Burn for Burn

RENNIE AND I DECIDE TO SHOP FOR HOMECOMING dresses off island. I don’t tell my mom that we’re going, because I know she’ll make me bring Nadia with us. Instead I sneak my mom’s platinum card out of her wallet when she’s in the shower. It’s not like it’s stealing. She already told me I could order a dress off the Internet.

I wanted to ask Ashlin, too, but Rennie insisted it should just be the two of us.

We duck out of cheer practice early to make the five o’clock ferry. We leave Ashlin to co-lead the rest of practice with Coach Christy. Rennie tells Coach Christy that we have to help her mom with something at the gallery. Ash gave us a suspicious look but she didn’t say anything.

Regular passenger tickets for the ferry aren’t that expensive, but it’s more than a hundred dollars for a round trip with a drive-on. Rennie opens her wallet. It’s stuffed with cash, a bunch of crinkled old bills. I know she’s been saving up her hostess salary for a nice homecoming dress. She has a separate dress fund she puts money into every paycheck.

“Don’t worry about it,” I say, and hand the guy some cash.

I’m sure Kat would be pissed at me for doing that, but it’s not like she’ll find out. Rennie says “Thank you” about a hundred times, which is nice of her.

We drive her Jeep onto the ferry and park on the freight deck. Most of the tourists get out of their cars and take the ride up on the upper deck, but not us. Rennie and I stay in her Jeep, listening to the radio and looking through some magazines I brought along for dress ideas. Rennie wants something tight, hopefully with sequins. I want strapless with a sweetheart neckline in white. Or maybe blush.

Nobody can walk a mall like Rennie. I get turned around easily. Even though we hardly ever come here, Rennie knows where the best stores are, and the fastest way to get from one to the next. We only have a couple of hours to find our dresses, eat something, drive back to the docks, and make it on a not-too-late ferry back to Jar Island.

The first store we hit is a bust, and the second one isn’t much better. They both have tons of sweaters and corduroys now that it’s fall, but not too many dresses. Or, at least, not ones fancy enough for Jar Island homecoming. Maybe for the underclassmen. But the senior girls always get the most dressed up. It’s basically the pre-prom.

But in the third store we have some luck, and both Rennie and I end up with our arms full of possibilities. We take dressing rooms that are side by side.

“You know that new junior girl?” Rennie asks.

I’m halfway into a dress, but I stop cold. Mary. A million thoughts race through my mind. Could Rennie have seen us talking in the hallway? Probably not, because I’m careful about that. But maybe she saw me nod at her at the football game. That would be just perfect. To have the whole Alex thing blow up in my face right when we’re finished.

I look down at the beige carpeting. Rennie’s red toenails are facing the shared wall between us.

“Who?” I say.

“I’m sure you’ve seen her, Lil. Our school’s not that big. Anyway, a bunch of the junior boys were saying that she’s sooooo hot.” The way Rennie drags out the “so,” I know she’s being sarcastic. “They’re all going to vote for her for homecoming court. But she’s not that pretty, if you ask me. Definitely not homecoming-caliber pretty. I bet her hair isn’t even really blond. I bet she dyes it.”

Even though I’m glad, obviously, that Rennie hasn’t noticed anything, I bristle at what she’s saying. Mary’s pretty. A little weird, sure. But she is pretty. And it makes me glad to know that other people, boys especially, see it too. The girl hasn’t had the easiest go of things. I still don’t know exactly what it was that Reeve did to her, but it clearly screwed her up big-time.

I hear the rustle of material as Rennie pulls a dress over her head. “Ooh! This one’s cute. You ready to model?” The door of her dressing room swings open and then closed.

I hurry up and get the dress on. I don’t even like it. The color’s not flattering on me. But I step out of the dressing room anyway.

Rennie’s standing on the box, up on her tiptoes, modeling in the three-way mirror. I see her eyes move off her reflection and onto me. “Champagne doesn’t work for you,” she announces.

“I know,” I say. I sit down in one of the overstuffed chairs near the mirror, because I suddenly don’t want to try on dresses anymore.

“This one is hot, but I don’t know.” Her voice sounds sad. “I wish I’d tried it on last.”

The dress is tight, silver and covered in sparkles. It’s exactly what Rennie said she wanted from the get-go. I swear Rennie always gets what she wants. “What are you talking about?” I say.

“Because it’s only the first one I’ve tried on, and I feel like, if I bought it, I’d be settling, you know? The first dress is never the perfect dress.”

I don’t answer her. I just look at my nails.

“Lillia!” she whines. “What do you think? Is this the one?”

I purse my lips, pretend to consider it, and then sigh, “Yeah, sure. I guess,” even though the dress does look amazing on her.

Rennie huffs, disappointed with my apathy. She looks back at the mirror and smiles again. She knows how good she looks. She doesn’t need to hear it from me. What I say, what I think, doesn’t matter to her at all.

She turns around and checks out her butt. “I guess what I should be asking is, ‘Will Reeve like it?’ His opinion matters the most, as my date.”

I sit up straight. “Wait. Aren’t we going in a big group?” That’s how it’s always been, since our freshman year. There’s no couples. No one asks anyone to go specifically with them. For prom maybe, but not homecoming. We just roll in a big group.

“Not anymore. Ash is going with Derek, PJ’s taking that cute sophomore girl Allie. And I’m going with Reeve.”

“You asked him already?” When did all this happen? When did everyone pair off without telling me?

“Not yet. I mean, it’s a given that he’ll say yes.” Rennie messes with her strapless bra, trying to create more cleavage. “I’m telling you, Lil. It’s going to be our night. He’ll be looking hot, I’ll be looking hot. You saw what happened during spin the bottle. Fireworks.”

