Matty looks over from his spot next to Finn outside on the picnic benches. “Oh yeah?”
I grin. “Yeah. Did I tell you guys he’s had a crush on this girl from his school forever?”
Logan snorts next to me. “He did. Last time he was here he got all deep after Rebekah Thompson spent the night coming onto him because he was in love with this other girl.”
I grin, typing out a quick message back to him. “Well, he’s managed to convince her to pretend to be his girlfriend to make some guy she likes jealous.”
Finn just stares back at me, completely dumbfounded. “Are you being serious?”
I chuckle. “Yup. He’s convinced it could work.”
Finn rolls his eyes. “Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.”
I can’t argue with him. “He’s hoping she realises she’s better off sticking with him. It sounds like this is the closest he’s ever gotten to hanging out with her and he’s not willing to give it up.”
“Seriously? Why do people have to make things more complicated than they need to be? If you like someone, just tell them.”
Logan scoffs. “Right.” A smirk covers his face as he looks Finn right in the eye. “So you see a girl you like and you just tell her? Straight up? No messing around?”
Finn eyes Logan for a minute whilst a grin spreads over Matty’s face. I look between them. What have I missed?
“Are you into someone?” I ask Finn. He hasn’t dated properly since he and Lila broke up for good last year. He’s had the odd date here and there and I’m sure plenty of offers, but I didn’t know he was into someone; that’s usually something I’d be the first to know about. In fact, it was only last week he turned down one of the cheerleaders, and I know Lila’s still sniffing around him. She keeps turning up in places he is, which is getting seriously annoying. “I didn’t know that.”
“No,” Finn throws back instantly. He scowls at Logan. “I’m just focussing on school and football right now.”
Logan smirks back at him, and I’m just about to question them further when I remember I have to start making announcements about the food drive I’m doing. I promised Ms. Joot I’d get on with it and I’m behind.
“You guys are gonna help me with the food drive again this year, right?”
They nod. I rope my friends into helping every year and it’s pretty effective. It’s the one time of year I actually care about my so-called popularity. It tends to mean we get more donations, especially with my friends collecting them. Finn always does especially well especially with the freshmen girls.
“Thanks. I need to start making announcements over the speakers.”
Matty grins. “Nah, just go into a bunch of homerooms and flex your muscles—it’ll be more effective.”
Logan snorts back a laugh as I flip Matty the finger.
A hand snakes around my bicep and travels up to my neck, massaging the skin there. I close my eyes as Evie sits down next to me and scoots in so close she might as well be sat on top of me. Lila’s right behind her. “Babe, did you ask your dad?”
I don’t bother to reply as her fingers knead at the knots in my neck.
“Babe?” she asks sharply. “Did you ask him?”
I sigh and shift away from her. I’m still not sure sleeping with her a couple of days ago was a good idea. In fact, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t, but I wasn’t exactly thinking with my head. I’ve made it clear that we’re not a proper item again, that we can just see how it goes for a couple of months to see if we can be in a relationship again, but I get the feeling she’s choosing to ignore that. She’s definitely acting like we’re a real couple again.
“Ethan, did you ask your dad?”
I haven’t asked my dad if we can take his jet and go to his place in Barbados for New Year’s. Firstly, because he’ll most certainly be using it himself to fly to God knows where, and secondly, I don’t want to be away for New Year’s. “No.”
She huffs and crosses her arms whilst Matty smirks over at me from across the table. “Why not?” she whines.
I can’t deal with this right now. “I don’t want to be away for New Year’s,” I tell her. And I don’t. My dad bought that house a couple of years ago to yet again display his wealth, and I’ve only visited once. That was enough. It would be fun to get everyone together over there one day, but honestly? My dad’s blatant display of his wealth just makes me uncomfortable, and I feel like it sets me apart from my friends, which I hate. I don’t want to be any different to them.
Her eyes flash. “But you said—”
“No, you said,” I tell her. “I’m going to be here.”
