Why are all the lights on?I asked myself while opening the gate.Mom’s probably not home.My siblings usually liked to flip all the switches on when they were alone.
“Hey.”
I turned and closed the gate behind me. It was Riley.
“Why are all the lights on?” I demanded. “Where’s Ma?”
“Mygod. Already in a mood,” she replied.
“Ehh, sorry. I don’t feel well.”
“I got back from Nate’s. She took Callum and Niall to Grandma’s for dinner. They’ve been there for a while I guess,” she said, then squinted behind me as we heard the bang of a car door.
“Hey Riley,” Dana said.
I sighed.What does Dana want? Go home.
“Dana,” my sister said, pushing me to the side to reopen the gate and embrace my friend.
“Étienne. Are you sure you don’t want to come hang out for a while? There’s something on your mind. I know you,” she said, fixing her orange ponytail.
No, you don’t. Not anymore.I shrugged, then started toward the side door.
“Come on, Étienne. What the hell happened? Everything was fine this morning until we got there,” she said.
My sister looked back and forth from Dana to me, a mischievous grin forming on her face. “Would this have anything to do with your new friend, Étienne?”
I’m going to die, and my sister is coming with me.
Dana tilted her head as her eyes met with my sister’s. A long and awkward silence stretched between us before Dana turned back to me and asked, “What friend? Is this why you’re being weird lately?”
I looked at my sister, eyes wide open, trying to will a threat to her psychically. This was the moment. The moment she was waiting for. A moment when I was vulnerable, and she would have the upper hand.
“That guy who’s in your grade. You know, the one with the silvery blond hair. Pretty popular. I think his name is Thad.” My sister smirked, giving me the side eye.
How do you know his name? Probably that boyfriend of yours.
“What. Uh, why? Étienne, you don’t even know him.” Dana put her hands on her hips.
I felt both sets of eyes staring me down, trying to penetrate my skull. I glanced at my sister, wishing this could end.Thanks a lot, Riley.
“It’s nothing.” I felt my face starting to burn.But it isn’t nothing. I don’t want to tell the two of you.“We bumped into each other after school the other day and I offered to help him with something. That’s it.”
Dana wasn’t buying it. She knew I was lying. “Fine. Whatever. That better be it then. He… I don’t trust him, and you shouldn’t either.”
“K, Mom.” I rolled my eyes and headed toward the door. “Bye.” I turned my head back one last time and my eyes met Dana’s. Hurt shone in her eyes, and anger. Hurt, probably in learning that her best friend was keeping something from her. But why anger?
“Riley! What was that?” I demanded once my sister entered the side door, both of us in the entrance hall, our bodies reflected in the mirrored sliding doors of the coat closet.
“What was what? Youarebeing weird lately.”
“Seriously, Riley? You know Dana snaps quickly. Why would you bring that up? I don’t talk about what you do with your friends.”
“Oh really?” she snapped, her hand resting on her hip. “Look how rude you were to Nate the other day.”
“What? I wasn’t rude. He’s annoying with his ugly smirk and ridiculous hair. And your friends probably think so too.”
“Whatever, Étienne.” She rolled her eyes and began to turn away, toward the rear living room.