Lust

Chapter 16

The high school gym had been transformed. A diligent team of party planners (culled from a joint task force of student council members, cheerleaders, and some devoted PTA moms) had hung enough multicolored leaves, paper lanterns, and “welcome back” banners to turn the place into an autumnal paradise. Could you even tell that beneath all those decorations lay a dirty, smelly, multipurpose room that, in two days, would once again be filled with sweaty students and the occasional fistfight?

In a minute.

It even smelled the same, Adam mused, looking around in disdain at the tacky setup. He supposed all this crap was some girls idea of romantic-he was just glad it wasn’t anyone he had to date.

“Is her back turned?” Kane asked Adam, who was supposed to be on the lookout for the nearest chaperone. They stood in a back corner, just under the bleachers- the exact spot that, if the teachers had any sense at all, they’d be watching around the clock. Where else would you go to make trouble? Fortunately for would-be troublemakers, common sense was commonly absent among the Haven High faculty-or at least, those unsavvy enough to get themselves roped into chaperoning a school dance.

“Yeah, you’re clear,” Adam assured him. “Not that she’d see you.” (Dolores Martin, the school librarian, was about 140 years old and hadn’t been able to see more than ten feet ahead of her since the Nixon administration.) “What are you up to, anyway?”

“I told you, it’s a surprise,” Kane said mysteriously. “I’ve equipped everyone else, but I had to improvise.” He pointed toward one of the guys from the swim team, who was gulping from a plastic bottle.

“Vitamin water?” Adam asked, peering at the bottle.

“Yeah, new flavor-kiwi strawberry with a little something extra.”

“Extra?”

“Vodka can be very healthy for you, you know,” Kane confided with a laugh. “But for you, my friend, something special. A little more risk-but a lot more style.” He pulled a tiny silver flask from inside his jacket and surreptitiously passed it to Adam. “Just don’t get caught.”

Adam fumbled the flask for a moment, then pushed it back toward Kane. He could see it now-the laser beam eyes of his AP history teacher spotting a glint of silver coming out of his pocket. Getting pulled out of Beth’s arms and hauled off the dance floor in front of everyone. Thrown out, disgraced. Beth would certainly never forgive him for ruining her night over something so stupid. No, he had enough to worry about already.

“Doesn’t seem like a great idea,” Adam explained, as Kane shook his head and slipped the flask into one of his outer pockets. “Especially the way my luck is going. Last thing I need is to get suspended for getting drunk on school property or something.”

“Your call,” Kane said ruefully. “Well, I guess a man in love doesn’t need any other forms of intoxication. Speaking of which, I better go collect my date before your beloved tells her too many lies about me. Or worse”-he raised his eyebrows-“the truth.”

Adam followed Kane’s gaze across the room and, with alarm, saw Beth and Kaia in a corner, deep in conversation.

His heart missed a couple of hundred beats.

“Uh, you’re right, we better go break that up,” he stammered. Kane started off, but Adam grabbed him and pulled him back.

“Changed my mind,” he whispered, slipping the flask out of Kane’s pocket and, checking to make sure no one was watching, downing half its contents.

He felt better already.

“So what did you need to tell me?” Beth asked impatiently, glancing across the room at Adam. She held back a smile as she thought about what they’d be doing later tonight. If he only knew. She just wanted to be with him-and away from Kaia, who’d pinned her in a corner for some mysteriously urgent reason that had evaporated as soon as she’d gotten Beth alone.

“Have I told you how great you look tonight?” Kaia asked sweetly.

“Thanks. Can you just tell me what was so important?” The DJ had just started a slow song. “Take My Breath Away”-a little cheesy, maybe, but one of Beth’s favorites. She wanted to be swaying back and forth to the melody, eyes closed, head on Adam’s shoulder. Not here.

“What? Oh, that was nothing. I mean, I thought you might want to know that Adam-” Kaia cut herself off with a sigh. “Oh… Check out Mr. Powell-doesn’t he look hot tonight in his tux?”

“What about Adam?” Beth persisted. The last thing she wanted to think about was Jack Powell, or how good he looked in his tux. Which, despite her best efforts, she’d already noticed.

