Halfway through the movie the phone rang. Bingo paused the tape and grabbed the receiver. "Yeah? Oh, hi, Kelly."
Vivian stiffened.
"Oh, hangin' out movie bingeing," Bingo said. "Yeah? No. Did they? Yeah, I heard. Phoned his house. Yeah, again. His dad's a real prick."
It was obvious the subject was Aiden. Vivian picked up one of the cassettes and tried to look as if she wasn't listening, but Bingo's next words made her glance over anyway.
"Well, why don't you ask her, Kelly? She's sitting right next to me." Her tone was mockingly sweet. "Bye-ee," Bingo sang in response to whatever Kelly said at the other end of the line, and she hung up.
"That girl can be such a bitch," Bingo said.
"What did she say? " Jem asked. Vivian never would have. She waited for Bingo's answer warily.
Bingo flung a hand up as if dismissing Kelly's words. "She was like, 'I guess Vivian won't be going out this weekend,' only she sounded happy about it, you know? She thinks you don't have any friends or something."
"She's jealous," Jem said, reaching for the remote.
"Oh, duh!" Bingo responded, then to Vivian, "She was like that to me before you came along, you know. I've been friends with Aiden forever, only when Ms. Me-First decided to claim him, suddenly I was the enemy, and I wasn't even competing."
"Let's watch the movie," Jem said.
"Aiden's too sweet," Bingo continued, ignoring Jem. "He was falling right into a thing with her, just 'cus it was easier than saying no and hurting her feelings."
"She's not that bad," Jem said, starting the movie again.
"Guys," Bingo said. "They think with this." She grabbed her crotch.
Jem laughed. "You're crude."
Bingo blew a raspberry at him. "Yeah, you love it."
On the screen a scientist put the severed head of a zombie in a pan and poured in a nutrient to sustain it. The zombie's lips wriggled and its eyes rolled.
"Mmmmmm! Zombie Helper," Jem said. "Pop it in the oven and bake."
Bingo added her own interpretation. "Now, baby, use your zombie litter."
"Good one," Jem conceded joyfully.
Vivian settled back into the cushions. This was great. She had an ally. Who would have guessed? She was having the most fun she'd had with anyone in ages, and they weren't even pack. We can be friends, she thought. It needn't be them and us.
But what if they saw her in her wolf-shape? They'd be fleeing down the streets like those teenagers on the television.
"Stop, wait," she said for a zombie that chased some kids down an alley. "Let's play Scrabble."
Jem and Bingo cracked up.
Chapter 15
15
The trees in Gaskill State Park were festooned with crystal raindrops, and thunder still rumbled in distant skies. The air was thick with mist as the heat of the day steamed from the turf into the pewter light of dusk.
Figures wound through the trees and emerged into the clearing - pairs, singles, groups. Vivian watched them arrive from the fallen elm where she perched. Some chattered in hushed, excited tones, others came silently. Most had walked a long distance after the two-hour drive, their cars, vans, or bikes parked along lonely-country roads, in hidden clearings and forgotten lanes - anywhere they wouldn't attract a park ranger's eye.
Lucien Dafoe hobbled between two friends, complaining loudly that he was still too hurt to fight. Vivian sniffed in disgust. Her people healed faster than that.
"I hope someone beats the crap out of him," Lucien said, nodding toward Gabriel, who was laughing with a friend. "Someone not so prissy about where and what he can hunt."