The v Club

  Eva had no idea what Kai had or hadn't lied about, but she didn't like the way this was going.

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  "You guys, this isn't exactly what I meant," Eva said. "If everyone could just calm down--"

  "Oh, give me a break, Eva," Debbie said, piping in. "Get off your high-and-mighty horse already."

  Eva's mouth dropped open and everyone looked at Debbie. "Don't give me that look," Debbie said, still flipping violently through her magazine. "You sit here and you act like you're such a good friend and you just want everyone to get along and meanwhile you're going out on dates with the guy you knew I liked and you didn't even tell anyone. What kind of friend is that?"

  Eva suddenly knew what it felt like to get punched in the stomach. For a second she couldn't even breathe.

  "How did you--?"

  "Wait a second, you like Riley Marx?" Mandy interrupted, staring incredulously at Debbie.

  "Oh, so she told you about the date?" Debbie demanded. "That's just great. Everyone knew but me."

  "Wait a minute, which one's Riley Marx?" Kai asked. Everyone ignored her.

  "Debbie, I didn't know you liked him," Eva said, even though she'd had a pretty solid suspicion. "Not for sure, anyway."

  "Hold on. Is that why you got all decked out for that party?" Kai asked.

  "I told you I thought he was delicious. And sweet!" Debbie said, her eyes wide.

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  "Oh, please. You say that about every guy at our school," Kai put in.

  "What do you know?" Debbie countered venomously. "Didn't you just move here, like, five seconds ago?"

  "Oh, so now you're gonna throw that in my face?" Kai said, rolling her eyes.

  "You guys, you guys!" Mandy said, leaning forward. She looked from Debbie to Eva and back, flattening her hands on the table. "You can't let a guy come between you. You've been friends since we were in diapers."

  "Oh, no, but a little white lie is enough to obliterate a friendship," Kai said sarcastically.

  "It wasn't little or white!" Mandy exploded, throwing her hands up.

  "Omigod, that's it," Kai said, shoving her chair back noisily as she stood. "I'm out of here."

  "Me too," Debbie said, grabbing up her magazine. "Sorry, Mandy," she added as an afterthought. "Happy birthday."

  Eva pressed her lips together. Her whole body was trembling. "Well," Eva said quietly. "That went well."

  "Yeah," Mandy said, slumping back.

  "Are you okay?" Eva asked.

  Mandy sighed. "Yeah. I'm fine."

  "Come on. Let's shop," Eva said, standing. "Maybe that'll cheer you up. It's your birthday."

  "Yeah, sure," Mandy said, pushing herself out of her chair. "Happy birthday to me."

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  Chapter 21

  Mandy looked at her reflection in her bedroom mirror. She was wearing her favorite black dress--the one that usually made her feel sexy and cool and InStyle worthy. Today, however, she couldn't help thinking it would be totally appropriate at a funeral. She looked tired and depressed and ready to burst into tears at any second. Still, there was no point in changing. She'd look awful in anything tonight.

  Might as well get this over with, she thought. She picked up her purse and headed downstairs to face her parents. The feds, or whatever she was supposed to call them, were going to be here in an hour. Mandy planned to be long gone. She found them sitting across the table from each other. They each had an untouched cup of coffee in front of them. When she walked in, they both looked up

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  with unabashed hope. A wave of disgust crashed over Mandy. They were so pathetic--practically begging her to forgive them. Then the wave of disgust was followed by a wave of guilt.

  They're your parents! And your dad's about to go to prison! How can you be so heartless ?

  Mandy had no idea how she'd gotten this way, but she had. "Going out?" her father asked.

  "Yeah," Mandy replied. "Eric's making me dinner."

  "I think that's a good idea," her mother said. "You don't need to be here when ..."

  "I hope you can forgive me, Amanda," her father said, his voice cracking as he pulled back. "I never meant for this to happen. I never wanted to miss your high school graduation or seeing you off to college."

  "I know, Dad," Mandy said, numb.

  She leaned down and kissed him quickly on the cheek and he squeezed her hands as if he was trying to remember how they felt in his. Mandy couldn't take it anymore. She turned and ran out of the house, tears streaming down the sides of her face. As she reached her car, her vision suddenly clouded over and she had to grip the door to steady herself.

