42. Kayla
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
KAYLA
Hunter
Dad’s parking. We’ll be in shortly.
Me
I’m at a booth in the back.
Hunter
*thumbs-up*
I tuck my phone in my back pocket, craning my neck to look at the door. The first few weeks of school have flown by, and Labor Day weekend came up way too quickly. Pretty soon, it’ll be October and I’ll be starting my internship with Patti.
“Kayla!” Artemis yells from the door, running between the tables. I stand from the booth bench just in time for her to wrap her arms around my waist.
“Hey, Artie.” I smile, rubbing her shoulders. “How’s your new school?”
“It’s so awesome! I don’t have to wear a uniform, and they play music over the speakers at lunchtime.” She shakes excitedly, her curls bouncing behind her as she looks up at me.
Looking back toward the door, I give Hunter and Kendall a little wave as they walk toward us.
“Hey, little sis!” Hunter gives me a side hug as I roll my eyes at him. He always finds a way to throw in the fact that he’s older, I’m younger, or some combination of both.
Kendall beams over at me, keeping his distance. We’re not at the hugging stage yet, he and I, but our conversations are a lot smoother than they were before. “This place is pretty cool. I like the underground vibe,” Kendall says.
“Yeah, it’s one of my favorites. I found it my first year and come here about once a week.” We’re at this little basement pizza place called The Wall where the lighting is dark, the music is loud, and the walls are covered in customer-made graffiti.
“Why don’t you come help me order?” Kendall asks, and we leave Hunter and Artemis at the booth. “What are your favorites?”
“Definitely the cheese bread, tortellini Alfredo, and this white sauce pizza with chicken and olives called the Owl’s Nest ,” I say excitedly. He chuckles as I rub my hands together at the thought of my favorite pizza.
“Alright, let’s get all of that and a large garden salad,” he says to the guy behind the register. We move over to the pickup counter and wait for our food. “So tell me about this new internship. Hunter was saying it’s different than the one you were initially going for.”
“Different, but better!” I fill him in on all the things Patti revealed to me at the shareholders’ event, trying to ignore the pinging in my heart that happens whenever I think about that night. “I start next month, planning a Halloween party, and the internship runs through May. Then I have a provisional position the year after graduation.”
“That’s amazing, Kayla. I’m so proud.” He pauses, scrunching his face a little. “Is that okay for me to say?”
I smile back, seeing a little resemblance between us, around the eyes. “Yeah. I think it’s okay. ”
“Good.” He bumps my shoulder playfully with his. We gather our food and head back to the table where Hunter and Artemis are bickering.
“Kayla, can I sleep over at your apartment tonight?” Artemis asks me hurriedly, like she’s expecting to be interrupted.
“Don’t feel like you have to say yes,” Hunter says, rolling his eyes. “I already told her you might need your space.”
“That would be fun,” I turn to Artie. “As long as it’s okay with…” Your dad? Our dad? Kendall? I still don’t know what to call him sometimes, but I look toward him for approval.
“That’s fine by me. A little sisterly bonding would probably be a good idea.”
Artie’s excited squeals are enough to lighten the mood again, and we dig into the food, laughing as Hunter tells us a story about his new roommate’s sleepwalking habit. Kendall fills us in on exciting happenings at EdTechU, including an expansion overseas.
“Kayla, I wanted to invite you to the Reed Tech Gala in LA at the end of the month. It’s a fancy black-tie event showcasing the year’s best of the best in technology,” Kendall says. “All expenses paid, including a plane and a dress for you and Ashlie.”
“Ashlie’s going? My friend Ashlie?”
“Only if you are.” Hunter smirks. “She said she’d be your date if I could convince you to come.” Since when does Hunter know something about Ashlie before I do? I know they talk occasionally, Ashlie’s let on to that much. But the way he so casually slid that in there, like they talk every day, makes me wonder how much my best friend has been keeping from me.
“Yeah, and Dad and Russell are getting an award. Chase should be there too,” Artemis chimes in, cheeks stuffed with pizza. Her eyes widen as she watches the smile fall from my face.
I clear my throat, reaching for my glass of water. Hunter and Kendall glance at each other.
