The '68 Camaro Between Kenickie and Me (Pacifica Academy Drama Book 2) Page 15

  I headed for them.

  Quinn looked up from her phone first and waved. Ella lifted her eyes, barely smiled and went back to her phone. I knew right then she was still pissed at me for backing out of her campaign routine for the competition. For supposedly still being grounded.

  I also had the terrible feeling she’d never forgive me for doing the competition with my club. And I remembered what Shane said to me on my birthday before I walked away from him.

  Don’t you think it’s weird you’re hiding, from your so-called best friends, the fact you’re doing the competition with your club?

  I knew at the time what he meant. If they’re really your friends, why would you have to hide that from them? He’d also indirectly asked if they’re really your friends, why would they not understand and accept us being together?

  I pushed those thoughts aside and plastered a smile on my face.

  “Hey,” Quinn said when I reached my locker. “What happened to you over the break? You were, like, never on Snapchat.”

  Not entirely true. I’d gone in a few times to see their posts. But only out of boredom. Quinn and her parents had gone to Seattle to visit her brother. He went to college up there. I’d never been to Seattle, but I’d spent a week in New York City with my parents and grandparents the summer before our freshman year. Ella’s pics and posts were nothing I hadn’t seen and done before. And after they’d forgotten my birthday, I hadn’t cared about what they were doing.

  “Did your grandparents take away your phone, too?” Ella asked.

  I opened my locker at stared at everything inside like I’d never seen any of it before.

  “No. I was busy.” I wanted to add something bitchy about them forgetting my birthday.

  But I focused on what I needed to get through my morning classes.

  “Does that mean you’re not grounded anymore?” Quinn sounded excited. “Because Chad and his roommates are having a big party this Saturday night.”

  I held onto my groan and lied. Again. “I don’t know, Q. I won’t know until I’m back with my parents tonight.” Another reality I didn’t want to face.

  “Well, how was your break?” she asked. “Mine was okay. But I hate the weather in Seattle. I don’t know why my brother likes it there so much.”

  I unloaded and loaded my backpack, and began counting the hours until dismissal. At least Quinn talking about her trip saved me from lying about my break.

  Quinn came closer to me. “Okay, so it’s only the first day back after break, but there’s already serious drama.” She paused, then said, “I guess Shane and Maddie dumped each other that week before spring break.”

  I froze as I was about to shut my locker door.

  How the hell had that gotten out?

  “Not a huge surprise since they fought all the time,” Quinn continued, in full gossip mode. “I can’t believe no one found out, but—”

  “Quinn, maybe no one around here gave a shit about those two,” Ella interjected.

  I gripped my locker door at her words and nasty tone.

  Quinn shrugged. “But the real drama is that Maddie wants to get back together with him and he doesn’t.” She shook her head. “I feel kind’ve sorry for her. She looks terrible today.”

  But I knew that could also be due to whatever else was going on in her personal life.

  At that thought, my patience snapped, and I looked at Quinn. “Where did you hear all this?” Because Shane had made it crystal clear he and Maddie would never post it all over—

  “It’s all over Snapchat.” She frowned. “Like I said, you’re never on there anymore.”

  Which meant one of their friends must’ve blabbed.

  My insides ached for them, but mostly for Shane.

  “Well, I think she’s pathetic for acting like that,” Ella stated. “Over some drama loser?”

  That made my temper snap.

  I slammed my locker door shut and faced them. “You don’t even know him, Ella.” I glanced at Quinn. “And there could be more going on here than just their break-up.”

  I probably shouldn’t have said that, and maybe I’d been a little too obvious. But I sure as fuck couldn’t let them talk about Shane or Maddie like that.

  They gaped at me, and I shrugged into my backpack’s straps.

  “What, like you’re good friends with him?” Ella snidely asked.

  “Jeez, Nat,” Quinn grumbled. “It’s school drama. You usually like hearing this stuff.”

