Deceptive Cadence (19 page)

I sat on her bed and we dissected the poem piece by piece. She stood and huffed several times, cursing the teachers, the school, and the Higher School Certificate. Then, she sank back down and typed out several lines of almost perfect work. I was impressed, and proud of her.

Finally, we finished and she hit print. “Thanks, Cadence. This was really sucking big time.”

“No worries. Anytime.” I made my way to the family room to retrieve her paper from the printer.

When I came back, she slipped it in her folder and filled out the cover sheet. “Cadence, do you think I’m smart?”

“Well, yeah.” I shrugged.

“No, really. Because I don’t think I’m gonna pass this crap.”

“You’ll be fine. You’ll go on and paint marvelous nude portraits, marry a dreamy Italian, and have lots of kids.”

She burst out laughing. “Seriously? Your imagination is as bad as mine.”

She waved her hands around at her paintings. “I wish I could paint for the rest of my life, but realistically, that’s not a job that will keep me alive.”

“I dunno, there’s probably lots of things you could do. Have you looked into the art degrees at all the universities?”

“University?” She gave me an incredulous look. “Cadence, I’ll be lucky to graduate high school.”

“You’re smarter than you think. You’re just hotheaded and impatient. I just sat and watched you write that thing almost entirely by yourself.” I nodded at her assignment on her desk.

She looked at it, flicking through the pages. “I did, huh?” She turned and narrowed her eyes on me. “When did you get so wise, missy?”

I shrugged. “Not wise, just an outside perspective.”

“Hmm.” She stood and walked around the room. Then, she spun and pinned me onto the bed, tickling me. I screeched through my fits of laughter and she laughed at me. When she drew tears and I begged her to stop, she collapsed on the bed beside me and we stared up at the ceiling. “Cadence?”

“Mmm?”

“I hate my name. What’s with the musical crap anyway?”

“It’s tradition.”

“Well, it’s something I’m not going to do. I’m going to give my daughters real names like Elizabeth and Susan. Just nice, ordinary, boring names.”

I giggled and rested my hands on my belly. “You know, you should paint the ceiling.”

“Random.”

“I’m serious! It’s the only white thing in here.”

She stared up at it, contemplating my suggestion. “What would I paint?”

“Whatever you wanna wake up and see every day.”

She paused, then, “You don’t think Dad will flip out?”

“He might, but remind him that once you move out, he just needs to buy white paint and rollers and it’s fixed.”

Her fingers wove through mine. “I might just do that.”

FIFTEEN

“Caaaadence!” Geri rushed at me, jumping on me and pinning me against the table. “Cadence, Cadence, Cadence―”

“What, Geraldine?”

“Flynn
talked
to me.”

“Oh.”

She jumped off my back. “Oh? Is that all I get?
Oh
?”

“Oh, ah . . . let’s go over there and chat.”

She grinned and dragged me away from the group. Once out of earshot, she did a crazy little dance on the spot. “Cadence, it was awesome! He just came up and sat beside me in English, and was all, ‘Hey, you’re Cadence and James’ friend right?’” I giggled as she lowered her voice in an attempt to mimic him. “And I was somehow all cool about it, and was all, ‘Yeah, I’m Geri.’ Then he was all, ‘Cool, they’re pretty cool.’ And we talked through the
whole
lesson! Oh Cadence, do you think I should ask him out? Or should I wait and see what happens?”

I paused, unsure how to answer. So, to deflect my thoughts, I sat her on a metal bench. “Okay, let’s analyze this.”

She nodded and grasped my knees in anticipation.

“He came up to you, right?”

“Yeah, I was already sitting down and he just sat right next to me.”

“Okay, so what kind of things did you talk about?”

“Well, he asked me what kinda stuff I like to do, so I told him about the book I just finished reading and about my recent shopping trip and―”

James climbed between us. “Hey, this looks like an intense conversation. Fill me in.”

“Ah, James, maybe not now.” I gave him a warning look.

“It’s okay, Cadence.” Geri shrugged. “I’m just telling Cadence about how Flynn and I flirted together in English, and she’s helping me decide if I should ask him out or wait for him to ask me.”

“Geri.” James grabbed her shoulders and looked her dead in the eyes. “The dude is gay.”

She shoved him off. “No, he isn’t!”

I grabbed James’ wrist. “Geri, why don’t you ask him if he wants to go see a movie or something?”

“Seriously, Cadence?” James groaned.

“Only if you double with us,” Geri said.

“
Oh my gosh
!” James stood and turned to face us. “Cadence, if he looks at my butt or squeezes my biceps, I’m out.”

Geri glowered at him and stormed away.

“James, that wasn’t very nice,” I said as he watched her leave, his jaw hanging.

“She needs to know so she doesn’t embarrass herself.”

“Maybe she needs to find out for herself. I need to support her, and you should, too, considering all she did to help us get together.”

He sat back beside me. “Fine. But only if you kiss me, now and on that date.”

I grinned and clasped his face, softly kissing his lips.

James wasn’t happy about the seating arrangement. As the movie began, he leaned over to me. “Why didn’t you and Geri sit together? How did
I
end up next to him?”

“Shush, James. Just watch the movie.”

“Can we swap places?”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, call me a homophobe, but
yeah
!”

I groaned and we switched places. I ended up not minding—it gave me a better vantage point for what was happening with Flynn and Geri. It turned out very similar to how our first date did. He was sweet and charming, and even held her hand. I nudged James. He looked across and rolled his eyes.

The next Monday, Geri rushed at me as I arrived. “He asked me to be his girlfriend!”

I paused. “Who? Flynn?”

