Her Last Breath: A Kate Burkholder Novel

ought to put on a show, give them a reason to stare,” Mattie said, watching them unabashedly.
    The group wandered to the table next to ours and sat down. I turned my attention back to my iced tea, hoping they left us alone. Mattie had no such ambitions. She was completely unperturbed by their not-so-covert ogling and the whispers they didn’t bother to conceal.
    But I felt the burn of their stares like fire against my skin, and I wanted to kick her under the table. After a few minutes, the two boys sauntered over to us. The first boy had brown hair that was nearly as long as mine. The second was blond with a slightly feminine air. I suspected he might have been confused for a girl if it hadn’t been for the tuft of peach fuzz sticking out of his chin.
    Mattie cast me a quick smile and winked. I couldn’t believe she thought they were going to be nice. Even at the tender age of fourteen, I had developed a sixth sense when it came to spotting troublemakers. These two boys had it written all over their too-pretty faces. I sucked hard on my straw, uncomfortable because all of them were watching us expectantly, looking bored and mean and a little too anxious to focus those things on us.
    “Do you ladies come here often?” the brown-haired boy asked.
    A round of snickers erupted from the girls sitting at the table next to ours. I didn’t look up from my drink. But I was quickly running out of tea. That was a problem because once that happened, I’d have nothing to do.
    “We’re regulars,” Mattie said breezily. “Haven’t seen you around, though.”
    He grinned, pleased to have received a response, and shot the girls a this-is-going-to-be-fun look. “Do you mind if my friend and I ask you a few questions? We’re working on a report for school. You know, about Amish people.”
    More snickers.
    Mattie sucked on her straw, studying him from beneath long lashes. “What’s in it for us?”
    “I don’t know.” He shrugged. “What do you want?”
    “Buy us a couple of chocolate shakes and we’ll tell you everything you ever wanted to know.” She smiled sweetly. “Won’t we, Katie?”
    I kicked her, annoyed because I was certain she was about to get us involved in something that would surely backfire.
    The two boys exchanged looks, then the brown-haired boy nodded. “Sure.” Rising, he fished his wallet from his pocket and walked to the counter.
    “What are you doing?” I whispered in Pennsylvania Dutch.
    “You wanted ice cream, didn’t you?” she shot back.
    I shook my head, dread building in my chest. This wasn’t going to be fun and it wasn’t the way I’d wanted to spend my afternoon.
    I risked a glance at the table next to us. Only then did I notice the girls sitting there by themselves, looking irritated, and it struck me that they didn’t appreciate their boyfriends buying ice cream for us. I experienced a moment of triumph because I realized it was part of Mattie’s plan.
    A few minutes later, the brown-haired boy set two chocolate shakes in front of us, and they joined us at our table.
    Mattie wrapped her lips around the straw. “Danki.”
    For the first time, the brown-haired boy’s smile was genuine. He liked the Pennsylvania Dutch. Almost as much as he liked the way she was sucking on that straw. “What’s your name, anyway?” he asked.
    “Mattie. What’s yours?”
    “Hunter.” He motioned to his friend. “This is Patrick.”
    Patrick leaned forward. “No offense, but what’s up with the old lady getup? You know, the granny dresses? You two are pretty hot-looking and that shit you’re wearing isn’t exactly sexy.”
    The girls giggled.
    Cruelty glinted within his smile, telling me he was out to impress his friends and that was going to happen at Mattie’s and my expense.
    “Ask her if they shave their legs,” one of the girls blurted out.
    “Better yet, why don’t you show us your legs?” Patrick said.
    The girl wearing the blue jeans cackled. “I bet their legs are hairier than yours, Hunter!”
    Hunter shook his head. “As you can see, my friends have no manners.” He spread his hands, trying for innocuous. “But we’d really like to know. Do you ladies shave your legs?”
    To my utter shock, Mattie swiveled from her chair, hiked up her dress and exposed a slender, beautiful, shaved leg.
    The other girl slapped her hand over her mouth and hooted around red-tipped fingers.
    “Wow.” But Hunter couldn’t take his eyes off that long stretch of milky