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Joliet wasn’t smiling anymore. It had magically transformed to shock, her eyes wide and mouth open. “I was just saying bye and she started screaming at me,” Joliet’s whiny voice made Tully want to grab her expensive hairdo and yank as hard as she could. She could see right through it all, but why was she the only one? Why did everyone look at Tully like she was a monster?
“She did it. Joliet put those answers in my locker. I didn’t do it. It was her!” She was begging now to be seen, to be heard. But her mother shook her head.
“This is getting ridiculous,” her mom shook her head and ushered the teens out of the room. “Get a hold of yourself, Tulsa. You’re embarrassing everyone.”
The whispers cornered her in her own bedroom, and Joliet was the exclamation mark at the end. She left the room last and turned right before closing the door. “It’s too bad Nathan won’t have a date tonight. I’ll tell him you said hi.”
The door shut, and Tully stared in disbelief at the dark wooden panels.
Hopeless.
No one would believe her. As long as Joliet spoke, her word was truth.
She crashed onto her bed and stared at the ceiling. They were taking pictures now. Count downs and choruses of ‘cheese’ and soon enough the house silenced. Tully didn’t move.
She would rather be anywhere else than here. Her room, her safe space was compromised. New York City, the school gym, the library, Nathan’s bedroom. She’d rather any place than this.
She closed her eyes and bit her tongue.
She wasn’t sure how much longer it was until it started to rain. It was a single tap at first, then two, thentap, tap, tap, tap.
She opened her eyes. Rain wasn’t that hard, even in the worst storms. It was dark outside, but with the light on her ceiling, she could see the tuxedoed boy crouching on the ledge outside her window and signaling for her to open it.
Her mouth dropped. “Nathan?”
forty-three
nathan
If this didn’t work, the look on Tully’s face made it all worth it.
She stumbled over to the window and opened it, making way for him to squeeze through into her bedroom. He had to step carefully on her desk, and avoid any papers or books that were there. Once in the room, he took a look around. Knickknacks of all sorts adorned blue wall-papered walls and dresser tops. A poster of the members of Aerosmith eyed him suspiciously. Her bed was half-made, and her closet was open.
“What are you doing here?” She hissed and looked at her door.
“I’m here to rescue you.” He dusted the dirt from the roof off his pant legs. “You said you wanted to go to the dance, so I’m taking you to that dance one way or another.”
Her face scrunched and she walked to her door and locked it. “I can’t. I’m grounded. If I get caught, they’ll ground me for another week.”
“I think it’s my duty to be the poor influence for tonight.” He walked to her closet as her eyes followed him. He spotted a dress among the others—puffed and purple and more formal than the rest. He plucked it out and turned to her holding it up. “We’re teenagers. Teenagers are supposed to rebel and get in trouble sometimes. This will be your last chance forever to have a high school homecoming. Are you sure you want to miss that?”
Tully sucked in her lips, and Nathan knew his words were working. She sighed. “Joliet was the one who put the answers in my locker.”
Nathan’s smile dropped. Tully’s lids were lowered, worried—like she thought he would deny that was possible. But he knew it was. He’d seen enough to know that Joliet was willing to go lower than low. “That’s an even better reason to go then. If you’re going to get in trouble, it might as well be for something youactuallydid.”
Her face went unreadable. Then the corners of her mouth slowly rose. “I’d love to see the look on her face when she sees me with you.”
“Let’s get going then! We’re already late!” He rushed her towards the window.
“Wait. I need to change.” She objected, but he wouldn’t hear it.
“You donotwant to climb out that window with a dress on. Grab the things you need and toss them down to me. You can change in my car.”
She scoffed, but she was smiling. Her eyes were bright with a thrill. Nathan climbed out the way he came and steadied himself using bricks and gutter pipes. They had to keep quiet, so they communicated through hissed whispers and hand motions only.
Her head poked out from above, and Nathan gestured for her to throw down her things.
First, the dress came out, and he caught it, and once he signaled for the next thing, two shoes followed. He caught one, but the other one hit the grass. He shrugged sheepishly at her and she waved him off and started crawling out.
