That Was Then

14-Then

I lied on my bed staring up at the pink canopy, thinking that perhaps I might be too old for ruffly pink canopies. I clutched the cordless phone in my hand and thought that if I'm too old for ruffly pink canopies I'm surely old enough for my own cell phone. My parents had a different opinion on the matter. I counted to 300 and tried to call Kya again. Finally, Tia answered the phone.

"Hi Tia! Is Kya around?" I asked hopefully. I knew she was, I knew she was mad at me too. But I fully intended to keep calling until she agreed to talk to me. It had been a month since we had seen each other last. The girl knew how to hold a grudge, also I had been in France with my parents. And Abuela and Caleb, which was why Kya was mad in the first place. She was upset that Caleb went with but that she hadn't been invited, never mind that I hadn't invited him let alone had no say in that decision.

"Hold on a second, sweetie," she said to me. Her voice sounded funny, like she had just woken up or something but it was the middle of the afternoon. I could hear Tia and Kya whispering. "Just talk to her!"

"No!" The line went dead and after counting to 300 I tried again. She didn't talk to me that day and then out of nowhere a few days later Mama told me that Kya was coming over. Her dad brought her and that was weird, he had never brought her over before.

"Just so you know, I'm still mad at you." She sat on the couch and crossed her arms. I was torn, part of me wanted to talk Kya out of this grudge she was holding, even though I knew it was not my fault, the other part of me really wanted to go back outside to where Caleb and two of his friends were playing in the pool. I had come in to get a new bottle of sunscreen, my pasty white skin was already turning pink. I could hear Caleb holler, a loud splash and then cheering all the way from the living room. Kya had a pout fixed on her face but I caught her glancing curiously toward the patio where the noise was coming from.

"'Kay, well when you're done being mad we'll be in the pool." I told her, trying hard to sound like I didn't care. Even though I did. I grabbed a bottle of sunscreen out of the hall closet and saw Mama and Kya's dad deep in conversation. They were speaking in the kind of hushed tones that made any kid want to eavesdrop. I got closer and they didn't notice me, but I only caught every few words. Mitch was saying something about rehab, I didn't know what that was at the time. I also heard him say something about a business trip and Kya staying with us until his sister could fly in the next week. Then Mama noticed me and shooed me out the back door just as I was thinking it was going to be an awfully long week if Kya wouldn't talk to me.

I rejoined the boys in the pool but kept a distracted eye on the back door. I was feeling pretty bad even though I kept reminding myself that I had done nothing wrong. I had been so certain that Kya would not be able to help but come out and join the fun, especially because she had recently become extremely boy crazy and had a crush on just about every one of Caleb's friends. Just as I was starting to think that I had underestimated how stubborn she could be, and that she was going to spend the entire afternoon pouting on the couch, she sauntered out onto the patio in the swimsuit that she kept at our house. She sat down on one of the lounge chairs and leaned back, crossing her legs in front of her and pulling down a pair of rhinestone clad sunglasses. She kept her lips pursed and tried to look bored and like she didn't want to be there. I felt that tug again, part of me thinking I should go sit with her and the other part of me wanting to stay in the heated pool water. We were about to start a game of Marco Polo and the boys tried to coax her into the pool to play with us. They pleaded and taunted and I could tell she was enjoying the attention. She always enjoyed the attention. Finally, she relented and jumped into the pool, but only after they threatened to throw her in.

We didn't pull ourselves out of the pool until Abuela told us that she had a batch of her kitchen sink cookies hot out of the oven. She called them kitchen sink cookies because she would add "everything but the kitchen sink" and they were never the same twice. Sometimes they had chocolate chips and raisins and m&ms. Other times there was oatmeal, crushed up pretzels and Reeses peanut butter cups. She would just add any kind of "cookie junk" as she called it, that she could find to her secret recipe cookie dough. I was convinced that she could actually add the kitchen sink to that cookie dough and it would still be the best thing ever.

The boys and I devoured a plateful of cookies while they were still hot but Kya only nibbled on one and then set it down. When I asked her what was wrong she said the cookie was gross, loud enough for Abuela to hear. She had always loved the cookies as much as the rest of us so I was confused. She pushed the cookie away from her and it fell from the table, landing on the floor and sending crumbs everywhere. I bent to pick it up.

"Blakely!" Kya cried out. "Why are you picking that up?! Isn't that what you have a maid for??" My mouth fell open and Caleb pursed his lips and looked at the floor. That was the first time that I felt the sting of just how mean Kya could be.