Someone snickered. DJ suspected it was Taylor, but Mrs. Carter didn’t seem to notice.
“I think I have made myself clear.” Mrs. Carter looked out over the group and smiled again. “Now, I leave you ladies to discuss this amongst yourselves.”
“Discuss what?” asked DJ.
Her grandmother looked slightly irritated. “I believe you know what I am speaking of, Desiree. In fact, I place it upon you to introduce the topic that I presented to you earlier this evening. Thank you.” Then she glided out of the room, just like she was going down a New York runway, with only the scent of her expensive Cartier perfume left behind her.
Taylor started snickering louder now.
“What is she talking about, DJ?” asked Eliza with a confused expression.
“She wants us to call the shots,” offered Taylor.
“What about the rules?” asked Kriti with concern. “Do they still apply?”
“Yes,” said DJ. “The rules still apply.”
“This is like that book, Lord of the Flies,” said Taylor.
“How’s that?” asked DJ.
“You know, the rich kids get shipwrecked on the island and they govern themselves,” she laughed wickedly, “and when they run out of food, they resort to cannibalism.”
“That is so nasty,” said Eliza with a look of disgust.
“Maybe we’ll eat Casey,” teased Taylor.
“That’s enough,” said DJ. She looked at Rhiannon, who was sitting on the couch with her, and wondered what she was supposed to do next. Then she remembered what Rhiannon had said about prayer. Just then, with Taylor still making crude jokes about naming Casey “Piggy” and tossing her into a barbecue pit, DJ shot up a quick prayer, begging for some help.
7
DJ POINTED A WARNING FINGER at Taylor. “Give it a rest, will you?”
“Well, why don’t you tell us what it is your grandmother wants us to do,” said Taylor. “Seems like you know something that we don’t, Desiree.”
DJ glared at Taylor and then looked from where she was sitting over to where Casey was standing in the back of the room with her arms folded tightly across her chest and a scowl darkening her face. DJ was surprised she was even still here.
“It’s about Casey, isn’t it?” said Taylor suspiciously. She stood and walked over to where Casey was and just looked at her. Taylor seemed to take in Casey from head to toe, as if taking inventory of Casey’s wildly colored hair, safety-pin piercings, thick black eyeliner—all which seemed to shout, stay away from me! “If anyone’s a misfit in this house, it’s got to be her.”
“Give her a break,” said Eliza.
“Casey,” called DJ, “come and sit over here with me, will you?” She patted a space on the couch beside her. And to her surprise, Casey came over and flopped down next to her. Once again, she folded her arms in front of her, looking down at her jeans, which she had decorated with scary-looking inkpenned drawings of dragons, skulls, and flames.
“Here’s the deal,” said DJ. “It’s no surprise that Mrs. Carter does not approve of Casey’s…well, her distinct way of dressing.”
Taylor laughed. “Like we do.”
“Never mind,” said DJ sharply. “But Mrs. Carter informed me earlier that Casey will have to leave if something doesn’t change.”
Casey turned and looked at DJ. “She said that?”
DJ nodded soberly. “I was trying to tell you, but you left.”
“Mrs. Carter’s throwing Casey out?” asked Rhiannon.
“That seems a bit harsh,” said Eliza.
“I agree,” said DJ. “I don’t think she’s really given Casey much of a chance. But then again, my grandmother is not the most patient woman in the world.”
“And her standards are extremely high,” added Kriti. “Especially when it comes to appearances.”
“I guess the question is, what do we do about this?” said DJ, desperately hoping for help.
“Besides eat her?” teased Taylor. She held her hands like claws as she snapped her teeth like a wild animal toward Casey.
“Knock it off,” snapped Eliza.
“Oh, don’t be such a wet blanket,” said Taylor. “Casey’s a big girl. I’m just messing with her a little.”
“Well, she doesn’t need to be messed with,” said DJ in a firm tone.
“That’s right,” said Rhiannon.
“No one wants to be teased,” added Kriti.
Now Eliza left the club chair and came over to sit on the oversized coffee table directly across from Casey. She reached over and put one perfectly manicured hand on Casey’s knee, right beside the drawing of a creepy spider that was next to a torn spot. “Casey,” she said in her gentle southern voice. “Do you want us to help you? Or would you rather we just left ya’ll alone?”
Casey looked up with tears in her eyes. “I—I don’t know…”
“Because we all like you. If you wanted our help, we’d all be more’n happy to give it, wouldn’t we, girls?”
Everyone except Taylor nodded and agreed.
Casey pressed her lips together and looked at them as if she was unsure. DJ thought she probably didn’t trust them. For that matter, why should she?
“Think about it, Casey,” urged DJ. “If you leave Carter House, you said yourself that your parents will send you to boot camp for sure.”
“Boot camp?” said Taylor with surprise. “Are you serious?”
Casey nodded without looking up.
“Wow!” Taylor sat down on the coffee table next to Eliza now. She just shook her head. “That’s tough. I had a friend who went to boot camp once.”
“And?” DJ looked at Taylor, waiting for the rest of the story and hoping that it wasn’t just a setup so that she could make another bad joke at Casey’s expense. Like maybe she was about to say the girl went to boot camp and came back as a boy. Something off color and tacky.
“And…” Taylor sighed. “She never came back.”
“What do you mean?” demanded Eliza.
Taylor sort of shrugged now. And for the first time since DJ had known this overly confident and self-centered girl, she seemed somewhat uncomfortable. “I mean, she died there.”
“No way,” said DJ.
Taylor nodded. “I swear, it’s true. Her name was Andrea Sinclair. The boot camp was in the Sierra Madres. Andrea had gotten into trouble. Not anything real serious, but her parents overreacted. She was only fourteen. It was about three years ago. I’m sure you can find the story on the Internet if you look. Her parents actually sued the boot camp, but I think the place is still operating, except that it’s under a different name now.”
“You’re serious?” said DJ.
“I saw an exposé on one of those news shows about a year ago,” said Kriti. “It was about something exactly like that. They made a boy hike all day in the hot sun without water. He had a stroke and died.”
“I’m sure not all boot camps are that bad,” said DJ, glancing at Casey who now had tears streaming down her cheeks. “Casey’s parents wouldn’t send her to a place like that.”
“Andrea’s parents wouldn’t either,” said Taylor defensively. “They just didn’t know what it was really like.”
Rhiannon was on the other side of Casey, and she slipped an arm around Casey’s shoulders and gently pulled her to her. “Casey, please, let us help you. We want to help you.”
“Yes,” urged Eliza. “You’re really a pretty girl underneath that tough chick disguise. Why are you so afraid to show it?”
“I know why,” said Taylor.
They all, even Casey, looked up at her.
“She’s been hurt,” Taylor said lightly. “Same old story. Girl gets hurt and puts on a tough act to protect herself. No big deal.” She leaned down now, putting her face just inches from Casey’s. “Right?” Casey nodded.