I was a push-through-it kind of girl, but I worked in food service. My customers didn’t appreciate me handling their food while I puked my guts out in the bathroom.
Becky Calvin leaned out of her window when I walked through the school doors. “Hey, pretty lady!”
“Hey!” I smiled at her, sidling up to the window ledge. “You look cute.” She was dressed as a cat in the most minimal way possible. She wore adorable cat ears and a fuzzy black sweater, and she’d painted a kitten nose and whiskers on her face. She was the cutest.
She laughed and rolled her eyes. “Would you believe I get excited for school parties? Growing up, my dad never let my brother or me dress up. This is like living out a missing part of my childhood.”
“Your dad didn’t let you celebrate Halloween?”
She shrugged. “Baptist preacher, remember? When I was a kid, Halloween was the day that all the sadists came out to kidnap children.”
I snorted a laugh. “I didn’t know we had so many sadists in Clark City.”
“The funny thing is now that my brother is married with kids, my dad is all about the holiday. He dresses up with my nieces and nephews and takes them all by himself.”
“Does that make you mad?” I laughed.
Shaking her head, she said, “Not really. I’m happy he’s a better grandpa than he was a dad.”
“I feel the same way about my mom,” I sympathized. Only for totally opposite reasons. Becky’s dad was too involved in her life. My mom encouraged me to go trick-or-treating, albeit by myself, but that way she felt like I had enough snacks to last me a while. It was basically free grocery shopping on her end.
“Hey, I heard a rumor about you,” she said, leaning closer so the office trolls behind her didn’t overhear.
“Oh, no, I can only imagine.”
She waggled her eyebrows dramatically. “Word around town is that Levi Cole has the hots for you. How come you never told me he’s been burning a flame for you since high school.”
“Because he hasn’t,” I snapped, more forcefully than I should have. “I mean, not that I knew about anyway. He picked on me back then. Not much has changed.”
“I heard something about Pug’s last weekend,” she whispered.
I couldn’t help it. I leaned forward and dropped my voice. “Oh, no. What did you hear?”
“About the fight.”
“What fight?”
“The fight with Levi and that horse trainer.”
“You’re going to have to be more specific,” I encouraged her, dread curling my toes inside my Chucks.
“You really don’t know? I could have sworn you were there.”
“Were you there?” I asked her, exasperated.
“Well, no. That’s just what I heard.”
“Becky, I know for sure I didn’t see a fight. If I had seen it, I would remember seeing it. Now can you please tell me what happened?”
She pursed her lips for a moment, feigning indecision, but believe me, it was only an act. Then she launched into her story. “Apparently, Levi was pissed off because you showed up with another man to his party and he sulked the whole night. Kristen March tried to get his attention for hours and he would have none of her. That’s what Monica Kerry told me anyway. When Kristen asked him what his problem was, I guess he said it was the guy you were with was pissing him off. Then everybody had too much to drink and the horse trainer said something to Levi about you and Levi punched him in the face.”
“Oh, my god, then what?”
“Then, I don’t know… I wasn’t there.”
“Did they fight?”
“No, I think Levi knocked him out cold.”
