Xvi (17 page)

“I want to see my daughter.” He laughed.

I didn’t know what to say, so I said nothing.

“Is there a problem? I would have called your grandparents, but they aren’t her grandparents, so it seems ridiculous for me to ask their permission to see my daughter.”

Ginnie’s words clanged in my ears like a fire alarm: keep Ed away from Dee. Legally, he had a right to see her. My mind raced for an excuse, any excuse. Anything to buy some time. “She’s still having a hard time with Ginnie’s death,” I said. “Maybe it’s not a good time to see her. It’s a reminder—”

“I’m her father,” he said. “She needs a parent.”

“She’s got me. I know her better than anyone. Ginnie told me to take care of her and that’s what I’m doing.”

“You aren’t even sixteen.” He snorted. “And when you do turn sixteen, the last thing you’ll want is the responsibility of a kid. First time a guy looks at you, you’ll be out there fu—”

“I will not!” I would never be a crazed sex-teen. Guilt about the feelings and thoughts I’d had about Sal rushed through me. “I’m Dee’s sister, I will
always
take care of her.” A thought occurred to me: What if Ed was right downstairs? Or worse—right outside our door. Goose bumps broke out on my arms. “Ginnie named Gran and Pops Dee’s legal guardians. Even if they aren’t her real grandparents, you’ll have to ask them when you can see her.”

“When I want to see her,” Ed said, “I won’t ask. And no one will stop me. Understand?” He clicked off.

For a full five minutes I was frozen to the spot with fear and rage. Then I started pacing my room, like a feral cat in a cage. It seemed like forever before I could form a coherent thought. Exhausted, I finally collapsed on my bed. Staring out the window, I watched the lights of the building across the way. They went out, one by one.

I tried to calm my racing mind. I knew Sal was right about most of what he’d said; it was the exact same thing Ginnie had said. But that didn’t make me any less angry at him for deceiving me. Or at myself, for letting him get to me, for slipping so easily into sex-teen, for wanting him to kiss me so badly. I remembered our kiss in the park, and sank even lower. This wasn’t working. I had to stop thinking about Sal.

I thought about my father.

Ginnie had to be right; he had to be alive. He just had to. And now I needed to find him more than ever. Gran and Pops were no match for Ed, whether the law was on their side or not. And I had a feeling Ed would figure out some way to make it “not.” He had connections, at least that’s what he’d always said. Even if my father had disappeared because he didn’t want me, I was sure that he loved Gran and Pops. He couldn’t let someone like Ed take away a granddaughter they loved. But how could I find him? I was chasing a ghost.

Wei. Her parents knew him, knew Ginnie. Maybe they could help. That was my only hope.

I lay down, but my thoughts still raced. By the time I’d fallen asleep, some of the lights across the way had come back on.

Next morning, halfway on the way to Dee’s school, we ran into Wei.

“Hey, where you guys headed?” she asked.

“We’re going by Dickens to drop off Dee,” I said.

“Cool.” She looked at Dee. “Can I walk with you?”

Dee, wide-eyed, nodded. I could see she was impressed that a high school girl, and a top-tier one at that, would hang out with her. They walked ahead of us. Every so often Wei would lean down and whisper in Dee’s ear. I could hear Dee laugh; at least that felt good.

Mike, Derek, and I trailed behind. They talked about Derek’s music show at a new coffeehouse next weekend where he was playing with his brother, Riley. I was silent. When we got within half a block of Dee’s school, Maddie and a couple of Dee’s other friends joined us. We watched them meld into the crush of kids waiting for the first bell.

“She’s cute,” Wei said. “I wish I had a little sister. Can we share her?”

“Sure.” Wei and I had only known each other a few days—I wondered about her sudden interest in Dee. Then I realized Sal must have said something to her about Ed. It steamed me that Sal was broadcasting my problems around, but I liked Wei too much to be angry with her.

“How about after school we all go to TJ’s? Does Dee like tofu fries?”

“They’re her favorite.”

“Mine, too.” She stopped in front of a three-story brownstone, the really cool kind with the curved windows and gargoyles on the gutter spouts. “This is where I live. It’s almost three hundred years old.”

“Wow!” Derek said. “I love old things, like houses and music.”

“Me, too.” Wei gave him a sweet smile.

It’s funny, there was such a difference between her smile and the one Sandy’d aimed toward Sal at the zoo. Sandy’s had been so ... fake and sixteen. Wei’s was so ... I wasn’t sure what, but definitely different from Sandy’s. They were both pretty, but Wei was
ultra.
Guys definitely noticed her, but not in a leering way, the way they noticed Sandy. Even though Wei was sixteen, she didn’t act like it. At least not like the sixteens in my old school, the ones Sandy was desperate to be like. And definitely not like
XVI Ways
said sixteens acted. Was it because she was upper tier, or was it just her attitude?

A wave of longing for Ginnie washed over me. I shook it off. Sometimes I couldn’t help being mad at her for dying.

“There’s my dad.” Wei pointed up to the second floor on the right and waved. The silhouette of a man waved back. “I’ll share him with you, Nina—like you’re sharing Dee with me—okay?”

