“Tomorrow is debatable. Depending on what you do then to ruin my life.” She stomped down the hall to her room, thankful that at least her parents had enough sense to buy a place big enough to house their three children. Kelly envied Sydney's quiet house. It would be soooo nice to be an only child.
Though she shut her door behind her, Kelly's brother ignored the privacy sign and barged in.
“You forget how to knock?” she said, slipping out of her boots.
Flopping back on her bed, messing her comforter, he said, “Why are you in such a bad mood?”
“How many other phone calls have you forgotten to tell me about?”
“None! Jeez! Well⦔ He looked at the ceiling as if trying to remember. “I guess I have forgotten a few of Jerkwad's calls.”
Jerkwad was Todd's nickname for Will. “He has a name, you know.” Kelly pulled a pair of shorts out of her dresser, then a tank top.
“Yeah, I know. Jerkwad.”
Did Todd know they'd broken up? He'd been pestering her to drop Will since she started hanging out with him, even going so far as to threaten Will behind her back. Of course, Willjust rolled his eyes and said, “Your brother is an imbecile,”
when Kelly asked him about it. Which Todd was, but still, he was her brother. If Will was insulting her brother, was he insulting her?
“I'm not seeing Will anymore,” Kelly muttered, slipping several silver bangles off her wrist.
Todd sat up on the bed. “Seriously?”
She sighed, finally turning to him. “Yeah.”
“Youâ¦okay?” He furrowed his brow, clearly uncomfortable with the emotional stuff.
Was
she okay? It'd already been a month since they'd sorta broken up. Some days the answer was yes, others, not so much. “I guess,” she answered, pulling the rubber band out of her hair (she'd heard rubber bands damaged hair when you slept on them and Kelly needed all the hair help she could get). She slipped on a stretchy black headband to keep the hair off her face so that it wouldn't leave grease behind on her skin and make her break out.
Todd stood. “Do you want me to kick his ass?” Hands clenched into fists, he threw a few punches in the air. “âCause I would get so much pleasure out of breaking his nose.”
She groaned. “No, I don't want you to punch him, Todd. God.”
He let his hands fall. “Why not?”
“Oh, I don't know, maybe because fighting is dumb, and it wasn't like Will deliberately hurt my feelings.”
“But he did hurt your feelings?”
She ignored that question, instead pushing Todd out into the hallway so she could change and get into bed.
“Who broke up with who?”
“Todd,” she moaned. “Go away.”
“So he broke up with you?”
With him in the hallway now, she put herself squarely in the door frame and crossed her arms over her chest. “Technically we weren't even together. We were just friends datingâ¦or something. Now, good night.”
She reached to shut the door, but Todd stopped her. “Seriously, sis, you're okay though?”
“I'm okay,” she lied, looking him straight in the eye. She was good at lying to him. He was a guy, after all, and wasn't very in tune with emotions. He was good on the basketball court and picking on her and Monica, but that was about it.
“âCause if you need me to kick his ass,” he went on, “just say the word.”
“You will not be kicking anyone's behind, Todd,” their mom said, coming up the hallway. “And what have I told you about swearing in my house?”
“Sorry,” he said automatically, not at all concerned with the reprimand. Their mother never punished him. Todd could get away with just about anything, something Kelly was still trying to figure out. Maybe it was his ability to pretend sincerity and remorse. Okay, so maybe he was good at
three
things.
“âNight,” Mrs. Waters said, kissing Kelly, then Todd on the forehead. She went into her room, their father's snores carrying out into the hallway until their mother clicked the door shut behind her.
“Just say the word!” Todd whispered before he turned into his room.
Kelly rolled her eyes and went to bed.
Rule 12:
You must never date a friend of The Ex
.
Raven felt like she was going through DTs. How did anyone survive without a boyfriend? It wasn't even really the absence of a boyfriend so much as it was the absence of someone to hang out with. There didn't even need to be kissing or any of that. Raven just liked having someone to open doors for her. And someone to tell her how beautiful she was. And someone to hold her hand.
Would it technically be breaking the rules if she “hung out” with another boy and flirted? A boy who would open doors for her and tell her how beautiful she looked? It wasn't like she was really going to hook up with him. Or accommodate him, as Rule 8 specifically said to avoid.
Besides, if Friday nights weren't for hanging out, then what were they for? Certainly not Scrabble or homework. Or worse yet, hanging out with your mother.
There was one other option, and before Raven broke down and called a guy, she decided to check it out. She went across the hall and knocked on Jordan's door.
“Come in,” Jordan called from the other side.
When Raven went in, Jordan said hi to her from her vanity mirror as she swooped her dark hair back into a jeweled barrette. There was a hint of blush on her cheeks. A swoop of mascara on her lashes. She looked like she had somewhere to go in her khaki cargo pants and oversize brown sweater.
“What's up?” she said.
Raven shrugged and sat down on the edge of Jordan's perfectly made bed. It was supposed to be one of their daily chores, but Raven never really got the habit down. Across the hall, her deep purple comforter was partially hanging on the floor.
“I'm bored,” she said, hoping her little sister would catch the hint, which was:
Entertain me!
