, everything on her face except her eyes.
“Nothing. I just really need to get going. I told Phoebe I was going to be there soon.”
I turned to leave the closet and she grabbed my wrist. She knew. She knew I was going through her things.
There was a pause, and finally she asked, “Have you eaten?”
“Yeah, I ate breakfast.” At that same moment, the hunger pains began.
“Well, let me cook you something before you go. Phoebe will understand.”
There was no need for any persuading. The thought of her delicious cooking was already making my mouth water.
After an exceptionally filling lunch, and a whole lot of awkward silences, I headed out the door to meet Phoebe at the mall. We only lived a couple of miles away, and of course after the delightful lunch Mom made for me, I was feeling as alive as ever. I could have walked a million miles after that amazing lunch. My body was loaded with energy.
On my way there, I thought about the past few days. One of my mother’s philosophies was that when the world seemed to be confusing, take a step back and look around. The point of this was to get a bigger picture in order to get a better understanding of the situation and to make better decisions. In the last seventy-two hours, Tristen and I had a date, I passed out in a very embarrassing way, Sonny threatened me, my body was operating mysteriously, and my mother seemed to be lying about something. Where should I start?
The Tristen situation was taken care of. The plan to win him over was underway. Although Sonny was not aware of it yet, or maybe she was, I had declared war.
My body was…I guess…was growing from what Mom said, but who knew. To be honest, the freaky feelings and things that were happening to my body didn’t seem as important as everything else. Like, for instance, my mother lying. She sounded like she was going to send me away. This I wasn’t too concerned with, because I honestly didn’t believe Mom would do that. Maybe she was just upset about what I did over the raw meat and was confiding in Dr. Roberson.
The things I found in her closet seemed to be off, but there could be a number of reasons for that. This ‘Meg’ person could be a friend and ‘Evie’ could be a nickname? Maybe my dad was cheating on my mom when they were younger, and my mom found this letter. A little out of the box, but my point was it could have been anything.
And about all of those medical papers. Well, that’s normal for someone to have. What was the Rotavirus though? Was it serious?
The question now was should I ask my mother about her conversation last night and what I found today? I have never had to lie to my mother about anything. We always had a very open relationship. She always made me feel comfortable about telling her things. However, I felt like that started changing ever since I told her about Tristen. And now that I knew she was lying to me about something, or rather withholding information….how did I know she wasn’t holding back more? I had always been curious about my dad, which she refused to speak of. Maybe I could find out more if I snooped again.
I suddenly remembered the Post-it I stuck in my back pocket. I pulled it out as I entered the entrance to the mall.
Megan. I was just gonna have to call Megan soon.
“So, what do you think?” Phoebe whispered as we both watched Eric help a customer find a shirt size.
“He’s pretty hot, Phoebe.” And he was. His 6 feet tall stature towered over the man he was speaking to. His muscles were screaming to get out of his work t-shirt. His black, spiky hair was perfectly sculptured. I turned my head sideways to get a better look at his jeans, which were snug to his butt. He had a nice butt.
Phoebe slapped me on my arm. “OKAY!”
I giggled and felt my cheeks flush. “Is that a tattoo?”
“It’s tribal,” Phoebe exhaled with admiration.
“No. No way, Phoebe. What happened with the last two guys that had tattoos? They were bad boy wannabes and ended up cheat
ing on you.”
“G, he is so not like that. He is so romantic and sweet. I promise you will love him.” She walked around the counter to check out a customer at the register. I turned my back to Eric.
“Phoebe, it’s like you have bad luck with tattoos. You guys have only been seeing each other for like a day and you are already falling for him.”
“Grace, don’t worry. I know for sure he isn’t like that.”
“How do you know that? I think you should slow down with this guy. How do you know he isn’t seeing someone else? How do you know he isn’t juggling like ten girls, and you, which makes eleven? How do you know he won’t break your poor little already-broken-too-many-times heart?”
“Because, I could never even imagine doing that to her.”
I jumped at his voice. My jaw dropped and I stared at Phoebe. She gave her customer his change and smiled. I turned around slowly, trying to come up with some kind of excuse. My brain froze.
“I’m sorry I…”
“You must be Grace,” he said softly before leaning down to give me a kiss on my cheek. I turned my cheek towards his lips, feeling every bit of shame one could feel. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Hopefully things good enough for you to forget what I just said,” I said, looking away.
