Chapter 9
915 Words
9
By the time Halli and my mom got home from grocery shopping, the phone in our house was ringing.
“Can you get that?” my mom called. She went back to the car to bring in more groceries.
Halli had been avoiding the phone all week. She knew there wouldn’t be anyone calling that she wanted to talk to. The only people she wanted contact with were Professor Whitfield and Albert, and they always handled that by video chat. Even more important, Halli assumed that whoever was calling would expect her to know who they were. Even Caller ID wasn’t any help, since Halli had never met any of those people in her life and wouldn’t exactly know what to say to them.
This time the Caller ID said Stamos-V. That narrowed it down to someone in the Stamos-Valadez family: Lydia, Will, or their mom, Elena. I’d shared details about all of them here and there in my conversations with Halli—including my sad, secret, unrequited love for Will—but it still wasn’t really enough for her to fake knowing any of them. On the other hand, she couldn’t think of a good excuse for not answering the phone when my mom had just asked her to. So she picked it up and waited.
After a moment of silence, the voice on the other end said, “Hello?”
“Yes?” Halli answered.
“How come you never called me back? I’ve left you like four messages.”
It was Lydia. She didn’t bother saying so, since obviously I’d know her voice.
“Oh,” Halli said. And she left it at that. Not only had she not been answering the house phone or my cell phone, she had no way of ever accessing my messages, even if she wanted to.
Because even though her search through my desk drawers and notebooks had turned up quite a few of my passwords, she never would have found the code for my cell phone. That’s because I had no need to write it down. I’ll never forget it: it’s Will’s birthday.
I know, pathetic.
Apparently Lydia didn’t care that Halli hadn’t offered a full explanation, because she just went on with her message. “My mom says for you two to come over tonight. She’s making enchiladas.”
Halli hesitated. Should she say she was still sick? Avoid any social situations for as long as she could, in hopes that she never had to deal with any of them?
No, because realistically, she was going to have to move forward one way or another. And that probably meant showing up at school the next day and doing her best to pretend to be me. At least until she could come up with some better solution.
So if that was inevitable, then she might as well smooth the way by meeting at least a few of the people she would be expected to know.
Besides, Halli was curious about a certain person.
“Will Gemma be there?” she asked.
“Probably,” Lydia answered with a certain tinge of disgust. Neither of us particularly cares for Will’s obnoxious, hair-flipping, boob-thrusting, eye-winking British girlfriend. I, of course, hate her more, and would hate her even if she were the greatest person in the world. But Lydia doesn’t know that. I’ve never told her about my feelings for her twin brother. That would be a disaster all its own.
But Halli was curious about Gemma for her own reasons. While Halli and I were hiking in the Alps, we met a party of three Brits: Daniel, who eventually became my sort-of boyfriend; Daniel’s friend Martin; and Daniel’s sister, Sarah. Halli and I both ended up adoring Sarah. She could be a little outspoken sometimes, a little wearing in her need for attention, but she was also a fun and lively girl who turned out to be a good friend to both of us.
And yes, Sarah was partly responsible for the whole episode that ended up getting me dragged off to the hospital, but she had no way of knowing that. She thought she was just helping out some friends.
Sarah, as I’d explained to Halli, had a parallel version over in my universe. That girl was the hideous Gemma. I had described all of her hideousness to Halli, but now she was curious to see it for herself.
“What time?” Halli asked.
“Dinner’s at six,” Lydia said. “I have to teach, so I’ll be there a little late.”
“Teach...yoga?” Halli remembered me telling her that Lydia did that.
“Uh, yeah,” Lydia answered, in a tone that said obviously.
“Can I come?”
Lydia wasn’t expecting that. Why should she? She’s been trying to talk me into taking yoga ever since she started. I’ve always said no.
“Sure,” Lydia said. “But why?”
“I want to,” Halli said, and left it at that. “What time?”
“Four-thirty.”
Lydia still sounded skeptical, so Halli knew she had to be careful with her next question. Should she ask for the name of the yoga studio so she could look up the address? Or was there a sneakier way to do it?
“My mother has to use the car,” Halli said. “Can I go with you?”
“I’m taking the class before that,” Lydia answered. “Then teaching the four-thirty right after.”
“That’s fine,” Halli said. “I’ll go to both of them.”
“You’ll what? Audie, what’s going on?”
“Nothing,” Halli said. “I just feel like getting some exercise today.”
“Did you hit your head or something?”
“I’ve decided to make some changes.” It was an explanation that was going to have to do—for a lot of things. Halli decided she might as well be upfront about it. People were going to start seeing some of those changes soon enough. Doing several hours of yoga on a Sunday afternoon was as good a start as any.
Lydia must have been shaking her head over on her end. “Sure. Whatever. I’ll pick you up at two. But if you hate it after the first class, you’re going to have to get a ride home.”
“I won’t hate it,” Halli said. “I promise.”
- Writer
