Family Storms (32 page)

“My monthlies pill,” Kiera said, teasing me.

“What?”

“You know what happens to us monthly, Mother.”

“I repeat. What pill?”

“The one Dr. Baer gave me for cramps.”

“Oh,” she said. She looked at me. “I didn't know you were having any problems, Sasha.”

“It's not a federal case, Mother. She came to me, and I helped her,” Kiera said.

I practically spun around in my seat.
Came to her?

“I'm getting tired of hearing that stupid expression, Kiera. I'm sorry your father taught it to you. No, it's not a federal case, but Sasha should know to come to me with her problems,” Mrs. March said. She didn't sound angry as much as hurt.

Kiera shrugged. “I just happened to be around at the right time. It's not … it's no big deal.”

Mrs. March stared at her a moment and then turned slowly back to me. “How are you now, Sasha?”

“I feel better, Mrs. March. Thank you.”

“You know you can come to me with any problem, no matter how big or how small.”

“I know. Thank you.”

“We might stay after school tomorrow,” Kiera said. “Mr. Bowman is casting for the school play.”

“You would go out for the school play?”

“I might,” Kiera said. “It's my last chance to do something like that, and I know Sasha will be interested, if not in being an actor, maybe in helping with the sets.”

“That would be nice.”

Again, I looked at Kiera. We had never discussed anything like that, and besides, I didn't recall any casting for the school play being announced. Afterward, on our way to school, I brought that up.

“That's because he hasn't announced it yet,” she said. “Don't worry. I'll just tell her I made a mistake. It's next week. I got the dates confused.”

“You can't lie to your mother all the time, Kiera.”

“Who's lying all the time?”

She laughed. “Just when it's absolutely necessary, and tomorrow it's important that we don't go right home.”

“Where are we going?”

“To a meeting.”

“Meeting? What kind of meeting?”

“A meeting of the secret club I was trying to tell you about last night. It's at Deidre's house.”

“What kind of club is this?”

“It's the VA.”

“VA? Isn't that something to do with veterans?”

She laughed. “Absolutely. Everyone in the club is a veteran.”

“Of what?”

“Sex, silly. VA stands for Virgins Anonymous,” she said, laughing.

“I don't understand.”

“You will,” she said. “And it will be the most exciting club you've ever been in.”

“I've never been in any.”

“Perfect. You're a virgin when it comes to clubs, and tomorrow, we'll end that.”

She sped up. I tried to ask more questions, but she said I should just be patient and promised I wouldn't be disappointed.

I wasn't disappointed at school. Once again, Ricky asked me to join him at lunch, which once again captured the attention of my classmates. I could almost feel the buzz about us growing with every word we spoke to each other and every step we took beside each other.

“I might be able to get my father's boat one of these weekends,” Ricky told me on our way back to class. “It's at Marina Del Ray. If I can, we'll all go to Catalina Island. You ever been?”

“No,” I said. I was sure I sounded like someone locked in a closet. No matter what place they all discussed or mentioned, I had not been there, and as far as I knew, all of them except Deidre thought I was Kiera's cousin. Either because Kiera would come down on them if they did or because they were just being kind, no one wondered aloud how I could not have done half of what they had done. I did hear Kiera whisper to Margot that my family was poorer relatives, but from what I could see of the Marches, ninety-eight or ninety-nine percent of the country was poorer than the Marches.

“Great. It's always fun to show someone places and things for the first time,” Ricky said. It seemed, at least for now, that there was nothing I could do or say that would discourage his interest in me.

I was having a better day all around. Although Mr. Denacio wouldn't say anything nice about my playing that morning, I could see that he was cautiously optimistic
about me again. I did better in all of my classes and got a ninety on a pop quiz in history. I could feel my confidence growing stronger all day and was quite convinced that I could walk that beam. I could do it all.

Grover was there waiting for me after school. I didn't see Kiera, but I knew she was off to her therapist. Grover rarely said anything to me, but this particular afternoon, he smiled and asked how my day had gone. I think he saw something new, healthier, and stronger in me and wasn't afraid that he might do or say something that would send a stampede of tears down my cheeks.

I even felt better about being in the limousine. I didn't feel shut up and alone. Maybe I was catching Kiera's arrogance, but I sat back and looked out the window at the other students emerging. I deliberately lowered my window so they could see me, too. Lisa Dirk stared at me a moment and then lifted her hand to wave. I flipped my hand like a queen I had once seen in a movie, and Grover drove us away.

Cinderella was in her carriage.

No pumpkins here,
I thought.

25
Conspirators

E
ven though Deidre and Margot know you a lot better now,” Kiera began just before dinner, “they're still a little nervous, and the other two are very nervous, about my bringing you to a meeting of the VA club. It's a very private, secret club. You've practically got to take a blood oath that what you see and hear at Deidre's tomorrow after school will never leave your lips, even if you're not accepted. Can you promise to do that?”