  Her heart pounded as she climbed behind the wheel. That was her worst dizzy spell yet.

  She pulled out of the driveway and peeled down the street. Her hands shook as she drove the darkened streets. She was starving, and she felt like she hadn't

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  eaten in days. You just need to get to Eric's, have something to eat, and forget this day ever happened.

  Mandy pulled up to the top of Eric's driveway, parking in his mom's usual spot, and climbed out of the car. She walked up to the door slowly, an odd weakness in her knees, and took a nice, calming breath before ringing the doorbell.

  She was just going to fall right into his arms the second he opened the door. It was all she wanted in the world.

  "Hey!" she said as the door swung wide.

  "Hey, sweetness," he said with that killer grin. He leaned in to give her a kiss as she stepped over the threshold, and Mandy was just reaching to throw her arms around him when the house exploded with light and noise.

  "SURPRISE!!!!!"

  "Is this okay? I hope this is okay," Eva said in Mandy's ear as she hugged her in the midst of the mayhem. Everyone was jockeying to get to Mandy, but something about the way she clung to Eva made her want to just whisk her friend out of there and away to safety.

  "It's fine," Mandy said. "It's great. Thank you."

  "Well, it was all Eric's idea," Eva told her with a smile as she stepped back so the others could get to her. "He wanted to do something to cheer you up."

  "Yep. I'm takin' all the credit," Eric joked, hugging

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  Mandy from behind. Mandy smiled wanly and touched Eric's face with her hand. Eva could swear her fingers were trembling.

  "Areyou okay?" she mouthed to Mandy.

  "I'mfine, "Mandy mouthed back emphatically.

  Eva suddenly felt a warm presence next to her and the tingle had already run down her arms before she consciously realized it was Riley. Cool.

  But then . . . not cool. She still hadn't talked to him since last night.

  "Hey. Can I talk to you?" he whispered in her ear. More tingles.

  "Sure," Eva said, her heart slamming around in her chest.

  Riley led her through the raucous crowd, past the guys who were fighting over the stereo, and out to the back patio. He closed the sliding glass door behind them, enveloping them in relative silence.

  "So," Riley said, putting his hands in the pockets of his baggy khakis. He looked unbelievably cute in a blue button-down shirt and old Converse sneakers.

  "So," she replied. She was petrified of saying the wrong thing but knew it was her responsibility to speak first "I'm really sorry about last night." There. That seemed safe enough.

  "Well, like you said on my voice mail, something came up," Riley said with a shrug.

  "Yeah. Something did," Eva said, biting her lip. "Actually, a few things did."

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  "Anything you want to talk about?" Riley asked. Eva felt like he was ten miles away, even though they were only separated by a few varishaped flagstones.

  No. But how about the fact that I'm totally and completely in love with you ? Wanna talk about that ?

  "Um . . . not really."

  "Are you okay?" Riley asked.

  "Yeah. A-OK. Peachy keen."

  But she wasn't A-OK In fact, she felt like she was going to burst. Riley kep
t moving closer to her, and he smelled so good and he was so beautiful, and if he said one more thing to her, she had a feeling she was just going to say something stupid.

  Like, "I love you. I've loved you ever since I first saw you."

  But would that really be so bad? she thought. What's the worst that could happen if you just said it?

  Riley blew out some breath and took a couple of steps closer to her. Eva's pulse was pounding in every cell of her body. She could do it. She was going to do it. She didn't even care if he said it back.

  But if she didn't say it now, she'd never get up the guts again.

  "Eva, I--"

  "Rileylreallylikeyou."

  Riley's eyes lit up and Eva's heart lit up with them. "Can you say that again slowly?"

  Eva flushed. "I kinda don't think so."

  Riley laughed. "That's okay. You don't have to." He held

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  his hand over his stomach and took a deep breath. "Wow. And I was just going to ask you to let me down easy."

  Eva laughed and looked up at him, her green eyes wide. Inside, someone flicked on a Nelly album and the bass shook the glass door to her right, resounding in Eva's chest.

