The Secret Identity of Devon Delaney (11 page)

“Really?” Luke asks. “Isn’t it funny the stuff they get upset about? I mean, it’s just a little hair dye.” He reaches over and pulls my hair, as if to prove his point.

“That’s exactly what I said!” I tell him. “Yet they have no problem with me going to school, where tons more dangerous things can happen.”

“My dad’s definitely been worse since the divorce,”
Luke says. “It’s like he wants to make sure he’s still a good dad, so he does it by being more protective.”

I pause for a second, wondering how much to reveal. “Same with my parents,” I say finally. I look down at my hands. “This past summer they were thinking about separating.”

“That sucks,” he says, looking serious. He looks at me and doesn’t say anything, which is nice. I hate when you tell someone something important and they start asking a bunch of weird questions.

“They’re okay now,” I say. “They’re working it out. But I think that’s why she’s being a little more protective lately.”

“That makes sense,” Luke says. “She wants to make sure she’s being good to her family.”

I flush, realizing that not only am I having a real conversation with a boy, but that Luke’s now the only one besides Lexi who knows about my parents. I like the way he’s so cool about it, like how he knows that what goes on in our parents’ relationship has nothing to do with us. It seems so grown up.

We spend the next two hours going over the script, getting it ready to give to everyone to memorize. My mom comes into the living room from the kitchen about a hundred times. (“Do you think it’s too cold in
here?” “Did you remember to feed the cat?”) It’s kind of annoying, but I smile and answer her questions in an effort to distract her from the fact that she’s mad at me. Plus, every time she does, Luke gives me this secret smile, which is kind of nice.

“So I’ll make copies for everyone in the morning,” Luke says when we’re done. “And we’ll hand them out at lunch tomorrow.”

“Oh,” my mom says, coming into the room. Again. “Are you guys finished?”

“Yes, Mrs. Delaney,” Luke says, zipping up his backpack. “Thanks to your daughter and her amazing outline.”

I blush again.

“I’ll talk to you in school tomorrow,” I say to Luke. I need to get him out of here before my mom or Katie says something uber-embarrassing.

“So,” my mom says once Luke shuts the front door behind him. “I’ve thought about it, and I’ve decided you can keep the hair.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” I say, rushing over to her and grabbing her in a hug.

“If,” she says, disentangling herself from my grasp, “you promise to pay for it. You can start by babysitting Katie on Saturday night. Your father and I are going
out.” She smoothes her hair back, and I can tell this time “going out” means “going out” on a date. I’ve never heard of Saturday night therapy appointments.

“Okay,” I say. “But I’m going to Jared’s to work on my project at two o’clock.”

“We’re not going out until seven,” she says. “So you should have plenty of time.”

“Perfect,” I say. I don’t even mind babysitting Katie. Anything that allows my parents to spend time together is fine with me. Besides, it’ll be fun. Katie and I can make cookies or something. I give my mom a kiss on the cheek and then head to the kitchen for dinner, my new hair bouncing behind me.

“Oh,” Mel says when she sees me at school the next morning. “You did something to your hair.”

“Yup,” I say, doing a twirl in the hall. “I got it cut. And highlighted.” I’m also wearing a new pair of jeans with a pink-and-maroon striped hooded sweater. I feel fab.

“Oh.” Silence.

“Do you like it?”

“It’s okay.” She looks at the ground and shifts her bag to her other arm. “Here.” She thrusts our notebook
at me, hitting me in the stomach with the binding. All right then.

“What did you do last night?” I ask, taking the notebook and putting it in my locker. I glance down the hall nervously I see Jared at his locker, stuffing some papers into his bag. Wow, he looks really unorganized. No wonder he’s always having trouble in English. That boy needs a planner. Or at least a folder. Lexi is nowhere to be seen. I relax slightly.

“Homework,” Mel says, sounding short. “I called you, but you never called me back. And your away message was up all night.”

“Yeah, I was at the mall and then later, Luke came over to work on our project.” I know I shouldn’t feel guilty for hanging out with Lexi and working on my project with Luke, but for some reason I do. Maybe it’s because I know I haven’t been paying as much attention to Mel as I should have been these last few days. Or maybe it’s because last night I told Luke about my parents, when I still haven’t told Mel.

“Okay,” Mel says, not really sounding like it is.

“Are you mad?” I ask. I feel a lump in my throat.

