The Secret Identity of Devon Delaney by Lauren Barnholdt
“A few highlights that you got without my permission and with my money,” she says, throwing her hands up in the air. Hmm. My mom could seriously use a manicure.
“If it’s the money, I’ll pay you back,” I say. “I’ll babysit Katie, whatever you want.”
“That’s not the point, Devon,” my mom says. She yanks a blue-and-white sneaker onto her foot and starts tying her laces.
“Mom,” I say, putting my hand over hers and stopping her from tying. “Please. Calm. Down. It’s just some hair dye.” She sighs. “Listen, can we talk about this later? After we’ve both cooled down? I’m sorry I didn’t ask permission, but if I knew you were going to get this upset about it, I definitely would have.” My mom doesn’t say anything, and I rush on. “Plus Luke is going to be here any minute to work on our project.”
Our doorbell rings then, saving me like a snowstorm on the day of a big test.
“Fine,” my mom fumes. She pulls her sneaker off. She still looks very, very mad. “But we will be dealing with this later.”
“I know,” I say seriously. I race to the door. Luke’s standing there, wearing a blue-and-white sweater and eating an apple. His green book bag is slung over his shoulder. “What’s up?”
“Hey,” I say, holding the door as he slides by me. Is Luke wearing cologne? He smells … different. I sniff the air around him experimentally.
“You changed your hair,” he says as I shut the door.
“Oh,” I say. “Yeah, I just got it done.”
“It looks nice,” he says, and I feel myself flushing. He bends down to take his shoes off (so polite!), and I catch a whiff of what could be cologne again. Sniff, sniff. Still can’t tell. Maybe he just smells like a boy. I’m not usually close enough to any boys to know what they smell like.
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” He smiles.
“So where do you want to work?” I ask. “We could do it in here, I guess, or—”
“I’m ready for the mall!” Katie announces, bursting into the room. She’s in normal (read: non-Olympian) clothes for once. A pair of jeans and a pink and white polka-dotted sweater. “Oh,” she says when she sees Luke. “Hello.”
“Hi,” Luke says.
“We’re not going to the mall anymore,” I say. “So you can go in the kitchen. We’re going to be working on our project in the living room.”
“Okay,” Katie says, shrugging. Her blue eyes stay fixated on Luke. “I forget your name.”
“It’s Luke,” he says. “And you’re Katie, right?”
“Are you Devon’s boyfriend?” Katie asks seriously, ignoring his question. Uh-oh. Danger, Will Robinson. Who is Will Robinson, anyway? I think he’s a pilot.
“No,” I say. I put my hands firmly on Katie’s shoulders and start to push her toward the kitchen. “He’s not my boyfriend. We’re working together on a very important project for school. Some homework.” I emphasize the word “homework” since, for some reason, Katie gets scared by it. It seems super serious to her.
“Okay,” Katie agrees as I propel her toward the door. “I forgot your boyfriend’s name is Jarrreeeeddd.” Katie squeals and then goes running into the kitchen.
“Sorry about that,” I say to Luke. “She’s a kid, you know.” I roll my eyes, hoping he’ll accept that excuse for Katie’s obvious insanity.
“You like Jared?” Luke asks, sounding surprised. Probably because (a) up until a few days ago, I’d never even really conversed with Jared, and (b) Luke is Jared’s best friend, and knows I definitely don’t have a chance with him.
“Jared who?” I ask, trying to play cool.
Luke frowns.
“Oh, Jared Bentley,” I say, backpedaling. “No, I don’t like him. Katie thinks that any guy I hang out with is my boyfriend.” He looks skeptical. “She’s five,” I explain.
“Right,” he says, sitting down on the couch. He slides his bag over his shoulder and unzips it, pulling out a bunch of papers. “So I was thinking it would be a good idea to have the script pretty much nailed down tonight so that everyone will have enough time to memorize their parts before Saturday.”
