Ice (32 page)

“But I do…I should have told him you would be here, to at least prepare him, but I didn’t because I was afraid he wouldn’t come then.” I looked down at my knees, feeling horrible. I regretted more than anything that I had made it so uncomfortable for them. If only I had told Marcus about Kavick and not invited
Charlotte, everything would have been fine. I had inadvertently crashed my own birthday party. “I’m sorry,” I said again in a little voice, almost a whisper.

Kavick furrowed his eyebrows at me and said, “When will you stop apologizing for him? Don’t let him make you feel like you need to take the blam
e every time he acts like a jerk.” Kavick shook his head, quickly amending himself. “I’m sorry…it makes me mad that he makes you feel bad so much of the time.”

I actually wasn’t offended at all. “No, you’re fine. I understand.”

He looked like he was sick with guilt. “I’m sorry I ruined your birthday. I shouldn’t have showed up.”

I felt my eyes widen. “What? No! I wanted you to come! And you didn’t ruin my birthday! It was me!”

“But there was that thing with Charlotte, and then I made Marcus upset by being here. Then there was
Tartok
.” He rolled his eyes at the mention of his brother.

“No, no.
Charlotte just has a big mouth sometimes, and I already established that I should have warned Marcus you would be here. Really, I have to give Marcus credit, though; I’m surprised he didn’t do worse.”

Kavick narrowed his eyes at me. “He’s really that big of a jerk? And you’ve put up with him for how long?”

I scoffed, that time feeling a bit offended by the statement. “I don’t
put up
with him. He’s really a good guy. The fact that he befriended someone as socially retarded as me says something.”

Kavick shook his head again. “You’re not socially retarded.”

“Well, you seem to be immune to my bad social skills. Usually when I first meet someone, I screw it up right after hello.”

“I can’t imagine that.”

“Because you’re immune.”

“Or, maybe because I’m like you,” he said, raising an eyebrow at me. “Since the day we first met
it seems like we’ve understood everything about each other.”

I nodded, thinking back to the night. “It took me a few minutes, though. I was pretty disturbed when I saw you walk through the door naked.”

He broke out into hysterical laughter. I couldn’t help but laugh, too.

“
You said you were socially retarded, but I never fit in at school,” he said. “High school might have been the worst, but in elementary my parents made me and my brothers wear identical haircuts. I hated it. It was really short and my mom would dye the white part of my hair black, and Tupit’s and Anuun’s, too. But when we got into junior high, we were allowed to make certain decisions; I decided I wanted to be different. I was tired of hiding myself. Anuun did, too. He bleached his hair so it would be white again. He actually got a lot of compliments. I never did. I just got stares. Ever since then, people have judged me before even getting to hello.”

I frowned a little and said, “Molly told me you were popular with the girls though, and after seeing
Charlotte’s reaction, I believe it.”

He chuckled and his face turned a little pink again. I had never seen Kavick blush so much before today. “Well…there were a few girls like
Charlotte. The first time I met a girl like that it was in my first year of high school, right after my family and the other Wolf families had decided to move here, to little Riverton. Most people treated me the same at first, like I was a freak, but then this one girl acted a lot like Charlotte did and that was new to me.”

“Were your parents okay with you dating a non-Wolf-Person?” I didn’t want to say “human” since I considered Kavick just as human as myself.

He nodded. “They knew I wasn’t going to tell her what I was when we had just relocated.” He scrunched his face at the memory like it was unpleasant. “It was awful.”

I widened my eyes at
him in disbelief. “Really? Why?”

“
She was pretty, and I liked her, but not in the same way she liked me. We had nothing in common, and she seemed kind of shallow, like most of the girls at school. And there was always the stress of wondering how they would react if they ever learned what I was. If I did ever get into a serious relationship, how long could I keep lying? I would hate to lie to someone I care about. So, I just tried to be friends with the few girls that did show any interest in me like that. They usually didn’t want to have anything to do with me after I told them I didn’t feel the same way. One of the girls became my friend, though.”

“Who?” I asked curiously.

He gave me a puzzled look. “Molly. She didn’t tell you?”

I gasped loudly in complete and utter shock.
It was like my world had been thrown upside down. My mouth hung open for several seconds as I tried to process it. He found my reaction amusing and started laughing at me. I put it together in my head and, suddenly, it all made sense. “Oh, my God…! I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner!”

He was still grinning at me after he finished laughing.

I narrowed my eyes at him and asked, “Was she the girl who went out with you?”

