Read It and Weep! (5 page)

Still, for two stops before Gwen got on, Lauren had to endure the nonstop chatter behind her, coming from stuck-up Stacy and her stuck-up friends, Ava and Maddy, and their incessant giggling and gossiping and squealing.

Lauren remembered, happily, that she'd packed her iPod. That was just the thing to drown out the girls behind her. She was rummaging through her backpack looking for it, when she felt something light, but disconcertingly ticklish, drop from above onto her neck and then skitter down the inside of her shirt.

She shot up from her seat, plucking her shirt out and away from her body with two fingers and shaking it frantically in order to dislodge what had fallen inside it. This was one of those rare times when she was glad she didn't yet need to wear a bra, because the insect, or whatever it was, came right out of the bottom of her shirt and plopped onto the seat next to her.

It turned out to be a large, hairy, disgusting spider. She shrieked twice—two terrified, high-pitched squeaks.

And then realized the thing was made of rubber.

The bus driver remained oblivious to what was going on, because Lauren's squeaks had coincided almost perfectly with the screech of the bus's brakes as it slowed down for the next stop. Lauren sat back down quickly.

Peals of giggles erupted behind her. Lauren felt rage boil up inside, but she managed to contain it, barely. She picked up the spider between two fingers. Even though she knew it was made of rubber, the thing was pretty realistic and still loathsome to the touch.

“Really funny,” she said to the three girls, who were all holding their stomachs and pointing and laughing.

“Got ya!” taunted Stacy.

“Did you see her jump?” Maddy asked Ava.

“I totally saw her jump,” answered Ava.

“I wasn't scared,” said Lauren stiffly. “Just startled.”

“As if,” scoffed Stacy, tossing her hair. “You've been scared of spiders ever since Playland Camp days.”

“Why? What happened at Playland Camp?” asked Ava eagerly.

“Remember, Laur-Laur?” coaxed Stacy.

Lauren gave her a huge fake smile, then she swiveled back around in her seat. She could hear the three girls whispering to one another, no doubt having a big guffaw over what had happened so many years ago. What were the chances that she and Stacy would have known each other for one brief summer, so many years ago? Lauren and her dad had been living in California at the time, but that one summer Lauren had come to Nebraska to stay with her aunt Marina and uncle Jack while her father was off on a research trip to Costa Rica. That was the summer she had her brush with the spider's nest, and Stacy had been there to witness the whole thing. Aunt Marina had been really sweet about it. She'd held her and soothed her just like her mother might have, and that had been the beginning of the special bond between the two of them, which they'd had ever since. But still. The experience had traumatized her. That was six years ago. Why did Stacy have to be a part of that awful incident? Of all people.

Suddenly someone slid into the seat next to her. It was Stacy.

“Guess what, Laur-Laur?” said Stacy in that same fake-sweet, mocking voice. She dropped her voice to a whisper. “I got the whole thing on my phone.” She held up her phone, which displayed a paused video. The still shot showed Lauren bending over her backpack. Stacy must have slid into the empty seat across from Lauren without Lauren's being aware of it and filmed the whole spider thing.

“So what?” said Lauren with a shrug, acting as hard as she possibly could to pretend she didn't care when, in fact, she really cared a lot. What would Stacy do with such a video? The possibilities for evil were vast.

“Yeah, there is no need to worry about this video. I promise, pinky-swear, not to send it to everyone in the middle school.”

“Good,” said Lauren, and she meant it.

“Although it
is
tempting, considering the pink undies with the blue butterflies you have on today.”

Lauren's blood ran cold. How did Stacy know?

“You could totally see the tops of them when you were hollering and tugging at your shirt just a minute ago,” said Stacy, still in that sweet tone.

Of course today had to be the day she'd worn her oldest and ugliest pair of underwear. She hadn't done laundry in forever because of how busy she'd been with play rehearsals. These had been the last pair in her drawer.

She knew as well as anyone in middle school that if her classmates saw this video she would never, ever hear the end of it.

“Yep, I won't show the video around at all,” Stacy continued. “Provided of course that you help me with this week's lab report.”

Lauren blinked at her. “The lab report,” she echoed.

“Mmm-hmm. Actually, you can help me with
all
the science labs from now on,” said Stacy.

So it was blackmail.

The bus hissed to a stop and Gwen clomped up the steps, decked out head to toe in matching raincoat, rain hat, rain boots, and umbrella.

“Here comes your friend, Paddington Bear,” said Stacy. “I'll leave you two alone. Think about what I said, Laur-Laur.” She slid out of the seat and resumed her place at the back of the bus, where Lauren heard a round of fresh giggling. With one eyebrow raised in curiosity, Gwen slid into the seat next to Lauren.

“What was that about?” she asked Lauren curiously.

Lauren shrugged. “Nothing. Just Stacy being her usual charming self.”

Chapter 6

The rest of school that day was pretty uneventful. Lauren had several periods with Charlotte—homeroom, math, and social studies—but Charlotte had to work the student council bake sale during lunch, so they didn't have a chance to talk much until social studies, just before the second bell rang.

“I'm going to Aunt Marina's after rehearsal today,” Lauren said to Charlotte. “I told her I have something ‘weird and mystical' to show her.” She made air quotes with her fingers to show she didn't really buy into all that stuff surrounding the card.