“Good idea,” I say. “Let me show you the outline I came up with. Be right back.” I run to my room and pull out the outline I worked on earlier in study hall. It has all the important players of the Declaration of Independence, including some ideas for what I think they could say, some debates they could have, and who I think would be good for what parts. (I gave me and Luke the biggest parts since it’s our project and Lexi and Kim the smallest since I have a hard time believing they’re going to take this seriously.)
“Devon, this is great,” Luke says once he reads it. “Seriously, this is really awesome.”
“Really?” I say, flushing from the compliment.
“Yeah, this is going to make it a lot easier to get everything done. You’ve done most of the work.”
“Oh, hello,” my mom says, coming into the room. Oh, geez. “You must be Luke.”
“Yes,” Luke says, standing up. “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Delaney.” He holds his hand out, and they shake.
“Just popping in to see if you two need anything,” my mom says, trying to sound innocent.
“No,” I say. “We’re fine.”
“Okay,” she says breezily. “I’ll be right in the kitchen if you do.” She emphasizes the words “right in the kitchen” I think in an effort to point out how close she’ll be to where we are.
“Sorry about that,” I say once my mom is out of earshot. “She’s totally overprotective.”
“It’s cool,” Luke says. “My dad’s the same way. Whenever I’m at his house, he checks on me every five minutes. I can’t be on the computer or the phone past eight, and if I want to go anywhere, I have to let him know, like, five days in advance.” He rolls his eyes.
“Your parents are divorced?”
“Yup,” he says, like it’s no big deal. “But it’s cool. I see my dad a lot. Even though he’s kind of a pain.” He grins.
“Yeah,” I say. “Same with my mom. I know she only does it because she cares, but it’s still kind of annoying. Like, she flipped out when she saw my hair.”
“Really?” Luke asks. “Isn’t it funny the stuff they get upset about? I mean, it’s just a little hair dye.” He reaches over and pulls my hair, as if to prove his point.
“That’s exactly what I said!” I tell him. “Yet they have no problem with me going to school, where tons more dangerous things can happen.”
“My dad’s definitely been worse since the divorce,” Luke says. “It’s like he wants to make sure he’s still a good dad, so he does it by being more protective.”
I pause for a second, wondering how much to reveal. “Same with my parents,” I say finally. I look down at my hands. “This past summer they were thinking about separating.”
“That sucks,” he says, looking serious. He looks at me and doesn’t say anything, which is nice. I hate when you tell someone something important and they start asking a bunch of weird questions.
“They’re okay now,” I say. “They’re working it out. But I think that’s why she’s being a little more protective lately.”
“That makes sense,” Luke says. “She wants to make sure she’s being good to her family.”
I flush, realizing that not only am I having a real conversation with a boy, but that Luke’s now the only one besides Lexi who knows about my parents. I like the way he’s so cool about it, like how he knows that what goes on in our parents’ relationship has nothing to do with us. It seems so grown up.
We spend the next two hours going over the script, getting it ready to give to everyone to memorize. My mom comes into the living room from the kitchen about a hundred times. (“Do you think it’s too cold in here?” “Did you remember to feed the cat?”) It’s kind of annoying, but I smile and answer her questions in an effort to distract her from the fact that she’s mad at me. Plus, every time she does, Luke gives me this secret
“So I’ll make copies for everyone in the morning,” Luke says when we’re done. “And we’ll hand them out at lunch tomorrow.”
“Oh,” my mom says, coming into the room. Again. “Are you guys finished?”
“Yes, Mrs. Delaney,” Luke says, zipping up his backpack. “Thanks to your daughter and her amazing outline.”
I blush again.
“I’ll talk to you in school tomorrow,” I say to Luke. I need to get him out of here before my mom or Katie says something uber-embarrassing.
“So,” my mom says once Luke shuts the front door behind him. “I’ve thought about it, and I’ve decided you can keep the hair.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” I say, rushing over to her and grabbing her in a hug.
