Love. Meredith sighed. How was she going to capture love if she’d never experienced it? Well, that wasn’t really true. Her parents loved her and Mikey adored her, but she had never felt the all-consuming-grip-you-by-the-heart love she’d heard about in love songs or read about in senior English. Love. Maybe it wasn’t for her.
She took out her sketchbook and grabbed a few colored pencils. On a clean sheet of paper she sketched a collage of images she had seen at the Martial Arts Academy. Mikey, face determined, making a high kick. The little girl with blond braids, face concentrated with effort, punching forward with one hand, pulling in with the other. She sketched the instructor, expression patient, leading his students through their rounds. Meredith was lost in her sketches when the phone on her bedside stand jangled her back to the real world.
She looked at the caller ID. Lassiter. She took a deep breath. This whole partner thing was going to be nerve-wracking.
“Hello?” Meredith said as if she didn’t know who was calling.
“Meredith? This is Dani. Dani Lassiter.”
Meredith almost laughed. How could Meredith not know who “Dani” was. As if the entire school didn’t know who “Dani” was. “Oh, hi,” she said coolly. “How are you?”
“Oh, great. I hope I’m not interrupting anything. Your dad said you’d be home from karate by now. What belt do you have?”
Meredith laughed into the phone. “Me? Oh, no. I’m not the one who takes karate. Actually, Mikey does. He takes taekwondo on Saturdays.”
“Oh.”
Meredith sensed the hesitation in Dani’s voice.
Dani continued, “Mikey...that’s your brother?”
“Yeah, he’s in sixth grade.”
“Oh, okay. That’s nice of you to take him to his class.”
Meredith stayed true to her decision to simply follow Dani’s lead. They would talk about whatever Dani wanted to. If Dani wanted to spend the next three hours talking about Mikey, that would be fine.
Meredith said, “Yeah, he has a good time in the class.”
“Well, uh...” Dani took a big breath. Dani sounded as nervous as she was. “We should talk about our project.”
“Okay. What did you have in mind?”
“Oh, well, I don’t really know. I’ve been so busy. The Winter Ball is tonight, and exams are coming up so I haven’t spent much time thinking about it. Well, except for thinking about calling you.”
Meredith felt herself blush. Dani Lassiter was thinking about her. No, Dani wasn’t thinking about her. Dani was thinking about the project, and Meredith was just a miniscule piece of that. Meredith said, “Oh, well, I haven’t given it much thought, either.” That wasn’t exactly the truth, but she was going to stick to her plan to let Dani make all the decisions.
She heard Dani sigh on the other end of the phone. “Okay, well, I suppose we could interview someone down at the Hudson Pines Senior Center.”
“Yeah.”
“But...” Dani didn’t sound enthused. “I bet a ton of people are going to do that. I mean, we could do that if you want to.”
Was Dani Lassiter being indecisive? This was a new concept for Meredith. Confident, strong, able Dani Lassiter wasn’t sure of something. This was a surprise, but Meredith also surprised herself when she decided to run her idea by Dani. “You know, Mikey and I drove by an old house today. You know that old Victorian house near Fiesta Loca?”
“The one by the auto parts store?”
Meredith suppressed a laugh. Dani sounded just like her father. “Yeah, that’s the one. It creeps Mikey out. Could we research that? Find out who used to live there? How come the rest of Center Street has stores, but not there?”
“I don’t know, but that’s an awesome idea. You know, I’m so used to seeing that house there that it’s part of the background for me. All right, let’s come up with some ideas for finding the owners. We can go to the village offices and see if they’ll tell us. Maybe they’ll show us land deeds or something. Is that where they keep that sort of thing or do we have to go to the county or something? And, ooh, we could go down to the Senior Center. We could ask some of those folks what’s up with the house. They’ve been around a lot longer than we have and might know something about it.”
Meredith smiled from ear to ear. Dani liked her idea. Meredith wasn’t being railroaded into doing something Dani wanted to do. Maybe this project would work out after all.
Dani rambled on. Meredith fell back into her pillows and simply listened. “We could take pictures and make a PowerPoint presentation. And...” She seemed to run out of ideas. “Meredith? You still there?”
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“Oh, okay. I just got excited and kept talking and talking. Hey, what if there’s nothing to that old house?”
