The Last Boy and Girl in the World (10 page)

Levi, flummoxed, tried to explain. “I know. I was going after them to bring them back.”

I seized the opportunity and hurried over to the café table where my friends were. People lit the room with their cell phone screens, waving them around like they were sparklers.

Morgan elbowed me. “Where'd you disappear to? Did you and Jesse . . .” I wanted to make a joke but couldn't. So I shook my head. “Don't worry,” she said. “The night is young!”

My phone buzzed. It was a text from my mom. I knew by the length. She always wrote the longest texts.

Kee, so sorry I missed pictures. Annie sent me some and you looked beautiful. Are you having fun? If so, DO NOT WASTE YOUR GOOD TIME WRITING BACK TO YOUR POOR OLD MOTHER. But please text when you get to Morgan's house tonight so I know you made it safe. Be careful out there! The roads are really bad. Looks like this “storm of the century” is living up to the hype.

Jesse was now sitting two tables over from ours, tossing kernels of popcorn into the air and catching them in his mouth. He caught every single one. There were a couple of senior girls with him, keeping count. But not Victoria.

More red and blue lights danced off the walls as additional cop cars pulled up to the gym. Levi pushed open the door and let in his father. Really, the only difference between them was that Sheriff Hamrick was in a uniform and Levi was not. Levi held the door open for the other officers as they filed in too, and each one regarded Levi in some knowing way—a pat on the shoulder, a nod of the head. Those officers brought in emergency lights, battery-powered I guess, and placed them in the center circle of the basketball court, pointed up to the ceiling. Other officers positioned themselves at every doorway, preventing students from either wandering the hallways or going outside.

Principal Bundy set down her phone and headed directly over to Sheriff Hamrick. A heated discussion ensued.

“What do you think's happening?” Morgan asked.

Even though Levi had told me, I said nothing.

“I bet another tree fell somewhere,” Elise said. “Probably took out the power lines.” She leaned forward giddily. “You guys, maybe we'll have to spend the night here! Like a huge coed sleepover!”

I smiled, but really, the idea made my head hurt, the thought of Jesse and Victoria sneaking off again together, or maybe spooning together on a shared gym mat. What would Elise and Morgan say then?

A few minutes later, the electricity came back on. We squinted at the sudden brightness. The DJ's music blasted out of the speakers after an ear-deafening pop. The students cheered and Morgan gasped and put a hand on my back, like maybe we'd have another song to dance to, but Principal Bundy quickly shut that down by giving the DJ the kill sign. She walked to the center of the gym floor, cupped her hands around her mouth, and called out, “Because of safety concerns, we've decided to end tonight's Spring Formal early.” The whole room erupted, boos and hisses and whines, which Bundy tried to quell by holding up her hands. “For those students who drove themselves here tonight, we are going to have a caravan of officers leading you out through the flooded roads.” Levi appeared by her side and lifted a clipboard high over his head. “The rest of you, please see Levi Hamrick, add your names to this call list, and we will get in touch with your parents and provide you rides home in one of our school buses.”

Everyone began to murmur. No one was concerned about the danger or the weather. They were annoyed that Spring Formal was officially over. They didn't want the night to end.

Morgan reacted to something over my shoulder. “
Shhh.
Here he comes.” And then I felt something under the table. It was Morgan, slipping me a piece of gum. She winked.

I didn't know how to play it. I couldn't tell them the truth, especially when I wasn't sure what the truth was. Even my possible misunderstanding of everything was too humiliating. So I put the gum in my mouth, picked up my phone, and stared at it.

Jesse leaned over our table. “Party at Zito's house. You guys know where he lives, right?”

Without being too obvious, I watched his eyes scan our table. Morgan and Elise both nodded, looking excited to go. Zito was a senior and we were being invited over. I'd heard there were two trailers on his property. One for his family, and one just for him. Finally, Jesse's attention landed on me. His gaze did not linger on me any longer than it had on anyone else.

I was trying to come up with an excuse for Morgan and Elise as to why I needed to go home, while Jesse went around the rest of the gym and invited other people to Zito's house, but in the time it took for the caravan to be ready, we lost electricity in the gym twice more. After that, it seemed like everyone was resigned to calling it a night. I was so glad of that.

Principal Bundy made an announcement for everyone to get into their cars. Elise tried to get Levi to allow her to ride home with us, but he told her rules were rules and she'd have to go on the bus. I put on my rain boots again, found my coat in the bathroom where I'd left it. The rain was still coming down in sheets. It was far less fun and exciting to step back outside than it had been on our way inside. Not just for me. For everyone.

Jesse was still in his wrestling singlet. He had his wet clothes tied up in a knot and he was holding them by a pant leg. The doors were open now and he shivered. I felt compelled to go to him. To at least say good-bye. To lie and tell him I hadn't meant what I'd said on the dance floor, that it was obviously a joke, come on. But I was such a mess of sad and embarrassed and confused that I didn't dare. And it wasn't like he was looking for me, either. Instead I started talking about who the hell knows what really loudly to Morgan as we walked past him.

Levi, wearing a thick black policeman's poncho, helped direct cars out of the parking lot. As we drove passed him, he definitely gave me the stink eye for what happened in the hallway. I gave it right back.

Our ride home was like a weird and meandering funeral procession, with everyone following Sheriff Hamrick's squad car in a slow line. Officers were positioned along the way to keep us away from streets with fallen trees and power lines. It took us almost thirty minutes to go one measly mile.

At Morgan's house, we changed into dry clothes, made some nachos in the microwave, and brought them up to her room. As we talked about the dance, I kept glancing at my phone to see if Jesse had texted me to check that I'd gotten home safe.

He hadn't.