  "You mean that you ... I mean that we--"

  "IreallylikeyoutooEva," Riley said.

  "Really?" she said.

  For once she didn't even care that she sounded like an idiot. Riley smiled slowly.

  "Yes, really," he said.

  Eva didn't move as Riley reached up and gently tucked her hair behind one ear. He let his hand linger on the side of her face, a question in his blue-green eyes.

  There was something building up inside Eva, but it was not the overwhelming euphoria she'd expected at this moment. It was something not good. Eva's heart started to panic with confusion. She'd imagined this so many times. It couldn't actually be happening. Not to her. Not now. Not possible.

  Within seconds her body heat had skyrocketed. Her heart was sounding an erratic drumroll. As Riley leaned forward, his eyes fluttering closed, Eva went rigid with panic.

  Omigod! I can't!

  Eva pulled back, even as she wondered what she was doing. Riley's eyes popped open in surprise and all the color ran right out of his face.

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  Eva felt like crumbling into a ball at his feet. There was no doubt about it. She was a freak. She'd just ruined what could have potentially been the most perfect moment of her life, and it wasn't because of her mother or Debbie or anyone else. She had no one to blame but herself.

  "Eva?" Riley said quietly.

  But there were no words in her to explain, so she just turned and walked away.

  "Okay, why am I here again?" Kai asked, fiddling with the ribbon hanging off one of the dozens of helium balloons that peppered the living room. She watched as Mandy and Eric made their way through the crowd, Mandy doing the gracious, thanks-for-coming thing. "Mandy hates my guts. Or were you not present at the cracking of skulls this afternoon?"

  Debbie sighed, pulling a balloon down to face height. She gripped it at the knot and slapped it around with her palm.

  "You're here because Mandy is your friend, and one day the two of you are going to make up, and then you're going to regret the fact that you didn't attend her eighteenth birthday party," Debbie said. "Besides, I need someone to keep me company."

  "In case you haven't noticed, there are like a hundred people here," Kai said, looking around. "Does Mandy know everyone in this town?"

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  "Pretty much."

  "Deb, you have got to cheer up," Kai told her. "You're even bringing me down." She sighed as the front door opened and Danny Brown stepped into the house. "Look! There's Danny. I know he can cheer you up."

  "Yeah, not likely," Debbie replied.

  Kai was about to ask her for the details of what, exactly, was going on with her and Eva and Riley--the strangest love triangle Kai had ever heard of--when Danny turned to usher someone else into the room. Someone very familiar.

  Andres.

  Before she could even process his presence and what she was going to do about it, Danny was making a beeline for her and Debbie with Andres trailing close behind.

  "What's up, Parker?" Danny asked loudly. The stench of alcohol on his breath could have withered a rosebush. "Where the hell you been hiding this guy?" He reached back and hooked his arm around Andres's neck, dragging him forward.

  "You two know each other?" Kai asked, arching one eyebrow.

  Debbie elbowed Kai in the side. "Andres, Debbie, Debbie, Andres," Kai said flatly. "He was just leaving."

  Andres was lifting Debbie's hand to his lips when his eyes went dark. He glared at Kai and Kai glared right back.

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  "No way, dude! This kid is totally cool!" Danny announced. "He was on my campus tour at Penn State this morning, and did you know that he's actually seen Manchester United play? That's, like, insane!"

  "Yes. They are a good team. Not as good as Real Madrid, but good," Andres put in. His eyes were all glassy and his breath reeked. Apparently Danny and Andres had indulged in a little private party before showing up at this one. Typical. Kai grabbed Andres's arm and dragged him over to a corner, leaving Debbie stiff and uncomfortable with Danny.

  "What are you doing here?" Kai demanded as Andres tore his arm away.

  "You know, the way you're always grabbing me is very much a turn-on," Andres said, leaning toward her and bracing one hand on the wall above her head. "You are sending mixed signals, bonita."

  "Oh, yeah? How's this for a signal?" Kai pressed both hands into his chest and shoved. Hard. Andres tumbled backward into a group of guys who shoved him right back.

