Abandon - Meg Cabot [89]
“You do that, Mom,” I said, and patted her on the shoulder. I wasn’t so blissed out that I wanted to hear about the strides the marine lab was making.
In the car to school, Alex wasn’t so amused by my good mood.
“I’m still mad at you for yesterday,” he said, honking at a chicken that wouldn’t get out of the middle of the road. There were chickens and roosters all over Isla Huesos. They ran wild around the island. “It’s just not cool. Seth and those guys — they’re bad news. You just don’t know.”
“I do know,” I said. Alex had no idea what I knew. But he’d reminded me of something. How was I going to see John if I had those stupid A-Wingers in my house, building that coffin?
And what about Uncle Chris? He was supposed to give me driving lessons after school.
Oh, well. I didn’t care. Everything would all sort itself out somehow. It always did. What did it matter, anyway? For the first time in the longest time I could remember, I was happy. Didn’t I deserve to be happy? I certainly thought so.
“Are you even listening to me?” Alex demanded. We were pulling into the parking lot at school.
“I’m sorry, what?” I asked him.
“Jesus,” he said. “What is wrong with you this morning? Did you not take your pills?”
“I’m sorry, Alex,” I said. “I’m listening. It’s just…well, there’s something I should probably tell you. But you’re not going to like it.”
He swung into a parking space and pulled on the brake. “I swear to God, Pierce,” he said. “If you tell me you’re going out with Seth Rector, I’m going to throw you out of this car.”
“No,” I said. “What? Don’t be stupid. But those guys kind of invited themselves over to my house to build the senior coffin this year.”
He stared at me for what had to be a full minute. For a few seconds, I actually got scared, thinking he might be having a stroke or something. His eyes looked as if they were starting to cross.
“Look, Alex,” I said hurriedly. “Don’t be mad. I only told them they could do it if Mom said yes, because you saw how happy she looked when everybody was talking about Coffin Night in the New Pathways office yesterday. And then they just showed up with the wood before I even got a chance to talk to her. She let them in. You know how much she wants me to fit in here. I can totally tell them to come pick up the wood if it really upsets you —”
But by then he was already shaking his head. “Pierce,” he said. “Pierce, Pierce, Pierce.”
“What?” I asked anxiously. “Please don’t tell me anything about how they burned down the garage of the last guy whose house they built the coffin in, because I already know that, Alex. I know what I’m getting myself into, okay?” I reflexively touched my necklace. “It’s going to be okay.”
It was going to be more than okay. At least, I hoped so. But I couldn’t tell him that, of course.
He was still shaking his head. But he was grinning, too.
“You know what?” he said finally. “You’re right.”
I stared at him, not sure I’d heard him correctly. “What did you say?”
“You’re right.” He shrugged. “It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be great, actually. It’s kind of perfect.” He reached out his right hand. “Put it here, cuz. You’re my girl.”
I looked at his hand warily. But I stuck mine into it and let him do some complicated things to my limp fingers.
“What are you talking about?” I asked him as we made our way into school along with the rest of the hordes. “How is it kind of perfect? I thought you’d be mad at me.”
“It just is,” Alex said. There was actually a bounce in his step. “Don’t worry about it, all right? Forget you even told me. It’s all good. Hey,” he said to a guy who’d greeted him with a cry of “Yo, Cabrero.”
“But…” My bubble of happiness wasn’t entirely shattered. Though it was slightly tarnished. “I don’t get it. I thought you hated those guys.”
“Oh, I do,” he said. “But here’s the thing.” He slung an arm around my neck. “If they’re at your house, I’ll always know where they are. Because you’ll let me know when they’re there.