Meredith hadn’t thought of that. “Well, then I guess we just report that there’s not much of a story to it and then anybody who was curious doesn’t have to wonder anymore.”
“Ah, good thinking. I’m glad you’re my partner. Okay, listen I have to get ready for the Winter Ball. Are you going?”
Meredith suppressed a laugh. “Uh, no,” she said with a touch of sarcasm.
“Oh, sorry. Maybe you can come to the next dance.”
Meredith shook her head and laughed to herself. Dani had missed the sarcasm in her voice and acted is if Meredith had other obligations and couldn’t go to the dance. The truth was Meredith didn’t want to go. Not that anyone had asked her, of course. She simply said, “Yeah, maybe next time.”
“I’m going with Ben.”
Meredith didn’t know what Dani wanted her to say at that moment, so she didn’t say anything.
Dani broke the silence. “I don’t know why I’m going with him.” She sounded apologetic. “It’s just that he’s always been my best friend. I’ve known him since kindergarten.”
Meredith still wasn’t sure what she was supposed to say, so she just said, “Oh.”
“Well, it’ll be different once I go to college. I’m sure I’ll find some different people to hang out with.” Dani sighed loudly into the phone.
Meredith was shocked.
You’re the president of the senior class, captain of the lacrosse team, and everybody loves you. What kind of change do you, of all people, need?
Maybe she and Dani had more in common than she thought.
Dani suggested they go to the house together to look it over. They decided to meet the following Friday evening, the last day of exams. Dani was going to pick her up. This was one for the books. Meredith was finally going to go out on a Friday night, and she was going out with the captain of the lacrosse team. Unfortunately, she was going out with the captain of the girls’ lacrosse team. She laughed at the twist fate had brought her.
Chapter Four
Cumpnee
MEREDITH SAT AT the big open table in the art room, grateful that no other students thought to come by during exam week. Mrs. Levine let students work in the art room any time they wanted to, and Meredith always took advantage of that because the art room was the one place in the school she felt safe.
She slipped out of the gym quickly after her history exam that morning so Dani wouldn’t feel beholden to talk to her. They were doing a project together and that was all. Meredith didn’t want Dani to feel she actually had to go out of her way to be friendly. Once the history project was over they would go their separate ways again. Then again, Meredith remembered with regret, she wanted to paint Dani for her AP Art portfolio. That would involve being friendly. She sighed. Life was getting complicated.
She didn’t have any more exams that day, but she couldn’t leave because she would only have to trudge back to walk Mikey home at three o’clock, and she didn’t want to venture into the freezing temperature unless she had to. It was easier to simply stay at school and wait for Mikey’s day to finish at 3:00.
She opened her sketchpad and turned to her first sketch— well, partial sketch—of Dani. The one with the happy eyes. Yes, she firmly decided, she had to paint Dani no matter what. Dani’s eyes were so expressive that she just had to get her to pose. Catching Dani Lassiter’s fleeting emotions would be difficult, but Meredith knew she could do it. That is if Dani didn’t go running for the hills when Meredith asked.
Mrs. Levine walked into the room. She carried her mail in one hand and a steaming cup of what looked like coffee in the other. She smiled when she saw Meredith.
“Meredith. It’s good to see you here. All done with exams for the day?”
Meredith returned the smile. “Yeah. Just history today. My hand feels like it’s going to fall off from writing so much.”
“Mr. Dalton?”
Meredith laughed. “Yeah, how’d you know?”
“He has a reputation for making his students write a lot of essays. Good luck with his final exam in June.” She lifted her coffee cup in salute.
“Thanks, I think.”
“How many exams do you have left?”
“Nothing tomorrow. Econ on Thursday and math on Friday.”
Mrs. Levine put her mail on the worktable. “I’m sure you’ll do fine.” She came up behind Meredith and looked at her sketchpad. Normally, Meredith didn’t allow anyone to look at her sketches, but she trusted Mrs. Levine.
“Meredith, this is wonderful. Look how you’ve captured the feeling in her expression. It’s a her, right?”
Meredith nodded.
“The short hair almost fooled me, but you’ve definitely captured an expression of happiness or joy. Like something just went well in your subject’s life.”
Meredith smiled. “Thank you. I thought I’d captured the feeling, but I wasn’t sure.”
