Comeback Read online

  “Come in!” Clare’s voice was muffled by the door.

  I touched the doorknob, noting it had been replaced with a clear crystal knob. Mental note: Ask Clare where she and Riley found it.

  “Hey!” I said, opening the door.

  “Hi, hi!” Clare said, hurrying over and taking our overnight bags. She put them along the wall and came back, hugging Khloe, then me.

  “I’m so glad we’re sleeping over!” Khloe said. “Tonight’s going to be amaze!”

  Clare’s blue eyes were extra bright, verging on sapphire. “I know! Lex’ll be here any minute.”

  “Thanks again for inviting me,” I said. “I’m so excited. I’ve been counting down till now.”

  Clare smiled, genuine and warm. “Of course I’d invite you, Laur. I’m glad you were free.”

  My eyes surveyed the room. “Wow. It’s gorge in here.”

  “Oh!” Clare said. “That’s right—you’ve never been in our room before. Walk around and look at whatever you want.”

  “Whoa,” I said, spotting an extra room. “You and Riley scored a triple?”

  Clare shrugged, her cheeks getting a little pink. “Riley did that. She arranged it over the summer. I guess we were supposed to have another roommate, but it didn’t work out. Christina never moved us, so we got to keep the room.”

  Khloe snorted. “Was the ‘roommate’s’ name ‘Ima Fake?’”

  Clare laughed. “Oh, Khloe. Riley would have used a real girl and probably gone as far as getting a birth certificate to score this room.”

  I surveyed the living-room space. The girls had a small cream-and-lilac love seat facing a massive plasma TV mounted on the wall. Below the TV was a floating bookshelf of DVDs. The ultra-plush cream rug covered most of the shiny hardwood floor, leaving only a little exposed along the wall.

  On either side of the love seat were two glass end tables. Each held a lamp with a skinny crystal base that twisted up under a light-pink-and-off-white-striped shade. Pastel coasters with silver stars added pops of color.

  “This is beautiful, Clare,” I said, gesturing to the love seat and lamps. “Who picked out the stuff?”

  Clare smiled. “I did, actually. I asked Riley if I could decorate the entire room this year, since she did it last year. It took, well, a lot of convincing before she said yes. I even added the caveat that if she didn’t like it, we’d scrap it and she could redo the room.”

  “Seems like she was happy with it,” I said.

  “She loves it,” Clare said. “I was desperate to change up our style from last year—so pristine it felt like I shouldn’t sleep in my own bed. Plus, I had a feeling that Riley would love the pastel shades once she saw them in the room.”

  Khloe looked over at me. “Were you expecting the Princess of Cheer and Light to have black-painted walls or something über-expensive?”

  “Maybe not black walls, but I didn’t think it would be company friendly.”

  I walked to the end of the room, where one bed was aligned along the wall. Under the window a nightstand, filled with glittering Swarovski crystal animals, had a reading lamp and iPod dock. In the corner at the opposite side of the room, an ivy plant in a white wicker basket hung down, with tendrils of ivy curling softly.

  “That’s my bed,” Clare said. “Riley’s is in the other room, even though technically we can fit two beds in here and one in the smaller room.”

  “I love it!” I said. Clare’s style was girly with a Victorian feel. Her four-poster bed had twinkle lights that wrapped up the posts. The headboard, white painted metal, was an intricate twist. She had piles of light yellow pillows, a matching comforter with splotches of white, and a few stuffed animals: a chestnut horse that looked like Fuego, a hamster with adorable pink ears, and a black-and-white cat with blue eyes. I smiled and picked up a purple My Little Pony.

  “I love these,” I said. “I used to play with them when I was a kid—I don’t have any like this, but I want one!”

  “Ooh, we should get some!” Khloe said from her spot on the couch. “We should be embarrassed that we, as dedicated equestrians, do not have any My Little Ponies—only the cutest, happiest ponies ever.”

  Clare grinned and came over to me. “That’s Twinkle. I hid her for weeks when I started here last year. I didn’t want Riley or anyone to think I was a baby for having stuffed animals. But guess what? Riley has her own.”

  “Show me!”

  I placed Twinkle back among her friends and followed Clare into the “other roommate’s” room.

