The Bookworm Next Door: The Expanded and Revised Edition

by Alicia J. Chumney

“Then you went over and put five dollars down on the table.” Nudging him lightly on the arm, “And then you still tipped her for our meal.”

  “What can I say?”

  “Brady Johnson, your mama raised you right,” Savannah whispered, purposely drawing out her southern drawl.

  Opening the car door for his now-ex-girlfriend, “Okay, I’ll go see who you want to be my next girlfriend on one condition.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I’m still taking you to the Prom. It’s in two weeks and it is not fair that you’d have to go stag when this was all your idea.”

  “Deal,” she agreed, shaking on it. “I’m sure she will agree.”

  Hannah Stanfield paced the entryway that lead in to the Bible Study classroom. She knew that Savannah had caught Hannah checking out her boyfriend a few times, but she was extremely careful about not looking at him whenever she was around. She even stopped going to the baseball practices to watch her younger cousin practice, opting to sit in the parking lot to wait for him to get out.

  She wasn’t about to miss getting paid twenty-five dollars a week to take him home after practice.

  There were some benefits to waiting. She had managed to get a fair amount of homework and reading done in that back parking lot at school. All of the out-of-class reading of The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible had been done in that parking lot. She went to great lengths to avoid Brady Johnson.

  When she saw Savannah and Brady entering the building – for a moment she hoped it would be one of those sessions that Brady wouldn’t be able to attend – Hannah resisted the urge to deflate. Looking around them in hopes of spotting somebody behind them, she deflated a little when she saw nobody else with them.

  Maybe it was one of Brady’s teammates that Savannah wanted to set her up with and they would end up having to double date – talk about torture. Having to stare across the table at the unknown baseball player and Brady. Making small talk. Acting like she felt nothing for her new friend’s boyfriend.

  “Hey, Hannah,” Savannah smiled. “Have you met Brady Johnson?”

  “Maybe a time or two. My cousin plays on the baseball team with you.”

  Nodding his head, Brady stared at Savannah. Was this the girl that his new ex-girlfriend wanted to set him up with? She would always take off running (he was exaggerating a bit) in the opposite direction whenever he approached her general direction at school.

  “Brady, this is Hannah Stanfield.” Turning to Hannah, “Hannah, this is the person I wanted you to meet.”

  Hannah could feel all of the blood draining out of her face. “Why?”

  Brady blinked at the rude comment. This was the sweet, polite, and smart girl that Savannah wanted him to date? The nice girl he’d discussed the differences between homemade and store bought cookies with only the week before?

  Shaking her head, Hannah closed her eyes before saying, “I’m sorry. That’s rude. But, Savannah, this is your boyfriend.”

  “Ex-boyfriend,” Savannah smiled. “Brady and I don’t really suit each other. We’ve given it the old college try, as they say, and we are better off as friends than anything else. I have a feeling that you would make a better girlfriend to him than I was.”

  From the doorway leading to the Teen Bible Study class somebody called, “Are you coming?”

  “Of course,” Savannah smiled. “We’ll be right there.” Turning back to her semi-captive audience, “We’ll talk after Bible Study.

  Savannah watched Hannah and Brady from her spot across the table from them at the ice cream parlor. First, she had insisted on going and getting a cupcake from next door to eat with her ice cream. Dinner of champions she had joked.

  “Okay, look,” she acknowledged without prefacing anything she was about to say, “I’ve seen the way that you look at him without trying to look at him. It’s ingrained in you and no I’m not saying that you were thinking about going after my boyfriend.”

  “Ex-boyfriend,” Brady interjected.

  Savannah glared. “Anyway,” she drawled out, “We were not working out. Brady and I are too much alike and all we’ve been doing for the last month is holding hands and doing the expected things like going to the movies on Friday nights. It is not working and, no offense, I’m bored out of my mind. But I’ve seen him looking at you too. He doesn’t know he’s doing it, but I’ve seen it.”

  “Hey!”

  “It’s fine. You did nothing about it. Geez,” Savannah rolled her eyes. “Not that it really matters since I broke up with you.”

  “True. Continue.”

  Hannah started giggling. “You two sound like my cousin and me when we are arguing about something.”

  Throwing her hands up in the air, without noticing that she was flinging ice cream, “Finally!” she exclaimed. “Somebody gets it.”

  Brady’s response was, “You are close to your cousin?”

  “He’s like a younger brother to me, especially since I don’t have any siblings and my father likes to play catch with him in the backyard.” That was all that Hannah was willing to share with somebody she barely knew, especially about her lack of siblings and father’s disappointment.

  The harried employee glared over at them thanks to Savannah’s enthusiasm. He mentally refused to clean up the mess of melting ice cream caused by the customer that acted like she did not care just how loud she was being.

  “Umm, Savannah, you might want to clean up your mess,” Brady pointed out. “I think we’re about to get kicked out.”

  Savannah hurried over to where her ice cream was melting and gave the employee a sheepish smile. “Sorry. I’m trying to set up my ex-boyfriend with one of my friends from church.”

  That left Hannah and Brady in the booth while Savannah apologized to Jefferson, according to his name tag. “Is she normally this energetic?”

