Belles

  She weaved her arms around him. “I’m sorry, babe.” She played with a piece of his blond hair near the nape of his neck. “I’m going to be at practice next week and the game next Saturday. I swear.”

  Taylor smiled, revealing the slight gap between his two front bottom teeth. (He said it gave him character. She had to agree.) “Promise?”

  “Promise.” She crossed her heart.

  He kissed her. “Now can we go out back? This DJ is giving me a headache.”

  “Don’t you want to have one dance first?” she asked wishfully. DJ Backslide was playing a slow song. “Or go out to the docks for a while?”

  Taylor looked at the porch. “Maybe later, hon, okay?”

  She was starting to think he didn’t remember where they had their first kiss. “Okay.” She didn’t want to sound disappointed. Mira reluctantly followed him outside. Half the football team and their girlfriends were on the porch along with the cheerleaders and some of the swim team. It was quieter out there, and the view at sunset was spectacular, but inside was where the party was. She instantly wished she were there, too.

  “Mira!” Savannah threw her arms around her, practically knocking her down. She stroked Mira’s head, flattening her hair in the process. She was completely giddy, which wasn’t very Savannah.

  “Are you all right?” Mira asked, trying to pry Savannah off her. Mira’s phone was vibrating again, but now wasn’t a good time to get it.

  Savannah smiled goofily. “More than fine! I might have had a little something to get the party started.” She pointed to the corner where some of the group were nursing a bottle of vodka.

  Mira frowned. There wasn’t enough at this party to keep them entertained? Savannah practically tripped into Mira’s lap and Mira quickly steadied her. “Do you want to sit down?”

  Savannah straightened her strapless black-and-white dress. It was short and poufed at her hips. Only Savannah could have pulled that off. “Nope! Brayden went to go get me some Sprite.” She rolled her eyes. “He said I was getting sloppy,” she said, her speech slurring.

  You are, Mira wanted to tell her. She wondered if Savannah would drink like this if she knew what a fool she looked like.

  Savannah nudged her so hard, Mira practically fell herself. “Go get a drink!”

  Mira shook her head, watching as one of Taylor’s team-mates passed plastic cups around. Inside they were using real glasses. She felt like she had left the party and gone to a Piggly Wiggly. “No, thanks,” Mira said. “My dad is working, so I really shouldn’t.” She’d found it was easier to lie about drinking than tell the truth—which was that she didn’t want to ever act as ridiculous as Savannah.

  Savannah rolled her eyes. “You’re no fun. Lea, get me another drink!” she called to their friend. “Mira, sometimes you can be so dull,” she slurred.

  Mira hated when Savannah acted like this. It usually happened when Brayden wasn’t around. When he was, she was friendlier than a restaurant hostess.

  Lea handed Savannah a drink and draped herself on Mira, too. Her breath was hot and it reeked. “You don’t want some?”

  “Her dad is working, blah, blah, blah,” Savannah said, leaning on Lea now, too. They looked like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Any second the three of them were going to come crashing down. “Always some excuse. Go get Harbor-side. I bet she’d throw back a few.” Lea giggled.

  “She could probably drink all of us under the table, and then when we were passed out, she could take all our jewelry,” Lauren added. Obviously a few drinks had made Mira’s normally reserved friends let their thoughts fly.

  “You should have seen her yesterday at Christoff’s,” Savannah said. A few people were migrating toward them. “She actually asked for a discount on a stained dress!” Lea burped, then burst out laughing.

  Mira twisted the ruby ring on her index finger around and around. Did Savannah have to say that in front of everyone?

  “At least now she owns a dress,” Lauren said, and someone yelled, “Snap!” “She has no class. The other day at EP, she got up and Mr. Preston asked where she was going. She said, ‘I have to pee.’ ”

  “Eww!” Lea and Savannah chimed in.

  “Who says that?” Savannah said, looking sort of spaced out. “But that’s Mira’s family now.” They all giggled. Even Taylor seemed to find the whole thing amusing.