“This better not have anything to do with your sister,” she throws at me. “You’re not even speaking right now.”
No, we’re not, but that doesn’t mean I want to leave her on her own straight after her first Christmas over here. And besides, it’s barely October. We don’t need to be thinking about that yet.
“Because you shouldn’t be talking to her after what she’s done to you. Remember Craig McGarretty.”
I’m hardly likely to forget that, am I? Evie is finding my fallout with Izzy just that little bit too convenient. I think if it were up to her, she’d happily have us estranged for life.
“I mean it,” she continues as Logan takes a big exaggerated yawn across from us. This is old news. All Evie ever does is moan about Izzy. She doesn’t straight-up bitch about her—she’s more sly than that—but she’s definitely made her feelings known. “Just because she sticks her tongue down some loser’s throat doesn’t mean she’s changed.”
Matty, who has just taken a swig of water, splutters at her words and starts coughing loudly whilst Finn scowls. He wasn’t impressed at her antics yesterday. “What’s the deal with that anyway?” Finn demands. “How does she even know him?”
I shrug. We might not be talking right now, but I personally think what she did was awesome. Not the part where I saw her stick her tongue down the guy’s throat—that I could have done without seeing—but the part where she put those idiots in their place. “He’s the grandson of one of Maria’s friends. He drives her around sometimes.”
“That’s so weird,” Lila states whilst she inspects her face in a hand mirror. “Like, she has that awesome Porsche at your place—why would she get in his gross car?”
“It’s a perfectly fine car,” I snap. I can’t stand Lila’s blatant snobbishness. She’s from a pretty wealthy family and thinks anyone not on her level is beneath her. It’s pathetic. Anyway, I don’t know why Izzy’s not driving her own car, though it’s probably because she doesn’t want to give Dad the satisfaction.
Lila rolls her eyes but doesn’t say anything else.
“So what? Is she into him or something?” Finn asks, not letting the subject drop.
“Why do you care?” Lila throws back instantly. She would take Finn back in a second, but I know for a fact he wouldn’t go there again.
“Yeah,” Logan starts, a huge smirk on his face. “Why do you care, Finn?”
“I don’t,” he replies instantly. “I just think it’s weird that she did that.”
Wait…what? I look between the irritation on Finn’s face and the smirk on Logan’s. Does Finn like Izzy? Is that what Logan was hinting at? My eyes find Finn’s and he immediately looks away, huffing.
Matty chuckles. “She didn’t do it because she likes him. She did it because she’s a boss bitch.”
That doesn’t seem to make Finn any happier about the situation.
“She’s a bitch all right.”
My head snaps to Evie. “What did you say?”
She pales and immediately knows she’s gone too far. “I didn’t mean it. I was just kidding.”
I just stare at her, unblinking. How dare she speak about my sister like that? I might not disagree with her opinion, but I’m her brother—I’m the only one who’s allowed to say that.
“I’ve gotta go find the girls,” she says hastily, standing up, like she�
�s scared of what I’ll say if she sticks around. “Come on, Lila,” she says quickly. Lila looks like she’s about to argue but then takes one look at my face and gets up to leave with Evie. “Bye guys.”
Finn isn’t even paying attention. “What do you mean?” he asks Matty. “About Izzy?”
It takes Matty a second to figure out what he’s talking about. “Those guys were throwing food at Paul, embarrassing and humiliating him. They’ve been pulling that crap with him for years, and every guy in this place wants Izzy.” He glances over at me and throws his hands up. “Sorry bro, but it’s true, and she’s said no to every guy who’s been interested in her.”
I snort. I wish that were true.
“Every guy in this school,” he amends. “And her hooking up with Paul in front of everyone is a massive ‘fuck you’ to those guys. I mean the guy’s walking around like he just won a million dollars or something. She humiliated them by making them pick that food up off the floor and then made him the most envied guy in the place by kissing him.”
