The Truth About Twinkie Pie Part 8

DiDi waved us on. "Why don't you run along, then, and let me take care of Macy here. Just call me if anything changes. Now, Mace, honey, Jean is a genius, but if you ask me..."

"Let's get out of here," I said to Trip. "See you, D."

"It was really great meeting you, DiDi," said Trip. "Um, bye... Mace."

I looked back. Mace's chin was still up, but she didn't look like an evil villain in a dark cape anymore. She looked more like a little girl. In a big blanket. Being left behind.

seventeen.

See?" Trip said when we got outside. "Grown-ups love me." He pointed to himself. "Perfect Boy."

"Oh, please. She's just tired from a hard day's work. She's delirious from the hair spray fumes. She's dazzled by that crazy cookie, wrapped up like Christmas morning. She never lets me out of her sight."

"But seriously, you're lucky you have a sister like DiDi," he said. "I don't have anyone."

"DiDi?" I thought about her. She was just, well, DiDi. "The thing is..."

"What?" Trip said. "What are you thinking?"

Do people really ask that? DiDi never asks about feelings that much. We're just always so busy trying to figure out my next steps.

"It's just that..." I looked at the ground. Then up into Trip's eyes. "DiDi never even finished school. She had to drop out and work. And even before that, it's not like she was the-the smartest. I guess I'm lucky because if I didn't have DiDi, I'd be all alone, but we're just so different. She has all these yakkity ideas, and there's just so much she doesn't know and... and that's what I'm thinking."

We walked along quietly for a bit.

"Was that... weird to tell me all that personal stuff about your sister?"

I thought about it. Then I told him the truth.

"No. But only because it never feels weird telling you anything."

Trip looked at me for a long time and then nodded.

eighteen.

The Harbor Club was the country club that Trip and his family belonged to.

Trip had belonged his whole life.

His daddy had belonged his whole life.

His granddaddy had belonged his whole life.

And so on and so on-all the way back to the very first Something-Something Hedgeclipper caveman, I guess. I was a little nervous walking in. I'd never been in any kind of country club before.

"Are we allowed to come in with our school uniforms?" I whispered.

"Of course," Trip said. But I noticed that his tie wasn't rumply anymore and his shirt was tucked in. "I don't see my mom anywhere yet. Do you want to sit and have a soda or something?"

"Um." I couldn't imagine how much money a soda would cost in a place like this, and I felt bad if Trip was going to keep treating me all the time. "Maybe just water. Thanks."

We walked into this nice patio area. He ordered us these drinks that were half iced tea and half lemonade. A lot like sweet tea back home, but a little more tart. They were cold and delicious and had really pretty lemon slices and mint stuck in them. I could just imagine DiDi slicing the lemons and smiling while she balanced them on the edge of a gla.s.s for her imaginary cooking show.

Then Trip started talking.

About growing up in this town.

How it felt like everyone was the same.

How he couldn't wait to finish middle school. And high school. And go somewhere for college that was far, far away. And big. And different. But he was scared of that, too.

When he was done, he looked up and pushed the hair out of his face. "Sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"No-no-it's fine." I could hardly breathe. I didn't want anything to break the spell. "Trip, you can tell me any-"

"Mom!" Trip jumped up and kissed a tall woman in a white tennis dress. "Mom, hi. This is G-I mean, I'd like you to meet my friend Leia Barnes."

Trip's mom put a cool hand in mine. "h.e.l.lo, Leia, how nice to meet you." She was probably the prettiest grown-up lady I'd ever seen in my life.

I forced myself to smile big, wishing Trip and I could have kept talking and talking. "Hi, Mrs. Davis, it's really nice to meet you, too. Thank you for having me to your house."

"Oh, it's our pleasure."

"Trip and, well, just everybody has been so extra welcoming since we moved here."

"From the South, I a.s.sume. Your accent is charming. Where exactly did you move from?"

For some reason, the way Trip suddenly stopped looking at me and started playing with the tablecloth was making alarms go off in my head. But I wasn't sure why. Maybe I didn't have to talk about the trailer park or Say It Like It Is about everything. "Um, South Carolina, ma'am. But we love it here and I am just thankful and happy we moved."

Then Trip smiled.

His mom smiled, too.

But I had a feeling she was going to wait and decide about me later.

nineteen.

Trip's mom's car sure was clean. I know that sounds like a funny thing to say, but it really was the first thing I noticed. I didn't even want to put my backpack on the seat next to me.

"Your car is so pretty," I said to Mrs. Davis, remembering how Trip said it was new.

"Thank you," she said, looking toward Trip. "It's nice to know there is a young person around here who appreciates it. We've told Trip we'd order one for him when he turns sixteen, but he and Billy have it in their heads that they're going to get Billy's dad to part with a couple of his prize convertibles."

"Mom," Trip said. "C'mon, stop." He looked all embarra.s.sed.

I wasn't quite sure what to say. "Well, any of those would be better than our car. It's, like, fifty years old and you have to give the door a real kick to open it. We call it the Blue Bomb."

"Oh my," said Mrs. Davis. "How colorful."

