Page 43 of Save the Last Dance
“I don’t think it will bruise.” Ally realized it sounded mean. But since shewantedto tell Rachel that it was her own damn fault if it did bruise since her skirt didn’t cover enough of her thigh, Ally figured she’d made a reasonable compromise. Shifting gears, she stuffed her hand in the pocket of her jeans. “Where do you want to work?”
“Oh, my God. Are you okay?” Rachel stared at the bandage on Ally’s wrist, which peeked from under her shirt sleeve when she bent her arm.
Hastily, she pulled her hand out of her pocket and yanked down the cuff with her fingers.
“Fine.” Her cheeks heated and she was sure they must be beet-red. The bandages were too big for her to fit the extra layer of friendship bracelets, so she hadn’t been able to wear them since that day she’d been treated at the hospital. “Why don’t we head to the maze area and take a look at the section they’ve marked out for the maze?”
She slung her backpack over one shoulder and started walking, not really caring if Rachel followed or not.
“You’re the girl from The Strand, aren’t you?” Rachel’sfootsteps were right behind her as they walked past pickup trucks full of hay bales and temporary fencing for the 4H exhibits. Volunteers were busy making a graveyard outside a visitor information booth that would become the haunted house.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Ally walked faster. Her healing arms itched, and not from the scabs forming under the bandages. The need to rake her fingernails over her skin was so strong she didn’t know how she’d get through the afternoon.
Then again, if she couldn’t find a way to control the scratching herself, her new psychologist had mentioned an arsenal of scary-sounding drugs. The worst of which was anti-seizure medication. She forced herself to be strong.
“You were at the salon the last time I came in for highlights. You had to leave.” Rachel cut her off as they rounded a corner near the bathrooms, surprising Ally with her speed. “All the stylists were really worried about you.”
“Yes. Well.” Ally stopped before they reached the area where the maze would be set up. “As you can see, there was no reason for them to worry. My hair turned out fine after all.”
She would brazen this out until the bitter end because what was her alternative? Admit to one of the most popular girls in school that she’d had a breakdown in the salon bathroom on Saturday?
“Fine. Don’t admit it.” Rachel kept on walking, her leather ankle boots stirring up dust. “But I hope you’re not listening to the rumors about me, because they’re not true.”
It took Ally a moment to register what she was saying.
“I don’t listen to rumors.” She had to hurry to catch up with Rachel who had turned her speed to overdrive.
By the time she reached her, the girl had already taken aseat on one of the donated hay bales beside the field that would be their maze. She dragged a small leather-bound notebook and an electronic tablet out of her handbag, her movements jerky and rough.
Angry.
“Sure you don’t. That’s why you avoid speaking to me unless you have to and even then, you act like it’s a big imposition and that I’m too stupid to know when we were at the same hairdresser.”
Ally noticed a bunch of the clear sequins on Rachel’s purse were caught on a piece of hay.
“Um.” She moved closer, pointing to the bag. “You’re going to lose that whole row of sequins if these go.”
“Who cares? My mom will be thrilled for an excuse to buy ten more dopey glitter bags.” Rachel glared at her. “Are you ready to work so we can get this over with?”
Shouldering off her backpack and letting it fall onto the ground next to the hay bale, Ally leaned down to free the sequins before the strand attaching them broke.
“There. It’s not a dopey bag. I’ve noticed that one in a display case at Macy’s before. It’s really pretty.” She didn’t know what she’d done to make Rachel angry, but Ally recognized hurt-anger when she saw it.
And, maybe it was an indication of how screwed up her life was right now, but she could totally relate to hurt-anger.
Rachel pursed her lips as if she’d just tasted a lemon and continued to glare.
Ally’s sympathy faded. “You know what?” Ally dropped down on the hay bale beside her. “I can do cold silences all day long, so if that’s the way we’re going to play it?—”
“God, no.” Rachel’s expression fell. “I don’t think I haveit in me to pull off cold silence today.” She passed her tablet to Ally. “Let’s call a truce long enough to get the homework done, okay? I already started combining our plans to save us some time. Feel free to change whatever you want.”
Ally accepted the tablet, noticing Rachel had used the same algorithm program she had to calculate the angles for the walls. But now, instead of Ally’s sharp sprawling fortress walls or Rachel’s elaborate labyrinth, the straw maze on the screen was less complicated than either of their original plans and incorporated some of the more interesting features of each. Two turrets decorated the facade of the front wall, but the rest of the maze was open to the sky.
“Wow.” The overview angle allowed Ally to see the lines of the maze clearly, but there would be plenty of twists and turns for visitors inside the maze. “I can’t believe you did all this. It’s perfect.”
“It’s a traditional layout, so I can’t take credit for it. I just used the classic seven-circuit model instead of the more complex plan I proposed initially.” Rachel’s voice sounded more relaxed. Less angry.
And even as they sat together on the hay bale planning out the maze, Ally wondered how a girl like Rachel Wagoner with a robin’s-egg-blue convertible sports car could be so familiar with cold silences. Or whyshewould worry about rumors.
