Livin' La Vida Bennet Read online

  “Knock knock.” Actually, no one knocked on my door, which suddenly swung open under the power of Liz’s rude hand. “How’s the family’s newest musician?”

  As Liz and Jane walked into my room, followed by a sullen Cat, I kicked my red boots under the bed. Hissing, Boris went after them. “I don’t remember inviting anyone in.”

  “That’s why we had to take the initiative. Even though I’m usually pretty respectful of a person’s privacy.”

  Even Jane raised her eyebrows at Liz.

  “Good.” I grabbed my jeans and top off the bed, rolled them into a ball I’d probably regret later, and tossed them in the closet. “Because I like to be alone.”

  Okay, being alone was actually new to me, and something I’d never craved, but I’d take it over hanging out with sanctimonious sisters, not to mention a snake like Cat. I couldn’t even look at her. I might poke her eyes out if I did.

  No one said anything. Finally, Jane went over to my closet, stooped down to retrieve my outfit, and shook it out. “New top? It’s cute. I like how it goes with the boots under your bed.”

  So much for hiding anything from Jane, at least.

  Her gaze swept the room, landing on my guitar. “And it’ll look good with your guitar. I see Mom took you shopping.”

  I whirled on her. “What’s that supposed to mean? That my clothes suck?”

  Liz took a step toward me, as if she actually had to defend Jane from me, but Jane waved her off. She glanced at the door, nodded to Cat to shut it, then took a step closer. My outfit dangled from her fingers.

  “Mom may not be perfect—”

  She frowned at Liz, who snorted.

  “—but we all know she’s the consummate shopper. She bought you a guitar, and her eye probably twitched until you let her buy you a rock-star outfit. Am I right?”

  Close. It took only two seconds of twitching to get me to agree to the outfit.

  I shrugged. “I pick out my own clothes.”

  Jane lifted one eyebrow. “You don’t let Mom pay for them? I would.”

  “And often have.” Liz nudged Jane with her elbow, and they both laughed.

  Cat was the only one not saying anything. She stood by the closed door, sneaking furtive glances at it as if she’d rather escape the first chance she got.

  Smart girl. I hadn’t yet ruled out killing her.

  “So.” Liz stepped toward me again, but this time not looking quite as menacing. At least, not overtly. “You’ve got a gig tonight at Kirk’s house. What time? Eight?”

  “We’re supposed to practice at six. Just the band.” I hoped.

  I resisted the urge to look at the clock on Mary’s desk, even though the ticking sounded like a time bomb. I had less than half an hour to get there on time, not that it mattered. Without a crowd around, the band would really hear how badly I played. I could strum my A and G chords competently. On a good day, and with some luck, maybe E. D and C, no way. And I hadn’t even tried anything else. My fingertips ached from practicing, and my ego was about to hurt even worse.

  “So get dressed. We’ll all go.”

  My gaze flew to Liz’s face. She wasn’t smirking, which only meant she might be getting better at hiding it.

  Although I doubted it.

  “You’re not coming. The practice is just for the band.” Please, God, let it be true. “And you and Jane don’t go to high-school parties.”

  Cat looked like she’d rather claw her way through the closed door than stay in this room another second. Fine by me.

  Liz grinned, which meant that my evening was about to go from bad to disastrous. “Jane and I have gone to a lot of high-school parties. We love high-school parties.”

  Jane rolled her eyes.

  “In fact, we went to a great party at Kirk’s house last spring. Didn’t we have fun, Jane?”

  Cat rolled her eyes this time, but Jane actually nodded. “We had more fun than Kirk and Tess, definitely.”

  Something flickered in Cat’s eyes—a cross between cocky and horrified—and I realized she hadn’t told me about it. I couldn’t imagine what Jane might’ve done. I mean, she never did anything wrong. Liz? I could imagine a lot.

  Jane handed me my outfit. “Really, Lydia. We’re going. We should’ve gone last year when Cat sang with the band, and I’d rather not make that mistake again.”

  “It wasn’t your mistake, it was Cat’s.” I glared at her. “But Cat makes a lot of mistakes.”

  “We all do.” Jane backed toward the door, towing Liz along with her. “But I try never to make the same mistake twice.”

