If you don't, Mrs. Mularkey will.
"I got the newSeventeenandTiger Beat," Kate said, stretching out on the blue shag carpeting. "You want to read 'em? We can take the 'Can You Be Tony DeFranco's Girlfriend?' quiz."
Tully lay down beside her. "Sure."
"Jan-Michael Vincent is so foxy," Kate said, flipping to a picture of the actor.
"I heard he lied to his girlfriend," Tully said, daring a sideways glance.
"I hate liars." Kate turned the page. "Are you really going to be a news reporter? You never told me that."
"Yeah," Tully said, really imagining it for the first time. Maybe she could be famous. Then everyone would admire her. "You'll have to be one, too, though. 'Cause we do everything together."
"Me?"
"We'll be a team like Woodward and Bernstein, only with better clothes. And prettier."
"I don't know—"
Tully bumped her. "Yes, you do. Mrs. Ramsdale told the whole class that you're an excellent writer."
Kate laughed. "That's true. Okay. I'll be a reporter, too."
"When we get famous, we'll tell Mike Wallace we couldn't have done it without each other."
After that, they fell silent, flipping through the magazines. Tully tried twice to bring up the subject of her mother, but both times Kate interrupted her, and then someone was yelling, "Dinner," and her chance for coming clean had slipped away.
All through the best meal of her life, she felt the weight of her lie. By the time they'd cleared the table and washed and dried the dishes, she was stretched to the breaking point. Even dreaming about fame on television couldn't ease her nerves.
"Hey, Mom," Kate said, putting away the last white CorningWare plate, "Tully and me are going to ride our bikes down to the park, okay?"
"Tully and I," her mother answered, reaching down into the magazine pouch of the La-Z-Boy's arm for the TV guide. "And be back by eight."
"Aww, Mom—"
"Eight," her father said from the living room.
Kate looked at Tully. "They treat me like I'm a baby."
"You don't know how lucky you are. Come on, let's get our bikes."
They rode at a breakneck speed down the bumpy county road, laughing all the way. At Summer Hill, Tully flung her arms out and Kate followed.
When they got to the river park, they ditched their bikes in the trees and lay on the grass, side by side, staring up at the sky, listening to the river gurgling against the rocks.
"I have something to tell you," Tully said in a rush.
"What?"
"My mom doesn't have cancer. She's a pothead."
"Your mom smokes dope. Yeah, right."
"It's true. She's always high."
Kate turned to her. "Really?"
"Really."