He laughed a deep, genuine laugh. “Done. I know you’re just looking out for your best friend. But, I can tell you now that I am not juggling like ten girls. Is that even possible?”
Phoebe came around the counter and put her arm around his waist. “I don’t think so.”
I blushed.
“Don’t worry, Grace, I have no interest in letting this one go.” He squeezed Phoebe and kissed her forehead. She smiled and in that moment, I knew that this was different. She seemed to be in total bliss standing next to him. And that was all I wanted for her.
“Um, Grace? Look who just walked in.”
I turned toward the door and there he was. Tristen walked in, stopping at the first row of shirts hanging on the rack. My heart sunk into my stomach, panic suddenly washing over me.
Phoebe interrupted my anxiety attack. “Are you gonna talk to him, silly?”
“Should I?”
“Um…yeah,” Eric chimed in. “He’s here by himself. And you look great. You should definitely go.”
Oh, I liked this guy. I smiled nervously at Eric and Phoebe before I made my way over to where Tristen was.
His back was to me. I didn’t want to seem like a creepy stalker and possibly scare him by coming up behind him, so I walked around to the other side of the rack while I pretended to be interested in some clothes. Now, all he had to do was look up at me.
I peeked over at him a few times, but he seemed to be concentrating hard on what he was doing.
Come on, look at me.
I sighed. He wasn’t going to look. I glanced over at Phoebe and Eric, who were motioning for me to speak first. Okay, just do it, Grace.
“Tristen?”
He looked up. His smile was infectious.
“Grace!” he practically yelled.
I prayed my face wasn’t bright red. “Hi.”
“Hi. What are you doing here?”
“Shopping.” It just came out quicker than I could stop it.
“For a guy?” His smile slowly faded.
“What?” I was confused.
“Um…you’re in the men’s section.”
I looked down at the shirt I was holding on to. Yup, it was a size XXL.
“Oh, no…I…Phoebe works….” Oh my god. What was I saying?
“Oh yeah, that’s right. Phoebe works here. Cool,” Tristen confirmed.
“Yeah, I came to see her. So, what are you doing?”
“Oh, I uh…came to shop a little.” He grabbed the back of his neck. I pondered on it for a moment, and then soon remembered he did the same thing on our study date when his phone rang. Sonny was here somewhere.
I cleared my throat and glanced around the store through my peripheral vision. I would have seen her walk in with him. She couldn’t be in here.
“Hey, you wanna go outside for some fresh air? I’ve been shopping around for like a million hours.”
“Wow…aren’t guys allergic to shopping?”
“Well, not this guy. I deserve new clothes sometimes. So, you wanna go?”
I glanced over at Phoebe and Eric who have now completely forgotten about me and decided to focus all their attention on each other. I watched as they gave each other flirty looks. I wanted that. I could have that.
“Yeah…yes. Let’s go.”
We walked out of the clothing store and made our way to the exit. Nothing was said, but Tristen seemed to be looking around nervously, probably hoping that Sonny wouldn’t pop out of somewhere.
We finally got outside and found a bench nestled in a corner, away from the exit door. How perfect, I thought. Away from psycho girlfriends finding us.
We sat down and Tristen pushed his bags to the side.
“Man, I don’t know how you girls can shop for a whole day. It’s really exhausting!”
“We were built for this kind of stuff. It’s in our DNA, you know.”
He chuckled. “Well, how about you do all the shopping for me?”
“Me? I don’t know what you like. Or your size, or anything.” That was a complete lie. I have been paying attention to his threads for quite some time.
“Oh, you’ll learn that I’m pretty easy. Jeans and a t-shirt. Sometimes a hat or maybe even a cute little cardigan like that,” he teased as he poked me in my ribs. I squirmed and giggled. Wow, could I have been any more of a girl. Although, I felt like I had to explain my choice in clothing today. I didn’t know I was going to run into him.
“Oh…I wasn’t even planning on coming to the mall. It was a last minute thing,” I lied as I looked away.
“What are you talking about?” He lifted a leg on the wooden bench and turned toward me. “I think you look adorable.” He pointed at my shoes. “And you wear Chucks! That’s pretty hot.”
It felt as though my heart was going to pump the blood completely out of my cheeks. Did he just call me hot? Okay, now was not the time to be shy, Grace. He was obviously letting you know he digs you.