  Their Natalie liked hearing this stuff. This Natalie—the real one—wanted no part of this ugly conversation. My stomach somersaulted just thinking about what Ella had said.

  “I’m not in the mood for it today. I’ll see you in Yates’s class.”

  I spun from them and marched toward the classroom.

  The anger at them and myself and even Shane burned inside me. Though he hadn’t done anything wrong. Accept have the guts to be himself. Unlike me. Which he had absolutely no trouble pointing out on Wednesday and Saturday.

  Maybe that’s why my anger burned so strongly inside me.

  I dropped my backpack and sat down in my seat behind Warren.

  He, like he always did, turned to talk to me. “You look awful. And grouchy. Still not sleeping well?”

  “No,” I answered without looking at him.

  “You’ll feel better once you talk to Ella and Quinn. Oh, and I talked to Mr. Yates. I had to sorta beg, which I didn’t like, but he agreed to give us fifteen minutes at our meeting on Friday.”

  I managed a small smile. “Good. Thanks for doing that.”

  He nodded. “So did you hear about Shane and Maddie breaking up before spring break?”

  Oh, my God.

  Was this day ever going to end?

  The noise level in the cafeteria drilled into my aching head. I needed to eat and take some aspirin, or I wouldn’t make it through my afternoon classes.

  I dragged my sluggish legs toward where I sat with Ella and Quinn. I didn’t know what to expect when I walked up. Quinn had been a little distant during American Government and Ella had ignored me in English.

  Most of my club members sat with J.R., Owen, Nate and other jocks. The pull toward them almost overwhelmed me when Kassidy, Meg, Jade, Lexi and Warren smiled and waved.

  I waved back, then slid my gaze across the cafeteria. Because I did want to see how he looked. To make sure he was okay. But he sat with his back facing the cafeteria. And him sitting that way seemed like another way of ignoring me. Like he had most of Saturday.

  A thick sadness joined my already heavy load as I finished my walk. But when I saw Ella, Quinn and Maddie sitting together, my heart dropped into my stomach, landing with the impact of a boulder.

  “Hey,” I murmured, and I placed my lunch bag on the table.

  Maddie looked pale, and her big brown eyes were bleak and red.

  I so wasn’t in the mood for this, and debated turning and sprinting from the cafeteria.

  “I invited Maddie to sit with us since she can’t sit over there. With him,” Quinn said. “Way too awkward. And…” She leaned forward. “She found out Sloane told Brandy everything going on with her and Shane, and Brandy took it from there.” She straightened. “So she certainly can’t sit with those two anymore.”

  A growl inched its way up my throat, but I swallowed it and tried to give Maddie an encouraging smile as I lowered myself to a chair. But I also didn’t understand why she would be friends with someone like Sloane, the she-devil—my eyes went to Ella, focused on her phone.

  “And she’s going to be our third person in the routine,” Quinn cautiously added. “She’s obviously great at stuff like that and needs the distraction.”

  Of course.

  Could this day get anymore screwed up? And weird?

  Ella raised her head and smiled at me, but there was something truly…she-devil about it. I’d never been on the receiving end of her evil smile and a bit of fear settled around me.

  Something hu
ge had shifted in our friendship. There’s no way she could’ve found out about me being in the competition with the club. Not in less than four hours of our first day back. I could only assume she didn’t like me challenging her so much and all of a sudden. I’m sure she also didn’t like the fact I’d stopped blindly following her. Like Quinn and that Natalie did.

  “We’re going to be talking a lot about the routine. You’ll probably be bored,” she said, and in a way that made me feel very unwelcome.

  I met her cold, steady gaze, but didn’t have a chance to reply.

  “Thanks for letting me sit here.” Maddie stared at her lunch and tears filled her eyes. “I just can’t believe Sloane did that to me.” She looked at Quinn, then me. “I was the only person in the Romeo and Juliet cast who would hang out with her. No one in the Grease cast likes her, either.” She pushed her food up, folded her arms on the table and rested her forehead on her hands. “Now Shane’s…barely talking to me,” she said into the table. “But I trusted Sloane.”

