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Party? Valet? What was going on?
I was finally able to park my car in our garage, and as soon as I hopped out, I could hear a raucous clamor in our backyard. The side door to the yard wide open, I ventured through it with Will by my side. My eyes almost popped out of their sockets. We were in the throes of a full-blown party. On our veranda, a long L-shaped buffet table was set up with dozens of assorted pizzas, ginormous bowls of salad, and buckets of canned drinks and bottled waters. A banner that read, Happy Birthday, Tanya, hung from the trellis. White high-top cocktail tables were scattered on the grass, bearing bunches of soaring pink, white, and silver balloons, and votive candles.
Almost our entire senior class was there—either pigging out at the buffet or loudly stuffing their faces on the lawn while Britney Spears played on our outdoor sound system. I took in a whiff of marijuana. Many of the rich, privileged kids at Coldwater smoked weed, and it was no secret some did cocaine and ecstasy too. No wonder our school was often called Goldwater or Cokewater.
“Gross!” My brother winced, taking in the scene.
“Totally!”
“Pudge, I’m outta here. I wanna go see Bear and make sure he’s okay. And finish my homework.”
“Okay. I’ll see you later. Thanks for coming with me today.” Weirdly, our trip to see Mary Burton seemed like a century ago. As Will took off, I made my way deeper into the crowd. No one acknowledged me, as if I could care. These were not my people.
I was only looking for one person. Lance. I was sure my mother had invited him. And I was more than sure Tanya would want him here. My eyes darted left and right as I kept moving. Neither of them was in sight. A queasy feeling fell over me. My stomach rumbled. No wonder. I’d hardly eaten a thing all day. I made my way over to the food, hoping that one of the pies was vegan.
As I slogged down the buffet table, glumly taking in the now cold, half-eaten pizzas, a familiar voice came from behind me.
“Honey, where on earth have you been?”
I spun around. My mom. A glass of white wine in her hand. And I’m sure it wasn’t her first.
“Will and I had a lot to do today,” I replied. “We ran around all over the city looking for things he needed for one of his school projects. And I had something to return.” At least the latter was true.
She took a long swig of her wine. “I was worried about you. Why didn’t you call or text?”
Why didn’t you? I suppose my mother was too busy putting together this party for her precious exchange student to care about the whereabouts of her son and daughter.
“Anyway, sweetheart, I’m so glad you’re here. I only found out today Tanya’s birthday is the same as Anabel’s. Can you believe that?”
Actually, I couldn’t. It was too much of a coincidence.
“So, I threw her a last-minute surprise birthday party. Your dad, thank goodness, whisked her away while I arranged the whole thing. He took her to the shooting range, and as much as I’m opposed to that horrible gun hobby he has, I had no choice.”
My mother hated that my father owned a gun. A Magnum 45. And that he had joined a gun club. It was now a passion. He went to target practice every Sunday in the afternoon and would boast to us at dinner how well he did. My mother was repulsed and absolutely refused to let my brother or me go near the weapon they kept locked in their safe. And truthfully, I had no desire to learn how to use it, though since the arrival of our exchange student, I was having second thoughts. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have the urge to shoot her right between her eyes. Sometimes I fantasized doing that and watching her brains splatter. She was turning me into a sociopath!
My mom took another swig of her wine. “I wish you’d been here to see her reaction when she came home.”
Thank God I wasn’t.
“She was, as you kids say, ‘blown away.’ Practically in tears. And told me no one had ever done anything like this for her before!”
Why would they?
“I was so lucky Trattoria could whip up all these pizzas. There’s even a vegan one for you—made with a cauliflower crust, soy cheese, and veggies.” She scanned the buffet. “Ah, there it is!”
She pointed to the last pizza on the table. With only three pieces left, it looked pretty pathetic. Stale with all the veggies picked off. I lost my appetite and instead grabbed a sparkling water from one of the ice-filled buckets.
“Where’s Will?” asked my mom.
“He’s upstairs doing homework.”
“Has he eaten?”
“Don’t know, but I’m sure he can rustle something up if he’s hungry.” I screwed off the cap of my water and took a sip as the bubbles rose. “Is Lance here?”
“Of course. I knew Tanya would want him to come. But I haven’t seen either of them for a while.”
Suddenly, a sharp cramp stabbed me. I almost winced. Then another. It could be the onset of my period. While it wasn’t exactly that time of the month, my cycle had become irregular with my vegan diet. Yet another knife-like contraction besieged me, and I grimaced.