  “Not usually, but she is on a sugar rush while also trying to get her master plan to work,” Brady answered, turning to get a better look at the girl sitting next to him. “So, you’ve been checking me out.”

  “So have you!”

  “Touché.”

  “We could go out to make her happy,” Hannah whispered.

  “There are a few minor details that need to be discussed first,” Brady pointed out. “My sister and her best friend for example.”

  Hannah blinked, thinking about who his sister and her best friend were and why that would be a problem. “Kelly and Aimee…” she left the implication dangle as she thought about the pair’s reputation.

  “Exactly.”

  When Savannah slid back into her spot, she interrupted, “Kelly is easy to get around. If you can get on her good side and include her in some things then she will be easy to deal with. As long as Kelly is happy then Aimee doesn’t get involved in matters.” Cutting off a section of her cupcake, “You could also apply some of that age old advice.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Keep your friends close but your enemies closer.”

  Brady and Hannah looked at each other with that piece of advice sitting between them. It could work but that would also mean purposely getting roped into Aimee and Kelly’s schemes. She would be untouchable only if she didn’t anger either girl. Would it be worth losing some of her good friends in order to have her chance with Brady?

  “You could always explain it to your friends,” Brady suggested. “If we actually work out that is.”

  “They would probably understand. I know my friends in theatre would love the acting that would be involved with this double-cross, but some of them might not like that it’s for a boy.”

  Savannah responded, “I believe that the two of you could be in it for the long haul. You’ll have to trust my instincts.”

  “She does have good instincts,” Brady mumbled.

  “You should take the next two weeks to get to know each other. Message each other or something. Text. Call. But remember, I still have two weeks of a charade to pull off and don’t want anyone thinking that I’m bli
nd to my boyfriend cheating on me.”

  Confused, “Huh?” Hannah asked, staring at Savannah.

  “The Prom. You can come out of the proverbial closet as a couple after Prom. If you don’t think that you make a good match, and that I’m wrong, then we,” pointing to Brady and herself, “can continue the charade until after Graduation and then claim that we would not last a long-distance relationship. Either way, Kelly will be appeased.”

  Once again Brady and Hannah looked at each other, wondering just how right Savannah could be about the whole plan. It was obvious that she had thought things through, even if she had taken things to a dramatic level that would rival Hannah’s friend Heather.

  Carefully, Hannah responded, “I doubt anybody is going to care if you and Brady break up and still go to the prom together.”

  Savannah stared at the other girl, resisting her urge to bounce up and down in her seat. “Okay. You might be right.” Turning to Brady, she made a request, “Just don’t tell Kelly yet. I don’t want to find out how she’ll react when she finds out that I broke up with you; she actually likes me.”

  “Fair enough,” Brady conceded, “But I’m not going to hide that I’m talking to Hannah.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  The next two weeks went by in a flurry of baseball games and practices where both Hannah and Savannah sat in the stands watching and strategizing. When Kelly joined them, Savannah used the excuse that Hannah’s cousin was also on the team to explain Hannah’s sudden appearance. They treated this as an opportunity to get Hannah on Kelly’s good side and it seemed to be working. Kelly had even asked Hannah to sit with her at lunch one day. Things were going exactly according to the plan.

  At night the new couple would message or text back and forth, depending on if they were both near a computer or not. During lunch Hannah’s theatre friends would grin at themselves whenever she would get lost in the flurry of text message exchanges between Brady and their friend. They were all aware of what was going on and were amused at the plan to get around the problem of Kelly and Aimee. They often wondered if this strategy would work out in the long run or if it would fall in on itself and self-combust.

  The trio was walking a fine line between appearances and reality. At Savannah’s paranoid insistence Brady still had to go out with her when both of them would rather be doing something else. Savannah was dealing with the adoration coming from Kelly when all she was doing was counting down the day that she did not have to deal with Kelly’s best friend anymore.

  Hannah had to deal with the knowledge that she couldn’t go public yet with her new relationship status. She couldn’t go up to him and give him a hug or a kiss on the cheek like she wanted. She couldn’t grin wildly whenever she passed him in the hallways. It was more difficult to handle than she thought it would be when Savannah created her master plan.

  To complicate matters, she had to spend less time with her friends and more time pretending to be friends with Kelly and Aimee. Kelly was perfectly fine on her own, but eighty-five percent of the time Aimee was nearby. It was tiresome having to wear the mask required to deal with the mean girl and her unwitting lackey.

  There was one thing that she was certain about: Savannah was right; she did get along wonderfully with Brady. Hannah just wished that they could spend more time alone, and the days on her calendar counting down to Prom were passing at a snail’s pace.

  Brady: How long does it take for somebody to get ready?

  Hannah: Kelly?

  Brady: Yes. She asked me to take her to get cupcakes.

  Hannah: I thought she has a car.

  Brady: She does. She wants me to go with her.

  Brady: I can’t wait to leave here and get away from her clinginess.

  Hannah: What are your college plans?

  Brady: Community College for the next two years while I take care of some of my requirements. They offered me a full-ride scholarship which includes enough money for textbooks. I just have to play ball for them.

  Hannah: That’s great!