Jordan ran a fine-tooth comb through her hair, smoothing out the bumps. Her olive skin looked perfect even sans foundation. Jordan had gotten more of their mother than their father. She looked almost one hundred percent Italian. Raven was about eighty percent her father, which made her extremely exotic-looking. Without knowing her parents, people had a hard time figuring out her heritage.
“What about your friends?” Jordan asked.
Sighing, Raven picked at a loose string on the pink bed comforter. “Sydney is studying and going to bed early because she's doing the SATs tomorrow. Alexia is having dinner with her parents, and Kelly has to babysit her little sister.”
“Bummer,” Jordan said absently, more involved with her hair than her sister's problems. When her hair was perfect, completely bump-free, with a few wispy strands hanging around her oval face, she sat down next to Raven. “I'd do something with you, but me and Cindy are meeting up with a bunch of people at the movie theater.”
Raven grabbed the pink throw pillow with purple and green polka dots from the head of Jordan's bed. She ran her hand up and down the velvet material, watching the sway of the fabric change. “What movie is it?”
“
Underground
.”
“Oh, I want to see that one. Can I come with?”
Jordan cocked a tweezed eyebrow. “No way. You'll hit on all my friends.”
Raven gave her sister a playful shove. “I would not. Besides, your friends are fourteen. Too young for me.”
“You're not coming. Sorry.”
Raven scrunched up her face in desperation. “Please!” If left to her own devices tonight, she wasn't sure what would happen. She was over Caleb, but the desire to hang out with someone of the opposite sex might become stronger than sheer will.
Grabbing her bag, Jordan shook her head. “We'll do something tomorrow.”
“You used to love hanging out with me.”
“Yeah, that was before I had a life.”
“Come on, Jordan, I'm cool!”
“Not cool enough to have a life!”
Raven growled and headed back into her own room. Soon after, a car beeped out front and Jordan called out, “I'm leaving,” through the house.
Since when did Jordan have more of a life than Raven?
Obviously, since now, but Raven was not going to let her little sister have more fun than her. She grabbed her cell phone and flipped through the phone book. Some of the names she'd forgotten were even in there. When she reached
ZAC
she stopped and tried to remember the last time she'd talked
to him. He was a friend of Caleb's. She'd probably talked to him a few parties ago.
She called his number and waited.
“Yeah?”
“Hey! Zac! It's Raven.”
“Raven? What's up?” Pots and pans banged in the background. A deep male voice barked out an order to “shut off the bacon.”
“You busy tonight?” she asked.
“I'm working right now, but I get off at nine. Why, is there a party or something?”
“No.” Raven sat down in her computer chair and propped one foot up on the edge of the cushioned seat. “I'm just bored and looking for someone to hang out with.”
“Cool. Meet me here around nine? I'll call Kenny and we'll all do something.”
“No,” she said too quickly. “No Kenny. Just you and me. We can go to the movies or something.”
“Seriously?”
She could almost hear his eyebrows rise.
“Yes, seriously. I like hanging out with you.”
“Oh.” He sounded surprised.
“So what do you say? You up to it?” she asked.
“Totally. I'll meet you here?”
“Sure. I'll see you at nine.”
Hanging up the phone, she smiled another pleased smile. Zac was a cool guy. She'd always thought he was the cutest one of Caleb's friends. Maybe they'd have fun tonight. It'd been so long since she'd hung out with a guy, she was really looking forward to it.
Well, okay, it'd only been a month since Caleb broke up with her, but that was like nine months in dog years. Or would it be ten? She was never very good with numbers.
Closet light blazing, Raven flipped through her clothes. She had a few special outfits for nights like tonight, i.e., Boy Nights. There were her hot jeans that she thought hugged her butt perfectly and looked awesome with her black stretchy Soweto shirt.
Deciding on that outfit, she pulled the two items from the closet and got dressed. The weather had been mild today, but temps were still only low forties. Which jacket would look good with the outfit?
Back in the closet, she searched for the military-style jacket she'd bought at Two-One, a vintage store downtown. The jacket had dull gold snaps and a high collar. The faded army green would go perfectly with the black long-sleeved shirt.
She laid the jacket out on the bed and went down the hall to the bathroom she and Jordan shared. Looking in the mirror, she tried to decide what to do with her hair. Wanting it down but messy, she grabbed the tub of expensive hair product she'd bought online at Sephora and ran some of it through her hair. She bent over and scrunched the tresses, then flipped her head back. Now she had a messy, wavy look going.
Perfect.
With one swoop of mascara and a little bit of dark brown eyeliner, she was ready to go. Back in her room, she slipped into the jacket, sliding her cell phone in the pocket.
“Mom, I'm going out!” she called from the hallway.
“Where?” Ms. Valenti called from her workroom. She was probably piecing together another intricate scrapbook design for a class at Scrappe.
“The movies.”
“Which movie?”
Raven ducked her head in the workroom. Her mother was hunched over a long white table, paper and glue guns and markers spread out in disarray.
What was a safe answer? Anything rated R was out. Romance or family movies were usually on her mother's OK list.
