I had wanted to date David for a very long time. We were meant for each other. I met David in elementary school, shortly after I moved to Mountain View. I didn’t remember much from back then, but I did remember our first meeting. I had been
the new girl
. I had worn a blue dress on that day, too, not a Marc Jacobs, though. I had walked into class late and been introduced by my teacher. I couldn’t even remember her name anymore, I just remembered her hideous green loafers with scuffmarks on the fronts, which I had focused on to avoid all the prying eyes staring at me.
“This is Arizona Darley,” the teacher had said. I had been taken aback by the name
Darley
. Mom had, of course, explained that her new husband, our new stepdad, had adopted us, and we were now all going to use
Darley
to avoid confusion. It had taken some getting used to.
Once the teacher had introduced me to the class, she pointed me to a desk beside a blond-haired boy. I was horrified. It was bad enough having to start school in the middle of the semester, but then to be seated next to a
boy
... one with a very annoying smile, that really sucked. I stuck my tongue out at him as I walked over and sat down. The girl in front of me snickered. That girl eventually turned into one of my very best friends, Ali, and the blond-haired boy turned out to be David. We never really talked to each other through elementary school. We had this weird eye-contact thing going. We sort of
smile-crushed
on each other. Yeah, very second-grade, but we somehow kept our relationship at that level until middle school. It didn’t get much better then, but since we had lockers next to each other, we’d said the occasional
hello
and
wassup
. Strangely, though, I had always felt close to him and happy when he was around.
Our relationship changed in seventh grade. Nothing drastic happened. I just tripped. David and I were walking to class sort of next to each other when I fell over a bag someone had dumped right on the floor in front of me. I went flying over it and would have landed on my face had it not been for David somehow managing to catch me mid-flight, saving me from a broken nose, at the very least. And that was it, we became best buddies. Once we started chatting, we discovered that we had endless stuff in common. We liked the same books, music, and TV shows. More than that, we–at least I thought so–felt totally relaxed around each other. I felt I could tell him anything, and he’d listen without judging me. I basically told him everything, well… apart from the little crush I had on him. Not that I thought that he didn’t feel the same, but I wanted him to make the first move. Really eighteenth century of me, but I was stuck on black and white movies. I wanted my
romantic
moment.
So why did I think he was going to ask me to the Ball? I didn’t know. I just
knew
. It would be the perfect romantic moment, and he would know that. He was the only person I wanted to go with. Neither of us had dated anyone else all these years. It seemed like all those years had been building up to what I hoped would happen today.
I took extra care with my hair and makeup. I wanted to look my best for David. Once again, I found that my stuff had been messed with. What was up with that? I couldn’t find my things on my vanity table. Could it be Ella? I was running really late now and had no time for a breakfast chat. I popped my head into the kitchen on my way out to wave a hurried goodbye at everyone before heading off to Starbucks.
“Bye, everyone!” I waved as I rushed past the door.
“Hold up, Shrimp! Where are you off to?” Kellan shouted.
“Heading off to meet David for breakfast!” I shut the front door behind me and walked into the fresh air. As I drove off in my Jeep, I saw Kellan come rushing out the front door waving frantically. I waved back. He seemed to want me to stop, but I really didn’t have time. There was no way I was going to be late for this meeting. I had waited too long. My cell phone went off–Kellan. Well, I was driving; it would have to wait. What could be so urgent? Had I forgotten something at home? The Jeep smelled awful, like old sweaty clothes. I made a mental note to get it detailed after school.
I walked into Starbucks and was happy to see that the comfy chairs were free. I flopped into one of them and waited. David must have been running late. He’d better hurry, or we’d both be late for school. I checked my phone, no messages apart from a text from Kellan.
Call me
I would, but later. I got out my mirror and checked my makeup. I fixed my hair and then checked the door again. No sign of David. This was becoming slightly annoying. Surely he would be on time if he wanted to ask me out? Maybe he’d been in an accident. Images of motorcycle pile-ups flooded my mind. Perhaps that’s what Kellan had wanted to tell me. I thought of calling him back, but called David instead.
“Hello,” said a female voice that clearly didn’t belong to David.
I felt a pang of jealousy shoot through me. “Hello, who’s this? Can I talk to David?”
“Arizona? This is Inez. David’s not here at the moment. Did you want to leave a message?”
David’s mom. Why did she have his phone? Surely he hadn’t done something to get it taken away; he wasn’t that sort of guy. “Hi, Mrs. Skoog. I was supposed to meet David for breakfast at Starbucks this morning. He’s half an hour late, so I was starting to wonder.” There was silence on the other end of the phone. “Mrs. Skoog, are you still there?”
“Yes, Arizona. Shouldn’t you be at school?”
Busted. “Well, I would’ve been, if David wasn’t late. Is he okay?”
“Yes, he’s fine. You better head to school.”
Stood up
? He’d better have an ironclad excuse; I was beyond annoyed.