  I threw my outfit against the wall. “Thanks, but I don’t need your help.”

  “True.” Liz opened the door, shooing Cat and Jane out before turning back to me. “You need Mary’s help. But Mary isn’t here.”

  “Thank God for small favors.”

  “Yeah, and thank your sisters for bigger ones. Babe, you’re going to appreciate this.”

  I crossed the room in three strides and slammed the door on Liz’s smug face.

  “Don’t hold your breath.”

  “Get in the Jeep already.”

  My guitar case slung over one shoulder, I shook my head at Liz. I’d already told her I wasn’t climbing into any car driven by Cat—not ever again—and Cat was behind the wheel of the Jeep.

  Leave it to Cat not to ride with Jeremy the one time I wish she’d disappear with him, preferably forever. But I couldn’t tell Liz or even Jane what Cat had done to me—what she’d told everyone in school—because I wouldn’t put it past Liz to laugh.

  “You’re going to be late.”

  “Whatever. I’m not driving with Cat.”

  Liz rolled her eyes, then started talking slowly, enunciating each word as if she was talking to a toddler. “We’re all driving there together.”

  “Not if Cat’s behind the wheel. And I told you the party doesn’t start until eight. The guys in the band are the only ones showing up at six.”

  God, I hoped that was true. I didn’t need Amber to see this. It was bad enough that I had to be there.

  Liz and Jane looked at each other, sharing some sort of secret language that only the two of them understood. It’d always been like that with them, which was why I still didn’t understand what they were up to. Did they just want to witness my destruction? Hadn’t the YouTube videos from the strip bar in Milwaukee been enough for them?

  With an exasperated huff, Liz climbed into the passenger seat of the Jeep. I stayed on the sidewalk, not budging.

  “Come on.” Jane motioned to me, then dug into her purse and extracted a key ring. When I still didn’t move, she headed to her Prius, parked at the curb right behind the Jeep. “We’ll go in the Prius.”

  I glanced at the Jeep and back again at Jane. When I opened my mouth to ask what was going on, the Jeep’s engine revved up and Cat peeled away from the curb.

  Leaving me with Jane.

  A lightbulb went off in my brain. As an English major, Jane knew all about fiction. Maybe she could come up with a fictional reason why I couldn’t go tonight.

  “Hey, could we—”

  Jane shook her head. “We’re going to the party, Lydia. Kirk’s a friend of yours, right?” Her nose scrunched, letting me know exactly what she thought without saying the words. “If he’s any friend, he’ll understand when you tell him you don’t want to play guitar.”

  “You mean that I can’t play guitar. Cat already told the whole school.”

  “She didn’t.”

  “She did.”

  I followed Jane to the Prius, stowing my guitar in the back seat before I got in, but I wondered if I should just put my guitar back in the house. Let’s face it: one way or another, I wasn’t going to be playing anything tonight. I had no idea why I’d insisted on playing with Kirk’s band. Like Kirk said, Heather could play with them instead.

  Which of course was why I said I’d play.

  “We can leave your guitar in the car if you want. You don�
��t have to bring it inside.”

  “You don’t understand—” I bit off the rest of what I almost said, remembering that I was talking to Jane. Always perfect, totally loved by everyone even without trying.

  “I do understand.” She opened the driver’s door but didn’t climb in, probably wondering if I’d bolt the moment she did. Unlike Liz, she wouldn’t be able to catch me. But running from Jane wouldn’t solve my problems. Shrugging, I climbed into the passenger seat.

  Ready to face my doom.

  “You made it.” Kirk waved at me from the far end of the cavernous living room, where the rest of the band was already assembled and busy tuning their instruments. His grin faltered when he saw I didn’t have a guitar. “Aren’t you playing? Where’s your guitar?”

  “It’s—” In the Prius, I almost said. But didn’t.

  Behind me, Jane nudged me in the back, but I had no idea what she wanted me to do. She and I hadn’t exactly worked out nonverbal communication yet. At this point, we weren’t even too good with verbal.

  “It’s where? Are you playing?” As Kirk spoke to me, he kept looking over my shoulder at Jane. But not with the dopey look most guys had on their face when they looked at Jane.