“Uhâ¦
Summer Camp
.” Lots of PG action in that movie. Instead, she and Zac would probably skip the movie altogether, or see
Underground
, the one Jordan was going to.
“Okay,” Ms. Valenti said, whipping out a black marker. She turned in her seat. “Be home by midnight, okay?”
“I will.” Raven said good-bye and left.
“Hey, Ray,” Zac said, running a hand through his unruly blond hair. Zac was a good-looking guy. He had a model's face: strong jawline, prominent nose bridge, and deep green eyes. Raven had always been attracted to him.
Gorsh, the small restaurant where he worked, was packed. Conversation hung in the air, mixing with the crisp sound of fifties jazz playing from the jukebox.
Zac wove his arm around Raven's shoulders and gave her a friendly hug. He smelled like French fries and cologne. Suddenly, her stomach was growling.
“So what do you want to do?” he asked.
Shrugging, she ran the options through her head. “Well, I'm kind of hungry.”
“You want to sit? We can get something to eat.”
“Really? I figured you'd want to leave as soon as possible, since you work here.”
He waved the argument away. “I love this place. Besides, the food would be free.” He led her to a booth. “Sit. Can I get you anything to drink?”
“Coke?”
“Coming right up.”
She slipped out of her jacket and tucked her hands in her lap. The restaurant had an inviting temperature, but her hands were still cold. She rubbed them together and heat spread through her fingers.
Zac came back with two Cokes and a menu. “Here you go.”
“What about you?”
“I don't need a menu. I have it memorized.” He smiled, ripping the wrapper off his straw.
Flipping the menu open, she scanned the food. Burgers, French fries, spaghetti. She'd never eaten at Gorsh. “What do you recommend?”
“The chicken wrap. Melted cheese, lettuce, bacon. It's amazing.”
“I'll have that, with French fries.”
“Good choice. I'll go put our order in the kitchen.”
As he wove through the tables toward the swinging kitchen door, Raven watched him. His jeansâa pair of baggy Abercrombie'sâbarely hugged his butt. And his shoulders looked broad in his vintage sporty T-shirt.
She started thinking about him in boyfriend terms. Would he open doors for her? Would he buy her gifts? Would he respect her? Would he try to push her into having sex? He didn't seem like that kind of guy and all the relationships in his pastâthere were only two if Raven remembered rightâhad been serious, long-term relationships.
It felt good to be out with a guy, even if it was just a friendly dinner. There was something about hanging with a guy that was satisfying. Girlfriends couldn't elicit butterflies with simple conversation or a smile. And butterflies to Raven were like an adrenaline rush to a risk taker. Raven just couldn't get enough of that feeling.
Zac came out of the kitchen and she smiled at him again. His mouth quirked into a grin, too, but it abruptly slipped away when he looked toward the front door. Raven followed his gaze.
Caleb.
Damn.
Caleb walked over to Zac and they did that guy handshake of theirs. Caleb said something about a party and Zac shook his head.
Raven heard Caleb say, “Why? You got something better to do?”
And Zac said, “Yeah,” and gave an awkward nod toward Raven in the booth along the wall.
Raven wished she could disappear into the booth. Suddenly, hanging out with Zac didn't seem so innocent. Caleb didn't rule her life and she wasn't going to do anything with Zac, but one of Alexia's stupid rules ran through Raven's head.
Do not date an Ex's friend.
Raven was so busted.
Caleb looked over and anger, then maybe jealousy, flashed across his face. His jaw clenched. “Are you serious, man?” Raven heard that clearly because Caleb raised his voice an octave and a few people turned to look at him.
The memory of their breakup flashed in her mind. Déjà vu. He was freaking out in a public setting because of his temper and more importantly, because of her.
Double damn.
Raven grabbed her jacket and slid out of the booth, the red vinyl making that obnoxious smudging noise. She stalked up to Caleb. “We were just hanging out,” she explained. Not that she owed him that much. She didn't owe him anything actually.
“Yeah, but with my friend?” he challenged.
“Shhh.” She scowled. “You don't have to tell the whole restaurant our business.”
“What, that you're a serial dater?”
Zac stepped up. “We were just hanging out, like she said. We're allowed to be friends, aren't we?”
Caleb shook his head, jaw tensing more. “Whatever.” He swiveled on his feet and left.
A breath of relief whizzed past Raven's dry lips. Tonight had not gone as planned. Whatever happened to just having fun? Guys were so complicated.
“I'm gonna go.” She put her coat on. “Thanks for what was supposed to be a fun night, Zac. We'll hang out some other night.”
“We can still hang out tonight,” he said, sounding hurt that she'd leave so soon.
“I know, but I just don't feel like it now.”
She should have figured this was a mistake as soon as she considered going out with a guy. That's what The Breakup Code was for: Follow the rules, avoid mistakes.
On tiptoes, she planted a kiss on Zac's warm cheek. “Call me sometime,” she said and left.
In the car, she cranked the music up as she headed home. Early. Lame.
If there was anything good about tonight, it was that Caleb saw her out with Zac, instead of Horace. That probably would have been ten times worse, and Raven wasn't sure she could stand to hear Caleb harass Horace again. If he did,
she
might just punch
him
in the face.