“I’m not mad.” She faced forward again. “I was. At first, when I realized where we were.”
I thought about that. “What changed your mind?”
Mara sat silent, then said, “I don’t know.”
I glanced at her again. She had her lower lip caught between her teeth. I squeezed her knee with gentle pressure.
“It was fun. And—and I guess, I figured if we got caught, what were they going to do to us? Make us clean up the mess?” She shrugged. “Call the cops? I can’t really see them doing that. It was a harmless prank, right?”
She looked at me. I was aware of her gaze, so aware my skin prickled. “Yeah, it was a harmless prank. And the guys and I have pranked the Gentrys every year since we were freshmen. They won’t be mad.” I flashed her a grin. “Mrs. Gentry might.” Everyone knew she was the scary one between the two.
It didn’t take long to reach our street. I pulled up to the curb in front of my house and turned off my car. I didn’t know what would happen now. Every moment with Mara seemed to change things. Every cell and molecule in my body was aware of her beside me. I felt her arms clinging to mine, smelled the strawberry vanilla scent of her shampoo, heard the adorable tinkle of her giggle.
She hadn’t been the only one who’d had fun.
“I should go in,” she said.
“Yeah,” I agreed. She still held onto my arm.
“Sorry,” she murmured as she untangled herself from my side.
I let go of her knee. “Don’t be.”
We got out of the car. I didn’t know if I should walk her to her door. The Cronks’ house was dark and closed.
“Will you be able to get back in?” I asked over the hood of my car.
“Yeah. I have a key if it’s locked.”
“I’ll wait to make sure.”
Even in the dim glow from my front porch light, I saw her cheeks flame.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I know.”
“What about you? Would your dad be mad if he caught you sneaking in?”
She was worried about me? How cute was that? “He knows where I’ve been. He picked up the plastic wrap for me since I had a game.”
Mara’s mouth dropped open. “Are you kidding me?”
I grinned at her shock. “Nope. Dad’s all about a good prank every now and then. Although, he might make me go help clean it up tomorrow morning.” Which would suck and always seemed to take away the fun of a good prank, but I’d do it if he told me to.
“Wow.” Mara shook her head, but she was smiling. She’d had fun. And she’d been fun. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d laughed so much with a girl. And who would have thought I could with my uptight neighbor?
Definitely not me.
“Good night, Mara.” She needed to go in. Her smile was pretty, and if she stayed outside any longer, I might want to edge around the hood of my car and ask to kiss her.
There was no way that was a good idea.
“Good night, Taggish.” She turned and started across her lawn but stopped after a few feet and looked at me over her shoulder. “Was this it?” she asked.
Leaning forward, I propped my folded arms on the hood of my car. “What do you mean?”
Her lashes swept her cheeks, and she chewed her lip. “Was this enough to prove myself?”
Neither of us moved as we stared at each other across the hood of my car. What did she want from me? What answer did she expect? Something had happened since I kissed her in the hall outside the school cafeteria. Something had changed. Was it possible Mara wanted to hang out with me?
Did I want to hang out with her? An easy question.
“Pfft. No way. This was definitely not enough.” I crossed my fingers and hoped that had been the right answer.
Mara’s eyes lit with laughter. “Okay.” She nodded. “Okay. Well, let me know when you want to schedule my next lesson.”
“I will.”
“‘Night, Taggish.” She waved over her shoulder and skipped up the concrete steps to her front door.
I waited outside until she’d snuck in, and I watched her bedroom window until a soft light clicked on.
“Huh.” Who would have thought?
9
Mara
“So, how was your date?” Kennedy pounced as soon as I opened the door for her on Sunday afternoon.
“Shhh, do you want my parents to hear you?” I pushed her up the stairs toward my room. Thankfully, she’d texted that she was on her way, and I’d had time to hide the paintings I’d done of Taggish in a drawer.
Kennedy looked over her shoulder, her eyes bulging. “You didn’t tell them?”
“Just be quiet until we get in my room.” Thankfully, she did what I asked her for once.
“Okay, we’re here. Now spill,” she said as soon as I closed the door behind us.
“What? There’s not much to tell.” Why hadn’t I come up with a plan of what I’d tell my best friend about Taggish? We hadn’t really gone on a date. But could I admit to her what we had done?
Kennedy closely resembled an owl as she studied me through her glasses. “Well, did you kiss him again?”
“No!” Not entirely true, but maybe that little kiss didn’t count even though it felt like it did. “And I didn’t kiss him the first time. He kissed me.”
Kennedy rolled her eyes and flopped down on my bed. “What difference does it make? Are you going to go out with him again?”
I chewed on my lip and tried to come up with something to put her off the scent. "I don't know. I'm not interested in having a boyfriend." Although, I'd been thinking about it lately. More than I ever had before, thanks to Taggish.
Kennedy's eyes bulged again. "A boyfriend? So, you do like him."
I shrugged. "He's funny. And fun to be around. But I haven't decided if I've forgiven him or not for getting me in trouble." That much was true.
For the next couple of hours, Kennedy and her one-track mind kept hitting me with questions about Taggish. I managed to avoid direct answers by pretending to be distracted by painting more graduation cards. I loved Kennedy, but I was glad when she decided to pack up and go home.
The next morning, I waited, my palms sweating, as Ms. Coltrain studied the painting I’d worked on over the weekend. In addition to one more of Taggish I completed Sunday morning after our prank on the Gentrys, I’d done a portrait of Simon when he was a baby. I’d noticed something in the portraits I’d done of Taggish and wanted to see if that difference would translate.
I thought it had.
“Mara,” Ms. Coltrain began to say and then fell silent. She chewed on her thumbnail as her eyes scanned the portrait. It was simply done, just Simon’s round face and the barest hint of his neck, but—
“You caught something here,” Ms. Coltrain said. “Some mischief in his eyes. Even his smile.” She glanced away from the portrait to grin at me. “I can see just from looking at this how he might act, how he would sound.” She held out the stiff cardboard I’d mounted the portrait on. “It’s your best work yet.”