Trip's house was a few miles from town along these winding roads by the water. I guess I just figured it was going to be a crazy huge mansion like all the other homes in the neighborhood.

But it was this really beautiful cottage. White, with windows everywhere and tucked behind a rise in the hill like it was hiding from the world. From the porch, there was a view of the water. I stood there and felt the wind on my face, thinking if I had this view, I'd have all the windows wide open all day, every day-not shut tight to the world with fancy curtains. I thought about our apartment with the view of the candy store on Main Street that I had been so excited about. I wondered what Trip's mom would think of it.

Trip's dad was just getting home when we got there. We had stopped at this Chinese restaurant to pick up dinner. I had never known that ordering food was such a big deal, but Trip's mom sure had a lot to say on the matter: "Would you prefer Szechuan or Cantonese, Leia?"

"It won't be nearly as good as Chinatown, but it will have to do."

"They claim to be authentic, but look at this menu-though I guess most people wouldn't know...."

I wasn't sure exactly how to answer, so I just nodded. "DiDi always says if you took all the things most people don't know, you could fill the Grand Canyon."

The dining table in their house had this sparkly crystal chandelier over it with all these drops hanging down, and Mrs. Davis set the table really formal even though I was the only guest. And I just have to say that everything on that table was B, I, G, BIG. These humongous plates and napkins and everything. It was like she went shopping at the Giant Supply Store. She even put the food onto huge serving platters with big silver serving spoons instead of just having everyone dig into the white cartons like I thought we would.

"Does your mom cook at home?" Mrs. Davis asked.

Before I could open my mouth, Trip answered, "Leia's mom and dad died when she was a baby, Mom. She lives with her big sister, DiDi."

I looked at Trip, thinking about how he sort of stuck my daddy in there even though I'd told him that I'd never even met my daddy, let alone had a clue about who he was. Being brainy works a couple of different ways. I said before about how I'm good at math, but I'm also good at adding stuff up that has nothing to do with math. Well, what I was adding up was that maybe Trip's parents didn't need to know my whole history and family tree in the first hour of meeting me. I wondered if Trip felt like I had told him too much. But then I remembered how he was always telling me he liked how open I was. It was confusing.

"I'm so sorry to hear that," said Mrs. Davis. "How do you manage? How old is your sister?"

She was probably thinking about the tuition. At that moment I didn't know what to talk about. I sure didn't think I should bring up the coupon clipping. Or waiting till milk went on sale even though we were millionaires.

"Well... we're nine years, nine days, and nine hours apart," I said. "DiDi says it's like this lucky voodoo thing. So I'll be thirteen on November twentieth and nine days later, she'll be twenty-two on the twenty-ninth."

"How charming," Trip's mother said.

"Lucky voodoo. I like it," Trip's dad said.

I was watching Trip and trying to figure out what else I wasn't supposed to talk about when I remembered something that might be interesting. "Oh, and speaking of birthdays, the Founder's Day Gala is right before mine, and DiDi is in charge of the whole menu. So it'll practically be like having the biggest birthday party ever."

Trip's mom put down the giant gla.s.s of wine she had just picked up.

"Your sister is the one who is doing the Gala?" She was looking at me with that same studying look that Trip had. "Yes, I remember her from Welcome Night." She picked up her chopsticks and popped a snow pea into her mouth. Then smiled as she chewed.

"DiDi is really nice," Trip said. "I met her at Jean Rene's."

"Oh, how lovely. Was she getting her hair done?"

"No," I said, trying to stab a slippery piece of chicken with my fork. I was the only one not using chopsticks. "She's the new hairdresser there. She's really, really good, too."

Trip's dad winked. "Well, if she's as pretty as you, I'm heading straight there tomorrow for a haircut."

Mrs. Davis smiled and continued chewing.

After dinner, Trip showed me his room. It was locked, but he pulled out the key from this chain around his neck. Before we went in, he took this deep breath and then opened the door.

"What do you think?"

I looked around. He had this huge desk and shelves just spilling over with books. About everything. One wall was completely covered in cork and had about a million photos pinned to it. Camp photos. Sports photos. School photos. Laughing, smiling photos. Friends. Friends. Friends.

"I just love it," I said.

He nodded toward his pictures. "Do you miss all your friends back home?"

"Not-exactly," I said. "I've always been really busy. Studying. So I never had a ton of friends or anything." I turned back to the photos. "I just-I really-" I didn't know how to end the sentence. "Well, to be honest, if you hadn't asked me over, I guess I'd be home studying now."

"I don't have a ton of friends, either...." Trip began.

"Oh, please," I said, waving at the pictures. "You know everyone."

"Okay. A lot of people know me, but having people know you isn't the same as... people really... knowing you." He looked at his feet. "I'm glad you're... it's nice to have someone to..."

What?

Hold hands with in front of Mace?

"... to talk to and be myself with."

I looked at him. "You're not yourself?"

"I am. It's just..." He stopped, then went to his desk. I heard him scribbling and then folding paper. When he turned back around, he had a KOB in his hand.

Wait till you get home to read.