  Mira felt the anger bubble up inside her. If she could have reached any of the silver balloons hugging the ceiling inside, she would have popped them all. All anyone wanted to do these days was talk about Izzie and how much she didn’t belong in EC. Didn’t they realize Mira had no control over the situation? This was her parents’ fault! She wasn’t Izzie’s keeper and she was sick of them acting like she was.

  “I hope your mom doesn’t think Izzie is getting into the Butterflies,” Mira heard Savannah say, and that’s when Mira snapped.

  “Izzie is not getting into the Butterflies.” The Butterflies was hers alone and she wasn’t sharing. In fact, she didn’t want to share anything with Izzie ever again! Before Izzie had arrived, Mira’s life had been perfect. Now it had turned into one hot mess. Look at tonight’s party. She had been looking forward to it for weeks, and now it was turning into a disaster. She wished more than anything at that moment that Izzie would just disappear. “If my mother even thinks of asking me to let her join our club, I will flip out,” Mira said, seething. “Izzie is as much a Butterfly as I am… as I am…” She was so bad at zingers. They never came to her till hours later. “As I am homeless,” she shot out. The words tasted bitter leaving her lips.

  “Finally!” Savannah said, staring at the heavens. “My best friend sees the light.”

  Mira was revved up, and she felt an overwhelming desire to be cruel. “You should have seen what she moved in with—a few boxes and a duffel bag! My mom pretty much had to buy her underwear.” People laughed. As her friends started to gather around, Mira felt she was in on the Izzie joke for once. “Oh, and get this—the shoes she told my mom she wanted to wear tonight were from Payless!”

  Savannah snorted (something she never would have done sober). Her drink sloshed all over her dress and she didn’t even notice.

  “I’m surprised Izzie is even here tonight,” Mira added, enjoying the mean-girl high. She mocked Izzie’s deep twang. “What is a cocktail party, anyway? You dance there? Where I come from, you’re lucky your house even has a floor.”

  Savannah’s snorting was uncontrollable now. Taylor and the others were laughing, too. Suddenly the laughter died out. Mira instinctively turned around.

  Shoot.

  Izzie must have come through one of the side doors without anyone noticing. Mira didn’t know how long she had been standing there, but she knew it had been long enough. Izzie’s face was pale and strained. She glanced around the patio at the others, her eyes stopping on Mira. The hurt on her face was unmistakable. Mira suddenly felt sick. Before she could even think of something to say, Izzie spun around and disappeared inside, leaving Mira to think about how low she had just sunk.

  Twelve

  Izzie slammed the door behind her, pushing her way through the crowd to get as much distance between her and Mira as possible. Hot tears streamed down her cheeks.

  Mira would be a fool to come after her. If she were stupid enough to do it, Izzie would give her the show she wanted. They wanted to see her act like a redneck? She’d show them a redneck. First she’d snatch Mira’s pearl necklace from her neck. Then she’d deck her in the teeth. She’d like to see Mira manage a dainty little laugh when she was missing an incisor.

  Izzie finally stopped running and leaned against a regatta poster on the wall. Who was she kidding? She would never do that. She thought putting on an expensive dress and wearing her aunt’s jewelry might make this crowd start to accept her, but now she realized they never would. No one at EP wanted to give her a chance, especially not Mira. She had known that she and her cousin were different, but she didn’t realize Mira actually loathed her
.

  Izzie changed her mind. She couldn’t be part of this world. Why would she even want to? She dialed Kylie’s number, but it went right to voice mail. If Kylie had answered, Izzie would have told her to borrow her mom’s car and come get her out of EC for good.

  Just half an hour earlier, Izzie had assured Hayden she would be fine at the party alone after Mira disappeared, but the truth was, she felt awkward. Izzie had tried to find Violet or another classmate to talk to, but no one exactly waved her over. Finally she’d asked a girl if she knew where Mira was, and the girl had pointed to the patio. Going out there had been her huge mistake. Now she just wanted to go home. To her real home. The one that Barbara said was up for sale and had a bid from someone who wanted to turn Grams’s house into a doctor’s office.

