Becoming Harper Read online

  I approached the bench. “We need to talk right now. It’s an emergency.”

  She looked up at me curling her lips into a sly smile. “I’m sorry, Harper but I don’t think we have anything to talk about at all. The subject you brought up the other day is closed. I thought I made that very clear.”

  I looked to the boy. I hadn’t realized how cute he was but it was not the time to think about that. “Can you excuse us please?”

  “Sure.” He flashed Harper a smile, grabbed his things and left the bench. I slid into his empty spot. It was still warm.

  “Harper, you have no idea how crazy things have gotten. I need you to switch back with me right now. You were groomed and raised for this life, not me. I can’t be what you are. This was meant for you.”

  Harper watched the kids passing us in the hallway. “I’m sorry, Abby, but my decision stands. I told you. I can’t go back to that life now that you’ve given me a way out. I don’t want to.”

  I had to get her to understand. I had to get her to see things my way. “Harper, this isn’t right. This is your life and you need to take it back.”

  “Would you? If you were me, would you take this life back? It totally sucks and I apologize for that, but Abby, you did this.”

  “You have no idea what I’ve been through.” I lowered my voice. “They killed a man this weekend. They wanted me to do it, but I wouldn’t. They said it was my practice trial for Saturday night.”

  She gave me a sympathetic look. “How did that go?”

  “How did it go? How do you think it went? Some poor man is dead, and I’m traumatized for life. Now they’re totally treating me like a prisoner because I went to the police.”

  Her eyes widened. “Abby, tell me you didn’t. The worse thing you could do is go to the police and tell them anything about us. That’s the worse.”

  “Well, what was I supposed to do?”

  The bell rang and Harper stood up. “I don’t know but not that. Don’t worry about that guy. If they used him for the sacrifice it was because he deserved it. We’re not monsters, you know.”

  What? A look flashed in Harper’s eyes that I had never seen before, something sinister. “Also, we’re not having this conversation ever again. I know it’s hard for you to accept but I’m never going back to being Harper. I just can’t.”

  She tossed her blond hair over her shoulder and sauntered down the hallway. I never walked like that. I didn’t even think I could. The last thing I wanted to do was go to class but I had to. The Grangers would be calling the school to check on me and the last thing I needed was for them to punish me when I got home.

  I floated through the day and Mr. Granger picked me up after school just as he promised. I spent the evening holed up in my room except when I was forced to come down for dinner which was as silent and dreadful as usual.

  At 10:12, hours after the Grangers had retired to bed I got a text from Aria:

  We need you. Dina’s sick and we’re stuck at some jerk’s house. We need a ride.

  I texted back that I was grounded and couldn’t leave the house.

  Please. We’re locked in the bathroom and these guys are acting weird.

  I lay back and thought about it for a moment. The Grangers were asleep, but the following day, somehow, they would know I had left the house. What would they do to me. I didn’t know, but I couldn’t leave Aria and Dina in the predicament they were in. Maybe if I explained things to the Grangers they would understand. Could they really fault me for helping my friends?

  I sent a text back:

  Text me the add.

  I pulled on some jeans, a sweater, boots, and a jacket. I checked my phone again to see if Aria had sent the address. The house was out of the way in a very rural neighborhood. What the hell were they doing over there?

  It took me almost forty minutes to get there. When I pulled up to the house, the girls were sitting on the curb. Dina’s head was in Aria’s lap. Aria stroked her head delicately. I secretly hoped no puke when be involved.

  When I pulled the car to a stop, I helped Aria get Dina into the back seat. Dina lay down and Aria slid into the passenger seat. I noted that there were no lights on in the house as I pulled away from the curb.

  “What the hell happened?”

  Aria shivered, pulling her sweater tight around her. I blasted the heat. “We met some guys at the mall and they asked us if we wanted to come to their place. They were cute and they seemed nice and since there were two of us we thought it would be okay. When we got here they started giving us drinks. I had a couple. Dina had a lot more. I told her to slow down but she wouldn’t listen. After a while the guys kept trying to get in our pants and we didn’t want to do anything with them considering we just met them and we’re not total sluts and they got really upset and started trying to make us. We had to fight them off and lock ourselves in the bathroom.”