I feel myself sweating. “Then, who am I going to go with?”

She hops down from the box and says, “Go with Lindy,” before disappearing back into her dressing room.

Oh my God. Is she serious? This is just so Rennie, to not even consider the fact that Nadia has hooked up with Alex, which she totally knows and still hasn’t admitted to me! It’s unbelievably insensitive. And there’s no way I’m going to go to homecoming with Alex if there is even a remote possibility that he likes me. Especially not after the things I did to him. That would just be way too awkward.

“I’m not going with Alex,” I say. “I’ll just ride with you guys in the limo.”

From the other side of the door, I hear her say, “We’re all going to be paired up. It would be weird if you were alone, just tagging along with no date. Besides, Alex doesn’t have a date yet either. It’s going to look like you guys are going as a couple anyway.”

I honestly don’t care what it looks like. “I said no,” I say, my voice rising.

“Fine, whatevs. I was just looking out for you. By all means, do whatever your little heart desires.”

I go back into the dressing room and force myself to keep trying on the dresses I picked. The last one is maybe cute. It’s black, which I hadn’t considered, but the cut is just what I wanted. Strapless, with a sharp sweetheart neckline, and a short poufy skirt. It’s sophisticated. I come out of the dressing room and ask Rennie what she thinks. “With peachy-nude heels?” I ask.

Rennie taps her finger against her lips. Considering. It used to be that I would wait for Rennie to decide before I could. Whether or not something was good, I mean.

“I think I’m going to get it,” I say. I’ll wear my hair up, I decide. I step off the platform and go back into the dressing room.

I slide the dress off. And then put it back on the hanger. It’s expensive, more expensive than I thought for a plain black dress. I’m standing there, in my underwear, wondering if my mom will kill me, when I see Rennie’s hand waving underneath the wall.

“Hey, let me try that last dress on.”

You already found your dress, I want to say. And also you can’t afford it.

Instead I pass my dress under the door, change back into my clothes, and wait while Rennie tries it on.

I hate that she looks good in it too. I decide right then and there that I’m definitely buying it.

“This is cute,” she says, admiring herself. “Which one do you like best on me, Lil?”

I want to scream. But I don’t. Of course I don’t. Instead I change the subject. “Hey, did you hear that Melanie Renfro is, like, hard-core campaigning for homecoming queen? I saw her talking to the track guys.”

Rennie rolls her eyes. “I’m not worried about Melanie Renfro. I’m telling you, Lil. I’ve got this in the bag.” She cocks her head to the side, and then nods her head decisively. “The silver one. That’s a homecoming queen’s dress.”

It hits me. The best way to get back at Rennie.

The whole ferry ride home, I can’t wait to tell Kat that I’ve got the perfect plan for her revenge—we’ll find a way to keep Rennie from winning homecoming queen.

Once we get back to Jar Island, I’m more than ready for Rennie to drop me off. But instead she drives right past my block. I turn in my seat, and she says, “I’m going to swing by Alex’s place. I want to talk to Reeve about homecoming.”

“Right now? Can’t you take me home first?”

“No.” She puts a hand on her heart. “I’ve got this feeling like it needs to happen tonight. It’ll take, like, five minutes.”

Again. What I want doesn’t matter to her. “I’ll wait in the car.”

“Just come inside with me. Keep Alex company while I talk to Reeve.”

We park, and Rennie takes a minute to touch up her lip gloss. Her hand is shaking, she’s that nervous. I follow her into the pool house with my arms folded. I’m sure I don’t look happy, because I’m not. In fact, I’m hoping Reeve shoots her down.

Reeve and Alex are on the couch, playing video games. I guess what happened on the field is already old news. It’s funny. I don’t think boys even know how to hold a grudge. I’m sure Reeve denied he had anything to do with the jerseys or the song and Alex took his word for it. Hopefully, Alex won’t go looking for the person who did.

I stay near the door while Rennie walks up and stands right in front of the television. “Reevie,” she says sweetly. “Can I talk to you for a second, in private?”

Reeve tries to look past Rennie at the screen, and when he can’t, he pauses the game. “Of course.”

Rennie slides her arm through his and leads him off into Alex’s bedroom. “BRB, Lillia!”

Alex turns around and sees me. “Hey, Lillia.”

“Hey, Lindy.” I sit down on the far end of the sectional. Alex’s face is barely red anymore. I guess he finally stopped using that lotion. “Your skin looks a lot better.”

Alex turns so he’s facing me. “Rennie’s asking Reeve to homecoming, huh?”

Surprised, I say, “How did you know?”

“Well, because Ashlin asked Derek today. And I think PJ’s gonna bring some sophomore girl.” I notice that Alex is blushing. It’s coming up from his chest, creeping up his neck. “No one’s asked you yet, right?”

Oh, no. Oh, no. Rennie’s probably already told Alex to ask me! I quickly get up from the couch and walk over to the window. “God, I don’t understand why we can’t just go in a big group the way we always do. Why change things now? It’s so dumb. I mean, we’ll be hanging out together anyway.”

Alex comes over near to where I’m standing. Not too close, but close enough. He nods, like I’ve made a good point. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.” But I can tell he’s disappointed.

Rennie pops out of the bedroom and hops her way over to the glass door I’m leaning against. Her cheeks are flushed, and her smile practically fills up her entire face. “Okay, Lil! Let’s go!” she sings.

Rennie always gets what she wants. But not this time. Not when it matters the most.