“Who is this person? If you don’t mind me asking”
“Oh, that’s Dani. Dani Lassiter.” Meredith blushed and then wondered why talking about Dani Lassiter made her blush.
“Senior?” A look of realization crossed her face. “Oh, I know who she is. She’s the president of the senior class, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Pretty girl. Tall. High cheekbones. Amazing blue eyes, right?”
Meredith prayed Mrs. Levine wouldn’t notice her red cheeks. “Yeah. I’m, uh, thinking about painting her as part of my AP portfolio.”
“What a wonderful subject. You know—” Her art teacher pointed at Meredith and went back to her pile of mail. She tucked an escaped lock of blond hair back behind her ear as she looked through the papers. “I think her name is on the roster for the Senior Art Elective.” She found the class roster in the pile and ran her finger down the list. “Yes, here she is. Danielle A. Lassiter. I bet we can find a way to give you two some time for painting and posing.”
“Oh, but—”
“Oh, Meredith, I know why you’re hesitating. She might be embarrassed posing in front of the other kids. People do get rather self-conscious when they pose, but you can use my private workroom in the back.” She pointed to the door at the back of the classroom.
Meredith wasn’t sure what to say. This was moving way too fast. “Thank you, but I, uh, haven’t even asked her yet. She might not want to do it.”
“Okay, okay. You’re right. I’m getting ahead of myself. You go ahead and ask her. I won’t say a thing.”
“Thanks. And I did another one of her, too.” Meredith turned to the sketch of Dani’s eyes flaring at Ben. The anger seethed off the page.
“Wow,” Mrs. Levine said slowly. “I will forever see this young woman with new eyes. I would not want to be on the receiving end of that fury. She wasn’t looking at you with that anger, was she?”
“No. She got mad at somebody one day, and I just caught her expression in my mind. I don’t know how to describe it, but I took, like, a mental photograph. I did the sketch over the weekend.”
“Meredith Bedford, you’re telling me that you did this sketch of Dani Lassiter from memory?”
“Yeah.”
Her art teacher shook her head slowly. “That’s amazing. I wish I had your talent.”
Meredith felt her cheeks burn again. Her art teacher had just given her the highest compliment anyone could have given her. She wasn’t sure how to handle such high praise, so she said, “Thanks, but you’re talented. All of us kids know that.”
Mrs. Levine smiled. “And, you’re kind, too.” She sighed. “Well, I’m going to sort through my mail. Let me know if this Dani says no to posing. I might be able to change her mind.”
“Okay, thanks. I’ll let you know what she says.”
Meredith looked back at the sketch of Dani. The fire in her eyes scared her a little. Mrs. Levine was right. Meredith didn’t ever want that expression shot her way.
MEREDITH SAT ON the couch in the living room watching a SpongeBob DVD with Mikey. Mikey, mesmerized by the cartoon, sat planted on the carpet cross-legged with his elbows on his knees and his chin resting on both fists. Meredith barely registered the crazy antics of SpongeBob and Patrick the starfish because she was trying her very best not to be nervous. Dani was coming to pick her up to go to the old Victorian house in a matter of minutes.
Meredith’s mother came into the living room from the kitchen. She wore a red-checkered apron around her waist and was drying a pot with a matching hand towel. “Oh, Meredith, you look so nice. I love that red sweater on you. You and I used to have the same dark and wavy hair. Are you going to keep your hair back like that? You have such a pretty face. Keep it back while you’re working with your friend, okay?”
“Mom, c’mon,” Meredith said through clenched teeth. “I just used that new acne foam you got me, that’s the only reason I have my hair pulled back. Stop fussing, okay? I’m just doing a project with her.”
“Oh, honey, I know. I just wanted you to know that you look nice, because you haven’t had many friends come by the house since we’ve moved here.”
Meredith cringed.
That’s because I don’t have any friends.
Out loud she said, “Okay, okay. I’ll keep my hair back.”
“And I’ll let you be.” She laughed and turned to Mikey. “Doesn’t Merry look nice, Mikey?”
“Yeah,” he said without turning around.
“See?” Her mother pointed toward Mikey with the pot in her hand.
“Oh, Mom.”
Just then a car door slammed in the driveway.
Her mother turned to go, but said, “I’ll be in the kitchen. Introduce your new friend when she comes in, okay?”