  I wanted to lecture them on how stupid it was to get into a car with guys they didn’t even know, but it wasn’t the time. Anyway, I was pretty sure they had learned their lesson. “I’m really sorry. Did they—”

  Suddenly Dina sat up in the back seat. “OMG, pull over. Pull over now!”

  We were only a couple of minutes from the house and there was an empty field ahead. I pulled the car over. Before I could even come to a complete stop, Dina flung the door open and was racing into the darkness. “Wait, Dina,” Aria called, following her friend, using the phone as light. I stayed in the car, tapping my hands on the steering wheel, enjoying the pleasure of heated seats and thankful that Dina hadn’t puked in the car.

  Moments later, Aria came racing back with a worried look on her face and no Dina.

  “Hey,” I called. “Where’s Dina?”

  Aria shook her head. “I don’t know. She just kept running and it’s so dark I can’t see her. I don’t hear her either.”

  I cut the car off and climbed out. I didn’t need this. I had to get back home as quickly as possible. I followed Aria in the direction Dina went using my phone to light the way. Aria hung back a little while I moved ahead. “Dina!” I called. Nothing. I took a few more steps into the darkness. “Dina, this is scary. Please say something.”

  Before I could make another move, I was shoved from the back. I landed face first in the damp grass. Some even went in my mouth. I rolled over. Aria towered above me. Dina, seeming to come from nowhere, stood beside her. She didn’t look so drunk anymore.

  “What the hell?” I demanded.

  Aria smirked. “You think you’re so pretty and that everyone loves you, well, guess what, we don’t. Contrary to what you believe Harper, you can’t have everything you want.”

  I sat up. Dina knelt beside me. “Wasn’t it bad enough that you stole Tucker for me. I loved that boy more than I’ve ever loved a boy and you stole him from me. Why is he so in love with you anyway? Word on the street is that you don’t even put out. But me, I gave him everything.”

  I stood but Aria shoved me back on the ground. “Then you don’t even have our backs. You let that little bitch go the other day at the party instead of letting us handle her the way we want to. We would do anything for you, Harper, but all you do is take and take and take.”

  I held my hands up, not bothering to stand again. How did they think they were going to get away with this? Didn’t they know that Harper had the power to turn the entire school against them? “Please, guys, whatever I’ve done to you, I’m sorry. But we’re friends. Let’s talk about this.”

  Dina let out a hissing sound. “We’re not your friends, bitch. Aria tells me how you talk shit about me behind my back!” That was so not true, but Dina barged on. “We hated you from the second we set foot in this town. You just took over like you owned shit. We’re going to tell everyone what you’re really like and they’ll all hate you too. You’re still the new girl, Harper. We’ve lived in this town all our lives. Who do you think they’re going to believe? You or us?”

  “Everyone loves me.” It sounded so path
etic when I said it. Was it even true?

  The girls looked at each other and laughed as if I’d told them the funniest joke in the world. Dina drew her foot back and kicked me in the ribs. I grabbed it in pain. “Yeah, everyone loves you because we told them to, you dumb bitch. We made you and we can break you.”

  I tried to reason with them some more but it was a useless attempt. Aria struck me across the face. A sharp pain shot through my head. I had never been hit like that before. Dina took her turn whacking me. She winced in pain as she hit me across the other cheek.

  After that it was a series of kicks and punches ending with Dina rubbing my face into the dirt. “Let’s see how pretty that face is going to look now.”

  Suddenly they stopped. By the time I sat up and pushed the hair out of my face, they had taken off, running back down the road where I assumed one of them had a car parked.

  Stunned, I hobbled back to Harper’s car. All this time I’d thought they worshipped Harper, but they were secretly hating her. I wondered how many other people felt that way. I felt bad for Harper, which meant I felt bad for me.