He shook his head
and the curtains of black and white hair around his face shook a little, too. “No. Her name was Sandra Manheim.”

I remembered that name. And then it hit me. “Wait! Manheim? Like Lily Manheim?”

I remembered the brunette from the cheerleading squad who Molly had told me was responsible for scratching a message on the wall of a stall in the girls’ bathroom.

“Yeah. She’s Lily’s older sister.”

I sat there amazed at what I was hearing. “When did it become such a small world?” I wondered out loud.

“It’s a small town. Everyone meets everyone eventually,” he said simply.

“That reminds me of something,” I said, thinking of Tartok’s wolfish face staring at me through my window. “Why is he following you?”

Kavick let out the familiar heavy sigh. “Every time I take off, he thinks I’m leaving to see you. I caught him following me to the shop one day, I guess to see if I was telling the truth when I said I was leaving for work since I don’t have a set schedule with the O’Connell’s. He’s on my case a lot because I haven’t stopped seeing you after the incident at the Factory.” To my surprise he grinned at me and added, “I was really impressed with how you stood up to him earlier.”

Now I felt myself blushing. I was a little embarrassed by how I had acted. I fought against the heat in my face and said, “Well, I was surprised to see him there…but maybe I was a little harsh. I mean, I did kind of freak out…a little…okay, a lot.”

He chuckled and said, “You were awesome.”

“I’m really glad you had a nice birthday, especially since this was your first one here,” Justin told me in the car the next morning on the way to church.

Justin had asked me yesterday after Kavick left if I would like to go to church with him. He had said he hadn’t been in a while. I was a little surprised, because he hadn’t been to church the
whole
time I had stayed with him. I agreed to go, because I had never gone to church a day in my life, even though my parents believed in God. I was a little curious and a little excited, since it was a new experience for me. I had no expectations of what it would be like since I had heard both good and bad things about it over the years.

“How could I have not loved it?
” I said, remembering how hard Justin had worked to make it a special day for me. “The decorations, the cake, Big John…” I trailed off, counting the many things on my hand.

“Well, I have to admit, it did seem to get a little tense at times…
.”

“You noticed, too?” I asked flatly.

We glanced at each other and chuckled.

“That’s boys for ya…” Justin said, one hand on the wheel. The ice had melted on the road, but there was more snow in the forecast. “They get a bit jealous of each other if they think a girl gives more a
ttention to one than the other.”

“Oh,
no! It’s not like that!” I laughed nervously, sounding like a retarded hyena.

“Christine, as a guy, I can tell you with absolute certainty…” he said, moving a hand toward me as he spoke. This felt like the Holy Grail of advice he was about to give me, but part of me was
afraid of what he would say. “…That Marcus moved up here because you’re a lot more than just a friend to him. I can see that he likes you a lot. It was really obvious by how jealous he was gettin’ of Kevin.”

I breathed a tiny sigh of relief, since it was what I already knew. “You really think so?” I asked, playing dumb. I didn’t want him to think I was going to get hitched in a couple of days now that I was legally an adult.

“Uh-huh,” he said, giving a big nod as he watched the road.

I realized that once again he had completely believed my lie. I was really going to question his instincts the next time he had advice for me.

“And I can tell Kevin likes you, too.”

My head snapped toward him
. “Kevin?!” I asked bewildered, not having to fake my shock that time. I was definitely questioning his instincts. “No way! He’s—!”

I stopped myself from saying,
“He’s going to marry Anana!”

Dear God, I hoped he wouldn’t marry Anana. It was a good thing I was on my way to church, because I knew exactly what to pray for. It would probably take a m
iracle for him not to marry her. She’s been his friend all of his life, and Tartok was only getting worse at pressuring Kavick. He probably got an ear full from Tartok for going to my birthday party.

An amused grin curled up the corners of Justin
’s mouth as he watched the road. “You may not think so, but I can tell these things.”

The rest of the ride to the church was silent (I didn’t want to hear any more of his “insight”), and when we arrived, the small parking lot was mostly full. As I stepped out of the truck, I studied the small white building
. There was a sign nailed to the side of the building that read “Riverton Assembly.” I noticed that a lot of the places in Riverton used the name of the town, like the pawn shop that was called Riverton Pawn and Guns that was just an empty building away from Stan’s Auto. I thought back to the little history lesson at school on the town, summing it up to that “sense of community” the teacher had touched up on.