I scowl at the mental image of my sister kissing Paul right in front of my face, but I can’t help feeling proud of her too. That was a pretty cool thing to do.
“Seriously,” Logan chimes in, smirking at me, and I know instantly whatever he’s about to say is going to piss me off. He wants it to. “I’d let those guys throw food at me all day if that was what I’d get at the end of it.”
“Shut the hell up,” Finn snaps back straight away. “Don’t even start.”
Logan starts chuckling as I narrow my eyes at Finn. Is my best friend into my twin?
When did that happen?
Matty stretches his arms up over his head. “You gotta admit life’s been a lot more interesting since Izzy showed up here.”
Interesting? I don’t know if I’d agree with that. Stressful? For sure.
I stare at the phone in my hand and just about resist the urge to throw it across the room.
Ethan: I’m not coming back. If you want cash then you’ll have to come to Finn’s.
I let out a groan of frustration and slam back onto my bed. Jessica, that girl I met from Burdown, called me last night—apparently I gave her my number—and talked me into going to this lame bar an hour away that she promised we could get served in. She assured me it would be just girls (i.e. no Craig, which was the only reason I accepted) and so I agreed since I had nothing better to do. It was fun for a little bit. Until it wasn’t, mainly because my purse got stolen. It was my fault, really; I drank too much and forgot all about keeping an eye on my things. When I came back from dancing, it was nowhere to be found. It sobered me up pretty fast and then I just wanted to leave, so I ended up having to call Marcus to come fetch me. He wasn’t impressed, kept lecturing me about drinking and putting myself in dangerous situations. I’m not convinced he’s talking to me today.
The problem I’ve got now is that I’m supposed to be meeting this guy—James—who I met randomly last week. I guess it’s a date, but I don’t know. To be honest, I’m only going because I don’t want to spend the day by myself and he seemed okay. I’m supposed to be meeting up with him in an hour and I’ve got no cash and no way of getting any. There’s no way I’m letting him pay for me, and I hate being reliant on anyone for anything. It’s even more annoying because I have money in my account—I just can’t get to it. The banks aren’t open on Sundays, and the only way I can get any is to transfer the cash to someone and then have them withdraw the money for me. All of that happening in the next hour is incredibly unlikely. My only option is Ethan, and considering we both get the same monstrous amount of guilt money from our dad, it’s not like I’d even have to pay him back—there’s no way he’d miss the $50 I’m planning on asking him for.
Only thing is, I didn’t wake up until after he left, and he’s not coming back. He really wasn’t messing about when he said he was done with me. He’s definitely not over the Craig thing, even if he did stand by me with those dicks who were bullying Paul. He’s made enough comments over the last couple of days to let me know he still has a massive problem with me. Basically Ethan won’t go out of his way for me, not like he would have done before, and if I’m totally honest, I’m not exactly happy with him for falling back into Evie’s trap. I thought he was smarter than that.
I haul my body out of bed and make my way over to my dresser, staring at my reflection in the mirror. I look tired, but then I always look tired, and considering the hour I was out until, I don’t look or feel as bad as I usually do after a night of drinking. I stopped drinking after I lost my purse. It sobered me up completely, and I refused drinks from the college guy who had been hanging around me, hoping to get lucky. I glance at the clock that sits on the corner of my dresser and realise I now have less than an hour until I meet this guy. I sigh, grab a towel, and head to my bathroom for a quick shower.
Paul, being the nice guy that he is, agrees to drive me to Finn’s house, wait outside for me, and then take me to meet this guy. I promise him I’ll buy him a pizza at a later date as payment, but he seems to think he owes me after that scene in the cafeteria. Either way, I don’t argue with him as I have no other way of getting to Finn’s house, and I gladly accept the lift when he turns up at my gate soon after I get out of the shower.