“No,” she says, sighing. “I just feel like you haven’t really had time for me the past couple of days, you
know? You never call me back, and you forgot about meeting me twice.”

“I know,” I say, trying to swallow around the lump. “I’m so sorry. It’s just been crazy with everything that’s going on. But it’s only going to be for a little while longer, and then I’ll stage the fake breakup and everything will go back to normal, you’ll see.”

“I guess,” Mel says, not sounding convinced.

“Hey, listen,” I say, “do you want to be in the skit Luke and I are doing for our history project? We’re going to work on it at lunch.”

“I can’t,” Mel says. “I have to make up a test during lunch, so I won’t be around.” She looks at the ground.

“Oh.” I try again. “Well, do you want to hang out later?” I ask. “I could come over, we could watch On Demand movies or something. And we could talk about the whole Brent-saying-hi-to-you-in-the-library situation.”

“Okay,” Mel says, brightening. “And we can do our homework together and order pizza.”

“Fab,” I say. “And I’ll try to find the
CosmoGIRL!
article that talks about the head nod and what it means.”

Later, in English, I’m in my seat, waiting for class to start, when Kirn comes in and plops down in the seat
ahead of me, the seat where Jared usually sits.

“Your hair,” she declares, “looks fabulous.” Must be Nice Kim I’m dealing with right now. Thank God. I’m not in the right mental state to deal with her other personality, Mean Girl Kim.

“Thanks,” I say, giving it a shake. Love that Lucinda.

“So tell me what it was about,” she says, tilting her head and looking at me seriously.

“Tell you what what was about?” I ask, wondering if I’m out of the loop again.

“The assignment,” she says, rolling her eyes. “Whatever it was we were supposed to read.” Today she has pink sparkles on her eyes to match the pink V-neck sweater and matching pink pants she’s wearing. She looks like a big batch of cotton candy.

“Oh,” I say. “Um, we didn’t have to read anything for today.” Did we? I pull out my assignment book, suddenly panicked. Is it possible that in all my new-haircut excitement I forgot an assignment?

“Oh, thank goodness,” she says. “I always forget to do the reading assignments.” Is she serious? The reading assignments are, like, the basis of the class.

“Yeah,” I say doubtfully

“So what’s up for the weekend?” she asks. “Luke
said we’re all doing your little play.” She rolls her eyes like she can’t believe the ridiculousness of us doing a play. It’s not like we had a choice. It’s a school assignment. Although maybe in Kirn’s world, school assignments are optional. “But seeing Luke in a costume is definitely worth giving up my Saturday.”

Whoa. Does Kim like Luke? For some reason, this idea bothers me. I don’t know why. If Kim likes Luke, then I don’t have to worry about her liking Jared. How would Devi handle this? “Kim, do you like Luke?” I ask, trying to sound playful and Devi-like.

“Why?” she asks, her eyes narrowing. “What did you hear?”

Yikes. The last thing I need is Kim being mad at me. “Oh, urn, nothing,” I say. Time to change the subject. “So listen.” I lean forward so no one else can hear us.

“Remember what you said yesterday? About Jared liking Lexi?”

“Isn’t that so cute?” she says loudly. “They would be the cutest couple. Don’t you think?”

“Yeah.” No. “Anyway, just out of curiosity, why do you think he likes her?”

“Who? Jared?”

No, Prince William. “Yeah,” I say. I twirl a strand
of my newly cut hair around my finger and hope I look and sound casual.

“Because he told me,” she says, shrugging.

Must. Not. Panic. “What did he say?”

“What do you mean, what did he say? He said, ‘I like Lexi.’”

“Hey,” Jared says, walking up to his seat. He looks at Kim. “You’re in my seat.”

“So?” Kim says. “I’m talking to Devi.”

“But it’s my seat.” He sets his books down on his desk. They’re covered in
Star Wars
book covers, which I’ve never noticed until just now.
Star Wars.
Weird. I’ve never gotten that whole
Star Wars
fascination some people have. My dad loves those movies. He’s always trying to get me to watch them with him, but Darth Vader scares me. Plus everyone knows the line “Luke, I am your father,” which is like the big surprise ending, and it kind of kills the movie if you already know that when you start watching.

“It’s not really your seat until the bell rings,” Kim says. “Until then, it’s whoever gets here first.” Jared reaches out and grabs Kim around the waist and starts tickling her. She giggles and throws her head back, her hair making a blond river down her back.