  At first I couldn’t figure out why Riley would want a smaller room and not just bunk with Clare. There wasn’t a door, so it wasn’t like she had extra privacy. But then I stepped inside.

  “Whoa.” It was all I could say.

  Khloe and Clare laughed.

  “So, what do you think, Laur?” Khloe asked. “You’re so quiet.”

  I was quiet because I felt swallowed by pink and ruffles!

  R-U-F-F-L-E-S.

  “Is this a joke?” I asked, turning to the girls. “Did you guys do this to Riley’s room and hide her real stuff?”

  Clare shook her head. “Pinky promise. Never would have guessed it, huh?”

  “Never.” I inhaled a gentle waft of roses and saw a wall plug-in with a pink cartridge. This could not be the lair of Khloe’s arch-nemesis, of the girl who’d gone out of her way to make me uncomfortable, or of the girl who I was sure had done awful things that I had yet to learn.

  I took another step onto the bubble-gum-pink carpet. Riley had laid four rugs so half the carpet was pink and the other half was white. Her twin bed looked as if it was buried under a foot of bedding—sheets, blankets, comforter. The bedspread, same color as the pink carpet, had tiny white polka dots. The edges of the comforter had layers and layers of ruffles.

  “How long does it take Riley to move all those at night?” I asked, pointing to the pillows on the bed.

  There were pink and white pillows of every shape and size imaginable. I recognized a few round ones with ruffles that spiraled into the center from Pottery Barn Teen.

  “She’s got it down to a science,” Clare said. “Not as long as you’d think.”

  There was a knock on the door, and Clare excused herself to answer it. I heard Lexa’s voice and then Clare’s say, “Lauren just discovered the Room of Pink.”

  “Ooh,” Lexa said, laughing. She stepped into Riley’s room with Clare and stood near Khloe and me. “Hey!”

  “Hi!” Khloe and I said simultaneously.

  “I forgot that this was your first time here,” Lexa said. “Did you ever think for a nanosecond that Riley Edwards’s room would look like this?”

  I shook my head. “Even the curtains are pink!” The windows were decked out in sheer pink curtains, with a heavier velvet pink curtain over the top. They were held back by white ties. Ruffled white ties.

  “I mean, I have a favorite color and it does dominate my room,” I said, still glancing around from one pink object to the next. “There’s nothing wrong with decorating your room however you like, but I did not expect this from Riley.”

  Khloe touched a silver photo frame adorned with pink crystals. “I thought about telling you first, but you seeing it like this was oh-so-delicious.”

  I walked over to Riley’s desk, which had two white bookcases on either side. There were a few books, mostly equine-related, held by wooden heart bookends.

  The rest of the space was filled with framed photos. Photos that didn’t reflect the Riley I knew. One was a gorge close-up of Adonis, his gaze soft as he looked into the camera. A setting sun cast a gentle light on his neck. Another shot was of Clare and Riley, sitting bareback on Fuego and Adonis. No bridles, just their fingers intertwined in manes. Lush trees made a vibrant green background, and both girls were in T-shirts and shorts. I’d never seen Riley look like that . . . blissful.

  “C’mon, guys,” Clare said. “Let’s forget about Riley for a night and get our party started.”


  LIST-MAKER CLARE

  “LET’S DO IT!” LEXA SAID. WE FOLLOWED Clare out of Riley’s room and settled around the living room table.

  There was a sheet of notebook paper in the center, and “Sleepover Stuff!!” was written in super-neat, tiny handwriting across the top. Clare started to move the paper toward her, but Khloe put her hand on top of Clare’s.

  “What’s this?” Khloe asked.

  Clare’s face turned red, making her freckles invisible. “Just a silly list that I made. Of stuff. Stuff to do. Sleepover stuff.”

  “Wow, you made actual plans?” Lexa asked, pulling her curly hair into a messy ponytail. She made a worried face. “Maybe I should do that. I don’t want mine to be boring!”

  Clare shook her head, a red curl loosening from her clip. “No, no. It’s not like that. It’s . . . well, I’ve never had my own sleepover before. Riley is always the hostess. She decides everything we do. And don’t do. And eat. And watch on TV. We always have fun, and I didn’t even think until a few hours ago that this was my sleepover.”

