Three Times the Charm Read online

  I rested my hand on my chin and let out a little sigh. Raine touched my shoulder, and I looked over at her, wondering what I’d missed. “Huh?”

  “Did you space out on us? We’ve been talking, and you’ve been kind of faded out. You feeling okay?” She looked concerned.

  I hated when I did that, and it only happened when I was hungry and barely making it through the day. I sat back so I could look at both of them and told them the most believable excuse I could come up with. “Sorry, I guess I’m tired from all the jumping and dancing and stuff.” I shrugged, telling them it wasn’t a big deal. I’d be fine later. I was tired from being a cheerleader. That was understandable, I hoped.

  “You looked good out there. Super sexy,” Mel said with a grin.

  I was glad she’d apparently accepted my excuse so easily. It was strange being called sexy by a girl. I’d had guys call me sexy before. That wasn’t new, and it wasn’t weird. This didn’t feel weird either. Raine laughed a little beside me, breaking the moment, and I laughed too. “Yeah, right, me, sexy?” I made a show of rolling my eyes. “I’m so sweaty I’m surprised you two can stand to be in the same room with me. It’s so not sexy.”

  Mel snorted and kept eating her nachos. I smiled down at my carrots. It had felt kind of nice to have Mel say that I looked sexy. Maybe that meant I was doing something right with all this ‘watching my calories and working out’ thing. My mom thought I was pretty, and now my new friend said I looked sexy. My day was taking a weird, but not unwelcome, turn.

  “Ugh, there’s Zach,” Raine said, pulling me out of my happy moment. She totally hated him, and I did too because I loved her and of course hated him for her sake.

  I looked up, finding his head full of short black hair easily enough. I shot him a dark look. “He’s such a jackass. Ignore him.”

  Mel leaned in closer to me, probably not to be overheard by anyone else. The cafeteria was crowded no matter what time of day it was. “Who’s Zach and why do we hate him?”

  I loved how she was instantly on Raine’s side, no questions asked. “At our homecoming dance last year, he asked almost every girl to dance. He made a show of asking me twice. But then for Raine, he didn’t ask her once. It was a big deal, a total snub. And she had this whole crush thing on him at the time. Hence why he’s a jackass and why we don’t pay him any attention.”

  “It so was not a crush,” Raine corrected me. “Mild interest, maybe. He was in my painting class at the time. He could have been a friend.”

  I nodded, conceding to her, even though it had so totally been a crush. “He could’ve been, except, like I said, he’s a jackass and so very much not worthy of you or your time.”

  Mel looked murderous too. Only on her it looked kind of cute. “Raine, for the record, I’d totally dance with you. You too, Amelia. The three of us would be getting down so hard on any dance floor. We’d be so insane together, and it would be so great.”

  Raine burst out laughing. “Thanks. Really. I appreciate that. It does mean a lot.”

  “We so should. We’ve got prom this year. Not like I was going to go with anyone but Raine anyway. Mel, you should come with us. We could totally go out as a threesome or something.”

  I didn’t realize what I’d said until Raine snorted and Mel looked like she was trying so hard not to laugh.

  “Not like that!” I quickly squeaked. That made Mel laugh, and Raine shook her head. I swiped her arm, and she stuck her tongue out at me. Mel threw her arm around my shoulders as she kept laughing, and my momentary embarrassment forgotten, I laughed with them.

  “OMG, you two are so awful.” I shook my head, but I was still smiling. Mel pulled away from me, and somehow I missed having her arm around me. I looked over at her, wondering what that was and what it meant, because it was like how I felt when Raine stopped holding my hand when we were walking sometimes. I had hoped Mel would share some kind of hidden secret with me of why she made me feel like that after only just meeting her, but she wasn’t looking at me anymore. She was back to her nachos. Raine was licking guacamole off her fingers.

  With a shrug I went back to my carrots and my water. Maybe it had been nothing. Maybe I’d imagined it. No biggie. Thinking about going to prom with the two of them had me smiling again. “You know, if we did go to prom, we should do some kind of theme or matching dresses or something.”