Kendall sighs, “Come on Artie-girl, let’s go check out the jukebox and have a little chat…” He stands and holds his hand out to Artemis.
Hunter waits until they’re out of earshot before saying, “Look, I’ve tried to stay out of this, but as your big brother?—”
“You’re only three months older, Hunter. We’re basically twins,” I say, rolling my eyes and sitting back in the booth.
“Still older. And since I’m older, and therefore, wiser …” He flashes a smart-ass grin, looking right into my eyes. “I think maybe you should talk to him.”
“About what? There’s nothing to talk about. Is this why you want me to go to that gala? Because Chase will be there?”
“Naw, Dad really wants you to go. He’s ready to charter an entire plane just to get you there and back, and he is receiving an award. It’s usually a pretty fun night. I just think talking to Chase wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Maybe get a little closure for both of you. By the time the gala rolls around, it’ll be, what? Two months? Emotions have cooled and heads have cleared…”
“Closure? Everything was closed the second he kissed Maggie.” I shake my head as the image threatens to creep back into my mind.
“That’s not how it happened, though. Maggie’s a master manipulator, and Chase wouldn’t hurt you?—”
“I’m not talking about this, Hunter!” Folding my arms over my chest, I scowl at him. “It’s over.”
“Damn, okay. Touché. Just…promise me you’ll think about coming. For Dad. You don’t have to say yes right away… but there will be swag bags.” Hunter waggles his eyebrows in what I assume is an attempt to add some humor to his request.
A smile edges its way onto my face. “Fine, I’ll think about it. The gala part, not the Chase part.”
“That’s all I ask,” he says, throwing his hands up in the air.
Pressing my thumb and pointer finger into my eyebrows, I try to soothe the sudden headache settling there. I’ve done a good job of zapping Chase from my thoughts, sticking him on a shelf in the back of my mind and diving right back into the distracted campus life I had before the summer. While I try not to think about Chase much, there are still those sneaky little quiet moments where a memory creeps into my mind. I shake them as soon as they come, but they still come, and probably will for a while since I love him too. I shake the thought from my head.
Loved him . Past tense.
It took everything I had to walk away from Chase that day on his porch, especially after seeing the sadness in his eyes, but I had to do it. I had to stand up for myself, even just to prove that I could.
Artie chatters a mile a minute the moment she enters my studio apartment. She hasn’t stopped smiling since she got here, bouncing as she sits on my worn beige-colored couch in her fuzzy pajamas. Right now, she’s telling me about her new teacher, a young Black woman with curly hair just like hers, and it’s hard not to smile back at her excitement. She’s different than I was at her age—happier, more naive. I was a serious and practical child, while she’s free to play around and be a kid.
“So, Artie, what should we do first? I’ve got movies and snacks. Or we could make cookies. Play with makeup?”
“Ooh, makeup! I’m not very good at it though…” Her shoulders droop as she looks down at her knees. She has these moments of self-consciousness that seem out of place for a ten-year-old, like someone has sprinkled morsels of doubt throughout her adolescent psyche that spill out whenever she’s feeling a little too confident.
“That’s okay. Neither am I. We can practice together.”
She hops off the sofa, and I show her back to the bathroom, pulling out my limited collection of eye shadow, lipstick, and blush. Looking at her wide-eyed reflection in the mirror makes me chuckle as she reaches for pink lipstick and an eyeshadow brush.
We take turns being used as a canvas, with me adding warm, neutral colors to her eyes and cheeks and her using the brightest neons on mine. On the count of three, we turn toward the mirror to see our masterpieces.
She gasps as she moves her face closer, touching her cheeks gingerly with the tips of her fingers. “I look so pretty!” Her incredulous voice breaks my heart a little bit.
“That’s because you are pretty Artemis, makeup or not. And anyone who says otherwise is just a hater.”
“Maggie’s a hater then…” Her voice is low, and while I don’t disagree, I feel like this is something I should investigate further.
“What do you mean? Did she say you weren’t pretty?” I already know the answer to this. I’ve heard some of the out-of-pocket things Maggie has said to Artemis, and I just know she’s said something horrible here too.