  “I bet I can speak for all of us when I say I know we’re going to have fun,” I said. “I’m so excited to be here.”

  “Me too,” Khloe said, patting her friend’s hand. “I’m sorry if you got stressed or thought we wouldn’t have fun. Want us to look at your list and see what you’ve got?”

  Clare nodded. “Maybe. Okay. Yes.”

  I tried not to make the face I knew that I wouldn’t want—the oh-poor-you face. Instead I looked at the list with the other girls.

  SLEEPOVER STUFF!!

  Movies (?) but will anyone want to watch one? Who picks? What if I only have boring ones?

  Snacks. Make sure to get something *everybody* likes!!

  TV series on DVD. Same prob as movies.

  Board games. (Are those lame?)

  Nails?

  Prank call boys?

  I stopped before I read the rest and looked up from the paper. “Clare,” I said, “this is a great list!”

  Clare glanced up from her nails, where she’d been picking at the polish. “Really?”

  “Really!” Lexa, Khloe, and I said at the same time. It made us all giggle.

  “You don’t need Riley or anyone else to plan a sleepover, Clare,” Lexa said. “I totally get being nervous to host one, but you’ve been to enough to know what to do. Plus, you know us. I’m definitely chill doing whatever.”

  “Me too,” Khloe said. She shot Lexa a quick smile. Clare and Lexa weren’t BFFs, because of Clare’s friendship with Riley. But Lexa had just been the first one to assure Clare of her sleepover capabilities. I knew it made Khloe feel good to see two of her besties getting along.

  “We can do all the things on your list, none of them, or some,” I said. “It’s your room, and you can decide what we do or we can all decide together.”

  Clare smiled. “Thanks, guys. You’re making me feel so much better about this. I’d love for all of us to pick.”

  We all nodded in agreement.

  “Nails, anyone?” Khloe asked. “Mine are gross, and they have, like, polish on every other finger.”

  “I sooo need mine done!” Lexa raised her hand as if she was waiting for a teacher to call on her.

  In minutes Clare had pulled out a giant plastic bin of polish.

  “Whoa,” Lexa said, peering inside. “That’s a lot of—”

  She stopped when Clare put down a second bin, popped off the top, and grinned. “In case there weren’t enough colors to choose from . . . these are Riley’s.”

  Between the two girls, every brand and color was available.

  “Love how you mix expensive polishes with drugstore brands,” I said. “Just because the bottle says ‘Chanel’ doesn’t automatically make it a good polish.”

  “Agreed!” Clare said, sitting cross-legged next to me. “I love Wet n Wild, Sally Hansen—all those you can buy at the drugstore.”

  Each of us picked up different bottles, and no one had the same color choice. I finally settled on a matte-gray OPI, Khloe picked a taxicab-yellow Revlon, Clare fell in love with an emerald-green Essie, and Lexa chose a shimmery caramel Deborah Lippman.

  “I know the rest of you guys know this,” I said, turning to Clare. “But what’s your background? Where are you from? I don’t know much about you.”

  Clare rubbed a polish-remover-soaked cotton ball over her thumb, smiling. “These guys do know, so I’ll try to make it interesting. I was born in Texas but moved to a tiny town just about twenty minutes away from here when I was two. So Connecticut’s my home.”

  “Can totally picture you growing up in Texas,” Khloe said, sticking out her tongue. “Tumbleweeds, armadillos, giant snakes . . .”

  Clare gave her friend a mock evil eye. “If I had grown up there, you left out one thing: cute cowboys.”

  Lexa, Khloe, and I laughed.

  “Touché,” Khloe said.

  “So, you escaped the tumbleweeds, armadillos, monster snakes, and cute cowboys practically before you could talk,” I said. “What’s your family like?”

  “So normal that it’s seriously boring,” Clare said. “My dad’s a dentist, Mom works at the local bank, and I’ve got a chocolate Lab that I’ve considered petitioning to bring to school with me.”

  “We really could use a dorm hall mascot,” Lexa said, smiling. “I love dogs. I had a cocker spaniel when I lived in London.”

