Page 29 of The Pact

“I can go with Ausra. I need to use the bathroom too.”

Lynda appears by my side and I barely hear Bode asking me if I’m ok to go with her.

“I can go with Ausra.”

Her words are stuck like a thorn into my consciousness, making my throat tighten at the thought that she knows.

Lynda recognized me. She called me Ausra and I’m pretty sure that earlier I didn’t tell her my name. We didn’t talk, we barely looked at each other.

Every fiber in my being screams at me to beg Bode to walk to the bathroom with me but then I reconsider. It’s probably better to find out what her intentions are without the guys around.

“Thank you,” I murmur, following her away from the bonfire.

Lynda doesn’t say anything as we each enter one of the two stalls and use the toilet.

I start thinking that maybe I imagined her using my name? I haven’t even touched any alcohol but maybe the stress caused by seeing someone from my past—someone who actually used to know me a little more than just seeing me in the school’s hallways—could’ve caused an auditory hallucination?

My ridiculous hope gets shattered when I exit the stall and I find Lynda waiting for me by the two sinks opposite the wooden door I’m still holding onto.

“So I take it that what your parents said to everyone at church, that you moved back to Texas to take care of your ailing grandmother is a load of bullshit, huh?” she says with her usual malicious smile.

“Is that what my parents told everyone when I moved out? Well fuck, I guess that the truth wouldn’t have looked too good for them, since my only ‘sin’ was sneaking around to see my sister in secret.”

I see no point in beating around the bush. Lynda and I have never been friends and I doubt we’ll ever be.

“You went to see McKayla? All the way to England?”

I must look as confused as I feel because Lynda shakes her head. “Don’t tell me.” She smirks. “Mc didn’t fall in love with an English pastor she met when she went to that conference with your dad two years ago? Married him in secret and told your parents only when she found out she was gonna have a baby?”

I shake my head. What the hell is she talking about?

“She doesn’t live in London with her husband and her new baby?”

I sigh. “There’s no husband, Lynda. Mc still lives in Shell Cove. But obviously since Mom and Dad cut her off, she had to move to a much cheaper area of town. She’s actually working hard to support herself and her daughter and to get her GEDs. I’m staying with her.”

Her eyes shine with curiosity and for once her gaze is free from the usual spiteful disdain that I’ve seen every time she’s ever looked at me. Lynda has always looked up to McKayla. My sister was one of the popular girls in school.

“So you live with her and her boyfriend?”

I set her straight. “She doesn’t have a boyfriend. She’s a single mom.”

Her eyes widen. “Are you serious? She isn’t with Johnny? I thought they were so in love! Remember that time sophomore year when we were having dinner with the inner circle families and he came to pick her up on his bike and she sneaked out of your bedroom window to go with him?” she asks in a dreamy tone.

I don’t even blame her. I thought that Mc was so cool too. And while cheerleading captain and starting quarterback is a cliché for a reason, I thought that they were in love. “Yeah, no. Johnny split as soon as he realized that Mc was in trouble. His parents sent him to military school out East and last I heard about him, he enlisted in the military straight after graduation. Mc doesn’t even want to hear his name.”

I guess in that respect, the apple doesn’t fall that far from the tree. When he wasn’t ecstatic about the baby news, she cut her ex-boyfriend off the same way Dad cut her off.

Lynda looks at me for a second, digesting everything I just told her. “So your parents kicked you out because you were hanging out with your sister?”

I confirm that Mc needed help with money and Dad didn’t take kindly to me going behind his back to provide that help.

“Hmm,” she muses. “When I saw you earlier, looking all slutty, I knew that the Texas story was bull. For a second, I hardly knew it was you. You look totally different with your hair down and the makeup. And I see that now that you don’t look like a weirdo anymore, you got in with the most popular guys at school. Better later than never, I guess. I’m just surprised because you aren’t their usual type.”

I ignore her catty tone. “Lynda, I ... please don’t tell the guys how we know each other.”

She immediately understands the reason behind my plea. “They don’t know who you are, do they? I should’ve known that they’d never hang out with a nobody like you! They could have any girl they want here in town and I’m sure that once classes start at Bridgeport, they’ll be just as popular as they were at school!”

I’m sure she’s right. And truth be told, I haven’t thought beyond this party tonight. But I know deep down, that if they know who I am, they’d immediately lose interest in me and I’m simply not ready for that. “Can you keep my secret?” I ask and to my surprise, she nods.

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