Charlotte had a weird look on her face. Kind of uneasy. She gave a forced laugh. “I don't believe the card is anything special,” she said. “But it might just be cool to find out more about it.”

By the time rehearsal was over, the rain had mostly stopped. Aunt Marina texted Lauren to see whether she wanted a ride, but as she lived close to school, Lauren told her she would walk.

From the outside, Aunt Marina's house looked pretty ordinary, much like the other houses on the block. Small but comfortable, with a modest front lawn and a center walkway leading to the front steps. The one feature that made Aunt Marina's house stand out was her flower garden, which was always a riot of color.

Aunt Marina had left the door unlocked, and Lauren knew it was fine to walk in. It smelled spicy inside—a combination of cinnamon, sandalwood, and patchouli. The interior of the house was a jumble of colors: oranges, pinks, and aquas. Lots of beaded curtains, colorful floor cushions, and funky knickknacks that Aunt Marina had collected during her world travels.

“In here!” She heard her aunt call from the living room.

Aunt Marina was standing on her head, her bare feet pointed up toward the ceiling, in a complicated-looking yoga pose, her face pink, her long blond hair tumbled around her arms.

“Hi, Aunt Marina,” Lauren greeted her. She was just heading toward the couch when a black streak stopped her in her tracks. “Hey, Cinder,” she said to Aunt Marina's cat. “You almost tripped me, as usual.”

Cinder sat with his tail curled around his feet, staring without blinking at Lauren. Then he thrust out his paw and began grooming it.

“Hey, isn't it bad luck to have a black cat cross your path?” asked Lauren with a wink, and then plopped down on the couch and helped herself to a spiced wasabi pea from the dish on the coffee table.

“If it is, then I'm in big trouble,” said Aunt Marina, her voice curiously muffled by being upside down, “because he walks in front of me about five times a day.”

“Lucky for us we don't believe in that silly superstition,” Lauren added.

Aunt Marina's feet flipped forward and she rolled gracefully up to a standing position. She was a petite person, an inch or so shorter than Lauren, and very young-looking for her age. Lauren supposed it was because she didn't have any kids. All that worrying seemed to make parents go gray early.

“Hello, darlin',” said Aunt Marina, bending over to hug Lauren and then flopping onto the couch next to her. “Everyone should get upside down for a little piece of every day. It's so good for the circulation and the joints. So what's this thing you said you wanted to show me?”

Lauren pulled the card out of her bag and handed it to Aunt Marina.

Aunt Marina scrutinized the card. “Wow, this is pretty cool. It's a very old tarot card. You don't see many like this anymore.” She chuckled when she saw the message written on the back of the card. “Someone has an odd sense of humor,” she remarked.

“Do you know what the card means?” asked Lauren.

“It's the Wheel of Fortune card,” she said. “From the cracks and bends in the paper, it looks like this card is pretty old. As for the message on the back, I wouldn't worry about it. Chain messages are just a bunch of mumbo jumbo. Where did you find it?”

“My friend Charlotte found it. In a book. What's the Wheel of Fortune?”

“It's a very open-ended kind of card,” said Aunt Marina, handing it back to Lauren. “It might signify that your fortune is going to turn.”

“Like, the person might have bad luck or something?”

“Not necessarily. It may go up, or it may go down. It generally means there might be a change in a person's life, for better or worse.”

Lauren nodded. She stuck the card back in her bag. It's not like she believed this stuff or anything, but still. It was a relief to know it wasn't necessarily a bad omen.

“Thanks, Aunt Marina,” said Lauren. “I better get going. Lots of homework.”

“Want me to drive you?”

“No, it's not raining anymore. I'm good.” She gave Aunt Marina a hug and was on her way.

As she walked toward home, she pulled out her phone to text Charlotte.

Aunt Marina says the card is no big deal. It's the Wheel of Fortune. It just means your luck may go up or down.

Almost immediately Charlotte texted her back.

Oh, good. Thanks. BTW what's the math homework again?

Lauren grinned. Charlotte never seemed to remember her planner. As she reached the corner, she swiveled her backpack around and clenched it to her side in order to unzip it and pull out her planner. She stepped down off the curb.

“Watch out!”

Her reflexes reacted before her brain did. She leaped backward, stumbling and almost falling, just in the nick of time before a bicyclist zoomed past her. It was a delivery guy.

“Watch where you're going!” he yelled over his shoulder, and disappeared around the next corner.

Lauren's heart was thudding. That was a close call. She texted the math pages to Charlotte. Then she added,

Oh by the way, thanks to you, I almost got run down by a delivery guy on a bike.

What??

JK LOL. I just stepped off the curb without looking. Must remind self. No more texting while walking.

Charlotte texted back.

Be careful!

But that night another terrible thing happened to Lauren, and this time there was nothing she could do to stop it. She had a nightmare that spiders were crawling all over her.

Chapter 7

The next morning, just as Lauren had settled into her seat on the bus, Stacy plunked herself down into the empty seat next to her.

“Got the lab?” she asked, without bothering to say hello.

With a sigh, Lauren pulled out her notebook and handed it to Stacy. “You realize this is blackmail, right?” she said.

Stacy smiled sweetly, her pink lip gloss sparkling in the morning sun. “I prefer to think of it as a mutually beneficial arrangement.” She moved back to the back of the bus again, leaving Lauren alone, seething quietly.