CHAPTER THREE #3
But something was weird. Olivia wasn’t screaming or anything. In fact, she looked more disturbed by the look of devotion on Lufton’s face as he stared at her than anything else. What did he do with his frog?
Then I saw it happen.
Olivia’s frog crawled out of her dress and sat on her shoulder.
I held my breath, waiting for her reaction.
But she surprised the hell out of me. Instead of screaming and freaking out?
She laughed and thought it was cute. All the moms took out their cellphones to take a picture or video of Olivia and Lufton dancing with the frog on her shoulder.
“Just look how cute they are together,” one mom said.
“What a handsome boy. Who is that?” asked another.
It went on from there, until it was clear that all the moms thought Lufton was the best thing ever.
I grinned and shook my head. Typical Lufton.
I glanced back at Cara. The frog was still peeking out from the dip in her dress. It was watching me.
And then all hell broke loose.
The frog leaped from Cara’s dress and launched itself right into my face, causing me to scream and generally freak out. I wiped it off my face and unintentionally knocked it to the ground. I watched, dazed, as it hopped off, seemingly unharmed.
Before I had a chance to recover, Willa Hargrave screamed loud enough to wake the dead in all the cemeteries in Georgia.
Then she caused a ripple effect of terror and disgust to run through the teenagers at the dance lesson.
She threw her frog directly into the long hair of another girl, who also screamed and tossed the frog towards someone else.
She did the same, and screams and chaos took over the country club ballroom while the mothers and Mrs. Kafter stared with their mouths open at the spectacle.
But it didn’t end there.
Once Willa got the frog off her, she hurtled herself at Declan like a torpedo. Her tall, thin body knocked him to the floor. It was impressive considering how much bigger than her he was. She straddled him, and when she realized he was laughing, she punched him right in the face. Hard.
His nose started bleeding.
“Ahh! Get her off! Get her off!” he yelled until Mrs. Kafter yanked Willa, arms flailing as she still tried to punch Declan, off him with some sort of speech about ladies not hitting gentlemen.
Still, I saw Declan smile through his tears of pain and the blood streaking down his face as Willa turned around and stuck her tongue out at him in front of the entire room of dancers.
Mrs. Hargrave was so busy talking with Mrs. Whittaker, they missed the whole thing. Or, as my mom would say later, maybe they were so used to their kids causing a commotion they didn’t even notice.
Over the years I would learn she had been absolutely correct in her assumption. Nothing fazed those two moms. They’d seen it all.
That ended up being my first and last day of dance lessons. Mrs. Kafter found out who planted the frogs, so Declan, Lufton, and I were kicked out. My mother was mortified while Declan’s mother took his disgrace in stride. In fact, she laughed.
Once banished, the three of us sat on the big front porch of the country club in rocking chairs while we waited for everyone else to come out.
I was pretty sure my mom was waiting until everyone was gone to come collect Lufton and me.
I was sure she hoped no one would realize we were connected to her.
Declan held a wad of tissue to his nose to staunch the blood flow.
“Man,” he said. “I thought she’d be mad, but I didn’t think she’d give me a black eye and a nosebleed.
” He sighed and leaned back in his rocker.
“She’s such a pain in the ass,” he said with a scowl as Willa danced by the windows with another guy and stuck her tongue out at him. “I can’t believe she hit me.”
Lufton and I exchanged a glance, before we both gave Declan a look.
He looked sheepish. “Okay, maybe I deserved it.” He turned to scowl at her again through the window and she gave him a hard, furious eye roll.
“It was totally worth it,” he said with a smile on his face, leaning back in the comfy rocking chair, his eye already turning a deep purple color and his nose still bleeding.
Lufton and I looked at each other. We were both glad neither Cara nor Olivia had punched us for the frog incident. It seemed like someone in this family had taught the girls to fight. Or maybe they were forced to learn since they grew up next door to the likes of Declan Whittaker.
“I’m just glad these little guys made it out okay.” He opened his hand and revealed the three small frogs sitting in his palm.