  Brady: It means I have to deal with Kelly’s guilt for two more years.

  Hannah: Unless she goes to college.

  Brady: Hair school. She’s really great at doing hair.

  Hannah: Oh.

  Hannah: Could be worse.

  Brady: How?

  Hannah: It could be three years.

  Brady: Her high-maintenance majesty is coming downstairs.

  Hannah: If you behave I’ll try to join you. Maybe I’ll just have a craving for cupcakes.

  Brady: I’ll behave. Or at least tell you that I’m behaving.

  Hannah: Fair enough. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.

  Brady: :)

  Fifteen minutes later, Hannah walked into The Cupcake Station, well-aware of exactly where Brady and his sister were sitting but pretending that she hadn’t noticed them yet. She secretly smiled at the way Brady managed to get Kelly facing the counter.

  She positioned herself there, staring at the display, pretending to think about what to order. She only ever ordered two of the varieties anyway, but she wanted to give Kelly time to notice her. The cashier stood waiting, confused, fully knowing that Hannah only ordered one of two cupcakes every single time she came into the store, which was weekly. Sometimes she even came in twice a week.

  “Hey, Brady is that Hannah?” she heard a loud whisper from where Brady had deposited them.

  Pretending not to hear them, she ordered one of her usual, opting for chocolate to handle this exchange.

  “Hannah!” Kelly called out, after Hannah had paid. “Over here!”

  “Well, hey Kelly, Brady. What are you doing here?” she smiled innocently.

  “I wanted cupcakes and my brother was nice enough to volunteer and bring me.” Kelly answered with her version of events while kicking Brady to make him move over. “Let Hannah sit next to you,” she demanded. “Savannah won’t care.”

  Hannah slid into the booth next to Brady, trying her hardest to keep the beaming smile to a minimum. This part of the plan was transpiring better than expected. Brady must have thought the same thing when he reached down to hold her hand, fingers intertwining for a long moment before releasing her so she could start eating her cupcake.

  “So,” Kelly started, introducing a topic of conversation that she enjoyed. “Are you seeing anybody? Every time I see you I can’t really talk to you because Aimee is always telling us her amusing stories.” Her subtle emphasis suggested that Kelly didn’t find all of Aimee’s stories entertaining.

  Resisting an eye roll, Hannah answered her new friend, “Technically, I am seeing somebody, but we aren’t going public about it yet. We want to make certain that we are a good fit together before bringing in the rest of the world.”

  “Aww, how sweet,” Kelly sighed. “Do you think that you fit?”

  Hannah chuckled, “I think we just might.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Laughing, Savannah was surprised to still be having such a good time with Brady’s teammates. They knew about the break-up, but still proceeded carefully when bringing her drinks and asking her to dance.

  “You should consider dating Anthony,” Brady casually mentioned to her when they were alone, dancing. “He has not been able to take his eyes off of you all night.”

  “I’m surprised that you haven’t stabbed him with a fork yet!”

  “If he acts like a jerk I will,” he grinned. “He’s also planning on going to Chattanooga, so you’ll both be in the same place if you do decide to date.”

  “I’m going to save the dating for after graduation. One more month, Brady, and then we are out of these halls. I’m not about to ruin my GPA by screwing things up this late in the game.”

  “Hey,” Kelly started, intercepting her brother at the door, “how was the prom? Why aren’t you still out partying with Savannah?”

  “We broke up,” Brady answered, not looking at his sister in his haste to get upstairs to his computer. “We broke up a few we
eks ago and I agreed to still take her to the prom because it would be difficult for her to get a new date two weeks before Prom and because it would be difficult for my new girlfriend to get a dress in time. Not to mention that only a few people know we broke up and that I’m dating somebody else.”

  Brady turned at his doorway, surprised to see that Kelly had not followed him upstairs. Shrugging his shoulders, he went into his room to message with Hannah.

  Out in the backyard, away from prying ears, Kelly quickly dialed Aimee’s number. “Hey, I need a plan! Savannah broke up with my brother tonight and I am afraid that she broke his heart!”

  Chapter Twenty

  Savannah, Brady, and Hannah decided to slowly reveal the changes to all of their relationship statuses slowly. This wasn’t exactly something that could be sprung on everybody who witnessed Savannah and Brady having a good time at Prom, even if she had been spending more time with his teammates than she had been with Brady.

  They suspected that the change might be difficult for Kelly to process even though Brady had told her that they had broken up. Kelly liked Savannah, even if she was currently acting strangely around her. More times than Savannah could count she’d see Kelly stop in the hallway at the sight of her and then dart quickly out of the way while acting as if she didn’t want to have anything to do with her friend. Savannah had thought that they were friends.

  One night Brady heard angry voices coming from Kelly’s room. Going to check on her he found Aimee and Kelly staring at a few cans of spray paint on her floor. Not thinking anything about it since the cans could be for a school project, he asked, “Is everything alright?”

  “Just fine,” Aimee purred.

  “How are you doing?” Kelly asked, biting her lip in worry.

  “Perfectly fine,” he answered. “Hey, Kelly, I need to talk to you about something later, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  Later never happened; Brady became distracted by texting back and forth with Hannah.