Chapter 10
1116 Words
10
It’s funny how you can start to believe your own lies.
For half of the walk home with Sarah and Red, I’ve been fuming over what Halli’s mother said. Of course I can get into Oxford if I want! I’m smarter than she thinks. She doesn’t know anything about me!
And then I come to my senses. I’m not trying to get into Oxford. I just want to meet the professor that Daniel and his parents talked to. I’m trying to go home. I don’t want to go to a parallel university.
“I wish I could go with you and Daniel tomorrow.”
“Yeah, me too,” I lie. I was happy when their parents said Daniel could miss school but Sarah couldn’t.
“I could have watched Red again or done something for you.”
“I appreciate you helping me out tonight.”
“Red’s my little love, aren’t you, sweet one?” She reaches down to pat his side. Red looks up at her with a panting kind of smile. I’m glad to be here with them this time so I can spare her the betrayal of her little love ripping apart her house.
“It’s strange how he’s made up his mind that your friend Jake is actually a five-headed dragon sent here to destroy us all.”
That’s as good a description as any. I’ve been on the receiving end of that dog’s ferociousness. The first time I popped into Halli’s world, Red acted like he’d tear me apart. I might not have been a five-headed dragon, but I probably qualified as a space alien.
“Red has his opinions,” I say. “But he obviously loves you.”
“You do, don’t you, handsome boy?”
The dog pants and wags.
“Speaking of handsome boys,” Sarah says, “what do you have to say about our Mr. Jake? Apart from the dragon heads?”
“He’s … okay, I guess.”
“Oh, very high praise, indeed,” Sarah says. “I’ll reserve the wedding chapel immediately.”
“I’m not interested.”
“No,” she says, “I meant for me.”
“I thought you liked Bryan.”
“Yes, well, Bryan isn’t here, is he?”
No, but he sure wanted to be.
Sarah threads her arm through mine as we continue walking along. “I know you must think me the most terrible flirt. This bloke one day, the next one another … but how do you know which is the right one if you don’t chat them all up?”
I can’t deny the wisdom of that.
“The truth is,” she goes on, “I’ve never had a proper boyfriend.”
“You haven’t? I find that very hard to believe.”
“Well, tell me, Halli Markham: how would you describe a proper boyfriend?”
I give that a little bit of thought. “Someone who only wants to go out with you …”
“Never had it. Check.”
“Someone who’s nice to you and treats you well …”
“Mm, sort of had once, but not lately. Next?”
“Someone who you like and treat well and is the only person you want to go out with …”
“Once, and that ended very badly.”
“How many boyfriends have you had?” I ask.
“Were you not listening? None, by your definition. By my definition, I’ve endured two broken hearts, one enraged liver, several sprains to my pride, and at least half a dozen complete and utter failures of emotion. So judge me if you must, but until I find what I believe to be a proper boyfriend, I will continue my fervent search.”
“You really have a way with words.”
“Don’t I?” Sarah agrees. “Pity no one appreciates the sharp tongue of a substandard student anymore. I’d be as high up in the academic rankings as our fair Daniel.”
Which reminds me: “What’s yorking?” I ask her.
Sarah laughs her bright, tinkling laugh. “Oh, a very proud day that was. He won first place, don’t you know?”
“Yes, but what is it?”
“You should ask Daniel. If he considers you a true friend, he’ll tell you. He’s very shy, my brother—not everyone can see that. Your cousin did. She didn’t try to rush things. It’s why they’ve made such a sweet match.”
It’s true I didn’t try to rush things. Daniel was a lot faster than I was. I was still thinking it was a really bad idea to fall for some guy in a parallel universe who I might never see again, when Daniel planted that heart-stopping kiss on me.
Plus, to be honest, for a while in the beginning I was still nursing my thirteen-year crush on Will, the parallel version of Jake over in my world. I had to get past that before I could even look at another guy.
And even then, even though I already liked Daniel so much, I still let myself get swept away by Jake.
I made a lot of mistakes last time. I’m not going to repeat a single one of them.
“You should definitely chat it up with Jake,” I tell Sarah. “You might like him.”
You like him over in my universe. The versions of Sarah and Jake over there have been dating for a year. Although that might not be true anymore, now that she’s caught him kissing the Halli version of me.
Wait, has that happened yet? Or is that still in the future?
Sarah pauses in front of their house. “Is there any chance your cousin might join us after all?”
“What? Oh, no … I don’t think so.”
“Such a pity,” Sarah says. “He might not be showing it now, but poor Daniel has been positively morose ever since we came back. He misses Audie terribly.”
I gather the coat around me as if it’s Daniel’s arms in the sleeves, not mine. “Really? How do you know?”
“‘Audie said this, Audie said that … Oh, did I tell you about the time Audie and I …’ My parents have heard her name so many times, it’s as if they’ve already met her. But it’s sweet, you know? I’ve never seen my brother with a girl for longer than ten minutes.”
“Really? Why not?”
“Who knows?” Sarah answers. “I’ve tried to introduce him to girls from my school loads of times, but he always claims they’re too silly or too boring. Very high standards, that one. So you can imagine my relief when he actually found a girl all on his own. He falls and sprains his ankle, and magic! There she is.”
It was sort of magical. I won’t deny it. And not only because I traveled across parallel universes to be there.
“But he was still so slow about it,” Sarah says. “Day after day, clearly smitten, but what of it? I finally had to push him, poor lad.”
Yes, and thank you. I remember it exactly: Sarah was teasing her brother, reminding him we only had two days left together on our trip, and he should get on with it and do something about it. “Champion idea,” he said as soon as we were alone. Then he planted a kiss on me that had me practically melting into my boots. Maybe he hasn’t had much experience, if Sarah is right, but he sure knew what he was doing that day.
Sarah hugs herself and hops in place. “But enough of all this—it’s freezing out here, Halli Markham.”
Not to me. I’m feeling toasty and warm.
But Daniel is inside that house, and even though I can’t rush to his arms and declare, “I’m here! It’s me!” I’d still rather be in the same room with him than out here just talking about him.
Besides, I have a big day tomorrow. Maybe the biggest, if everything goes right.
It’s not every day you learn how to save your own life.
- Writer
