The usual crowd of people angling to get inside blocked the sidewalk and our group joined the fray. Getting to this point had been a marathon of manipulation and lies. First, there was convincing Katie not to tell Lucas. Not only did I fail to see the point in it—besides pissing him off and starting a fight—but I also sort of resented the notion that I had to ask permission to go out. Lucas wasn’t my dad (thank God), and I didn’t have to ask him permission to do anything—least of all hang out with my friends. And as long as Katie was there to guard Derek, there was no reason we couldn’t go. That was what she was there for, after all. I spewed all of this to Katie, and she’d backed down, consenting only to call Lucas if something bad happened. Next there was the issue of coercing Derek to go on a date with Heather. Derek was not into it. I had to use every ounce of cunning in my body to cajole him. In the end I owed him one steak dinner, doing his homework for a week, and one marathon movie sleepover night, which was to be relinquished after Zydeco’s tonight.