I'd thought Morgan was already asleep, but after a while of being quiet, she rolled over and hugged me tight. “You were right,” she said. “Tonight is exactly what I needed. I don't think I thought about Wes one single time.”

I hugged her back.

At least they were still broken up. At least Wes would never have to hear the story of tonight from Morgan. How it basically validated all the terrible things he'd said about me.

She went on. “And I don't want you to feel bad about not kissing Jesse tonight. It's totally the storm's fault. It screwed everything up. Seriously. There will be other chances.”

I sighed. “I'm not sure about that.”

“What? Why?”

“Something weird happened tonight. Between me and Jesse.” The truth lingered just underneath my tongue.

“Keeley, what happened? Everything was going so well!” I hated how disappointed she sounded.

I realized in that moment that had Morgan and Elise never found out about my texts with Jesse, I wouldn't have allowed myself to think he might like me on my own. They both egged me on, but Morgan especially. Why? Did she actually believe it could happen? Or was she just trying to pump me up in the wake of the Wes stuff?

I blurted out, “He got a boner when he was grinding on me and it totally freaked me out.”

She squealed and hit me with her pillow. “Oh, gross!”

“I'm kidding! I'm kidding!”

I wanted her to ask me again, press me for the truth. If she had, I bet I would have told her what really happened. She was my best friend, after all. But my joke was enough, I guess, to convince her everything was okay, because then she was snoring tiny little whispery snores. I wish it was enough for me, because I stayed awake the whole night.

Sunday, May 15

EMERGENCY BROADCAST SYSTEM ALERT
: A Flood Warning is now in effect for Aberdeen County and the Waterford City Metro Area. A Severe Thunderstorm Warning is also in effect. Gale-force winds are expected this afternoon and continuing overnight. The heaviest rainfall will arrive Sunday evening. We anticipate the threat of flooding in low-lying areas near the river to continue into Monday afternoon.

With the morning came my worst nightmare: Jesse hadn't texted me once. Not an explanation, not an olive branch. Not even a single joke or picture or video of him doing something funny, like the ten-second clip he'd sent me on Thursday, where he stuffed an entire slice of Mineo's pizza in his mouth at once and then smiled with big chipmunk cheeks into his camera and waved hi. Clearly, I had blown the chance—if I'd ever really had one—to kiss him. And apparently I'd wrecked our whole friendship, too.

I watched that pizza video underneath the blankets with the sound off while Morgan was asleep, and again with the sound on when she got up to pee. I sat on the side of the tub and watched it three times in a row before I got into the shower. Each time Jesse waved at me on the screen, I wanted to cry.

Morgan wasn't in her room when I got out of the shower. That wasn't unusual. Sundays were always busy at her house because of Mrs. Dorsey's hair appointments. Women from town would come in and out all day long. Around every hour, we'd pop downstairs to help out. Morgan would sweep up and make fresh coffee while I put a load of towels in the washing machine and made sure the shampoo bottles were filled.

That morning, though, it was strangely quiet when I came downstairs. There were no women sitting in the living room, gossiping or flipping through magazines while they waited for their turn in Mrs. Dorsey's styling chair. The lights in the dining room were off, the brushes and combs laid out untouched, capes hanging on their wall hooks, laundry basket empty.

I heard laughing coming from the kitchen.

Morgan and her mother were at the table. Morgan was still in her pajamas, and she was picking at a bagel with cream cheese. Mrs. Dorsey wore black jeans and a tight black sweater, but she had her house slippers on instead of the flats she wore when she was working. She wasn't eating breakfast, just sipping coffee.

Lowering her mug, Mrs. Dorsey said, “Morning, Keeley. I'm just getting the recap on last night. You want a frozen bagel?”

“Yes, please.” I sat down at the table. “Are you closed today or something?”

Mrs. Dorsey put a bagel in the toaster for me. As soon as she pushed the lever down, the lights flickered out. “Not again,” she groaned. “This is the fourth time this morning! I canceled all my morning appointments because of the power cutting in and out.”

“Here,” Morgan said, passing me the uneaten half of bagel on her plate.

“Morgan, can you get me my appointment book? I'm just going to reschedule everyone else.” Morgan got up, and to me Mrs. Dorsey said, “I haven't had a Sunday off in Lord knows how long! I'll call your mother, see what she's up to.” Her face lit up. “We can have a girls' day together. Jammies, maybe even a movie, if the electricity holds up.” She winked. “We can't let our kids have all the fun.”

“I think she's working.”

“Again? But she worked yesterday. That's why she missed out on taking Spring Formal pictures. When's the last time she had a day off?”

I shrugged. “It's been a while.” There was an awkward silence then, which I tried to fill. “She was so glad you texted her those pictures,” I said. “Did you send her the one of us posing like the shot in your photo album? Did she recognize it?”

Mrs. Dorsey nodded, her smile slightly faded. “Of course she did. Right away.”

•  •  •

The next time we lost power, Morgan said we should probably eat the ice cream in the freezer before it melted. Which was my cue to go downstairs and get us some. Morgan had no vision when it came to snack foods. If left in charge, she'd grab whatever random crackers or half-empty bag of chips she could find, no bowl, no napkins. I liked making a presentation of it . . . perfectly cut cubes of Cracker Barrel cheddar, onion dip scooped out of the plastic tub and into a big mug, actual melted butter poured over the microwave popcorn, our glasses of soda filled tall with ice cubes. A little extra showmanship went a long way.

Morgan was in charge of picking our entertainment. She was the one to control the remote, channel, volume, content. My favorite was when she'd create some kind of theme for the day, like Movies with Hot Guys Who Play Guitar or Ladies Who Time-Travel.