“Camden,” he said, his eyes fixed on Ellie. “Who might your friend here be? I don’t think I’ve seen you around, young lady.”
Ellie stuck out her hand and raised her chin to look him in the eyes. There was a hint of detachment in her gaze, like she was pretending to be something she wasn’t.
“Hi, I’m Ellie. I just met your son.”
“Ellie?” he prodded.
She swallowed like something was stuck in her throat. “Ellie Watt. I just moved here.”
My dad’s brows came together like two black caterpillars. “Watt…are you with the folks who are living on Jim’s date farm?”
She blinked in surprise. “Yes, sir.”
He watched her for a few moments, wiggling his jaw back and forth. “I see. Well, welcome to Palm Valley. I’m Camden’s father. Sheriff McQueen.”
The color quickly drained out of Ellie’s face and she nervously rubbed her palms along her jeans. “Oh. How cool.” Her eyes flew to mine for an instant, a mix of disappointment and fear taking them for a second or two. Then her expression was detached again.
I stared back at her, smiling lightly as if to tell her that her secret was safe with me. It wasn’t until my dad told her it was nice meeting her and barked at me to get in the car that I eyed the bulge in her pocket and gave her the thumbs up.
“If you want to hang out,” I started.
“Camden!” my father yelled as he got in the car. “Let’s go.”
Whatever delight my father initially had at seeing me with Ellie was suddenly gone, like he already knew she was the shoplifting type and disapproved.
Still, I had to try. “Do you need a ride?” I asked. I heard my father groan from inside and Raquel telling him to be quiet.
She bit her lip and shook her head. “No, I’m okay. My mom can get me. No. Wait…I can walk home.”
“Phhff, you can’t walk home in this,” I said, glancing at the sun.
“No,” she said quickly, an edge to her voice. I looked at the hardness in her eyes, the trepidation in the whites of them. “Thank you. I’ll walk.”
I gave her an uneasy smile. I didn’t want her to walk, but it was obvious the idea of getting a ride with me and my dad scared the crap out of her. I bet she thought it was a trap and we were going to lead her straight to the police station for questioning.
“Okay, well—”
“Camden!” my dad boomed.
“—I’ll be seeing you. I hope.”
“I’ll see you at school,” she said, giving me a quick wave. I expected her to march off toward the building or maybe down the street, but she just stood there, waiting, until I was in the van and we were moving away.
I watched her until she was gone; my neck craned around until it hurt. Then I sat back in my seat and let a small smile play on my face. I didn’t know what had happened, but somehow my day turned around one hundred percent. For once, I was able to talk to someone without them being weird about how weird I was. For once, I was able to meet someone who seemed to have secrets and problems of her own.
For once, I met a girl who was cool as hell and totally took my breath away.
And so, naturally, for once, I wasn’t going to let this girl get away that easily.
I had hope.
* * *
I spent the next week in a mix of agony and anticipation. The agony was because I was forced to look after the twins, Kelli and Colleen, for two whole days while Raquel attended day school in Palm Springs for floral arrangements or some shit like that. Not only were KC (as I called them), totally spoiled and bitchy, never listening to a word I said, but they were best friends with Sheila Martin. Sheila’s older brother, OJ, was in my grade and hated my guts. When I had to go to their house to pick the twins up and walk them home, it was like ringing the doorbell to Mordor. OJ always had a new insult for me, plus the threat that the minute school started he was going to fuck me up so badly that even glasses wouldn’t help my eyesight.
The scary thing was that he wasn’t kidding. Just before school ended, OJ’s friend Calvin ended up breaking my nose in front of everyone; a good old beat up on the “art fag” after class type of deal. He was suspended, but because it was the end of school it didn’t really matter. My father was furious at me, saying I must have provoked it and, aside from the suspension, Calvin never really got into any shit. In fact, I was sure some punks were looking up to him like he was the king, and now it was like OJ wanted that same kind of fame. Somehow, over the course of the year, I’d gone from a victim of having lunch money stolen and atomic wedgies to being a victim of actual physical violence. I may have joked about it to myself, but deep down inside, it really did scare the shit out of me. That was one thing that Dr. Edison said that struck a chord. This was a military town with military men and ideals. My punishment for straying from that would probably get worse over time.
But along with the agony, there was the anticipation. Hope. Because I’d figured out where Ellie was staying and the easiest way to get there. She’d never come and seek me out, but I could go to her. Let her know her shoplifting secret was still safe with me.
I’d decided that Friday was a good day to do it. I tucked the latest issues of Rolling Stone and Parade into my backpack, along with my mp3 player and a minispeaker. Raquel was back now—our entire house smelled like a jungle thanks to her