I looked down at my hands. Grace, fidgeting is not any better. Suddenly his finger swept my long curl from the front of my face and placed it behind my ear.
“Your hair is a whole other subject,” he said softly with a smile.
I couldn’t turn away. Our eyes were locked and for once, my heart froze. Every other thought flew out of my mind. It was as if everything else melted around us. There wasn’t anything I wanted more in that moment than for his lips to touch mine.
What was it about this guy? He was a normal high school senior. Sure he was a jock and popular and sweet and super sexy and polite and cool…but there were a ton of guys like that out there. Why was I completely obsessed with everything Tristen?
A car horn sounded in the distance and Tristen broke the staring contest. Damn it!
He cleared his throat before he spoke. “So, this weekend coming up is finally Halloween. Are you excited for all of us to hang out?”
He had no idea. “Oh, yeah. Like I said, Halloween is my fav.”
“What are you going to be?”
“I was thinking about a vampire…or maybe a zombie.”
“Definitely zombie. People love zombies,” he stated.
“What about you?” I asked, really curious to know if he had a creative imagination.
“Well, how about a zombie?”
I laughed. Really?
“No, seriously. If you are a zombie, I’m a zombie. It would happen anyway if it were real, right?”
“What? That if I’m a zombie, then you’re a zombie?” I asked, genuinely confused.
“Yeah. I mean, if you were a zombie, then I would eventually become one. Especially if we are sitting this close to each other…and if we continue to keep sitti
ng this close…well, you know…I may get bitten…”
I wasn’t sure if I was imagining it or if he was slowly moving in closer to me. Was his comment supposed to mean more than I thought it meant? I was bewildered and eager at the same time. Before I knew it, my mouth unconsciously ruined the moment.
“Well, it depends. I could spread it to you the good ole’ fashion way by biting you. Although there are other ways. You may already have the virus. Or, it may be an airborne virus. Either way, if zombies were real, you wouldn’t be doomed. People could still survive; they would just have to be extra careful. Stock up on pipe bombs, guns, sniper rifles are a must, Molotov cocktails, you get the picture. Food, medical supplies, and all that stuff of course. Chances are people won’t know right away how the virus came about, so making sure to stay clean, be aware of any wounds on your body, and keeping your mouth closed in the process of killing zombies would help. You know, protection from splatter.”
Tristen’s facial expression was a mixture of confusion, delight, surprise, and what seemed to be total awe. Crap. I went too far. He thought I was some kind of freak. I looked down at my fingers in embarrassment.
“So, you have been thinking about this a lot, huh? You weren’t kidding when you said you loved horror movies.”
“I kind of have a weird thing for stuff like that. Let’s just say that you can never be too sure,” I nearly whispered as I shrugged my shoulders.
He chuckled and lifted my chin with his finger. “You are so adorable.”
His smile was intoxicating.
Before I can respond with a witty and even more adorable remark, a horrific screeching rang through my ears.
“TRISTEN!”
We both turned instantly, although I knew neither of us wanted to. Sonny stood a few feet away from us with her shopping bags in hand. Her facial expression was proof that the devil lived somewhere deep within all of her perfect clothes and makeup.
“Sonny, I was just—”
“You were just what, Tristen? Checking her pulse?”
What? Certainly she knew that one could not check for a pulse on the chin. At least I hoped she knew that.
Tristen obviously caught that as well. He chuckled. “What? No, Sonny. Come on, let’s just finish shopping,” he said, clearly annoyed that she had caught us. He stood up from the bench and turned to me. “I’ll call you,” he murmured.
“Well, what if I don’t want to go right now,” she said through her teeth.
“Sonny, let’s go. You know I have a meet tonight. I don’t have time for this.”
Wow, he seemed to coming off as pretty aggressive. Sonny didn’t say anything. Instead, she gave me the evil eye and turned to follow Tristen back into the mall.
I sat on the bench a while longer, trying to relive the past fifteen minutes in my mind. I didn’t even know where to start. He liked me. I knew for sure now that he liked me. But what the hell was that with Sonny? He just told her what to do and without hesitation…she did it. For a split second she almost resembled a puppy being scolded for peeing on the carpet. For some strange reason, my sympathy nerve struck. I’ll have to investigate this a little. If he was the aggressive type, I didn’t know how much I would like that. Although, when dealing with Sonny, maybe he had to be.