  "Excuse me," Andres said to them, clearly embarrassed. He yanked down on his leather jacket and glared at Kai, his nostrils flaring. "I am afraid the little woman is getting testy."

  "Ha! Little woman. Bet no one's ever called you that before, eh, Parker?" Devon Randall asked, chuckling as he looked up at her. Devon was the shortest guy in the class, and Kai towered at least six inches over him.

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  "Stay out of it, Randall," she said.

  "Is that the way you always treat men?" Andres asked with a laugh. "It is no wonder you are so frigid."

  Kai's face burned as a few more people in the room oohed over Andres's comment. They were drawing an audience, and Kai saw the situation spiraling quickly out of her control.

  "So, Deb. It's been a while," Danny said, slipping his hand under the blanket of her hair.

  Debbie slapped his arm away and shot him a warning glance. Danny just laughed, tipping his head back and swaying ever so slightly.

  "You're drunk," she said.

  "So?" Danny said, leaning in toward her like he was telling a secret. "S'never bothered you before. Come on, baby. You know you want some Danny lovin'."

  He reached for her again and Debbie easily moved out of his grasp. God, he was so disgusting. How had she ever fooled around with him before? "You have no idea what I want," she said.

  She turned and dove into the crowd. Everyone was always trying to tell her what to do, what she wanted, what she should be. And she was sick of it. She was sick of her father's voice in her head, she was sick of Danny Brown and the rest of the school labeling her a slut. She was even sick of her own brain telling her she wasn't good enough for Riley--that he already belonged to Eva.

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  What kind of crap was that? Eva had no prior claim to Riley. So what if Eva liked him? Debbie liked him too! For all she knew, she had liked him first! And at least Debbie had said something to Eva about it. If Eva wanted him, she should have told her. What was it with Eva that she couldn't just tell people how she felt and what she wanted and who she was? She was like a little child. And Debbie was sick of protecting her. If Eva couldn't handle her life, that wasn't Debbie's problem.

  She finally reached the back of the house, grasped the handle of the sliding glass door, and flung it open. Her heart skipped an unexpected beat. Of all th
e people at the party, the only one sitting in a wrought iron chair on the patio was none other than Riley Marx. Debbie smiled.

  It was a sign. It just had to be.

  "Hey," he said. He was slumped forward with his head in his hands, but he perked up when he saw her.

  "Hey," Debbie replied, shutting the door. "You alone?"

  "Looks that way," Riley said.

  Debbie sauntered right over to him, fell into his lap, and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Well," she said. "Not anymore."

  She pulled Riley's face toward hers and kissed him. At first he didn't move, didn't respond in the slightest. Debbie's heart pounded with trepidation, but she'd started this. She wasn't about to give up now.

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  "It's just a kiss, Riley," she whispered against his lips, taking his hand and moving it so that it rested on the small of her back. "Don't you want to kiss me?"

  Something changed in his eyes and she knew he was hers. He really did want her. She wasn't so very unworthy. She touched his lips with hers again and this time he kissed back. He closed his eyes and Debbie felt her heart sigh with relief as her tongue found his.

  She was kissing Riley Marx! Finally! The Boy Scout was hers!

  So why did she suddenly feel as dirty as everyone thought she was?

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  Chapter 22

  Mandy knew something was wrong when the party started spinning. She was fairly certain that Eric's parents hadn't installed a lazy Susan under the house, so the spinning was definitely not right. People kept coming up to her and hugging her, their congratulatory voices piercing her skull, and it was all she could do to stay steady on her feet. When Liana went to give her a quick hello squeeze, Mandy had to grasp her sleeves for balance. "If you see Eric, can you tell him I went upstairs?" Mandy said.

  "Sure," Liana told her. "Are you okay?"

  "Just a little tired," Mandy told her.

  She trudged upstairs, suddenly unable to block the thoughts she'd been managing to keep at bay all night. There was one question that kept repeating itself in her

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  mind, hammering away at her nerves, making her feel pathetically sorry for herself.

  Why? Why was all of this happening to her? Why had her father done it? Why had he lied? And worst of all, why had she been so awful to him?