  “Yeaaah,” I said. “About that. What’s the deal with London? What do your parents do?”

  Lexa looked up from painting her index finger. “I lived there for a year when I was ten. Didn’t pick up the accent or anything.”

  “Tragic,” Khloe murmured.

  Lexa shook her head. “Lucky for me, Khlo, no one has ever asked me to read with a British accent.”

  “I meant tragic for moi,” Khloe said. “I want to learn accents, and you could have coached me.”

  We all laughed. So Khloe was obsessed with her acting. Her determination to “make it” was inspiring, to me, anyway.

  “We’ll rent a bunch of Brit flicks and they’ll help you,” I said.

  The other girls nodded.

  “Sorry,” Khloe said, shaking her head. “Lex, I totally derailed your London convo.”

  “No, you didn’t. All I really had left to say was that I wish I could have lived there longer. I was too young to really appreciate everything about the city.”

  “Why just a year?” Clare asked.

  “Witness protection,” Lexa said. “Mom’s background as an ex-spy comes with some strings.”

  My mouth fell open. I snapped it shut, feeling like a huge dork. “S-spy?” I asked.

  Lexa looked over, holding my gaze. “Top secret. It can’t leave this room.”

  I just stared at her, then nodded. I sneaked a glance at Clare, whose eyes were wide like a spooked horse.

  Lexa grinned. “Sorry, Clare and LT. I always play the spy card on new people. Like Clare thinks her family is boring, mine is too. I only lived in London because my mom was transferred to her company’s European branch.”

  I gave her an exaggerated sigh. “You and Khloe are perfect for each other. Khloe pretended to hate me the second we met, and you made me think I’d befriended a girl with a spy for a parent.”

  We tossed around stories of what we’d thought when we first met each other. The conversation was easy, and soon our nails were drying.

  Khloe picked up her phone and opened an app. I recognized Chatter. Lexa and Clare, deep in conversation about the upcoming schooling show, didn’t notice. Khloe scrolled through updates and, stopping on one, frowned.

  I could only guess whose update she had read.

  “Sounds like Riley’s doing awesome in New York,” Khloe said. Her usually upbeat tone was flat.

  Clare and Lexa looked up.

  “Why do you think that?” Lexa asked.

  “Because of Chatter. I haven’t let myself check Riley’s updates for two whole days, and I finally did. Sh
e’s Chatting update after update about how she’s killing her audition and how much she loves New York City.”

  Khloe held her BlackBerry up to us. There was a photo of a grinning Riley, standing at night in Times Square. Billboards glowed and glittered all around her.

  “Don’t let Riley ruin this,” I said. “Like Clare said, we never get a chance to sleep over here.”

  “Plus, you know Riley’s a li—” Lexa stopped, looking at Clare. “I mean, you know Riley exaggerates. Maybe she is doing great. But I bet a lot of other actors are too.”

  Clare inspected her nails, looking as if she was measuring her words, then looked at Khloe. “Riley hasn’t told me much about what’s going on. But whatever happens, I don’t want to waste tonight thinking about something we have zero control over.”

  Khloe took a long breath and shoved her phone across the room. “You’re right. Sorry, guys. There’s so much awesome stuff to talk about.” A giant smile spread across her face, and she looked at me. “Like, something to do with our very own Lauren Towers.”

  I looked at her sideways. “Me?”

  “Yes, you.” She looked at the other girls. “I met Laur’s sister, Rebecca, on Skype, and she told me something that LT had neglected to mention. Something vital.”

  Clare and Lexa’s attention was no longer on their nails. They watched Khloe, waiting for the rest.

  “Lauren’s birthday is coming up!” Khloe said. She flashed me a smile. “It’s only on one of the coolest days of the year—Halloween!”

  “Lauren!” Lexa and Clare said at the same time.

  “How come you didn’t tell us?” Lexa asked.

  “Yeah!” Clare said. “We obvi need time to plan you a killer first Canterwood birthday party.”

  I waved a hand. “I was going to bring it up. There was a lot going on when Becca told Khlo.”

  Clare sipped her orange soda. “Not much is more important than your thirteenth birthday that happens to fall on Halloween. There are so many things we can do with this. Ahhh! I’m excited.”