The Immortals by Mary Hallberg (chrysanthemum read aloud txt) 📗

fall, and my heart dropped. It was the truth, but I had said it out of frustration. Then again, what was I supposed to say? There isn’t really a nice way to say something like that. But it was too late now; he wasn’t going to listen to an apology, I knew. I wasn’t even sure I owed him one.

“Well then,” he said, “I guess I’ll just go. Have a nice life.” He shuffled out of the room, and I didn’t try to stop him.

Five minutes after Matt left, there was another knock at my bedroom door. “Come in,” I mumbled thinking it was Luke coming to claim his socks. It was Elizabeth who, in the past twelve hours, I had forgotten even existed.

I reluctantly invited her in and she sat at the foot of my bed (which I did not invite her to do). As promised, she carried a manila folder stuffed with papers. Her blonde highlights were pulled back in a neat ponytail and she was covered in a layer of spray tan. It looked uneven, like she had rubbed her fingers over her body while the tan was still wet. She looked like an orange with the top peeled off.

“All right, Kenzie. I can’t believe I’m asking this but...I need your help.”

“Really?” I looked down and pretended to inspect my nails. But if she felt like I wasn’t paying attention, she didn’t mention it. She simply began rambling, just like Jacey. But when Elizabeth did it, it was much more irritating.

“I don’t know if Niles told you, but there’s a new position available at Feed the Needy. It’s basically for advertising. They want someone to be in their ads and posters and such — you know, posing with the starving kids and such. I really really really really want it.” She linked her fingers together; it had been so long since I'd seen someone even imitate praying that it surprised me. “Could you put in a good word with Niles for me? Please?”

It sort of annoyed me that she called Gage and Matt’s father by his first name when she and Gage had only been dating for a few months. Even though he and I hadn’t dated very long either, it had taken them much begging for me to do the same, and she had done it so effortlessly.

“Elizabeth, how can I help you with that? If you want the position, all you have to do is ask. Niles has known you for years, and he’s only known me for eight months. Don’t you think he knows you well enough, or at least better than I do?”

“I figured you might say that. But Kenzie, this is really important to me. I want to be involved in Gage’s life. Niles isn’t going to hire me just because I’m in love with his son. They’ll want a second opinion, and Gage trusts you.”

Instead of pointing out that there were several open positions at Feed the Needy and how convenient it was that she had picked the one that would get her the most attention, I licked my lips. “Gage doesn’t trust me. Well, he might, but there are lots of people out there he trusts more than me.”

“No there aren’t!” she whined. “I know you guys haven’t talked in awhile, but he’ll listen to you. He still cares about you.”

Her voice softened as she talked, and I realized that she might actually be upset. Was I still a threat to her? I wasn’t dumb; I realized now that was why she had been so hot and cold to me while Gage and I were dating. But we weren’t dating anymore. She had gotten what she wanted.

“He has a funny way of showing it,” I said.

“Look Kenzie, I know a lot has happened between us in the past few months, and I’m sorry. But can’t you help me with this? I know you’re a good person. Do the right thing.”

“Oh my God.” I burst into laughter. “If you knew half the stuff I had done you wouldn’t think I was a good person. And you know what? Gage may or may not listen to me, but he sure as hell listens to you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Are you kidding me? He’s totally infatuated with you. If you went to him and asked him to get you a job as a prostitute he’d probably do it because he’d do anything to make you happy. He’s completely blinded by lust.”

Elizabeth scoffed. “You have no proof of that. You’ve barely spent any time around us together. At least not as a couple.”

I knew she was right, but the words kept pouring out like water over a broken dam. “I don’t have to have proof. Why does Gage keep dating you? I have no idea. Probably because you put out.”

Elizabeth glared at me like I'd never seen anyone glare before. The irises of her eyes slowly turned red.

“I’m sorry,” I said, “I didn’t mean that...”

But she looked really upset. Tears brimmed in the corner of her eyes, but she wiped them away. Boy was I on a roll. First I made out with my ex’s brother, and now I was initiating a cat fight with his new girlfriend. Grandpa once told me about an old phrase ‘going to hell in a hand basket,’ and I was sure that described me right now.

But then she did the last thing I expected her to do. She smiled. Though it wasn’t exactly a friendly smile. “You might want to be a little bit nicer to me.”

“Is that a threat?”

She shrugged. “I guess it is. But really McKenzie, I’m telling you for your own good. You don’t want to mess with me.”

She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She punched a button and it lit up; the letters ‘EED’ flashed across the screen. My heart sank. I remembered Corrina’s explanation of the app at the Cavanagh’s party all those months ago. Can record conversations up to