“If,” she says, disentangling herself from my grasp, “you promise to pay for it. You can start by babysitting Katie on Saturday night. Your father and I are going out.” She smoothes her hair back, and I can tell this time “going out” means “going out” on a date. I’ve never heard of Saturday night therapy appointments.
“Okay,” I say. “But I’m going to Jared’s to work on my project at two o’clock.”
“We’re not going out until seven,” she says. “So you should have plenty of time.”
“Perfect,” I say. I don’t even mind babysitting Katie. Anything that allows my parents to spend time together is fine with me. Besides, it’ll be fun. Katie and I can make cookies or something. I give my mom a kiss on the cheek and then head to the kitchen for dinner, my new hair bouncing behind me.
“Oh,” Mel says when she sees me at school the next morning. “You did something to your hair.”
“Yup,” I say, doing a twirl in the hall. “I got it cut. And highlighted.” I’m also wearing a new pair of jeans with a pink-and-maroon striped hooded sweater. I feel fab.
“Oh.” Silence.
“Do you like it?”
“It’s okay.” She looks at the ground and shifts her bag to her other arm. “Here.” She thrusts our notebook at me, hitting me in the stomach with the binding. All right then.
“What did you do last night?” I ask, taking the notebook and putting it in my locker. I glance down the hall nervously I see Jared at his locker, stuffing some papers into his bag. Wow, he looks really unorganized. No wonder he’s always having trouble in English. That boy needs a planner. Or at least a folder. Lexi is nowhere to be seen. I relax slightly.
“Homework,” Mel says, sounding short. “I called you, but you never called me back. And your away message was up all night.”
“Yeah, I was at the mall and then later, Luke came over to work on our project.” I know I shouldn’t feel guilty for hanging out with Lexi and working on my project with Luke, but for some reason I do. Maybe it’s because I know I haven’t been paying as much attention to Mel as I should have been these last few days. Or maybe it’s because last night I told Luke about my parents, when I still haven’t told Mel.
“Okay,” Mel says, not really sounding like it is.
“Are you mad?” I ask. I feel a lump in my throat.
“No,” she says, sighing. “I just feel like you haven’t really had time for me the past couple of days, you know? You never call me back, and you forgot about meeting me twice.”
“I know,” I say, trying to swallow around the lump. “I’m so sorry. It’s just been crazy with everything that’s going on. But it’s only going to be for a little while longer, and then I’ll stage the fake breakup and everything will go back to normal, you’ll see.”
“I guess,” Mel says, not sounding convinced.
“Hey, listen,” I say, “do you want to be in the skit Luke and I are doing for our history project? We’re going to work on it at lunch.”
“I can’t,” Mel says. “I have to make up a test during lunch, so I won’t be around.” She looks at the ground.
“Oh.” I try again. “Well, do you want to hang out later?” I ask. “I could come over, we could watch On Demand movies or something. And we could talk about the whole Brent-saying-hi-to-you-in-the-library situation.”
“Okay,” Mel says, brightening. “And we can do our homework together and order pizza.”
“Fab,” I say. “And I’ll try to find the CosmoGIRL! article that talks about the head nod and what it means.”
Later, in English, I’m in my seat, waiting for class to start, when Kirn comes in and plops down in the seat ahead of me, the seat where Jared usually sits.
“Your hair,” she declares, “looks fabulous.” Must be Nice Kim I’m dealing with right now. Thank God. I’m not in the right mental state to deal with her other personality, Mean Girl Kim.
“Thanks,” I say, giving it a shake. Love that Lucinda.
“So tell me what it was about,” she says, tilting her head and looking at me seriously.
“Tell you what what was about?” I ask, wondering if I’m out of the loop again.
“The assignment,” she says, rolling her eyes. “Whatever it was we were supposed to read.” Today she has pink sparkles on her eyes to match the pink V-neck sweater and matching pink pants she’s wearing. She looks like a big batch of cotton candy.
“Oh,” I say. “Um, we didn’t have to read anything for today.” Did we? I pull out my assignment book, suddenly panicked. Is it possible that in all my new-haircut excitement I forgot an assignment?