I put down my math book. I had gone at my homework with a vengeance, partly because I was afraid that when she returned, she would take up all my time again, and I wouldn't have time to finish or practice the clarinet.

“Maybe I shouldn't go, then,” I said.

“Oh, no. I've assured everyone that you're not the sort who betrays friends. In fact,” she said, twirling a strand of her hair, “I told them you were very excited about it after I described it to you. I told them that in your heart, you were one of us and definitely no prude. However, for this first
time, I wouldn't advise you to talk too much. Just listen, and look at me if anyone asks you anything you're not sure about or think you should answer.”

“You didn't really describe it all to me, Kiera.”

“We've got to leave something for a surprise,” she protested. “Believe me, you're not going to be disappointed.”

“What do they really know about me?”

“Just what we've told them. I added that your mother was controlling, and you were frustrated. That's why you never had a real boyfriend or even a friend with benefits. Except for Deidre, of course, they all bought everything I told them.”

“Can't you at least tell me exactly what we do at this club?”

“We talk and advise and help each other.”

“With sex?”

“You'll see. It's better if you see and hear it all yourself.”

She stepped over to the dresser and looked at one of the pictures of Alena. There were about a dozen in the suite, but I noticed only one with both Alena and Kiera. Most of the others were of Alena with Mrs. March or both Mr. and Mrs. March. Either Kiera had been the one taking the pictures, or she simply hadn't been around when they took them.

She lifted the one on the dresser and studied it a moment before putting it down softly.

“How old was she in that picture?” I asked.

“Ten. This was a school photo taken when she was in the fifth grade.”

“She would have been a very pretty woman.”

“We have the exact same eyes and nose.” She turned to me. “My therapist thinks it's healthy that I see you now as
more like a younger sister. I told her how my mother was trying to come between us.”

“Come between us?”

“She had a good explanation for it,” Kiera went on, pacing now, like some teacher explaining a new idea. “She said my mother was jealous of our budding new relationship.”

“She said that?”

She paused and looked at me with those narrowed eyes.

“She said my mother wants to dominate you, and the more she alienated you from me, the easier it would be for her to turn you into Alena. You don't want to be turned into someone else, do you? Or do you?”

“No, of course not,” I said.

“Good.” She stepped closer. “Just be alert. My mother will continue to warn you against me, if not call me the devil outright. That's why she was so angry when she saw you dressed in the clothes I gave you and wearing the makeup I put on you. That's why she wasn't for me taking you to school. She'd love to have you locked up in that limousine going and coming and then locked up in this room. She even has our servants working for her that way. They're all a bunch of spies, so be careful about what you say and do in front of any of them.”

She smiled and relaxed her shoulders.

“But don't worry. My father sees through all that. He'll be on our side more and more.”

I didn't say anything for a moment. She was making it sound as if there was a war going on in that great house, and now I was the prize, the spoils.

“Don't you love your mother?” I asked her.

She shrugged. “I love her the way a daughter is supposed to, I guess, but I've always gotten along better with my father, and after Alena was born, my mother didn't seem to care much about it, anyway. She doted on Alena. I could do nothing right, and Alena could do nothing wrong. It's back to that since you came,” she said, but then she smiled again. “I don't mind. I'm fine. And so will you be, because I won't let her turn you into someone you're not. You've become … my cause célèbre. How's that? I learned something in French class,” she added with a flair as if she were on a stage. “Oh, I heard Ricky's planning on getting his father's boat and taking you and the rest of us to Catalina one of these weekends.”

“Yes, he said one of these weekends.”

“His father makes him work every other weekend in one of their pharmacies.”

“One? How many do they own?”

“About ten, I think. He expects Ricky will become a pharmacist, too, and take over someday. They have a beautiful boat. He hasn't invited many girls. I told you he likes you. I hope he can get it. His father lets him take it because he trusts him. My mother won't let my father give me use of the boat, even if I have someone like Ricky do the driving. Someday, though.” She took a deep breath and smiled. “For the first time after a session of therapy, I've got an appetite. See you downstairs,” she said, and left.

I rose and looked at the picture of Alena she had been looking at so intently. I didn't think they had the same eyes and nose, not at all. Alena's features were more dolllike, and her eyes looked warmer, friendlier. According to
Kiera, Alena was only in fifth grade when the picture was taken, but she had an innocence that did remind me of myself, vulnerable, eager to trust and believe in someone and in the future. It wouldn't be all that difficult for Mrs. March to turn me into this girl. I was closer to her than I was to Kiera.

I returned to my homework and even got in twenty minutes of clarinet before I went down to dinner. Everyone was there. Kiera gave me a knowing smile, winking slightly as if we were conspirators now, both working her parents, manipulating them.

During dinner, Kiera reminded Mrs. March that we were staying after school to audition for the school play. Before her mother could say or question anything, her father went on and on about his own dramatic experiences when he was in high school.

“I was in a play called
Harvey,
the one about the invisible big rabbit.”