  “Oh! Like Charlie’s Angels!” Mel sounded so excited.

  Raine’s eyes got big. “Totally like that.”

  I’d been thinking zombie cheerleaders or something, but yeah, Charlie’s Angels would work too. “Cool.” I was sure three girls had never gone to prom dressed in a theme, but there was no reason we couldn’t. “But no boys. We’re not getting a Bosley.”

  Mel snorted. “Hell no, no boys. We don’t need them.”

  She gave me a wink, and I wrinkled up my nose. Sure, we needed boys for some stuff, but yeah, not at prom. We’d be good without them. For the rest of lunch, I tried to come up with a single reason we needed boys in general. I couldn’t think of one aside from the whole kids thing, but I’d had Child Development the year before, and that crying plastic monster I had to carry around for two weeks made me swear off kids for life. I’d always looked forward to the school dances with Raine, ever since the first spring fling that we went to years ago, because it was more time with her. But now I was looking forward to dancing with Mel too and to the three of us going to prom together. We’d go arm in arm, looking awesome. It was going to be so much fun. This whole year was, and Mel was definitely going to add to that for both of us.

  Chapter Six

  Mel

  I TURNED on my phone while starting down the steps from school and it beeped. I glanced at the screen and the text icon flashed. As I tapped it, I stumbled slightly.

  “Careful there.” Raine touched my elbow as if to stop me from falling. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those people who can’t walk and text at the same time.”

  “New stairs,” I mumbled as the text came on the screen. I’d been doing my best to not be a complete spaz all day while I’ve been around either Raine or Amelia and I’d been doing a good job of it. It would be a disaster if I ruined it by falling down the school steps. It would also put me on display for all the other kids to see and declare the new geek girl was a complete doofus. That would be a great way to end my public-school career.

  “No problem,” Amelia said as she took out her last carrot and threw the empty bag in the garbage can at the bottom of the steps. “We all miss a step now and then.”

  “Right,” Raine agreed. “So what’s the text?”

  I sighed as I read it. “Looks like I’m walking home. Dad’s stuck in a meeting.”

  “And your mom can’t make it?” Amelia asked.

  I hadn’t had time to fill them in on my life much, sorting out school and all. “Mom’s passed. Car accident.”

  “Bummer,” Raine said, then gave me a quick hug. She might not claim to have much in the way of muscles, but she had a nice firm hug, something I might be able to get used to. “I don’t know what I would do without my mom around.”

  I paused on the edge of the sidewalk, wondering what would be the fastest way home. I could get the phone to show me. “It was hard at first, but Dad and I get by.”

  “Hey, can we give her a ride home?” Amelia asked. “I’ll have to let Mom know I’ll be a few minutes late.”

  Raine glanced at her. “Did you space your practice this afternoon?”

  Amelia closed her eyes for a minute and pursed her lips, which suddenly started to quiver. She looked like she wanted to scream. “Yeah, I did. Too much going on today.” She glanced at her phone. “I need to hurry.”

  “It’ll be okay,” Raine said, then gave her a quick hug. “If your mom isn’t going to pick you up after practice, text me and I’ll come get you. I know how tired you can be when you get done.”

  “Thanks.” Amelia walked backward to say goodbye to us. “See you tomorrow, Mel.” S
he waved briefly, then turned and ran back up the steps into school, going against the exodus of kids, but somehow managing to get through the main doors.

  I watched the skimpy green-and-white skirt swirl around her slender but muscular legs. Yeah, cheerleaders had a lot to look at. Amelia wasn’t as top-heavy as a lot of them were, but I was a butt girl anyway.

  “Okay, where’s your house? I’ve got to pick up my brothers, and depending on where your house is, I can drop you first or after I pick them up,” Raine said, pulling my attention back from Amelia’s display.