“Oh, thank goodness,” she says. “I always forget to do the reading assignments.” Is she serious? The reading assignments are, like, the basis of the class.
“Yeah,” I say doubtfully
“So what’s up for the weekend?” she asks. “Luke said we’re all doing your little play.” She rolls her eyes like she can’t believe the ridiculousness of us doing a play. It’s not like we had a choice. It’s a school assignment. Although maybe in Kirn’s world, school assignments are optional. “But seeing Luke in a costume is definitely worth giving up my Saturday.”
Whoa. Does Kim like Luke? For some reason, this idea bothers me. I don’t know why. If Kim likes Luke, then I don’t have to worry about her liking Jared. How would Devi handle this? “Kim, do you like Luke?” I ask, trying to sound playful and Devi-like.
“Why?” she asks, her eyes narrowing. “What did you hear?”
Yikes. The last thing I need is Kim being mad at me. “Oh, urn, nothing,” I say. Time to change the subject. “So listen.” I lean forward so no one else can hear us.
“Remember what you said yesterday? About Jared liking Lexi?”
“Isn’t that so cute?” she says loudly. “They would be the cutest couple. Don’t you think?”
“Yeah.” No. “Anyway, just out of curiosity, why do you think he likes her?”
“Who? Jared?”
No, Prince William. “Yeah,” I say. I twirl a strand of my newly cut hair around my finger and hope I look and sound casual.
“Because he told me,” she says, shrugging.
Must. Not. Panic. “What did he say?”
“What do you mean, what did he say? He said, ‘I like Lexi.’”
“Hey,” Jared says, walking up to his seat. He looks at Kim. “You’re in my seat.”
“So?” Kim says. “I’m talking to Devi.”
“But it’s my seat.” He sets his books down on his desk. They’re covered in Star Wars book covers, which I’ve never noticed until just now. Star Wars. Weird. I’ve never gotten that whole Star Wars fascination some people have. My dad loves those movies. He’s always trying to get me to watch them with him, but Darth Vader scares me. Plus everyone knows the line “Luke, I am your father,” which is like the big surprise ending, and it kind of kills the movie if you already know that when you start watching.
“It’s not really your seat until the bell rings,” Kim says. “Until then, it’s whoever gets here first.” Jared reaches out and grabs Kim around the waist and starts tickling her. She giggles and throws her head back, her hair making a blond river down her
“Jared, stop,” she says. She tries to block his hands, but he’s stronger than her. How awkward. Sitting here while they flirt. La, la, la. Why is Jared being so flirty with Kim if he likes Lexi, anyway?
“Okay, okay,” Kim says, holding up her hands in surrender. “You can have your seat back.” She flounces off in a haze of sparkles and perfume. Kim apparently also thinks saying good-bye is optional.
“Whaddup?” Jared asks me.
“Not much,” I say My mouth feels like it’s been stuffed with cotton.
“Did you do something to your hair?” He frowns. “You look …” Hot? Beautiful? Gorgeous? “… different.”
“Yeah,” I say, talking through my cottonmouth. “I got it highlighted.”
“Cool.” He turns back around, and I stare at the back of his neck. Smooth. Tan. I have to resist the urge to reach out and touch it. I debate whether or not I should try to do damage control for the weekend. If I don’t, I risk Jared flirting with Lexi. If I do, I actually have to initiate conversation with Jared, which is still hard for me. I take a deep breath.
“So, um, Jared?” I ask, figuring overcoming my nervousness around Jared is an integral part of not getting caught in all my lies.
“Yeah?” he asks, turning back around. His eyes are really blue. I take another deep breath. I can do this. It’s just like playing a role. I try to turn into Devi.
“Um, did you tell Kim that you had a thing for Lexi?”
“Yeah,” he says. He turns back around toward the front of the classroom. What is with these people? Acting totally casual about things that are obviously HUGE DEALS?