Anjali took it in stride. I don’t think she even really noticed. She focused completely on Marc, grabbing my arm so tightly it hurt when he missed a layup, roaring “Mer-RITT! Mer-RITT!” with the rest of the crowd when he stole the ball back and nailed a three-pointer from the top of the key.
The distraction didn’t seem to bother Marc. In fact, I’ve never seen him play better. Once, he turned our way and gave a little bow before leaping onto an escalator in the air and allowing himself to be borne gracefully aloft within inches of the basket. He sank the ball like a lump of leaden butter over the fingertips of the snarling World Peace center and winked at Anjali as he landed. The gym went wild.
Friends, ones I didn’t know I had, clustered around us at the end of the third quarter.
“Are you guys coming to Jake’s Joint afterward?” Sadie Cane asked Anjali.
“Jake’s Joint?”
“The hamburger place on Ninety-first Street. We always go there after the games. Marc didn’t tell you?” She was clearly fishing for info about Anjali’s relationship to Marc.
“No, Marc and I have plans with Elizabeth,” said Anjali.
“I hope we’re not dragging Merritt away from a fun tradition,” she whispered to me. “He would have told us if he minded missing it, wouldn’t he?”
“I’m sure the plans he makes with you are the ones he wants to keep,” I said.
Somebody behind me snorted quietly. Swiveling to see who, I found myself looking up at Aaron Rosendorn. Despite the heat in the gym, he was wearing a black leather jacket and a blue-and-green-striped scarf, the World Peace Academy colors.
“Aaron! You came after all!”
“Yeah, I found out my favorite pages would be here,” he said. “I figured I’d better show up and keep an eye on you.”
“Well, anyway, I’m glad you’re here,” I said, then immediately blushed and wished I hadn’t said it. It’s not like he came for
Evidently not. “Hi, Anjali,” he said.
Anjali turned around. “Oh, hi, Aaron. What are you doing here? I didn’t know you were a basketball fan.”
“Didn’t Elizabeth tell you? I’m a humanitarian. I’m praying for World Peace,” he said.
Anjali laughed. “Good—they can use all the help they can get.” She turned back to the game.
Instead of leaning back again, Aaron whispered in my ear. It tickled. “So, Elizabeth,” he said. “Did you see Marc’s air ball at the buzzer?”
I lost my temper. “Aaron, you’re the most annoying person I’ve ever met in my life,” I snapped.
Aaron flinched as if I’d hit him. “That’s quite a superlative, considering how many annoying people you must have met,” he said. “I imagine you run in very annoying circles.”
“Not if I can help it,” I said, turning my back. The ref blew his whistle and the last quarter began. I concentrated on the game with all my might.
Marc scored the winning points. After we’d finished screaming ourselves hoarse, Anjali told me she was going to the bathroom. “I’ll meet you at”—she noticed Aaron leaning closer, hesitated, and said—“where Marc said.”
“Okay. You know where it is?”
“I’m sure I can find it.”
She picked up her things and glided away among the bleachers. I put my coat over my arm and scrambled after her toward the door.
Aaron scrambled after me.
“Why are you following me, Aaron?”
“You invited me here in the first place.”
“And you insulted me and insulted Marc and hung up on me, so why did you come?”
“I told you. I’m worried about the Grimm Collection. No way I’m going to miss the meeting of the Pages’ Conspiracy, Fisher Branch. I’m sorry if you find that insulting.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. There is no conspiracy. You’re just trying to horn in on Anjali’s date with Marc.”
“Is that what you think? I could say the same thing about you.”
“You could say it, but you would be wrong.” I headed for the girls’ room, figuring he couldn’t actually follow me in there.
Well, I
By then Aaron had regained his cool. “Are you trying to shake me? You’re not very good at it,” he said companionably, striding along beside me.
I gave him the most sarcastic smile I could muster.
“I was right,” he said. “You do run in extremely annoying circles.” He chuckled at his own joke.
I liked him much better before, I thought, when he was making me sit on imaginary chairs and fall down. I went into the girls’ room and let the door swing shut in his face.
Anjali wasn’t there. I took my time, reading the graffiti in the stall, then touching up my lip gloss. I noticed I was looking good: confident, a little fierce, with very nice hair. Mermaid magic?
I gave my hair a few extra strokes with the comb.
Aaron was waiting for me outside the bathroom, leaning against the wall. He tilted his head to one side and made a show of inspecting my face. “You really didn’t need to spend all that time on your makeup just for me,” he said. “Not that you don’t look nice, of course—but you overdid the mascara. I prefer the natural look.”
“I’m not wearing mascara.”
“No? Hm. So where are we meeting Anjali?”
“
“Sure I am. I’m pretty stubborn, in case you haven’t noticed.”
“I don’t get it, Aaron. Do you really think there’s a conspiracy? Because if we wanted to conspire, we could perfectly well do it sometime when you’re not around to watch. So tell me. Why are you really following me?”
“I don’t know, Elizabeth—maybe because I can’t stand to be parted from you?” His smile, which was exquisitely balanced between sarcasm and sincerity, revealed beautiful white teeth.
“If that were true, you would never say so.”
“Maybe you’re right. Or maybe I think it’s perfectly safe to say so because I know you’d never believe I would admit a thing like that if it were true.”
“Or maybe you’re talking in circles to confuse me so you won’t have to answer my question.”
“Talking in circles is no worse than walking in circles.”
“If you don’t like the way I walk, you don’t have to follow me.”
“Oh, but I do like the way you walk. Very much. I’ll happily watch you walk all evening.”
I gave up. Anjali and Marc would have to get rid of him themselves. I headed toward the school library—or at least, I tried. But the library seemed to recede before me, wiggling away like a clam when you don’t dig fast enough, and I found myself instead standing in front of the social studies department office.
“Oh, the door’s shut. I guess they left without me,” I said.
“Nice try,” Aaron said.
“See—it’s locked.” I rattled the door to show him. My coat brushed against it, and the buttons made a scraping noise.
To my surprise, the doorknob turned. Aaron pushed the door open and snapped on the light. A cold wind blew in our faces from the window, which was open a crack, blowing papers off the desks. I shut the window. Should I pick up the papers too?
Aaron sat down.
“What are you doing? That’s Mr. Mauskopf’s chair!”
“Who’s Mr. Mauskopf?”
“My social studies teacher. He’s not going to like you sitting there.”