“She said I looked like a clown with makeup, that I’d be prettier if I stayed out of the sun.”
My mouth drops as I stifle every single cuss word in my throat, regretting each time I turned down Ashlie’s offer to tag team the ballerina bitch and her friends. How anyone can look at this sweet girl and say such nasty things is beyond me. I kneel on the fuzzy bathroom rug and look my little sister in the eye.
“Maggie’s wrong. If she ever says something like that to you again, you call me and I’ll take care of it, okay? That’s what big sisters are for.”
Artie nods, and I wrap my arms around her shoulders, squeezing just as tight as she squeezes me. I don’t have a lot of practice, but I like doing this big sister thing. Artemis is adorable, and if I can help her keep her confidence, even a little bit, it will do wonders for the little girl living inside of me too.
Over my shoulder, Artie’s muffled voice says, “If I show you something, will you promise not to be mad at me?”
I pull away from her to look at her face, where tears are welling in her eyes. “Of course. Why would I be mad at you?”
“Because I didn’t show this to you before…” She takes her phone out of her pocket, sniffling while she scrolls to a saved video. “Everyone always tells me to mind my business… I didn’t tell her you were my sister, I swear. But sisters are always your business, and she wasn’t saying nice things about you.”
“Artemis, who are you talking about? What?—”
She presses play, and I recognize the back patio of The Bluffs. I can’t see faces, and half of the video is covered, but that blue deck is as undeniable as the voices that come through the speaker.
Maggie: I’ve decided, girls. I’m going to kiss Chase at the event in San Francisco and finally make him see that we belong together. Artemis, you can’t tell this to anyone, okay? Cousin secret.
Tamryn: It’s about time! If he won’t make the first move, you have to take matters into your own hands.
Camryn: What about the waitress?
Maggie: What about her? She’s just a bitchy obstacle in my way. You two can distract her while I take care of Chase.
Artemis: I like her… She’s nice.
Maggie: Girls like her are trouble, Artemis. You really shouldn’t use her as a role model.
Artemis: Why not? She’s nicer than you are. That’s why Chase likes her instead of you.
Maggie: Mind your business, you little brat! The only reason I let you hang out with me is because your mom asked me to take you under my wing. Don’t push me .
The video cuts off, and I trace the patterned floor of my bathroom with my eyes as I sit back on my heels, trying to make sense of everything I just heard. My heart pounds, almost as quickly as the thoughts racing in my head. Chase’s highly unbelievable story was the truth? Maggie planned the whole thing. What I saw at the fountain was orchestrated to do exactly what it did—break us up. My thoughts swirl as wetness drips on my arm. I look up to see Artie’s eyes full of tears as she clutches her phone. “When did you take this?” I ask.
“The day we made the goop.” Her breathing stutters, and she erupts into tears as she rambles, “I kept forgetting to show you, and then I was going to show you after you got back from San Francisco, I swear. But then you stopped coming over because you were mad at Chase, and I didn’t want you to be mad at me too.”
“I… Come here, Artemis,” I pull her down to sit on the floor before throwing my arms around her neck. “This is not your fault, and I’m not mad at you. We’re sisters now, which means you’re stuck with me no matter what.”
She hugs me back, and eventually, her sobs quiet down to sniffles and whimpers. I grab wipes from the vanity and free her face of the makeup running down her cheeks. Reaching for another, I clean off my own, letting the coolness of the cloth slow the pounding in my chest.
“Why were you recording Maggie and her friends anyway?”
“I want to be a spy when I grow up.” She shrugs and holds up her phone, scrolling through the videos and pictures she’s taken over the summer. Some are dark and grainy, some clear and in full sunshine, but all of them are taken from far away with some kind of obstruction.
I giggle at her ten-year-old logic, shaking my head. “You’d make a pretty good spy. But you probably shouldn’t record people anymore without them knowing about it. Deal?”
She nods. “Deal. Can we watch a movie now?”
“Yep.” I stand and hold out my hand to help her. “Totally.”
She picks a cute movie about a group of friends who start a babysitting business. While it’s easy to follow, I find my mind wandering back to the video and everything that happened in San Francisco.