We stood there just looking at each other for a long moment.
“Well, I guess I’ll put on some warm PJs and snuggle up with some English lit. My roommate went out on a double date tonight.”
“Really? Then there’s hope for me,” he said. “How about I take you to get some pizza and go to a movie tomorrow?” he blurted, like someone who wanted to say it before he could think about it and hesitate.
“Okay.” I said it without hesitation, but he could have no idea how difficult that was for me to say, despite the good time we’d just had.
“I’ll come by for you at six.”
“Okay.”
He offered me his hand first, but when I took it, he pulled me closer. The memory of Anthony Cabot’s face hovering over me while I was trapped in that basement bed flashed before my eyes. I couldn’t stop it. I jerked back. Troy looked devastated for a moment and then quickly regained his composure. It was as if I had slapped him across the face. My heart raced with regret and residual fear.
“See you at six,” he mumbled, then turned and hurried out.
I stood looking after him and feeling terrible. In a frightened moment, I had wiped away the warmth and happiness we had just enjoyed.
I can’t do this, I thought. Not yet. I’ll call him tomorrow and cancel. Feeling defeated, I lowered my head and walked to my room. Some of the girls were laughing in Terri’s room, but I didn’t stop by. I put on my desk lamp and then fell back onto my bed and looked up at the ceiling. I knew I was imagining it, but that didn’t make it less devastating.
Haylee was looking down at me and smiling.
“You can’t do this without me,” she was saying. She had said it so many times. “We’re the Mirror Sisters. We need each other.”
I turned over and buried my face in the pillow to stop the tears from reaching my lips.
11
Marcy’s loud laughter woke me hours later. It seemed to flow out of a dream. When I opened my eyes, I realized that I was still in my clothes. I was even still wearing my shoes. Both Marcy and Claudia came bursting in like runners charging the finish line. I glanced at the clock on my night table and saw they had just made curfew. Their faces looked flushed, but not from the cold night air.
“What’s with you? Did you fall asleep in your clothes?” Marcy asked, catching her breath and grimacing.
Claudia stood beside her, gazing down at me. They both had dumb smiles on their faces, and I could smell the scented cloud of alcohol floating around them. In fact, Marcy wobbled a bit.
I sat up straighter and rubbed my cheeks. “Yes, I guess I did,” I said.
“Have you been crying?” Marcy asked.
“Why do you ask that?”
“Your face looks blotchy, like tear-streaked or something.”
“No,” I said. “You two smell like a brewery or something,” I added, to quickly put them on the defensive.
“I told you chewing gum doesn’t make much difference,” Claudia told Marcy.
“I guess we’re lucky Platypus didn’t inspect us,” Marcy said. “The boys brought a little . . . what did you call it, Claudia? Libation? Claudia has a vocabulary I’d match against anyone here at Littlefield, even Mr. Edgewater.”
“They were drinking and driving?” I asked.
“Oh, Grandma, relax. Ben drove, and he didn’t drink.”
“I wouldn’t have gone in the car if he had,” Claudia said.
“But Rob was already a little high when they picked us up,” Marcy said, and laughed. “Both Claudia and I partook in the libation. We’re all going to Fun City tomorrow. Want to be a fifth wheel?”
“Fun City? What’s that?”
“An amusement park about an hour south of Carbondale. Ben suggested it. He comes from a little town nearby. So,” she said, flopping onto Claudia’s bed, “how was your institutional dinner? Anything exciting occur?”