“Oh, we can finish this later. Maybe you want to go talk to Mr. Powell?” Kaia asked innocently. “I won’t mind-I know how close you two are.”

For the moment Beth forgot about Adam and whatever secret was about to be revealed and studied Kaia closely. Did she-could she possibly-know?

“We’re not close,” she said coolly, deciding, or at least desperately hoping, that Kaia didn’t know what she was saying. “And if you ask me, he’s not a very good teacher. Working with him on the newspaper sucks.”

“That’s not what I heard,” Kaia said with a sly grin.

“What are you talking about?” Beth asked in a hushed voice. All her breath had slipped away.

But before Kaia could answer, Kane snuck up behind her and grabbed her waist, twirling her around. A moment later, Beth felt Adam’s strong hands around her as he lifted her off the ground and swung her into his arms. She hoped he couldn’t feel her trembling.

“So what’s going on over here?” Kane asked, once the girls had stopped squealing.

“Trust me,” Kaia said, looking directly at Adam. “You don’t want to know.”

Lucky break that Powell was chaperoning the dance.

Luckier still that he was standing amidst a small circle of other teachers. Kaia knew that no self-respecting chaperone could turn down an innocent request to dance with one of his students-at least, not without having a lot of explaining to do.

Kaia excused herself and strode over to the cluster of teachers. Powell, seeing her approach, was already preparing his getaway.

“Mr. Powell!” she exclaimed. “You look so handsome in your tuxedo! Think you could spare me a dance?”

He glared at her, then smiled for the sake of the group. “Oh, Kaia, I’m not much of a dancer-you know, two left feet and all.”

“Go for it, Jack,” urged Mr. Holcomb, from the English department.

“Yes,’cut a rug,’” the librarian added.

The group began to laugh as Kaia led a reluctant Mr. Powell onto the floor. She knew what they were thinking: How adorable, a little crush. Well, let them think what they wanted-she knew what she was doing.

Kaia looped her arms around his neck and his hands found a spot on her waist-he held her rigidly, carefully keeping a half foot of space between them.

“Did I not make myself clear before, Ms. Sellers?” The amiable facade was gone. Good. “You and me? It’s never going to happen. And certainly not in the middle of a crowded dance floor with the whole school looking on.”

“Oh, I know, Mr. Powell,” she said, lowering her eyes and giving him an exaggeratedly chastened look. “After all, it’s your policy not to mix business with pleasure, right?”

“I don’t consort with students, yes, if that’s what you mean,” he said stiffly.

“And I don’t consort with liars,” Kaia hissed.

He stopped dancing and pushed her away.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” But some of the steely certainty had faded from his voice.

She put her arms around him again.

“Better keep dancing, and keep smiling, Mr. Powell-you don’t want your friends over there thinking we’re having a lovers’ spat.” She gave a friendly wave to the group of teachers smiling and cheering them on from the sidelines.

“I’ll ask you again, what are you talking about?” he repeated, smiling through gritted teeth.

“I’m talking about your nonexistent policy, Mr. Powell. I’m talking about your loose relationship with the truth and your looser one with the rules.” She moved in closer and lowered her voice to a whisper. “I’m talking about you and Beth-I saw you.”

“I’m quite sure I don’t know what you mean,” Powell protested. His face had gone white. “There was nothing to see.”

“Right,” Kaia said sarcastically. “I hope that’s not the poker face you’re planning to use when you talk to the principal, or the school board, or hey, the police-”

His fingers tightened on her waist.

“That’s right, the police,” Kaia said. “Small town like this, full of all those family values, I imagine they don’t look too kindly on this sort of thing. Teacher preying on innocent students. We’re just children, really…”

“You don’t want to screw with me, Kaia,” he warned her in a low, ominous voice.

“Not anymore,” she said lightly, shaking her head. “No, you chose someone else for that-and I can live with it. I just hope that you can.”

And, waving again in the direction of Powell’s fellow teachers, she squeezed in close to Jack Powell and slammed her lips to his, jamming her tongue into his mouth before he knew what was happening, and then, with a less than gentle nibble on his lip, she pushed him away.

“See you around, Mr. Powell-you can count on it.”

Beth, Adam, Miranda, and Harper witnessed the scene from the sidelines with a mixture of shock, awe, and horror (in different proportions, depending on the witness).

