She's So Dead to Us

“Your parents are divorced?” I asked. Even though we’d been hanging out for the past few months, we did it mostly at school or at A

He nodded as he scraped the contents of a dish into the garbage. “Yeah. They were high school sweethearts, so my mom never dated anyone else. She’s spent the past two years making up for lost time.”

“Wow. That sucks. I’m sorry,” I said.

David shrugged and straightened up. “It’s no big deal.”

But it was. It was a big deal. As David kept cleaning up, I felt as if the walls were crowding in around me. He clearly had it much worse than I did, and he talked about it like it was nothing. Like it was a normal part of life. Was that how I was going to be talking about my mom’s men in a couple of years? The thought made my stomach turn.

“So? What do you think of Gray?” my mother asked, coming up behind me and placing her hands on my shoulders. “He’s nice, isn’t he?”

I couldn’t respond. Couldn’t talk at all. The lump in my throat was too large.

“He’s great. Not to mention a culinary genius,” David replied brightly, coming to my rescue. He tugged on a pair of pink dish-washing gloves and snapped the cuffs. My mother and I both stared at him. David paled slightly. “In fact, I think I’ll go ask him for that pepper recipe,” he said, getting the hint and moseying off.

“You like him, right?” my mother whispered. “I hope you do, because I think we’re going to be seeing a lot more of him. He even invited us to the holiday Sunday di

My eyes instantly prickled over with memories. Sunday di

“Are you sure you want to go?” I asked, trying to keep my voice neutral. “I mean, we barely know those people anymore.”

A flash of uncertainty passed through her eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it came. “Oh, hon, they’re my lifelong friends,” she said, giving me a squeeze. “They may be angry now, but they know I didn’t have anything to do with what happened. Once we’re all together again, they’ll realize how silly they’ve been.”

Yeah, right. Just like my friends have.

“Okay,” I said, my voice thick.

“Besides, Gray invited me, and I don’t want to let him down,” she said, smiling across the room at him. “I really like him, Ally.”

I took a deep breath and silently recited as many NBA basketball teams as I could think of to calm my racing thoughts. My insides felt all hot and gooey. Between thinking about my dad, about Gray, about my possible future as the daughter of either a serial dater or of Gray’s second wife, and about Sunday di

“That’s great, Mom,” I said finally “I’m really happy for you.”

I just wished that I meant it.

jake

“Dude, so what are we doing tonight?” Todd asked, turning the sugar canister upside down over his large coffee at Jump, Java, and Wail! on Friday night.

“I thought we were going into the city,” I said, reaching past him for a napkin.

“Yeah, but what’re we go

“I say we hit Rock Center and trip as many people on the ice as we can,” Todd said.

“The line to get on the ice is, like, three hours,” Hammond said, leaning back against the wall and taking a sip of his drink. “Your balls’ll freeze right off.”

Trevor covered his balls with both hands and pulled a face. “All right. Not doing that.”

“Dude. Ally Ryan.” Todd nodded toward the front of the shop.

My stomach dropped and we all turned to look out the plate glass window. Ally was across the street, outside Scoops Ice Cream, with David Drake. He was trying to attack her with his ice cream cone. She screeched and ran.

“Dork,” Hammond said, earning a laugh from the Idiot Twins.

Slowly, not taking our eyes off them, we all walked over to the counter at the window. In the corner, some dude with a beard played acoustic tunes on his guitar. A couple of older people sat in chairs nearby, swaying to the music.

“Dude, is it just me, or did Ally Ryan get hot?” Trevor asked.

“She was always hot,” Hammond replied, taking a sip of his coffee as he stared.

I glanced at him, but he didn’t follow with an insult. Which he totally would have done if Chloe, Sha

“What do you think they’re doing tonight?” Trevor asked, taking a long swig of hot chocolate.

“Looks like they’re having ice cream,” I said. David went in for a kiss. I looked away.

“Yeah, but after,” Todd said as he took a seat on one of the stools. “Like, what do Norms do on weekends?”

Hammond and I exchanged a glance.

“They have parties and shit, right?” Hammond said.

“Of course. It’s not like they’re aliens or something,” I said.

“I wonder what a Norm party’s like,” Trevor said, narrowing his eyes and sticking his chin out. “You think they have chips and dips?”

“Dude. We should totally crash one,” Todd said.

“Tonight?” Hammond asked.

“No. Not tonight. Tonight we are city-bound!” Trevor a

As we got up to walk out, I glanced back at Ally and David again. They were sitting on a bench in the freezing cold, cuddled against each other, eating their ice cream. I felt a surge of jealousy and suddenly wanted to go over there and pummel Dorkus Drake to within an inch of his life. And just like that, I didn’t want to go into the city. I wanted to crash a Norm party instead. If I could just guarantee that Ally would be there. And that David Drake wouldn’t.

ally

“Yes! That’s game!”

I threw my arms above my head, holding the air hockey paddle aloft. The crowd cheered and lifted their plastic cups. Across the table, David hung his head, shaking it in what could only be wonder at my air hockey prowess.

“Two out of three?” he asked.

I laughed and twirled the paddle in my palm. “I don’t know. Are you sure you can take it?”

David blushed but laughed. One of the best things about him was his ability to take a joke. I loved that I didn’t have to walk on eggshells with him. A lot of people wouldn’t have enjoyed being trash-talked by their girlfriends in front of a party full of people. But David had a sense of humor.

“Come on, Ryan. You’ve gotta give the kid a chance to redeem himself,” Marshall Moss said, sliding out of the crowd and slinging one of his long, lanky arms around my shoulder. Marshall was the center of the boys’ basketball team and one of the nicer guys I’d re-met since coming back to Orchard Hill. Not to mention cute with his warm brown eyes, dark skin, and lopsided smile. He lived on the Norm side of town, but in one of the bigger houses near the library.

“Well, it is your party,” I said, pushing him lightly away with my elbow. “Guess I have to do as you say.” I looked across at David. “Wa