Chapter 24: Chapter 24

“Should we get out?” Dee Dee asked, looking out the window.

“Hell if I know. I haven’t been on a square in eons,” Zoey replied. “Not since my sister brought us up here when we were, what, eleven?” she asked, looking at Beth.

Beth remembered the few times Zoey’s older sister had brought her home and they’d done a few laps with the older kids. “Yeah, I think so. We can get out.” She popped the car door and started to climb out.

“Wait,” Zoey said, reaching for her bag. “Let’s fix your eyes a little bit, and we could all use some powder. It’s still, like, a hundred degrees.” She quickly fixed Beth’s face and then checked herself in the mirror before they all climbed out. By then, Brittany, Lexy, and Andi were standing in the empty spot next to them.

“Zoey, you remember my friends Brittany, Andi, and Lexy, right?”

“Hey,” Zoey said with a friendly enough smile. “Nice to see you guys again.”

“And this is Dee Dee.” Beth gestured at the blonde.

“What’s up?” Dee Dee seemed a little less enthusiastic, but she wasn’t impolite.

Each of Beth’s friends from Barryville said hello, and they all stood around, waiting to see if they were wasting their time. A few minutes later, Carly’s car pulled into a spot just two over from Zoey’s car, and before long, all of the kids from the park were present, as well as a few more who generally hung out in the same circles but hadn’t been at the ball game.

“Hey, Beth!” Tiffany shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth. “Come show Janette your shorts.” As Beth began to walk over, she heard Tiffany say, “They’re super cool.”

“Oh, my God, I love those!” Janette, a senior who was also on the cheerleading squad, gushed.

“Where did you get them?” Tiffany asked.

“Oh, The Limited,” Beth said, nonchalantly, as if she had actually bought the shorts herself. “But the store in KC. Not the one in Joplin.” She rolled her eyes, like the one in the closer mall was completely lame. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Shane open his mouth, like he was going to tell them all she was lying and had never been to the mall in Kansas City, but she turned her head and glared at him, and he closed his mouth.

The conversation flowed from shorts to other apparel to music and movies. Beth was able to contribute to the conversation when someone said they thought Cliffhanger was totally lame, but for the most part, she tried to keep her mouth closed and her face mirroring the same reactions as the girls around her. Zoey and Dee Dee were busy chatting up Tom and Marcus, and her other three friends continued to stand on the outskirts of the group, not really engaged and completely ignored by the kids that usually hung out together.

“Where the hell is Halley?” Carly asked after about a half hour. “She didn’t come to the game, and now she’s not here.”

“Aren’t you pissed at her?” Tiffany scoffed.

“Nah, it’s cool.” Carly glanced over her shoulder at Sammy, who was hanging out over in a corner, clearly not sure of his place anymore either. “Sammy’s… bluck. If she really wants him….”

“I don’t think she wants him either, though,” Amber chimed in with her soft spoken voice. “I think she was just messing with you.”

“You think?” Carly asked, as if the thought hadn’t occurred to her. She mulled it over for a second and then shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. Halley’s cool. But where the hell is she?”

“Wait—Halley, the new girl?” Dee Dee asked. She looked at Beth who nodded and then back at Carly. “Maybe that’s who I saw at the game.” She looked puzzled like she was trying to put the pieces together. “There was a girl over in the parking lot, but she never came over.”

“Yeah, she was, like, over behind some trees,” Zoey offered.

“Only….” Dee Dee humphed and then stopped talking. “I don’t know. I didn’t really see her well but she looked familiar.”

“That’s so weird. Why would she do that?” Tiffany asked. “She knows you’re not mad at her, doesn’t she Carly?”

“I think so. That’s bizarre. Maybe we should drive over to her house and see if she can come out. Does anyone know where she lives?” Carly turned around, looking at all of her friends to see if anyone had any clue.

“Michael gave her a ride the other night. Where did he pick her up?” Tiffany looked around for Michael. Beth knew he was standing over near Sammy, but she hadn’t made eye contact with him. Following Lexy’s gaze had given her a pretty good indication of where he had planted himself.

“I think he just picked her up on the square,” Beth said, absently twirling her hair. “He’s over there. I’ll ask him.” Mostly, she just wanted to be part of the conversation, but then she also wanted to see how he would react to her question. She took a few steps in his direction, stepping passed Sammy like she didn’t know who he was and said, “Hey, Michael, you don’t know where Halley lives, do you?”

His forehead crinkled as he observed her close up for the first time. “No, I told you I found her on the square.”

“Right, that’s what I thought.” She flashed him a fake sweet smile, and he scoffed at her, clearly seeing right through it.

“Sammy might know. Did you give Halley a ride home the other night, Sam?” Michael asked, shouting over her head.

“Oh, is Sammy here?” Beth asked, turning around, a puzzled expression on her face. His eyes widened when she pretended to find him in the crowd, like he couldn’t believe she hadn’t noticed him.

“I gave her a ride back to the square,” Sammy said, his voice weak, like thinking about Halley made him feel cheap or tricked. “She said she was meeting someone here.”

“Did she?” Beth asked, confused. Why wouldn’t he just take her home?

“I don’t know. She gestured at a car parked over there behind the bank, so I let her go. And when I pulled around, she was gone.”

“Of course she was.” Beth’s eyes rolled to the back of her head. “She’s like a ghost or something. Okay, well, we were going to go drive by her house and see if she was there, but whatever. Thanks, uh, Sammy.” She said his name as if she couldn’t quite remember if that was correct, and then turned back to Michael, giving him a weak, but sincere, smile this time.

“Beth,” he said, just as she was beginning to walk off. His hand reached out and grabbed her arm. “Can we talk? Privately?”

Eyeing her friends and seeing that Zoey and Dee Dee were giggling alongside Carly, Tiffany, and the other girls, Beth desperately wanted to free herself without sounding like a bitch. “Maybe later,” she said, eyeing his hand.

Michael let out a loud sigh. “I’m not staying here.” He took a step closer to her, and in a voice so quiet only she could hear, he added, “I’m not sure what’s going on with you, Beth, but I think this game you’re playing might be dangerous.”

“What?” she asked, a loud chuckle escaping her lips. “Dangerous?”

He glanced around, uncomfortable. “Yeah. I don’t know. I just… I got a bad feeling the other night. I don’t like it. Just… be careful. And maybe consider being yourself again, Beth. You don’t need all this.” He gestured at her outfit, her makeup, her hair, and gave her a look almost as disapproving as the one her dad had earlier.

“I’m fine, Michael, thank you very much.” The idea that he would dare chastise her or put her in her place burned insider of her. Who did he think he was?

“All right. I’ll see you later.”

“What about my friends?” she asked, glancing over at Lexy who was watching them intently.

Michael only shook his head, like he didn’t know what to say, and headed for his truck.