Finn’s house is huge, almost as big as mine but in a completely different way. You’ve got the main house at the top of a long drive through fields littered with cattle. The house is an off-white colour turned almost yellow by age with a white roof, white patio, and white trimmings that look like they’ve been painted more recently. Then there’s an extension attached to the side of the house that’s a rustic brown colour. It looks like it’s been added more recently, like maybe they needed the extra space and tacked it on the side. Then just beyond the house I can see the side of a barn, made out of wood and battered by years of exposure to the wind and rain. For some reason I can’t understand, I want to look inside the barn, want to see if there are bales of hay in the corner and if they house animals in there. I’m interested in a way I never imagined I would be.
I can’t believe I never knew Finn lived on a farm.
As I get closer to the house, I take in all the various cars and trucks parked in the dirt path at the front. There are at least nine vehicles here, one being Ethan’s truck, and Finn’s car is parked closer to the house. I glance around, wondering why there are so many other vehicles, not just trucks, which are clearly used around the farm, but smarter, newer cars too and realise I know next to nothing about Finn’s family. I know he has an older brother who is Marcus’s age, but I don’t know if that’s his only sibling, and I’ve no idea if he lives with both his parents or if they’re divorced. The thought makes me uneasy, because I feel like I should know this. I should definitely know this stuff about Finn, because he knows all about me.
Paul comes to a stop next to a bunch of other cars and I send Ethan a quick text to tell him I’m outside. After five minutes, it’s apparent he hasn’t read the text or is just ignoring me. I check the time on my phone and realise I only have ten minutes to start the twenty-minute journey to meet this guy if I’m going to be on time. I reach out and open the door, stepping out into the balmy Texan afternoon, and slam the door closed behind me, telling Paul I won’t be long. I walk slowly towards the porch, suddenly nervous for some bizarre reason, taking in the brightly coloured flower beds that surround the front of the house. Someone has spent a lot of time and love on them, and when I look back at the house again, I realise what truly makes it completely different to my house. This is a home.
“Who are you?”
I look up in surprise and see a little girl, no older than five, with dark brown hair, huge brown eyes, and a bright yellow sundress stained with mud, hanging off the fly screen and staring back at me. The resemblance to Finn is clear to see. She steps towards me curiously, not even a little scared that some older stranger who must look like an adult is about to walk up her porch. Another little girl appears beside her
and clings to her skirt. She looks to be a couple of years younger and doesn’t have the confidence of what must be her sister (they look so similar) but she stares at me too, seemingly fascinated by something in my appearance.
“Hi,” I say, clearing my throat. Why do I feel so nervous? All I’m doing is asking for Ethan and getting some money off him before I leave straight away. “I’m looking for my brother, Ethan Carlington?”
The older girl’s face lights up at the mention of Ethan’s name. “EE is your brother?” she asks excitedly, stepping towards me.
EE? I can’t help but smile at her. “Yeah, he is.”
“I wish EE was my brother! He always gives me piggyback rides and swings me around!”
I chuckle softly. “That sounds fun.”
“It is!” she declares. “I have a brother too, but he’s just a baby so can’t swing me around. I tried to do it to him, but I dropped him and Mommy got mad.”
I bite back a smile. She’s a feisty little thing. I like her. I had no idea Finn had such little siblings.
“This is my sister Molly,” she announces, grabbing the hand of the younger girl and pulling her down the steps so they’re stood right beside me. “She’s three and I’m five.”
“Hi Molly,” I say, taking in her pigtails and bright blue sundress. Something tells me she’s used to being pulled around by her sister. “And what’s your name?” I ask the older girl.
“Sally Christine Mary Waterstone,” she announces proudly. A different surname to Finn, so not his siblings after all? But then I go by a different name to Ethan and we share the same DNA. “What’s your name?” she demands.
“Izzy.”
“Your hair is like my Barbie’s,” Molly tells me tentatively. My hand automatically flies to my hair. I left it down to dry after my shower, and it falls halfway down my back. It’s not quite as blonde as a Barbie’s, but with the Texan sun on it every day, the blonde highlights haven’t gone anywhere.
All That's Been Said Page 9