  “Lydia? What’s going on?”

  I blinked, realizing Kirk was staring at me now. I’d spent the last week trying to come up with a decent answer to his question, and I’d never been so stymied in my life.

  “I’d like to—”

  “What Lydia means to say is—” Jane brushed past me, moving toward him, and it shocked me when he backed up a step. Almost as if he was afraid of her. Weird! “She can’t stay. She was just stopping by to let you know.”

  I couldn’t stay? Did Jane know something I didn’t? As she twisted sideways to give me a smile Kirk couldn’t see, I frowned at her. I couldn’t walk out on Kirk’s band, let alone Kirk, without the best excuse of my life. I wanted Kirk. Blowing him off was no way to get him.

  Was it?

  Based on the storm cloud racing across his face, no.

  When Jane grabbed my arm, I shrugged her off. Maybe if I could catch Kirk alone, I could explain the guitar problem. Actually, maybe we didn’t even have to talk about guitars. We could talk about the two of us.

  “Lydia?” Kirk sidestepped Jane, as if she was covered in poison ivy. “Is this about you not playing guitar? I heard—”

  Behind me, Liz’s voice broke in. “You heard about Lydia and Mary teaming up tonight to perform a special early gift for our parents’ twenty-fifth anniversary? How would you? Mary flew in from college as a surprise this afternoon, and even Lydia didn’t know about it until we got Mary’s call from the airport.”

  Jane nodded. “That’s why Lydia can’t play at your party. She’s been playing guitar a lot longer than Mary, but Mary thought it’d be sweet if they both played for our parents.”

  “Lydia, is that true? I heard you don’t even play guitar. Or you just started playing this week.” Kirk’s voice sounded strangled, and I glanced at the guys in the band, who looked confused as hell. Especially Jeremy. With Liz and Jane on either side of me now, I sneaked a quick glance behind me. No Cat. No surprise.

  Since she was the one who’d busted me with Kirk and everyone else who mattered, she couldn’t exactly hang around while Liz and Jane served up major whoppers just to save my ass. Why they cared enough to do it, I had no idea.

  And weren’t Mom and Dad coming up on their twenty-third anniversary?

  In any case, I obviously couldn’t grab a moment alone with Kirk. I’d begged the Universe for an excuse to get out of playing tonight, and Jane and Liz had come through. I had to go with it, even if it only postponed my doom.

  I shrugged. “Kirk, I’m really sorry. Like they said, it was a huge surprise to me, but I guess that’s what sisters do. At least my sisters.”

  Liz punched my arm as Jane wrapped an arm around my shoulder and squeezed a little too hard.

  She gave Kirk a bright smile. “We really have to run. Sorry! Jeremy, Cat asked me to let you know that she can’t make it tonight, either.”

  I shuffled alongside Jane and Liz as we headed out of the living room and through the long front hall to the front door. Cat, who was waiting by the Jeep, didn’t look happy about this weird twist of events orchestrated by Jane and Liz.

  I knew the feeling.

  “What the fuck?”

  I hauled up short at the Prius, refusing to go anywhere near Cat or the Jeep, which was parked three cars away. Jane and Liz were already at the driver’s door of the Prius, their heads bent together, whispering, even though they seemed to have the telepathic thing down cold. Even before I left for Wisconsin Dells—and Milwaukee and Shangri-La—Cat and I had never been like that.

  I stepped between them. “Is Mary really in town? Or was that some lame excuse to get me out of playing tonight?”

  “It worked, didn’t it?” Liz gave Jane a high-five, totally ignoring how I felt about it. “Don’t tell me you wanted to play guitar tonight.”

  “I didn’t ask you to—” I swallowed hard as a million emotions swirled through me. Embarrassment at hiding behind my sisters. Relief at not playing, even though the relief would last only until the next time Kirk’s band played. Crushing anger at all three of my sisters who’d done this to me, but especially Cat. She hadn’t even been in the room with us when it all went down tonight, but it was her fault that everyone knew I didn’t play guitar, and she’d pay.

  “Babe, if you want to play, you can still grab your guitar and go right back inside.” Liz shook her head. “No one’s stopping you.”

  It was more complicated than that, and Liz knew it.