  When I got home, I expected to enter a dark, quiet house and slip quietly away to my bed. Surprisingly, that wasn’t the case. When I shut the front door behind me, I was startled by a tinkling sound. I turned to see Mrs. Granger sitting on the couch, stirring a spoon in a tea cup balanced on a saucer.

  Great. I was dead. The only thing I could think to do was to tell her the truth and hope she would have some type of mercy on me.

  “What happened to you?” She asked. “You look a mess.”

  I eyed myself in the large mirror that hung over the antique couch. She was right. My face was smeared with dirt and tear stains and my hair was a tangled mess. My expensive clothes were filthy and disheveled.

  The flood of tears came before I could stop them. “I’m so sorry. My friends, at least the girls I thought were my friends called me and said they needed help. They were stranded at a house with some guys who were being total jerks, so I went to pick them up. After we had driven away, they told me to pull the car over because Dina had to throw up. When I did that, they jumped me. They beat me up and said they’d been hating me all this time.”

  Mrs. Granger took a sip of her tea. She didn’t look concerned, surprised, or sorry—nothing. Why didn’t this woman show any emotion? I waited for her to scream at me for going out, but she remained calm. “What do you expect, dear? They’re human. They’re conditioned to betray and hurt each other. It’s in their DNA. They can’t help it. It’s why I’d never had any liking for them. Your family, your real family would have never done that do you. We stick together no matter what.”

  She set her tea cup down on the coffee table. “As far as the boy, I hope you didn’t do anything as foolish as fall in love with him. That would have been a huge mistake. Go get cleaned up.”

  I wanted to cry more, but I sucked it up. What would be the point? I didn’t have a mother. I didn’t have anyone I could rest my head on while I cried. Still, that instance had been the most motherly I’d ever witnessed from Mrs. Granger.

  14

  The next day I steered clear of Aria, and Dina. I wasn’t sure if any one else in the group knew about what had gone down. If they did, they certainly didn’t show it. Aria’s plan to turn people against me also wasn’t working as well as she’d hoped. People were still speaking to me and talking about my party.

  During lunch I sat with Quinn, Gunner, and Harper and told them everything. Harper looked down at her food the whole time. I knew if she were in her proper body, she wouldn’t have seen the betrayal coming either.

  Quinn almost called me Abby each time she spoke. Finally she stopped saying my name period. Gunner was the only one at the table not in on the whole story. He was totally unsympathetic as he scrolled through his phone. “Those girls have always been mean bitches, yet you hung out with them, despite them treating others like shit. Then when they’re mean to you, you’re surprised? This is what those types of girls do. They’re sharks.”

  Gunner had a point and from the look on her face I could tell it wasn’t lost on Harper, but she remained quiet.

  “Now all of a sudden you want to be friends with us,” Gunner continued.

  “Gunner, sheesh,” Quinn said. “Can’t you see the girl’s having a bad enough time as it is?” He scowled and pulled his hood over his head.

  “Anyway,” I said, “I hope you guys will come to my party Saturday night. It’s a horror-themed costume party and you must be wearing a costume to get in.”

  Gunner grunted. “Nothing like a last-minute invite. Now we have to scrounge around for costumes in two days? Count me out.”

  “I’ll be there,” Quinn said chirpily. “Me too,” Harper added, which was going to be weird. I got the feeling she wanted to witness what would happen at what was supposed to be her transformation. I still had mixed feelings about the real Harper. I was angry at her for not taking her life back but on the other hand, if I were her would I have traded back? No, I wouldn’t have. And then there was also the fact that I had done this to myself.

  Harper gave me a bright smile. I never noticed how nice my smile was. “Should be very interesting, Harper. Can’t wait.”

  On Saturday morning I was awakened at 6 AM and it seemed as though the Grangers had moved an entire spa and beauty salon into the house. I was escorted in Mrs. Granger’s private salon that I didn’t even know existed. There was an entire wall lined with mirrors and several salon chairs placed in front. There I was given a facial, a full body scrub, my eyebrows were waxed, and I received a chemical peel.