“Yes, Flynn! Gosh, Cadence, sometimes you really are blonde.”

It had gone just as it had with me, but I wrapped my arms around her and we bounced around with excitement together.

“He’s obviously in denial, or trying to hide it, or something,” James said later as he walked me to my maths class near his economics class.

“James, let Geri have her moment. She’s really into him.”

“You’re going to let your friend get hurt?”

“No.” I frowned. “I’ll keep an eye on it. If I keep harping on about it like you, all it will do is make her mad at me.”

“Whatever.” He paused outside the door and glanced in. “Hey, am I still coming over on Wednesday? I really need some help with memorizing the bones and muscles.”

I knew he wanted to change the topic, so I didn’t push it. “Yeah, Mum’s picking us up and everything. Dusty’s stoked.”

He grinned and clasped my face to kiss me. “Catch ya later, beautiful.”

That night, I went through my journal entries to see if my memory about me and Flynn was right. Yes, everything he did with Geri he’d done with me. I turned to the next week, and saw the fight.

I’d written that I was so confused. Geri had come at me in a fit of rage, and hollered all kinds of accusations at me. She called me a slut, a user, and a selfish whore. She said she was tired of looking at my Barbie doll hair and stupid, dopey eyes, and she no longer wanted anything to do with a backstabber like me.

When she marched away, I’d cried in Flynn’s arms.

That was it! I flicked back and read over everything she’d said. I’d ignored her when she’d expressed her interest in Flynn, and gone after him myself. She’d watched me go through three boyfriends the year before, while she still hadn’t had her first.

I rubbed my eyes at the realization of how awful a friend I was. I hadn’t even seen it because I’d been so enthralled with my own thoughts and feelings. I dashed into the kitchen and snatched up the phone. I retreated to my room as the phone rang. Her mum answered.

“Hey, it’s Cadence. Can I speak to Geri?”

“You sure can, hon. Just one second.”

Ruffling noises came down the line as she handed over the phone, then Geri said, “Hey, Cay-Cay. What’s up?”

“I just wanted to tell you how awesome a friend you are.”

She paused, then giggled. “Cadence, you can be so weird sometimes.”

“No, really, you’re my best friend and I really wanna make sure you’re always happy.”

Another pause. “Did James dump you or something?”

I giggled. “No.”

“Ah, okay, because this is weird. You know that, right?”

I sighed. “Promise me we’ll always be friends.”

“Now you’re starting to scare me. Are you dying?”

“No! I’ve just been thinking. James and I haven’t been really supportive with the whole Flynn thing, and I wanted to make sure you know that I do support you, and I love you, and I’ll be here for you no matter what.”

Pause. “Oh, Cadence, that means everything to me. I really thought you were with James on this and I was worried you’d abandon me.”

“Oh my gosh! Geri, no! I’ll never do that. I promise you, no matter what, I’m here.”

“Cay, you’re the best.”

“No, Geri, I could never reach your standard.”

“Now you’re getting all sappy on me.”

I giggled.

“Okay, well, I better go. Mum’s got dinner ready.”

“Okay, see ya tomorrow.”

I sprawled back on my bed. I felt relieved to reassure her, and hoped more than anything it would be enough. Now that I knew what had happened, I would do everything I could to make sure we stayed together. Only time would tell.

James waited for me outside my classroom after school. His face, as always, lit up when he saw me. I loved that. I grinned back as he kissed my cheek and wrapped his arm around me.

“I’ll see ya tomorrow!” Geri waved.

We both waved back and he kissed my cheek again. “I missed you.”

“It’s been like an hour and a half!” I giggled.

“So? I was in English. It was the longest hour and a half of my life.”

“English is easy.”

“For you!”

I laughed and we headed toward the parking lot to meet my mum.

“So, does your dad still hate me?” he asked.

“I think you’re growing on him. He doesn’t call you ‘that useless meathead’ anymore. He usually just refers to you as ‘that boy.’”

He smirked. “That
is
a drastic improvement.”

“Hey, meathead.” Harper slapped him across the back of the head.

James rubbed his head. “I guess I’m not growing on everyone.”

I chuckled. “From her, that’s a term of endearment.”

Dusty appeared in front of us, grinning up in complete awe at James. James was like the brother he’d always wanted, so he would hover and ask James about everything. “Hey, you’re coming over today, right?”

“Right.” James grinned.

“Cool. I should show you what I made in woodwork. It’s really cool. It was―”

“Dusty, he doesn’t actually care,” Harper said.

Dusty glared at her and when he opened his mouth to continue, Mum pulled up. James whipped out a flower and handed it to her. She chuckled and shook her head as we climbed in.

Back at the house, James asked, “So . . . do I get to study in your room?”

I laughed. “You really wanna go in there, huh?”

“Ah, yeah. You’ve seen my room, it’s only fair.”

“Well, yes, we are studying in my room. But we have to keep the door open, and you have to stay sitting at my desk.”

He followed me eagerly to my room. I’d cleaned it up the night before, knowing he would see it. I didn’t want him to think of me as a slob. As he entered, I smiled at my made bed and clear floor and desk.

“Oh, boy bands!” He rushed to my NSYNC and Backstreet Boys posters. He pointed at them and laughed.

“I really need to take them down.”

“Boy bands are so three years ago,” he said, teasingly.

“Shut up.”

He laughed and scanned the room. “Stuffed toys? Cadence, how old are you, really?”

I growled and sat on my bed to pull my school books out of my bag. He walked over to my drawers and grabbed the top one. I leaped to my feet and shoved his hand away. “James!”

“Oh! That’s your underwear, isn’t it?”