“Of course. Go get ready,” she ordered. “Daddy and Mrs. Fennel expect us both to be preparing for tonight. They just don’t know the target. Go!” she ordered when she saw I was still hesitating.
I hurried to my room. Marla swooped in like some buzzard moments after I began my preparations.
“What do you want?” I asked her. She was really annoying me now.
“I just want to watch. You’re so lucky going out with Ava again, especially tonight.”
I tried to ignore her, but she was making me jittery and uptight. Nothing was going the way I wanted it to go. My hair was difficult, and whatever I chose to wear seemed wrong. Finally, more curious about her now than she was about me and my night, I turned to her to put her in the spotlight instead of me. “Tell me something, Marla. Did you ever have a secret crush on any boy? Do you have one now?”
“Crush? No,” she said. “Not like you mean,” she added after a moment.
“How do I mean?”
“Love and all that gook.”
“You really think that’s what it is, gook?”
“What else is it? They nauseate me.”
“Who does?”
“Girls my age who drool over boys. Every time they start, I have to walk away.”
“Doesn’t that get them talking about you?”
“I don’t care what they say or think about me. Why should I? Why are you asking me these questions? Did Ava tell you to do that?”
“No. I was simply curious, that’s all,” I said, brushing out my hair. Looking at her in the mirror, I saw her eyes narrowing with suspicion. She looks more like Ava than I do now, I thought. But how could that be? How could either of us really look anything like the other?
“Where are you two going? You can tell me that, at least. What city?”
“You’ll have to ask Ava.”
“I’m asking you.”
I turned around. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t enjoy doing this, but she brought out the meanness in me. “You’re being impatient, and you’re annoying me at the wrong time,” I said. “Daddy’s not going to like hearing about that.”
She recoiled. “I don’t care where you’re going. Go and have a good time,” she fired back, and left.
I sat looking after her a moment, wondering what it would have been like to have a little sister who looked up to me, idolized me, and took pleasure in spending time with me, instead of one who couldn’t wait to put on my shoes and replace me in our daddy’s eyes.
A little after five, Ava came to my room to inspect me.
“Good job,” she said. “You put your heart into it.”
I knew she was making a pun, teasing me, but I said nothing.
“Daddy wants to see you before we go.”
“He does?”
“Don’t act so surprised. He saw me before I went out the first time. There’s nothing special about him asking for you now.”
She had to make that point, perhaps to convince herself more than to convince me.
“Just be careful. Remember, we’re doing this to correct your mistake, one made so soon after you brought that renegade here. This has to be a surprise, or it won’t work. Understand? Lorelei!” she shouted, making me nearly jump out of my skin when I didn’t answer immediately.
“Yes, yes, I understand.”