  Then my hair was washed and set with rollers. In my robe and rollers, I sat with Bernice to go over schedule of the night. Everything was timed down to the minute from my entrance, to the reveal of my birthday cake, to the time when I had to make the sacrifices. People filed in and out of the house, carrying décor and props. There was a crew in the kitchen preparing the food and a crew setting up goody bags filled with things the old Abby could never afford. This was no doubt going to be the party of the century and I couldn’t even enjoy it.

  I didn’t know what was going to happen at the end of the night when I refused to make the sacrifices, I just knew I wasn’t through with it and it wasn’t going to be pretty.

  The day flew faster than I wanted it to. The seamstress came and helped me into my dress. It was the first time I had tried it on. It was sexy and slinky and fit Harper’s body like a glove. The hair stylist came and removed my rollers. My hair fell in long cascading curls. After the makeup artist worked her magic, I checked myself out in the mirror. I had never seen Harper look so beautiful. She’d always looked older and more mature than the rest of us girls, but the reflection I was staring at, looking nothing like a teenage girl.

  In my room, I could hear music blaring and the guests arriving. Mr. Granger came to the door and told me it was time to make my grand entrance.

  He offered me his arm and walked me to the top of the staircase. The music stopped and the DJ announced me. Everyone applauded. I took my descent down the steps, praying that I didn’t fall. I didn’t think I would ever get used to heels. Almost everyone watched me adoringly, but now that I wasn’t so naïve, I could sense hate radiating off some people. They smiled at me, but their eyes couldn’t hide the jealousy.

  Dina and Aria caught my eye. Aria was dressed like a creepy bunny and Dina was dressed as an evil clown. I couldn’t believe they had the nerve to show up after the things they’d done and said to me. Tucker stood at the bottom of the stairs with him arm extended, waiting to me my escort for the night. He looked as perfect as I did.

  The next hour I spent dancing and making my way around the room to speak to my guests. The decorating team deserved a prize because the Granger’s home truly looked like a haunted mansion from a horror movie if I ever saw one.

  A slow song came on and Tucker wrapped his arms around my waist. My body stiffened. He noticed and frowned. “This is okay
, right?”

  I nodded even though it wasn’t. Even being with Tucker was no longer sweet now that I knew Harper’s secrets. From the corner of my eye, I spotted her and Quinn standing by the punch bowl dressed like the twins from The Shining. I wasn’t sure why, but them being there made me feel comfortable. Maybe because they were the only ones who knew the truth.

  Quinn and I locked eyes as she made her way over to me. “Hey, Harper, you look beautiful. The most beautiful I’ve ever seen you and that’s hard to top.”

  I separated myself from Tucker who reluctantly disappeared into the crowd. I wrapped my arms around Quinn and held her close, mostly because it might be the last time I got to do it.

  “Are you okay?” she whispered in my ear.

  “No, I’m terrified,” I told her. “I have no idea what’s about to happen.” She took my hands and squeezed them. “If there’s anything I can do, let me know. I swear I’ll do it. By the way, I’ve been trying all week to get Harper to change her mind, but it didn’t work.”

  I shrugged. I appreciated the effort, but it was too late now. There were no more night left for me to sleep with the little box underneath my pillow to reverse the curse anyway.

  At eleven, Martine told me to meet Mrs. Granger in my bedroom. I could only imagine what this conversation was going to be about. I made my way up as slowly as possible. When I arrived, she was sitting on the edge of Harper’s bed with her legs crossed. “It is time, dear. We have less than an hour left. You know the sacrifices must begin at precisely the stroke of midnight when you will be of age. Tell your sacrifice where to go and we will have everything prepared.”

  There was a knock at the door. It was Harper. The light blue dress she wore really brought out her eyes.

  “Hey—Abby,” I said. “I might as well start calling you that, right? What’s up?”