Aspen by Crane Rebekah

Author:Crane, Rebekah [Crane, Rebekah]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: In This Together Media
Published: 2014-05-29T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

Ninny cooks for Kim, Cass, Jason and me before the homecoming dance. She spends all day in the kitchen, making weird noises and cursing. At one point it sounds like a symphony of pots and pans, and I ask Ninny if Toaster is over. When it gets so bad that a mini fire breaks out, she gives up and runs to the grocery store for frozen pizza.

“Frozen is at least fancier than Domino’s,” she yells.

Kim drags her yellow muumuu up the stairs to my room like she’s marching to a funeral. I play with different hairstyles, trying to tame my bird’s nest of curls. But I’m distracted by last night. The way Mrs. Ryan held onto Ben. How I want to know what Olivia said to Claire. How I want to burn the shirt Katelyn gave Ben. Which means I might actually be turning into the devil.

When Kim is done adding seven layers of black eyeliner and dark purple lipstick to her face, she lies on my bed, propping herself up on her elbow. “That was crazy last night,” she says.

“I know. I can’t believe Olivia didn’t win. She was, like, totally robbed.” I say it in my best valley girl voice, all bouncy and airy, as I pull my hair back.

“That’s not what I mean and you know it. I’m talking about you and Ben. What the fuck is going on?”

I play with my curls, tucking a few strands into the loose bun at the back of my head. “Nothing.”

“Shopping with Suzy is not nothing. Whispering in corners with Ben is not nothing. Getting crowned homecoming queen is not nothing.” Kim sits up on the bed, her back taut. “Come on, tell me. I’m your best friend. That is, unless Suzy has replaced me.”

“No one could ever replace you.”

Kim gets off the bed and puts my crown on her head. Looking at our reflection in the mirror, I can’t believe we’re almost eighteen. I can see who she’ll be next year: college Kim, passing out flyers for the monthly women’s march on some prestigious campus, making out with an English major who has long hair and Converse shoes. But that guy will never be Cass. And the guy she marries will never be Cass, because the first person you fall in love with is always the first.

“You’ve never told me what happened that night,” Kim says, looking at me in the reflection.

“What night?”

“Aspen.” Kim pops her hip out.

I turn from the mirror and put on my dress. “Remember the first time you and Cass slept over?” I say.

Kim nods, adjusting the tiara to sit right on top of her head.

“I buried Paul,” she says in perfect imitation.

We stayed up all night listening to “Strawberry Fields Forever” by the Beatles over and over, just to hear the part at the end when John Lennon says, “I buried Paul.” Every time it happened, we’d scream like little kids in a haunted house. Then we fell asleep in my bed still fully clothed, three in a row.

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