“Jared, stop,” she says. She tries to block his hands,
but he’s stronger than her. How awkward. Sitting here while they flirt. La, la, la. Why is Jared being so flirty with Kim if he likes Lexi, anyway?

“Okay, okay,” Kim says, holding up her hands in surrender. “You can have your seat back.” She flounces off in a haze of sparkles and perfume. Kim apparently also thinks saying good-bye is optional.

“Whaddup?” Jared asks me.

“Not much,” I say My mouth feels like it’s been stuffed with cotton.

“Did you do something to your hair?” He frowns. “You look …” Hot? Beautiful? Gorgeous? “… different.”

“Yeah,” I say, talking through my cottonmouth. “I got it highlighted.”

“Cool.” He turns back around, and I stare at the back of his neck. Smooth. Tan. I have to resist the urge to reach out and touch it. I debate whether or not I should try to do damage control for the weekend. If I don’t, I risk Jared flirting with Lexi. If I do, I actually have to initiate conversation with Jared, which is still hard for me. I take a deep breath.

“So, um, Jared?” I ask, figuring overcoming my nervousness around Jared is an integral part of not getting caught in all my lies.

“Yeah?” he asks, turning back around. His eyes are really blue. I take another deep breath. I can do this. It’s just like playing a role. I try to turn into Devi.

“Um, did you tell Kim that you had a thing for Lexi?”

“Yeah,” he says. He turns back around toward the front of the classroom. What is with these people? Acting totally casual about things that are obviously HUGE DEALS?

“How come?” I persist.

“How come what?” he asks, sighing. He seems annoyed.

“How come you told Kim you have a thing for Lexi?” I repeat, trying to keep my tone light.

“Because I do.” This conversation is beginning to feel like a merry-go-round. It’s moving, but it’s definitely not going anywhere. I decide to try a different tactic.

“Right, but remember how I told you that Lexi doesn’t like guys to fall all over her?”

“That’s not really falling all over her.” He leans over the back of his seat then, like he wants to tell me a secret, and I lean in to meet him halfway. “If you want to know the truth …” He trails off and looks around to make sure no one is listening. I’m so close, I can feel his breath against my face. It smells like peppermint.
Probably because he’s always chewing gum in school, even though we’re not supposed to. “I’ve been kind of mean to her.”

“You’ve been mean to her?” I wonder what it would be like to kiss him. His lips look soft, like two plump pink pillows. Wait. If I’m this close to him, that means he’s that close to me. I suddenly feel self-conscious about my lips. I hope they look kissable.

“Oh, yeah,” he says, looking almost proud. “The other day when we were walking out of school, I completely ignored her.”

“Great!” I say. “That’s the way to go, seriously.” I wonder if I can discreetly reach into the bag by my feet and pull out the lip gloss I got at Sephora yesterday.

“You’re definitely right,” he says, nodding. His face is still mere inches from mine. I start reaching toward my bag slowly with my right hand.

“I am?” Stretch. Reach.

“Yeah,” Jared says, leaning in even farther. “It’s like when I saw her with Matt yesterday in the cafeteria. He was all over her, and she didn’t seem into him at all.”

“Exactly,” I say, nodding. My fingers brush against my bag. I reach my hand in and try to grope around discreetly for my lip gloss. Keys, pink wallet with nothing
in it (thanks to yesterday’s big shopping spree), gum, a CD of stuff I downloaded illegally off of Limewire, a jump drive that has the draft of the script for my project with Luke … I’m touching everything but my lip gloss. Why do I have so much stuff in here, anyway? Eww, what is that? A tissue? I hope it’s not used. My palm touches the tube of gloss. Finally.

“It’s not that hard, actually,” Jared says, shrugging.

“What isn’t that hard?” I uncap the tube of gloss and get ready to smear some on, drawing attention to my lips, thereby drawing attention to the fact that I’m kissable, thereby making Jared want to kiss me.

“To be mean to her.” He shrugs again. “I dunno why. I just pretend she’s anyone, like any random girl. Like you or someone else. Not Lexi.”

“Oh.” I know he didn’t say it to be mean, but still. He turns back around then, toward the front of the classroom, before I have a chance to put on my lip gloss and make my lips kissable.

“What do you want on your pizza?” Mel asks later that afternoon. We’re in her room, trying to pick out a movie to watch. Mel has more than three hundred DVDs. Every time her parents go to the video store to get a new documentary, they let Mel pick out DVDs
from the used DVD bin. She hasn’t even gotten around to watching some of them.