I looked at the frogs. They were perched happily in his hand.
“How did you get them to stay with you? Are they pets?” I asked.
“Bethie trains them,” he said matter-of-factly, as if I would know what in the world he was talking about.
“Who’s Bethie?” Lufton asked.
“Oh. I forgot y’all don’t know us. Bethie is one of the Hargrave girls. She’s one of Cara, Livy, and Willa’s little sisters. She’s sweet as pie and good with animals. Like, really good.” He paused for a moment. “Y’all need to come over sometime and hang out. You could meet everyone then.”
Lufton and I glanced at each other quickly. That sounded like so much more fun than wandering the cavernous, silent hallways and rooms in my family’s mansion. I hoped he’d follow through with an actual invitation.
Lufton was despondent as he peered through the large windows and watched Aidan Whittaker and Olivia Hargrave dance the rest of the time together.
They laughed and talked the whole time they were dancing.
Lufton shook his head. “We’re so good together.
Surely she knows that. Y’all think she sensed it, too, right? ”
Declan and I looked at each other over Lufton’s head.
“Uh, sure man.” Declan said, trying to hide his grin.
I didn’t answer. Lufton would be ‘in love’ with someone else by next week. That’s how he was.
“How did you get your frog to sit on Livy’s shoulder like that?” Declan asked.
Lufton shrugged. “I don’t know. It just did what it wanted to, I guess. It probably sensed that it was in the presence of true love.”
I made a face. “Jesus.”
“What? Hey, at least I didn’t scream like a girl during the frog release,” he said.
“It jumped at my face!”
Declan started laughing so hard, he doubled over. “Man, that was the best. That was so awesome.” He seemed to think of something. “Hey—you two should come to my birthday party next week. I’m turning fifteen.”
Lufton and I tried to be cool and pretend we weren’t excited at the prospect of spending time with people our age… and with the Hargrave girls.
“Sounds great,” I said, and Lufton nodded.
He gave us the rest of the details as his mom was collecting him from the front porch. “See y’all then,” he said, waving.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen my mother so embarrassed as when she sneaked out to take us home.
I was just glad she didn’t seem to hold it against Declan.
Because after that, the Whittaker family became a summer refuge for Lufton and me.
Of course, it didn’t hurt that the Whittakers and the Hargraves were basically inseparable, so it was like a two-for-one deal.
Getting the chance to see Cara Hargrave was the highlight of my summers for the rest of my teen years.
Even if she was a little wary of me for a while because of the frog incident.
***
“And that,” I said, “is how I first met Cara Hargrave.”
Libby, once she’d stopped laughing, said, “Oh my stars! I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard in a long time. I can’t even picture you doing something like that.” She looked me over. “You seem so… proper.”
I gave her a wry smile. “I often am, but not always. And somehow, Declan offering me that tiny frog combined with Cara being the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen…” I shrugged. “It was too much for me.”
“Libby!” Garrison yelled from the front of the theater, and I realized Libby and I were the last two people seated.
I stood up and offered my hand to her.
“You know you can’t just leave it at that, hon. I have to know what happens next.”
I didn’t know if I was comfortable talking about my past with Cara in front of Garrison, or worse, Monty. She must’ve read the look on my face. “Garrison,” she called across the auditorium, “you go on with Monty. I’m going to take the limo back with Edward.”
Garrison gave me a look. “Do I need to worry about you stealing my girl?”
I felt my face flush. There was no suitable answer. If I denied it too much, it might make her feel like I didn’t think she was pretty. If I didn’t do it enough, he might be pissed…
“Ha!” his bark of laughter echoed through the empty theater. “Just teasin’. I’ll see y’all back at the house.” He waved and left the building while Libby and I walked down the stairs.
I gave a weak smile of relief and walked out to the parking lot with Libby Hart. The limo was waiting on us.
“Get in quick, Edward. I have to hear more of the story.”
“Okay,” I said hesitantly. Was she aware it didn’t have a happy ending?