  Quinn shot me a what-the-hell-was-she-thinking look as she patted Maddie’s back.

  “I know Shane only wants to be friends again, but I was still hoping…” She sighed. “We didn’t always argue. And he can’t already like someone else.”

  Shit.

  My discomfort with this entire situation became another noose around my neck.

  “Maddie, seriously, he’s so not worth it,” Ella said while still on her phone.

  I gritted my teeth and leaned forward to defend him again when Maddie lifted her head.

  “You don’t know him. He’s not just cute. He’s one of the nicest boys in this school.” She released a miserable laugh. “And he’s funny. He could make me laugh until I couldn’t breathe.”

  Jealousy replaced my anger with Ella, filled my bloodstream and went straight to my head. My vision blurred.

  I needed to leave, or she needed to stop. Or my aching head would explode.

  “I was angry the day we broke up, but…” Her voice wavered. “I miss him.”

  The bitchiness of Natalie past had definitely come back to bite me in the ass.

  “Let’s talk about the routine.” Quinn’s eyes darted to me. “Nat, you won’t care, right?”

  I shook my head since Quinn basically read my mind.

  And I was officially in hell.

  Chapter 23

  My dad waving his hand in my face made me jump and pull off my Beats. I had the volume cranked while focusing hard on the lyrics. I’d hoped the high volume would drown my thoughts. It had worked. But only a little.

  He grinned. “Dinner’s going to be ready soon.”

  I paused the competition song I downloaded to my phone. “You’re home early tonight.”

  The words came out sounding like an accusation, and I instantly regretted it. I liked it when he came home early. He eased the tension between my mother and me. He also made real food for dinner. When the beauty queen and I were alone, we usually ate fish. And salads.

  “I haven’t seen you in over a week. FaceTiming doesn’t count.” He sat on my bed’s edge. “What’s the loud music all about? That competition you’re going to be in?”

  I nodded.

  I’d told them about it during our FaceTime call on my birthday and only because I had to. I needed to get to and from our rehearsals the next couple weeks. And they’d been surprisingly supportive. Though my mother added it better not affect my schoolwork.

  “I think it’s good you’re doing that with your friends.”

  I pulled my legs up to my chest and hugged my knees. “Thanks.”

  “But you never mentioned Ella and Quinn. Aren’t they doing it, too?”

  I so didn’t want to get into all the drama. I still had to get used to the fact Maddie, of all people, would be their third person in their routine. And be sitting with us at lunch. Indefinitely.

  Bitchy Natalie wanted to walk up to Sloane and Brandy tomorrow and slap them.

  “They’re doing their own routine with another girl.”

  He frowned. “Is everything okay with you three?”

  No. Things weren’t okay. At least not between Ella and me. “Yeah.”

  “Are you sure? You haven’t been talking about them lately.”

  We were closer than my mother and me, but his attention hit my defensive button and my armor surrounded me. “I’ve only seen them at school lately,” I mumbled. “I was grounded? And they were gone over break.”

  “So it has nothing to do with you liking and dating Shane?”

  No. Absolutely not. This conversation was not happening. But I started to ache all over. Like I did have the flu. Influenza H. For heartbreak.

  I stopped myself from groaning and said, “I’m not dating Shane. We’re just—” Even I was so over saying those two stupid words. And it was a bigger lie now since we weren’t even friends. But I couldn’t escape the fact we would be dating. If I had the courage to be with him.

  “That’s not how it sounded when you were telling us how you spent your birthday.” He smiled. “I have to admit I felt a little jealous hearing you talk about that AMX.”

  I could only sort’ve smile.

  “It sounded like a date to me. And your mom. Your grandparents seem to like him. It sounded like he went out of his way to make your birthday special.”