  Izzie stood for a while, watching the girls in designer gowns dance to a song DJ Backslide was playing, and she felt the anger growing inside her. These girls took everything for granted. They probably had no clue how much a ticket to this party cost (two hundred dollars!). They didn’t know what charity this party was raising money for (her aunt’s cardinals project), and she doubted they’d care anyway. The girls in EC didn’t think about anything that went on outside their bubble. Just the thought of spending the next three years of high school with them made Izzie want to gag. Suddenly the tears were coming so fast, she couldn’t stop them.

  “Iz?” Brayden was walking toward her with drinks. He was wearing a white shirt, a khaki jacket, and navy pants. She would have thought they looked stuffy on anyone else, but Brayden looked like he belonged in the pages of a J. Crew catalog. Seeing her face, he quickly put the drinks down. He touched her bare arm, alarmed. “Iz? What’s wrong?”

  She shrugged him off, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. Brayden did not get to call her Iz anymore. “What do you care?” she snapped, surprised at the venom in her voice.

  “Whoa,” Brayden said, his eyes wide. “Invasion of the body snatchers.” She stared at a paper boat named Emerald Eve that hung high above her head and didn’t say anything. “You’re giving me the silent treatment?” He ran a hand through his brown hair. “Okay, you’re right. I deserve that, and probably more, like a sucker punch to the stomach. But please hear me out. I’m sorry, okay? I shouldn’t have acted like that the other day. I knew it the minute you stormed out of the cafeteria. I’ve been trying to track you down every day since to apologize in person, but I never see you at school. You’re like a ghost.”

  See? Even Brayden thought she was invisible.

  “You’re not with Mira, you haven’t been at lunch,” he added, “and I can’t exactly call your house. Your cousin is my girlfriend’s best friend. Like that would go over well.” Izzie finally faced him and saw that his blue-green eyes were pained. “I feel like such a jerk. Iz, I’m so sorry. I’ll say it a thousand times if that will help.”

  Izzie wouldn’t look at him. She wanted to believe him, but after all that had happened, how could she trust him?

  Brayden continued his plea. “The last place I expected to run into you was at Emerald Prep. I must have been the only person alive who missed your princess story in the papers! We were away in Key West that weekend, but all I could do was think of you,” he admitted, and Izzie inhaled sharply. “I was ready to send out a missing-person report! You sent me one text to say you were leaving town. I sent you dozens and never heard back. I had no clue where they took you, and neither did Kylie. Then you were standing in front of me at my school. Can you blame me for being thrown?”

  “I kind of had a lot going on, if you haven’t noticed.” She folded her arms across her chest like a shield. “Maybe I should have texted you back, but look how you reacted when you did see me. You acted like you didn’t even know me!” She glared at him. “You can admit it, Brayden. None of your friends or your girlfriend are here to hear it. You ignored me because you were ashamed to tell everyone that you spent your summer in Harborside with someone like me.” His jaw dropped. “Just what I thought. You have nothing to say. Again. You’re just as fake as everyone else in this town.” She started to walk away, but he yanked her back.

  “You’ve got it wrong,” he said, his face a swirl of emotions. “I’ve never been embarrassed to know you, Iz. If anything, I was embarrassed for you to learn more about me.”

  “Why would you be embarrassed of where you came from?” Izzie asked incredulously.

  Brayden looked sheepishly around the crowded dance floor. “You see what EC is like. It’s all about how many cars your parents have or where you spent your last vacation. I’ve never been the type to get into a pissing match over who has the bigger summerhouse in Maine. That’s why I started hanging out at Harborside Beach. I was sick of this scene.”

  An EC party was a scene, all right. The waiters were serving caviar and carrying fruity nonalcoholic drinks on sterling-silver trays. DJ Backslide probably cost a few thousand to book. Izzie wondered if this crew would like Back-slide as much if they knew he was from Harborside, too.

  “Why didn’t you tell me where you were from?” she asked quietly, and looked at her heels as she waited for his answer.

  “You were always confiding in me about stuff like buying Grams’s groceries. What was I going to do?” Brayden asked bluntly. “Kick in with a story about how my parents had just bought a new yacht? Let’s be honest: You wouldn’t have wanted to hang out with me if you’d known where I was from, either.”

