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“I bet you never really had a boyfriend, did you?”
“Not the way you mean,” I admitted.
She sat on my bed and looked at me. “The way I mean? What other way is there?” She smiled. “One of the first things I wondered about you was what happened to you living on the street. I mean, what happened to you sexually.”
“Nothing,” I said quickly. “My mother and I were rarely, if ever, separated, day or night.”
She shrugged. “It wouldn’t have been so terrible if you had some experiences, but on the street, you could pick up some diseases, I’m sure.”
“I was only thirteen when we went on the street.”
“I lost my virginity at fourteen,” she replied casually, and then leaped to her feet. “We’ll talk about all this later. Let’s get to breakfast. There’s a lot to do before they get here.”
I followed her down to breakfast. Everyone was surprised to see Kiera up so early, but it was the look on Mrs. Duval’s face that nearly made me laugh. Not only was it because both Kiera and I were wearing tennis outfits, but also because there was a new tone of excitement and friendliness between us. Mrs. Duval’s eyebrows rose, and she hurried back to the kitchen to say something to Mrs. Caro, who found little ways to observe us at breakfast, too.
Afterward, Kiera took me out to the tennis court, and with more patience and expertise than I ever imagined she would have, she began to teach me the fundamentals. We were out there for nearly two hours before we took a break to have something cold to drink. I didn’t know if she was deliberately hitting the ball softly back to me the whole time or if that was as good as she was, but even with my limp, I found I could do decently for someone playing for the first time. She continually complimented me.
“I knew you could do this,” she said. “In fact, you’re doing a lot better than I did when I picked up a racket. My father was so frustrated, I thought he would give up on me. I guess he did. He hired professionals.”
We sat at the pool cabana and sipped Mrs. Caro’s famous homemade lemonade. Despite how well we were doing together, I remained on the lookout for some sign, some remark, something that would reveal that Kiera was just being nice to me to please her parents. Nothing like that occurred. In fact, she seemed even more interested in our being closer, and she was more willing to be honest with me than she had been the night before.
“I watched you all during these first months at school,” she confessed. “I saw how badly your classmates were treating you, especially those snobby girls. In the beginning, as you know, I was hoping that would make you so unhappy that you’d want to leave no matter what my mother promised you.” She laughed. “I was always complaining about you to my friends.”
“How much did you tell them about me?”
“Not much. Only one of my friends knows the truth about what happened, and that’s Deidre, who was in the car. The rest of my friends couldn’t understand my attitude toward you. How could I hate my cousin so much? What was the big deal about her living in my house? A dozen more cousins could move in, and no one would notice in my house, they would say. I couldn’t explain anything to them, so I didn’t try. They’re my friends, but they think I’m a bitch anyway. Half of them, if not all of them, are as well. You’ve heard of a coven of witches? Well, my girlfriends and I are a coven of bitches.”
She laughed. Her being unconcerned about what other people, especially adults, thought of her intrigued me. Did she have that self-confidence only because her father was so rich? Not constantly worrying about the impression you were making or if people were looking at you with pity and disgust was very attractive to someone like me. No matter how Mama and I looked as if we were indifferent when we were on the streets, I know I was never anything but ashamed.
“What are you going to tell your friends about me and you now?”
“Simple. I had a change of heart. They know I’m capable of that always, and besides, I don’t have to explain myself to them. They’re lucky I let them be my friends.”
She smiled and leaned toward me. “I can see that shocks you. You’ve got to develop an attitude, Sasha, especially with those snobs in your class. Tell yourself you’re better than they are and you will be,” she declared. She sat back. I supposed she thought she was acting like a big sister now, giving me worldly advice.
“Which of your friends are coming over?”
“Deidre, who you know was in the car with me that night, is coming over today. So is Margot. I’m the closest with Deidre. Her father’s a business attorney and does lots of business with my father, so she and her family were always trusted. Margot is my next-best girlfriend, but I don’t confide in her as much. And of course, none of the boys knows anything, so don’t worry. Boyd Lewis and Ricky Burns are coming with Deidre and Margot. You’ve seen them here before,” she said, and added, “completely.”
She laughed, and I knew she was referring to their swimming nude.
“Is one of them your boyfriend?”
“Boyfriend? Not the way you’re asking. We don’t think of ourselves as with one or the other. In fact, last year, we all went to the prom as a group.”
“You don’t like one more than the others?”
“I like playing the field and so do they. Forget that Romeo and Juliet stuff, Sasha. It’s only in the movies, and it gets boring. There’s nothing as dull to me as going steady. Don’t you know what we all are? We’re friends with benefits. Ever hear of that?”
I shook my head, and she laughed.
“Friends with benefits have sex but don’t have romantic relationships.” Before I could ask anything else, she leaped to her feet and cried, “Here they come!”
A black Mercedes convertible with its top down was rushing up the drive. We could hear the girls screaming and laughing as the tires squealed.
“Boyd is such an idiot,” Kiera said, but she said it as if being an idiot was great. She shouted and waved, and the
y got out and started in our direction. They were all carrying small bags and tennis rackets. The girls were in tennis outfits as cute as Kiera’s, and the boys, whom I recognized as the taller two of the three who had been there that afternoon, were in short white shorts, tank tops, and white caps. Despite what I thought would happen and even what she seemed to have anticipated, none of them appeared surprised to see me there.