  His smile grew, and I noticed how handsome he was when he relaxed long enough to be himself. Richard Carlisle. Dad, husband, son and classic car lover.

  Maybe struggling with being two very different people ran in the Carlisle genes.

  “Shane’s like that. A really nice guy. So not a big deal.” But the heavy, thick words almost stuck to my tongue as I said them.

  Because I missed him. Missed the texting. Missed the anticipation of getting a text from him. Missed talking to him and his smartass comments. I really missed the laughter from those comments. Missed his wicked smile. Missed the “awesome girl from Wednesday” he brought out of me. But none of that changed the fact I’d done the right thing by walking away.

  I still couldn’t believe I’d picked up his phone and done such a rotten thing to him. To us. But what if I hadn’t? His break-up with Maddie would’ve been a million times worse today if we’d walked into school together, being a boy and girl who were crazy about each other.

  Thinking all those things, and knowing what I had to deal with at school until the competition ended, caused me to snap, “Dad, I don’t want to talk about this, okay?”

  He held up his hands. “I’m done.” He stood. “I need to finish dinner.”

  He looked as frustrated as I felt, and I said, “I’m sorry. It was just…a bad day today.”

  His face softened a bit and he nodded.

  I suddenly realized what I wanted and needed. Besides Shane. I wanted my dog. Snuggling her always made me feel better. And I couldn’t stand her not being here with me.

  “Can you talk to Mom again about letting me have Chloe here? Please?”

  His look transitioned into full hell no.

  “I know having a dog in here is a lot of work. But she’s not a puppy anymore, and I promise I’ll walk her. She doesn’t shed that much. And if Mom doesn’t want her running around when nobody’s here, I can always put her in her crate.”

  She’d hate being in her crate, but I’d rather have her here than in Sausalito without me. And my heart needed all the support it could get.

  He stayed silent for so long I figured he was searching for a nice way to say hell no.

  “I’ll try,” he finally said. “But I’m making no promises.”

  I smiled. My first real smile in…I didn’t know how long anymore. “Thanks.”

  He returned my smile and left.

  He’d have to get her on a great mood day, but I knew he’d do his best convincing her to let me have Chloe here. And I allowed the hope he’d be successful fill another portion of my cracked heart.

  Chapter 24

  Warren faced the classroom after gettin
g Ms. Simmons’s laptop hooked up to the Smart Board and bringing up the presentation we’d created in Google Slides.

  Mr. Yates sat right up front and Ms. Simmons sat beside him. The eight of us were behind them and staying silent from the pressure. I knew all of us were feeling the weight, the importance, of this presentation going well. Especially since Mr. Yates didn’t look happy to be here. One of the reasons we’d decided Warren, our president, should do all the talking. He had way more patience with Mr. Yates than I did.

  Warren’s eyes found mine, and I gave him an encouraging smile and nod.

  After this rotten week, I so needed this to go as we all hoped it would.

  Warren took a quick breath and said, “Mr. Yates, the reason we asked you to be at our meeting today was to explain and show you what this club is really about. And that Pacifica Academy needs a club like this. For social and academic reasons.”

  Mr. Yates didn’t make a sound.

  I glanced at Kassidy, sitting beside me. She sent me a confident smile, and I relaxed. But only a fraction.

  “We created a poll and gave it to past and current members,” Warren continued.

  Mr. Yates released a laugh that also sounded like a grunt.

  “We went over all the answers we got and created this presentation. And because of the answers, the first thing we were able to do was come up with a new name.”

  He used Ms. Simmons’s mouse to click on the first slide. And there was our new name in bold, black print. A name I’d come up with.

  A tingle of pride shimmied through me when I remembered how everyone responded to the new name.

  “Our new name is Students Supporting Other Students. Or S.S.O.S. And we would be a student group, not a club.”

  “That’s wonderful, Warren. Really,” Ms. Simmons said, and I heard the kindness and encouragement in her voice.

  Mr. Yates, on the other hand, didn’t say a word.