  “That’s not true,” she said, but inside she wondered: Would she have felt as comfortable around Brayden if she had known he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth?

  “I should have said I knew you the other day. I know that, but I felt trapped, too,” Brayden told her. “My friends and Savannah thought I spent the summer building my parents’ boathouse. Not surfing. My parents would freak if they knew I owned a board.”

  “You didn’t want to blow your cover,” Izzie finished for him, “so you threw me under the bus. Got it.”

  “No,” Brayden said, looking like he was struggling to find the right words. “It’s just, if no one knows where I’ve been, they can’t keep me from going back. I wanted to tell Savannah I knew you, but I didn’t know how to do that without giving away my secret, too.” He sounded desparate. “I had my plan all figured out before you came along. The boathouse is going to take years to finish, and my parents haven’t even asked about the progress. At this rate I can keep surfing in peace for years. When you showed up, I didn’t know how to be excited to see you without giving it all away. That beach is important to me, too, you know. I would go there every day if I could,” he said wistfully. “Sometimes I want to ditch football practice so I can hit the waves instead. Does that make any sense?” Brayden asked sheepishly.

  It did make sense. She was beginning to realize that her former zip code meant as much to Brayden as it did her. More important, though, she realized something that had kind of broken her heart. Brayden wasn’t embarrassed of her. He was embarrassed of himself. “I thought you ignored me because you didn’t want to be seen with me,” she admitted.

  “You seriously thought that?” She wasn’t sure if Brayden was mortified or hurt. “Iz, you’ve been a better friend to me than anyone around here lately. And that includes my girlfriend. I feel like I don’t even know who she is anymore,” he said almost to himself. “I think you’re incredible, Iz. I love being friends with you. The last thing I would want is for you to doubt that.” His eyes never left her face.

  Friends. It’s not like they were ever more than that, right? So why did hearing Brayden officially label them that make her so sad? “Friends,” she echoed.

  “Good.” He looked relieved and grinned. “So if we’re friends again, then why don’t you tell me how I went from seeing you at Scoops to Emerald Cove’s kickoff of the fall season regatta party?”

  “Don’t you have somewhere you should be?” Izzie couldn’t get herself to say Savannah’s name, but she was dying to ask why he was with someone like Sa
vannah if he felt the way he did. Wasn’t Savannah the perfect example of what he hated about EC? But she knew she didn’t have the right to ask him that.

  “No one will even notice I’m gone.” He motioned to two chairs at an unmanned table and smirked. “I’m all yours, so start talking.”

  Izzie wasn’t sure how long she and Brayden sat there, but by the time she was done, DJ Backslide had gone on a break. Brayden had already known about Grams’s condition, so he wasn’t shocked to hear that Grams was now in a nursing home. What did floor him was how alienated she felt at school.

  “Hayden is a great guy and Mira is nice,” he said carefully. “She and Savannah have been best friends for as long as I’ve been with her.”

  “Maybe they’ve rubbed off on each other,” Izzie said lightly, then stopped herself. She did not want to bash his girlfriend to him. “Mira surprised me, I guess. I didn’t realize how much she resented my being here. She can’t stand me, and after tonight, I don’t think I can stand her, either. She doesn’t care about anyone but herself.”

  “The Iz I know wouldn’t let her get away with that kind of behavior.” Brayden smirked.

  She closed her eyes tightly like she was preparing to rub a magic lantern. “I just wish I was on the beach right now. That’s the only place I can ever make sense of things.”

  He sprinkled some of the confetti lying on the table around her hands. “I can’t take you to Harborside Beach, but I think I have the next best thing.” He held out his hand. “Follow me.”

  She was curious so she let him lead her out a side entrance and past the catering tent, where they were nearly run over by a waiter trying to get someone’s lobster tail to his table. He wove around the adults’ party and led her down a wooden dock where tall green grass grew on both sides of the path. A few minutes later, they were staring at the darkening sky and—even better—the water.

  “It’s not the ocean, but at least you can dig your toes in the sand,” Brayden said, staring at the bay. Lights from a town across the water were bright in the distance against the orange-hued sky. “Come on, take a dip. It will make you feel better.” He pulled off his shoes.