I walked to my first class–physics with Dr. Lee, my favorite–after getting a late pass from the office. I knocked on the door and waved my pass at him.
“Miss Darley?”
I walked into the room. “Sorry, I’m late. I have a pass.”
“Arizona, you’re in the wrong class.” Dr. Lee looked annoyed.
“No,” I replied. Wrong class? No way. I walked to my desk, and then stopped short. I looked around. Why was everyone giggling at me? And where were my usual classmates–Maria, Justin? I shook my head. “I’m confused, Dr. Lee. This is Tuesday, right?”
“Yes, but you’re not in this class. Check your schedule.”
“Arizona!”
I turned around and saw Kellan. Thank goodness. He took physics with me. He walked over, while Dr. Lee protested, and took me by the elbow.
“Come with me, Shrimp.”
His tone was firm, so I relented and followed him into the hallway.
“Kell, what’s up?” I asked, slightly on edge.
He looked sad. Something had obviously happened. “Is it David?”
“David?”
“Yeah. Is he okay?”
“I guess. I don’t know.”
“Why do you look so gloomy then? What’s up?” I asked again.
“Arizona, let’s go for a walk. We need to talk.”
“Okay. Later, though. I’ve got to get to class. Don’t we have physics this morning?”
“That’s what we need to talk about.”
I shrugged. Weird. I followed him out of the building to the empty playing fields.
“Come on, Kellan. Talk. What’s so important that we have to skip class?”
He turned to face me and took my hands, lacing his fingers through mine. I felt a weird flutter. He studied my face, and then spoke softly, but with a hard edge to his voice. “I think I know what’s going on, Arizona. You’re going to freak.”
“Arizona! Kellan!”
I looked over to see David running toward us. Sheesh, about time! “Kell, I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you later.” I pulled my hands away and turned to walk over to David. Kellan followed me. What a pain. “Kell, I want some alone time with David. I’ll talk to you later. Okay?” I shot him the death glare.
“Hi, Poppet! Mom told me you called, so I came right over. Everything okay?”
“No!” I pouted and stamped my foot. “You stood me up! I can’t believe it. We were supposed to meet for coffee this morning.
Remember
?”
He narrowed his eyes, looking confused. It had obviously slipped his mind. Boys! He grabbed my hand and closed his eyes–probably trying to come up with an excuse. I could feel him tensing. He opened his eyes and looked at Kellan. What about
alone time
didn’t he get?
David nodded at Kellan. It looked like they were exchanging some kind of secret message.
“Look, what’s going on?” I asked, irritated.
“Poppet, you’re going to freak.”
I was beyond exasperated now. “Yeah! So you guys keep saying! I’m gonna freak if you don’t tell me what’s going on.” I could see that both Kellan and David were at a loss for words. They just gaped at me. “Kell?” I pleaded, getting seriously worried. Kellan would tell me; he told me everything.
I’ve known Kellan forever. Unlike David’s and my relationship, Kellan and I have been close buddies since we were kids, since I moved to Mountain View. I can’t remember exactly when we met, but he’s been a permanent fixture at my house. He is practically part of our family. His dad, Larry, works with Mom at Ames. They are both physicists. Kellan is best buddies with my brother, Harry. They play ice hockey together. Kellan spends all of his family holidays with us, even the big ones like Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love him. He is like a brother, but better. He never judges me. Sort of like David, but since I don’t need Kellan to think of me as someone he’d like to date, I can be totally
me
with him. So, I looked at him, giving him the full benefit of my puppy eyes, and repeated, “Kell?”
“Arizona, you’ve lost a year of your life,” Kellan whispered.
“Say what?”
“You’ve lost a year of your life.” He took my hands in his again.
I felt that weird flutter return.
“I don’t even know how to begin to explain it. David, help me out.” Kellan looked over at David, who appeared just as defeated as he did.
“Have you got any idea what’s going on?” David spoke directly to Kellan as if I wasn’t even there.
“Yeah. I think it’s Gertrude.”
David sighed, nodding.
“Gert, what?” I asked. Then I quickly returned to the first statement–
You’ve lost a year of your life
.
“Shrimp, let’s drive you home, and we’ll explain when we get there, I promise. This isn’t the place for it.”
We all piled into my Jeep. I held my tongue for as long as I could, but exploded once we were back inside the car. “Lost a year? Will one of you explain!”
“Yep, soon as we get to the house. Please. We’ll be there in a moment.” Kellan’s hand gripped down on the wheel, his jaw was set in a firm line. I wasn’t the least bit happy, but I bit down on my lip and looked out the window unhappily.
Kellan drove us to my house in complete silence. The house would be empty. Mom and Dad were probably at work, and Ella and Harry at school. I’d forgotten all about the little dog. She greeted us as soon as I unlocked the front door. David picked her up, and we walked to the living room.
“Well?” I asked, as soon as we sat down. “
Lost a year
? What does that mean?”