I could feel Piper’s heart race. “I was wrong, Missy. Your plan is perfect just the way it is. Let’s go ahead with it.”
Missy’s threatening smile became a triumphant one, and she beamed it at Piper and the shadowy figure behind her. “I knew you’d see reason.
We’l start tonight.”
Piper stared down at the floor, feeling sick and scared. Even though she didn’t look up, she could see Missy rejoin the person at the back and walk with him—I could tel it was a him from his shoes—toward the door. As the mystery guy passed Piper, he reached out and ran a finger along her shoulder. I felt Piper shudder with a strange mix of revulsion and desire.
The image faded, and I returned to the bathroom. I was stil standing there with my hand outstretched, having just given Piper the paper towel.
Only a second had passed, but it felt like hours. We turned our attention to the mirror, standing next to each as if nothing had happened. Just two girls fixing their hair and makeup. It was surreal.
I watched Piper check me out. “You look good, El ie.”
“Thanks,” I said and glanced at myself in the mirror. Instead of my typical jeans and T-shirt, I was wearing a printed top and skinny black pants that somehow worked. Michael’s encouragement and my own increasing self- confidence had emboldened me to try out some new looks. I stil felt awkward, but I liked Michael’s reaction. The clothes seemed to suit my new self a little better.
“Michael has changed you for the better.”
I smiled. He had affected me, but not in the way she imagined. “I’l be sure to tel him.” I zipped up my bag, ready to leave the bathroom.
Piper shot me one last imploring look before I left. The mask slipped, and she showed her neighbor face, rather than her school face. “Please, El ie, don’t tel anyone what you saw in here.”
If she only knew what I saw.
Chapter Eighteen
The flash plagued me al day at school, even driving out my usual temptations to read the other kids. By the time my painful after-school meeting with Miss Taunton was over, I practical y ran to the Daily Grind to meet Ruth. I figured that she might have heard something about Missy and Piper’s plan, and I itched to learn more.
In my haste to open the coffee shop door, I nearly crashed into the back of a man who walked in just before me. As I started to apologize, he turned around to face me. He had blond hair and bright blue eyes, and wore a sweater and jeans. But his age confused me; he wasn’t an old man exactly, but he seemed a lot older than the teenage guys who hung around the Daily Grind. Maybe he was a col ege student. I couldn’t deny that the man, or kid, was handsome, but there was an unsettling quality to his attractiveness. I found him appealing and repel ent at once. Particularly when he smiled a strange, bemused smile at me in forgiveness for my clumsiness.
Unnerved, I eked out one more “I’m sorry,” and raced over to the table where Ruth waited with my latte. I was worried that she’d notice how flustered I was, but she was utterly preoccupied by the upcoming Fal Dance. Jamie from English had asked her—the Jamie I’d seen Ruth fantasize about in that one flash—so the four of us were going together. I sipped my coffee and listened to Ruth chat away, while I waited for my heart to stop racing from my peculiar little encounter.
“So are we going shopping for your dress this weekend?” I asked, grateful for the coffee. I needed the caffeine; the late nights were taking their tol .
She smiled. “Yes, I can’t wait. I’ve been looking through magazines for ideas. I even found something perfect for you.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, it’s in this real y cool blue color that’l look great with your eyes.”
I hadn’t wanted to tel Ruth, but I already had my dress. One day after school, Michael and I passed the only real y nice boutique in Til inghast, and he practical y dragged me in. He stood outside the dressing room while I tried on six dresses he picked out. I refused to leave the room to let him see me in any of the first five. But when I slipped on the last one, a red strapless silk dress with shirring around the bodice, I couldn’t stay in that room. I looked and felt so different, but I wasn’t certain. I needed Michael to be my reflection.
When I stepped out into the store, Michael’s reaction told me it was the one. As I stood in front of the ful - length mirror, he came up behind me, put his hands on my shoulders, and whispered. Sitting there at the table with Ruth, I almost shivered thinking about what he said: “You look as beautiful as when you fly.”
Ruth paused for a second, and I figured I had my opening to ask about the flash from Piper. Discreetly, of course.
“Have you heard any gossip about Missy or Piper lately?” I figured if anyone knew about the plan outside the inner circle, it would be Ruth. Her unassuming exterior masked an insatiably curious mind and provided the perfect cover for some adept eavesdropping. I knew I could have just touched her to see if she had any information, but I’d learned that it was impossible to act normal y around her if I read her thoughts. So I continued to abstain from reading Ruth.
“No, other than the normal junk about boyfriends and parties. Why do you ask? You usual y don’t care.”
“I overheard something about some plan of theirs. It sounded like it might be nasty.”
“A plan from those two? Who did you hear talking?”
How could I explain my source? For about the mil ionth time, I felt guilty about keeping secrets from her. I scrounged around for an explanation, and said something close to the truth: “I was in the bathroom, and I heard two girls talking by the sink.”
“Did you recognize the voices at al ?”
“It sounded a little bit like Piper and Missy.”