“That girl is unbelievable,” Harper gasped. “What the hell is she thinking?”

“Unbelievable is right,” Adam repeated, sounding almost impressed. Beth looked at him sharply, and his eyes shot down to the ground, avoiding her gaze. In his pocket, his hand tightened around the now empty flask.

“Bet you wish you had the nerve to do that, Beth,” Miranda laughed. “I know I do.”

Beth stammered and blushed and mumbled something about nothing, and finally Harper cut in.

“Oh, please, Beth’s not that pathetic, and neither are you, Miranda. She practically jumped down his throat-it was embarrassing to watch! What was that you were saying about her being so sad and misunderstood, Adam?”

Now it was Adam’s turn to stammer nonsensically.

“It’s really, uh, none of our business,” he finally said, turning away from the dance floor, where Mr. Powell was still standing alone and motionless, only barely visible through the swirling wall of dancers.

“You’re totally right,” Beth added with relief. “Let’s just dance.”

“Definitely.” He clasped her by the hand and led her quickly onto the dance floor, leaving Harper and Miranda behind in disbelief.

“None of our business?” Miranda asked. “Since when does that stop us? Is this a new policy I wasn’t told about?”

“I guess we both missed the memo,” Harper said in disgust. “Look at them.” She gestured weakly toward Beth and Adam, who were slowly swaying in each other’s arms, despite the fast-paced rock song blaring through the speakers. “He can’t keep his hands off her for a minute.”

“This dance sucks,” Miranda said.

“Tell me about it.”

They stood together at the edge of the action, watching dozens of couples swirling around the floor. That was the problem with scoping for hot guys at school formals. The inspirational girl-power-themed episodes of bad TV shows notwithstanding, the fact was that all the normal guys showed up to these things with dates. So unless you were ready to break up a matched pair and leave some unfortunate girl drying the tearstains on her dress under the bathroom hand blower (not that Harper hadn’t left her share of those in her wake), you were shit out of luck. No, instead you were stuck with prizes like Lester Lawrence, decked out in a sky blue tux and ruffled Hawaiian shirt, and his gang of losers. Miranda was sure any one of them would be happy to dance with her. Great.

And then, like Prince Charming, appearing as if by magic out of the mist: Kane.

He strode purposefully toward them, with Kaia nowhere in sight.

“You ladies look bored,” he said. “How about a dance?”

For a moment Miranda, who figured any drugs harder than pot weren’t worth the dead brain cells, finally understood what people were always talking about, that rush of ecstasy, a shot of pure joy exploding out of you, so powerful that it shut out the world for a moment, threatened to sweep you away.

But it was just for a moment.

Because when she came down to earth, Kane’s words still ringing in her ears (familiar words, as he’d uttered them so often in the G-rated portion of her fantasies), she realized that his arm was outstretched to Harper. Of course.

Harper took his hand and headed toward the dance floor, shooting Miranda an apologetic look over her shoulder. There was nothing to apologize for, of course. This was just the way it worked.

Couples danced, the band played, Lester Lawrence talked to the pet grasshopper in his pocket, and Miranda stood on the fringes of it all.

Alone.

That’s life, right? C’est la vie.

Kane swung her around the dance floor, moving effortlessly in time with the music, now a slow R &B groove. He danced with ease, skill, and grace-the same way he did everything else. (If Kane couldn’t do it well, he didn’t do it at all.)

“Having a good time, Grace?” he asked.

“Not particularly.” There was no point in putting on a brave face, since she was sure he couldn’t care less. “How about you? Enjoying your date with our very own Lolita?” She spotted Kaia on the sidelines, fending off a crowd of curiosity seekers-Mini-Me, she was pleased to see, among them. Harper supposed she should be a bit dismayed that her own personal fan club seemed to be redevoting itself to Kaiaworship, as it was just another sign of the rich bitch encroaching on her territory. But somehow, she just couldn’t work up the energy-besides, having the sophomore squad chase after her was, in the end, far more punishment than reward.

“I’m enjoying myself very much, thanks,” Kane replied. “Of course, not as much as him.’ He swung her around, bringing her face-to-face with Adam and Beth, arms draped loosely around each other, swaying in the middle of the dance floor, clearly in a world of their own. Their eyes were closed, and Beth’s head rested on Adam’s broad shoulder. He ran his hands slowly up and down her back.

