Claire glanced at her watch. She had Cooper’s curly brown hair, but that’s where their similarities ended. She was thin and willowy instead of tall and athletic. Brown eyes instead of blue. Shy instead of flauntingly popular. On most days, she kept her hair pulled back in a ponytail and wore nondescript clothing, as though she wanted to escape attention. “You’ve got to go to work soon,” she told Cooper.
Oh, I knew this fact because Cooper reminded me of it at five-minute intervals.
He grunted and checked how many paw prints we had left. Still about another half an hour’s worth. “I can’t go until we’re finished.”
“You’re done now,” I said, because I didn’t want him acting like a martyr anymore. “I can do the rest myself.”
He moved the stencil to a new position, slapping it onto the sidewalk. “You need someone to hold this down.”
Claire dropped her backpack on the ground in resignation. “I’ll do it.”
Cooper shook his head. “I’ll get in trouble if I leave before the job is done. I’ll just have to tell my boss that I was attacked by another student and hope he doesn’t fire me for being late.”
Martyr. “If Security Bill comes by to check on us, I’ll tell him you’re in the bathroom.” I doubted that the man would show up. He hadn’t checked on us yet, and I’d begun to wonder if he’d forgotten about us altogether.
Cooper shook his head again. “If Claire stays, she won’t have a ride home. Davika always drives her home.”
Davika was another junior girl in drama. “I’ll take her,” I said. Silver Creek wasn’t that big of a city. Their house couldn’t be too far away.
“Fine.” He stood up and wiped the dirt off his hands in quick, determined strokes. “If the security guard comes back, I guess I can trust you to pull off a convincing lie. You’re good at that.”
“Finally, a compliment,” I said.
He didn’t respond to that, just picked up his stuff and stalked off in the direction of the parking lot.
“I’m glad we had this chance to work on our relationship!” I called after him.
Still no answer.
That’s what I got for offering to do the rest of the job myself.
Claire sat next to me and took hold of the stencil with both hands like Cooper had done. “I just hold it in place?” she asked.
“Yeah. Pretty much.”
We worked silently for a couple of minutes. I guess that was one trait she had in common with her brother. Neither of them wanted to talk to me. In class, I’d always thought Claire’s silence toward me was because she was the quiet type and in the grade below me. I’d liked her well enough before Cooper became my nemesis, but afterward I’d only spoken to her when I had to. It hadn’t been much of a noticeable change.
Now I wondered if she went home every day and badmouthed me to Cooper. She’d told him my father bribed Mrs. Russel.Bribed.
How did I broach that subject—or really any subject—when Claire was looking firmly at the pavement and not speaking?
“Donating money is different than bribery,” I finally said. My segues probably needed work.
She looked up warily. “What?”
“My father donated the same amount to the drama club when I was a freshman inFiddler on the Roofand only had the part of Chava, the sister who hardly says anything, runs off with a Christian, and gets disowned in Act Two. Seriously, should I tell him not to donate anything else? Do you want to have to go door-to-door hawking raffle tickets? Because I can tell you that no one in the drama club will be happy about doing that.”
Then I told her everything I’d just said to Cooper. How hard I worked. Learned my lines as soon as I got them. How I practiced singing scales every day. And how her bad-mouthing me to her brother had led to all of this.
She gulped and bit her lip. “I didn’t tell Cooper to do any of the stuff he’s done.” Her brown eyes were stricken and filling with tears.
I stared at her, stunned. I hadn’t meant to make her cry.Since she was Cooper’s sister, I’d figured she was as hard-hearted and immune to criticism as he was.
I had to fix this. If she hadn’t hated me before, she would now. Also, I was pretty sure Security Bill would choose this moment to pop over and check on the project, and I would have to explain why Cooper’s sister was sitting across from me, weeping.
“I’m sorry!” I blurted out. “Really, I shouldn’t have said all of that to you. I’m mad at your brother, and I took it out on you.”
She stared at the pavement, shoulders rounded in a picture of misery. “Are you going to turn the entire drama club against me?”