“Sure.” I squinted up at the dark figure in the window. I had to fight back the urge to suggest going inside right then so I could meet him. I didn’t want to push it, afraid of blowing my chance at getting more information about my parents, maybe even a lead on my father’s whereabouts.

“What’s he doing home now?” asked Derek.

“He’s a writer.”

“That’s cool,” Derek said. “Wish my dad did something neat. He’s just a tech at Onadrell.

“Wish my dad did something, period.” Mike kicked a rock, sending it halfway down the block.

“My brother, Chris, is a tech,” Wei said. “You’ve got to be really smart to be one.” She looked right at Derek when she said that, and his neck turned crimson. I thought it was cute, and I hoped it meant that he found her interesting. Even though he hadn’t said anything else to me about his feelings, I didn’t think I’d dodged that laser yet. It’d make everything easier if he and Wei ... well, it would keep my friendship with him on the right track.

Wei leaned in to me and whispered, “If you ever need help, someone’s home almost all the time.”

Her words should have made me feel better. Instead, they scared me half to death. I didn’t want to admit, even to myself, that things were getting beyond my control. But Wei had noticed. And if a girl I’d just met a few days before was concerned enough to offer her house as a safe place, I couldn’t deny it any longer.

Nothing happened at school except school. I didn’t see Sal, which was good, because I was still angry—at both of us.

On the way to pick up Dee I told Wei about Ed calling me. “I didn’t have time to tell Gran and Pops, and I don’t want to worry them. They don’t need any trouble because of me or Dee.”

“We’ll talk to my dad about this,” Wei said. “He’ll know what to do.” She hooked her arm in mine. “Don’t worry, no one will take Dee. I promise.”

A tiny bit of optimism lodged in my heart. I hoped she was right. I’d been reckless, bold in my conversation with Ed the night before, when I’d challenged his authority to take Dee. In the past, when I mouthed off to him, Ginnie had taken the brunt of his anger. With her gone, I had every reason to believe that given the chance, he’d be more than happy to take a swing at me. Maybe Mr. Jenkins could reassure me that the legal guardianship was something Ed couldn’t ignore.

We picked up Dee and went to TJ’s. She’d never been to a place like that, filled with high school kids.

“Can I tune into the aud, Nina?”

“Sure, DeeDee, you pick.” I swiped several credits into the music box. I was getting low—I hoped the government would start our survivor benefits soon. Dee punched in her picks and tuned her PAV into the channel.

Dee sat in the booth, eating fries, sipping a Sparkle, and moving in time to the music. Her eyes darted around taking in the scene. There were ’letes with their letter jackets acting like, well ... like ’letes. Their girlfriends, either real or wannabes, were hanging over their booths or sitting elsewhere, giggling and making eyes at them. A group of techies drew diagrams on napkins, talking in a language only they could understand. Some music guys were drumming on their table and mouthing the words of whatever they were listening to. A couple of people had their viewers on. I thought it was more fun to look at the people instead of a vid you could see anytime. Wei and I sat and watched; it was too noisy to have any sort of conversation.

It was weird—I hardly knew Wei, but I felt so at ease with her. It wasn’t like we were that similar: aside from the connection between her father and mine, we were at opposite ends of the tiers. Although I had to admit, her attitude wasn’t like most high-tier girls. I wondered if she was only being friendly to me because our parents had been close.

I tamped down my insecurity. I didn’t think Wei was like Sal. Wei’s family wanted to meet me, and she was eager to give me information about my father, not just ask me a bunch of questions.

Sal. Why did he get to me so much? I wanted to just be able to forget about him, but I couldn’t stop thinking about him. About how I’d been so eager to be close to him, and now ... Heat crept up my neck just thinking about how I’d stood there, waiting for him to kiss me. Wanting him to kiss me. Instead I’d been grilled for information about my dad. The humiliation stung as much as it had the night before.

As we were leaving, Wei asked, “Can you come to my house for dinner tonight?”

“Sure.” My pulse quickened—I could meet her family, I could find out about my dad. “I need to take Dee home first. You want to come with us and meet Gran and Pops?”

“Sure.”

“You’ve gotta watch out for Pops,” Dee cautioned. “He’s kind of silly and sometimes he doesn’t have his leg on.”

“He’s got a bio-limb?”

“Nah,” Dee said. “It’s an old GI leg. The government wouldn’t give him the good kind. He hates the government.”

“DeeDee!” I shot her a disapproving look. “He doesn’t hate the government. He’s just mad ...” Ginnie hadn’t been quite as careful about airing her views on the GC around Dee as she had been with me. I guessed I’d have to have a talk with my little sister before she got herself, or anyone else, in trouble.

Wei laughed. “It’s okay with me if he hates the government. No one I know likes it.”

“Doesn’t your dad work for Media? That’s like working for the government.”

“Boy, is it ever. Yes, he does. But ... well ...” She let that trail off, and Pops’s cautionary words darted through my brain: things are not what they seem. It felt like that was becoming my mantra. Maybe Wei and her family were not what they seemed. I’d just have to wait and see.