  “Thanks, that would be awesome.” I told her where I lived, and as we walked out to the car, which turned out to be a Prius, I sent Dad a text back letting him know I found a ride.

  On the way home, Raine continued bringing me up-to-date on the various teachers and kids at school. She seemed to have a lot of information on the teachers, and I was wondering where she got it until she explained that her father was one of them and taught sophomore English.

  “OKAY, SO give me all the good dirt,” Dad said as he hung up the phone from ordering pizza. He’d been running late enough he hadn’t wanted to go out and eat, but wanted to do something nicer than burgers on the grill… again… since it was my first day at a new school.

  I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Dad, I don’t think we call it dirt anymore. Info, data, deets, but not dirt.”

  He sighed and plopped into the chair across the table from me. “Sometimes I just can’t keep up with all the new terms.”

  “I know, but you try.” I finished off the glass of tea I’d been drinking while doing my homework as I’d waited for him to get home. “I think I’m already making friends. One of them is even a cheerleader.”

  He put his head in his hands as his eyes grew wide. “A cheerleader. So are you going to try out for the squad?”

  I laughed and threw my pen at him. “God, Dad. Don’t be stupid. Like I have any chance of getting on the cheerleading squad.”

  “Hey, don’t knock yourself.” He caught the pen and laid it on the table in front of him, as if challenging me to grab it and throw it at him again. “You’re as cute as any of those girls and probably a lot smarter.”

  “And I can’t jump. The last time I tried a cartwheel, I sprained my wrist.” I shook my head. “Nope, as far as I’m concerned, the cheerleaders are simply hot girls I’m going to watch, and flirt with when I get a chance.”

  “And did you?” He picked up the pen and pushed the button several times, making it click.

  Heat rose in my face. I knew I had an awesome dad and we could talk about anything, but sometimes talking about girls felt odd. Then I realized he probably felt a little strange when we did too. That might explain the pen clicking. But if I’d been a boy, it probably would’ve felt natural for him to talk about girls with me. “A little. With her and her friend, the artsy one. She’s cute too.”

  “So which one are you going to bring home to meet your old man first?” He kept clicking the pen.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. At this point I’m not exactly sure if they’re a couple or not. But we are talking about going to the prom in matching dresses.”

  “And I’ll make sure to get lots of pictures if you do.”

  The doorbell rang, and he put down the pen. I was thankful for the interruption. It was cute how he was determined to be Dad of the Year since Mom was killed, but some of the little tells of nervousness, like the pen, got old.

  AFTER DINNER I spent time staring at my math homework. It wasn’t hard—I could answer most of the questions in my head. Sometimes being an ubergeek girl came in handy. The problem was I couldn’t remember how the teacher wanted the answer, whether I had to show each step or if I could just write it down. I glanced at my phone. It was early enough I should be able to call for help, and since Raine was in the same class, she was the logical answer to my dilemma.

  After tapping the newest phone number in my phone, I put it on speaker and set the phone next to the math homework. I had a flutter in my stomach in anticipation of talking to Raine.

  “Hey, Mel, what’s up?” Raine picked up on the second ring.

  Before I could answer, I heard her muffled shout. “No, Teddy, it’s not Amelia, and you can’t say hi!” She sighed. “Sorry about that. One of my little brothers has a crush on Amelia. He’s a real pest.”

  “No worries.” I pushed back the chuckle that tried to come out. I could see having a crush on Amelia; she was very crushable.

  “So, back to my original question, what’s up?”

  “Got a homework question,” I replied as I picked up my pencil. “I know. Super interesting. But try not to get too excited.”

  She laughed and that made me feel good. “Hey, we all get homework questions sometimes.”

  “Yeah we do. So do you know how we’re supposed to do our math homework.”

  “Oh God. Not math,” she said with a dramatic groan. “I’m horrible at math.”

  I laughed. “Then maybe I should be helping you with your homework.”

  “Nah, got that one done already. Don’t know if it’s right, but it’s done.”