After people watching outside for some time, I walked back into the mall and headed towards Phoebe’s store. As I passed the food court, Phoebe’s voice yelled over the crowd. I searched through the sea of people until I spotted her standing at her table, waving a hand in the air. She and Eric were at a table right in the middle of the food court. It was a Saturday afternoon, busy day for the mall, and people were everywhere either waiting in line or waiting for a table to become available. I maneuvered my way around, trying to avoid the smell of food as I felt my stomach begin to growl. I was going to leave after I visited with Phoebe a bit, so hopefully there wouldn’t be any more fainting and making a total ass of myself.
Phoebe and I finally locked eyes right when I made it a few feet away from her table. Next thing I knew, I felt my body lift up off the ground, and I could suddenly see my legs in front of my face. On my way down, I watched my shoe fly off my foot. Before I could see where it landed, my head and back smacked into the marble floor. The sound was deafening on my end, but apparently to everyone else as well. The entire food court stopped eating, ordering, even talking, and turned in my direction. I could make out a few laughs and someone even blurting out, “Oh, shit!”
I lied on the floor for what seemed like eternity before I realized that I fell. My head instantly began to throb. I winced and reached behind my head to somehow ease the pain with my hand.
“Grace!”
Phoebe’s voice sounded far, far away, although she was only a few feet from me. She ran over to me with Eric by her side. They immediately met me down on the ground. “Grace, are you okay?”
“Ugh…yeah…I think so.”
“What a shame.”
Phoebe, Eric, and I turned to look over at who would say such a thing.
Sonny was sitting at a table, her chin resting on her hands. She laughed.
“Let me tell you what happened! I ordered a slice of pizza from that pizza place, right?” She pointed over to Tony’s Pizzeria. “And, as I was walking over to my table, I dropped the darn thing. I guess you slipped on it, Grace. What a shame…Tony’s pizza is really good.”
“You asshole!” Phoebe stood up and lunged herself at Sonny, but before she could even move an inch, Eric grabbed her by the waist.
“Well, I guess I’m gonna head out. Tristen is waiting for me. If you know what I mean,” she said as she dangled a pink bag from Victoria’s Secret on her finger. She stood up from the table and waltzed out of the food court as if nothing even happened.
“Damn it, Eric! Let me go! I can catch that skinny bitch!”
“Phoebe, she’s gone. It won’t help. This is what she wants you to do.” Eric’s voice was calming. Phoebe eventually stopped squirming and tended back to her best friend lying damaged, embarrassed, and void of any dignity. At least I became boring enough for everyone around to go on about their business.
“No, Grace. I can tell you want to give up. I can see it in your face,” Phoebe asserted as she helped me to my feet. My head was killing me, but my back felt worse. I struggled to keep a balance. Eric was back at her side a minute later with my shoe in hand.
“You might need this.”
I managed a chuckle as I reached for my shoe. Phoebe, on the other hand, was without humor.
I sat down on a chair and looked at Phoebe as she bent down to put my shoe back on. Tristen’s favorite shoe.
“Phoebe. Enough,” I finally said. “She is a bitch. But what am I going to do? Ask her to meet me in the schoolyard so we can fight?”
“Yes! She deserves an asskicking. If you don’t, I will.”
“Phoebe…don’t worry, I’m working on it.” I began to feel exasperated with Phoebe. I knew that her heart was in the right place. It was actually very flattering that she wanted to protect me. After all, I would do the same for her. But I knew what I had to do. Tristen was obviously into me. There was no doubt that before our romantic moment was sorely interrupted by the evil girlfriend, he was definitely wearing his heart on his sleeve for me. The ultimate revenge will be the day Tristen breaks up with her to be with me. It’s just a matter of when that will happen.
After Phoebe continued on with her rant about kicking some Sonny ass, I walked back to their store and said my goodbyes. Phoebe warned me that if Sonny pulled another bitch stunt, she was going to “let all hell break loose on her face”, with or without my consent. Eric, on the other hand, seemed to understand where I was coming from. He agreed that karma would eventually catch up with Sonny, and he defended me when I tried to explain to Phoebe that resorting to violence was not the answer. I didn’t want to physically hurt Sonny. Although, mental pictures of my hands around her throat and hearing her plead to be free flooded
my mind, I was not a violent person. All I wanted was one thing. And I was starting to get the aching feeling that he felt the same.