Page 132 of Devil in Disguise
That was more than one tear. “Yeah. I did.”
The sound of distant hoofbeats made him look up. Two figures on horseback, coming over at a trot. His mom, and …
It was Ethan. Had to be, because that was Pete he was riding.
Ethan’s in school.
When you’d been around horses all your life, you could tell the look of a rider. The way they sat the horse. The length of their leg.
Their white-blonde hair, shining in the sun.
His heart was pounding so hard, it was like he was in the fourth quarter, except that you didn’t get lightheaded then. He couldn’t even breathe. He stood there and watched those horses come closer, and so did Dane.
“Well,” his brother said with a sigh, “I guess I’ll have to go back to being jealous again, because it looks like you’re about to get happy. Damn. I didn’t even get two weeks.”
56
Better Vision
It had takensome effort for Dyma to get out here.
To begin with, she’d had to explain to Pavani and Fletcher and Avery. That had been fun, except not. Especially since they’d done it in the dining hall over noodles, where everybody could observe her breakdown.
The noodles had been fine. The talking had been harder.
When she’d explained as much as she could stand, Pavani had let out a gusty sigh. “Can I just say that I’m so relieved?”
“Excuse me?” Dyma said. “I just told you that my life has imploded, and you’rerelieved?”
“I thought you were pregnant!” Pavani said. “Or … or that youhadstarted taking drugs! You can’t blame me. You’re sodifferent.”
“Generally?” Dyma said. “People who take drugs get energetic and hyper. Nobody takes drugs to feelworse.”
“Oh,” Pavani said. “Sorry. I didn’t know.”
“We knew it was something,” Avery said. “You didn’t even notice that Pavani and I have started dating!”
“Seriously? You have?” Dyma would have said, an hour ago, that she’d never feel pleasure again. Also, she’d thought she’d never behungryagain. Now, she was finishing up her noodles and saying, “I should’ve gotten the large size.”
“I’ll get you another one,” Fletcher said. “And not because I think I can catch you on the rebound, so don’t give me any drama. That’s clearly not going to happen. How am I the only one here without somebody?”
“Hello?” Dyma said. “Breakup here? Alone?”
“Except that you have the look of somebody who’s solving a problem,” Fletcher said. “Like you usually do. Never mind. Noodles.”
He took off, and Dyma asked Pavani, “Why didn’t youtellme?”
“It’s kind of a … secret?” she said, looking shy. Avery took her hand, and she looked like that was about the pinnacle of her happiness. “Because, you know …”
“My parents won’t like me dating anyone who’s not Chinese,” Avery said.
“Andmyparents don’t want me dating anyone at all,” Pavani said. “Especially if he’s not Indian, but actually? Anyone at all. ‘What are you doing with this boy?’ That was clearly supposed to be her dad. ‘What is this kissing? No kissing! No touching! Go do your studies! Plenty of time for marriage when you have master’s degree!’”
“So what are you going to do?” Dyma asked.
“Sneak around?” Pavani said. “The question is—what areyougoing to do?”
“I think,” Dyma said, “I’m going to make a vision board. Hey, it’s the only real idea I’ve got. When you don’t know what to do—do something. Even if it’s stupid.”