Harper felt sick. She looked away-right into Kane’s disgustingly knowing grin.

“Jealous?”

Harper said nothing.

“Just letting you know, my offer still stands. You and me, the anti-Cupids. Just say the word.”

Harper stole another glance at the happy couple. Adam was now running his fingers through her long, blond hair.

God, it was tempting.

“Mind if I cut in?”

Harper breathed a sigh of relief-Kaia’s icy voice had never been more welcome. “He is my date, after all,” Kaia pointed out snottily.

Harper let her hands drop and stepped away.

“My pleasure-he’s all yours.” She walked away-but not quickly enough that she didn’t overhear Kaia’s parting shot.

“It’s so sweet of you to keep Harper company, Kane,” she oozed. “You know, since she couldn’t find a date of her own.”

Harper resisted the temptation to turn back and slap her-and the marginally more powerful temptation to take another look (or extended, longing stare) at Adam. Instead she kept her eyes focused on Miranda, lingering next to a large bowl of pretzels and looking forlorn; she focused on Miranda and, about ten feet behind her, the exit.

It was time to get the hell out.

When the going gets tough, the tough get stoned. Which is exactly what Harper and Miranda proceeded to do.

They stopped off at the after party (Harper: “After all, we planned the damn thing”) but after ascertaining that all the details were in place-beer, music, lanterns, illicit acts featuring Haven High’s elite-they ditched out. (Harper: “Just a bunch of losers getting laid”) Kane had roped scuzzy Reed Sawyer into supervising things so that the rest of them could focus on their night of debauchery-all it took was a dime bag of weed and a six-pack; apparently Reed didn’t have anything better to do anyway. A burnout like him certainly wouldn’t be caught dead at a school dance-and there was no way he would have made it onto the invite list under any other circumstances, but Harper supposed that climbing his way up the Haven High social ladder wasn’t too high on his list of priorities. Getting high? Yes. Scoring some kind of record deal for his posse of talentless losers? Probably. But that was about it. Trust Kane to find a guy like that.

He lay sprawled on one of the motel’s musty sofas and lazily watched the chaos swirl around him. Harper wasn’t sure exactly what “supervising” was supposed to entail-yes, he’d turned on the music and made sure that the kegs were tapped and flowing, but if someone tried to make off with the stereo or burn the place down, would this guy be willing or able to do anything about it? Harper highly doubted it-but at the moment, she didn’t really care.

Besides, back at Miranda’s place, the parents were out, the pot was ample, the beer didn’t come from a keg, and there were no unidentifiable fluids or condom packages littering the floor. Nor was there anyone they didn’t want to talk to-which, at the moment, included pretty much everyone except for each other.

It took an hour for the one taxi company in town to dispatch a driver-but it was well worth the wait. (It was also worth it not to have to ride away from the party in the hot pink monstrosity that had carried them to the dance.)

“Did you see Lauren’s dress?” Miranda asked once they were safely ensconced in her bedroom. She exhaled a puff of smoke and flopped back onto her bed.

“How could I miss it? It was practically fluorescent!” Harper cackled, taking the joint from Miranda and inhaling deeply. She was sitting on the floor, leaning against the bed and rubbing her bare feet against the soft plush of Miranda’s rug. The best part of going to a formal was always the hour before getting ready and the hour afterward rehashing the night-so who cared if they’d pretty much skipped the middle? “And how about the way Peter King kept drooling every time I walked by?”

“Peter the Perv? Didn’t he get thrown out of school last year for trying to install that camera in the girls’ locker room?” Miranda asked with a laugh, almost choking on a kernel of popcorn.

“He’s b-a-a-a-a-ack,” Harper sang out.

“Hey, at least you didn’t have Lawrence Lester and the bug thugs chasing after you all night,” Miranda complained.

“Lester Lawrence,” Harper corrected her sternly. “Lester and Miranda Lawrence-has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

“Shut up!” Miranda slammed a pillow into Harper’s face and they both dissolved into giggles. There were a lot of kids in their high school, and most of them sucked-if they tried hard enough, this could keep them going all night long.