AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Delta’s fury instantly switched from Amanda to Ellie.
“What the hell?” Zora asked, echoing Delta’s reaction.
Ellie had turned on her personality for Tanner; Delta could tell. For someone usually so restrained and controlled, she was grinning like a goon at something Tanner had said. She didn’t even glance up and look at them—couldn’t tear her eyes from Tanner’s—even though Delta had stopped short at the top step and Carmen, Bailey, and Zora had nearly barreled into her.
Mom’s Volvo wagon was idling a few cars from Tanner’s. Upon spying her daughter, Karen Smith put her arm out the window and waved Delta toward their car.
“Hey . . . ,” Tanner suddenly called, his gaze finally ripped from Ellie’s to take in the four girls gathered, frozen, on the top landing of West Knoll High’s back steps. He straightened and moved past Ellie, who was half-blocking his way to them.
Delta wanted to scream at him . . . shriek like a harridan that he was hers and he couldn’t flirt with other girls! She wanted to have an out-and-out fit, but she knew that would get her nowhere. She needed to be cool. Calm. Collected. The fun girl, not the snarling horror who made everyone raise their brows and silently ask, What’s he doing with her?
And, above all that, she just wanted him to take her in his arms and tell her he loved her in that way that made her feel so safe. She swallowed, unsure quite how to handle this, wondering if her face looked okay. No time for new makeup. She hadn’t really believed he was waiting for her, so she hadn’t put herself together in the way she should have.
Forcing a grim smile, she said, “My mom’s here,” as he headed her way.
Tanner glanced around and hitched his chin in recognition at Mom, who gave him a short nod in return. Her mother didn’t share Delta’s love for Tanner. She wanted her daughter, her only child, to go to college and succeed. Both of her parents constantly talked about the importance of success. Smith & Jones was a success! They were successful people, and they wanted that for their daughter as well. Delta felt kind of small for thinking it, but she questioned just how much of a success they truly were. Her father had risen from near poverty to own his own business, and that was an accomplishment, for sure. But in the world Delta craved, there were a lot more steps to be taken beyond a business that barely supported three people. Smith & Jones was fine, but Delta dreamed of much bigger things.
“Can I come over?” Tanner asked Delta now, the guilty look on his face telling her more than she wanted to know about how he felt about his behavior. Her heart sank further.
But she really, really, really wanted to see him. Zora, Bailey, and Carmen were waiting with bated breath to see what she would do. Ellie’s animated expression had shut down as if a blind had been drawn over her face, and she was standing by, waiting to see how Delta played it, maybe.
“Sure,” she said. Her smile felt like it was cracking.
“I’ll be there in an hour, okay?”
What do you have to do for an hour? It could be anything, she reminded herself. Sports training, most likely. He was religious about working out. “See you then.”
“So, where’s Tanner going?” her mom asked once she’d slammed into the passenger side of the car after sauntering across the parking lot as if she didn’t have a care in the world. Her other friends were all climbing into Zora’s white Mazda. It made Delta feel a little bit foolish going home with her mother.
“I don’t know.”
“Something going on?”
“No,” Delta said shortly. Mom was keeping her voice neutral, but Delta suspected her mother was hopeful there was trouble in paradise. She felt Delta’s obsession with Tanner wasn’t the best thing for her daughter.
“What happened to your ride with him?” Mom asked now.
“He has somewhere he has to be.”
“Ah.”
Delta didn’t appreciate the all-knowing “Ah,” but she managed to keep herself from sniping at her mother as that never paid off.
They didn’t speak the rest of the way home, and as they pulled into the driveway, Delta despaired of the small, two-bedroom white clapboard house, built by her great-grandfather, that was nothing compared to Amanda’s and Zora’s parents’ palatial homes. It was amazing that Tanner, whose family might not be as affluent as Amanda’s and Zora’s but was way further up the economic scale from Delta’s, could even look at her. The Smiths were arguably the least wealthy of the Five Firsts’ families. Not that it should matter, but it did. Some. Delta had learned to purposely use her charm and personality to make up for what she lacked financially, and for the most part, it worked. She was well-liked, and she liked people right back. Maybe that’s what had won her Tanner. Where some of her friends could be anxious, bitchy, or downright cold, Delta always made a point to be friendly and nice, as if she were on top of the world.
Well, at least that was the goal. Sometimes she felt as mean and infuriated as Amanda. She just hid it better.
Ellie O’Brien could take a lesson, too, Delta thought with a sniff. There was a dark cloud over her head most of the time, and when she spoke, it was about all the things they needed to do to graduate and be good people and, oh, just everyt
hing. She was a born lecturer. Too judgmental by half... but . . . though she’d been flirting with Tanner, it was really Amanda who’d betrayed Delta.
Before her mother could make her help with dinner, or pick up the living room, or come up with some other chore, Delta ran into her bedroom and slammed the door. She needed a few moments to pull herself together before Tanner showed up.
Would they talk about Amanda? Delta wondered anxiously as she applied new lipstick and corrected the smudge of her eyeliner. How long had that black smear been at the edge of her eye? All day? She shuddered at the thought, how Amanda and the others might have been tittering behind their hands all day, no one bothering to warn her.
Some friends.
Tanner drove up about forty-five minutes later. She heard the roar of his Trailblazer as he approached; he’d done something to the engine to purposefully increase the loudness. She smoothed down her blouse. It was pink, which looked good on her, with her hazel eyes and dark hair, and she’d brushed a little bit of blush on her cheekbones.