We walked across the grass toward the church (which didn’t really look that much like a church; there wasn’t a steeple), and passed the sign in the yard that listed the name again, the preacher, and the hours of the different services. I saw that we barely made it in time, the Sunday morning service started just a minute after we walked in. Justin was usually pretty punctual, so I assumed that his relatively quiet demeanor made him want to limit the chance of chitchat with people.

As soon as we walked inside the tiny entry way, there was a clear view of the sanctuary ahead where the double doors were propped open. There was a woman that looked a lot like Margaret, but much larger around the waist, walking up to the stage. I curiously picked up a bulletin on our way into the sanctuary. Justin hesitated, glancing at the back row of pews to either side. The sanctuary was packed. I thought I heard a faint “Darn,” from him as we were forced to walk down the center aisle. I felt stares and saw heads turn. I looked around, feeling like I was Lady Godiva parading down Main Street for all to ogle at. Suddenly, I understood why Justin wanted to sit in the back so much. I recognized some familiar faces on our way to the center row on the right. We had to shimmy past someone who recognized Justin, an older woman with short, curly hair that was obviously dyed, it was so yellow. He glanced at her, tipping his head and muttering “hello,” but never stopping. Just as she was asking enthusiastically who I was, despite the great distance Justin put between her and the two of us, a gray haired man stepped up to the podium. He cleared his throat and spoke into the microphone. She was leaning over, but quickly stood straight again upon hearing his voice. “Good morning,” he said, his voice magnified by the two speakers on the small stage.

“Good morning,” everyone returned automatically, some sounding like they had just woken up and others sounding rather lively. The yellow-haired nosey woman was one of the lively ones. Justin was definitely the most quiet. I couldn’t hear him at all, even though I saw his lips moving…barely.

“Looks like we’ve got some familiar faces and some new ones,” he smiled, looking directly at Justin and me. I felt my face heat up. A couple of people looked at us quickly, as if they thought they wouldn’t be seen staring. “Let’s start the morning with some worship.” He turned to the woman who resembled Margaret, looking like she thought she was very important. “Sister Marleen.”

He stepped down, taking a seat on the front row and she proudly replaced him at the podium with her nose in the air, clutching a book in her hands. She placed it on the podium, looking down through the glasses that hung on the end of her nose and said in a nasal voice, “Please turn to page forty-three.”

A woman walked up to the piano on the left side of the stage, flipping the pages of a little book. I felt confused, wondering what book I was supposed to open since Marleen and the piano player’s books didn’t look like a Bible. There was a chorus of pages being flipped in the room and I panicked, seeing that suddenly everyone had these small books in their hands, looking like they knew exactly what they were doing. Just as I was going to reach for my Bible anyway from deep inside my bag, I noticed those books were in a little compartment on the back of the pew in front of me. It read
“Classic Hymns”
on the cover. Suddenly, I felt very stupid, reaching for one. When I started furiously flipping pages to play catch up since everyone else had already gotten to page forty-three, I saw from the corner of my eye that Justin already had one.

I quickly learned that Sister Marleen couldn’t sing at all, and amidst the long songs I began to wonder why they called her “Sister” since she wasn’t a nun. I also learned that Ms. Nosey sang the loudest and would’ve probably been louder than Sister Marleen if she had a microphone, too. She also opened her mouth the largest, drawing more attention to the gaudy, bright red lipsti
ck she had plastered on her lips. I got bored during the many songs, wondering when on earth we were going to get to the sermon (Isn’t that the part everyone came for?), and started stealing glances at the other people as I mumbled along with Justin. I noticed Lily Manheim, with her long two-toned brunette hair, a lighter brown on the outer layers of her hair and nearly black underneath. She looked a bit proud herself, but her nose wasn’t quite as high as Sister Marleen’s. Perhaps Marleen held her nose so high so her glasses wouldn’t fall off? Why couldn’t she just push her glasses up? As I was wondering these things, I noticed there was a slightly taller, more mature looking brunette beside Lily. I wondered if she was Sandra. She was even more beautiful than Lily. I remembered Molly telling me once that Sandra had won several beauty pageants and her dream was to be Miss Alaska.

Speaking of Molly, I spotted Molly two rows behind the Manheim family, as if my own thoughts had made her suddenly appear from thin air. There was an Eskimo woman standing next to her who had a darker complexion and had her black hair pulled into a straight ponytail at the nape of her neck, looking very neat and put together. She wore glasses, as well, making her look almost exactly like Molly. I figured this was Molly’s mother. Molly actually had her nose in the book, instead of looking at everyone else. I was very surprised to see Molly there, never pegging her as a religious person.