  “Okay. Well, I need to know if I can simply write the answers down, or do I need to show the steps on how I got the answer.”

  “Ah, that. Gotta show your work. She takes half off if you only answer the question. Something about wanting to see how our brains work, which doesn’t exactly make much sense ’cause all we’re doing is learning how to take a test. Dad complains about that all the time. He wishes we were learning how to think as opposed to how to regurgitate what we’re told.”

  It was something my folks had gone on about in great detail before Mom died. It was times like this when I missed Mom. She’d always helped me with my homework. Dad made an extra effort now, but I still missed sitting down with her and talking about my day and showing her my homework. I swallowed back the sudden lump in my throat. “I hear you, but hey, at least Dove Valley still has art classes. The school I came from in Texas cut those last year. Said it wasn’t as important as football.”

  Raine sighed again. “Man, I wouldn’t be able to stand it if they cut art class. Dad says it’s always one of the things they try to cut, but everyone rallies around it, saying we need to keep it, and we do, although this year we have to buy all our own supplies. I’m lucky and have my own supplies anyway.”

  “That’s cool. I can’t wait to see some of your work.” Since I had the answer to my question, I multitasked and worked while I talked.

  “Yeah. Maybe one of these days when your dad has to work late and my mom can pick up my brothers, I can bring you over and show you my stuff. I’ve got a couple of paintings I’ve done that are a bit large and I couldn’t bring them to school. Got a couple of sci-fi pieces I think you’d like.”

  “Definitely want to see those. So which fandom are you working on?”

  “I like mashing things up. A bit of Stargate and Doctor Who right now.”

  “You go girl!” I couldn’t wait to see what she’d come up with. I’d recently found some fanfic where Colonel Carter had hooked up with Amy Pond. It was so much better than putting Amy with Rory.

  Raine laughed. It was a beautiful musical sound. “Maybe you can give me some ideas on what to do next.”

  I could give her some extremely interesting ideas. “I’d love to.” I decided to take the opening she was giving me. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

  “Sure, as long as it isn’t a math question.”

  “Okay, no more math questions,” I promised. My heart pounded hard, and my throat closed slightly. “Are you and Amelia an item?”

  “Me and Amelia?” There was an odd tone to her voice, and I couldn’t tell if I’d upset her or not. “I’m not sure what you mean. We’re best friends. We’ve known each other for years. Why?”

  “I was wondering if it was, you know, more than that. You two are really close.”

  “Yeah, we’re super close. But we’re not, you know, to
gether like that. There’s nothing wrong with being more than friends,” she added quickly. “But we’re not. We’re best friends. That’s it.”

  “Cool.” I tried to relax. It didn’t sound like I’d totally freaked her out by asking her the question. “I hope I’m not butting in with the two of you.”

  “Why would you feel like you’re butting in?”

  “Well, you know how some people are. They have their besties, and they don’t want anyone intruding on that. Some people are like that, and I get it. They do better with a single friend.” I felt like such a doofus, like I was making too big of a deal about our fledgling relationship. Ugh! Why couldn’t I just be chill and not try to overdefine things all the time?

  “Nah, we’ve had a few other close friends, actually. There was a group of us who grew up together and we used to hang out. Rene is doing a foreign-exchange thing this year in Italy. Simone is still around, but she sort of drifted away when she started dating Craig. And Shonda moved to California two years ago.”

  “Moving sucks,” I admitted.

  “I’m glad I haven’t had to deal with it. I’ve always lived here, in the same house, even. It seems like it would suck having your folks dragging you around without caring about the friends you leave behind.” Then she quickly added, “Not that I think that’s what happened to you when you moved here.”

  “My dad was worried about it, actually. I left a couple of friends back in Texas, but we’re keeping in touch online.” I finished up the math problems and put the papers in my homework folder.

  “I’ve tried to keep up with my friends who have moved, but even with the internet, it’s not the same. It’s easier when we’re all in the same town, going to the same school, and seeing each other all the time.”