  She gave me a strange look. “You don’t know how to play guitar, do you?”

  Besides the A, G, and E chords, and not even those all that well? Not exactly. “I’m taking lessons.”

  “That’s great.” Jane smiled at me, but since she’d smiled the same way at Kirk five minutes ago, it didn’t exactly comfort me. “But Cat told us—and so did Mom—that you just got a guitar on Monday night. You know it took Mary at least three months, right? And I have the impression that was pretty fast.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Why does everyone keep comparing me with Mary? But is it true? Is she in town this weekend?”

  Jane shook her head. “I couldn’t think of a better excuse. Sorry. And the anniversary—”

  “It’s not for two more years. Yeah, I did the math.”

  I glanced down the street as a car cruised toward us. It was too early for the party, but I wouldn’t put it past Amber or Chelsea to show up now. To keep an eye on me or just to laugh hysterically the moment I mangled my first chord.

  “You guys didn’t do me any favors. I still have to play guitar sometime, and now I’ll be teased mercilessly in school on Monday for having my sisters protect me. Thanks a lot.”

  “You’re welcome.” Liz must’ve spotted the car coming down the street, too, and headed for the Jeep as Jane unlocked the Prius. “We went through this with Kirk once before, you know. He won’t give you any grief on Monday.”

  “Right.”

  Liz opened the passenger door to the Jeep but glanced back at me. “Ask Cat. We did it for her last year, which is probably why she came up with the idea to do it tonight for you.”

  “Well, no wonder.” I shot another glare at Cat, the little shit. “I’ll be sure to thank her personally.”

  The first chance I got.

  I spent the rest of the weekend—when I wasn’t wrestling my Accounting homework into submission—plotting my revenge.

  Against Cat.

  It wasn’t Jane’s or Liz’s fault, after all. They were just dupes for my twin sister. It wasn’t Kirk’s fault, either, or anyone else’s in the band. They’d all just jumped on Cat’s nasty gossip the way a starving dog lunged after a bone.

  No, this was all on Cat. If I happened to nail anyone else—like, say, Chelsea or Amber—that was just a bonus.

  I leaped
out of bed and got the first jump on the shower Monday morning, then caught an early ride to school with Mom, who kept asking if I wouldn’t rather ride in the Jeep with Cat. Not in this lifetime, but I just shook my head and claimed I needed to find something in the school media center.

  I got to Speech class twenty minutes before the bell rang, which was fifteen minutes before anyone else would show up, but I didn’t want to blow this. My plan involved taking Cat down, but it took a village to take down a sister, and I had to start somewhere. Chelsea would be excellent practice. Okay, I also wanted to avoid all the kids who’d see me in the hall and ask if I’d bailed on Kirk’s party because I couldn’t play guitar.

  Striding to the back of the room, I grabbed the desk Chelsea had sat in all of last week. She’d just sit on the other side of Drew, but it would bug her, and that would be satisfying enough. For now.

  Sure enough, Drew and several other kids arrived five minutes before the bell rang. I’d already noticed that Drew and Chelsea didn’t usually walk in together, which probably meant they weren’t driving to school together, which surprised me. I mean, Chelsea didn’t seem bright enough to pass a driver’s test. No wonder Drew liked her. No challenge.

  A grin lit Drew’s face as he headed to the back of the room and sat in the desk next to me.

  He glanced to the front of the room, probably keeping an eye out for Chelsea, before leaning in my direction. “Missed you on Friday night. At Kirk’s house.”

  “Yeah. Couldn’t make it, thanks to my stupid family.” I lifted one shoulder, trying to look bummed. “Good party?”

  Drew glanced again at the door. “Not as good without you.”

  “Which means . . . what?” I turned sideways, trying not to roll my eyes when he looked down my shirt, mostly just wishing Chelsea were here to see this.

  He finally met my eyes, but not before scoping me out intensely enough to make me shiver. “Meaning . . . I’d still like to get together.”

  “Yeah?” That made one of us. “What about Chelsea?”

  Speak of the devil. She scooted into the room as the bell rang, giggling with some other girl—Heather, I was startled to realize—and only belatedly glancing to the back of the room. By now all the seats around us had filled, and the snarl on her face told me she realized it.