I recognized some other people, including Officer Conner who I had seen at the diner once, and then I spotted, even more to my surprise than seeing Molly, in the very back corner on the left was Tartok, Kavick, and Anana. Little Anana looked even smaller next to Kavick. Her short grayish hair that was only a little longer than Suka’s (who, oddly, wasn’t there) hung over one eye. She had her head tipped down and her lips were moving in time to the words. Another strong contrast between Kavick and Anana was that he was extremely white while she was a bit tanned, a little lighter than Molly. Tartok barely moved his lips, much like Justin and me, and as if sensing my gaze, his amber eyes darted toward me. I was about to look away, but then Kavick noticed me and smiled a little, still moving his lips to the song. If he was actually singing, I couldn’t hear him for the loud-mouth with the yellow hair on my row. I wanted to smile back, but Tartok was giving me the evil eye, like he was trying to telepathically command me to look away. He immediately turned the look on Kavick, making Kavick look back down at his hymnal. Anana never seemed to notice. I quickly returned to my own hymnal.

After what felt like hours of singing repetitive songs (but really wasn’t according to my watch), Sister Marleen finally shut up.

Thank God
, I nearly sighed in relief as she proudly left the stage, apparently having no idea that she had sounded like she was tone-deaf the whole time. Just as I realized the irony in that thought, the gray haired man walked back up to the podium and I perked up, anticipating the sermon which I had endured so much to hear.

“You may be seated,” he said with a smile. Everyone immediately sat down, seeming as if they were just as eager as I was. I was sure the women were. Standing that long in stilettos was murder.

He instructed us to turn to a chapter in Exodus. I quickly pulled my Bible out of my tote bag, eager to finally use it. My parents had bought it for me when I was young, but I had never read it when I was a kid, because it didn’t have pictures. As I got older, I had just assumed it would be boring. His sermon was interesting and even though I had heard a bit about Moses over the years, I was surprised how fascinating the story was. At times, I actually read more than listened, even though the sermon was interesting, too.

When it was over and everyone stood, Justin immediately motioned for us to leave on the opposite end of Ms. Nosey, probably in an attempt to avoid her, but she was upon us almost immediately, like some kind of yellow-haired vulture.

“Who is this pretty young lady with you?” she asked excitedly, eyes wide in curiosity.

Justin turned around and replied in his usual friendly tone, despite having tried to avoid her, “This is my niece, Christine. She moved up here from
California in June.” He put his arm around my shoulders affectionately as he spoke. He almost seemed proud when he spoke about me to her, answering her many questions. It surprised me, but it also made me feel happy inside and like our bond had grown stronger. After I said hi, I just smiled, leaving the talking to Justin. My eyes drifted back to Kavick, wondering if he had already left. There was a deep crowd of people filling the center aisle, all back to back, inching their way out. I heard Marleen talking loudly about going to the diner to see her sister. I felt even more convinced that must be Margaret. Meanwhile, Kavick was waiting patiently in the corner with Anana and Tartok for the crowd to taper out enough to leave. Tartok immediately started glaring at me again. Kavick was bending his head down so that he could talk to Anana. She watched the people for a few seconds before nodding and looking up at him to say something. This seemed a bit intimate to me, leaving me wondering if this was a talk between life long friends, or a talk between a couple. It then occurred to me that maybe they were here because they were going to schedule the church for their wedding…but what if they were just regular church goers? It was hard to tell and I got tired of straining my eyes for any little detail that might answer my questions.

As soon as I felt Justin remove his arm from my shoulders, I slipped away, walking down the opposite end of the row so I wouldn’t have to squeeze past Ms. Nosey (she was rather large
, too) and cut through the row behind us so I could make my way over to Kavick as soon as the crowd had thinned enough. Many people had parked themselves in the center aisle to chat, so this congested the flow of traffic. Kavick smiled at me again from the corner, earning a mouthful from Tartok. His lips were moving fast and furious. He didn’t look happy at all. Anana said something to him, looking a bit annoyed. I would have liked to know what she had said, because it made Tartok shut up and leave. She and Kavick said a few more words to each other before she followed him out. Kavick walked toward the crowd then and made his way to me. The crowd was finally thinning, no thanks to Marleen being one of those people who were standing in the dead center talking to Officer Conner and someone I didn’t recognize.