It's Not That Simple

 

 

Peachville won the game 21-7. Lark ran up to me in the bleachers, grabbed me by the arm, and pulled me out onto the field with her and the rest of the squad.

 

“You should go say hi to Drake,” she said with a giggle. “He's so into you.”

 

I blushed. “You really think so?”

 

“Duh. Don't even try to pretend you don't know he likes you,” she said, then pushed me toward him on the field.

 

“Harper!” Drake called. He grabbed me up in a big bear hug and lifted me several inches off the ground.

 

I laughed harder than I remembered laughing in a very long time. “You were great,” I said when he finally put me down.

 

“That's because I had the prettiest girl in the whole school right there, front and center,” he said. “I wanted to impress you.”

 

Me? The prettiest girl in school? I felt so happy I could burst.

 

“Have fun tonight,” he said. He leaned down and kissed the top of my head, then ran off to join the rest of the team.

 

Afterward, at Brooke's, the girls drilled me about my relationship with Drake. We had all changed into cheer shorts and tank tops and were hanging out in Brooke's living room. The place was unreal. Sure, Shadowford was big, but this place was fancy. Plush carpeting. A huge stone fireplace. High ceilings. I was scared to touch anything.

 

“Has he asked you out yet?” Allison asked.

 

I searched her face to make sure there was no sign of jealousy about me dating her ex. She didn't ever talk about him, and now it seemed like she was encouraging me to date him. It was odd, but at the same time, I was glad I had the go-ahead to date him if he asked.

 

“No. He just mentioned that he hoped I'd be at the party next weekend.”

 

“That's pretty much the same thing as a date, then,” Lark said.

 

“I bet he's going to kiss you,” Brooke chimed in.

 

“He practically kissed her tonight. Did you see him kiss her head? It was so sweet,” Lark said.

 

“Stop,”I said, hiding my head under a large velvet pillow. “You guys are embarrassing me.”

 

“Harper's got a boyfriend,” Allison sang.

 

“Oh Lord, what are you? Ten?” Brooke threw a pillow at Allison and she kicked back. Soon everyone was giggling and play-fighting, tossing pillows around the room and being silly.

 

I hid behind the couch, but Lark came around and started tickling me. We rolled on the floor and her shirt came up slightly, revealing a strange tattoo in the small of her back.

 

“What's that?” I asked, out of breath.

 

“What?” she asked, quickly pulling down her shirt.

 

“That tattoo?”

 

The room grew oddly quiet. Lark and Brooke exchanged glances. “I don't have a tattoo,” she said, laughing. But her laugh came out nervous. She was hiding something.

 

“Yes you do,” I said. “I saw it. Here, lift up your shirt.”

 

“Stop,” she said, moving away.

 

Her tone stung.

 

“Sorry,” I mumbled. I hadn't meant to make anyone upset, but I had definitely seen something tattooed on her back. An animal of some sort, I thought. But there was a strangeness to it. The colors had been too bright. Maybe it was just one of those fake tattoos, and I had embarrassed her or something.

 

“Let's get to work,” Brooke said.

 

Everyone gathered together in the middle of the room to teach me the cheers and after just a few minutes, the awkwardness of the tattoo incident was gone. But in the back of my mind, the oddness of it lingered. Between the girl who had fallen from the pyramid and now the weirdness of the tattoo, I felt like someone was keeping secrets from me.

 

At the same time, what did it matter? Was I willing to let a few secrets or awkward misunderstandings get in the way of my new happiness? No way. I threw myself into learning the cheers and the one dance the girls said would be used for the auditions next Thursday after school.

 

It took some serious work. I wasn't the most coordinated person in the world. But after a few times through, I was really getting the hang of it.

 

“Not bad,” Brooke said. She gave me some pointers, then stood back to watch me run through the cheers one more time. “If you keep working hard this week, I don't see any reason you wouldn't make the squad.”

 

“Really?” Thinking about the auditions made me nervous. I didn't even want to see who all showed up Monday.

 

“You've got this,” Lark said, squeezing my arm.

 

I smiled, feeling better now that she seemed to have forgiven me for the whole tattoo thing. “I'm going to run to the bathroom,” I said. Brooke told me where I could find one and I rushed out of the room.

 

When I came back, though, I heard them talking about me. I pressed against the wall, staying out of sight.

 

“Why can't we tell her, though?” That was Allison. “If she's the Prima, why can't we just tell her everything and get it over with?”

 

“It's not that simple,” Lark said.

 

“You need to be more careful about who sees that tattoo,” Brooke said.

 

So I was right about her having one, but why did it matter? It wasn't like I was going to judge anyone for having a dumb tattoo.

 

“I know. I didn't mean to show it, but we were playing around and my shirt came up. It happens.”

 

I scooted closer to the edge of the wall, hoping to hear better, but my toe made a popping sound. I cringed as the living room went silent.

 

“Harper?”

 

I tiptoed back down the hall a bit, then walked normal, as if I was just coming back. “Yep,” I said. “What's next on the agenda?”

 

“Sleep,” Brooke said with a yawn. “It's already almost three-thirty.”

 

Later, after everyone had climbed into sleeping bags on the living room floor, my mind refused to rest. Everything had been so strange since my illness, and things just weren't adding up. Allison had said I was the Prima. What did that mean exactly?

 

Fragments of a strange dream I'd had when I was passed out with fever came to me suddenly. A silver knife. A woman with blood red eyes.

 

“The Prima has finally come home,” the voice had said in my dream.

 

I felt along the diagonal scar on my palm. Ella Mae had told me I cut my hand on a piece of glass when I passed out in the bathroom that night after I got back from the police station. She said I'd been holding a cup of tea and when I fell, it broke. One of the jagged pieces sliced open my hand. I'd believed her. But now...

 

I wasn't so sure.